Pint-Sized Preachers



Recently, I saw a young man called Kanon Tipton on a few news programs with his parents.  Kanon, for those of you who missed his rounds on the news shows, is a third generation preacher of the gospel. 

No problem there, right?  Spirit moving through generations of families is common. 

However, Master Kanon Tipton is four years old.  Yes, four.  At an age where kids are developing their fine motor skills, learning how to socialize with other children and how throw temper tantrums after an afternoon nap, he is preaching the gospel...and people are not only listening to him, they are really listening to him.

I watched video footage of the young man preaching and he is certainly charismatic, engaging and has a passion for the gospel.  And his parents, to their credit seem to acknowledge that while God has touched their child, some of Tipton's preaching is actually him simply mimicking his father and other people he has seen preach the gospel.

Don't worry.  I'm not going to ride out on a four year old.  Tipton seems to be honest and sincere in his endeavor to preach the gospel.  What's more, the Bible is full of people called to the ministry in their youth.  We know that Jesus was preaching in and around temples at 12.  Mary was around 16 when she was pregnant with Jesus.  Samuel, David and Daniel were all very young when God called them.

So, I get that God can call young people for kingdom building.  But, usually Spirit calls people because they have experiences that help illustrate Spirit's greatness.  Take the Apostle Paul for instance.  He was a zealous persecutor of Christians, a Roman citizen and also Jewish.  Spirit converted Paul and used him to illustrate, among other principles, the concept of redemption--that someone can be moving in the wrong direction for a very long time, and with Spirit's help, immediately move in the right direction and do great work.

Now, I don't know Tipton.  I'm sure he has a bright future and time will tell what his ministry is all about.  I am interested, however, to hear or see why Spirit called him.