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I've been feeling convicted about my work with children and youth and remembered something Henrietta Mears said: "We want young people to know Christ in such a definite way...that when they meet the crises of intellectual doubt...they know what it meant to really accept Christ. We're talking about accepting Christ as Savior and when we do that...they know Him. They believe on His name and His name means the Lord Jesus Christ."
Henrietta Mears was one of the great Bible teachers of the 20th century. While Christian Education Director at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, she built one of the largest Sunday Schools in the world and wrote curriculum that was in such high demand that to publish it, she founded Gospel Light in 1933. Such notable Christian leaders as Richard C. Halverson, Luis Evans, Jr. and Bill Bright were among her students. Billy Graham said of Dr. Mears, "Her enthusiasm for the Lord Jesus Christ was contagious." Mears died on March 20, 1963.
Mear’s autobiography, Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story, is available on www.amazon.com. The following is an excerpt:
When I was just a girl in college, the Lord entrusted me with a large Sunday school class. Many times I faced what I must do as a teacher to please the Lord, but somehow I just did not carry it out. One night I awoke from a restless sleep and determined never to fail the Lord again. So I got up and wrote down what I still call "My Own Ten Commandments." I decided to say what I would do, not just what I ought to do. There have been times when it was agony to carry these out, but by God's grace they have been the pattern for my teaching. God has honored it.
- I will win the personal allegiance of every student in my Sunday School class to the Lord and Master by talking, writing, and prayer.
- I will not think my work over when my pupil has made his decision for Christ.
- I will see that he finds a definite place in some specific task.
- I will bring Christianity out of the unreal into everyday life.
- I will seek to help each one discover the will of God, because the Master can use every talent.
- I will instill a divine discontent into the mind of everyone who can do more than he is doing.
- I will make it easy for anyone to come to me with the deepest experiences of his inner life.
- I will keep the cross of Christ central in the Christian life.
- I will pray as I have never prayed before for wisdom and power.
- I will spend and be spent in this battle.