What We Can Learn from Children
I love this sweet picture. The image moves me powerfully. 
Two eight-year-olds leaning in over their Bible, laser-focused, working together, carefully pointing to a particular verse. This occurred during our seven-week summer children’s program, which every year involves 400 elementary children, and they were working on memorizing nineteen verses[539 words] from Matthew. 157 children memorized all 19 verses, and scores of others memorized most of them. This is what we are here for. We are here to instill in children –in one another– a thirst for the Word, which is the light of men. Jesus teaches us that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” These children represent our best and highest purpose, and watching them study the Bible together gives us hope for the future and inspires us to continue God’s work here at Impact.
One man’s story gives a window into the important role these children play in our lives. This man is one of the graduates from the Life House, which is our residential addiction recovery program. He told me that when he first walked onto the Impact campus he had recently been released from the penitentiary, where he had spent more than half his life. It was July and all the children’s summer programs were in full swing. Watching all the youthful exuberance and joy, he once told me, began the restoration of his humanity. He directly credited that first observation of our lively, joyful kids as an integral part of his addiction recovery.
Isn’t God awesome? We think we are trying to run an effective summer program to bless children; meanwhile God is using it to inspire a man to return from the slavery of addiction. Impact is striving to join God in what he is already doing. It is our heart’s desire to be in step with the Spirit, loving and serving as many as possible in as many ways as possible. God has provided along with you and this church the platform for countless lives to be impacted, and we are firmly convinced that it is God’s will for us to continue to do what we do. We are beyond grateful for your
generous and ongoing financial support. From now until the end of 2017, every donation you make is matched dollar-for-dollar by a few generous individuals, and helps to fund our ministries in the coming year. All year-end gifts are eligible, and so are monthly pledges for 2018.
To participate, go to impacthouston.org, call the church office, or send a check with “Matching Funds” in the memo line.
Paul Woodward,
Impact Elder
