When the program ended that day I was more than happy to leave, and let it slip my mind forever. Until Julian decided to ask me to go back the next week, and I reluctantly agreed. The next week when I went back there were only four of us, and James eyes seemed to move over to me even faster. I decided James was a person who frustrated me very much, because he was also a person that made me doubt my ideas. That day I was glad to leave the program, but I was less reluctant to go back, and I even had lingering thoughts that followed me for the rest of the week. 

That weekend I decided to go out to Chinese with my grandparents. The meal was going fine and I was having a good time, until my phone rang. This didn't happen often so I was genuinely surprised, even more so when I read that caller ID that said it was Julian's mother calling. When I answered the phone I was met with a very frantic mother. She told me Julian had cut off his finger, and he was being life-flighted to Boston. My heart dropped below my feet and I immediately began to panic. 

After I hung up the phone I looked around me and suddenly everything in that Chinese restaurant was shaped like a finger. I could feel my breath start to speed up and I ran out of the restaurant. I walked to the nearest pillar and leaned my body against it. I looked up into the sky and then looked further. I stared into the blue and began to pray. I told God that because Julian believed in him, because he loved him, he needed to fix this. He needed to help my best friend because I loved him. That was the first time in my life that I genuinely prayed. 

The next few days I continued praying, it was the only thing I could think to do. I continued with my life, with worry constantly present. The first opportunity Julian had to contact me, he told me I needed to go back to that after school program. I hadn't even thought of the program, but I readily agreed, willing to do anything for him in that moment. 

The day of the program came around and I knew I had to go for Julian. In the middle of first period I got a text from Julian's mother telling me that Julian was in surgery again. Immediately I was worried, and what-ifs flew around in my head in rapid succession. I spent the entire day praying and worrying. In addition to this I had been finding out that none of the other students would be going the the program that day. When the final bell rang my stomach was in my throat. My best friend was under the knife, again, I was the only person going to this program, and I just wanted to go home. 

I was standing in the hallway across from my cousin with a buzzing in my ears. I wasn't paying attention to a word that was being said. Instead I was thinking about all the things that had been going wrong. For a moment I tuned in to what my cousin was saying in time to hear him say “hey it's that guy.” I turned around to see James making his way toward me, and slowly walked over. 

The very first words that came out of James mouth were “how's Julian.” After the words left his mouth, I let out all of the things I had been feeling all day. I rambled on and on about everything that had happened and all of the what-ifs in my mind and how worried I was and how I had been praying for him. I rambled about Julian being in surgery, I rambled about not knowing what to do. Somewhere in my word vomit James picked out the word praying. He stopped my rambling, looked at me, and very simply asked “would you have turned to God if this didn't happen?” 

In that moment it was as if all the puzzle pieces had come together. I finally made some sense of this terrible situation. If Julian had simply cut his finger I would have told him to get over it. If he had died, I would have completely given up on God whatsoever. If it had happened at any other time, to any other person, my reaction would not be the same. I was put in the exact situation I needed to be in in order to turn to God. The domino's had been put in order and they fell exactly the way they needed to. ​

Sophie's story doesn't end there. She is helping to lead our ongoing after-school group, encouraging more students to ask questions and come to know the one true God that she has come to know as her Father.

She is also interning with Maine Ministry, helping us to find fresh approaches to reaching her peers. She's also leading the charge in our church's youth group to be more bold in sharing their faith and living it out in their communities. 

She's also a student in a public high school. She still faces the daily challenges of this world for a teenage girl. She still lives with her family that she loves dearly, yearning for them to see the light of the Gospel. 

Sophie spoke to a gathering of many of our volunteers and team members recently. She reminded us all that there are many, many more students and staff who are hurting and without hope. Many of them have never really had any interaction with the church.

We have such an opportunity to go into these buildings and reach the lost, the hurting, the lonely, the seemingly fine, the souls who are inside those doors. She made an appeal that we all consider these and others who have not heard the Truth that has set each of us free.

