Several years ago, we scheduled Tommy Tenney to be the keynote speaker at our national Ignite the Supernatural Conference. To help with my conference budget, I asked around to find a place for Tommy to speak on the weekend so that the church and the conference could split the cost of his travel expenses. When I asked about the possibility of getting Tommy into a large Pentecostal church in the area, my friends immediately shot down my suggestion. They reminded me that the church leadership planned their services down to the precise minute with every segment of the service carried out according to the schedule. And, for those who have been in a Tommy Tenney meeting, we know that he thankfully follows the Holy Spirit and moves and flows according to His dictates. At times, Tommy’s planned sermons are tossed to the side in order to follow His promptings and leadings. The unpredictable is the predictable! Needless to say, Tommy didn’t speak at that particular church.
Children’s/Youth ministry leader, are your kids missing out of all that God has for them because you’ve squeezed Him into a 3 or 4 minute allocated time slot? I know that you’ve studied and prepared. You’ve invested much time in finding creative, innovative ways to share the Good News. You’ve “studied to show yourself approved unto God”. I applaud you for doing so. But, I’m sure that there have been countless times that God has tried to rearrange your plans and ministry outlines during a service but you’ve plowed on neglecting His nudges and promptings.
What if the Holy Spirit wanted you to go beyond your usual two fast songs and one slow song so that you could see David’s words “You have taught children and babies to sing praises to you …” (Psalm 8:2, New Century Version) come to life and the children/youth in your ministry journey into a realm of the Spirit they have never experienced? What if the Holy Spirit told you to camp on the first object lesson/point of your service and push the remaining segments to future ministry opportunities so that He could pinpoint an area in individual’s lives? Could you? Would you?
Come on. Be bold and daring. Don’t bottleneck the Holy Spirit. When prompted, step out of the security found in schedules and formulas and lay aside your plans so that He can radically impact lives. You will find that the Holy Spirit who doesn’t wear a watch nor adheres to man-made schedules will begin to do His specialty, supernaturally manifest and make His presence known. Again I ask, can you? Will you?
