By Glenn Colley
In every church I visit I’m interested in meeting young people. I love to see healthy Bible classes and youth devotionals, boys leading singing and prayers in worship, girls assisting in classroom teaching, and teens sitting up front during worship. Sadly, some churches are doing very little to train and prepare their youth. Some start well, but struggle to do it on a long-term basis. There’s a program among some churches of Christ called Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes, which has been working since 1968, and has grown to almost 20,000 children and adults. There’s something for all ages. It helps in two major ways: A plan and an incentive. We provide the framework to get the adults in your congregation working with your youth in public speaking, song leading, training to be shepherds, Scripture memorization, service projects, bulletin board design, song writing, formal debate, and so much more. Then we provide an annual convention–an amazingly exciting time in which young people can enjoy showing and comparing their accomplishments in their choices of thirty-seven different events. It’s a great motivator and kids look forward to it all year. Conventions are held simultaneously in Orlando, Nashville, Indianapolis, Memphis, and Dallas on Easter weekend each year. You simply choose the one nearest you. Other than Christian parenting, the best way to protect our young people from leaving the church is to have them spending time with mentoring adults; faithful, patient Christians who will guide and train them. The translation of that attention and training is always “love.” Proverb 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” There’s a difference between teaching a child and training a child. You could teach a boy how to throw a baseball from a picture or a book, or you could take him out and spend the time training him. The thirty-seven events in Lads are designed so that faithful Christian adults are training the young people in their congregations. This is leadership grooming and it works.
Paul said in admiration of the man Timothy, “…from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). The Lads to Leaders Board of Directors is committed and united in keeping this work sound and safe, keeping the finances handled prudently and with transparent honesty, and on never forgetting our purpose for existing: To help children in congregations of the Lord’s church to develop leadership skills to the glory of God.
Hebrews 12:28 says that we are part of a kingdom “which cannot be shaken.” No man can destroy it. Surely one reason this is true is because Christians of every generation pass this priceless Word on to the next. One of the great methods of carrying out the Great Commission is by training the youth of today, for if I cannot personally go to all the world, surely my children will go farther than me––if I teach and train them while they’re young.
There’s so much bad news about the direction many young people are going these days, but this program is abundantly positive: Kids being mentored by strong and faithful Christians growing in their abilities to serve the Lord.
Would you like more information about this great program? Visit our website at www.Lads-To-Leaders.org, phone (334) 215-0251, or e-mail: ladsoffice@lads-to-leaders.org.
