November 2005 - Posts

• By Request - Zambia, Electricity, and Separated Mackerel

  I have had several friends ask me to give them this video clip, so I am posting it online for easy access. It is the mildly known footage of me getting zapped by an electric fence (220V!) while near Lusaka, Zambia. This video became barely famous thanks to Matt Collier, who referenced it in one of his sermons this summer while preaching at the Wilds Christian Camp. Many have heard about it. Few have seen it. Let me set the stage of this clip for you a bit. I’m on a spiritual high. I just spent three weeks in the ministry trenches with some dear friends and co-laborers: Matt Collier, Willie Partin, and Nathan Washer. The first week we spent training Zambian nationals to run a week of Christian camp. The second week we had the week of camp. About 160 Zambian youths attended. About half spoke English. All spoke Bemba. The Gospel was proclaimed and the Spirit of God worked in many hearts. I believe several Zambian teens were saved. Praise God! The third week was spent glorying in the wonders of God’s Creation, especially at and around Victoria Falls in Livingstone. Now it is our last night in Africa. We’re near Lusaka at a compound for missionaries. I remove myself from the company of my friends to spend a few moments thanking the Lord while video-taping the magnificent Zambian sunset. (As you watch the video, you will quickly understand this is a profound moment for me as I enjoy God and God’s Creation). There is a large, concrete wall around the complex. On the top of this wall are very live wires that I do not notice because I’m so caught up in the moment. I want to get closer to that sunset. I stand atop a huge anthill. I slowly move my camera over the wall. Pain ensues. The camera is currently out-of-order. It continued to work for a few hours after the jolt, but now it’s dead. If you listen closely you can hear the “pop” of electricity when one of my fingers holding the camera makes contact with the hot wire. You’ll have no problem hearing my reaction. And yes, it is funny. I’m glad so many of my friends have found humor in my pain. May this also bring you a moment or two of laughter. To download a higher res version of the video please click here: Bob Meets Electric Fence in Zambia - HIGH SPEED (3MB) Otherwise here it is on YouTube... Posted Nov 26 2005, 08:26 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: Miscellany

• *BIG* Announcement: Kids 4 Truth Site Redesign!

  A new and improved Kids 4 Truth website is coming your way the first part of 2006. The graphic at the right is a small rectangle screenshotted out of the new www.kids4truth.com homepage. It is the most beautiful, creative, functional, and immersive (you’ll see!) home page that we’ve ever launched. Here are some other planned *BIG* releases coming your way during the first part of 2006: Gospel Dynamation –– The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Collage Tract — An 8–panel children’s Gospel tract that folds out to reveal a 20”x11” miniature poster of an illustrated Bible timeline. Kids 4 Truth Songs: Volume 1 — on CD and mp3 –– More info on this HERE And yes, there’s more, but I’m probably not allowed to blog about that yet.  <— First official smiley ever on Bob’s Blog. I expect to use one every ten posts. E-mail Bob Posted Nov 25 2005, 04:12 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: Project Updates, General Ministry Happenings

• Packer On The Necessity For All Believers To Care About Theology

  Should the average Christian care about theology? A fair question! - but there is, I think, a convincing answer to it. The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be unpractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, however, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul. J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.17 Posted Nov 25 2005, 04:09 PM by BobRoberts with no comments

