Sunday Review

This Sunday was an AMAZING day of ministry for me. Sure, our numbers were down. Sure, we had a few volunteers call in sick last minute. Sure, my poor (and by that I mean wonderful and amazing) husband got roped into doing check-in at our largest service. Yet God worked, and it was awesome.

1) I had an awesome conversation with a mom. I was telling her about our new Wednesday night program, and how all of her kids could come (we opened it up birth - 5th grade), and she was telling me how much she loved my ministry and how her kids were GETTING IT! Her 3 year old told her a few weeks ago how much Jesus loved mommy and *child's name*. Her son, is asking questions and wanting to read his bible. He has been going to a Christian school his whole life, but it wasn't until they started coming to our church that these things started to happen. I LIVE for comments like this. It means that my kids are getting it, and that parents are valuing the learning that happens here. LOVE IT!

2) Last Sunday I had a first timer come with a very cautious mother. She asked if a particular girl was here (whom I had never heard of), I said no, and that made her even more nervous. She left her daughter, who had a great time, and at the end of the service told her mom that she wanted to come back next week. This Sunday, she did, and brought a friend! I was so excited. She loved church so much that she brought a friend with her. Neither of these girls have EVER been to a church before. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to share Jesus with them!

3) It looks like we FINALLY have a guy for our 11 am 4th and 5th graders. We have been praying for two months that God would bring us a younger "cool" guy that our 4th and 5th grade boys could look up to, play with and listen to. Our prayers were answered by a very godly college student! He tried it out on Sunday and LOVED it! I'm so excited to have a guy in with those boys to help show them how to follow Jesus.

Being a Children's Pastor is the Best Job EVER!

This is me from last Summer Blast. I volunteered to be slimed if the kids could raise $1,000 for the local rescue mission. The kids came really close, and we asked the parents to help out on the last night. (A special thanks to my dad, who I think pushed us over the edge). I love doing crazy things to help motivate the kids. It is my prayer that my external motivations for them will turn into internal motivations. That I don't allow all of the external stuff to get in the way of what God is doing for their heart. They provided 500 meals for homeless in their community, but most of them just remember me being slimed. I pray that we are able to help kids open their hearts up to those around them, and that we would be able to to help them have the intrinsic motivation they need. I am so excited for planing for this coming Summer, I can't wait for the kids to see what we have in store!

Dreams/Fresh eyes...

Today I was told by the executive pastor and the senior pastor to do a few things...

One was a question I think that all of us need to ask with fresh eyes in our ministry, daring to dream...

If I was brand new to this ministry, and there were no what are the 1st 5 things I would change if there were no barriers?

I hope that I never stop dreaming about my ministry that God has bless me to oversee. I hope that I can always find ways to fine tune it and make it better, always keep it honoring to God. I will revel my answers in the next few posts....

This year...

HAPPY 2010!!!

While many know that most ministries (children's especially) run on a year being a "school year", I have decided to take this opportunity to reflect on the events and programs that we have running this year (2010).

1. One of my favorite events is Parent's Night Out. On the first Friday of the month, unless it is a holiday, we host a parents night. For $5 per child, parents can drop their children off at the church from 6-9pm and enjoy a date night. I value this ministry because many parents have come to me, and thank me for giving them an opportunity to take a night out just for them. I also love this program because I run it and it gives me 3 hours to bond with all of the kids over pizza and games. I don't run a lesson on these nights, we may watch a veggie tales or something like that towards the end of the evening, but there isn't a ton of spiritual content.

Goals for this year, in regards to PNO:

• I would like to find a way to get more kids from the community to this event so that we can fill a very real need for the families that we reach.
• I would like to do "Parent's Night In" once a quarter or every other month, to get parents together, praying for each other and discussing topics such as, spiritual parenting, discipline, technology and protecting their kids etc.

2. Summer Blast is our "VBS", this year I am writing it all myself. Last year we started with group, and ended up rewriting most of it anyways. This year are theme is "Power UP!" it is a video game theme based around the armor of God. I'm also really excited to have my Children's Ministry Mentor, and Christian Artists Dean-O back this year for our musical guest!

Goals (a few of them) for this year, in regards to SummerBlast

• Finnish writing by February
• Have at least 100 unchurched kids come to hear the gospel
• Have a leadership team in place to help plan from January to the event
• Have solid follow up with ALL children this year!
• Make sure the area knows that we are doing it in JUNE instead of JULY this year.

3. Highway 45 (our 4th and 5th grade ministry) has one event a month. We do everything from bowling, to movie nights, to park days. It's a great way for our tweens to bond and give them the extra touch they need.

Goals for the 45 events

• More participation from our 45'ers
• Help prepare our 5th graders for middle school
• Bond this group together, giving them support in the midst of change

4. Me as a Pastor... Well being new at this I have A TON to work on. For Sunday mornings I would like to be more organized, something ALWAYS goes by the wayside and I forget to do something. Even if it is written down, I get distracted and never get to finish everything. It is very frustrating. I need to be more disciplined in general and continuously surrender all of this to God, because it is His ministry and He loves it even more than I do.