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DON'T BE SURPRISED BY NANCY by Janet Kobobel If you're expecting an average teenager - an encounter with Nancy De Moss will leave you startled. Her concentration on Christ and His kingdom dominates her entire life.         The room is usually sun filled. The white-painted walls, liberally trimmed with lollipop lime, generally gleam in response to the newness of the 9:15 morning sun.       But this Sunday the room is like a tomb. As the 51 puzzled pupils appear at the door of the third-grade Sunday school class at Lake Avenue Congrega?tional Church in Pasadena, Calif., the classical death dirge of King Asa fills the darkened air with musical sobriety.       Diminuitive (5'1") Nancy De Moss places herself at the other end of the room against a khaki-colored moving-box backdrop, bringing the class what she calls the channel 3 news. Jesus Christ, newswoman De Moss points out factually, who is rumored to be the Son of God, has recently been crucified. Arty but yellowed slides from the church archives flash on the screen next to her, reiterating the event as she speaks.       Then the fast-breaking news arrives -- Jesus is reported alive! We move to the scene of the rumored resurrection, the wall of the room usually dominated by the fireplace-like heater -- today the wall houses the cardboard tomb. The stiff cut-out doors of the cave are pulled back to reveal -- all the kids rush forth to get a look-see for themselves -- a piano bench with a rumpled sheet, but no Jesus! Gasps and oohs and aahs arise from the group -- He really is risen!       The message sinks in deeply and five of the children invite this risen Lord into their lives, while everyone is challenged to take the message to their friends at school and to expectantly await the return of this resurrected one.       Obviously, this is not a Sunday school class of the variety one can find in just any church on any Sunday. But what else could one expect from the 18-year-old who put it together, Nancy De Moss, who believes "children can be committed to living and dying for Christ" and who intends to see this group advance to that point.       It takes no special astuteness to note the uniqueness of Nancy -- nor is a long acquaintanceship necessary. A mere glance at her goals will convince one: touch every country in the world for Christ; disciple the third graders of the 3,000-member Lake Avenue church to go out and win that world; as principal of the third grade department, convince her staff of 12 that God can use them as mightily as He used Paul.       A quick notation of her actions confirms that uniqueness: She's read the Bible 19 times; devotes on a regular basis up to 40 hours a week to her new-found church home in southern California while majoring in piano as a junior transfer student (since last fall) at the University of Southern California; presents evangelistic music programs consisting of such arrangements as "Jesus Loves Me" into a classical style to women's clubs ("I have to adapt them; classical is all I can play!"); has convinced three of her Sunday school teachers to go on evangelistic calls to the homes of their students; marks a week "slightly unusual" when she leads 15 people to the Lord; makes several significant contacts in the children's homes; gives an "excellent" concert at her church; speaks at a staff meeting in which God "breaks" many of the staff; teaches a group of Sunday school teachers with a "whole new effectiveness and power, saying with conviction things that were new"; basically makes ripples in the lives of all the people she has come in contact with during her short time in southern California.       As forceful, hard-driving and inundating as all those activities and goals may seem, these adjectives can lead one only to confusion when contemplating the person of Nancy De Moss. It's true she intends to live "16 hours every day of hard work with eight hours of hard sleep," and her schedule does ram on nonstop from 6:30 a.m. when she starts the day by reading 10 chapters of the Word. But rather than bringing plain-vanilla busyness into everyone's life, Nancy serves more as a balmy breeze on chilled young plants. She walks into the room and they stir with life and love.       Step into the Christian Corner bookstore with Nancy and see the cashier's face light up when she spots Nancy. Watch the owner blast Nancy with the greeting: "When are you going to come work for me?!" noting jokingly to the person with her: "When Nancy's hot on something, she'll take it to the world. Why shouldn't it be my bookstores?"       Ask her Sunday school staff of nine women and three men, all older than Nancy, their thoughts on this intense young woman. "She's intelligent, gifted, caring." "She fosters an atmosphere in which one is comfortable dreaming purposeful dreams." "I've always been goal oriented, but Nancy helps me to push forward with vision."        These clamors of praise are due partly to the fact that Nancy believes in encouraging. "I see my leadership as coming from underneath, supporting and encouraging rather than taking a position over others." And partly based on delicate sensitivity balanced out with muscular belief in the abilities of others. Jon Wood, one of her staff team, notes: "Nancy has a respect for potentials, so she doesn't demean or offend individuals." BEYOND AGE LIMITS       There's a certain agelessness about Nancy, too -- a removal from the con?fines and limitations each segment of life tends to place on most of us as we pass from rampaging youthfulness to middle-aged paunches to the hoary-headed, settled life of elderliness. But close your eyes as Nancy speaks her heart, revealing her visions and dreams, and you hear the wisdom of the Lord that rests upon this one -- something age can give to none of us.       As Fred Parisi, a 26-year-old Sunday school teacher who works with Nancy, put it: "I saw her in jeans for the first time last week. She looked like a kid. I thought 'That's right -- she's 18'."       