• A Multimedia Blast From The Past *or* How The K4T Website Began

  The website pillar of the Kids 4 Truth ministry began a looooong time ago at the Sprint Imax Theater at the Kansas City Zoo. The year was 1999 and I was in seminary with my dear friend Josh Darnell. I was also directing the children’s ministries at my church. One of us had heard about the new IMAX movie entitled “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous.” The radio ads made it sound as if there would be dinosaur carnage a-plenty, on an IMAX screen no less! So we went. But instead of enjoying the expected special effect footage of T-Rex ripping up weak PACHYCEPHALOSAURUSes and snatching DSUNGARIPTERUSes from midair, we were subjected to sheer and boring evolutionary propaganda for almost an hour. The agenda of the movie was/is to convince us that chickens evolved from T-Rex. Utter multi-media nonsense spewed forth from dark presuppositions. I love how Bahnsen put it: the unrighteous person, through self-deception, ;pushes and holds back the truth and is very much like the person sitting on a volleyball in the pool and then with sincere panic wonders “Where in the world did the volleyball go?” (Romans 1:18) The dino movie inspired me to do two things: 1. Write the KC Zoo some forceful and wish-I-would’ve-been-more-mature-at-the-time-cause-they-sure-could’ve-been-a-lot-more-gracious letters and 2. Use multimedia to effectively communicate truth instead of error. In particular, I conisdered ways we might beautifully, creatively, and reverently communicate the Biblical account of the Creation to a large audience. At the time, Rob Gillen was an acquaintance working for a company called “Conserve-A-Net.” It was a filtered internet service start-up company. Marie Tabler was working for them too. I knew Conserve-A-Net was looking for more traffic in hopes they would increase their customer base, so I suggested a potentially win-win situation: Let’s create a fantastic children’s website that will point a ton of people to Conserve-A-Net. Rob liked it, so he wanted specifics. I shared with him my idea about the Creation presentation. He liked that too. At this point Marie was brought into the mix since she was looking for a project on which she could develop her newly acquired Macromedia Flash skills (she had just attended a Flash training seminar). A few short months later www.kids4truth.com was born. Version 1.0 of the website was released in May of 2000 and the homepage looked like a UFO to some. Personally, it made me think of the SIMON Memory Game. (You can see the “Conserve-A-Net” logo and link in the lower left hand of the monitor). Several other components were assembled for the release, but the Creation Dynamation (Dynamic+Animation) was far and away the hook that was grabbing traffic. An unsolicted, grass-roots e-mailing effort began to spread the word about the Creation. Our site #’s were staggering to us, in the millions. The number of emails we received quickly reached the thousands. But the goal for the K4T website was not just to be a one-hit-wonder. The long-term goals were for the site to serve as a platform to promote the Kids 4 Truth Clubs (which were in mostly formative stages back in 2000), and for the site to complement the clubs’ philosophy, methodology, and hardcopy curriculum. Over 5 years have passed since we went live and I thank the Lord that those goals are now beginning to be realized. God brought along just the right servants in order to accomplish a God-honoring dream or two. Over 50 people are now actively involved in our humble ministry. To those of you that have been used of the Lord through this ministry, thank you. Thank you for being a part. I believe this is God’s ministry, and that He has been pleased to use us. That being said . . .  God doesn’t need us. He could raise up rocks to do what we do if He wanted to. May this seemingly paradoxical truth keep us humble and yet continuing to dream God-honoring dreams and working hard to accomplish them! May we always be all about His marvelous truth. Archives LETTER TO IMAX #1 LETTER TO IMAX #2 Response from IMAX (Hopefully Coming Soon, I have to find it and scan it in). Posted Nov 24 2005, 06:45 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: K4T History

• Gary Greenwood . . . The Michigander. The Seminarian. The CIA Spy.

  A friend of mine from college and seminary recently made the INTERnational news. His name is Gary Greenwood and for the last several years his life has read like a fast-paced action novel as he and his family have served God as missionaries in Venezuela. He has sought to live out his theology by reaching the Yanomami Indians deep within the Amazonian forests. But his geographical placement coupled with his profession have landed him in a bit of hot water with the infamous Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez: ONLINE ARTICLE 1 ONLINE ARTICLE 2 According to an L.A. Times story, Hugo Chavez has accused Gary (giggle, giggle, snicker, snicker) of being a (chuckle, chuckle, chortle, chortle) CIA SPY (BOISTEROUS, UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER!!!!). For those of us who know Gary at all, this most certainly calls the discernment prowess of the Venezuelan president into question. Serious question. I thought Gary summed it up well: As for the issue of U.S. intentions, Greenwood jokingly wondered why the Pentagon would launch an invasion from the dense jungle of the Amazon, where movement of troops or military vehicles would be problematic. “Wouldn’t the Caribbean coastline make more sense?” he asked as he made his way out of the jungle from this Orinoco River port town. Gary is no spy. Gary has been extradited from his field, and I’m not sure where he is at now. Gary, if you’re reading this I say to you: “Good job, brother. Thank you for putting your life on the line for the sake of the Gospel. Thank you for putting your life where your beliefs are.” Posted Nov 23 2005, 09:34 PM by BobRoberts with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Miscellany

