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Category: Life

Why Patience Is One of the Greatest Leadership Skills

Patience may be one of the most overlooked leadership qualities in children’s ministry. We want quick growth. Quick results. Quick behavior improvement. Quick volunteer development. But discipleship rarely happens quickly. Galatians 5:22 reminds us that patience is part of the Fruit of the Spirit—not simply a personality trait. Patience grows as we walk closely with God. James 5:8 says: You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Patient leaders create room for growth. Kids need time to mature spiritually. Volunteers need time to build confidence. Parents need grace while navigating challenges at home. And honestly? We need patience with ourselves too. One impatient response from a leader can discourage a volunteer or embarrass a child in ways that linger longer than we realize. But patient leadership creates safety. It communicates: You matter more than your mistakes. Romans 12:12 says: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. That verse feels tailor-made for ministry leaders. Patience doesn’t mean lowering standards. It means leading with grace while trusting God to work over time. Remember: God is patient with us every single day. We have the opportunity to reflect that same patience to others. And if…

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Leading With Joy When Ministry Gets Hard

Every ministry leader has difficult days. Low attendance. Volunteer shortages. Unexpected criticism. Tech failures five minutes before service starts. The question isn’t whether challenges will come. The real question is: What spirit will we carry into those moments? Galatians 5:22 reminds us: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Joy is not pretending everything is perfect. Biblical joy is confidence that God is still at work even when circumstances feel messy. Nehemiah 8:10 says: Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. That changes how we lead. Joyful leaders create environments where volunteers feel encouraged instead of pressured. Joy brings emotional stability to a ministry team. It lowers tension, builds resilience, and reminds everyone why we serve in the first place. And peace matters too. Kids today carry far more anxiety and stress than many adults realize. A calm, peaceful leader can become a stabilizing presence in a child’s week. Philippians 4:7 says: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Ministry leaders who walk closely with God often bring peace into chaotic environments simply…

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Do You Disc Golf?

I love disc golf, it is a free sport (other than equipment) and there are free courses all over the country! It is a great way to get outdoors, get some time away from electronics and just enjoy some time alone or with friends tossing discs around. If you’ve never done it, I highly recommend giving it a try. Download the FREE Udisc App in your favorite app store, and/or visit udisc.com to learn more, find courses, log your games, read reviews of courses, and more. APP LINKS: Apple – That Other Platform If you do download the app, you can add me as a “friend” even if we are too far apart to play together, it is still fun to connect within the sport. Just go here. See ya soon out there!

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Living on Mission – Discovering my Ministry Manifesto

Why Did God Make YOU? By Pastor Karl Bastian, aka the Kidologist I received my call to ministry when I was ten years old. A children’s evangelist came to our church. I was completely captivated. He used magic tricks, puppets, and storytelling to teach the Bible in a way that made kids laugh, think, and listen. I remember sitting there thinking, That is the greatest job in the world. After the service I told my mom, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.” Her response surprised me. “You start next Wednesday.” I protested. “Mom, I said when I grow up!” She calmly replied, “If God has called you to children’s ministry, what does growing up have to do with anything?” Then she did something that changed the trajectory of my life. She started telling me about the many young people God used in the Bible—David facing Goliath, Samuel hearing God’s voice as a child, the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, and others who were young but willing. My mom didn’t just encourage me—she equipped me. She helped me get my first puppet. She coached me on learning simple magic tricks. She gave me opportunities to…

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Gratitude Changes Everything

Gratitude Changes Everything By Pastor Karl Bastian The celebration of Thanksgiving every November is wonderful. Families gather. Tables are full. Traditions are honored. Gratitude gets a full day on the calendar. But the downside is that it can subtly relegate gratitude to something we focus on once in a while—sadly, perhaps annually. We pull out thankfulness like fine china, use it for a day, and then pack it back into storage with the pumpkin decorations. The reality is that an attitude of gratitude is the secret to contentment and happiness every single day of our lives. By our human (sinful) nature, we tend to focus on what we want, need, or are striving for. We fix our eyes on the next goal, the next opportunity, the next improvement. In doing so, we often neglect to realize we are living what we once hoped for. The job we prayed for. The ministry we dreamed about. The family we longed to build. The friendships we once asked God to provide. How quickly we stop appreciating where we are, what we have, and WHO we have. Blessings that once brought us to tears of joy can slowly become background noise. They are taken…

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Expect the Unexpected

“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” My dad used to say this often as I was growing up, and the older I get, the truer it feels. We love plans. We like calendars that behave, weeks that make sense, and outcomes we can predict. We pray for God’s guidance, but if we’re honest, we often hope He’ll guide us exactly where we were already planning to go. He also told me once, “Ever notice the word IF is in the middle of life?” IF is central to life, but we forget that when we settle into routine – especially routine we enjoy. Then life happens. The phone rings with news we didn’t want. A door closes we were sure God had opened. A conversation takes a turn we didn’t rehearse. A season stretches longer than expected. A calling looks nothing like the picture we had framed in our minds. Change hit us hard. That’s when we are confronted with a choice: Panic or Trust? Here’s the tension we wrestle with: we believe God is sovereign, but we still resist surprises. We trust His plan, but we prefer advance notice. We quote Jeremiah 29:11, yet we panic when…

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