I have a history of being a little extreme when planning events at church.

I am talking about building a 16-foot tall space shuttle out of styrofoam in the worship center for V.B.S. 

We would do a countdown before sending kids off from worship and fire off a smoke machine to give the effect of the launch.

At one of our fall festivals, I had several people help me blow up 900 BALLOONS.

We draped them across our church's gym from basketball hoop to basketball hoop.

It was beautiful!

After it was over, my five kids popped all the balloons in about five minutes.

I didn't do that ever again.

I was and am passionate about reaching kids with the Gospel.

I was good at planning the events—V.B.S., camps, retreats, conferences, and afterschool Bible clubs.

What I wasn't good at was follow-up.

Follow-up seems to be the negative part of outreach, but it shouldn’t be.

Follow-up is the beginning of discipleship.

Jesus did not call us to lead them to Him and then leave them behind.

If we do that, we are not following His plan, which He laid out in Matthew 28:19-20.

We go and make disciples who make disciples.

The goal is to start with follow-up as the top priority before you plan any event.

Understand up front that many of the children you reach in your community may never grace the step of your church.

So, what you do after an event is critical to have maximum impact on their lives.

Here are a few suggestions that have worked for me:

1. Plan a date after the event to go out and visit the children who made decisions.
2. Give a Bible to every child who makes a profession of faith.
3. Give them New Christian materials.
4. Set up a New Christian class so you can show them how to continue their walk with Christ.
5. Pray for the Lord to give them a hunger to follow Him.

Discipleship is our passion at L.I.T. Ministries.

We want you to have a copy of our New Christian book for children, The Journey: Beginning Your Walk With God.

Download the booklet and make as many copies as you need for as long as you need. It is yours as a gift from L.I.T.; no sign-up is required.