FSM 183

(FN 292) DO

Copyright: Jan. 1991

by Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland.

—Required Reading for All Adults!

(Portions of this FSM may be shared with mature Teens who are working with JETTs, if you feel it would give them more insight & understanding & therefore benefit them in their ministry as JETT Shepherds. Also, you would need to be quite sure that the Teens who read any portion of this FSM are trustworthy & can be depended upon to not discuss this information with others or "brag" that they have been privileged to read this adult material. The decision to share any of this FSM with Teens should be made in counsel. Thanks! GBY!)

A Call to Arms to Save Our JETTs & Teens!—A Mother's Plea

By Mary MOM, at the Heavenly City School

(Editor's note: Mama recently asked the leaders & Teen Shepherds in Japan to share their reactions to the new Techi GN Series, since they have had a lot of experience working with JETTs & Teens on their field through the Victor Program. Their candid, heart-felt reactions not only confirmed the great need for the new Techi GN Series, but they also brought to light the emergency situation we are now facing with the shepherding of our JETTs & Teens worldwide!

(In order to broaden the application of the following articles by Mary MOM, Josiah & Faithy, & to keep the lessons presented in them in line with Mama's Letter, "Who's Responsible for Our JETTs & Teens?!", we have added in parentheses where applicable the words, "adult Family Members" or "adults".—Since the responsibility for the training & shepherding of our JETTs & Teens falls on all of us collectively. We pray this will be a good reminder that these excellent lessons are not only for the parents, but for all of us! PTL!)

We are in great need of a general CALL TO ARMS OF ALL ADULTS, & I think that is what the Lord is doing THROUGH THIS NEW SERIES OF TECHI GNS! It's an awareness program, a JETT awareness program, a Teen Training Standard awareness program! To me, the new Techi GN series says: "Back to the Basics! Save our children! We are ALL responsible to win our kids to the Lord! Don't leave the raising of your children up to the School or the administration or the system of the Family! It's YOUR responsibility as a parent, it's your responsibility as an adult in the Home, & now THIS is how to do it!" I see the Techi GNs as a "how to"—HOW TO BECOME A DISCIPLE WINNER OF OUR JETTS & TEENS!—And EVERY ADULT needs it!

On our field, we are becoming aware of & facing some serious problems in our JETTs! Many of them are suffering from such common weaknesses as: Shallowness in the Lord & in the Word, not knowing how to apply the Word to their own lives, not being able to communicate the things that they are feeling & thinking to the adults or to each other. They lack a commitment to the Lord in their lives, & they don't know Jesus as they should.

These weaknesses have stemmed from the fact that WE have not taken the time to show them the Lord or help them to understand the Lord in everything that happens in their lives, whether it be sickness & accidents, changes or battles they are faced with, personal relations with their peers or their brothers & sisters & their parents etc. We haven't constantly brought them back to the Word in their battles & lessons, & shown them the Lord's hand in their lives personally. We haven't gotten them to talk about the Lord in their lives & how He is working. We haven't listened to them or given them the opportunity to pour out as they've needed to. In other words, OUR relationships with the JETTs have been very shallow. This deep spiritual input has been sadly lacking in most of our JETTs' lives.

On our field, when coming face-to-face with this pressing problem, we have tried to salvage many of our dear JETTs & Teens by having them participate in what is called "The Victor Program". This program has been set up for JETTs & Teens who have serious problems. But we are seeing that THIS ISN'T ENOUGH! We need a Revolution in the ADULTS' lives so we can raise the standard in ALL our Homes. We can't depend on some distant Victor Program, we must have a "Victor standard" in ALL our Homes!

It boils down to getting back to the basics.—Not for OUR sakes, I don't even think many of us would do it just for our sakes, but we can do it for our kids' sake! We must!

We have got to realise that our JETTs & Teens are the best disciples we've got. It may be fine & wonderful for everyone to go out & sock it to the System & really get on fire to win disciples from the kids of the World. Of course, there is a place for that. But right in our own backyards our kids are free bait for the Devil, because we haven't seen the importance of giving them our time & really sacrificing our lives for them.

All adults & parents in the Home need to get a greater understanding & vision for getting involved in their children's lives or else they will be faced with watching their kids turn away from the Family & the Lord, as we have seen many Teen Victors or Rotten Apple Teens do. And some of the fault, somewhere along the line, falls with the PARENTS!

Mama & the Techi GNs Lead the Way

It's hard for me to express in words just how timely these Techi GNs are. While overseeing the JETT situation in our Area & the Victor Program, as well as several of my own children who are JETTs, I have heard the heartcry of many parents & teachers & even the kids themselves, & have been desperate to find the answers to how we can reach our JETTs.

I think the Lord allowed Techi to have these experiences & Mama to be involved with her, because He sees the need of ALL our JETTs! He knows what they need & what they are desperately lacking. Here on our field many JETTs are shallow, pent up with all kinds of questions, fears & bitternesses about their thoughts & feelings. They don't know if they are murmurers or doubters of the Word. If they just don't understand something, they get confused. They are reaching out to the adults, & they are disappointed if they don't see the same standard in all the adults.

Having Techi's reactions published in these GNs has been a milestone, because it seems that the vast majority of our adults & parents just simply do not understand JETTs. If a JETT says something like some of the things Techi has said, the adults have labelled them, put them off, called them "murmurers", "doubters of the Word", & given them burdens more than they can bear. They have over-spiritualised it. Not to say these things aren't serious, as Mama pointed out in Techi's case, but we have not taken time to see our JETTs through to victory. We just say something like: "You're a murmurer! You'd better get the victory or such-&-such will happen to you!" Seeing the sample of the honest & open communication between Mama & Techi is just beautiful, it's just what we need.

Let's Break Those Old Bottles!

What burdens me the most is that a lot of our JETTs just don't know Jesus! They don't understand how He operates, they can't remember the last time they really touched Him or that He meant something personally to them or He answered one of their prayers. They hear so much Word, they get so much counsel, they get demerits, they get discipline, they get told their NWOs, but in many of our Homes they just don't see the Spirit of God move that much.

While discussing this recently, we felt that the reason it's so hard to raise the JETT & Teen training standard in our Homes is because so many of the adults are just Old Bottles, they don't know how to reach the New Bottles because they are such Old Bottles themselves. The Spirit isn't alive & moving in the adults. I've felt that lethargy & that Old Bottleism in my own life & in a lot of adults, & it just doesn't reach our Teens & JETTs at all! From what I can see, things in many of our Homes just don't move by the Spirit of God in such a way that it's really EXCITING for the JETTs.

The Difficulties & Problems Our JETTs Face

The main thing I learned from these Letters was that Techi started seeing the Lord, she responded by the Spirit, because someone took the time to understand what was going on in her heart & mind & what the Lord was doing in her life. Then someone helped HER to see what the Lord was doing, what the Enemy was doing & what she was doing, so she could fully understand it. There was a moving of the Spirit, a working of the Lord in her life. So when she prayed it meant something. She was able to see answers to her prayers, the effects of her prayers & the effects of others' prayers.

To me it seems like all of our JETTs are going to come to this stage in their growth once they start to mature & judge things & find their place. We feel that virtually ALL of our JETTs are going to need what we are calling "Victor training". It's sort of like growing-up training or going-into-Teenhood training or Babes' ranch training.—It's DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING! They have to learn to fight & make that decision to commit their lives, & there are going to be battles. They are going to have their share of questions & doubts & worries & fears & discouragements & almost all of them will need help!

It seems we're having to face bigger problems with our JETT Victors than the problems that Techi is battling. Maybe if Techi was around a lot of other children she might have reacted the same, but our JETT Victors have problems with real shallowness. Techi doesn't seem to be shallow. Most of our JETTs also lack a hunger for the Word. They are prone to rebelliousness, sewing disunity & discord among the brethren, being very self-willed & strong-willed, & they are not used to receiving correction at all. So many of our JETT Victors haven't had the training that Techi's had, she has a lot stronger foundation. We are having to train our JETT Victors from square one, teaching them the very basics.

But we just can't see where we can find the time or trained personnel to give all our JETTs this kind of attention. As it stands now, the spiritual standard of overseeing & training JETTs in our Homes is low, because the only people who get involved are those who are particularly interested in children, such as childcare personnel or JETT or Teen Shepherds. So in most of our Schools we have one or two Shepherds shepherding up to 25 JETTs & a very small handful of Teens together, & they just can't give them the attention that they need.

