Billy

In the spring of '99 we held our first of many outreach crusades. Up to this point we had been busing kids in from the community to take part of our traditional church VBS. Earlier that spring Bill Wilson from Brooklyn New York had visited our church to speak about his ministry to inner city children in Brooklyn. Bill is known throughout the world with his sidewalk Sunday School trucks and for having the world's largest Sunday School at 45,000 kids! After he spoke we had the opportunity to sit down with him and pick his brain. One question we had was it a good idea to combine kids from the traditional church and the kids from the projects who did not have a church upbringing. His answer was no! To be honest I didn't believe him thinking that well it is different here than there. Boy was I wrong! We quickly learned that it was not a good idea to combine the two.  Thus we started a crusade to target the children in the community with the same message but with a method that was different.

Billy was 4 years old when he came on the bus with his older siblings, yeah we knew he probably wouldn't get it but we felt it was safer having him there for 5 nights rather than in the neighborhood where he was living. My wife agreed to help monitor the children to help maintain some type of order.  The rules were simple: 1.stay in your seat 2. whistle means quiet 3. respect each other 4. have fun! Billy was in the section my wife was monitoring. Billy tried to break the rules by keep getting out of his seat and my wife kept telling him to stay seated. Billy did not like that and began to yell at my wife calling her "every name in the book" and threatening her that he was going to have her beat up. All for trying to keep him seated!

It would have very easy and some would even justify leaving Billy at home thinking that he was causing too much trouble. In my last post that is what a hired hand would do, give up because it is too much work for one kid. But the shepherd in us said to keep at Billy because he was created by God.

I was the bus driver on Billy's bus and kept him close to me so I could keep an eye on him. Billy kept coming every week and to be honest we didn't see much change. One night I was driving the kids back home and Billy was about 6 years by now and he still sat behind me. I was turning the corner and Billy leaned forward and ask me " Pastor John do you think Jesus loves Me?" I answered " yes Billy He loves you very much, do you love Him?" Billy answered "Yes!" My heart burst along with the heart of God. That day the angels rejoiced!

Billy soon afterward moved to another neighborhood beyond where the bus went and we didn't see him for several years. The next time I saw Billy he was a teenager and I asked him if he still loved Jesus and he said "Yep." I hope that Billy and I will meet again in heaven.

I share this story in seminars,teacher meetings and any chance I get. Why? Because God has a plan for every person, even if that person is Billy.  And God has a plan for your kids too. I want to encourage you to give your kids every opportunity to connect with God. A good place is kids church where kids worship with kids and hear a message geared toward them to help them connect with their maker.