- James Shaw
Center Director

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 
​Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Colossians 4:2-6 ​

Help Them Face The World And It's Questions

We went in with the belief that many teens have questions like these but don't have anyone to ask them to or don't even know how to ask them. We are even more convinced that this is true now. One girl was trying to formulate her thought  "if God exists, why do bad things happen to good people?". Another teen, who is a believer, stated it in those words. The look on this girls face revealed that she felt that question was one few others, if any, would have shared. It was quite possible a question that she would not have asked had someone not helped draw it out. Can you imagine the weight that question carries for high school girl in this day and age?

When we asked the teens what they what gave their life meaning and what they were hoping in for their futures we realized how empty these things were for them. One girl hoped for a better relationship because of the poor relationship with a boyfriend she just had. Another girl hope life wouldn't stink because it does now. For these girls and many other teens they gain meaning from relationships or other things that can fail too easily. Their hope is in temporal things like a relationship going well, life at home improving or just making it through high school. And when asked what they would hope in if those things failed, they didn't really have an answer. So much of their life hinges on things that are so small in the scheme of life, let alone eternity.

This should give us reason to pause and consider how we as the church are ensuring that these types of questions can be asked by the young people in our churches and communities. Are we? If they are not being asked of us who can take them to The Truth, then they will be asked of others who will give false hope at best. 

One woman had this to say in review of a play on the life of C.S. Lewis and his coming to Christ:

"The open-endedness implied by conversation is important. Christianity, real Christianity, is not a series of deliverances which shut down thought. Conversion does not happen like a closing-off to the world, to discovery: my own conversion, at least, began with a “what if” that felt like a window opening on fresh air.
What if the universe was not in fact closed, was not in fact a locked-in machine after all?  What if aesthetic experience did in fact point to truth? One doesn’t need to jump straight to Christianity: but the door is open, the wind is blowing, the quarry has broken cover.
There is something, here, to be pursued. There is something here, too, that is good: the news from a far country that all this implies is good news. It matches who we are, it brings us to life, and does not shut us down.”
“Or because, describing aesthetic experience, speaking to my reason in a rigorous and challenging way, he was my friend? Because this is how friends, how peers, speak to each other, as Lewis (of course) discusses in The Four Loves: They share a good, they share a pursuit, a quarry.
Friends do not, or don’t exclusively, face each other.  They face the world shoulder to shoulder.”

Teens need someone to come along side them and help them face the world and it's questions.


Hope Is Fed Promises

The wedge in the door to the school was hope, or rather it was lack of it. Suicide rates have been high in Maine and with recent suicides in our area this past winter many were finding themselves unsure where to place their hope.

Recently I heard someone say that hope is fed promises. It's either fed healthy promises that will last or junk promises that only satisfy for a while. The analogy is great because we know the effects of healthy eating vs binging on junk food. Junk food and sodas satisfy our taste buds but don't give our bodies the long lasting energy we need to sustain an active life. Once the sugar rush ends, we're left with pain and regret as the headache sets in.

In the same way we can place our hope in promises that meet the temporal craving. Consider these:

• buy new things = I won't feel poor
• watch a romance movie = my relationship will feel more like theirs
• go on Facebook = I won't feel alone
• make it through high school = the hard part of life will be over

When we place our hope in promises like these, our hope will be put to shame and we will be left with pain and regret.

We, however, have been born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3), that does not put us to shame (Rom 5:5) and that should stir us to action (1 Peter 1:13)! We as the church need to be taking this hope to those who have no hope, to those who are placing their hope in junk promises. We need to also ask ourselves what we are hoping in each day. Is it ultimately in the only One who can satisfy, or are we placing our hope in wells that do not satisfy? (Jeremiah 2:13).

Don't Waste Your Life

The following story illustrates this well and has impacted me in this area.

Three weeks ago, we got word at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards had both been killed in Cameroon. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon.

The brakes give way, over the cliff they go, and they’re gone — killed instantly.

And I asked my people: was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great vision, spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ — two decades after almost all their American counterparts have retired to throw their lives away on trifles in Florida or New Mexico. No. That is not a tragedy. That is a glory.

I tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest what a tragedy is. “Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”

That’s a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you: don’t buy that dream. The American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did: “Here it is Lord — my shell collection! And I’ve got a nice swing, and look at my boat!”

Don’t waste your life; don’t waste it.

We have a hope in something greater than a “good life” here. The teens we talk to in the public school have those types of hopes and dreams. We have something greater, born again to a living hope.
Is our life being lived for those worldly passions or for the greatest joy - bringing glory to our Lord?

Let's live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:2)


Through this time at the school we did have one story in particular that we'd like to share, but I'll let Sophie tell that story next time...

Friday evening, March 24th, 2017 proved to be cold and snowy with dangerous roads. When we heard from some calling out due to the road conditions, Mark Adolphsen and I reminded each other that it is God who has control of the weather and is sovereign over all things, including this gathering. What a testimony the weather did end up providing because, with many praying from their homes and hospital beds, another 45 people (ages 1 to 91 from over half-a-dozen churches) ventured out in the snow to Answer The Call!

Think of what that speaks to the schools that we gathered in support of!
​
​What Breaks Your Heart?

In that cafeteria at the high school,...

...we addressed the group that gathered there and opened with the story of God's leading: how He had gone before us and prepared the way so that when we stepped through the doors of the local schools in obedience, the hearts of the principals were ready to receive the message we carried. The stories of God working in these schools stir excitement...but they should stir something else too.

When I think of the many people and years spent in prayer, or concern, for the school I can't help but ask the question: Why haven't we walked through the door sooner?

One Pastor, who couldn't make it Friday night, said that he was ashamed - ashamed of his assumption that this was another ecumenical work, because he didn't think that the Gospel could go into the school. I think, of everyone I talked to, his was one of the most encouraging responses. His is a heart that is broken and recognizes that we have not held to a firm belief in the power of the Gospel for everyone through every door! Rom 1:16

We shared our burden with those gathered and our hope for broken hearts toward these areas:
​

• Our Sin - We pleaded for humility, recognizing our own sin. We're not going to bring others to the Gospel if we think they're the only ones who are in need of it. We need to daily come before the throne of grace. Hebrews 4:16

 

• Dead Faith - We asked that we all recognize and repent of inaction, our choosing not go into the schools - for the first time or to try again. Our absence in the school says a lot about what we believe the Gospel of Christ is able to do for those inside. James 4:17

​

• The Lost - We as the church have relinquished our responsibility to prepare kids for life, both earthly and eternal, and expected the school communities to handle it on their own. If schools are trying to also prepare kids physically, emotionally, spiritually and morally, they will certainly not be able to adequately prepare them academically. (See the survey results at the end of this article.)  Rom 10:14

​

• The Dying - Many school staff and students are lost and without hope. Without hope, what is the purpose in studying, working, loving, or even living? Some have already taken that to the furthest limit and ended their own lives. Ephesians 2:12

​

• Urgency of the Hour - We need to recognize the urgency of the hour and follow the Spirit with joy and compassion, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are lost. In the School this means sharing the Gospel with our lives so that we can earn the place in their lives to share it with words out of the school - whether in an after school club or in the community. Hebrews 10:23-25​

If we don't go into our communities with tears stained faces from hearts truly broken for the lost, they are not going to hear the wonderful, but hard message we carry. Jeremiah 8:21 We need to go, desperate to help them find the only One that can provide healing. Psalm 147:1-6

"The greatest tragedy of our time is that the situation is desperate but the saints are not." ​

 
​These are our kids!


Esther, who works ay the high school, gave us all a good, full picture of what life is like within the school walls. She did well in drawing us in to see the caring hearts of teen boys, the tenacity of the drama team to repeatedly win trophies for their school, the camaraderie of the students at sports events and in difficult times, the humanness of each person within the school walls - which for some I think was important as we tend to demonize those we don't relate to or know much about. Matt 9:36

She also spent some time letting us in to the culture that is unlike ours, some of it just different - some of it truly broken. The idea was clearly laid out that many students and teachers, just like our own neighbors, have not met Christ and may be unaware that anything is missing. 2 Cor 4:3-4

