Children Matter to God

Every person matters to God. This certainly includes children. Jesus welcomed children into His arms and children responded to Jesus.

By Mark Kremer
Directional Pastor

He clearly directed His followers to pay attention to children and in fact, held up the total trust of a child as the kind of faith that adults need.  (See Luke 18:15-17). There was no question in the minds of the people who knew and walked with Jesus in ancient Israel that children matter to God and should matter to His followers. 

At LBC we couldn’t agree more about the importance of ministry to children.  In fact, each year more than 500 adults minister to more than 1000 children who participate in one or more of our many programs.  These dynamic programs are led by our Children’s Directional Team and an excellent staff who are passionate about what we do as a church to reach and nurture children and their parents.

We’re committed to providing a safe, nurturing environment where children can experience the love of Christ and grow in their knowledge of Him.  We believe the best way to accomplish this is to have a highly relational ministry where workers develop personal relationships with children in small groups.  These adult mentors shepherd and teach biblical truth in an age-appropriate way, using the best methods and materials available.  As a result, we strive to ensure that every child is known and cared for personally by their small group (table) leader.  This philosophy of ministry means that half of our current facility is used for children’s ministry and the need for lay staff to work with a small group of children is enormous.

New Leadership

As in any important ministry area, having the right leadership is essential and we are thrilled to have Dan Moeller as the new point leader for our ministry to children, along with Tim Bohlke, Directional Team Shepherd.

Dan and his family moved to Lincoln last month and Dan took up his role as Pastor of Children’s Ministries on May 22nd. 

Dan Moeller is no stranger to LBC.  He was involved in the college ministry while attending Nebraska Wesleyan and then as an intern before going to Talbot Seminary. While interning at LBC, Dan worked at Harris Laboratories managing their research development. Many a young man attending the College Impact ministry has fond memories of living at the “F” Street house where Dan served as counselor and friend.  Dan and Lisa met while attending the college ministry and were married at LBC. They are the parents of Rachel, 3 and Timothy, 2. After graduation from Talbot they moved to Gothenburg, Neb., where he was the senior pastor of First Baptist Church.   Dan’s parents, Gordon and Carrole, also attended LBC until they became a part of our new church plant, North Pointe Community (Berean) Church.

Please remember to pray for the children’s ministry leadership team as they give direction to this vital ministry of LBC.  Pray for children to trust Christ and grow in their faith.  Pray for more lay staff to serve these children.  Pray for a God-sized vision to touch the children of our city and beyond.  Finally, remember that a good portion of your giving to the General Fund supports these vital ministries and the facilities needed to house them. 

VBS is Over...But the Impact Lives On

Thank you to the hundreds who helped make VBS 2006 a great success.  The list of those directly helping with VBS and the closing program totaled 285.  720+ children enjoyed the Arctic Edge songs, drama video, Bible lesson, mission’s emphasis, crafts, recreation, barrel train rides and cookies.

The children exceeded their mission goal of $3500 by giving $4000+ to the work of Abiding Grace Church, our inner city church plant. A number of Bibles were given to children who had no Bible.  The closing event on Friday evening was attended by well over 1000 people. Families enjoyed watching their children, hearing them sing songs they learned in VBS and visiting at the ice cream social.