I would say that a good 60% of our kids would need to go through the Victor Program at this rate. Since we just don't have the time & space to do that, we want to focus more on raising the standard in the Homes by training Shepherds & parents in shepherding & training `babes', so to speak, in these JETTs, so that we can reach them BEFORE it comes around to their turn to go to the Victor Program, which might be too late for them.

Parents Must Spend Time with Their JETTs!

Seeing the sample of how MAMA is taking time with Techi is going to be a revolution, because ALL of us adults need to take time with our kids to help them through—it can't just be left up to the teachers.

Parents (all adult Family Members) must get more involved with our children's lives! It's not something that has come naturally, at least it certainly has not become a real good habit. If our parent/child communication HAD been a good habit in the Family, most likely many of our JETTs would NOT be Victors now. We must learn how to COMMUNICATE with our kids & how to UNDERSTAND them & realise the importance of MAKING TIME FOR THEM.

There are many reasons why parents are not so involved in their kids' lives, but unfortunately in many cases it seems to be mostly just neglect. In some cases, by the time these kids have reached the Teen or JETT age their parents have gone through so many personal battles that they are wrapped up in themselves to the point that they are just not that aware of what their kids are going through. The parents themselves are so preoccupied & distracted by their own battles & their own relationships that their own lives take pre-eminence over their children's needs.

Also, some leaders & Shepherds, God bless them, have put their kids into the care of others. They have had to forsake their kids for the Work, as giving them unto the Lord, but because of pressing responsibility & travels, they were not able to stay in close communication with those who care for their children, so they've lost touch with how their children are growing in the Lord.

Even though the Word tells us over & over that "our children are the future" & we've got to "invest in the future", nevertheless, the care of our children has been sadly minimised over the years. Childcare has been left to the precious childcare workers who may have had a burden for children, but who may or may not have been qualified to do the job of spiritually meeting all the children's needs. Also, busy teachers & childcare helpers often didn't faithfully communicate with the Shepherds or parents, because the childcare needs didn't always get priority, or they just couldn't report regularly with so many kids & details to attend to.

(Editor's note: In many of our Homes & Schools, the childcare personnel are the most qualified people to train the children. Our childcare personnel in the Family are usually very talented, dedicated brethren who are a great blessing as they abide in their calling, thus freeing many others to be able to participate wholeheartedly in other ministries. However, even as talented, dedicated & hard-working as our childcare personnel are, they need the help & support of all adult Family Members. The job of training & caring for our children has become too big for our few fulltime childcare workers to try to carry the ball on their own. There's just not enough hours in the day for teachers to personally attend to the individual needs of so many children! And that's why it has become an "all-hands-on-deck" emergency for all adult Family Members!)

Since we've tried to rescue many JETTs & Teens through the Victor Program, our parents have been learning how much it is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to gain & keep their children! It's not just the responsibility of the Family, & we can't think that just because a child grows up in the Family that he's going to STAY in the Family. Just because he has Word classes with his school group doesn't mean he's going to have answers to all of his questions or an understanding of the spiritual problems & battles that he faces.

When our JETTs & Teens went into the Victor Program, we saw that their main NWOs could have been checked a lot EARLIER if they had had someone taking the time with them, personally ministering to them, helping them get over these battles at a younger age. But in our situation here on this field, because we had launched into the School Vision a couple of years back, most adults now admit that they have left the training of the children up to the teachers in the School.

Calling All Adults to Get Involved!

As we have found out, it is virtually impossible for one teacher to meet the physical needs, let alone the spiritual needs of all the children in their group. So, even though our teachers are well-meaning & have dedicated their lives to the kids, they just CAN'T see everything, they can't do it all, they can't stay on top of EVERYTHING! So, a lot of our kids have had the opportunity to develop lots of bad habits & NWOs simply because they couldn't possibly be overseen like they needed to be.

For the most part, in our situation, even though a JETT or a Teen is with their Shepherd for Word class in the morning, they spend the better part of their days under the care of OTHER adults in other departments or out witnessing. These other adults who spend so much time with the JETTs & Teens often don't know how to discipline them or how to relate to them or train them, or they feel they "aren't part of the childcare department", so they don't concern themselves that much with the JETTs or Teens in their care.

The whole attitude of the non-teacher adults towards our JETTs & Teens needs revamping. They don't relate to them as young potential disciples, but rather as "a kid from the childcare department who just isn't doing what I want him to do, so I'm going to slap him a demerit, & that's the extent of my relationship with him!"

Now we're faced with the challenge of learning how to win our children within our own Homes. We have to get on the bandwagon & find a way to help not only the few kids we can filter through a temporary Victor Program, but ALL of our children ALL the way down the line. We must train our families in the Homes to have a "Victor standard" right where they are. Our only solution CANNOT be to just send them off to a Victor Program somewhere & let other people try to take care of them.

We Need a Revolution in Each & Every Home

When recently visiting our Victor Program here, that has been in operation for over a year now, I saw that what we are teaching our JETTs & Teens there is the substance of the Revolution, the things that have meaning & life, the things that should inspire & turn us ADULTS on as well! I feel that too often we adults in the Family seek for things to turn us on that aren't Spirit-filled & aren't really the things that are going to motivate & stimulate & turn on our kids in the right spirit. For example, our kids may be super turned on to watch their VIDEO on free night, but they aren't always so turned on to sit around & have an INSPIRATION together.

But at the Victor Program you can feel the life & spirit of the Revolution when they sit around & sing songs together. They've caught the fire, they've got the Spirit, they've got JESUS! The simple joys of Jesus turn them on, they are lasting & it's real to everyone there.

Unfortunately, I feel we're lacking that in our Homes, we're lacking the Spirit of God in the way that kids can relate to it. We may have things that ADULTS can relate to, like Teamwork lessons & lessons about "my last time on the bench" or "my big breaking" or "my relationship lessons", but those lessons aren't reaching our KIDS. It may be wonderful for your kids to hear you've learned some lessons, but what's so stimulating about the Victor Program is that the adults are in tune with what's happening in the KIDS' LIVES! It's so young & new & alive! It's the story of "New Bottles".

When I saw the JETTs & Teens getting trained there, I felt like, "THIS is the Revolution! THIS is where it's at! THESE are the ones who have the fresh new in-pouring of the Spirit from the Lord!"

I believe these GNs from Dad & Mama & Techi are going to be the springboard we need to have that Spirit again in ALL our Homes. And we'll live more in a world for YOUNG PEOPLE rather than for our Old Bottles. Through these GNs I believe we will learn how to be those clods of clay that Dad talks about in "Diamonds of Dust", & we'll learn how to let our new generation shine! We'll get it through our thick skulls that we are not setting up a Revolution for OURSELVES any more, we've got to set up a Revolution for our KIDS. We've got to put more emphasis on spending time with them & winning them to the Lord. And this is just what we needed to see—we needed to see DAD & MAMA do it!

People can hear about the Victor Shepherds getting in there & laying down their lives for the JETTs & Teens, & it's easy to say, "Well, that's the Victor Shepherds' job." Or they can hear about my testimony or the DAS MOM's testimony & think, "Well, that's their MINISTRY, so naturally THEY'RE going to do it." Our Family probably doesn't expect to hear of Mama spending time each day with Techi, they probably figure that's Auntie Amy's job—but MAMA is doing it! When they see that MAMA, as busy as SHE is, is doing it—& when they see here on our field that Josiah, as busy as HE is, is doing it—then people will sit up & take notice & realise: "This must be IMPORTANT! This is a REVOLUTION!" And that's what it NEEDS to be—it needs to be an ABSOLUTE REVOLUTION!

Follow-Up & Consistency for Lasting Victories!

We poured a lot into our Teens in the TTCs & YESs, but the FOLLOW-UP when they went back into their Homes or Schools just wasn't what it should have been. We didn't continue with the same TTC standard in these Teens' lives & a lot of them backslid in their walk with the Lord & some of them left the Family, because we just didn't take the training that they were having at the TTCs seriously enough. We didn't FURTHER that training when the Teens returned to our Homes.