Many young people are heading on a path that will lead to self-destruction and, as all sin does, will pull many down with them. If we as the church do not step in and become a presence in our communities how will they know anything of faith, hope and love? Rom 5:6-8

While many in the church have not been desperate enough, Amy Carmichael reminds us that someone else has. "Satan is so much more earnest than we are. He buys up the opportunity while we are wondering how much it will cost." 
He is seeking these kids like a starving lion who will not give up until he has been thrown into the fire. 1 Pet 5:8

We need to open our hearts to the kids around us, desiring to see them walk in the truth of God's Word just as much as our own children. How many of you would leave your kids to the teaching and influence of the world without ever telling them the beautiful message of forgiveness and grace that is found in Jesus? These kids in our communities - the kids who may one day marry our biological children or grandchildren, who may work for us, who may be our politicians - these are our kids. Let's see that they hear the message of our Savior! 1 John 3:1


Broken People on Their Knees

This has been said so many times that I think it has lost it's effect on many of us, but let's ask God to help us hear it afresh: "if my people, who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" 2 Chronicles 7:14 Understanding the context of national Israel, there is still a valid principle here. We read so much throughout scripture directing us to pray, to get on our knees in humbleness of heart and seek the only One who can heal this land.

In the picture above you can see the heads bowed, reflecting the hearts of God's people who took this message to heart and asked for forgiveness, pleaded for salvation and praised for opportunity!


Do Not Lose Heart!

As Christians we are both the happiest and saddest of all people. We carry within us the Spirit of the Living God and the realization of those who do not! The Apostle Paul said:
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Cor 4:16-18

I think Jon Bloom summarizes all this well when he says:
"These kinds of distress are to be desired, not delivered from, for they are not evils, but evidences of grace in the soul. They are the marks of Christ-like love. Therefore, we must plead with God:

Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my distress for perishing unbelievers, the persecuted church, and destitute poor and my resolve to do what I can to bring them deliverance and relief through the whole gospel of Christ."
​

May God be glorified in you today as you seek to share the Gospel with those around you in word and deed!


* For further reading on this subject of serving from a broken heart, you can read a message by Rick Ezell here and an article by Jon Bloom here. 

** While we may have found a linked article or resource helpful in this article, the sharing of it should not be taken as promoting or approving of the writer, organization, or hosting website and may not reflect the views or opinions of all those at MMOC.

For more on the above research from Barna click on the picture.
​You can also find some more recent research on how the church can help in the schools here.

​Below are lyrics and video links for a couple of songs we hope will encourage you in this area of ministering to the lost from a heart of brokenness:
​

In 2005 my wife and I were pregnant for the first time (ok, my wife was pregnant, but I was partly responsible). We had friends who had their first child due around the same time as us. In September we had our healthy baby boy and they had their boy shortly afterward, only he was not healthy and passed away within a couple days. Our hearts broke for our friends and we wanted to see them be comforted...by someone. The thing was we didn't know how to relate or how to respond to them and when their doors were open for the church to come and visit them in their home we stayed away for fear of how that might go - we might make things worse.

If you're wondering why I just shared that story when we're talking about a school career day, it's because I feel it correlates with how we as the church handle the issues that are found in the school communities. Their children are dying (or dead) spiritually while ours are being nurtured in our homes and churches. We genuinely hurt for them and want to see them comforted. However, it's easier to distance ourselves from the school because we don't know how to relate and have a fear of how that conversation might go if we step through their doors. 

My wife and I did eventually talk with our friends and, if we were to do it over again, would have stepped through their doors much sooner. We realize now how important it is to just be available to those who are hurting. The question for us as the church is, are we available?
Are we willing to walk through the doors of our schools and communities and be transparent with them, willing to serve, open to talk and answer questions - or just as important, ready to listen to them?

