Don't Stop the Little Children

On the porch sat 5 mid-aged men and women, beers in hand. We had already been walking around for a few hours. "That's the house where Abe told some stories," one of us pointed out as we walked by, so crossed the street and stood at the side-yard fence.

"We're some more missionaries," I said, and quickly one of the louder guys turns and yells into the house, "hey, get out here, there's some missionaries here for ya." The parents explained that what we were going to tell them was very important, and asked us into the yard. "Can we turn down the music?" One of the kids suggested we all go into the front yard, and began leading the 6-7 kids in that direction, leaving the grown-ups to their grown-up things.

They'd already heard some stories from Abe and Ellen, and now wanted more. John told them about raising the widow's son and I told them about Easter. They got excited, while one boy asked if it was true. We taught them how to pray and about reading the Bible and gave them the ones we had.

Next day, we return to check with their mother, if we could use their yard that weekend. She assured us and we made to leave, but the kids found out we were there and burst out the door demanding they know more stories. Other kids we hadn't met before came out too, now 7-8 kids stood on the porch. "Each of you should tell us a story. You, you start." Each of us told a story. We also taught them the Lord's Prayer and even did a skit with them about raising Lazarus. They wanted Bibles for their new friends, but we said we'd have to get more. It took a while to pull ourselves out of there, but what started as an errand became another chance for God's Kingdom to break out.

This has been happening all over the southside. Children and the simple come out with ears to hear, asking us for more stories of Jesus and to teach them. There is a growing kid army here who are coming to know the Lord even in the midst of a culture with 'more grown-up' things to do.