It's the same now with the Victor Program or the Teen Ministry Training Program or any program that we've had for the Teens.—If we don't strengthen our follow-up, the training only lasts in the programs, but it's often lost when they get back into a situation where the other adults who care for them don't uphold the same standard with them that their Teen Shepherds did.

It's pitiful, because what happens is our Victors graduate from the Victor Program, & they go back into their Homes & Schools, & they get lost in the crowd. Their victories go unnoticed, their follow-up program isn't kept up because the teachers, whether they have the time or not, don't always have the vision for it. The other teachers & adults haven't been touched with all that has gone into winning the victories in the JETT or Teen's life, so they just don't seem to be as motivated to help them continue to grow & make progress.

Since the JETTs & Teens usually spend most of their time throughout the day with other adults & Department heads in the Home doing their ministries & witnessing, ALL the adults need to be envisioned to help the JETTs & Teens continue to make progress & grow.

If the JETTs or Teens see that their parents & the other adults aren't as concerned or as on top of them as their Victor Shepherds were, they become torn with the desire to go BACK into the Victor Program, because that is where they felt really close to the Lord & that's where they felt the Spirit really move in their lives. Soon they really miss it, & then they become bitter & critical of their peers & other adults who don't follow through with the same standards. It's a very sad situation for these kids, who have really had to get down to business with the Lord during a time of intense retraining, if they don't get the follow-up they need.

When the JETTs & Teens have been trained or salvaged for the Lord through the Victor Program, all that has been invested into their lives is very noteworthy & precious. They have been faced with their NWOs daily & they've had to be exposed in front of others, they've had to confess, they've had to really fight or fail. They've had times with the Lord that have been milestones for them—real life changes. They've committed areas of their lives to Jesus, they've taken stands for Jesus. They've had moments where Jesus has come alive to them, they've touched Him & they've shared this with others!

However, it seems that the parents & other adults just haven't realised what's been going on in their lives or they haven't taken it to heart, it hasn't reached their hearts or their lives like it should have. In other words, we feel the parents (all adult Family Members) should be very concerned about what is taking place in the JETTs' & Teens' lives. IT SEEMS THAT PARENTS (ADULT FAMILY MEMBERS) OFTEN TAKE THOSE THINGS TOO LIGHTLY.

They just don't really seem to understand all that the Victor Program is costing the kids, & all that it is doing for them in their lives. The parents sort of leave it up to the Teen Shepherds & the JETTs & Teens themselves. Of course, the parents are happy & thankful that their child is overcoming, but they aren't really a part of it as much as they should be. Maybe it's because THEY JUST DON'T KNOW HOW!

Our JETTs & Teens Need Real Values!

I think one of the most precious things about Techi & about my own kids is that once an adult has reached the key to their hearts & their minds & is helping them to overcome, they are just so hungry & desperate to want to know how they are doing every day. My son, who was in the JETT Victor Program, will now always say, "Please tell me how I'm doing!—Did I do that right?" When he gets demerits now he'll say, "Could you talk to me about all the things that I did wrong, can you tell me what I need to do that's right." It seems to be the same in all the JETTs—they really want to know how they're doing. Once they know that you are working with them to gain victories, they are real sincere in wanting to do what is right.

Especially the JETTs & Teens who have been blessed with the personal training of the Victor Program, they've experienced the Lord working in their lives & those things become real values to them. Because of this idealistic time in their lives they don't want to lose sight of those values & those things that really meant something to them. They want to hold on to their breakthrough & when the Lord got through to them. They greatly desire to have someone say, "Now this is what you need to work on & this is how you need to do it. I'm going to stay with you on this until we see it through, until you understand it & we see that you are learning how to develop good habits & get a victory."

They just don't want to let go, it really means something to them. They are full of life & fight. But if the adults let go & back down & don't follow through, then the kids lose respect & they lose sight of what really has meaning in their lives. They start to get rebellious if they don't see that standard kept up with them on the things that they are told have REAL MEANING.

Then they look for something else that has meaning, something that they can hang on to. That's why I feel that the more that we adults grasp the importance of keeping up the fight with these kids, the more kids we'll keep in the Family. We are the ones who are placing in them these goals & values, we're the ones who are taking them to Jesus & teaching them how to come before Him, & they yield to us & they break & they reach out for what has meaning. If we fail to follow through on it, they will reach out for something ELSE that means something to them personally. They've got to have something to strive for.

Winning New Disciples in Our Children!

In our local Area, we are presently pushing to re-educate all of the adults. That's why these GNs about Techi are such a milestone! Now everyone can see how much Mama is behind it & what she's doing to reach Techi, it's just beautiful! We have a long ways to go, & these new Techi GNs are a real key in further training in this area.

Parents are learning to understand the needs of their children & just how to be parents. Actually we are learning how to be disciple & soul winners of our children, we're looking at them more like the Lord's potential disciples than just our children. It's given the parents a fresh outlook on how to approach their kids. It has created greater responsibility on the part of the parents towards their children, as some adults who couldn't seem to quite understand the title, "childcare," are much more enlightened & encouraged when they look at it like winning disciples.

I've been involved with shepherding Teen & JETT Victors in my own children, as well as counselling with the Victor Shepherds over the past year, & it has definitely changed my life! I've seen A MISSION FIELD WITHIN THE FAMILY IN WINNING SOULS & DISCIPLES TO THE LORD—OUR OWN CHILDREN! I have had a greater fulfilment in ministering to JETTs & Teens & their Shepherds than I ever had in ministering to adults only. JETTs & Teens are alive, they are honest & straightforward, full of enthusiasm, new ideas & fresh inspiration, & they are New Bottles! What it has done for me is it's helped me to grow, to be a New Bottle & to make greater commitments in my life. Like Dad said, the only way the New Bottles are going to get new things from God is if their parents & teachers & Shepherds & leaders stay close to the Lord & broken & committed, so that He can pour through those Old Bottles to feed & inspire the New Bottles. And as He pours through, those New Bottles receive new & greater things from Him, which we are seeing in our JETTs & Teens!

Total Commitment!—Are You Willing?!

JETT & Teen training requires total commitment! At least from what I've experienced with my own children & the Victor Program, if you're going to give your life to our children, then your life is not your own, because it's a 24-hour-a-day job. Whereas if you work in another ministry, say the kitchen or provisioning, you might work from 9:00 to 5:00, but it doesn't really cost AS MUCH. If you are doing town business you may have to get ahold of the Lord to meet the System, but then you can come home & relax. You can watch your video or you can get in the Word & work on your personal NWOs. You've got your times of relaxation, you've got your times that "belong to you". It's selfish, but probably like most of us, I know I've tried to keep those "private" times in my life—those times when I can really relax that "belong to me".

But I've got nine children, I've also got a Victor Program & the Victor Shepherds in my care. And I know from experience that when you start pouring your life into your kids directly, there is always something to pray about or something more you can do to help them. As much as we might need help or need to have prayer & be in the Word, even MORE SO our children need that attention, they need answers on just about everything.

If I were teaching all of my children myself, or if I were responsible to teach a childcare group, or especially if I were a Victor Shepherd in the Victor Program, I know that it would be 24 hours a day of constant pressure, you might say, because children's needs are always there. They always need prayer about something, they always need something explained to them. They wake up in the night for help with bad dreams or worries or fears or sickness. They need constant love & encouragement when they are going through battles, they need direction. They need to know that you are there & that you care for them.

We have to pull our Victor Shepherds out of their situation & practically make them take a day off for rest & recuperation, it's almost impossible for them to pull them-selves out. They've almost got to stop the flow of the Lord's care through them when they pull away, because the Lord is just constantly pouring through them for the sake of the JETTs & Teens. You can see how short time is & how vital it is to save them when you see the wear & tear on these Victor Shepherds! Although there are great rewards when training JETTs & Teens, & you can see wonderful fruits because the Lord is behind it, it's still like erasing yourself, it really costs you something.

Your life is lived in your children if you're doing the job right. Whether you are shepherding your children directly or shepherding their teachers, the more you get into it, the more you find YOUR LIFE IS LIVED IN YOUR CHILDREN & your life is no longer your own!—And to make that commitment takes your ALL, it's not easy!

Great is Your Reward!

