Kids have a capacity for faith that we all should long for. Uninhibited joy, incredible trust and radical belief. There is a reason why Jesus calls us to become like little children! In this episode Gina talks with Taylor Bedoya about her personal journey with Jesus and what would happen if we approached ministry with kids differently.
Click below to listen starting at 14:51 to follow along.
The Power of Childlike Faith
Taylor:
I got to experience all of that truly for the first time in my life. I got to know God as my Father, and my friend. It was like my eyes were just opened, and I want this for everybody. I don’t want kids growing up with this mindset that God is far away or angry at them, or that they need to just work really hard to act a certain way.
I began to pray, “I see You Lord. You’ve given me this love for kids, and now I’ve experienced You and I’m getting to know You. You want me to put those things together. You want me to help kids know You.” And I would just ask God a lot of questions about how to do this. I know there’s not one way to teach kids, but I know there is a way that He has for me specifically to pour into His kids.
One of the things that He’s been showing me is that you can’t take anyone somewhere you haven’t been. When there are kids in a room, adults automatically want to control the room. And we want to see output. We want to see fruit that makes sense to us. We want to see behavior that makes it look like we have control, which makes us feel better. So much of what we do in children’s ministries actually to make us feel better, but it’s not working. It’s not working and churches know that.
There’s a lot of churches around the world right now that are recognizing that something’s off. Because when kids graduate from high school they don’t want to be a part of the church. They don’t want anything to do with Jesus. So why is that? You know, there’s something that isn’t working and what I’m noticing right now, at least in my process, especially with younger kids, sometimes we start with the Old Testament. These stories that you can’t get into without knowing Jesus.
Gina:
And it’s the mythological stories too. Jonah and the Whale. David and Goliath. They’re not much different than cartoons on Sunday morning, because they’re so beyond, rather than coming back and starting with “There’s a God who knows you and sees you, knows your name, and He loves you.”
You said that when you realize that your love for kids and this awareness of Jesus’ love for you and what he’s done for you, all of a sudden those two things met, then it was like, “This is what I am made to do.” And I think that’s just a really significant thing that I would love everyone who’s listening to hear. It’s not just about ministry as we deem ministry.
What is it that God knit you together for, that you’re passionate about, that you’re gifted for, marry that with what He’s speaking to you as His son and His daughter. How do those meet? There you’re going to find your purpose. There you’re going to find the way that you can transform, bring the kingdom here on earth in that place that you are planted.
Because I think we often look at what other people are doing and go, “They’re being effective for Jesus. They’re a pastor. Or God’s called them to do something really significant. I’m just a stay-at-home mom. I’ve got nothing to offer. Or I’m just working here or this isn’t really kingdom work.” But that’s such a lie.
But to be able to be in that place where we take everything that God made us to be and all of the gifts, spiritual and practical, all of the talent, that place of intersection with our faith and with our receiving who God is and who He says we are… that’s where power happens. That’s where dependence happens. That’s where being in his easy yoke happens, because it’s an invitation.
It’s never on you to reveal the kingdom to everyone, it’s an invitation for you to come alongside what Jesus is already doing, be who you are and believe in who He’s saying these kids are. And not just the kids, the parents, because your ministry was as much to the parents and really shepherding and pastoring them in the process.
Your ministry isn’t just to kids and that’s just where the beginning of it is. That’s where the germination and that’s where the seeds are planted. But it’s so much more than that. In our time together, I remember the specific season where you were in this place of hunger. Wanting to know how we lead the kids to empower them here?
Meanwhile, I went on a trip. My daughter was at ministry school up at Bethel in Redding. I went up to visit her and they have what are called worship rooms throughout the week. There’s just a room in the church where somebody’s leading worship for like four hour blocks and you can just come and go as you please, spend some time with Jesus and worship.
I wanted to get away with the Lord. So I go to this worship room and I walk in, it’s a room that maybe holds about a hundred people. And there’s maybe eight people scattered in the room, the lights are dim for worship. So I go and I settle in, I got my journal. I noticed there’s about 10 to 12 first graders in the room praying over the seats.
I could see that they’re walking through and they’re praying over the room and the seats. By this point I’ve started a prayer ministry at church, and that’s my jam. I’m all about praying over spaces and people. I was so excited to see that. Then I go back to my journal and before I know it, this little girl comes up to me and says, “Hi, what’s your name?” And I’m like, “Hi, I’m Gina.” She asks “Can I pray for you?” And I’m like “Sure.”
So she’s doing the whole prayer model. She’s like, “Is it okay if I lay my hands on you?” I’m like, “Yes.” So she puts her hand on my shoulder and starts praying for me. And I couldn’t even hear everything she was saying, because worship was happening in the room. But I was a wreck. But halfway through a prayer, I started feeling all these other little hands on me and probably three or four other little kids came over and all placed their hands on me and were praying.
