Catching Quality Time. Together.

For quite awhile now, the youth group in our church has taken on the responsibility of cleaning. Our custodian retired, and our youth pastor had this great idea, so cleaning the church has really been a blessing for youth families because the money earned goes to help pay for summer camp, extended trips, or little things like Thursday lunches.  New kids to the youth group and their families are getting a chance to get in on this fundraiser now.

I'm sitting in my office with the doors open and I can hear the sounds of a new 7th grader and his dad working in the church.  I love listening, because it's father and son interacting. I'm sure there are tons of other things both of these guys would enjoy more on a beautiful first day of summer, but they are spending it here at the church.

Together.
Uh huh, they are together.
Or to put it another way, they aren't apart, they're together.
Catching quality time. Together.

Dad is coaching son on his cleaning skills. Son is explaining the why's of his particular method. Dad is asking his son's opinion. Son is listening to his dad's direction. Voices aren't raised. Tempers aren't flaring. They are just enjoying being together.

I think as parents we sometimes think together means running the roads; overpriced summer attractions; bigger, better, brighter. And those things are wonderful, I love them every one!  But they aren't the only way to find quality time with your kids.

As I've learned about my own college-aged son, the memories that stick in his head aren't always the ones with the most $$ signs.  Sticky memories are rooted in together.

Side by side.
Give and take.
Patience and time.
Juuust together.

So maybe for you, together needs to be cleaning out a flower bed, or organizing the toy room. Whatever it like at your house, cherish it!  You've got lot of summertime, together-hungry hours ready for you to fill!

Thank you Lord for together!

Because of You. A Note to the Kids Staff of DFC

Because of you our children bound into the building each week, eager to see what you have in store for them.

Because of you our children are a great support system for each other. They are in a safe place where they know others love them.

Because of you on my walks down the hall to peek in the classrooms I never see bored kids with their heads layed out on the tables. You keep them engaged and learning.

Because of you our parents invite their friends with children to our church. They believe that much in the spiritual instruction you are giving their kids.

Because of you our children ask tough questions, trusting you as a spiritual leader.

Because of you our children have learned the importance of prayer and are learning more about it all the time. (it's not all me. seriously.)

Because of you I am blessed beyond what I could imagine!
Thank you.

I'm praying for you as you prepare your hearts and minds to minister to our kids tomorrow!

This is Why I Love Being a Children's Pastor #7: Kids Can Find the Good in Just About Anything

Today is MOPS (Mother's of PreSchooler's) day at DFC.  Since the director is out, I said I would get here early and open up the building for the set up team.  I got to spend a few seconds (yea seconds-they are busy guys...) with the kids who got here early.  They were busy greeting each other, running in and out of every room and finding objects to make light sabers and swords out of (did I say they were boys?).

In not very long, their attention drifted to the empty waterfall thing that used to be a fountain with goldfish in it.  We're not quite sure what to do with it just yet, but it had to be emptied because the water was leaking into the elevator shaft and the tree was so big that it was about to break the windows.  (I'm holding out for an indoor playground myself.)

Right now, it's just empty.  After lots of questions about where the fish are; where did the water go and many more..it became a jungle gym, a mountain of rocks, and a hideout all within the span of about 5 minutes.

And that's what I love about kids.  They are able to bounce on to the next thing.  Yea, they're kinda sad that the goldfish are gone (they went home with Macy). They noticed that the money in the bottom is gone (we gathered it all up and used it for our Sponsor Child).  But now they get to go in the big middle of the "pond" and climb and play and laugh and imagine. 

There's a lesson there for me.  When things change-and they always do-I can refocus my energy, readjust my plan and realign my steps so that I won't miss the next thing. Because the next thing always follows change.  And like my friends, the light-saber wielding explorers, taught me...it's not such a bad thing!

This is Why I Love Being a Children's Pastor #6: Watching Kids Pray

We do prayer with our kids at church.  I mean really. In a big way.  And all the glory goes to the Lord for giving us ideas and strength and passion for praying with kids.

I LOVE that we share what is on our hearts.  Sometimes the prayers  make me smile a little as I'm recording them like:
   Please pray for my left nostril.
   Please pray that my cat will stop jumping in the trunk when we open it.
   Please pray for my grandfather because he got fake teeth.

Sometimes they make me happy as I see milestones in their lives like:
   Please pray that my tooth will fall out.
   Please pray that I will learn to ride a bike.
   Please pray that I can learn my sight words.

