Latest / Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder / 77. How to Teach Kids About Missions: Integrating Missions Into Everyday Discipleship with Dr. Paul Chitwood

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77. How to Teach Kids About Missions: Integrating Missions Into Everyday Discipleship with Dr. Paul Chitwood · Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Are you dedicated to working with kids and families in the local church?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, clearly that's more than a career, that's a calling.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Dana Magruder, and this is Kids Ministry Calling.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: As Kids Ministry Leaders, we have a unique opportunity to teach children about missions, help them understand the Great Commission, and show them that God is at work all around the world.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We can help kids pray for missionaries, learn about other cultures, live generously, and begin to see themselves as the heart of God's bigger story.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Dr.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Titwood, president of the International Mission Board, for a conversation about the importance of teaching kids about missions and cultivating a heart for the nation from an early age.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about why kids ministry matters so much to the future of the global church and how we can give children a vision for God's work around the world.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: So let's jump into the conversation.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, welcome everyone to Kids Ministry Calling.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we have a very special episode for you.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Chitwood is joining us on the podcast today.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood is the president of the IMB in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you who may not know what that stands for, it is the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, Dr.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood, it is such an honor uh for you to be with us today.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give you a chance to tell us about the work and mission of the IMB so that everyone listening has an understanding of just the sheer gospel impact that it has on the world.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for that opportunity.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for uh having me on today.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's a privilege.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I'd also want to say just how personally grateful I am for the Ministry of Life Way.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it first began touching my life.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the first time I showed up uh at a Baptist church when I was four years old.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that's more than 50 years ago, and sat in Mrs.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Smith's Sunday school class.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh we had our literature there that was uh provided, uh the lessons, uh resources provided uh by what today we know as Life Way.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And my touch, uh my life has been touched all along the way uh until uh this past Sunday when I was in church in a Bible study.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: So how thankful I am for the ministry of Life Way, the leadership of the team uh for you and Jan and your team, you Jan and your team for the way uh you focus in on the opportunities to disciple children and provide those resources.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that that blesses the IMB because the IMB uh really is uh the missionary sending arm of Southern Baptist churches for overseas work and those children who are being discipled uh in our churches today and benefiting from Bible studies and resources, uh vacation Bible school resources, Sunday school resources, on and on and on it goes.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll be uh the ones who are discipled to become missionaries of tomorrow.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it's a beautiful thing the way uh the Lord brings all of the work together.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the IMB is 181 years old.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we were launched when the first uh Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting took place.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we go back to the very birth of the convention, launched here in Richmond, Virginia.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: The location was chosen.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, you can see it written into the minutes of the first Southern Baptist Convention meeting, uh, which made sense at the time, because most of the churches were concentrated in the uh rural South and Southeastern United States.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And also uh Richmond is on the banks of the James River.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: The James River flows out in the Chesapeake and the Chesapeake in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And uh back in the 1800s, that's how missionaries got to the foreign fields was on a ship that took uh uh that uh took sail in the river and out through the bay uh and then to the nations.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're we're still here in Richmond, Virginia, and uh still doing what we've been doing now for 181 years.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Today we have over 3,500 missionaries uh who serve through the IMB.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: There are also uh 3,000 kids who are part of those missionary families.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we have about 6,500 people living overseas.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh those missionaries serve in over 150 countries of the world.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so Southern Baptists have an extension of uh of uh every church has an extension of its witness, its gospel witness, in over 150 countries of the world.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh our model for sending is is unique at the IMB and and with our 47,000 Southern Baptist churches, uh, because most of those missionaries go out fully funded.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to do fundraising and worry: is the money going to come, come home and raise more money through the generosity of churches giving through the cooperative program and the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, those uh uh missionaries are fully supported in the work that they do.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a beautiful model that allows them freedom uh to do their work, freedom to stay longer uh and to go into harder assignments uh because they don't have to worry about the resources.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they are there.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this past year, those missionaries and their partners on the ground share the gospel with more than two million people, uh, saw 200,000 people come to faith, and thousands of churches, new uh new churches started uh around the world.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's an amazing thing that we all get to be a part of.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those of us who are who are going to a church that partners with the IMB, partners with SBC ministries, uh, and uh this this legacy of work that's been going on now uh for uh all these years really uh literally reaches the very ends of the earth.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: It truly does.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's um it thank you so much for sharing that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I really hadn't thought of why it's in Richmond, but that makes so much sense being on the river and having access to send people um that way.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I have uh had the privilege of visiting the campus um and seeing all of the work that goes on, you know, state side of training people and having opportunities for uh the missionary kids.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do we still call them the third culture kids?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we publicly we talk about our third culture kids or TCKs to not identify them.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of them are going to places where missionaries aren't welcome, and there's a lot of security issues at stake.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so I still talk about them as missionary kids, but uh when when we're you know public facing and more formal setting, uh we we lead the missionary part off of it, uh simply because of identifying them uh and where they may be going, and it may cause uh uh really uh it may it may uh result in them not being able to go there in this way.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right, I know that that's that's very important.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, well, just real quick before we get started, I want to dive into um an important topic, but I want to give you a chance also to just share about um how did you get to the IMB?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: What has that journey looked like?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: You you told us you started off um with life weight literature at four years old.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So how how has that led you to um surrendering to ministry and eventually being at the IMB?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh I would I love to share uh what the Lord has allowed me to be a part of and and the journey uh that uh he has mapped out.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'll go back to the beginning.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: It uh it started.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: My father was a single dad.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I had two brothers.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was the middle of of three boys.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was raising us on our own little rural town uh in uh known as Jellico, Tennessee.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's on the Tennessee, Kentucky Line over in the Appalachian Mountains.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we were living in a little rental house, and a couple men from uh the local Baptist church in our town were on church visitation night, just knocking on doors and finding people come to church.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so they uh knocked on the door of the little rental house where we were living and invited my father to come to church.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he was in his mid-twenties, about two years past divorce, and and uh managed to get three uh very rowdy boys ready on uh his own and took us to church the next Sunday.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was four when we started going, and so that was my first introduction, Sunday school and and uh life way literature, uh, as uh as I said in the Sunday school classroom.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then that became a pattern of our family uh uh going to church, and the Lord used that in wonderful ways.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Our pastor a few years later came and made another visit uh to the little rent house where we were living, and my older brother had been asking questions about the gospel, and he shared the gospel with my older brother, and my younger brother and I listened in and and we all committed our lives uh to Christ and and uh just continued to uh that from that point on, we were baptized together a few weeks later in the Baptistry of the Little First Baptist Church of Jellicoe, Tennessee, and raised in that church.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um went through the uh you know the children's ministry and uh uh the youth ministry.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Then uh uh in college I began to volunteer in the youth ministry in that church.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And again, all along the way, uh the resources that uh that Lifeway provide helped disciple me uh as a believer.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I sensed a call uh to ministry.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was already involved, you know, uh let's say volunteering in local church, teaching Wednesday night youth Bible studying, this and that.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as a freshman in college, I sensed a call to ministry and then began to pursue preparation through my educational experience, uh, through a college degree, went on to get a uh a master of divinity and then a PhD from Southern Seminary.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh felt over time that that calling was really directed towards a pastorate, and I was a pastor for 18 years.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh along uh with that, for a lot of those years, I was teaching at Southern Seminary uh in the Billigram School of Missions and Evangelism.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh then uh something really that really ties it into the IMB happened uh uniquely in 2002 when I was invited to be a trustee with the IMB.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was 32 years old, a pastor and a new seminary professor, and uh young and inexperienced.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't bring much to the table as an IMB trustee, but it was an incredible learning opportunity for me.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I served on the board for sometimes eight years, chaired the board the last two years uh that I was uh a trustee.