Today, we talked with quite a few high school students, about 90% of which do not believe in God! Most had never been to church, let alone a youth ministry. They certainly never considered those as a career choice. When asked if they would be interested in having a follow-up conversation about their viewpoints on religion, most seemed at least slightly interested if not intrigued by the idea. One boy, who said he was an atheist, took my card reluctantly. However, he had a "run for the hills!" look when I asked him that same question. Even that boy at least knows that we're willing to listen and to talk about it. Another professing atheist seemed very pleased that we were willing to talk about his viewpoint without making him feel condemned. Beyond the conversation around the anomaly of our our 'Faith Based Organization", many of these teens seemed grateful that someone was simply interested in where they were heading after high school. I wonder what kind of life they have, that a stranger showing a small amount of interest seems to mean so much.

We also talked with a couple of teachers, one of which shared with us what he sees as a big need for the students. He said that they need to gain a big picture view of their lives so that they understand the importance of the choices they are making now. After our conversation he now knows that we share that same desire for the teens (only for a bigger picture that includes eternal life), that we appreciate him and the other teachers who genuinely care for the students, and that we are regularly praying for all of them. One hope with being there today is that the school staff will see that the church is not a threat to their students and will allow us to come alongside and help out.

God has given us a great open door here in Knox County, ME. We're looking forward to seeing how He uses all of us to draw many to Himself as we step through. We firmly believe that the gospel is the power of God for salvation! We also believe that the first steps to having people come to accept that truth is for them to see the gospel lived out in our lives. The Apostle James said it best, "But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."James 2:18

It's time for the church to put their fears aside and step through the doors of those who are hurting and lost!

Open Doors to the Schools!
     That's the case again with some of the things God has been doing through MMOC. We have been so blessed to have received temporary support to come in allowing me to focus on the ministry these past few weeks. In that time God has enabled us to see much accomplished in structuring the ministry, updating the website, visiting with local pastors and ministries, running our monthly outreaches and discipleship programs, and so forth. 

       Our great cause for praise, however, is that we have been able to see God open the doors to the public schools in our area! We have sent out invitations to local churches to come together on March 24th in the local high school for a time of prayer and planning. The setting up of this meeting also resulted in a meeting with school staff who have realize that they need "faith leaders" to come in and help with the hopelessness and despair among students over recent suicides. They have invited us to start an after school club in which we can be available to talk with those who are hurting, lost and confused.
      In addition to all of this they have invited us to present our ministry as a "career" opportunity at the high school career day on March 8th. We will take the opportunity to talk to students about why we serve in this ministry and show them the love of Christ. We're hoping that this will result in many of them coming to our after school club.
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Excitement is Stirring in the Church
     We were also invited along with other pastors and ministry leaders to a suicide awareness seminar hosted at the local middle school this past Wednesday. In that meeting, which was run by the State of Maine, we were told that religious communities play a large role in helping kids turn from thoughts of suicide. We already know this and more importantly we know why this is true, because we know that the only answer to every problem is found in Our Savior Jesus Christ! To hear public school staff starting to realize the same is a miracle and an encouragement for us to continue on in what God has called us to do. We believe that more and more doors are going to be opening and we are starting to see that happen already. I think many did not believe that the schools would ever open up again. Now there is an excitement stirring in the church locally. Many are almost in tears as they are seeing answers to years of praying. 

Please Pray!
     It is exciting, but please keep praying.

• Pray for the March 8th Career Day and March 24th 'Answer the Call' Meeting.
• Pray that more school staff, parents and students would allow the church to come back into the schools.
• Pray for protection against the backlash that many are sensing may come from those opposed to the gospel.

• Pray that the church would humbly, graciously, and lovingly respond with hands and hearts that are willing to live out the Gospel through serving the students and staff. 
• Pray that we at MMOC will seek the Spirit's leading as we develop the after school program and recruit volunteers.
• Please pray that we would trust God to continue providing for our team's needs, as He has so faithfully, so that we can keep our focus on the ministry He has given us.
• Please pray that God would use my family's housing situation as a means to glorify Himself! We are trusting that He will provide a house for us soon as the deadline to be out of our current house is only a couple weeks away (March 18th). Our God is always faithful! 

           The God who can open the door to the public schools can certainly open the door to a house for us!


Thank you for your love and support!

In Christ and for His glory,

James Shaw
Center Director