wildatheartministry.com
Wild@Heart Ministry
A Ministry of ICN Resources, Inc.
wild@icnresources.org
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"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." – Proverbs 27:17
"Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" – John 8:31-32 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." – Romans 1:20 |
IF YOU'RE A YOUNG MAN IN GRADES 6 THROUGH 12, COME JOIN US WEDNESDAYS AT 6:30 PM AT CRABAPPLE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH FOR A NEW AND CHALLENGING MINISTRY DESIGNED JUST FOR YOU!
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Why are we doing this ministry? Please read the following inspiration from ministry founder Ken Edwards...
There is one book, excluding the Bible, that over the last few years has had more of an impact on me and my Spiritual growth:
"Wild At Heart" by John Eldredge—not because it is the beat-all-end-all of Christian books. In fact, it has some theological
flaws. But because it reawakened me to
some things that I knew about myself and other men and boys, but could never really quantify. So as I share my motivation with
you in regard to this ministry, I would like to start with a quote from the book…
As I look back on growing up in a small town in North Carolina, I realize that the things that really helped me to learn and understand who I was didn’t come from sitting through “The Brady Bunch” and “The Partridge Family” on Friday nights, or even sitting through countless Sunday School lessons with flannel graphs inside a room with block walls, white paint, florescent lights and cold, tiled floors.
Those things were great, and I am thankful for them, but they didn’t set me on a course. They didn’t give me perspective. They didn’t help me to dream big. And as I’ve learned over the years, being on a course, having perspective and dreaming big are prerequisites to understanding the heart of God—because those are the things that God is all about! He’s on a course to fulfill His purpose, and He’s doing that with the broadest and deepest of all perspectives, and what is being accomplished is bigger than big.
I think about all the roads I built and towns I created in the “dirt pile” in the back yard—we didn’t have sand or a box, so we just called it what is was—the “dirt pile”.
I think about spending all day in the summer, from sun up to sun down, playing "Daniel Boone" in the barns, pastures and creeks around our house—armed with nothing more than a tobacco stick for a gun.
I think about the countless nights that I would go outside after dinner and lie on the picnic table and try to fathom the enormity of the universe.
Proverbs 20:5 says, "The heart of a man is like deep water." It was these things, the real adventures of life, being out in creation, surrounded by what God had made, rather than was man had made, that helped me to tap into that deep water more than anything else.
Over the last ten years, I’ve spent a lot of time speaking to teenagers—at camps, retreats, Christian schools, youth groups, FCA meetings and Bible studies. I value those experiences very much, and I have seen God work faithfully through the opening of His Word in that environment. But that’s not the only environment where young men and women can learn the Word of God and heart of God.
And I think back to an idea that was sparked in me from reading "Wild at Heart"…
Boys weren’t created to sit in rows and be still.
Don't get me wrong—there's value in doing that. And there's a time and place for that. This is not an attempt to criticize anything. But it bothers my heart that as the Body of Christ, we have reduced Worship to singing cheesy praise songs and we have reduced learning the heart of the Father to sitting in rows and being lectured to.
Our boys don't know their hearts, because they don't know the One who created hearts.
They don't know their Creator because they don't surround themselves with His creation.
And they don't surround themselves with His creation because we don't provide an avenue.
This ministry is about providing an avenue to reconnect the sons with the Father in a way that reaches the deep water that is the heart of a young man.
Deep in a man’s heart are some fundamental questions that simply cannot be answered at the kitchen table. Who am I? What am I made of?
What am I destined for? It is fear that keeps a man at home where things are neat and orderly and under his control. But the answers
to his deepest questions are not to be found on television or in a refrigerator. Out there on the burning desert sands, lost in a
trackless waste, Moses received his life’s mission and purpose. He is called out, called up into something much bigger than he ever
imagined, much more serious than CEO or "prince of Egypt".
As I look back on growing up in a small town in North Carolina, I realize that the things that really helped me to learn and understand who I was didn’t come from sitting through “The Brady Bunch” and “The Partridge Family” on Friday nights, or even sitting through countless Sunday School lessons with flannel graphs inside a room with block walls, white paint, florescent lights and cold, tiled floors.
Those things were great, and I am thankful for them, but they didn’t set me on a course. They didn’t give me perspective. They didn’t help me to dream big. And as I’ve learned over the years, being on a course, having perspective and dreaming big are prerequisites to understanding the heart of God—because those are the things that God is all about! He’s on a course to fulfill His purpose, and He’s doing that with the broadest and deepest of all perspectives, and what is being accomplished is bigger than big.
I think about all the roads I built and towns I created in the “dirt pile” in the back yard—we didn’t have sand or a box, so we just called it what is was—the “dirt pile”.
I think about spending all day in the summer, from sun up to sun down, playing "Daniel Boone" in the barns, pastures and creeks around our house—armed with nothing more than a tobacco stick for a gun.
I think about the countless nights that I would go outside after dinner and lie on the picnic table and try to fathom the enormity of the universe.
Proverbs 20:5 says, "The heart of a man is like deep water." It was these things, the real adventures of life, being out in creation, surrounded by what God had made, rather than was man had made, that helped me to tap into that deep water more than anything else.
Over the last ten years, I’ve spent a lot of time speaking to teenagers—at camps, retreats, Christian schools, youth groups, FCA meetings and Bible studies. I value those experiences very much, and I have seen God work faithfully through the opening of His Word in that environment. But that’s not the only environment where young men and women can learn the Word of God and heart of God.
And I think back to an idea that was sparked in me from reading "Wild at Heart"…
Boys weren’t created to sit in rows and be still.
Don't get me wrong—there's value in doing that. And there's a time and place for that. This is not an attempt to criticize anything. But it bothers my heart that as the Body of Christ, we have reduced Worship to singing cheesy praise songs and we have reduced learning the heart of the Father to sitting in rows and being lectured to.
Our boys don't know their hearts, because they don't know the One who created hearts.
They don't know their Creator because they don't surround themselves with His creation.
And they don't surround themselves with His creation because we don't provide an avenue.
This ministry is about providing an avenue to reconnect the sons with the Father in a way that reaches the deep water that is the heart of a young man.