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it's the Lord opened my eyes to his work among the nations, uh, to uh the the work of uh stewarding a large missionary ascending organization, uh, and uh also uh just giving me opportunity to learn some leadership skills uh through my board tenure and along with pastorate and other things that that I was doing.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh did not have never felt called to go as a missionary uh when uh I first became trustee and we're going to all these missionary appointment services, my wife and I, and we're crying through all of them, and and we really had to wrestle through as God calling us to go.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and ultimately we determined that God was not calling us to go, but if he wasn't calling us to go, he was calling us to send.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: We work to be missionaries, we're to be mobilizers.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I believe those are the only two callings the Lord has uh for Jesus' followers.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're either called to uh to go or you're called to make sure others can go, uh missionary and mobilizer.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so we embraced the role of mobilization, and that impacted how I pastored my church and and how I taught in the classroom, uh, and uh then was invited to uh become the executive director of Kentucky Baptist Convention, which is uh the 2400 churches, Baptist churches in the state of Kentucky, just sort of organized their cooperative mission efforts, uh, did that for about seven and a half years, and then I was invited to become uh the IMB president.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the journey really went from you know pastor and professor uh to serving a state mission role.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and then eight years ago uh to coming as a president of the IMB.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for sharing that.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted our listeners to be able to kind of get to know you as we dive into this conversation.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um you truly have a children's ministry story there and um and also a calling story.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we always love to hear those because the podcast is called Kids Ministry Calling.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: We love to hear how the Lord um has called uh us to a variety of things throughout our journey, um, like he has you uh in different seasons of your ministry.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So um thank you for opening us up with that.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh before we hit record, I was sharing with you a little bit about a lifeweight research study that was conducted several years ago about um where we surveyed 2,000 uh parents of adult children, so parents on the other side of raising kids at home, um, about um what did they do while their kids were growing up?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what, you know, what practices did they do, what uh traditions or activities, um uh spiritual things, and just family things.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what did they do and how are their adult children doing now in their faith?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And uh those two things put together uh gave us a statistical snapshot of the things that we can do now, as uh whether you're listening and you're thinking of yourself as uh parenting younger kids or just in your ministry uh thinking about all the parents that you're working with as they are parenting.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what can we do now that will give us the best indicator for spiritual health later?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's it gave us 15 different things.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I just want to talk to you about the top five.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, number one, by far, Dr.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood, this is not gonna be a huge surprise to you, was Bible reading.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So reading the Bible um with our kids, helping them um love and cherish God's word from a young age and continue to do that on their own.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, that is going to be what transforms hearts.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and that so that shows up now and later.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the second one was prayer.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in that top five, we have serving uh the church, uh, but also in that top five, our kids who grew up doing mission trips and projects um had a stronger uh spiritual score, if you will, later in life.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so that to me is is a strategy that we need to make sure that we are, as the church, um, helping families prioritize uh uh that in the lives of their child.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: So um I just want to really have a first of all, let you react to that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are you surprised to hear that or are are you not surprised?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's a very solid study.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I draw that conclusion because we have done similar studies and I've uh seen other studies that affirm those very same basic things that we would think about as basic discipleship.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that this is the key.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's sticking with the basics.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and and really when we're looking at uh at a uh a mature believer, uh those uh who have the greatest opportunity to become a mature believer were introduced to the basics from the time they were a child.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they, you know, it's not to say that you can't be discipled and become a mature believer if you become a Christian when you're in your 30s or 40s.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was I was preaching at a church in North Carolina this Sunday and they baptized a 71-year-old man.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I'm I'm and I'm they're discipling him.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure he's on his way to being a mature Christian, but oh, the uh there's something powerful about what is ingrained uh in our youth and in our childhood.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um particularly as you make the point uh about one of those impactful opportunities being mission involvement, mission trip involvement.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a particular study that we've been a part of at the IMB that uh that echoes uh what your life way study has shown uh and and maybe in a in a way expands upon it.