Home Archive by category "Children’s Ministry" (Page 88)

Category: Children’s Ministry

Over and Out!

This is my last blog post until AFTER Yosemite Summit! No more Facebook, no Twitter, no e-mail, no cell phone, no work! I’m disconnecting for an entire week. I’ve been praying, planning and preparing for a year and its so exciting to see the eight guys that God brought together for this amazing week in Yosemite. They’ve been coming in over the last two days, and tonight we all gathered for our first meal all together before hittin’ the road in the morning. Steve, Matt, Tom, Scott, Karl, Scott, Marc, Brent, Pat (Canada, TX, PA, SD, IL, CA, VA, OK, OH) Please pray for each of these guys that God would really do a work in each of our lives during this next week. We each come from a different state and one from Canada. Each is leaving family and ministry behind to focus on their walk with God. Each understands that the best thing for their ministry isn’t another idea or resource but a closer walk with the Lord. Pray for safety and for an openness to what God has in store for us. I can’t wait to get started! So time for me to sign off and shut…

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Shepherd or Sheepherder?

Remember? Remember when you first got in to children’s ministry? Remember the calling God gave you? The burden you had for children? The awesome responsibility you accepted? The urgency you felt? Back when it was about reaching lost kids and discipling those who had accepted Christ? Remember when the stories were about changed lives and your conversations were mostly about the kids rather than the problems? Remember when you spent a ridiculous amount of time on some minor, but fun aspect of the ministry just so you could see the faces of the kids light up when they arrived? Remember when you didn’t even notice how exhausted you were? What changed? You went into children’s ministry because you wanted to be a shepherd of children – and all too soon you became more sheepherder than shepherd. Just getting the kids where they need to be and hoping to have a reasonable adult-to-child ratio became a weekly battle. Managing volunteers, appeasing parents, buying supplies, keeping the senior pastor as well as the janitor happy, answering voice mail, e-mail and snail mail and countless meetings gradually took over. Before you knew it, being a minister gave way to being an administrator. And…

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A Children’s Workers Passage

Getting worn out in ministry? Discouraged? Here is a little known passage of Scripture to encourage you, or that you can reprint to encourage others. (found in my archives tonight) Sometimes it is fun to paraphrase Scripture a little to shed fresh light on the message it contains, as I did once to encourage my leadership team by posting this passage: There was a children’s worker all alone; she had neither partner nor team member. There was no end to her toil, yet her eyes were not content with her ministry. “For whom and I toiling?” she asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless – a miserable ministry! Two are better than one, more than two even better! because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his team members can help him up. But pity the children’s worker who calls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two or more work together, they will keep encouraged! But how can one keep encouraged alone? Though one may be overwhelmed, a team can help each other. A cord of many strands is not quickly broken! Ecclesiastes 4:8-12 N.C.M.P.…

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WALK at Church signs

Perhaps you have had trouble with kids running at church, or at least, with grown-ups complaining that the kids are running too much! Well, I once made some fun signs that I posted around the church with some Bible verses instructing kids to “WALK” – granted, they were a little out of context, but it got some fun responses and got the topic of WALKING around the building into people’s minds: So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you WALK?” – Nehemiah 5:9 I am God Almighty, WALK before me! – Genesis 17:1 Observe what the LORD your God requires: WALK. – I Kings 2:3 I was cleaning out some old file draws at my office and came across these, and thought others might get a kick outta them. Please, don’t take it too seriously! It’s all in fun. Post on the walls of your church at your own risk!

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You Might Have Attended Too Many Conferences If You

You Might Have Attended Too Many Conferences If You… Pass out a daily itinerary to your family. Insist on your spouse handing you an outline before you have a conversation. Make your kids wear name tags. Often introduce yourself to your family at dinner and tell them where you are from. Fill out a weekly evaluation form on your spouse. Ask your family to put their contact information in a fish bowl. Explain household chores with a PowerPoint presentation. Enter your house and expect to be handed a welcome packet. Allow book publishers to sponsor your family meals. Try to sell family vacation videos to your kids I thought this was too funny. It was written by Roger Fields, one of the cleverest guys I’ve ever known. Reprinted from K! Magazine (with permission)

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