Every year, in the spring, I notice it. The kids that used to be so enthusiastic in their singing start to stand or sit in stone silence. Fourth and fifth-grade boys are the hardest. They start to be very aware of others and have no desire to do anything “uncool.”
Sometimes, when I teach, I like to scan the audience while the kids sing during worship. Frequently, I will find kids that are getting into the music. But I also find the one or two faces that clearly do not have their “worship face” on.
This weekend I was on a missions trip to Rocky Point, Mexico (Puerto Peñasco) through Weekend Missions Inc.  It’s a Christian organization doing great work in this Mexican city. If you are in Arizona and are looking for a way to make a positive impact with our southern neighbors, I highly recommend it.
On Saturday morning, I was a group that helped install foam insulation in a church. That afternoon, the men went to a shelter for males in drug and alcohol rehab.
In July of 2015, my wife, son and I tearfully said goodbye to friends, family, and most of all, my daughter. My wife, son and I made a trek from the Hoosier Heartland of Pendleton, Indiana to the Sonoran Desert and Scottsdale, Arizona. It was our first big move for my family. Neither my wife nor I lived more than one hundred miles from our birthplaces. Why on earth would we do such a thing? There was one big reason why we did this.
There are some things you just can’t prepare for. One baby begins to wail. the next thing you know, you have a choir of weeping and wailing.
Yes, you can see leadership principles in a group of babies. If you have one charismatic cryer, the whole group will join in within a few moments.