Go ahead, ask!

We just recently sold our house, praise the Lord! All the paperwork is so foreign to me, it's overwhelming! I don't sell a house everyday you know! :) We had several people involved to help us through the process. This made me start thinking about people who have never volunteered in children's ministry before. I wonder if serving kids seems foreign to them? If the thought of serving makes them feel overwhelmed because they don't know where to start, or "how to fill out the paperwork."

Do you know people like that? What about your friends who aren't serving, have you ever considered inviting them to watch what you do? I am thinking it might not seem so overwhelming to minister to three year olds if there are people there to help them through the process.

I know you are thinking of someone right now, give them a call! Ask them to shadow you as you serve this weekend! Most people are very willing to help, it's just hard to get started sometimes. Go ahead, ASK!!

Can't wait to see you (and your friends) this weekend!

Faith, Hope and Love

moment of truth

How often do you train your kidmin leaders?

I like to think of it as a "every time I see them" sort of thing. My cup is definitely half full, so I encourage leaders every chance I get. As I encourage them, I try to train them as well. This past weekend, I watched a leader check a family in and immediately after the family walked towards the children's area I said, "Great job greeting the "Smiths" I loved the way you gave them directions, feel free to take them to their classroom as well!" His response was such a blessing!! "I didn't know I could do that!" Viola! He didn't know he could leave his post (so to say) to help a family and now he does, I would consider that part of our training.

When you uphold your values, policies and procedures as you interact with volunteers, it's contagious! As we know, people are busy and it's tough to get everyone to a monthly/quarterly training, we have to take advantage of the time we do have them in front of us!

As we think about how to train leaders a comment one my amazing team members said keeps coming to mind. He said; "Each time we volunteer, it's a moment of truth for the church." Wow, does that hit me right between the eyes! We represent our Savior each time we serve, with that in mind, I am challenged to make sure equipping every leader is my highest priority!

music to my ears and my heart

This past weekend my husband and I were sitting in service listening to a great message about embracing grace. One of the verses used was Ephesians 2:8. Almost immediately my husband looked at me and said "Isn't this on one of the Seeds CD's?" This made my heart leap and then of course I started singing the song! Seed's CD's are found at your local christian book store or you can buy them online at www.seedsmusicstore.com.

They describe their music like this;

It's a Scripture-memory tool -- It's a CD full of fabulous music. It's both! Seeds combines songs that use Scripture for lyrics with strongly produced music that is varied in style to create a sound the whole family will love. Each song helps a child (and any adults in the vicinity) memorize one or more Bible verses from the NIV.

I totally dig these CD's, they are a great tool!!

Music is one of those amazingly powerful resources for children's ministry!

What great music have you found for kidmin??

a weapon in church?

A couple of weeks ago, the kids created a "mold" of their face with aluminum foil. There were specific instructions about reaffirming children that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, in fact the instructions were so specific they even said to remind the children not to fold up the aluminum foil into a weapon. Wow, that's pretty detailed!

In one small group though, the aluminum foil was not the weapon.....

As the kids were making face molds with their foil, one first grader struggled to get the foil around his glasses. He tried and tried and tried, and then, the unthinkable happened! A leader from another grade saw him looking at his attempt at a mold and snatched it from his hands saying, "We told you not to create a weapon." The little boy was crushed! His small group leader was crushed, but tried very hard to salvage the situation by telling the little one the other leader just made a mistake, and all people make mistakes right?!?

Our words are so powerful! This little one was convinced he should cover his face, he thought it was a weapon, all because of the powerful words one assuming leader spoke. This is nothing new, Proverbs 12:18 says; "The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

I pray that this weekend we all choose to leave our weapons at home as we minister to His children. Let's all be wise and use our words for healing!

Faith, Hope & Love

wonder and awe

“Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe. And they praised God, saying over and over again, ‘We have seen amazing things today.’” –Luke 5:26 NLT

“Have you ever seen the face of a child when she received a present she wasn’t expecting? Have you ever seen the face of a child when she receives a present she was expecting? It’s the same face: bright eyes, bubbly smile, slight gasps of oohs and aahs, surprise, astonishment, and amazement.

Children teach us mischief and fun. They teach us to appreciate even the tiniest miracles around us. They refuse to allow complacency. They approach every part of life with wonder. I don’t think Jesus ever wants us to lose that way of engaging the world. Have you ever lost your sense of wonder and awe? Misplaced your sense of amazement and surprise? Have you drifted into a rut or redundant routine? Many of us have. The good news is that we’re serving children, and children are the best teachers about wonder and awe in the universe. Learn from your kids this week!”