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it indicated uh that uh a person who uh has been on a mission trip or has a personal relationship with a missionary.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Those are two hugely impactful uh uh opportunities in the life of a of a disciple that when either of those two things are happening have happened, uh the direct impact upon a person's life is measurable.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh in these specific ways, that study indicated uh that a person who either has a personal relationship with a missionary or has been on mission trips uh will likely give four times more to missions.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: They will be four times more likely uh to go as a missionary, uh, and and they'll be four times more likely to pray uh for God's work among the nations, and so those direct points of impact uh really it gives support uh to the study you've indicated where a maturing disciple uh really is rooted in studying the word, but also living out the word.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: And because as we read the word, we see literally from cover to cover that the God of the Bible is a missionary God, that He has an eternal mission that extends uh, as Revelation 7.9 teaches us, to every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, and that disciples who are followers of Jesus uh have been called to be a part of that mission.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: We see that in the Great Commission, we see that in Acts 1.8, we see that in so many other places, uh, that really this this is the the biblical narrative is God's redemptive person uh purposes among the nations, his plan of redemption uh that you know begins uh in uh a point in time in creation uh but carries to the culmination of Jesus coming back for his church and the church being welcomed around the throne in heaven, uh and it it it the the the thread of missions runs all the way through.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh when uh we're studying God's word, um if we if we aren't highlighting that, we're missing uh the essential narrative uh that uh that uh we should be grasping.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And when when that is highlighted, when that is taught, when we're discipling people in that way, the natural outcome of that uh is is missions.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so happy to hear about that other study that um that expands uh what we what we found out in in this study.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so um for our leaders who are listening, um, many of you might have a dedicated missions uh program or missions hour during your midweek.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I want to affirm you to still do that in light of these things that we are finding out about how much of a difference it makes now and later.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um but maybe you don't have that dedicated time.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to um explore ideas on how we can just naturally embed these mission components in your primary teaching hour, your small groups, your large groups, um, and find ways to partner with your church-wide uh mission initiatives, um, with your families, um, certainly um uh finding ways to uh get missionaries in front of your children's ministry.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that research that you just shared, Dr.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Chipwood, is very specific to having a relationship with an actual missionary.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: To me, that is low-hanging fruit for all of us because we can um we can make that happen.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: We can invite our missionaries to come, to, to get to know our kids, to regularly have FaceTime when they are stateside uh to help our kids know what a missionary is and um understand, uh, first of all, the Great Commission is for all of us, um, but also just having a heart for the nations and a heart for unreached people groups, those are things that we can regularly be talking about in um every time we open God's word together.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so I um I want to encourage all of us to to think through uh that lens of not having to separate this into a missions education hour.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Although if you if you can do that and um incorporate it into everything that you're doing.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we talked about Dr.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood, maybe walking through um some of these uh core components of of like what you were saying, you're either going or you are mobilizing.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so that might look like, first of all, what I just said was actually learning, like starting with just learning and understanding um uh the Great Commission and uh Jesus' words to us to go make disciples, uh, but also um uh just to hear and understand his heart for um for all people and uh and for all people to hear uh the gospel.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: But then also we we talked about how all kids can be uh involved in praying for missionaries.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just talk about those two things learning and praying.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: How can that look as as we're working with kids any given Sunday or or midweek?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I th I think it just starts with intentionality.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh okay, we we we we see the importance of this in in scripture.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: We sense the importance of it as a church.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're going to be intentional in teaching and modeling it for our children, just like anything else that we would see as essential and important.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so you've referenced some of the ways that can be lived out, that can be played out in a local church setting.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: We actually have a prayer app that you can download and daily prayer requests.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: We also have a prayer calendar that has a specific unreached people group to pray for on a regular basis.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: You can incorporate that into just your regular lesson, whether that's a Sunday morning Bible study, Wednesday night Bible study, Sunday night, what have you.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the other activities that you're doing where you have, okay, in this time of prayer, uh, we're going to pray specifically for.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you talk about that all these are educational materials.