Perceived Value - Deep Thoughts

When I introduce myself at our Welcome Lunch to prospective new members, I usually describe my upbringing like this: “I grew up in west Texas, in case my double name didn’t make that clear, and in my house, it was easier to get out of going to school than it was to get out of going to church. We had to be bleeding AND throwing up to miss church. The only Sunday I ever missed was the Sunday I was born.”

While hyperbolic, the sentiment remains. My parents raised us to understand that being AT church was necessary. For a while, I loathed this, thinking that our attendance was just a show for everyone else.

But in reality, it was a place where we were loved. Even when my parents divorced, our church loved our whole family. We attended the traditional service weekends we were with my dad, and the contemporary service weekends we were with my mom. Not many churches will try to love ALL involved in situations like ours, but ours did so well. I can remember one of my FIRST nights getting to go to youth group. I had waited for years for this moment. But I asked for prayers for my family, and the weight of our situation came out in tears and sobs. A sophomore hugged me while I cried. (Fast forward, I was a musician at her wedding!)

That firm foundation formed by my parents, reinforced by the church, and finished with the love from our student ministry has made me who I am today.

As the Family Pastor, I have the JOY of loving your children and students as I hope to love my own one day.

I also learn from many of our fantastic parents and what you teach your kids. God is working through them…I PROMISE.

God is working through the pre-k kids that get to join the Kinder Sunday School class because they are ready for a higher level of learning.

God is working through our 3rd graders who listened to one of their classmates share about painful experiences they are going through.

God is working through our Students, welcoming teenagers who felt unwelcome at other churches.

God is working through our high schoolers, one of which brought a carload of friends when we were studying healthy relationships in February, knowing her friends needed to come to have the honest discussions we were engaging.

God is working through our volunteers, some of which are parents and grandparents and others who are empty nesters. Some of our volunteers don’t even have their own kids but choose to love ours. As a church, even if you are not a parent, we are charged with raising these children in our care to know God’s love for them. Trust me when I say they will return the love even more than we can imagine.

My heart yearns for more people to come and experience God’s goodness with our Kids and Students Ministries at Creekwood.

If you want to be part of that goodness, don’t forget to sign up to be a VBS Volunteer (Link: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ejp6ja4haccf986b&oseq=&c=&ch=)

Pastor Keri Lynn Lucas

Executive Pastor of Family and Mission Ministries