Martin Pagcaliwagan, Kids for Christ Program Head, teaches at Tri-Cities’ March Chapter Assembly on March 7, 2014 at Saint Luke’s in Maple Ridge, BC. (Photo: Pauline Macapagal)
Tri-Cities’ March Chapter Assembly was truly a refreshing experience due the teachings of special guests, the Kids for Christ ROCK ministry. Standing for “Reaching Out Christ to Kids,” the ROCK heads welcomed us into the St. Luke’s portables with an upbeat Kids For Christ worship song called “Move.” Not a single youth stood unaffected by the contagious melody and fun filled dance. Although the lyrics were so simple, the thematic idea of “(proclaiming) the greatness of our God” is universal to any age group. This song is easily the most exciting, energetic, and tiring gather that I have experienced.
The joyous atmosphere lingered as the night continued. The ROCK heads of the event Martin Pagcaliwagan, Gillian Cortes, and Erlyn Boongaling educated the Tri-Cities chapter of the vision and heart of their mission. They also revealed the main anchor verse which encompassed the central theme of creating a strong foundation on God.
After that brief introduction, we were asked to step into the shoes of an actual Kids For Christ member. Each person was given a party hat and a cue card to jot down personal traits, talents, and dreams. The pink, blue, silver, and green cones divided us into 4 groups. Of course, the concept of “teams,” in the mind of a child, would automatically connect to competition. To put this in perspective, the cue card tower building challenge involved excessive amounts of screaming and questionable breezes. As relaxing and enjoyable it was to adopt the essence of a child, the reality was that the party hats were way too small to wrap the elastic around our heads. We are not children. There must have been more insightful lessons that we can take out of this besides how to structure the perfect cue card building.
Indeed, much can be analyzed about or built upon the ROCK teachings. However, when towers were knocked down or fell apart, only one thought remained. If it is so simple for a pile of cue cards to falter, so must we be vulnerable to our own spiritual death if we do not create a deeply rooted foundation upon Christ Jesus. For example, we were told to cross off every aspect about ourselves that would not exist on our cue card after we entered post-secondary or adulthood and the majority of people only had “Catholic” or “I believe in God” as the only points. Sometimes dancing, singing, and playing in the shoes of child allows us to see the main lesson that God want to illustrate.
Mona Bawagan, CFC-Youth Pacific Region
