Last week, I was invited to speak at the Day of Prayer for Deerfield Beach held at City Hall. The topic I was given was “Youth.” It is not a hard topic to tackle since I’ve worked with youth for many years. I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some of the things shared. You see, I believe that the part of society in the greatest danger today is our youth. We must remember to pray for our youth.

One problem is that, in our earnestness to think about and pray for our youth, we sometimes forget to be proactive. We must not forget or neglect training, teaching and influencing our children to be productive members of our society, our city and our nation.

John Maxwell in his book 21 Laws of Leadership says, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. In order to influence this next great generation, we must be willing to do the work of putting ourselves in a position of influence. How do we put ourselves in a position of influence? Through time, sacrifice, dedication, and integrity … time listening, understanding and nurturing. Sacrificing the things that in the present seem important but lose their significance when compared to the eternal impact of investing in a child. Someone said, “100 years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of clothes I wore. But the world may be much different because I was important in the life of child.”

Psalm 78:6-7 says this, “That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.

We must be dedicated to the cause of creating a safe environment for our children, setting an example our children can follow. This environment must foster growth and tap into the infinite potential of each child. We need to integrate our faith practically in the way we live our lives in front of our children. Someone once said, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Let me give you an example.

On Saturday morning, our family participated in surfing lessons hosted by Island Water Sports. My middle son is a person who does not like to try new things. In fact, he hates to try new things. We loaded up the car and headed down to Island Water Sports to sign up. Once we went to the beach, I was convinced that my son would want nothing to do with surfing. What the instructors did is create a safe and nurturing environment for anyone interested in surfing, even a scared 7-year-old boy. Mike shared Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him…” and encouraged all of us to enjoy the morning. My son got up on the board on his first attempt and said, “Look Mom! I’m doing something new, and I like it!” Proverbs 14:26: “In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge.” An environment for growth — physical, emotional and spiritual growth, was created that morning on the beach.

Influence is like respect in that it is earned and cannot be demanded or manufactured. To gain influence, we must be willing to get involved, and getting involved sometimes means getting dirty. We must be willing to live lives that provide our youth an objective to be reached, not an obstacle to be avoided. Many may say it’s hopeless, there is nothing I can do, I cannot make a difference. I like to remember the quote by E.M. Foster, which is written on the wall at Deerfield Beach Elementary: “One person with passion is worth more than 40 merely interested.”

Deron Peterson is the Pastor/Elder at First Baptist Deerfield Beach