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you talk a little bit about that people group and what their state of lostness is and where they're located in the world.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And is there is there any missionary work among them?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so that guided prayer time uh begins to open up uh the imagination uh of the students uh or the children as they're thinking about uh these places are far away and these people who are much different than them, and and yet they're the same in that uh they're uh they're people who God have created, who God wants to know, who God wants them to know Him.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and they uh like all of us uh have one problem that rises above all the other problems in their life.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we talk about at the IMB, the world's greatest problem.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the world's greatest problem being a broken relationship with our creator, every person.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's a universal problem.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: This applies to every person, no matter where they are, uh and and no matter what age they are, this is every person's greatest problem.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh because it's a universal problem, it's also the only problem that is eternal.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And by that, uh, what we're talking about is uh the moment you die, every problem in your life ends, unless you die lost.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a problem that lasts forever, because if you've not had a had a place for God in your life, if you rejected God in your life uh here and now, then you're not going to be welcomed into his presence in eternity.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be separated from uh him and hell.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is the one problem that lasts forever, it's the eternal problem.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's why we talk about it as the world's greatest problem.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: So uh to really draw that connection, that similarity uh between you know the students uh and their family and everyone in our community to these people who may be viewed as you know being in exotic places around the world, so different, so distant, but they're really not all that different.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: They have the same problem.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and there's one solution uh to this problem for everyone everywhere, and it is the gospel.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so just uh incorporating the time of prayer, focusing on gospel access for specific people, and it becomes an educational opportunity uh and an uh opportunity to expand the worldview of uh the students, and then God uses that to stir, okay, who's gonna go and uh and and who's gonna share with them.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, it was when I I mentioned as a freshman in college, I felt a call to minister.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: The very first person I talked to about that call that I'd sense God had placed on my life uh was my small group leader, uh my Sunday school teacher.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was a deacon in our church, his name was George Doell, and George Doell has passed away now.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh I went to him because I've been sitting in his Sunday school classroom, uh listening to him uh uh teach God's word, and we had a relationship.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and and so I was joyful to be able to share with him what you know what that I trusted him, and I trusted him not to go tell everybody things I weren't ready uh to share yet.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And he really helped me think through uh that and and work through that calling and and then you know how I acknowledge that calling uh to the church and and and to other people in my life.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh you know, we we prayed together in those Bible studies, we learned God's word together, uh, and so utilizing those resources a very intentional way uh to turn uh the students' hearts and minds toward God's purposes for them.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh whether that is God may have a call to ministry upon some of the kids sitting in your uh in your classroom or youth group.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: No one would have guessed, I don't think, uh, that uh that in in the children's ministry at first Baptist Chellico or the youth ministry at first Babys Celical, oh, we've got a kid here, someday's gonna be a pastor, someday's gonna be president of the IMB.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody can do any of that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: But they were just they were just doing their job and discipling and teaching God's word and uh and putting up with me and my buddies and all of the nonsense we got into.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but they were patient and and the Lord used all of that.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh you know that kind of chases maybe a little bit of a rabbit trail, but but it's just to say uh that being intentional and and in utilizing resources.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Life we have so many resources out, the I and B has uh these resources and find ways to incorporate them, uh, to go beyond just uh maybe maybe a lesson or maybe an activity and open up uh the student's uh heart and mind to God's work among the nation, his his his plan, that narrative again that runs throughout scripture, uh and uh and not uh not assume that the Lord uh isn't gonna call one of these kids to the nation.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we talk about calling out the called, yes, and uh and ultimately, you know, it's it's the Lord's job, we're not gonna manufacture that, uh, but uh we should be uh uh raising awareness and and opening up doorways that the Lord might use uh to uh to call uh those who he would send.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know, again, as we said, if if that person doesn't feel ultimately that calling, let's let's help all of us in the church, from kids all the way up to senior adults, to understand and embrace our role.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh while our role might not be to go as a missionary, uh, we do have uh the the the role, the admonition of scripture to be praying, uh to be giving generously, to ensure the gospel gets to the nations and missionaries are able to go, uh, and as church to be intentional in sending them out.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and then you know we talk a lot about uh uh taking a mission trip.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't I don't think you have to have a unique calling uh you know as a missionary to go live and uh your life cross-culturally to take a mission trip.