Then she opens her eyes and she gives me a hug and then she bounces off. I teach prayer training and so many of the people that come in are like, “I don’t even pray for dinner, because I’m scared. I don’t know what to say. Your prayers are so eloquent.” They’re so bound by so much fear. “I have to do it a certain way.” But these kids, there’s just a purity of, “Oh my gosh, can I pray for you, because Jesus is awesome?” And, “Can, I pray for you, because if I do, then He’s going to do something, because He’s so good.”
It’s the purity and the simplicity of child-like faith. I’m a mess, sitting there writing in my journal what just happened. Probably five minutes later another girl comes over. “Hi. Can I pray for you too?” She’s looking at me and she just keeps her eyes open and prays. Then she stops and she looks at me and she’s like, “You are like a plant. Right now you’re growing and you’re growing.”
And then she gets super serious and makes eye contact with me. She points in my face and she said, “But don’t listen to what anyone else is saying, because you’re growing into something beautiful to God.” It went from child-like innocence to crazy authority. And then this other head pops around my head and goes, “You’re just sparkly. You’re just shiny for Jesus.” And then she skips off. And by this point I’m a wreck.
People listening to this might be going, “Gina, You’re crazy.” But where I was with the Lord and what God was doing in the middle of very difficult things I was going though. Those things were profound. And it was powerful. These children ministered to me. They ministered the kingdom to me. They ministered the love of God to me. They brought compassion and hope.
This is what community is. This is spiritual community through the hands of first graders who just aren’t caught up in all of this stuff, that inhibited them from just being excited to go, “We get to bless you because we can.” And then before you knew it, the teachers made some sort of signal and they all lined up and they picked up their stuff and they went out.
There’s a school on the campus, so I guess the teacher said, “Okay, we’re going to go to the prayer rooms and you guys are going to pray.” They created this culture of expectation. They’ve been raising the kids to just believe and trust the Bible and what God says to be true. That we are sons and daughters, that we have authority, that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. That He has all authority.
They’ve been taught this and they aren’t inhibited by fear. I came back from that and the first person I wanted to talk to was you. I was like, “Taylor, this is happening somewhere. And this is what it looks like.” And you were like, “Yes, lets go after that.” It shifted something in you.
Encountering God in Obedience and Risk
Taylor:
it really did. I think that there were two parts of it for me. In tandem we need to help our kids learn who Jesus is, and the kind of King that He is. We need to focus on the character of God and what He does. Because when that happens, you get to see, “Oh wow. There’s nothing to fear. I can totally trust You. You always have good things that You want to do.”
I started with that piece. And then you came back and shared that with me. And I was like, “You know what? I bet I haven’t tried that yet, because I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m going to open up the doors for these kids and go, “Let’s try this together.” And something isn’t going to happen. Then I’m going to feel like I did something wrong.”
What the Lord did, is He was like “Taylor, you have to trust Me. You do not keep Me from My kids.” So what I did is, in full faith, having no idea what was going to happen, I just started opening up the door for the Holy Spirit, trusting that He was going to show up. A little bit more recently, I was with a group of middle schoolers and we did a listening prayer night together.
And it’s just funny being the leader in that room, because you don’t know, you can’t control that. And that’s scary for leaders. It’s risky. But the Lord has just taught me that He isn’t looking for perfection, but He’s looking for obedience and risk. So I gave everyone a note card, gave them prayer training.
And I had already been walking them through who God is. He is near and He wants to speak to us. And it’s not just for the “pastors”, It’s for you too. Your age isn’t a factor in it. So we all listened, and we worshiped through song. We prayed together and then we listened. And I was like, “Just know that God is here. Just listen. And if you have a picture that comes to mind, write it down.”
And I tried to talk about it, which you’ve taught me this in a way, it’s not mystical, it was more like, “Hey, He loves to speak to us. He loves you. He always has good things to say, so let’s just listen.” It was very simple. And then I just prayed my butt off as they all listened. I’m like, “Okay, Lord, I trust you. I trust you. I trust you. You are good.”
Even for myself as the leader, I’m speaking truth over myself in that moment, because I don’t want to get in the way of kids meeting Jesus. So I’m like, “Okay, you guys, what did God speak to you?” And gathered the cards, and started reading things out. And Gina, it was incredible. Every kid got a word from the Lord, either a word, a picture, a feeling.
One girl, she said, it was so cute, “I just felt so happy. Almost like I wanted to dance.” I said, “That is the Lord speaking to you. That’s the Holy Spirit moving in you.” Another girl got this really in depth, detailed picture and it really touched another kiddo’s life. And what happens is they start to see that God wants to speak to them and He wants to use them to impact other people.
