Fighting for our next generations
Young men (and women) everywhere are yearning for a godly man to provide them an example. Will you step up to the challenge? Will you be Jesus to these young people who need an example to follow? Will you be an example to those who need a standard to reach for?
Malachi 4:6 is the very last verse of the Old Testament. In it God expresses His deep desire for fathers to have their hearts turned towards their children. In the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, we are introduced to the first prophet of the New Testament. John is to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, and a major part of that preparation includes the turning of the hearts of the fathers to their children. God is so concerned with the turning of father's hearts to their children that He says in Malachi that if this does not happen, He will strike the land with a curse.
We have seen this reality play out all around us. The lack of Fathers who invest in their children is a major factor in the increase of crime, poverty and many of the social ills facing our nation. A father who is committed to his wife and kids is a stabilizing factor in the life of a child. Without that stability, kids are attempting suicide, cutting themselves, doing drugs and ruining their lives in more ways than I could have imagined when I was a kid...
and Men, both the fault and the responsibility to fix things is on us.
"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." -NIV
The purpose of the Frontline Fatherhood Initiative is to turn the hearts of this generation's fathers to their children and prepare the next generation of fathers to stick to their commitments to their wives and children, thus building healthy families that can improve their neighborhoods, their nation and ultimately impact the rest of the World.
For this purpose, we are looking for men who are willing to enlarge their hearts beyond just their own children; men who, along with their brothers, are willing to father the whole community. I am looking for men who are willing to invest their lives in raising up the next generation of dads; men who will stand in the gap and become fathers to the fatherless.
For the last few generations, many Moms (and some Dads) have been supporting and raising families on their own, leaving very little time for training children and teenagers the skills they need to become successful adults. The Motherhood Cooperative utilizes a team, or whole village, approach to training the next generation of parents. In conjunction with the Fatherhood Initiative, the Women of Frontline are extending their hearts beyond their own children to reach all the children in the community so that these kids can receive the training they need to be successful adults.
How does a young person keep this if they have no Father? or no Mother? or Neither Mother Nor Father? How will they learn Wisdom?
We must step up and stand in the gap. We must teach them.
Will you join us?
At Frontline, you will be trained to be a Man/Woman of God and equipped to reach out and minister to others. Ministry to teenagers is not always easy. You will need a whole set of skills to be able to minister to them effectively. Our staff will help you acquire those skills.
(also, since our church trains the teenagers alongside the adults, you will get to know many of the kids you will be training.)
For those who have Teenagers in your home, you will be asked to invest Saturday afternoons or Friday evenings with your kids and their friends. Invite your kids friends to come over and spend time just hanging out with them. Organize an activity (sports, games, movie nights, etc.) This not only gives them a healthy place to spend time with friends, but also gives them the opportunity to interact with adults who will be a godly influence in their lives. (my wife and I have been doing this for years; the time spent with my kids and their friends is possibly the best investment I have ever made.)
Every summer, the teenagers get a couple of months off from school (about 9 weeks.) We ask all the adults to invest one of their days off in the next generation of fathers and mothers. Each of us has a skill that we excel at and that we are able to teach. Near the end of the school year, the adults will announce what class they are offering during the summer and the teenagers will sign up to learn the skills they will need to be effective adults and parents. Since we all have different days off, the teenagers will be able to learn several skills each summer. It is my hope that by the time they graduate High School, we will have taught them all of the skills that their parents would have taught them. During this time, you will be able to minister to a wide variety of kids.
We have had people teach: Cooking, Baking, cleaning, automotive care, electronics, Guitar, computer skills, video editing, sewing, personal finance, etc
It isn't just skills that kids need; sometimes they need to get out into nature and have an adventure or they have missed out on some important cultural experiences: Hiking, tubing down the river, trips to see snow, watching the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies. We have even founds teenagers who have never seen Star Wars (a tragedy that must always be rectified.)
Copyright © 2024 Frontline Baptist Church - All Rights Reserved.