• DYNAboxes On Your Christmas Tree

  This is a DYNAbox. http://store.kids4truth.com/detail.aspx?ID=188 It’s a little, three-dimensional tract that Kids 4 Truth has designed and now sells. The DYNAbox comes flat, and with a little effort folds up into a box or cube. (Each DYNAbox has instructions printed on it). The six panels on the outside help tell the Gospel story that’s on the inside – there’s only two masters in this world and all of us serve either One or the other. One Master is good, the other master is evil. The Good Master has given His life for us so that we might bring Him glory all our days. The Master that lays down His life for His servants is worthy to be loved and trusted above all others. A Master that has already proven His great care for us by giving us the greatest Gift possible will do us good all our days (Romans 8:28). This tract was finally born about a year ago after thinking about it for almost two years. We wanted to provide folks with a creative way to share the Gospel. We also wanted to produce a Gospel-tract that emphasized the essential doctrine of turning from a heartless master and submitting to a new Master. Matthew 6:24 -- No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. At Kids 4 Truth, we believe that true conversion to Christ involves both faith (trusting) and repentance (turning). Marie Tabler finally came up with a simple way to take a flat piece of paper and fold it up into a 3–D cube without scisscors, tape, staples, glue, and/or telepathy. It is a modified Chinese-restaurant take-home box. Speaking of restaurants, I like to give DYNAboxes out at restaurants. I will fold it up but before I make the final hook with the top flaps, I put a few bucks inside. When I give it to the waiter/waitress, I’ll say: “Here’s something for you that has two tips inside. One tip is money. The other is far, far better than money.” (Yes, I know the glorious Gospel is far more than a “tip”). The idea on the right is one my Lone-Jack-Missiouri-dwelling mother had. Thanks, Mom! This is a miniature tree, of course. The boxes are about 2”x2” once they’re folded up. An idea: allow all your visitors between now and Christmas to take one of the DYNAboxes off the tree and keep it. You can fill them with stuff and give them away, too. This Halloween, we know some folks that gave these away with candy inside. We also designed an online Dynamation (Dynamic+Animation) around the theme of the tract. You can view it here: http://www.k4t.com/dynabox/   Posted Nov 20 2005, 09:05 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: Project Updates

• Free Helpful Bible Software - InstaVerse!

  The Setting: You. In front of a computer. Reading Christian articles, essays, blogs, and devotionals. Also, you’re reading and composing e-mails, and even blogging a bit now and then. The Scenario: The text of all these readables is chock full of Scripture references that you’d like to inspect quickly and easily. Oh if only they would’ve put the the reference AND the verse text! The Solution: InstaVerse. Free software that, when you hover over any Scripture reference whether full or abbreviated, brings up a small window with the text of the Bible verse. It’s a fairly light (uses about 10MB of RAM) program that runs in the background and automatically brings up said window upon reference-hovering. It’s also lightning fast, simple, and flat-out practical because it will help you actually read more of God’s Word during the course of a day (2 Timothy 3:16). <— If only you had InstaVerse right now! This is software I recently stumbled upon, and I must say I am pleased with it. InstaVerse works great in MS Outlook, Word, and IE. For those of you browsing with FireFox, you’ll have to make sure and upgrade to FireFox 1.5 Release Candidate 3. I did. It’s probably better than the Firefox version you’re using now, and InstaVerse works swell in the new environment. So what’s in it for InstaVerse? Besides the ministry aspect, a couple things that I can tell: 1. They sell other Bible translations that you can download for your InstaVerse program. Only the KJV comes with the free version. 2. There is a tiny advertisement on the menu bar that spotlights additional non-free software products they produce. The ads are not annoying. No flashing GIFs. For my Mac using friends (may both of you live long and prosper), I have no solution to offer you other than a fading hope which is this: may this attractive software which you cannot currently use be further impetus to convert you from your whitewashed ways. InstaVerse Website. Additonal note: This plug for InstaVerse is an unsolicted plug. The only way I stand to profit from this is by helping you read more of the Bible every day. P.S. I have found that it works in some other text-editing programs like “BlogJet.” Posted Nov 20 2005, 06:39 PM by BobRoberts with no comments