Like you were saying earlier, I have a purpose. I get to partner with Jesus. How fun is that? I heard someone say one time, “Let kids play with Jesus. Let them play. It’s fun.” Anyway, that was really impactful for those kids. And I saw a shift in their expectancy. Their mindset is a little different now. I just felt like I saw them approaching the Lord differently with more expectations. It was really cool.
Gina:
Going back to what you said, you can’t really lead people where you haven’t been. It’s such a lesson for us too. If we want that for our kids. We have to be really honest with whether or not we’re willing to receive it for ourselves. Am I willing to believe that He loves me? Am I willing to believe that He has good things for me? Am I willing to believe that He’s here, that He’s speaking, that He’s moving? Am I willing to risk the mess?
I listened to a message this weekend from a dear pastor that I just so respect and admire. He was teaching about Jesus walking on the water, and Peter in the boat saying, “Lord, you know, I want to come to you.” The way he was teaching it, Peter was like “There’s no place I want to be, but where You are.” That is worth the risk.
It’s worth stepping out on the water, which is scary. It’s worth getting out of the boat, which is implied safety. It’s worth all of that. In that message, I felt like the Lord was saying, “It’s time to get out of the boat, Gina. Are you willing to get out of the boat? Let’s get out of the boat.” This life with Jesus is a process. God, in His loving kindness, is going to take us deeper and farther.
And we’re going to discover and receive more and we’re going to step into a new level of freedom and authority. Then there’s going to come a point where He’s going, “I got more, you ready? Let’s go. Are you willing to risk even more?” He meets us at that. And how powerful it is that we can teach kids that that’s not a scary place, that He can meet them at that. And to build their confidence, discernment, and freedom. The ministry that’s really happening to the families of those kids as they grow.
Taylor:
That’s actually what I realized, we all are having this encounter with Jesus. This is not a one and done. Jesus doesn’t want us to be reliant on the way He once did it, He wants us to have relationship with Him. Now it is a journey, and a process. With this specific group the parents are already experiencing that with Jesus. They got to walk with their kids in that. So I told the kids, “Jesus will meet you in your ‘yes’ and He wants to be with you, but now kids don’t forget, this is a journey. This isn’t the end.”
Because I do feel like, if they’re not led well, that’s the dangerous part. I did notice a couple of the kids saying as we were growing, as we were journeying together, it would be like, “Why did she get a word and I didn’t this time?” And I don’t think it was jealousy, but rather confusion and fear. Like, “Wait a minute, but You did this before, why aren’t You doing that again?” That’s why it’s so important to walk with kids in their relationship with Jesus, because He is not a genie.
Gina:
Well, that’s discipleship, right? That needs to be lifelong. The same challenges can be met even in discernment. Because like the parable of the wheat and the tears, when God is growing something, the enemy’s going to come right behind to sow seeds too. And so they will grow together. And oftentimes we, in our fear or control, as soon as we see something that is not good, love, pure, or patient, we start to chop down everything.
How can we be the kind of leaders that can steward that crop that cannot be threatened. Nehemiah is an incredible book on spiritual opposition and how to be so confident in your calling. And then when the opposition comes, not to freak out and run, but how to stand where you’re called to stand.
How do you not get intimidated by the enemy? Then lead kids in that discernment. But it’s not just kids. We all need to learn how to have grace for ourselves, how to have grace for others, how to not react, but respond. And know that it’s okay if we don’t get it right. Because God is a Redeemer.
Look at Peter’s journey. Jesus’ leadership and His love and patience and care for His disciples. He would say, “Get behind me, Satan.” But then He would come up and restore the ear that was lopped off. It’s that love and that restoration and how that turns us into the kind of leaders that we need to be.
I remember after I came back and you started having the kids pray for each other. We’re not just going to pray at the end of the service, but we’re going to start to pray for one another. What does that look like? I remember a particular time, you brought up a kid to demonstrate and you prayed for him. And the Holy Spirit revealed some stuff and you prayed specific things.
He’s like, “Ms. Taylor, how did you know?” And then you paired people up. But there was an odd kid that didn’t have a kid. So you paired her with an adult. And that girl ended up basically prophesying. She prayed over this adult and the adult was wrecked, because she didn’t share anything. And this little nine year old totally read her mail and prayed into this thing. There’s something really cool and profound about us not being scared of the mess.
Surrendering Control
Taylor:
And not thinking it’s about us. Because that little girl in the story, it’s not like I was standing right next to her, what I did is I shared who Jesus is. Then I opened up the door for an opportunity. And guess what? The Holy Spirit met that little girl there. It wasn’t about me. And it’s just so cool and so good for us to remember that we have an important role to play, but let the Holy Spirit do His work. Let him do it. He will do it.