What a great reminder for me as a volunteer and also as a mom of three amazing children. I need to always be mindful of the wonder and awe God places right before our eyes every day!

Thanks so much for serving God by serving His church, and don't forget to learn from your kids this week!!

love is the same in all languages

I recently read a post I had written while on a mission trip to Kazakhstan and it was a great reminder that what all children want more than anything is love. That's true for all God's children, birth to 128, we all crave the same, love.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be the craft guru of this amazing Kazakhstan journey. Today was the first day we were able to spend extended time with the children at the orphanages, and yep, you guessed it, my job was craft girl.

At the first orphanage we encountered children with different learning disabilities. I don't know why I am so amazed that we packed the appropriate crafts and activities for just the occasion. (Can you say "thank you Jesus!"????) Bubbles were perfect! From four years up to seventeen years, they loved blowing bubbles and catching them all at once, it was a beautiful sight to see. Next, scratch crosses. As I would show them how to scratch the paper with the wooden stick I would make a heart and scratch off the center and the beautiful colors would show through. Well, they liked the colors so much they just scratched the black wax off the entire cross and held it up for me to take a picture of them with their new creation! Again, it was a beautiful sight to see. Then, it was time for me to switch hats and become parachute girl. Aiman taught me how to tell the children to raise the parachute up and then down in Kazak. I already have forgotten how to say it, but I must have been saying it correctly at the time because they would raise it on my command and then lower it when I spoke again. There was one little guy who stood next to me but wouldn't grab the parachute. He was four and he would belly laugh each time the parachute would rise above his head. The joy on this sweet boy's face was priceless. Even his eyes were smiling! After the crafts were finished and the parachute was put away, it was time to hand out tennis shoes. The children were thrilled to say the least! Only one problem, we didn't have enough!! So it was time to go to the "Bazaar." (How bizarre, how bizarre...)

We walked through this maze of a market until we were deep into the area where the cheese is hidden....oops, I mean until we found the tennis shoes at a decent price. Aiman talked the man down from 2900 tenge per pair to 850 tenge. Just trust me when I tell you that is a very good deal, especially when we needed to purchase 30 more pairs!! We returned to the orphanage and handed out the new shoes. Then, we headed to orphanage number 2!

The second orphanage did not have special needs children. We decided to pull out the slap bracelets and markers for a little do it yourself slap bracelet artwork, then, the "God is Love" crosses were handed out for some gluing fun. Next, the ultimate craft......God's Eyes! Who would have ever thought yarn and popsicle sticks could be so fun?!!?!?! I would show the kids how to do the craft and I would say; "over, and around.....over, and around....over, and around" until they started saying it, in ENGLISH! Some of the kids would repeat everything I said and mimic my hand motions, they even mimicked my laugh! It was comical! It reminds me that love is simply the same in any language!

I pray that you will enjoy showing God's love to the children He brings your way this weekend!

Faith, Hope & Love

wanted: awesome small group leaders

I am so blown away by small group leaders. There are so many different leadership styles associated with small group leaders, but their passion is always the same, for kids to love and follow Jesus with all they've got!

Watching a small group leader recently, I noticed two students who tested this leader and they passed with flying colors! In just less than an hour, this leader impacted two students' lives in a huge way!!

Student 1

This student found five dollars at the bus stop and was thinking about what to buy with it. This awesome leader took the time to talk to him about what is important to him. Games? Fast food? Clothes? God? The student then began to ask questions like "What could I give this money to that would help someone?" The questions continued for about 5 minutes with the leader constantly putting the decision back on the student. How easy it is to just tell kids what they "should" do instead of leading them to think about their priorities and values. Several more questions later, the student decided to give it all to God. The student felt that he had everything he needed and because there are people out there who don't, maybe the church could help them. The win here is not that the student gave the money to the church to help others, the win here is that the student thought about what matters to him and to God. His decision was based on his faith in God and his priorities.

Student 2

This student keeps to himself. He never misses a week but he sits hunched over in the back of the room during the initial small group time trying to be invisible. This same volunteer strikes up a conversation with him. Shows Christ's love by accepting him and engaging him. The student responds with a slight smile and eventually decides to sit next to the leader during large group time. That is huge!! There are so many students we see each week that want to hide and sometimes we let them!! Not this leader! There was no way he was going to let him fade into the woodwork, he was going to do whatever he could to get him connected and on this day all it took was a conversation filled with love! I noticed that when this student sat in large group next to his leader, he sat up a little straighter and looked a little more at ease. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

Thank you small group leaders for your heart and passion for kids to love and follow Jesus!! You are AWESOME!