The rewards are seeing the Lord work through you to reach those kids, which is something that I've seen more in this ministry with the JETTs & Teens than in any other ministry. It's almost like He loves them much more than He loves us. Certainly He loves us all, but I'm simply stressing how much He REALLY loves those kids, they must be so pure & beautiful to Him, because He'll take you to the limits in reaching them!

It's beautiful to see the Lord's Love & concern for those kids! He'll go to any lengths to meet their needs, see them through their weaknesses, touch their hearts with the simplest gifts & things of the Spirit! He answers their prayers! And seeing those kids come through victorious are the most heart-touching heart-reaching moments that I've had in my life in the Family.

For example, I have a son who has had battles with competitiveness & a pushy, loud, rowdy spirit & attitude since he was three years old. Now it's just beautiful to see him stand up in front of all the JETTs & share that he knows that this is his NWO & something that he's going to have to always fight, but that the Lord got through to him & spoke to him personally & told him that He wanted to use his strength for Him in winning souls & pouring out to others. It was so fulfilling to see that he really understood this at the age of 11. And now every time he asks for prayer when he blows it, he testifies again of the victories he's won through the intense JETT shepherding he received—it's just beautiful!

Of course witnessing & winning souls on the outside is beautiful, but from a mother's point of view, these are children that I have given my life to, in pregnancy & birth & babyhood, spending nights & days with them!—And it thrills me to see that when I give my ALL & I do MY part, the Lord blesses & rewards my children's lives.—And I watch them mature & become fighters, a blessing to the Work, their peers, & their brothers & sisters! I want that more than I would want any victories in my OWN life!

There is no greater reward than to know my children walk in Truth. "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord & great shall be the peace of thy children." (Isa.54:13) To see that peace in our children is the most beautiful reward I've seen yet in the Family!

Where Have All the Parents Gone?

By Josiah

One of the most wonderful things about the Techi Series is being able to learn from the detailed accounts of how Mama personally counsels Techi. I believe all of our Family adults will be AWAKENED by Mama's direct concern & personal involvement with Techi & will want to FOLLOW her true Shepherdess' sample.—As how can we, as a Family, ever again be "too busy" to take the time to communicate with our children individually, so we can answer their questions, keep in touch with what they're learning & help them through any battles they may face.

I saw how we can't be afraid or ashamed to really concern ourselves with the lives of our children. We have to be willing to stop our "busyness" & distance ourselves from our other important activities in order to help our children through a time of despair & distress. Something definitely needs to be changed in our Homes, & I really believe this Techi Series is going to set the pace & the example for our parents (adult Family Members) to follow.

It is no wonder that the Lord has permitted dear Techi to experience some of the problems that our JETTs are also experiencing, for I believe the heartcry of this young generation is the same FAMILY-WIDE. Our JETTs are going through stages that are just plain HARD to go through, & unless we really focus the time & the leadership needed to pull them through, they may NOT make it!

There is a great need for all of us to pour into each one of our JETTs—not only JETT Camp style, but INDIVIDUALLY—so they can find their own identity within the Family & feel that the Lord loves them in a special way & has a SPECIAL PLACE for them. We need to revise the "herding cattle approach" in many of our JETT & Teen Departments, & include some individual attention, either on the part of the teachers or the Shepherds or the parents or the other adult Members of our Homes.—Somewhere, somehow our JETTs must receive more personal attention during this crucial age of 11, 12 & 13!

Reading about Techi getting so much immediate help in these very difficult moments shows one wonderful STRENGTH of our Family, & that is how our parents & children can be real FRIENDS if they are very open & honest with one another. And if we adults focus time & attention to provide the answers to their important questions, the JETTs can be immediately challenged to greater motivation, greater dedication & ultimately greater discipleship.

Unfortunately, however, one of the biggest mistakes that I feel our parents make is they don't switch gears from talking DOWN to their children. What our JETTs need is HEART-TO-HEART SHARING & a real LISTENING EAR to help them through these difficult periods. But I think a lot of our parents, especially those who were directly involved in the care & education of our JETTs when they were YOUNGER & who attended to a lot of their physical & academic needs, which basically had to be spoon fed to them, are now having a hard time switching from the SPOON FEEDING OF CHILDREN to the PARENTING OF YOUNG ADULTS. This seems to particularly strain the relationships between JETTs & parents (& other adults) in many of our Homes.

JETTs Need Answers & Attention!

It could be that if we were to get as concerned as dear Mama is with Techi, we would have a lot fewer of our JETTs & Teens at the Victor Program. It seems that with many of our JETTs & Teens, when a crisis period in their lives wasn't given the time & attention needed, their retaliation was to get attention by being NAUGHTY. That could very well be why so many of our JETTs & Teens need to go through the Victor Program. At least there, even though they're away from their parents & perhaps taken down by the humiliation or the shame of having to go through a special rehabilitation program & concentrated training, they at least get the time & attention they need to answer many of their questions.

I have seen when talking to JETTs that they don't even understand a lot of what they are going through. They've read a lot of counsel in the Letters, they have heard their parents (or other adult Family Members) rattle off a lot of the answers formula-style, catechism-style, but because this is the first time they've EXPERIENCED these problems themselves, the answers they've heard their whole lives have to be RE-EXPLAINED to them. The answers cannot just be quoted or told to the JETTs, they have to be LIVED STEP-BY-STEP WITH THEM.—And that takes time, which most parents feel they don't have, especially if they happen to have the slightest leadership responsibility. With all the spiritual answers we have in our Family, unless we take the time to LIVE each & every one of those principles with our young adults, it could be that, much like Systemites have failed THEIR children, we also might fail OURS!

JETTs & Teens Are Not "On Their Own"!

Sad to say, many of us may have gotten the wrong impression that, because our JETTs & Teens now have their own teachers, we don't need to be that personally involved with them any more. Mary brought out a point that when it comes to the emotional & spiritual questions JETTs have, some don't only look to their JETT overseers as being the ones they really want to be close to & open up their hearts to.—They look to their parents or other Shepherds & adults too!

It seems JETTs still look to their parents as the ones from whom they would want to receive some spiritual guidance & direction. When Mary shared this with some of the Shepherds here, it was somewhat of a shock to them, because many were under the impression that as soon as the kids move into the JETT wing or DEFINITELY the Teen wing, they are basically on their own in the Revolution, which really ISN'T the case. This point might need to be explained to the adults in the Family.

It could be that the School Vision might have been carried a bit to the extreme if the personal touch & the personal care of the parents with their children has been so de-emphasised. Of course, I think the School Vision is definitely a victory in that our children can receive attention in regards to their training & educational needs, but we can't overlook that the parents still have a lot of influence on their children. We've got to get more help & cooperation from the parents somehow.

(Editor's note: To look at this point in a little broader perspective, all our dear JETTs & Teens need to have someone, some adult who they feel especially close to who can answer their questions & help them through any troubled times. This is not to say that this person necessarily has to be the flesh parents. In many cases it will be, & parents definitely do have a great influence on their children, but in the event that the parents are not available because they live in another Home or they have pressing responsibilities in leadership or another ministry, the Lord can raise up other adults who can fill that need in the JETTs' & Teens' lives! PTL! But the general point Josiah makes here still stands—the JETTs & Teens can't be allowed to get "lost in the shuffle" of our busy Homes. They are not "on their own" in the Family! They still very much need that personal touch & the guidance of caring & concerned adult Family Members!)

We've Got to Stop the Problems at the Source!

My main concern in regards to the Victor Program is that, even though we are going out of our way to take care of the JETTs' & Teens' problems, we're not really stopping the flow of the problems at the source. The pattern that we've seen after a whole year of the Victor Program being in operation is that with each new session we oftentimes see children of the same family coming in. In other words, the real problem cases, oftentimes more so than the children, are the PARENTS who are just not taking proper care of their children.—And in the end it is all left to the Victor Program & the Victor Shepherds to try to straighten them out. So I think something is missing in our present educational system whereby we are focusing a lot of attention on TEACHING & EDUCATING the kids, but maybe not enough on SHEPHERDING them.

It seems like their spiritual needs are way too much on the back burner as compared to their physical & intellectual needs. Maybe for a time we got too concerned about what the System might say about our kids not being scholastically adept, but in focusing so much personal time & attention on getting them up to snuff intellectually, we might have overlooked some of their spiritual needs. We need to bring the Victor Program to the HOME LEVEL & even more so to the PARENTS' (ALL THE ADULTS') LEVEL!

