I had the opportunity to MC in ignite this past weekend. As it was my first time, I was a bit nervous. I have spoken to large groups of students before, but the Ignite kids are so used to being led by a such a wonderful MC, I knew I had large shoes to fill.
I really let Jesus lead the night! Truthfully, it has been some time since I COMPLETLEY handed the whole night over to Him! As I was up there, I remember thinking, "This is an awesome lesson!" The challenge for the night was to get kids to be thankful that parents love them enough to tell them "no". As this is a huge topic in my house, (I am the queen of saying no to my daughter) I was thrilled to talk about this to 4th and 5th graders. I prayed, "Jesus, let these kids see that we as parents and adults, tell them no sometimes to protect them. You have entrusted them to us and we love them so much that we want to keep them safe!"
During the lesson, the topic of the end of the world came up. I announced that before we see the end of the world, Jesus is coming back to earth and will take those who believe in Him to heaven with him. Of course, my excitement that came out with this statement was undeniable. However, I quickly moved back to the lesson not thinking twice about what I had just said.
The next morning one of our volunteers (who brings students from the public school she teaches at) caught me in the hall and told me that her drive home with the students (who had been in ignite) was quite interesting. The girls never knew that Jesus was coming back and they got so excited about it! She was able to take some time and really dive deeper into that conversation!
Jesus is in all of our classrooms at every service working in the hearts of those kids when we least expect it! I had no intention of bringing that topic up, but God did! Praise God we do not do this on our own! He is teaching through us! Just a reminder that we are planting seeds! We may not ever see the fruit until we get to heaven, but that is no reason to give up. Keep on planting those seeds and when we least expect the fruit will abound!