Nancy's modus operandi adds to the nebulousness one feels when attempting to classify her age or even her personality -- she breathes Jesus Christ and Him only. As Fred noted, "Up until three weeks ago I never heard Nancy talk about anything but the Lord. Her heart is for God -- that's all. Her goal is the world -- that's it."       Nancy herself explains the driving force behind all she does by simply pointing to God: "God has chosen me for great things, and I have great faith in a great God. But He doesn't need me; He can do His plan without me. He chooses to use me when I submit to His choice and do not rely on my abilities or brains or plans or dreams -- when I submit myself to God's horizons and to a growing intimacy of a personal walk with Him, to a commitment to His person.       Grandiose thinking of that nature is an every-day thought pattern for Nancy, and her large, almond-shaped brown eyes have cast their glance on the world and have decided they must have it. "I remember when I was in the second or third grade, knowing from that point on that God had called me to help change the world for Christ. That's been my commitment ever since."       And because she reached that conclusion so young in her life, she has firmly set forth with all the combination of strength and faith that sums up Nancy to convince the children of her Sunday school classes to believe likewise.       "I've asked God to send out -- when I'm realistic I say dozens, when I'm dreaming I say hundreds -- of children from this department to revolutionize the world. I've asked God, could He, would He use my life to be a witness for Him in every country of the world. I believe that He can. And I have this strong personal conviction that He will. It's a foolish dream, but Paul talked about being fools for Christ's sake, and I think some of that foolishness is in the area of dreaming."       Unafraid to put her dreams on display for everyone else to see, Nancy has erected on the wall in the Sunday school room a two-and-a-half-foot paper Charlie Brown dreaming the absurd thought: "Today the neighborhood, tomorrow the world!" (Of course Nancy would have to punctuate that with an exclamation mark, where others would be tempted to hedge with three quiet ellipses . . . or a wavering question mark.)       Her plan is to build into the lives of the students all that she can in the one year she has them -- to cause them to believe God for their neighborhood and their world and their personal potential. As a result, her teachers each have approximately six students to work with so the relationship can be more intimate. (Sessions like the resurrection episode are uncharacteristic; the teachers usually take their six little "ducklings" into small rooms adjoining the larger gathering area.)       Nancy's desire is to have each teacher say to the students: "I'm committed to showing you how to live the life of Christ. I'll let you watch me pray. I'll let you watch me study the Bible. I'll let you watch me witness and watch me disciple someone. You can watch me fail and give glory to God. You can watch me succeed and give glory to God. You can watch me sin and appropriate God's forgiveness and cleansing. I'll open my life to you."       Obviously no mere hour on Sunday can accomplish that. Hence if you want to work with Nancy, you must be willing to go beyond the-night-before-class preparation. "Spare night" commitment, as Nancy calls that, will never do. Her belief is firm: "If God calls you to teach Sunday school, He calls you to give your whole life to it for as long as He's calling you to it." THIRD GRADE MAJOR       Which gives rise to the following types of scenes:       Interested Party: "Jon, I understand you're going back to school."       Jon: "Yes, I am."       I. P.: "What are you going to major in?"       Jon: "The third grade."       That's only a half joking reply; Jon's business law studies will be a minor investment compared to life among the third graders.       To help her teachers with that commitment, Nancy has improvised a Teacher's Training in how to lead children, which she teaches to 30 Sunday school staff who work with the 5- to 11-year-olds of the church. The training consists of intense, extra-time study as well as class sessions every Wednesday night and includes a 47-page workbook compiled by Nancy.       Each teacher also is expected to pore over the lesson for the week first from a personal perspective, not moving on to thoughts of how to present it to the children until the teacher has learned from it.       An additional part of that overflow of extra hours comes in house calls. Two nights a week and on Saturday mornings Nancy goes out with different staff members to visit the families of the students. Sometimes it's just to remind Matthew that Nancy and Fred care and want him to come to Sunday school tomorrow; sometimes it's to check up on Sean and talk to his non-Christian mother about Christ; or maybe it's a time to reassure Bernice, the mother of a third grader, that she did indeed invite Christ into her life a couple of weeks ago when her daughter's Sunday school teachers came to call. FOLDING IN FAMILIES       But the ultimate goal is to "fold families into the church," as Nancy describes it. "I need to work through the parents because the children go to homes where there is a vacuum. So I've said to our staff that the greatest role of the Sunday school teacher is not so much to touch the children directly, but to directly affect the parents."       The entire program, from Sunday morning until Saturday afternoon, seems to be effective; the third grade department has blossomed in a three- month period from a base of 30 kids to 50 per week.       Amidst this multitudinous schedule of staff, students, parents, school, et al, Nancy's "saving grace" that keeps it all from becoming maddeningly dizzying is prayer. One minute you can be discussing with Nancy what color of shoes she should wear to the evangelistic outreach tonight; the next, without warning, she's down on her knees begging God with the authority she has as His child to calm her from her whirling pace and make her gracious to the people she is about to meet. One minute you're laying plans for the afternoon, the next you're on your knees for an hour -- basic preparation ?for the second segment of the day.       "Prayer is the work of the Christian life," Nancy simply states. "I have done so much ministry for so many years apart from the stamp of God's Spirit on it. Other people look at that and they are amazed. 'Ah, that's successful,' they say. 'So young, doing so much.' But that which looks successful is not always that which has the mark of God's Spirit, which is lasting. Now every time I pray, I pray far more earnestly and more often than I ever have before."       And one of the items topping her list of prayers is her staff. "I pray every day for my people. One thing that God has called me to do is be a prayer warrior for them. I pray that I'll be able to communicate to them over and over again, 'There is nothing that the Spirit did in the life of any biblical character, including Christ, that He cannot do in your life.' HENRIETTA MEARS MINISTRY       And Nancy fervently believes that for each of them. When she casts her visionary eyes upon her team member, she sees them as they are, but even more clearly, she sees what they can be. "I believe God has called me to do a Henrietta Mears type of work. She did most of her ministry in groups, encouraging men like Bill Bright and Dick Halverson to believe they could be used of God reach the world. Ten years from now I want this staff to say I helped each of them believe that of themselves."       Even though they've been together as a team for a mere three months, that light of belief is beginning to dawn. "One of our staff guys prayed at a meeting last week, 'God, I believe You can do great things with my life, and I'm committing my life to You -- to change the world. Give me the world for Christ.'"       And that team of people has contributed to Nancy in a special way, too: It has taught her the principle of the body. "I've discovered I need the support of a team; to be a part of a body. As the little finger," she says as she wiggles her appendage, "I can't fulfill the Great Commission alone." She confidently states of her team, "They love me, they support me, they pray for me. I need them."       These thoughts of needing others do not stem from Nancy's past. She has always striven forth alone with the same confidence, verve and yet delicacy that she displays when she plays the piano. That independent strain is a reflection of the father, Art De Moss, president of National Liberty Corporation, the country's largest direct response health and life insurance firm. Mr. De Moss is intent on winning the world for Christ, whether it be alone or with anyone who wants to proceed forth at his pace-- either way will do.        "People say I look like my father," Nancy states, "but I'm a lot like him in terms of drive, too. Actually, the list of influences is much larger than that.       For example, when Nancy, the sister of six other siblings still at home in Philadelphia, introduced her father to her Sunday school teachers while he was visiting in Pasadena, she summed him up this way: "Of the 10 greatest men I have ever known, this man is the greatest. I say that because he was the person who led me to the Lord, taught me to pray, taught me to believe God for great things, convinced me I could touch the world..." and on and on the list marched.       "My earliest memory is accepting Christ," Nancy states. "May 14, 1962. Age, four. Both my mother and my father, sometimes more subconsciously than consciously, were always building into me the conviction that there is no?thing worth more than knowing Jesus Christ.       "They built into us mission-consciousness. We always had a big map of the world on our breakfast room wall and pictures all around it of various missionaries we helped to support. Every Sunday afternoon was missionary-letter time, and we would read the letters from them and write to them.       "In the area of evangelism, it was bred into me that every person is either saved or lost, and if a person is without Christ, that becomes my first concern.       "My Dad for 25 years has never missed a morning of his devotions. He could quit breathing before he could quit reading 10 chapters in the morning, and he prays for thousands of people by name every morning. He can't eat breakfast until he does. A SET-APART FIRSTBORN       "My parents believed in giving to the Lord the first of everything -- I am a firstborn, and my parents, before I was born, set me apart for God's use, giving God the first part of their family. They want all the family to be God's, but I feel they gave me to Him in a special way."       As a result, Nancy wants her past, present and future to all reflect God in a special way. At this point how her experience at Lake Avenue Congregational fit into the future she doesn't know -- or how her piano major contributes to the hazy up-ahead when college ends. But she's sure God has a special niche for each. Her musical talent is obviously not small, considering that one of her non-Christian friends at USC has this impression of Nancy: "She has a good attitude toward music. She admires and appreciates it -- she's not playing for ego like many majors. When I first met her, her determination, assuredness and assertiveness surprised me. As you can tell, I'm terribly impressed with her all around."       Aren't we all? What else can you say about someone who grew up spending her free time at some shopping mall sharing her faith because "that's all I wanted to do"?       Nancy would pooh-pooh all that by saying: "Every day, many times a day, I get on my knees before God and reacknowledge the fact that I am nothing and He is everything. That my life has meaning and significance only as He chooses to use it. The most talented and the smartest of us are still infinitely below God's standard of holiness."       Still, one can't help but echo Fred Parisi's observation: "When I look at Nancy, I see Jesus."