An American High School for Problem Teens!

Some time back I got to see a documentary on an American high school for delinquent children. Most of the students of this school were rich kids who had gotten into trouble either because of drugs or alcohol or whatever their problems might have been. This school not only tried to help these kids overcome their physical weaknesses, but it also went deeper in trying to have real interaction, heart-to-heart communication with the students. Actually, it looked very much like our Victor Program, minus Jesus. The main problem the teachers of this school were finding was how little attention & care the parents had poured into their own kids. This documentary was depicting a real generation gap, which the System doesn't have the answer to, except that this school occasionally invited the parents to pow-wow certain topics with their kids.

This documentary showed how this high school exposed & addressed the PARENTS' problems also. In some cases, the educators had to sit down with these rich parents, who no one had probably had the guts to cross before, especially in regards to the education of their kids, & they had to honestly tell them what they felt they had done wrong in training their children. The management of that school seemed to be under the impression that unless the parents were also corrected, they would be sending the kids back into an environment that would only breed the same problem between the parents & kids.

Bringing the Victor Program to the Home Level!

Well, I couldn't help but see that they really have a point there. Along the same lines, I am particularly concerned about our Victor Program, because it doesn't quite reach as far as the parents, who to me are the source where these Victors are coming from! We must somehow correct the problem at the source, otherwise we might as well count on most children passing through the Victor Program at one time or another. Well, MOST children probably should, but isn't the point rather to bring the Victor Program closer to the HOME level whereby every one of our teachers & parents (& adults) is able to expect the same standard from our children?!

While preparing for the upcoming new term at the Victor Program, we received a list of Victor candidates, & to our surprise, as many as 10 to 20% of the candidates on the list were kids who had been at the Victor Program during one of the PREVIOUS terms! Here again we are faced with the problem of follow-up. After graduating, the Victors were sent back to pretty much the same environment that they had come out of, & because the rehabilitation braces were not strong enough, they were not able to retain the victories that they had gained. Some Victors felt condemned & discouraged when they returned home & found themselves in the same situation as before, & they weren't able to uphold the standard & keep the victories they had won when they were at the Victors.

It really broke my heart when reading of a particular case of one boy who had caused the Victor Shepherds the MOST problems for about six months. But they finally got through to him & there was a miraculous change in his life! However, when he returned to his Home, because he wasn't able to RETAIN those victories for very long, he got very discouraged & condemned to the point that he is AGAIN a real problem case, this time being introverted, shy & defeated. It really makes me cry, not just for all the hours & tears & prayers & desperation that the Victor Shepherds invested in this boy, who had pretty much been a rotten apple from the age of two, but the heartache on the part of the BOY is almost BIGGER!—Because even if he is to return to the Victor Program, God knows if the Shepherds will be able to convince him that there IS hope that he can make it out in the "big world" of our Family Homes one day.

So the bottom line is that the Victor Program, as effective as it is here & now, is sadly lacking in effectiveness once the dear Victor has graduated & has returned to his normal Home. So does the fault lie with the Victor Program?—Or strictly with the delinquent child?—Or does the fault perhaps also lie in the fact that the shepherding standard of our children in general in our Homes is way too low! Not only can our ex-Victors not uphold the standard that they grew accustomed to in the Victor Program & consequently they return to their problematic state, but THE HOMES KEEP YIELDING NEW VICTORS FROM JUST ABOUT EVERY FAMILY ON THIS FIELD! So we are no longer talking about strictly "rotten apple parents" or "delinquent parents" who have not been shepherding their children, but we are talking about our whole system of education that might be lacking in shepherding—either from the parents or the teachers, or both! (Or ALL the adult Family Members!)

Caring for Our JETT Lambs!

When reading the Good Thots on children after reading the Techi GNs, I came across something that really touched my heart. It is a little poem that expresses the importance & emphasis that we should give the shepherding of our children. It says:

Said a precious little laddie

To his father one bright day,

"May I give myself to Jesus,

Let Him wash my sins away?"

"Oh, my son, but you're too little,

Wait until you older grow,

Bigger folks 'tis true, do need Him, but

Little folks are safe you know."

Said the father to his laddie

As a storm was coming on,

"Are the sheep all safely sheltered,

Safe within the fold my son?"

"All the big ones are, my father,

But the lambs, I let them go,

For I didn't think it mattered,

Little ones are safe, you know?"

Oh my brother! Oh my sister!

Have you too made that mistake?

Little hearts that now are yielding,

May be hardened then—too late.

'Ere the evil days come nigh them,

"Let the children come to Me,

And forbid them not," said Jesus,

"For of such shall My Kingdom be."

—(Good Thots, page 401, #116)

To me this poem exposes the PASSIVE ATTITUDE that we have at times towards the heartcry of our children & towards their genuine spiritual needs, because we think they will be taken care of in their school groups as their teachers faithfully guide them to read & memorise the Word, & they correct them, discipline them, & basically keep them out of trouble. It could be though that the teachers may be able to keep them out of trouble from WITHOUT, but it will take MORE than teachers to keep them out of trouble from WITHIN.

(Editor's note: This is not to say, of course, that none of our teachers are capable of spiritually overseeing the children in their care. If they have the time, they can often do an excellent job of personally shepherding the children.—However, the point Josiah is bringing out is that the teachers can't do it all, especially if they are responsible to educate & care for a large group of children. So our adult Family Members, be they parents or not, will need to get involved to help give the children the personal attention they need.)

We Need More Shepherds!

Could it be that our teachers are so busy TRAINING & EDUCATING the children that they just can't sufficiently SHEPHERD them?—Therefore should the shepherding involve more parents & adult Family Members? If this is the case, we must then look at the parents' (adults') schedules, which seem at present to be overloaded with other preoccupations & cares that do not include the very important lives of the little ones. It will take REAL SHEPHERDS, be they parents or teachers (or other adults), to save our JETTs & Teens!

This is what the Victor Program is doing—it is making the teachers become loving, caring, involved SHEPHERDS as well. In many cases, they more or less replace the parents that many of our JETTs & Teens didn't have. This is possibly why most of our Victors, when asked if they would like to go back Home after their term is over, answer, "No, we want to stay here. We're afraid to go back where we will not have access to the help we need when we need it." How sad!

I don't know what the rest of the "Techi Series" holds, but it is my heartcry that we will teach our many teachers to be better Shepherds. In our Victor Program we have some of our best Shepherds teaching the kids, whereas in our childcare groups many of the teachers are not necessarily Shepherds. Does this mean that in order to bring the Victor Program to the Home level or to the childcare group level, we will have to INVOLVE THE HOME & AREA SHEPHERDS MORE?—I believe this would have to be part of the answer.

Aside from being a mother, Mama is also the Shepherdess of her Home & of her Teamwork & of the whole World! The way Mama has taken care of Techi, making it a priority & involving the personnel needed to help focus a lot of prayer & research to find the Lord's answers, is a real sample of shepherding, which I believe could be the solution to our JETTs' & Teens' problems! Thank the Lord for these answers to our prayers, & Lord help us to put them into practice!

P.S. After thinking & praying about it further, I began to see that this is like a new page in the book of lessons that the Family is learning. It's another step of growth as we can clearly see that now is the time for ALL of us to be a lot more concerned about the spiritual growth of our children. It's not that we haven't taken care of our children at all, because we HAVE attended to MOST of their needs. In fact, considering how much the School Vision has grown, the progress in our Childcare Department has been monumental over the last few years. TTL!

It wouldn't be right to say that the blame for the JETT crisis we are now facing falls entirely on the parents. Actually, "fixing the blame" at all feels a little uncomfortable, because I believe that all the adults have been busy faithfully attending to a lot of other ministries & responsibilities that also needed attention. It seems to me that our mistake has not been one of the HEART as much as one of the HEAD; & now that this lack has been so clearly brought to our attention, I'm sure we'll ALL do much better & the guidance of these new GNs will challenge us & enable us to bring about another revolution of progress! PTL!

Who Will Lay Down Their Lives for Our New Generation! —Will You?!