Sometimes they touch me deeply as we (the children) pray for the adults in our church like:
   Please pray that my job interview will go well.
   Please pray for my son who doesn't know the Lord.
   Please pray for my friend who has a brain tumor.

But what I'm most thankful for is that we have created a safe place to share deep heart prayers as a group of kids like:
   My family is having problems.
   I'm being bullied at school.
   I have to move away from all my friends.

If you don't have the opportunity to pray with kids, oh I wish you could.  They are great intercessory pray-ers.  They don't judge the person. They don't judge the situation. They don't insist on knowing all the details.  They don't talk about it later with their friends.  They just take it in.

And then they pray. They leave it with the Father.  They don't pick the burden back up after they've left it at the foot of the cross.  They believe as strongly in receiving an answer as they do in praying a prayer. 

I think prayer is definitely one of those "and a little child shall lead them" areas in the Bible.  I have lots to learn about praying with children...and lots to learn just by watching them pray!

LeadershipOS

I got back from Kidmin Conference a few weeks ago.  Some things you learn you can come back and implement immediately.  But others it takes some thought, planning, tweaking before you can put legs to the new seed God plants in your heart.

Funny thing...I finally got around to reviewing my notes from the conference, and over and over, the message I had written down was centered around kids in leadership.  

So...my new seed involves children in leadership.  I've already had some conversations with kids who I've identified as leaders in a particular place in our program.  They are bouncing at the idea!

Kids in leadership is right on target too.  We've got an abundance of leaders!  In fact, in a random conversation just this week, someone-not even on the Children's Ministry staff-commented that we have classrooms full of leaders. It's true!

What will it mean for the future when we embrace developing leaders earlier in our church? 
It's pretty exciting to think about!

What will their OS look like? (ahem. Operating System) 

Leadership in God's church is their OS.
Service is their OS.
A radar for seeing needs and meeting them is their OS.

All because they were given a chance to develop this skill early!  They were given the chance to find their strengths and grow them as kids, not having to wait until adulthood to begin work in the kingdom!

Wow! Is that exciting or what?

Gotta go, I've got some work to do!

Kidmin Delivered!

Just got back from the Kidmin Conference I wrote about earlier.  If you've been to these things before, you know how when you first get home...you are in that blurry, swirly period where you are dog tired, full of inspiration and ideas and can't wait to figure out what the last few days will mean for your ministry?  That's where I am!

It was a great conference.  I highly recommend it! 

I'm going to go through notes, boil it all down, and see what I can use and tell you about the best stuff...but for today, here is what I'm still thinking about.

All the...

Connecting with friends...new and old.

Laughing 'til your sides hurt.

Praying with people who GET you.

Workshops and Ministry Conversations.

:)

Kidmin Conference-Can't wait!

I'm so excited about this brand new kidmin conference that is only days away!  When I was a new children's pastor, I went to a conference by Group, and loved it.  To my knowledge, they haven't had a conference in several years, so I was a happy girl when they started promoting this new conference.

Here are some things about it that I love:
There will be the typical workshops and large group sessions, but with a twist.  There will be times for conversations and networking with both other children's pastors who are right in the trenches with you, as well as the speakers and presenters.

There will be time to digest what you've learned; you know...time to think it through without an unending information cram the whole time you're there.

Group always makes it easy for churches of all different sizes to minister to kids.  There will be targeted groups to fit your ministry.  Not only just the size of your ministry-but also the focus that you are needing to learn more about.

I just can't wait!  I feel blessed to be able to go, woo hoo!

What to do...what to do?

I came to my office at church today. and THIS is sitting on my desk.  From Christmas Eve.  Sigh. What to do...what to do?

It's on my desk because I gave these away to the kids during my Children's Sermon at the Christmas Eve service.  I don't know WHAT to do with them.  My first instinct is to chunk them!

or...I could take them to the grocery store and drop them in people's purses when they're not looking.

or...I could put them in a drawer in the Youth Pastor's desk.

or...I could put them in an envelope and mail to my sister. (I say that because once she cleaned out her desk at work and put all the stray paper clips, lint, etc in an envelope and mailed it to our other sister...hahahaha!!!)

or...I could "bedazzle" the top of our Office Manager's phone handle.

or...I could give them to our Pastor's wife to use as shoe jewelry.

There's a story here....she was in a walking boot for awhile, so I gave her some bling for it!  Pretty cute!

or...I could take them to the game room and let the kids use them as checkers, or any playing pieces.  That's a great idea actually! They are always losing game pieces!

Got anymore ideas for me? Do you want them? Send me your address and I'll put them in an envelope and mail them to you.