Hello friends. When I was listening to this podcast interview about VBS (Vacation Bible School), it reminded me of the “Rotten Tomatoes” dream that I had in 2019. I shared my dream below. I also added some new information in parentheses.
Here is the interview with a youth pastor about VBS. Wow did you know that 83% of conversions to Christianity are from VBS week! 51% who send their kids to VBS are from non-believing families. I totally fit the statistics. I got saved at age 13 by attending a summer retreat for middle schoolers run by the Korean Presbyterian church community. That was the best week of my lifetime. I had a tiny, tiny taste of heaven in that marvelous week.
If your church offers VBS, please volunteer that week if you are able to. If you are not able to volunteer, then please pray and daily pray during the VBS week.
Speaking about heaven…It’s always so nice to hear more about heaven, our home. This podcast interview is with John Burke, a researcher who has studied over 1,500 near-death experiences. Please listen so you could be encouraged and inspired.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heaven-meets-earth/id1806665471?i=1000714126161
If you have teenagers or young adults, please share this sermon delivered to the teenagers by Pastor Derwin Gray. He’s an excellent bible teacher. I didn’t know much about his background. Wow he played for a NFL football team for several years! For teenagers who appreciate football and fame, they will especially enjoy his testimony and message.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gateway-churchs-podcast/id88410531?i=1000714199137
As many of us are releasing our children and grandchildren into a world that seems more tumultuous than ours growing up, please find comfort and peace in this devotional about Moses’ mom who released her baby in a basket into the Nile river of Egypt. 🇪🇬 Every time I read it, I am blessed and comforted.
https://www.christianparenting.org/articles/push-the-basket-from-the-shore/
Parents with younger children – if you are praying about sending your kids to private or public schools, please hear this education forum hosted by the late Pastor Tim Keller with school teachers and administrators in the greater NYC area. I was also inspired by the sharing of Christian teachers and administrators during Q and A. What a calling that they have to be teachers and admins in NYC schools! Teachers and administrators really need our prayers and support. Please be kind when you need to talk to them about any issues and concerns.
Sent: Friday, July 1, 2022 7:32 AM
Subject: TikTok Warning + Axis presentation on Gen Z Unwavering Faith + Corinth, Greece + Rotten Tomatoes Dream
Hello ladies! Here are resources that may encourage and help you in your ministry work.
1. Many of us have teenagers in our group and now that summer is here many teenagers will spend more time on the internet in their bedrooms. Unless both parents are on the same page about enforcing strict rules, it seems impossible to limit their time on the internet and TikTok during the summer. Please pray 🙏 for your children, grandchildren and their friends’ protection and safety from online sexual predators. Please read this article about how TikTok is used by sexual predators to groom and prey upon young teenagers. Let’s pray for God’s help and wisdom in talking about this danger with our teenagers too.
(Today there are AI relational chatbots who are influencing not only the young but the very educated too. Please be informed, pray proactively and offensively too. Axis cultural newsletter informed me about this issue recently and coined it as “modern day Ouija board”.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/14-old-suicide-prompted-ai-000000036.html
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/05/ai-chatbots-selling-love
2. Axis is a Christian ministry that helps parents and church community to better understand the younger people. Currently in the USA, 8 out of 10 children who grow up in Christian homes and attending church will leave their faith as young adults. Knowing this statistic, it is super important to pray regularly for the youth and also understand them better. Axis ministry is a very good resource for parents and church members to know how to reach and shepherd their youth groups. Here is their presentation about Gen Z.
https://info.axis.org/gen-z-parents
(If you have children/grandchildren or work with youth groups, please sign up for their free weekly cultural newsletters. Their newsletter gives me insight on what to pray about for the younger generation. Pray proactively, not just reactively.)
https://axis.org/culture-translator/
3. I was very blessed by this TSC message. It was delivered by a pastor originally from Russia. He shared stories about his grandparents and growing up when Christians were severely persecuted in his country. He also shared Daniel’s story in the Bible to teach us lessons about being disciplined in our prayer life no matter what. Please listen to this message and pray for your faith to be unwavering like Daniel’s, and hear this pastor’s parents and grandparents stories of endurance when Russia was USSR and very hostile to Christians. This pastor is also a young dad and shares about his own fears about the future for his children. As I look forward, it looks even more daunting for the next generation of Gen Alpha. That’s why we need to keep praying together for God to move in our country and the world once again like in the old times.
http://sermons.tsc.nyc/unwavering-faith/
4. You’ll also be strengthened in your faith by this teaching too. I knew from my Bible studies that Corinth, Greece was a very sinful city during Apostle Paul’s time. I imagined an ancient Las Vegas. It was actually worse than I had imagined! You will hear from this teacher how much worse. It simply amazes me that this evil, sinful city is where God sent Apostle Paul. Paul didn’t get calloused or cold, living in this city but rather he wrote to the church community here later about what love is. Perhaps the congregants were becoming religious and growing cold in their hearts once Paul left. I think we all have that tendency to become cold in our hearts, especially as our world becomes more difficult and overwhelming. We really must pray ahead and be disciplined in prayer for ourselves, our church leaders/volunteers and our children more than ever. Listen to the conditions of Corinth, Greece and then you will be very thankful about your neighborhood and country.
What Love is:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=NIV;VOICE
(I used to use the Message version for modern-language paraphrasing, but now I use the VOICE version. This version became available on Biblegateway.com a few years ago. They had 120 bible scholars, teachers and pastors working together on it, while Message only had a handful. In any biblical scholarly work, the more collaborators the better.)
5. Rotten Tomatoes Dream:
Few years ago our women’s prayer group at church was approached by our children ministry pastor in springtime to pray ahead for their summer camp. As we were praying together weekly for the children and the camp, I had a dream. (I rarely recall my dreams.) In this dream, I saw an endless amounts of tomatoes growing beautifully well in the farm fields. I saw that it was harvest time too. However, I barely saw anyone harvesting these tomatoes. I was getting concerned and thinking what would happen to these tomatoes if no one harvest them in. I woke up with this great concern. I talked to the Holy Spirit about my dream right away. When I opened my phone’s safari to look up something, the first page that came up was the movie review website “Rotten Tomatoes”. (I don’t know how since I rarely use this website.) Then I realized that if these tomatoes are not harvested in by many, hardworking workers then these tomatoes will become “rotten tomatoes”. It is in our own interest to help with the gathering in and discipling of the youth, or else they will become “rotten tomatoes” creating havoc and be destructive. In our area, these kids will most likely grow up to be educated leaders and influencers in their career fields. Please pray about volunteering at your church or youth centers to help on a regular basis. Even if you don’t know how to relate to young people just by being near them and observing, you will know how to pray more strategically and effectively. Your prayers as a child of God through Jesus Christ are very impactful and powerful for the next generation. Please let’s all give our time, talent and support to help at harvest time. Let’s also pray to God about this lack of workers situation as Jesus told us to.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%209%3A35-38&version=NIV;VOICE
(I came to a revelation recently that in the last days, God’s angels will be working as harvesters too. Wow! Please read this chapter where Jesus is teaching about end-times harvesting.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2013&version=VOICE
Well, if you experience the angels helping you out in evangelism more often, then it’s possible that we are living in the last days. If you haven’t done a Bible study on the books of Daniel or Revelation; then please do this summer.)
Journal of Faith 