—By Faithy, JETT & Teen Victor Shepherdess

My overall reaction to the Techi GNs was, "Wow, what a big help!" I think it is very good for our JETTs & Teens to see Techi as a much more relatable sinner like themselves—instead of this little girl on a high pedestal, who was more like a character from a book.

Techi has been mightily used & all the children really look up to her, but I think now as a JETT Victor, in a sense, she is going to be able to help her generation—the Techi generation—even more, because they're going through the same things. I was utterly amazed at how relatable her lessons are to the JETTs & Teens. She speaks as one of them, she speaks in their language. It's an important witness that the JETTs really need right now, so they don't think they're too bad & they don't give up the fight.

We can certainly see the wisdom of the Lord in having this happen in the King's house for the benefit of ALL our children. These are all the very same, very real problems that a lot of our parents & teachers & families are facing with their JETTs.

Let Every JETT be Fully Persuaded!

The JETTs question everything, & we've got to be there to answer their questions, just like Mama did with Techi. We need to answer their growing-up questions & their growing-up minds, instead of treating them as though they're out-of-it for having questions or doubts.

The JETTs are at the age of questioning & re-evaluating, & finding answers for themselves, & making commitments & decisions for themselves. So we have to be there to help them to become fully persuaded in their own minds, as the Scripture says, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind"—let every JETT be fully persuaded in his own mind. It is our job is to help them.

That was a lesson we had to learn here at the JETT & Teen Victor Program, because it was pretty shocking when we heard the doubts that some of the kids were having. They were doubting literally everything they had been taught. But we came to realise that, like with new babes, the Enemy comes along with doubts to try to cause them to doubt the Word, & those doubts just need to be answered & refuted with the Word. We started taking it as a challenge when we heard these JETTs' doubts, instead of letting it discourage us. If we let the Light in, the darkness will flee of itself. That is our job as parents & teachers—to be there to answer those questions, even the difficult ones, & help them become convinced & make the right decisions when they're confronted with doubts.

How Dad Answered Our Questions & Doubts

Dad always spent a lot of time with us especially when we were Teens, explaining everything, answering all our questions & even our doubts. Aaron, being the number one doubter, had to be fully persuaded & totally convinced, so Dad would have to teach all around the whole point & hit every side of the question from every angle to convince him.—And in the process, he would convince all the rest of us. But in the end, Aaron became the chief lawyer & defender of the Word, so it was certainly time well spent! It could have been discouraging for Dad, but he understood that he had to teach us & answer our questions & fully persuade us, so that we could make the right decision to choose the truth above the lie. Thank the Lord he spent that time with us & he had to forsake all to do it.

Everyone Can Follow Mama's Example!

I liked very much seeing in the Techi GNs that MAMA HERSELF took the time to counsel & help Techi. I wondered, "What if we ALL took the JETTs or Teens under our wing & really won them & spent that time counselling them & helping them make it through it?" It's all too easy to excuse ourselves with, "Well, MAMA is MAMA & she has wisdom & patience & love to really counsel Techi & have the answers, but do we ALL have that? Would we ALL have the wisdom & love & patience & conviction, not to mention the TIME, to counsel the children that way?"

It seems we have so many problem JETTs & Teens because apparently the parents (adult Family Members) lack in conviction, & when they had the chance to sit down & teach their JETTs themselves & answer their questions, they didn't do it. So we have to ask ourselves, "DO our parents (adult Family Members) have the time? DO they have the strength?" Well, they can't be busier than Mama herself, so of course our parents (adult Family Members) CAN have the time. But do they have the wisdom & patience & prayerfulness & all that's needed?

It seems to me that EVERYONE can follow the example & guidelines of these very clear counselling sessions in the Techi GNs, so they could do it. But they would also need the CONVICTION to see it through, & it seems like in many cases of JETT & Teen Victors, a lot of their problems stem from their parents' problems & lack of conviction & lack of upholding the standard & not teaching & training their children. That is why we have to have a Victor Program now, & some of the PARENTS are having to come to grips with their OWN PROBLEMS in order to help their children.

While praying about the Techi GNs I read "Real Mothers" & came across a fitting quote: "Almost the greatest influences in my life were my own CHILDREN! They really make you serious & inspire you to be good & to be an example & train them up in the way they should go & try to do it right. You realise the serious sober RESPONSIBILITY of a little child's life in your hands & that they're going to be what YOU make them, so probably the final greatest influence in your life outside of the Lord is your CHILDREN.

"(Maria: God will hold the parents responsible because He has given THEM the children.) Oh, absolutely, He is going to hold them responsible! He is going to hold YOU responsible, ME responsible, & THEM responsible for every child that is born in this Family. We're going to answer for every one of them before the Throne of Judgement one of these days—EVERY ONE!" (DB1 pg.33)

It's obvious that there just aren't enough Teen Shepherds to shepherd the number of Teens & JETTs we have now, much less the number we're going to have in the days to come. So it seems to me that our PARENTS (adult Family Members) are going to have to do what DAD did. Most parents (adult Family Members) in the Family have been serving the Lord for many years. They've had basic training, they know the Word & Bible prophecy, they know the basic Letters, they've had the classes. It might turn these parents on to start teaching their own kids & re-living it themselves. It will wake them up to the responsibility that THEY have to make disciples of their own children, as Dad did with us.

How could our parents be too busy to help make disciples of their own children? (Editor's note: How can any of our adult Family Members be too busy to help make disciples of the children the Lord has given our Family?) I personally believe the Lord is trying to get through to us, simply because we're getting SO MANY VICTORS! Something is wrong somewhere! This needs to be a Revolution—a complete Revolution for our Family!

Let's Make More Time for Our Children!

It could be that we don't take more time with the children because it's not scheduled, & whatever is not scheduled in our Schools or Homes just doesn't happen, because everyone is following a tight rigid schedule. Even the TEACHERS have trouble finding time to not only personally counsel the JETTs, but also to listen to them & get to know them, get to know what's going on in their hearts. It's really hard to find the time—until they become Victors, THEN we at the Victor Program are FORCED to spend time with them.

Now we're realising that perhaps they wouldn't have become Victors had we spent time with these JETTs & Teens EARLIER! By the time they get to the Victor Program they are in such a desperate state that we literally have to go from one to another & spend personal time with them, just to keep them going & fighting & to help them through their time of crisis. The Victor Program precipitates a crisis, not just for the JETTs & Teens, but also for the teachers & the parents.

It seems to me that we have lost the PERSONAL TOUCH in our big Schools. One reason is because the classes are so large. But even with this factor taken into consideration, the TEACHERS may be more in touch with the kids than their PARENTS, because they at least see them more during the day. The parents just have 45 minutes in the evening with their children, before they go back to their school groups.

Parent Time from Dinner Until Bedtime

In a busy School with just a few teachers, it seems that personal time with the JETTs is the last thing on the list of priorities. My question is, "Why couldn't we schedule parent time from dinner until the children go to bed for all those parents who can be available?" Parents would then have the time to have personal little Bible studies with their children. They could teach them the Word after dinner, just like Dad used to do with us, & they'd have time to talk with them before bed—maybe a different child each day if they have several children. Say they have six children, if they personally counselled a different one every night, they would get around to all their children each week.

Let's say dinner is over at 7:00, parents would have from 7:00 to 9:00 with their children. They could have one hour of united Bible study with all their children & then one parent could have personal time with at least one child for the next hour, while the other parent cared for the other children. Or if they couldn't have personal time with just one child for some reason, they could have it with all of them together, like Dad used to do with us. They could have a little family pow-wow with all their children, & each child could talk about their day & share their questions. When I was young we used to have a family pow-wow every day at the dinner table before our Bible study. We discussed everything together & shared about our whole day.

Family Pow-Wows & Bible Studies

Looking back on our life on the Ranch (TSC) as Teens, very, very busy Teens, busy like our Teens are in our Schools & Homes, the only time we had with Dad was that evening time after dinner. Sometimes we would howl & say we had homework or we had to do this or that around the farm or we had to get up at 5:00 in the morning & milk the cows & go to school or we were too tired & blah, blah, blah. But Dad would just put his foot down! When Dad was home, those evenings were sacred for time with him & Bible study. He kept us clean through the Word!

