The Fertile Soil of God’s Generational Harvest (Continued)

Testimony By Iris Flores

Mommy and Daddy are fighting again. I feel scared being at home.

I wish we could go to church again! I feel safe and happy at church. I love the stories, the skits, and the songs. They are very nice to me there. They teach me about Jesus and how He loves me and cares about me; how He sees me when I’m crying. He must be looking at me right now.

Daddy doesn’t like us going to church very much. I think he feels threatened somehow. I know he hit Mommy the other night. I pretended I was asleep, but I heard her cries.

Why doesn’t my daddy like us going to church? He said that if we ever went again he would go to church and pull Mommy by the hair and take her out. Today I heard Mommy and Daddy talking about a divorce. I’m scared! I don’t know what to do. Mommy says we’ll never go back to church, but something inside me tells me we have to go! We must go!

“Mommy, please take me to church!” I know she doesn’t want me to ask anymore, but I can’t stop asking. I love it there. I feel safe there. I feel God there. I won’t stop asking. I will keep asking until we go.

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It’s been 35 years since this scene took place in our small studio apartment and so much has happened since then. I am a direct fruit of Next Generation Ministries, where God began to turn our lives around.

Children’s Church wasn’t the first time I heard about the Lord; my parents and I were saved before. But it was a place of refuge for me in the middle of all the madness that was my life. NGM was the tool that God used to bring my mother to church just so I would stop begging her.

My mother did bring me to church, and my father did come to take her out, as he had said – but instead of dragging her out, he was drawn in by the Holy Spirit. As drunk as he was, he answered an altar call that night, and arose from that altar sober and in his right mind.

My parents never got that divorce. Instead they had two more children.

Years later, we were sent as missionaries to Mexico City and God used our family to touch many souls there. I came back to Tucson, and God blessed me with a wonderful husband and four amazing children. In 2011, we went to California, where we pastored for almost 8 years.

We drew upon everything that NGM instilled in us as kids all those years ago to minister to families and to bring the Word of God to parents and their children. We were able to offer them the hope that can only be given by Him. Now, over three decades later, we are all back in Tucson and still serving God.

My dad has finished his race, and is now in the presence of our Lord. What God did in our lives He can do in so many others. Many people do not see the importance of providing quality ministry to children, but I am eternally grateful to those who invest of their time, money, and energy to partner alongside parents to teach our next generation the ways of the Lord.

You never know what is going on behind closed doors in Children’s Church, and you may not realize the impact those precious few hours can have in the lives of children.

The ripple effect it has can never be measured. Think about it:

I wanted to come to Children's Church because of how it made me feel. I begged my mom to come to church and Mom gave in. Dad came to take us out. Instead, he met with God. My parents didn't divorce. They had 2 more kids. They became missionaries and reached people all over the world.

Later, I married Alex. We went to California and reached people for the Lord in different cities. We came back to Tucson. Dad went to heaven. I'm still receiving messages from people all over the world who were impacted by his testimony. In turn, those people have impacted other people.

Now I look back and think, What if there hadn't been a children's ministry back then? What if sharing the Gospel with children was just an afterthought? Would this be my story? How would my story have been different?

I'm glad I'll never know. I know that my family and I are grateful. Grateful to those workers who took God's Word and imparted it to a little girl all those years ago.