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A few weeks ago, families at Victory World Church gathered in our V3 building for an evening of family fun, praise and worship called Elevate. During normal services here at Victory, children are in the various classes provided by the Children’s Ministry while their parents attend service. Elevate, hosted by Pastor Randal McNeill, Family Ministries and VicKids Children’s Ministry, provided an opportunity for families to worship together for the first time this year.

The evening started with games for the families to play. First, the moms were put to test by participating in a hula-hoop competition. Two more rounds of hula-hoop competition involving children and a dad followed it. Next was a real treat with the dads squaring off in a dance competition. One of the dads did a ground crawl and brought back some moves from back in the day. The third game was Are You Smarter than a VicKid?, in which parents took turns answering questions that varied from 1st to 5th grade topics. After the games, the Victory Vida Band led praise and worship, keeping everyone on their feet as the little ones danced around in bare feet or bounced to the beat of the music while sitting on their fathers’ shoulders.

Thereafter, Flatman & Bobbin entertained the whole family with a pre-recorded skit, in which they illustrated the tremendously positive ripple effects of encouragement on those around us. According to one of the characters, parents who were encouraged as children will also encourage their children, and this cycle of encouragement continues. While it was certainly entertaining, the message of the skit was powerful and set the tone for Pastor Randall’s message to the parents.

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After the Flatman and Bobbin video, the children were taken to their classes for age-relevant lessons while Pastor Randal delivered a thought-provoking message entitled, “Priming the Pump,” to the adults. (Click here to download a PDF of the notes.) Pastor Randal emphasized the importance of parents creating an atmosphere of encouragement and showing respect for their children. He also talked about speaking life into our children and the importance of children honoring their parents. Punctuating the message with humorous personal anecdotes, he also used a water hose and bucket to fully illustrate his point that as we fill, the flow continues to come forward.

At the close of his message, parents were given paper raindrops and asked to write something special about their children on them. The highlight of the evening came when the beaming children, carrying small silver buckets, filed back into the room met by standing and cheering parents who placed the raindrops into each child’s bucket. To seal the blessings that were presented to the children, each family was asked to gather in small groups for the parents to pray over their children, and the children to pray over their parents. That night, the children of Victory World Church were given a gift that is sure to continue to flow.

The evening was capped off with Pastor Randal bringing his family, including his parents who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, up on the stage. He then demonstrated the meaning of his message as each member of the family took turns blessing, encouraging and speaking words of love to one another. After Pastor Randall prayed over all the families represented, everyone was invited to celebrate with the McNeal’s by partaking in their anniversary cake.