River Road members may recall the four young neighbors who came to church with us over 10 years ago. We would keep them when their parents were out of town or just needed a break, and on weekends they would come to Sunday School with us. Then they asked if they could come to “that church place” more often and so, with their parents’ permission, we started to bring them nearly every Sunday. During that time many of you were their teachers and friends.

The children all enjoyed Sunday School for many years. At that time children in third grade and younger would leave the sanctuary early in the worship service, and our little neighbors enjoyed joining their friends in Children’s Church. In third grade each of them received a Bible as a gift from River Road Church. After they “aged out” of Children’s Church, their mom decided they were too young to sit with us through an entire regular service. For a while they would come with us to Sunday School and their mom would pick them up before church. Then their family schedule got too busy on Sundays and they stopped coming.

Recently I was chatting with the oldest, now a 16-year-old high school junior. She saw a study Bible on my desk and asked whether I remembered when my church gave her a Bible in third grade. I said that I did and that we are still doing it. I asked if she still has her Bible, and she said that she has recently started attending church again with friends from school. Her River Road Bible, the only one she owns, goes with her. She worships now in a different place with a different style, but the gospel lessons she first heard in Children’s Church – and the Bible she received in third grade – continue to guide her.