Gina:
And another piece of control or another piece of fear is laying our expectations of what we think that should look like even. We say, “Lord, have Your way.” And then when He has His way, and it doesn’t look like the way we think it should look like, then we’re disappointed or we’re trying to manipulate it back to what we think it should be.
Taylor:
I see it a lot in children’s ministry. Like we talked about, the expectation of what it should look like and people just come in thinking that they know what a moment needs to look like or whether or not God did something. It’s like, “Oh yeah, He did something. Or “Oh no, He didn’t.” That’s super dangerous.
Just a little bit ago I was teaching and the group was rough. They were just not listening. They were a little crazy and rowdy, which for me, especially in my experience, most likely you never have a room of kids who just stay quiet for you no matter how engaging you are. And it’s just so funny how people want that or feel like that’s what it has to look like for a kid to receive.
Gina:
Oh, dude, I’ve made the biggest mistake once.
Taylor:
What? Tell me.
Gina:
I’m just going to keep it real. When the girls were in elementary school, I led what was called the Good News club. It was some sort of praying mom group. We got together and they’re like, “We’re gonna bring the good news club to the school. We want to help.” And I’m like, “I’m in.” And then, of course, they all abandoned me.
And the Good News club comes from a church, some organization, but it was super antiquated. It was like 1975 Lutheran church Sunday school with flannel graphs. But it was super fun, because I was like, “We’re not going to do this.” And I started changing things. And this was before Rob Biaggi was a big thing. I brought him to the school. We did a huge Christmas party. We had all these kids. So I did it for like two or three years.
And then my last year I was just getting overwhelmed. I had help for a couple years and then it was just me. And then the kids were grumpy and just being a pain. And we had two weeks left of school and we had one meeting and they were not falling in line. And so I just canceled the rest. I didn’t even do the end of the year party.
And I remember after I canceled it, I think my girls looked at me like, “Mom, you canceled? And in my zeal, I was like, “Yes I did.” Then I got so convicted. Because it was that, you just get so frustrated and it’s like “Pay attention. You’re being disrespectful. Why aren’t you listening?” It was so about me. It was so about my flesh. It was so about all of the wrong things.
Taylor:
We’ve all had those moments, I have too. The Lord has taught me this, but we want it to look like it looks for adults. But it’s not going to look that way. Anyway, it’s so funny, because the group was rowdy, right? In my flesh, I could have been like, “Everybody leave, we’re done.” But, you know what? I’m just gonna keep teaching, because God asked me to plant seeds.
He didn’t ask me to be in control of the harvest. I’m just gonna plant this seed. Whoever wants to take it can take it. Whoever doesn’t want it, that’s their choice. That’s okay. That’s totally okay. We’re all on a journey. There was one specific kid who was super disrespectful and really not having any of it. And it seemed like he’s rebelling against what I’m teaching.
And I sent them out to do this activity where they drew on a piece of paper or wrote down what they need from Jesus right now. Because we can go to Him and we can ask. We can ask for help. He’s the one to go to. I went up to that boy, because he was sitting alone and I’m like, “Hey bud, what did you write down? Do you want to show me?”
And he goes, “I guess you can look at my paper.” He hands me his paper, he won’t tell me, I have to look at it. So I looked at his paper and he wrote down something very hard that he’s going through and a big fear that he has. Look at this, a kid who seemed so disrespectful, didn’t want any of it, actually received. Actually wanted Jesus to meet him in his need.
So I said, “Wow, this is hard. I’m so sorry. Can I pray with you about it?” And what’s hilarious is the Lord gave me a word for him. And you taught me to pray with my eyes open, which is still hard for me. I just want to close my eyes. But I have my hand on his shoulder and I’m looking at him as I’m praying. And I shared the word and he looked up like he darted his eyes, but then it was awkward, because we’re looking at each other. And I just giggled.
And then he looked away and looked down and I just kept praying. And at the end of that lesson, someone came up to me and they’re like, “Well, that was sort of a success.” As in “That didn’t totally work, but nice try.” And it was a good teaching moment, because I was like, “You don’t realize this, but that boy that seemed like he wasn’t having it, I actually got to pray with him. And I believe that the Lord spoke to him and I’m gonna keep praying for him. I’m so glad I had that moment. I got to have a moment with him. All that to say is, kids ministry is a seed planting ministry.
Gina:
It’s not just kids ministry though. I think the nature of kids ministry is adults feel like they have to control because it’s children. But that story is so much about God’s economy. God is the God who leaves the 99 for the one, and that all was worth it.
Taylor:
He’s good, and He will meet His kids.
Taylor Bedoya is the Family Pastor at Mountain View Church
Check out the rest of this conversation God’s Kids
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