• Machen On The Necessity Of Doctrine Before Life

  Here are some highlights I gleaned today from an article entitled Life Founded Upon The Truth by J. Gresham Machen. What does the Bible say about the question whether doctrine is merely the changing expression of life or whether — the other way around — life is founded upon doctrine? You do not have to read very far in the Bible in order to get the answer. The answer is given to you in the first verse. Does the Bible begin with exhortation; does it begin with a program of life? No, it begins with a doctrine. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That is the foundation doctrine upon which everything else that the Bible says is based. The Bible does present a way of life; it tells men the way in which they ought to live. But always when it does so it grounds that way of life in truth. Run through the Bible in your minds, my friends, and see whether I am nor right. In the Old Testament a wonderful program of life is presented. It is called the Ten Commandments. But do the Ten Commandments begin with commandments? Not at all. They begin with doctrine. “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” That is the preface to the Ten Commandments. It is not a commandment. It is not a program. It is a doctrine. Only because that doctrine is true — only because the one speaking in the commandments is the Lord God — have the commandments any authority. At the beginning of the Book of Acts Jesus is said to have told His disciples to be witnesses unto Him. On the day of Pentecost, a few days later, Peter arose to obey that command. He preached that great sermon which is found in the second chapter of Acts. What did he say in that sermon? He had not had some advantages which men have today. He had not had the inestimable advantage of modern “religious education.” If he had had, no doubt he would have told the people that it did not make any difference what doctrine they held about Jesus or about anything else, and that life was the only thing that mattered. But poor Peter! He had not had the advantage of modern religious education. He had to content himself with another advantage — he had just been filled with the Holy Ghost. The result is that his sermon is doctrinal through and through. He just gave them the facts about Jesus. Not a bit of exhortation, nothing about a program. Just facts, facts, facts, doctrine, doctrine, doctrine. What was the result? They were “pricked in their hearts.” Then Peter told them what to do. Three thousand were saved. [Bob says: this paragraph made me re-read Acts 2! Machen is right.] So it is everywhere in the Bible, my friends. First doctrine, then life. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation gives not a bit of comfort to the skeptical notion that doctrine is the mere changing and symbolic expression of Christian experience. The Bible founds living everywhere squarely upon truth. Posted Nov 19 2005, 01:13 AM by BobRoberts with no comments

• We Won An Award!

  We won an award recently in the Kansas City area, the area where most of us live and work. This is the first award we’ve won like this award — it’s an award that came with a $2,000 grant. Truly, now that we have received awards without accompanying cash, and awards with accompanying cash, the consensus is we like the latter much better than the former. We praise the Lord for granting us this grant. The award event is called the Thurman Mitchell Passion Awards, and is hosted every year by the Servant Christian Community Foundation. The good folks at SCCF are helping ministries and donors all over the Kansas City area become wiser, more biblical stewards. SCCF President Bill High spoke after the awards were given out about the necessity of creating a culture of generous giving. He repeatedly exhorted us regarding our time, our talents, and our treasues: “Give it away.” Matthew 10:39 -- He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. In the picture at right you will notice three hombres. The one on the left is Michael Scott who served as the official presenter of the Passion Awards. Mr. Scott is an anchorman for the local KCTV5 evening news. The guy in the middle sticking out like a sore thumb is moi. Although other Kids4Truth team members attended the dinner, they allowed me the honor of receiving the award in front of the about 1,500 attendees. I was told “business casual” so I attended sans my tie. The other award winners had not received that memo. The man to the left of me is Jack Houghton, and he serves as the director of ministry relations at the SCCF. Jack (and Jack’s wife too!) has a heart to help ministries develop into “Kingdom Class Ministries.” You can find out more about Jack and his excellent organization at http://www.servantchristian.com. We are truly grateful for the difference SCCF has made in our humble ministry. They have helped us to hone our purposes, to build and enhance relationships with our ministry’s supportes, and to take a few moments to celebrate what God has done through the grace-needing folks that we are. Posted Nov 18 2005, 08:28 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: General Ministry Happenings, Praise God!