We had family report time around the table at dinner time. Everyone was required to be there on time, & we each gave a report of what we had done during the day & we talked about it. Then we had Bible study. Sometimes we had to stay up late doing our homework, but God certainly blessed it because we made the highest grades in the whole class.—So it didn't hurt us one bit to even sometimes sacrifice our homework to put the Word first.

Of course, the key is back to the PARENTS (adult Family Members)!—Are they equal to the task? If they're doing well spiritually & are keeping the standard in their own lives, they will be able to teach & uphold that spiritual standard with their children. If THEY get excited about the Word, they can get their KIDS excited about the Word. But if they aren't, & they don't even attempt to do this, it won't work!

Personal Time with JETTs & Teens

Maybe all of us could pray & ask the Lord how we can become more committed to taking more time with the JETTs & Teens, making more time. I mean the time has to be made because everyone is so busy. It is going to take personal sacrifice, sacrificing what is now considered to be "personal time".

We now have a Parent Day, but lots of parents have a lot of little kids besides Teens & JETTs. But maybe we could have a Parent/Teen Day every week, which could be parents taking turns devoting that day of the week (or every two weeks or month), strictly to their Teen or JETTs, who obviously have different needs than their little brothers & sisters.

This would certainly put more emphasis where it should be, on personally counselling & helping our JETTs & Teens at this age when they need us the most. But what is not scheduled in these big Homes, just cannot happen, & it HAS to be done collectively.

We Can Meet Our Children's Spiritual Needs!

Maybe another obstacle is that the adults in the Family don't WANT the responsibility & don't want to have to care for children all evening from after dinner until bedtime or they don't want to tune into them on free day, because they want to do a lot of OTHER things & have their OWN time & do their OWN work. But according to what I have been reading in the Word, training the children & making sure that they are doing well spiritually is one of the main jobs that we all have. And for us to take two hours out of our day to spend that time with the children, rather than having them do group activities in the evening with their school groups, might really make a difference in the children's lives! These group activities are fine, but month after month, year after year, I just don't know if it's going to meet the personal needs of the children.

Look at Dad. When I've been in a major crisis in my life he has always been there to give me some personal counsel, & HE is the busiest father in the whole World. And he has never let me down on that. And now Mama's sample is giving us the same message through the Techi GNs: As a parent, you can't be too busy to shepherd your children. I'm not referring to only caring for your children physically, as a lot of mothers do well in that respect. Judging from what the Victors have said, our mothers often take good physical care of their children. They even mollie-coddle them & spoil them, but don't really have a SPIRITUAL IMPACT on their children.

It looks like our mothers & fathers have completely left the spiritual training of their children up to somebody else!—Maybe some poor over-worked JETT teacher who has 25 or 30 kids to care for, who can't possibly handle them all & meet their needs any more than the teachers in the public school system can. We don't want to end up making the same mistake of depending on mass evangelism & mass teaching when we know the fruit of one-on-one counselling & personal witnessing, which is what our Family was built on. Personal witnessing has always been what has borne the most fruit in our Family. And PERSONALLY WITNESSING is what I've seen bear the most fruit in our own children who we're trying to win as disciples & help through some major times of decision & spiritual crises & real difficult problems in their lives.

I'm beginning to feel more & more that we just can't have enough Victor Programs to handle all of the JETTs & Teens who need them. WE NEED TO MAKE SHEPHERDS OUT OF EVERY ADULT IN THE FAMILY. Because if we don't change the adults, we're just going to keep raising MORE Victors! Perhaps parents who have Victor kids should be called Victor parents, & maybe if all else fails they need to be taken off all their other responsibilities until they can find out what's wrong, why they're raising Victor children. Even if it's not entirely the parents' fault, if they have been faithful & done all they could, but their child is just rebelling against everything & making all the wrong choices, the parents STILL need to make time to shepherd that child & bring him through to the Lord. (Or find someone who can!)

We Must All Get in There & Fight!

This is a call to arms to the parents (all adult Family Members) to get in there & fight for their kids. Maybe Victor parents just need time off from their work to straighten out their kids. They're going to need to get in there them-selves & let God show them what to do with their kids & get desperate about it & take the responsibility.

When I had to try to help Mene at the Far East Teen Farm, who was probably the closest thing to a teenage daughter that I have had, it was like looking at myself in a mirror. I had so much in common with her & so many of her problems were identical to my problems of pride & self-righteousness & wanting public acclaim etc. So in dealing with her, I was being confronted with having to confess my own sins & lessons along those lines, & it helped us both. Likewise with the Victors, I have learned a lot from them. I believe THEY'VE influenced ME as much this year as I'VE influenced THEM, if not more.

I'm not saying that the adults in the Family have to be perfect. There is no teacher or Shepherd here at Victorville (the JETT & Teen Victor Program) who is perfect. In fact, the Lord is using us real "sinners" in this ministry!—BUT WE HAVE ANSWERED THE CALL, the messes that we are! And while we're trying to influence these Victors to get back on the right track & get sold out 100% for Jesus, THEY are influencing US in the same way. And I believe it would have the very same effect on anyone who opens their eyes to what is going on with the JETTs & Teens. That's what these Techi GNs are going to do, they're going to be eye-openers for all of us! They're going to help us find out what's going on with our kids, if we don't already know, before it gets too serious!

We Can't Blame the Word, the Family, or the Lord!

One tendency I have seen when working a lot with Victors is that you can become overwhelmed by the amount of problems they have, & if you are not careful, you can begin to think, "Wow, what have we done wrong to produce so much bad fruit—problem kids & even Rotten Apples in some cases?" Well, let's go back to the Word & Letters like "Rotten Apples!", "Dad on `Kidz Correction'", "The Potato!", "Dad's Guidelines for Discipline!", "Teen Terrors!", a whole host of Letters on raising children, even beginning with "What Is That in Thy Hand?" way back in 1974. It's plain to see that we didn't FOLLOW a lot of what we were told to do with our children.

We made a lot of mistakes & failed in some areas, so now we have to "fess up" & let our JETTs & Teens know that. For example, some parents went on furlough in the States & more or less backslid for a while.—They didn't teach their kids, they put them in a public school where the kids got contaminated with lots of System ideas & System ways of doing things. Then the parents decided to come back to the Family & get back on the right track, but their KIDS are still suffering to this day from the effects of their parents' backsliding. All that has to be discussed between the parents & the children, & the parents have to really "fess up" to what happened then & how they failed their kids & where they made their mistakes & how they didn't really work with them & they just let them go to pot & didn't care about their education & they didn't take time with them. That has to be confessed.

A lot of these Victors have experienced backslidden life with their parents. When they came back to the Lord's service the parents should have done a lot of clean-up work with their kids. But often the parents haven't even sat down & CONFESSED to their kids where they went wrong & how they had to get back on the track. So maybe if they're face-to-face with the spiritual responsibility of their kids, it will FORCE them to have to come to grips with their own sins & get back on the track in order to save their children.

If parents spend time out in the System with their children, then THEY must clean up any bad influences in themselves & their children from that time. Otherwise, someone ELSE ends up having to do it when their kids inevitably become Victors. Sometimes we Victor Shepherds have to dig all the way back to when these kids were living with their parents or one parent in the System completely backslidden, or partially backslidden, & we have to try to clean them up.

I personally feel that if the parents who are producing JETT & Teen Victors are forced to take on the responsibility of being Victor Shepherds, it is going to help them face their own failures & sins & shortcomings, because they'll have to personally counsel their own children to bring them through.

They're going to have to see their own mistakes. Rather than blaming the Family & the Word & God's Prophet for our problem children, we have got to put the blame where it belongs, & that is on OURSELVES WHEN WE DON'T FOLLOW THE WORD, & we don't follow God & His Way & what He has told us to do. Sometimes in order for the kids to get victories, they have to have things explained, & they have to have their questions answered—what went wrong & who failed them & why—so they don't blame the whole Family & God's Word & God's Prophet for the failures of others.

How Do You Spend Your Time?

Lord help us! I feel I equally share in this too, because where was I when our children were needing to be taught? Why wasn't I being more of a help? Before now, what was I so busy with that I wasn't caring for or really involved with our kids? They need people who love them, people who are concerned for them, people who want to get involved with them & get to know them. They need each one of us to care for them as parents. Where are the dedicated committed JETT & Teen Shepherds who want to lay down their lives? Where are they?

