The Armor of God — an Unexpected Journey with Duct Tape to Leadership

When Noah Lee was 9 years old, his mother gave him a CD filled with images and instructions on all kinds of “knightly” things he could make out of duct tape and cardboard. Being a highly creative and artistic child, he nearly wore the CD out as he made craft after craft of duct tape creations.

Yet no one ever imagined how God would one day use that simple and somewhat unusual gift to an elementary-aged child to help transform Lee, as he now says, “from a church lurker into a church worker.”

TRINITY CHURCH

Children’s pastor Matt McKay, 50, had a problem. Having grown up in Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas, and worked in kids ministry for decades, he began noticing that kids were starting to drop out of the children’s midweek programs almost as fast — sometimes faster — than others were showing up.

“We had all the great, standard ministries in place — Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ), Girls Ministries, Royal Rangers — but for many of our first-time visitors or infrequent attenders, those clubs can be a little intimidating.

And with hundreds of kids showing up every week, McKay admits he began to dread Wednesdays as he didn’t know what to do to keep kids who didn’t like the clubs offered. It was eating him up inside as he knew some kids may never return to Trinity — or any church.

McKay then made a God-inspired decision — keep the clubs, but also offer a general group service more on the order of a Vacation Bible School. This way, kids who were visiting or didn’t show up regularly could still come and learn about Jesus in a positive and fun environment, while kids invested in the clubs could continue.

“This catch-all group allowed us to protect the foundation ministries of JBQ, Royal Rangers, and Girls Ministries — they basically became electives kids could choose to join.”

But McKay ran into another problem. It takes a certain type of volunteer to commit to leading any of the foundational discipleship ministries as they are longer-term time investments. And even in a megachurch like Trinity (attendance of about 7,000), volunteers don’t come easy.

“I decided to start using the interests of potential volunteers to create eight-week clubs for kids that tied together the interest of the volunteer with the Bible,” McKay says. “One guy was passionate about fishing, so we had a fishing club; another person loved cooking, another painting, another building with Legos, another loved making pinewood derby cars — so we created all these clubs for kids to consider, with each club concluding with a certificate of completion and a big event, such as going fishing, having a pinewood derby race, or whatever it might be.”

McKay explains that now, with the help of the free curriculum and resources from Bible Engagement Project (BEP), he helps volunteers create eight lessons that connect with the Bible and whatever the hobby they’re passionate about to offer these two-month clubs three times a year. Has it worked out? McKay says the clubs have become so popular that most clubs have waiting lists.

And that’s where Noah Lee comes in, but not originally by his choice.

A CD OF PROVIDENCE?

Lee is currently 20 years old and attending Nelson University in Waxahachie, Texas. He’s also an intern children’s minister at Trinity Church. Oddly enough, this path of leadership and ministry can be traced back to what at the time seemed to be the thoughtful, but far from life-changing, gift of a duct tape craft CD.

Four years ago, Lee was still growing into his identity. Having been raised in the church and exhibiting a creative bent, he was heavily involved in the AG Youth Fine Arts opportunities — painting, writing, and human video.

He also admired McKay and what he was doing with all the different clubs to keep and involve kids in church.

“One day I was going through some things at home and I ran across that duct tape CD, which brought back a lot of fun memories of making knight weapons and armor — and that’s when I thought about how fun it would be to have a duct tape Armor of God session,” Lee says. “I thought kids would love a club like that, so I mentioned the idea to pastor Matt.”

McKay immediately bit — he loved the idea. Then McKay blew up Lee’s world.

BECOMING A WORKER

“Pastor Matt looked at me and said, ‘OK, Noah. When it’s time for clubs, I want you to be in charge of this,’” Lee recalls. “That was totally unexpected — discipling kids on the Armor of God and creating the different pieces, I felt that was a lot to ask of a 16-year-old. . . I was really seeing my idea as a suggestion for someone else to lead.”

And at the time, Lee couldn’t see how this unexpected turn of events would change the trajectory of his life.

