Cinco de Mayo was on a Sunday so we jumped at the best opportunity possible between the youth (6th-12th grades) and the senior saints (55+) to share games, laughter, prizes, stories, and table-life to TACO-bout our faith.

We opted for a taco bar catered by our local Moe’s Southwest Grill, complemented by homemade queso prepared by the Family Dinner Team. Despite initially expecting 44 attendees, we ended up accommodating 57, just enough without leftovers. Our choice of Moe’s Southwest Grill was not only for the delicious food but also to support our local community as a good neighbor, and we were pleasantly surprised with extra chips.

Youth and parents decorated the space the day before. Youth were recruited and individually coached beforehand for the welcome table, opening and closing prayers, led the games, were represented at each table of ten, and made clean-up a breeze. The Family Ministry Dinner Team, who provide dinner for students and children on Wednesday nights, served,  decorated, and directed the clean up.

We used ‘What’s your taco name’ for those waiting to go through the serving line; ‘What’s on your phone?’ for the last game with faith book prizes; and a ‘Pass the Prize’ with prizes of $10 gift cards to the local Mexican restaurant across the street.

Schedule:
5:30-5:45pm Welcome, Pass the Prize game (youth), Dinner prayer (youth)
5:45-6:15pm Dinner
6:15-6:30pm Phone Fun game (youth)
6:30-6:50pm TACO-bout our faith (3 questions modeled by a youth and his grandmother)
6:50pm Closing prayer (youth)

The TACO-bout our Faith questions were posted on each table in an acrylic frame and written by one of our youth with his parents and his grandmother. The youth, dressed in a taco costume, graciously introduced his grandmother and modelled asking and answering 3 of the questions. This was my FAVORITE part of the event.

Things we learned:
a) It took 5 minutes per table of 10 to be served on one side. SO, we will limit the food options next time to shorten the wait time.
b) Paying to have the food prepared and picked up rather than delivered or potlucked saved time, energy, worry about enough food, and the preparation of the food. SO, we will budget for next time.
c) More senior saints attended than youth. SO, at least one youth was at each table.
d) We’ll absolutely do this again as a theme night ‘cuz we’re still hearing great feedback in all areas of communication now that we are weeks beyond the event. SO, Valentine’s Day is on a Friday night in 2025. We’ll schedule next year’s Senior Date Night With The Youth on that Sunday night with an Italian theme for decorations and food.
e) The youth were amazing at leading and enjoying the games. SO, we plan a visit from a ‘guy I know’ who teaches how to project your voice at one of the summer Wednesday night youth groups for a life skill everyone can use.
f) Youth invited their grandparents and grandparents invited their youth. We’ll leverage those relationships in invites even more next time.

Intentionally Multigenerational is another of the five core values of our local church. We seek to engage every age group with the gospel leading to salvation; intentionally connecting age groups with one another; passionate and accessible blending worship to foster multigenerational appeal; excellent age-level discipleship ministries; church-wide gatherings friends to all ages. This event knocked it out of the park.

Take aways included a TACO prayer guide card and a maraca as a prayer prompt to be in prayer for the youth at each table to finish the school year strong and seize their summer for the cause of Christ.

How do you intentionally bridge the generations to start relationships and take multi-generational relationships to the next level?

“I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” Psalm 89:1

If you find yourself unable to submit to the authority over you or would not apply for a position on your current staff, here are some steps you can take:

1. If you are married, this is a joint decision. Prior to this moment, I would hope you’d already engaged in the possibilities and planned for various outcomes. This is your life, your career, and your testimony. Talk it through with your spouse. Discuss all of the possibilities. Set and write down the priorities for your family. If you are single, this is between you and the Lord. Are you ready to make a decision to stay or go? If the decision requires more planning and preparation, place a date on your calendar to make your decision so you aren’t toting around this ‘what if?’ weight every minute of every day as you continue to serve your littles and their bigs, especially throughout the summer which is always filled with tons of kidmin programming.
2. Read your current staff handbook to check if there are any policies you can no longer adhere to. Your next steps should align with your integrity, testimony, and family priorities. Make decisions based on what you know rather than how you feel. Ask yourself challenging ‘what if?’ questions to gain clarity, trusting that God will guide you. Can you now submit to the staff handbook if the organization has changed? You are a representative, an ambassador of that organization by remaining employed there.
3. Pray. The status quo is over. If you need to grieve, cry, yell, be all in your feels, take a day to dedicate your feelings to the Lord. Then rise up the next day trusting our Creator God to walk with you in His ways. He’ll give you a story like nothing you’ve ever experienced. He STILL turns all things for good for those who love Him. We love Him by keeping His commands. Do you trust Him? Really trust Him? When have you ever truly had the opportunity to take a stand for your faith, values, and belief?
4. If there is a movement of the Body of Christ organizing to do something more in line with your values and beliefs, pray for the Lord to place someone to represent you at the tables where you can not be. I prayed for this. God answered in the most awesome way. I pray my heavenly home is next door to hers and her family.
5. Get realistic, personal perspective by reading about the saints who have gone before us like Becoming Elizabeth Elliott, Seven Women: The Secret to Their Greatness, 50 Women Every Christian Should Know, Evidence Not Seen, and The Hiding Place by Corrie TenBoom. More currently, The Insanity of God and The Insanity of Obedience: Walking With Jesus in Tough Places. What these women and men went and are going through for the cause of Christ is way beyond anything we could ever imagine. Be ready to be humbled, and grateful. Yours is a job decision. Theirs was or is a life and death situation. If you have children, have they ever witnessed you taking a stand for Jesus? It’s time.
6. Preach and teach Jesus straight from the scriptures at every opportunity. Pray for insight, then stick with the Word in all things and in every situation. Memorize, study, and teach the truth faithfully and with a sense of urgency that if you have to dock your boat at another harbor, you have no regrets for any truth of His Word unshared, to be found faithful to the position you hold to make disciples of Jesus Christ until the last minute. Immerse yourself in the scriptures to discern whether you are following God’s truth or a distorted version. The clarity will amaze you.
7. Get your finances in order. When you are debt-free, downsize, and live under your means, you have options.

