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.

"What is this?" part 2

If you would have told me in September of 2008 the church that I was "helping out" at would be the same place God would make me a Children's Pastor, I would have laughed. All I was doing was helping out a friend from Biola who was short some volunteers. Yet it was God's baby step for me to open my heart to ministry again. Over the next 5 months I loved on my jr. high girls, some of whom I had taught sunday school to when they where five. I asked "What is this" because I received a joy that I had not known in quite some time. It was me, being in ministry, doing what God called me to do.

March 19th 2008 my world changed. I got a call from the jr. high leader saying we "HAD" to go to lunch and he had some news for me. We grabbed lunch and he told me that the children's pastor was resining. I wish I had better words to describe how I felt, I was terrified and ecstatic. "What is this?" This was the faintest of hopes that had lived on in my heart that one day, God would give me another opportunity to serve His kids in a church ministry. With a hopeful heart and after an hour of soul searching prayer, I dusted off my children's ministry resume and turned it in that very afternoon.

"What is this?" I was hurt by the church, I was broken. I was never going back to open myself up to allowing this to happen again. Yet, with confidence and peace I submitted my resume for a position my heart feared to want. A week went by, then I was called into meet with the executive pastor. I was asked to pray about a part time interim position. Interim, "What is this?" This means that my heart could be easily shattered again, this means that in four months all that I have worked for could be taken away from me! After praying God quietly impressed on my heart that these are my children, they need some one to lead them. Lead my children. Take care of them, they need you.

I accepted the position and started that Sunday. It was a home run fit. The staff, the kids, the volunteers, the church family all fit. I continued to ask my self "What is this?" it seemed as everyone continued to support me, could this really be where I was supposed to be? Could this be what God wants for me? The interim position was supposed to go through 2 weeks after "Summer Blast" (our version of VBS). In June I was offered a full time position 6 weeks ahead of when we were supposed to "evaluate". "What is this?" I didn't even have to think, (though I did). I knew that this is where God had called me, this is what God wanted me to do.

Shortly after the Senior Pastor asked me to prayerfully consider becoming licensed as a pastor and changing my title to "Pastor of Children's Ministry"

Seriously "WHAT IS THIS?" I have never had the aspiration to become a "pastor". Many are uncomfortable with women having the title, some feel its fine if your a only a children's pastor. I prayed about it. A LOT. It was a gradual realization, on of the kids calling me "Pastor Ashley", a mom of one of my old jr. high girls coming to me for council, knowing that this regardless of how hard it may be, is what God had called me to. November 1st I was licensed as a pastor, November 15th I was publicly prayed over of the church. It was an honor to have my father be one of the people who prayed over me. He was a pastor for much of my childhood before the church politics got to him.

The path that I have followed has left me asking nearly each step, WHAT IS THIS?!? Yet, each baby step, each heart break, each smile of a child has left me only more confident now, that this is what God has called me to do. I am a Children's Pastor and I am seeking to be the very best that I can be.

What is this? part 1

"What is this?" is a question I have been asking myself for the last 6 months, well really for the last 6 years of my life as things have continued to change. I know what this is, this is the work of God. This is how God has called me back into ministry and given me a church to serve and grow in.

"What is this?" I can major in working with kids at church? It was my freshman year of Biola, and I was an English major, mostly because I loved to read and write. Then I found out that I could major in Ministry. I immediately switched. I had known that over the first few months of Biola and not having a church home that not teaching kids about Jesus was painful and I missed it. All of the sudden it clicked, I could do this with my life, as a vocation! I could work at a church and fulfill my passion of teach kids. I LOVED every minute of my classes, and learning about how to serve in a local church. I had a FABULOUS internship with Dean-O and got to shadow him and be a part of his ministry for two years. Then I graduated, already having a full time job working as a Nursery coordinator.

If you would have told me in February of 2008 that by July of 2009 I would be back in full time Children's Ministry, I would have laughed at you. The previous month I had been "let go" from my first full time ministry position. I knew that it wasn't the "best fit" for me, but it was a job at a church working with kids and I loved it. Then 6 months in, I was called into my boss' office given a check and sent on my way. It was cold, and I was blindsided. I was hurt and angry for a very long time. My heart broke for the kids that I couldn't even say goodbye to, the volunteers that I had poured my energy and love into. I set off to do anything with kids and started to pursue my teaching degree.

August of 2008, I was still floundering. Not sure what I was going to do with my life, applying to various teaching programs, working at Disneyland, and trying to figure out what God wanted me to do since it was most definitely NOT Children's Ministry. Then my mom fell and broke her elbow. 6 days later she fell and broke her knee. My dad was leaving to visit his parents and my mom was 2 hrs away from me. I was getting practically 0 hours at Disney, so I volunteered to go home for the week to help out. Then I started subbing for her (she was a school teacher and needed a good sub). I enrolled in a teaching program at home, and was driving back to the OC every weekend to visit my fiancee. Then a friend from Biola called and asked me to help out with his Jr. High girls. I accepted...