I have a three month old daughter.  As part of her "bed time routine" I sing to her while I feed her, right before I put her down for the night.  I really like the idea of singing truth over her as she shifts from play time into a drowsy quiet and I watch her little arms and legs relax.  It reminds me of the verse in Zephaniah 3:17 that says "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  In the same way my Savior quiets me with His love and rejoices over me with singing, I want to do that for my little girl.

As I was doing this a few nights ago, the Lord brought to mind that old hymn "I have decided to follow Jesus."   I am a pastor's daughter so I know every verse of that old song, and as I sang each line over my daughter I listened to the words ringing out:

"I have decided to follow Jesus.  No turning back, No turning back."
"Though none go with me, Still I will follow.  No turning back, No turning back."
"The world behind me, The cross before me.  No turning back, No turning back."
"The cross I'll carry, Till I see Jesus.  No turning back, No turning back."

My heart began to pound as I considered the weight of each of those statements.  It pounded even harder as I processed through thoughts of my daughter and the girls in our ministries having gumption enough to make declarations like these. You see, the teen girls we are training up now will be the women who will speak into the lives of my daughter's generation.  So, what's it going to take to raise up a generation of young women who know and trust their Savior so well that these statements would become the testimony of their lives?

I think it begins with how we set up our ministries to these young women.  As tempting as it can be as Girls Ministry Leaders to focus our efforts on helping girls save sex till marriage, wear modest clothing and stop backbiting with one another, I don't think these things can be the "back bone" of our ministries.  Why? Because it is the person of Jesus Christ that we want these girls to declaratively follow, not the rule book that makes them look like "good Christians."  If, then, we set up our ministries to facilitate their growth in knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is, the unfailing love He is pouring out on them, the life He is inviting them to, and the adventure and calling He has already ordained for their lives, I think we create space for our Savior to raise up a generation of girls with gumption.  Girls with gumption grounded in the truth and faithfulness of their trustworthy Savior.  Girls with gumption enough to say not only with their mouths, but with their lives "I have decided to follow Jesus and even if none go with me, I still will follow.  No turn back, No turning back." Girls with gumption based on their decision to follow the person of Jesus Christ, not just a bunch of rules.