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think everyone, everyone who health who's healthy and and able to stay have a passport and ready to take a mission trip because it will change your life.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It will change how you live your life out locally and in your community and in your family and in your church once you've had your uh that experience and uh your mind open to how God is is uh working uh among the nations and it gives you a different view of lostness that transfers very easily back home where you suddenly realize, oh, there's people all around me here who are lost.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the job missionaries overseas, uh, that's one job, but I have a job right here.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's sharing the gospel uh with people here in my community.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking of practical ways that might look uh just as we uh wrap around what our church is already doing.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe your church is sending missionaries, uh even locally or um stateside, if you will, or internationally.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how can we get that in front of our kids and our families to be praying actively for them?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: That could be as easy as um having a little card with the pictures um on the cards and sitting at home for the refrigerator, um, or it's in our newsletters, our communication.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes uh there's a lot going on that our churches are doing and not intentionally forgetting about uh the children's ministry, but maybe just thinking, well, you know, they're doing their own thing or but but let's have eyes to see maybe what's already going on in our local church family uh that we could um wrap around and get in front of our kids uh and then, like you said, um, Dr.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood, in an intentional way, being mindful of the things already going on.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if if your church is not sending um missionaries, let's let's use resources like for example, you just mentioned the app that you all provide.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know your website has information.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: We will link all of those in the show notes, but just to be telling stories of the of what missionaries are doing all around the world.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be necessarily what you, the ones that you're sending from your church, but just keep telling those stories of of the nations and um our missionaries so that we can um help kids um catch a vision for that, but also to be praying both at church and at home.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and that's just one way that we are all active in missions.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another way, uh, and you've kind of mentioned it, is um giving.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: How does that look for kids?
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking just about my own uh personal testimony of um bringing an uh Annie Armstrong or Lottie Moon offering.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'd love to give you a chance to briefly tell us about those for um our listeners that may not be familiar.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Those are household names for some of us, but not everybody.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, Dr.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Chit, would would you start with Lottie Moon?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us uh just a little bit about Lottie Moon and what that offering specifically does.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's named after uh what we would call one of our missionary saints.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all believers are saints in the Lord, uh, but uh a single missionary who spent 40 years overseas uh and uh on the mission fields of China uh back in the 1800s.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh she actually uh uh in a time of famine shared a lot of her food and uh and herself endured starvation.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she on Christmas Eve uh was on her way, her health had failed so drastically, she was on her way back to the United States and uh in a port in Kobe, Japan passed away uh before she was able to come back to the United States.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it was uh uh a little time after that that an annual offering for missionary work overseas through Southern Baptist was named uh by the Women's Missionary Union, W.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's emphasized around Christmas time, uh although like uh like to say at the IMB, every day is Christmas at the IMB.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: So any day any day a person wants to give a Lottie Moon, we're we're ready to see.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Every penny uh of the Lottie Moon offering is used overseas on the mission field.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we also benefit from the support of the Quacker Program, which is just uh overall missions giving that churches give to uh ensure that ministries at home, uh in their state, our nation, and around the world take place.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so the IMB benefits primarily from those two uh channels of funding.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh the Lottie offering uh is uh a great opportunity for a church or an individual to know, oh, I'm making a direct impact and getting the gospel.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Every penny that I'm giving is going to be used overseas.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a Ministry of Overhead, it's not Dr.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Chitwood's salary uh or the computer he's setting in front of.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's all used on the front line uh overseas.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um teaching children, you know, that stewardship and what it means uh to uh to be faithful in our tithing.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I again I can thank LifeWay for being able to uh have that lesson instilled in me as a child.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: When I uh joined the church and was baptized uh as uh eight or nine-year-old kid, I immediately began getting uh LifeWay offering envelopes uh that would uh uh that would uh come to our house and uh have my name on them.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so every week out of my allowance, uh I would put my offering in, and there was a box on there to check, is this a tithe?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so am I giving 10%?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a tithe?