• Recording Original Music With The Pros

  One of the four main components of the Kids 4 Truth Clubs is music. Specifically, we want to teach boys and girls excellent new songs that are comprised of solid doctrinal substance. Each song corresponds directly to one of the Twelve Doctrinal Themes Of Kids 4 Truth. Here’s how the creation of these songs go (abridged version): 1. I send Eileen Berry (The Official Kids4Truth Poet Laureate) the Top Ten Q&A from one of the twelve doctrinal themes. I say to her: “Eileen. Please write a simple poem for kids about this doctrine. Please try and cram as much of the truth of these Q&A’s into as short a space as possible, all the while being as theologically clear, deep, and accurate as possible.” 2. Eileen miraculously writes a poem that exceeds the requests in step #1. 3. Dan Forrest composes a piece of outstanding, truly excellent music specific to Eileen’s poem. 4. An original Kids 4 Truth Song is born! Both Dan and Eileen are extremely gifted, published servants with solid, God-centered theology. They have volunteered their time and talent in order to be a blessing to God’s people via the Kids4Truth ministry. I pray that their efforts to produce these truth-filled songs will indeed be blessed. Kids4Truth exists today because of people like Dan & Eileen that see a need and humbly use their gifts in order to do something good in Jesus’ Name. So far we’ve produced six songs. Early this fall, we released the downloadable, pritable sheet music for the first six original Kids 4 Truth Songs on our online store. http://store.kids4truth.com/detail.aspx?ID=14 But sheet music simply isn’t enough! So, over the last few months, Addy Forrest (Dan’s choir-directing soulmate) has been working with a group of talented kiddos from the Ottawa, KS area to learn these first six songs. On November 11, 2005, this group of ten singers met with Dan and Addy to record. I want to tell these ten singers THANK YOU for being a significant part of our ministry. From what I understand from Musicman Dan, the recording went splendidly and the songs are currently being mastered for mass production. We’ll be delivering these songs via CDs or mp3 download. Both will be available for sale at our online store in a few weeks. There will also be piano-only versions of these songs available on the same CD. One other note: God graciously provided a professional recording technician to oversee the recording and to allow us to use his very expensive equipment for about $200 (an unheard of price). Posted Nov 17 2005, 09:29 PM by BobRoberts with no comments Filed under: Project Updates, K4T People

• A List Of Things You'll Find At Bob's Blog

  This post is an exercise to help define for both me and the reader(ship) the shores betwixt which the river of content shall flow on Bob’s Blog. The leftmost shore and left-of-center side of the river will be content designed to promote the Kids4Truth Ministry. The rightmost shore and right-of-center side of the river will be content that promotes the philosophy upon which our ministry is founded. Please see the helpful visual at right. [NOTE: This original artwork was not done, approved, or influenced in any way by our Art Director, Marie Tabler. I take full responsibility for it. And I’m thankful to have a place like Bob’s Blog where I can utilize my artistic and technological *talents* in my own special way.] Here’s What You’ll Find On This Blog In The Days To Come. . . LEFT SIDE: Ministry Promotion Categories (My Ministry = Kids4Truth) General Ministry Happenings — These posts will often include pictures of people and places from my travels. It will also document significant changes within our humble ministry. K4T History — These engaging posts will help you understand how we got here all while acknowledging God for His gracious, sovereign directing of our steps.  K4T People — These posts will highlight a staff member, director, or volunteer for the purpose of honoring them for their contribution(s) and for reflecting the servant-spirit of Jesus Christ. Tots 4 Truth — These are the ever-growing, increasingly-popular pictures of happy babies in Kids 4 Truth onesies. Submit yours today! Awards are imminent, someday. Project Updates — These will be posts pertaining to current and upcoming projects. I’ll tell you what I can about a project, and give a brief apologetic as to why we’re doing it. Also, whenever an especially helpful part is added to the www.kids4truth.com website, I'll comment on it and point you to it. Praise God! — These will be special posts designed to give glory to God for providing for and using our ministry. I expect that these posts will often include unsolicited positive feedback and endorsements especially from people in churches using the Kids 4 Truth Clubs. Just For Kids –– These will be special posts that I write especially for children. Often, these posts will take the form of a response to one of the many questions the K4T Ministry receives from children. Miscellany — This is a catch-all category for everything else, both left and right sides of the river. RIGHT SIDE: Philosophy Promotion Categories (My Philosophy = Basic Doctrine For Kids Is Essential) Why, What, and How? — These are posts that will specifically deal with either: (A – WHY?) The necessity of learning good, right, and meaty theology, especially as it pertains to children, or (B – WHAT?) Defining what essential, God-centered theology is, or (C — HOW?) The methodology by which Christians ought to infuse truth into children, especially catechism. These are the issues to which I have dedicated my life. Sermons & Lectures — These will be audio messages that I have either done or heard done and believe would be worth your time, primarily about one of the three things above. Friends o' Mine — These will be posts highlighting friends that because of their life and practice are examples to the believers. They serve as living examples of what good theology looks like practically. Guest Poster — Do I hear a volunteer? Need a topic? Choose from either (A), (B), or (C) above, or produce a creative combination of the three. My goal is to post a new one of these every month. Creative Ideas — These posts are especially designed for children's ministry workers. Quotes — These quotes will be from weightier minds and help further convince all of us of the rightness of My Philosophy (see above). I may also begin a Mug-O-The-Month Giveaway to the person that sends me the best quote from a published author during any particular month. Historical Anecdotes — These stories will often answer the question concerning great thinking, theological Christians: How did they get that way? Current Stories — These stories may serve as both positive and negative reinforcement of My Philosophy. Additional Resources — Exactly what it says. Must Read Linkage — I will occassionally link to a blog post or article that I think is worth your time. I am open to hearing your ideas for posts in any of these categories. I would especially like to solicit your help by asking you to send inany pertinent quotes and historical anecdotes. Here is my email address: bob@kids4truth.com. As you can tell by an upper-right glance, I have more personal owership over the look and feel of Bob’s Blog than I do over the rest of the beautiful www.kids4truth.com environment. Please don’t let that scare you away. I need a place like this. It’s beautiful in its own way. Posted Nov 16 2005, 09:45 PM by BobRoberts with no comments

