Home Archive by category "Leadership" (Page 27)

Category: Leadership

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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My Last Lecture?

About six months ago I picked up a book at Costco that looked like a good read, The Last Lecture. It was written by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. CMU had a tradition of having professors share what they believed was most important in life – what they would share if they could only offer one “last lecture.” By the time Randy was scheduled to give his “last lecture” they had renamed the series to Journeys and were unaware that it would indeed be his last lecture. I’m now in Colorado enjoying some vacation time that God sovereignly planned months ago when He knew that this past week I would end up in the hospital to have a stent placed in my heart. I’ve shared some personal reflections on facing my own mortality, and as I was packing for our trip out here saw The Last Lecture sitting on my desk, and grabbed it to read. Tonight I joined nearly ten million others who have watched the video (below) of his presentation and it was really good. You can watch it here on YouTube yourself (76 minutes long) as well as another talk he did later on…

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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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Taking a Leap

Sometimes in life, you just have to jump… When is the last time you took a leap of faith? When you stepped off secure ground and submitted yourself to the Hands of God by attempting something daring where you couldn’t see how the landing would be? Often we climb to great heights for God – and the view is spectacular on the summit – but perhaps God is saying it is time to stop enjoying the view and take a leap of faith. I hear often from friends and collegues who feel trapped in there current ministry or life situation. Granted, life is tough, and the grass is always greener on the ‘other side’ – and it takes great character to stick it out in a tough situation. But there is another side to it. Perhaps you don’t have to stay stuck there. Perhaps the problems are God’s way of saying, “I have something else for you.” (Better doesn’t always mean easier, by the way, but better does mean excitement because you are depending on God!) HOWEVER – I’m not speaking so much to those who hate where they are and daydream of being somewhere else. I’m thinking of those…

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5 Things Every Kid Needs

This is an EXCELLENT summary of not only what kids need, but a brilliantly simple explanation for why things are done the way they are in this children’s ministry. Read, then I’ll comment. (Click to open larger) I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a succinct statement that not only gives a philosophy of ministry and explanation for program elements but is presented in a manner that appeals to parents who are not focused on your ministry but on what their kids need. Go and do likewise! This has been in my “to post” folder for awhile, and I’ve lost track of where I got it… but it is excellent. If someone comments with the sourse, I’ll update this post.

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