Maybe when the Lord needed me & our kids needed me, I wasn't there. I was too busy with other things, "bigger & more important" things than teaching & training our children. So let's face it, I'm to blame, you're to blame, we're ALL to blame in some way. If our children are failing, we can't blame it on God's good Word that doesn't fail. God's Prophet has time & again told us what we should do & still we didn't do it.

God help us not to fail this generation & the coming generation, but to pick up the torch & go for it & pour everything we've got into it!—And teach them & train them in everything we possibly can, using every tool at our disposal, & giving it our 100%! That's what I want to do!

I've Had a Revolution in My Life!

Working with JETTs & Teens has been a total revolution in my life! It has literally been the biggest change that I've ever had. It made me HAVE to change from being an Old Bottle to a New Bottle! It gave me the desire to fight for that change. It has given me back the very basic principles that this Family was founded on in my own personal life & walk with Jesus, because you cannot give out to others what you don't have yourself, no matter how good your intentions are. This Family has always led by example & taught by the clinical method. And that is the only way that you can shepherd Victors—by first having the Revolution come alive in your own heart!

This ministry with JETTs & Teens gave me the opportunity to start over again. It gave me a completely brand new life, without all the trappings of the old one. I had to forsake the "big leader image" that had troubled me for so long & just become one of them, which helped me to be willing to work behind the scenes without glamour & glory, in a job with literally no position! I had nothing except the Love of Christ constraining me, which is what I needed & wanted.

I had been chronically addicted to myself & my own desires & will, including my "need" for a relationship. But in the year that I've been at Victorville, I've lived happily as a single. I've been living as a single for quite a few years, but now I live HAPPILY as a single. I'm happier than I've been in a long, long time. TYJ!

Even when I was tempted to worry about myself & my not having a mate, or when I was tempted to push for a relationship & let myself go & fall in love deeply to the point of distraction, I FOUGHT it because I now valued something much more than that—my job of helping these Victor Teens & knowing that they may not make it without me. I don't say that proudly, because I know that God can use ANYONE! But I know that it is He Who picked me to do this job of helping to evangelise our youth.

As I was saying, for the first time I willingly fought what looked like a very beautiful opportunity to fall in love. Well, I did fall into it for a while, but when I saw that it had become a distraction to me & my work with the Victors, it made me get in the Word. I read Letters like "Shtick", "Greater Victories", "Days of Heaven" & others on personal relationships, & it gave me the conviction I needed to remain single-minded about my job & trust that the Lord would supply all my needs! And He certainly HAS!

This has been one of the happiest years of my life! Not that I haven't had major battles, lessons & trials & victories, but I have finally been willing to forsake the past completely & even who I was in the past! It helped me forsake all completely when I realised that this new generation of disciples is worth fighting for with all that I have within me & even what I DON'T have, but am trusting the Lord for.

The Lord has broken my heart for this new generation, our future, our JETTs & Teens, & He has helped me see that they will only become what WE make of them, what we take the time to TRAIN them to be. He helped me to dedicate myself to that mission & to overcome many obstacles of selfishness & personal desires & even a desire for personal security in relationships. He helped me overcome major obstacles of selfishness, which had taken deep root in my life over the years, by putting the desperate need in front of my eyes.

This is a life-&-death struggle for souls, for the souls of these Teens who are right on the edge of losing their life & service for the Lord. We struggle to win them to God's way & His Will & His Word & His Family! As Dad said, his children were the greatest influence on his life & I can say "Amen" to that, these kids have sobered me up in more ways than one. They helped me overcome my alcoholism, because although I had the prayer for deliverance & I had met all the conditions, I needed something to FIGHT for, I needed a reason to hold on to that victory & deliverance! The JETTs & Teens gave me that reason to fight & not to yield in any way to temptation.

So you might say in helping the JETT & Teen Victors, I helped myself, because IN SAVING THEM I WAS SAVED. It gave me the will power that I didn't have, to fight & to overcome what I considered to be terminal problems of real selfishness & self-indulgence & self-will. This gave me back the real essence of discipleship in my own life & utter dedication & commitment to saving others & making disciples again of others, our own children. It helped me to return to my First Love & gave me back the joy of my Salvation, because in seeing these JETTs & Teens commit themselves to the Lord, I tasted again of my own Salvation & the joy that comes through seeing others commit their lives totally to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

It Costs Everything!—But it's Worth it!

It's a commitment & it costs because "he that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be My disciple". We have to take up our cross daily to follow Jesus, & to get these Teens to follow Jesus WE have to be following Jesus, denying ourselves & taking up our crosses daily to follow Him. We're wanting these JETTs & Teens to commit their lives to Jesus, therefore it requires that total commitment from US, because it is literally a life-&-death struggle against the Enemy of their souls! It requires a total sample of what the Family is about & what it has ALWAYS been about: Forsaking all, total commitment, 100% discipleship, having all things common, obedience to leadership & putting Jesus first!

As older revolutionaries, we have taken so much for granted in our lives & have become so familiar with all that we know & all that Jesus has done for us that it is hard for us to realise that we now have to begin again & really forsake all to help our children become real disciples. To have the conviction to win THEM, we have to be LIVING IT OURSELVES! I had to do away with all the compromises that I was living in my life, & lay aside every weight & the sin that did so easily beset me, & I had to start running the race again, looking unto Jesus & Him alone. And of course "all the Angels in Heaven above rejoice when there's one soul saved". All of us can rejoice when one of our JETTs or Teens is saved for the Lord's Work & from that Pit.

Having to teach & train our Victors to hate the System has once again renewed MY hatred for the evil & the System & all of its temptations & any pull that it had on me. I had to come to grips with it myself to have the conviction to pull them away from it as well.

The greatest reward is seeing our JETTs & Teens get turned on to Jesus & make that personal contact with Him & let His Word become alive in their lives. It's thrilling when they start to really know Him & love Him & start to love & care about others & lost souls. Now we've sent out missionaries from Victorville who have a real burden for lost souls. I know the Lord helped us to impart that to them here, & that gives me great joy & a great sense of satisfaction.

You Can Do it Too!

If God has called you & put you in JETT or Teen shepherding, or if He is calling you NOW to the job, then you have to go by faith & not worry about whether you think you'll be able to do it! We have to believe that God is going to do it like any other mission, & then we must obey out of love for THEIR sakes—not because we feel we can do it, but because there is a DESPERATE NEED!

Some of the Shepherds who have come to stay with us here at Victorville never had any actual experience living with & training Teens on a daily basis. Some of them were in fear & trepidation from the time they walked in the door, wondering if they could make it. But by the time these Shepherds left, they were so turned on by the vision, they had "Teen fever," because they could really see our FUTURE in these kids!

And it changed their lives completely! When they had to teach & train these brand new disciples, it turned them on & gave them back their First Love for the Lord & His Word! They had to get back to the basics themselves & out of all the business of big busy Homes & Schools, & just back to the reason for it all—Jesus & loving Jesus & others & God's Word. This is what training JETTs & Teens is all about!

Why not start today? The need is desperate! If God can throw ME into a job like this at my age, & expect me to learn a whole new ministry, I believe He can do it for ANYONE! I had always been an evangelist or a kind of flash-in-the-pan witness, so to become a real plodder & teacher & pastor was very difficult. I never thought I was capable of sticking to any job that tedious or long-term or inglorious. I just didn't think I could be like that & be happy doing that.

But one thing that comforted me was recalling how, when I was young, the Lord even took Dad & set him aside for three years as a school teacher so he could learn to teach Teens, the toughest kind of Teens. So why couldn't the Lord do the same thing for me?! And it has actually made a New Bottle out of me, because you HAVE to become a New Bottle to teach Teens. I feel younger now than I have felt in years, I don't feel like an Old Bottle any more.

If you have seen the need & you know that you don't have the EXPERIENCE, but you have got the BURDEN & you have the LOVE for these kids, go for it! All He needs is a channel that He can use, a loving, willing heart, & HE will do the rest! The need is desperate! "Lift up your eyes & look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. Say not ye there are yet four months & then cometh harvest." The need for JETT & Teen teachers & Shepherds is TODAY!—Before we lose any more of these precious children of God to the Devil's kingdom & the System & the Pit. Lord help us!

Copyright 1996 The Family