• Introduction to Bob's Blog

  Hello and welcome to Bob’s Blog. I am Bob. Two dear friends, Rob Gillen and Marie Tabler, created this blog site for me. Now they, especially TechnoGeek Rob, are actually expecting me to put their foundational work to good use — the audacity. Thus begins my attempt at doing good by means of blog.    About Bob, Briefly I direct a ministry called Kids 4 Truth International. In this blog, you will find posts that have to do directly with Kids 4 Truth. In other words, this blog has more to do with my ministry (and the cause of our ministry) and less to do with me. From time to time, this blog will also feature posts from members of the Kids 4 Truth Board of Directors and/or Executive Team (ExecTeam, to those of us who are).   About Bob’s Blog Don’t let the name fool you, this blog is primarily about (1) the Kids 4 Truth ministry and (2) the biblical ideal that fuels and drives our ministry. The primary goal of this blog is to healthily promote both those things, as I believe they are both good and noble things. Now, please let me further explain what is meant by each of those things in reverse order. . . (2) BIBLICAL IDEAL / PHILOSOPHY / CAUSE Simply put, our biblical ideal is that we believe that basic doctrine for kids is really, really good. Passages like Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78, and 2 Timothy 3 are pillars of this philosophy and subsequent cause. Our message to Christians is that we need to do far better than we are currently doing to ground boys and girls in essential Christian truth. We think Christian churches have strayed from systematically grounding boys and girls in the most important truths about God, and have left children ill-equipped to handle the storms of life, let alone to share their faith with others. We strive to inspire and equip God’s people to teach boys and girls what Christians believe and why they believe it. And because of God’s grace, we trust those kids will absolutely fall in love with it. Doctrine does not equal boredom; rather, it is through the basic truths of God’s Word that God (more appropriately here, the Holy Spirit) regenerates (John 17:3) and sanctifies (2 Peter 1:3) us. Doctrine is an essential part of us coming to truly know God. Remember, God commands us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God blesses the person that, by His grace, fully acknowledges Him the way He has revealed Himself in His Word. Doctrine therefore is infinitely practical. The Christian’s faith is in Someone. The Object of our faith is Specific, not relative. Solid doctrine teaches us Who the God of our faith really is, and it is from this God that all good things flow. We love God’s truth. It has revolutionized our lives for the glory of God. Praise Him!   (1) THE KIDS 4 TRUTH MINISTRY Shortly, I will post a full history of the formation and development of Kids 4 Truth since 1999. The short story goes like this: God has brought together a group of extraordinarily talented, godly servants together and rallied them around a cause (see above). Lest that sound pompous to you, when I use the term “extraordinarily talented,” I am not including myself. I have simply been a tool that has served as a mouthpiece and perhaps as a rallying point of a biblical philosophy. For many years, I urged Christians to equip their boys and girls by grounding them in the truth. I’m sure I made alot of people feel very guilty for not spending their sacred seconds with their children more wisely. But I began to feel guilty because I was not helping these adult leaders succeed in responding to the plea. I was inspiring them to meet a biblical mandate, but not equipping them to do so. The Kids 4 Truth Clubs have been a humble attempt at helping equip Christians to systematically ground kids in the Truth. We are big fans of the concept of “catechism,” or for those of you that balk at that term, the “question and answer method.” We believe that the best way to ground kids in the essentials of the Christian faith is for godly men and women to use an understandable, systematic question and answer approach. These clubs are the cornerstone of our ministry, and the 120 Questions & Answers that comprise the curriculum serve as the foundation on which all our other efforts are built. I hope you will enjoy and benefit from Bob’s Blog. As always, I remain your servant and I welcome your input. Sincerely,     bob@kids4truth.com   Posted Nov 15 2005, 08:56 AM by BobRoberts with no comments