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Am I attending Sunday school?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: Am I attending worship?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh have I shared the gospel this week, have invited someone to church.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so that became, I mean, that became a pattern from time.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like literally, I was a little kid uh until today.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: My wife and I, we we still tithe.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kind of instilled in us uh in our local church and through those resources.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so teaching the our children the joy of being able to give, uh, joy of being able to steward what the Lord has given us and to know, wow, this I'm making an impact around the world when I give my little offering.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it literally helps the work take place around the world.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it's it is a beautiful opportunity indeed, and something we should be uh instilling.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that way, when we, you know, you mentioned praying for those missionaries and praying for people groups, or uh you said FaceTime when they're in.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, you know, with with technology today, uh we we tell uh all the churches, all 3,500 of those missionaries, even if one of them went out from your church or not, all 3,500 are yours because you partnered with us and you support.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh get them, uh get them on a FaceTime literally from overseas to look to to start out or wrap up your Bible study, let the kids hear from them, see them, uh, let the kids hear them say thank you to the kids in the class.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, some of you gave an offering this week, and it helped support our family and the work that we did to share the gospel with with Abdul or whoever that shared the gospel with that week and and just make that connection.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's such a great idea and uh one that I encourage you to do.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one way that I see a lot of churches partner, and this is a life way partnership with the IMB as well, is during VBS.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have missions videos that come from stories from IMB missionaries that we um encourage churches to show during their VBS and to um provide opportunities for giving.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so we see so many churches give very creative of encouraging kids to maybe start a lemonade stand that week, um, find little tours that they can do, um, all kinds of ideas, um, even a little competition sometimes between boys and girls teams and things like that, and um and highlight missions during VBS.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you uh uh listeners to maybe think about doing that around the Lottie Moon offering.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's more of a Christmas time um offering and uh an easy way to tell, first of all, Lottie Moon's story, which is one of my favorite um stories.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just been life-changing to me.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing about that as a child.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um, when I did get to go to uh visit IMB in Richmond, um they have a life-size um cardboard figure of of Lottie Moon.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and like me, she was a petite lady.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was I was happy to get to see that.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh maybe even be just a tiny bit taller, which is rare for me.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yes, inspiring, um phenomenal um uh missionary that we can highlight her story every year and encourage kids in all of those creative ways to be able to uh to share an offering um during Christmas time for our missionaries, going straight to our missionaries.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: So giving is is a great way uh to help um incorporate missions into everything that we're doing in children's ministry.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have actually okay, go ahead.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: No, I I just want to mention uh that we we do have a lot of churches who, you know, they take up that BBS offering and it comes the IMB and supports the work, but Lifeway also does something extra special in their camps.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh, because Lifeway lets their campers uh give a missions offering.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: And since I've been president now for uh eight years, uh the IMB has received well over two million dollars uh from those campers who give their extra coke money or ice cream money or whatever that money was for.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and that generosity, again, that that supports those missionaries.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: That ensures somebody gets to hear the gospel in places where they wouldn't hear it if those missionaries weren't there and they weren't funded.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's that's a great partnership we have with uh with Life Way that we benefit tremendously from at the IMB.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you are taking kids to camp, Centricid, Fuge, um, those are uh other opportunities where we can encourage kids to um not only just give, but also to hear uh these stories that we share at camp.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where a lot of kids get called to ministry and to missions is at camp and VBS.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: So those those things go hand in hand.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think there are those are examples of things that we can take to other parts of our calendar year that make sense for us.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and then we have actually going.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I know in uh in children's ministry, it's kind of hard to imagine kids going um on a mission trip unless it is with their families.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know my church does provide opportunities to do that, and so maybe your church does that as well.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh also just helping kids understand that going supporting missions doesn't necessarily just mean going on a trip.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but maybe that's something that if your student ministry goes on trips, like like my church even sends middle schoolers and high schoolers on on different mission trips.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Could those students come back to uh the children's ministry?
