Mary & Martha – M&M
The Mary & Martha activity for our teen girls has been a huge success. My wife, Amber Ross,
came up with the idea this past year as a way to connect more with our teen girls and have the
opportunity to teach them things young ladies need to know. She has worked to get several ladies in our church on board with teaching recipes, crafts, and lessons to our teen girls.
They have baked desserts, fixed mac-n-cheese, and prepared freezer meatloaves for their
families. They have now learned to do things like how tie-dye a shirt, decorate aprons, make DIY
Christmas gnomes, and next will be baking Christmas cookies and crafting snow globes in December.
The normal cost for the activity is $3 per person. This cost covers the material to make a meal or craft that night as well as a meal to eat. After that, my wife or a lady from our church will give a Bible lesson to the girls.
The purpose of calling it Mary & Martha, or M&M, was to teach the girls to have balance in life.
There are times they need to be at the feet of Jesus, and they also need to be the feet of Jesus serving others. It is important today that we teach our young ladies that it is delightful to be feminine and to be busy preparing to fulfill what God has created them to be.
Truth & Trade – TNT
TNT was born from the M&M idea as a way to teach our teen boys skills that every young man
needs to know. We are preparing to have our first meeting in January of 2022. I have spoken to men in our church about different trades that they can come and teach our boys. We will run it much the same way as the M&Ms. It will cost $3 per person and each person will get the material needed to accomplish what we have planned for the day.
Here are just some of the ideas: teaching how to tie knots, how to change a tire, and how to
change your oil. I have just recently spoken to one of our men who owns a deck building business that has offered to teach the boys how to make a bench or flower boxes that they can then make for their mom. He has offered to provide the lumber and everything to make them. I say this to encourage you that the men in your church will jump at the opportunity to help the next generation. We plan to teach them how to build a fire, how to gut a fish, and how to track animals for hunting. We look forward to the many events planned to teach the boys.
Young men desperately need opportunities to do manly, masculine activities. We are raising a
generation of soft, gaming obsessed young men that have no drive and no desire to work and get their hands dirty. Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” There is nothing like the fulfillment that comes from getting your hands dirty and putting some sweat into accomplishing a task or project. On top of this our boys will hear Biblical challenges from myself and men in the church that will encourage them to prepare to accomplish what God has created them to be!
Jon Ross | YP
Madison Baptist Church | Madison, AL
Madison Baptist
