This Sunday will certainly be an extra special one for the family that meets here at Northside. Our morning will primarily focus on the various mission efforts which our congregation supports around the globe. And while those different missionaries and efforts are very important, and undoubtedly deserve our attention and dollars, I want to remind you of another “mission field” which also deserves your consideration.
This Sunday evening we will be honoring our graduating high school seniors in the cleverly-named event, “Senior Sunday.” Starting at 4:00 there will be a come-and-go reception in the Multipurpose Room, where the Northside family will have an opportunity to show their love and support for the graduates, and impart an encouraging word to each of them. Our 6:00 worship hour will include songs selected by the seniors, special prayers over them and their families, a devotional message and charge, and a recognition ceremony.
Now, you may be wondering about the title of this article. Perhaps you thought, “If Mike is just addressing the graduates, then why even read the rest of the article?” Well, if you’re still reading at this point, I want you to know that this article is not intended for our high school seniors – I mean, let’s be honest, none of them will actually read this bulletin article. Instead, this article is intended for the other group of “seniors” within the Northside congregation (Note: for all intents and purposes, by “seniors” I am simply referring in general to anyone older than a high school graduate).
The charge I would like to give the Northside family stems from the instructions that Paul gave to his companion in the faith – Titus. In the second chapter of his letter to Titus, Paul coaches him to “teach what is in accord with sound doctrine” to the older men and women. In turn, the older women were to “train the younger women” in various areas of life; and the older men to “encourage the young men” and “set them an example.” No doubt the older, more spiritually mature members at Northside have been taught sound doctrine, and are continually growing in the faith. But wouldn’t it be tragic if all we ever did was keep our faith experiences to ourselves?
With that in mind, I want to encourage you to make it your mission to do the following for our high school graduating seniors…
- Get a list of names of the graduates, and regularly lift them up in prayer.
- Find out from them or their parents where they plan to be following graduation, and periodically send encouraging notes.
- Pick one, or maybe two, of the graduates to unofficially “adopt,” and seek out opportunities to visit them in person (like being an extended “Prayer Pal”).
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt