What are other churches doing to connect church and home?

Victory Life Baptist Church places emphasis on children

By Kellie Bramlet | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Story last updated at 3/30/2010 - 7:31 am

Things are changing at Victory Life Baptist Church.

At the center of it all - jumping up and down, waving his hands, singing loudly - was Tim Lester. The new children's pastor is striving to reach not just children, but their parents, too.

Throughout one Sunday morning service, the congregation sang songs and even danced a little. They played games and heard stories told in front of a changing animated background. They completed puzzles and received prizes.More and more young families are joining the church, and it's altering the way church members interact.

This typical weekend service was transformed to provided the whole congregation with a window into the children's church, Victory Life's Sunday school.

Of the 1,000 people who attend the five-year-old church's weekend services, about 300 of them are children, said Brad Jurkovich, Victory Life's senior pastor.

To better reach these young churchgoers, Jurkovich brought in Lester, a children's pastor who had most recently been working Frisco.

"As a multi-generational church, it's really about reaching kids and reaching every generation," Jurkovich said.

In the three months since Lester arrived in Lubbock, he's worked to make sure children understand Christian teaching and that parents understand their role in that teaching.

He and other church leaders donned black T-shirts with bold, white writing that reads, "1/168," referring to the fraction of hours members spend in church. The simple fraction is paramount to the theory driving Lester's work.

Lester knows he only controls a small portion of the children's time.

Their parents are much larger influences, he said. So he makes preaching to parents a part of his work as children's pastor.

"Our whole passion is to influence parents so they can teach at home and not just in church," he said.

Sometimes the children receive homework assignments to complete with their parents. They can return the assignments each week in exchange for a small prize.

Churchgoers said they are starting to notice Lester's mission and the changes he's made in light of them.

Amy and Bobby Harmon, along with their two children, joined Victory Life about two and a half years ago. Since then, they've watched the congregation grow. As more and more young families joined the church, they saw the pastors reach out to the church's smallest members.

"Now that Pastor Tim is here, he's taking it to another level," Bobby Harmon said.

Lester hopes other churches will take children's ministry to another level as well.

D6, a Dallas-based group dedicated to getting parents involved in children's religious education, holds an annual conference to teach some of the concepts on which Lester bases his work. The group's name comes from a Bible verse, Deuteronomy 6: 5-7, which instructs parents to take responsibility for their children's spiritual well-being.

"I do believe it's a movement that's happening, but it's at its ground roots right now," Lester said. "It's my dream to see that happen elsewhere."

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kellie.bramlet@lubbockonline.com l 766-8754

FAITH/Victory Life Baptist places new focus on Christian education of children