“Now I can see, that was all pastor Matt, trying to build me up and shape me into a church leader . . . very sneaky of him — always pulling me in and getting me involved,” Lee says with a laugh.

As Lee began to prepare to lead elementary kids in the Duct Tape Armor of God club, he ran into a realization — he had to really dig into the Word of God and know about the Armor of God, inside and out, so he could communicate about it and answer questions in simple terms.

“My growth in writing for ministry grew exponentially,” Lee says. “During that time, I learned how to relate to kids, talk to kids, and give them pieces of biblical information that they could own, use, and realize ‘this is for me.’”

Lee laughs as he recalls his initial message attempts — bullet points.

“Now I can write pages about the Armor of God,” he says. “I learned from a mentor that spiritual growth requires three areas of discipline: you have to learn from someone farther along in their spiritual growth than you (someone with expertise), you have to do your own Bible reading and research, and then you have to be able to teach that knowledge to others effectively.”

Although each piece of the Armor of God has its highlights, one of Lee’s favorites to teach about and build is the Belt of Truth, which begins with a kid-friendly discussion about superheroes, in particular, Batman!

“Batman has a utility belt, and the kids know that anytime Batman gets into a challenging situation against bad guys, he reaches for his utility belt as it always has something in it to help him,” Lee explains. “So, with the Belt of Truth, we fill it with slips of paper that say things like: I am a child of God, I am kind, I am smart, I am beautiful, I love other people. Then, when an enemy attacks with hurtful words, the truth is right there in their belt.”

BEYOND TRINITY

Lee says he’s not sure what the future holds for him, whether it’s continuing on to full-time pastoral ministry or ministering through digital media and creative arts — or maybe some combination of both.

What some may not realize, however, is that Lee’s Duct Tape Armor of God club has become more than a Trinity Church club. The Assemblies of God national Kidmin program visited Trinity and stopped in to see the club in action — and were impressed. Having already worked with McKay in helping to develop other midweek clubs for the KidminRoadmap discipleship strategy, which complements the Bible Engagement Project (BEP) curriculum, the Duct Tape Armor of God club has officially become a part of the free KidminRoadmap resource offerings and has already been downloaded more than 1,200 times!

“Leaders and kids love it,” states Kelly Presson, national Children’s Ministries (KidMin) director. “The interest-based clubs, as we refer to them, all point back to the Bible and a BEP lesson — currently we have a total of 12 midweek clubs to choose from, with Duct Tape Armor of God being one of the most popular clubs.”

McKay, whose work with children at the church has resulted in young people, such as Noah Lee, growing into confident leaders, explains that it all began with the Holy Spirit urging him to meet kids where they’re at in order to engage them in church.

“We had young boys and girls who were not engaging in JBQ, Royal Rangers, or Girls Ministries — what were we going to do with them, just let them slip through the cracks?” he asks. “I’m not OK with that. We have to meet them at the point where they’re willing to commit.”

McKay also notes that the clubs aren’t just making a difference in kids’ lives. Just as Lee found himself growing and engaging more with Scripture, leaders of other groups are experiencing the same personal impact.

“Many times the clubs are led by mother-daughter/father-son combinations, siblings, or even entire families,” McKay says, “and what’s telling is that almost without exception, the leaders are asking to do the club again. I try to limit any of the eight-week clubs to once a year to keep things manageable for leaders, but now the leaders are the ones coming to me, wanting to do their clubs more than that . . . and what church ministry doesn’t want people eager to volunteer?”

As for Lee, he’s come to realize that there are times in life where God is building something in him, preparing him for the future, and it may not be easy or come with recognition, such as being 16 and asked to lead a club for elementary kids. And God’s preparation may not even be obvious — such as being gifted a duct tape CD when you’re 9.

“God knows the plan He has for you,” states Lee, paraphrasing Jeremiah 29:11, “and He’s prepared those things for you, plans to give you hope and a future, in His secret place.”