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because we know our kids look up to the students so much.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Could they see, okay, in just a couple of years, I'm gonna get to do that?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and that gives them something to look forward to and hear from um kids that are just a few years younger about what that looks like and how that was life-changing for them.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a quick idea for going.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then sending, um, this we'll close out here, but um I'm thinking about you mentioned Dr.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood of just you and your wife going to sending ceremonies and services throughout the years and how impactful that that was.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've certainly been to some of those as well and have been, you know, on mission and been commissioned um to be a goer uh several times throughout my life.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how can we invite kids and families into those kinds of opportunities?
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think when it comes to just feeling ownership and a personal connection to sending, uh, certainly the IMB does our sending celebrations, uh, three or four of those a year.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: The biggest one is at Southern Maps Convention annual meeting.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a couple of them are here in Richmond, and then we do one out uh in a state convention annual meeting each year and many years one of local churches.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: But again, those may still be some distance from uh, you know, where a local church, but you can on the IMB calendar you can see where those are going to be and learn about those opportunities if you wanted to you know take a road trip, uh uh or maybe it's closer and you just uh drive to your church and one of those happens there.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh you know another idea for making that connection in a local church uh is something that happened at the church I preached at again in North Carolina this past Sunday.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a young man who's going out for a midterm assignment with the IMB.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to be in South Asia for the rest of the year.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the church had a commissioning time for him uh near the end of the service, uh, where they told they had him on stage, kind of told the story of uh where he's going, what he's going to do, and uh they all prayed for him, just as you referenced Janet, opportunities you've had.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but any time a mission trip's going out locally, nationally, or internationally, uh, to highlight that in the worship times uh and and to let everyone see and learn and experience and commit to pray for.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and as you referenced, great idea to have uh I remember being in a youth group as a kid and and there was a couple of uh uh our youth minister invited a couple of uh uh high schoolers when I was still like in middle school from another local church to share about a mission experience they had had.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: I still I can't believe I just had that memory.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but that's like from 40, uh I don't know how many years ago.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, 40 years ago.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but uh uh it it does it does make it up because you're right, the the the the younger kids looking up to those high schoolers.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so uh opportunity to to let that be personal and just it goes back to being intentional and getting it in front of the kids.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's all part of the discipleship uh opportunity.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, from the laying on uh uh church at Antioch of uh of uh of hands, uh, as missionary Paul went out, uh Paul and Barnabas went out from there.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we we see from the New Testament time on uh that when the church is intentional about its mission work and about discipling towards God's heart for the nations, it results in people going and more people hearing and the gospel expanding.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that is a great place to close out.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Listeners and viewers, I hope that this has energized you to, if you're not already including missions in your discipleship planning, that you would um take a step back and do some planning around that.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: This whole season we're talking about discipleship.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so those top five things that that study found include missions, education, and exposing kids from a young age to what it means to pray for missionaries, give, go and send.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: We can do that in a variety of ways that are contextualized to our local churches and to each age group and to helping families also catch that vision.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, Dr.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Chitwood, thank you so much for making time to encourage our listeners and viewers, and thank you so much for everything that you're doing at the IMB.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for dealing with the topic.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me on.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, pray the Lord continue to bless you and your ministry and uh my friend Ryan as he gets his feet under there, leading the life way, you're excited about the future.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we will close it out here.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: Listeners, I want you to remember the Bible says, let us stir up one another to love and good works.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that is my prayer for you.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for tuning in today, and I will be waiting for you on the next episode of Kids Ministry Calling.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: This episode of Kids Ministry Calling Podcast is not in the amazing team, including executive producer Andy Lincoln, produced or license of the edited by Trick Martin Luther, and recorded in the Lifeweight Podcast studio in Friday Ministry with Sound Engineer Dominic Orden.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: And artwork by Cameron Lost.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm your host, Janet McGrath.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Ministry Calling.