What Do You Wanna Be When You Grow Up?

by Dale Reeves

Story Pastor

This past Tuesday night my wife and I attended the graduation of the 2026 kindergartners of Liberty Bible Academy. After the ceremony, in which one of our six-year-old grandsons, Miles Sudkamp, was a participant, I said to several people, “Hands down, that was the best graduation ceremony I have ever been to.”

I have attended a number of graduations through the years, including my own, the high school and college graduation ceremonies of our two daughters, nephews, and good friends. I have also shown up at my fair share of graduation celebrations and cookouts for
church members and friends. But, Tuesday night, the LBA event takes the cake in my book. Here are my reasons:

1.    It was short and sweet, under one hour, and we didn’t have to listen to numerous speeches.

2.    We were not told at the beginning of the roll call of names to “please hold your applause until the end.” We were allowed to yell, whistle, or shout, “That’s my kid!” if we wanted to—as our kid’s name was called and he marched to the front to get his picture taken with his teacher.

3.   As each kindergartner’s name was called by Tonya Bittner, LBA’s principal for K-8 grade, she also announced what this child wanted to be for his or her future occupation.

4.    They were the cutest group of graduates I have ever seen! See Exhibit A below.

A Zookeeper, President, and YouTuber?

When I told our grandson Miles earlier in the week that we would be at his graduation ceremony for “kin-dee-gartners,” he corrected me and said, “Pop Pop, it’s not ‘kin-dee-gartners,’ we are ‘kindergartners!’” For the past several years, the preschool and kindergarten classes of Liberty Bible Academy have met in our church’s building, and it has been a wonderful partnership. I have personally seen the fruit of their labors as Miles has grown and matured in many ways due to their Christlike teaching and examples. I loved hearing his Bible memory verses and poems for the week, seeing him enjoying playing with his friends in the gym or outside in the playground, and giving hugs to the teachers who nurtured his growth the past three years.

Among the occupations that we heard Tuesday night as each child’s name was announced were these: artists, ballerinas, policemen, firefighters, veterinarians, scientists, doctors, football players, and florists. I didn’t hear even one child who wants to be a lawyer or a pastor. Hmmmm. Several of them said they wanted to grow up and be “YouTubers!” Now, there’s an occupation that didn’t exist twenty years ago. Miles says he wants to be a zookeeper, his friend Finn aspires to be the president, and one little guy said, “I want to be a dancer—like Michael Jackson!” That’s something you’ve never heard at a boring college graduation.

The Real Question

That brings me to the real question I want to pose to you today, “What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

I’m not talking now about physical growth, or a career choice after your high school or college years. I’m thinking in spiritual terms. This past month our lead pastor Brad Wilson has been teaching through the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. We find these words in Ephesians 4:11-15, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (ESV).

In recent staff meetings, our church staff have been talking about our job of “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.” How are we doing with this goal of equipping the church? Recently, Brad posed the question, “Are you farther along in your spiritual growth than you were a year ago?” If the answer is, “I’m about the same as last year,” that’s a problem. If you feel stunted or stuck in your faith, you have to ask the question, “Why is that?” And an excellent follow-up question would be to ask yourself, “What can I do to get myself unstuck?” And, then be courageous enough to take some steps in getting yourself moving in the right direction again.

God’s Word challenges all of us to make sure we have shifted from spiritual infancy, in which we are acting like children who can be easily swayed by deception and false teaching, to a place of spiritual maturing, in which we are speaking the truth in love, using
our spiritual gifts to edify the church, and walking in unity with one another. The goal is to be grounded, stable, and not moved by every new trend or deceitful scheme the enemy in this world throws our way. We are to “grow up in every way into him who is the head,” Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! Are you closer in your walk with Jesus this year than you were last year? If not, why not?