If you have read this far and have followed even a bit of my story, the miracles continue to happen every single week. The Lord is present and still leads His people by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Challenges still abound. The battle is fierce and worth it. And we are not unique. You have options. Lots more than you think. Need to chat? Reach out to me directly at dedereilly@comcast.net.

Unsure of what happened to spark this post? The multiple phone calls, tears of grief and disappointment, texts, prayers, face-to-face table chats that have happened over the last several weeks as a result of this (25 minutes) and this (a bit longer). The Lord is pouring out His favor and joy on His people today!

One of the songs we’ve been singing on Sunday mornings is “This Little Light of Mine.” The verse we sing is, “Whatcha gonna do with your little light? Let it shine!”

Whatcha gonna do with your little light?

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14

Moving on Up to Middle School is a faith milestone for fifth graders and their parents. A Faith Milestone is an intentional teaching and practice of various holy habits for a growing, robust faith in Jesus. This faith milestone marks the ‘first’ in the life a family moving from children’s ministry to student/youth ministry at our local church as we ‘… consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’ (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Schedule: On a Wednesday night youth group time 6:15-7:45pm
* Welcome w/combination lock activity (Students attempt to open the combination lock with NO help from their parents. No help. No words. Nothing. Just smile.)
* Details about promotion timing (We promote on the Sunday following the start of the new school year.)
* Rite of the faithful = a rising 6th grader who faithfully attends may rise up to youth group only on summer Wednesday nights prior to the fall promotion. Sunday am and other times they remain in children’s ministry throughout the summer.
* Join in the Youth Ministry opening games and dinner. The student enjoys dinner with middle school students.
* At youth Class Meeting time, we move into another space to enjoy the testimony of a youth group parent with middle school students, and this one also had a high school school student, to have a realistic and truthful chat about delaying social media by one who is faithfully living it out.
* We finish in prayer over the student and family.

Take away: Combination lock received at the beginning of the event. At some point in the evening, the students pass the lock to a parent who effortlessly opens it. A gentle reminder that a student’s parent is their first ‘go to’ for all things and assured they will know more than their friends do.

Several affirming resources to delay social media can be found here, and here.

How do you transition families from children’s ministry to youth/student ministry in your local church?

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.” Hebrews 10:36

Prayer is one of the five core values of the local church I serve. We seek to incorporate the holy habit of taking all things to the Lord Jesus in everything we do. The before-meeting prayer and the after-meeting prayers are natural expectations, but what does it look like to make prayer a priority which guides our actions?

Visual Prayer Prompters – At a special event or meeting a takeaway can serve as a visual prompt to pray specifically about something. When we started our church, office hours were held at the local Panera. Small sheep were shared to visually prompt meeting attendants to pray for our church to ‘stay following the Good Shepherd’ wherever that might lead. Listen for His voice over our own. Show us the way to live out Psalm 23. At the Cinco De Mayo Senior Date Night with the Youth, maracas were given to visually remind our senior saints to pray for our youth, especially the ones in attendance sharing their table.

Monthly Prayer Calendar – At the Family Ministry Training last month we passed around a blank calendar for May. Each person in attendance wrote his/her name on a day. When everyone in the room had written their name, any empty spaces were filled in by those in attendance: pastors, tech team, etc. At the end of the meeting, everyone took a picture to use for intercessory prayer each day of the next month. This idea and bunch of others came from Kidmin Leadership Gathering. Thanks, Vanessa Myers! If KLG comes anywhere near you, it’s worth the drive.

Prayer Team – Each Wednesday evening at 6pm, a faithful small group of folks gather to pray aloud in a popup style. Chatting may take five minutes to accommodate new folks and late comers, then heads bow and the prayers begin. There is a core group who were part of a prayer summit which took place in late February 2022, several were praying even prior to that. Their devotion to this prayer time is inspiring. They have guarded and girded this movement of the Holy Spirit. This summer, I’ve invited them to share this prayer time with our youth during youth group. Can’t wait!

Faith Milestones – A specific milestone teaching of prayer happens each year for our 1st & 2nd graders. Multiple ways and tools to pray are taught and practiced with a big person who loves the little person. A paper bag of goodies to take home to practice and use is the grand takeaway along with a certificate. Details can be found here.

Church-wide Prayer Partners – At the Ladies Christmas Mug Exchange, ladies were invited to partner with another to pray for themselves and this new church movement. Almost 70 women and men have been praying and serving together since January. This Prayer Partner season finishes at the end of June. Weekly prayer prompts are emailed by a beautiful lay person to help us with specific prayer language as we pray for our church. Details can be found here.

The gift of prayer is a powerful tool. I’ve seen the miracles, the relationships healed, the physical healings, and the courageous boldness that can only come from faithful prayer. In the words of Rev. Dr. Carolyn Moore, speaking at the North Georgia Global Methodist Church Annual Conference last week, “We’re walking miracles!”

“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?” Deuteronomy 4:7