I grew up in a family that liked to tease each other. Nothing hurtful, just playful banter back and forth teasing each other. It’s one of the things I love about my family. My brother and I teased my mom about her hair turning gray when she decided to stop coloring it. My brother and I would tease each other on numerous things, as young boys are prone to do. One of my favorite things was my dad started losing his hair at a relatively young age, probably because of me and my antics. I remember as a teenager making all kinds of bald jokes. Dad laughed them off, as that was just how our family worked; even with aunts and uncles on both sides of our family. We all teased each other.
However, those bald jokes have started to come back to bite me. As you may have noticed I’ve started losing my hair. The kids love teasing me about my bald spot. My dad was really happy once my hair started falling out. Now he could make the bald jokes that I’d given him for all those years. But just as always, I laugh it off. I mean, there’s nothing I can do about it really, and it doesn’t bother me since, thanks to my family, I’ve gained thick skin about such things. But this does open up an opportunity in the church for some fun. I’ve talked with the other youth and kids leaders and we’ve come up with a contest between the kids and youth. Whichever group grows in attendance more this year, youth on Sunday nights or kids on Wednesday nights, gets to shave my head at the end of the school year in May.
While numbers aren’t the goal of ministry, Jesus did command us to make disciples of all nations. I have a heart for more and more kids and youth to know Jesus, as I know you do too. But sometimes inviting people to church is scary. So I am hopeful this potential reward will make it worthwhile for these kids and youth. Life with God is certainly more rewarding for anyone willing to follow Him. We just want to get as many as possible on that path. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
I used to think this was just a cool metaphor for how hard it is to follow Jesus. But then I went to Israel and learned that Jesus typically didn’t teach in metaphor, but rather in illustration. This is a classic example. One of the places we went to was called Beit Shean. It’s in northern Israel, near where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. While it is old and mostly in ruins, you can still tell what was there. It wasn’t a big city, home to only 6,000 people, but it was definitely built in a Greek style. Now, there were 5 staples to a Greek, or Hellenistic, city: the gymnasium, the theater, the marketplace, the arena, and the temples. In every Hellenistic city, there were 2 main roads, called the Cardo, which ran north/south, and the Decuminis, which ran east/west. These roads led to those 5 places, and these are the wide roads that lead to destruction. I won’t get into all of what happened at each of these places, but sin was abundant. Jesus wasn’t making a metaphor. He was pointing out the destruction that spending time in these places would yield. It was bad, and Jesus didn’t want people giving into their desires that led to such destruction.
So what was the narrow road? It was the road that led to Synagogue. You see, in order to enter into Synagogue, you had to do mikvah, or a ritual bath. There was a mikvah at every entrance to every synagogue. I’m guessing you would go one at a time. But you’d go through the water to purify yourself and ready yourself to worship God. That seems like a pretty narrow road, but that is the road that leads to life, and we want to get as many on that road as possible
So to that end, yes, I’ll be shaving my head. In my view, it’s a small thing to do to bring more people into a life-changing encounter with the God of the universe. But the kids and I will need your help in this too. We all have connections with people that don’t know Jesus. I’m encouraging you to reach out to those families and tell them about this contest, as it may be an incentive for them to come to Youth Group or RCC Kids, and ultimately get their family here on Sunday mornings. This isn’t just about getting more kids here on Sunday or Wednesday nights. It’s about building up the Kingdom of God, and that is meant to be done in families.
I’m really excited about what could come from this. I hope it brings more and more families, not just kids or youth, closer to God. That effort takes all of us, and the payoff is more than I can describe. Let’s work together to bring more people from the wide road and get them on the narrow road, and see how God transforms their lives.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. -John 10:10 (NIV)
