JC is ONLINE

You guys hear me so much on this blog… I want to highlight some people this week with their thoughts on some of the Milestones that we have. First up is our Elementary Ministry Director, Laurie Sinkele. Laurie was a major reason we decided to go another direction when it comes to baptism for Kids at Brookwood. She’s put together a few of her thoughts on the struggle for baptism with kids and what our process looks like now. You can follow her on twitter as @lsinkele . I hope a ton of you follow her so she will tweet more often. Yes I’m totally asking for a favor

If you have any questions for Laurie, drop a comment and I’ll be sure to get her to check in with her thoughts!

We are thrilled that we can walk with parents in sharing Jesus with their kids.  We also recognize working in children’s ministry; we have an important job in leading children to Christ but feel that the biggest influence of the kids we see on Sundays is their parents.   We know for most people their spiritual journey it is not always an event that shaped their faith.   It is a series of events.  So when we look at baptism we try to get families to look at the milestones that lead them to faith instead of one event like baptism.

It is so easy to say, “I’m a Christian” and not live as one.  Sometimes baptism is viewed as they have made it as a Christian when in reality their journey has just begun.  That is one of the reasons it is so important that as a ministry and church we teach our kids and parents that baptism is sharing and growing our faith.  We don’t want them to be confused that baptism is a means to salvation.

When an elementary child shows interest in being baptized we have the parents attend a class called Leading Your Child to Christ.  That class is a prerequisite to First Steps for Kids.  In these classes we cover the basic beliefs of baptism:

• To follow the example set by Christ. Mark 1:9

• Christ commanded it.  Matthew 28:19-20

• Illustrates Jesus’ burial and resurrection.  Colossians 1:12

• Demonstrates I am a believer.  Acts 18:9

• It’s an outward symbol of the commitment you make in your heart.

Our Leading Your Child to Christ class is for parents of elementary kids who want to be baptized.  In this class we walk through with parents what a relationship with Jesus looks like.  We want to minimize confusion of a faith journey.  We share with them that baptism is just the beginning of their kids spiritual journey and that it is a profession of faith and not a one- time event that they have arrived at.

We also teach parents to write their story of faith.  This gets them to look at their walk with God and how they can model that to their kids.  We don’t suggest to parents that they breakout a bible study each night with their kids.  We suggest that they model their faith, communicate their faith, and pray for their child.  Not every child’s walk with God will be the same.  Once parents have written their own story they are more equipped to help their child write theirs.

First Steps for Kids is a class that parents and kids attend together.  This is a time when parents can help their child write their story.  Through this class we hope the parents and child understand the meaning of baptism and are better prepared to make a decision whether or not that child is ready for baptism.

These classes will help the parents and children see if that child really understands and is ready for baptism.  We want the kids and parents to understand that salvation is not dependant on baptism.  Our faith is a great journey.   It is exciting to see what God has for us.

Light Bulb No. 2, originally uploaded by Caveman (Kickin’ 66 with Pete Zarria).

To give a little bit of a crash course in Milestones I’ll provide a little commentary on the situation.

For a lot of Milestones, we seek Parents when they are having an “Oh Crap!” moment. Whether it’s transition, pressure, behavior, etc. Parents are freaked out about something. We generally recognize common times that these moments are happening and try to turn the “Oh Crap!” into an “AHA!”.

Light bulbs generally don’t light themselves. An idea or concept needs to be caught and then put into practice. So every “AHA!” moment you want to achieve will need at least two things from Parents and in some cases kids:

1) Vision that compels peeps to move from “Oh Crap!” to “Aha!”
2) A plan that people can achieve and one that you can keep them accountable to.

So what “Oh Crap!” moments do families have in your ministry context?
How can you move them to “AHA!”?

Cute Kid, originally uploaded by Joe Lencioni.

So I was asked to do a little post on milestones and kids. Generally the Milestones that we associate with kidmin are:

• Dedication
• Salvation/Baptism
• Preparation for the teen years

I know the last one is fringe probably between kids and students. But we’ll just put it on our list

I’d really like to focus on a specific aspect of the milestone for this post. You see milestones are generally used to provide reference points along the journey. They are should be viewed in a way that allows families to say, “Ok we’re on the right track”. They provide focus and guidance for parents. But honestly, I also think they can be tough to understand. If we see them a reference points then they hold the correct place in the realm of a child’s life. However, when they are skewed as goals or items on a checklist then the results could be ineffective.

The purpose of milestones is to give people a picture of the long term, the overall life experience of a child rather than isolated singular events. Why is this small thought important?

From Dedication forward parents begin to put pressure on themselves to perform well as parental units. By casting the vision of a journey rather than getting to salvation/baptism or to the teen years without error, we hope to see parents take some pressure off themselves and their kids. Not only that but provide proper opportunities for kids to question and grow in their view of God and Christ.

Over the next few posts I’ll talk about how I feel about the milestones mentioned above and also a couple more thoughts.

First of all I want to clarify, in no way is Human3rror, aka John Saddington, asking me to do this in anyway. Mainly cuz he doesn’t know me. I am not a part of his super great affiliate program for the Standard Theme. (Cuz I’m trying to win a free copy ) But I have to give him a ton of link love.

This guy puts it out there consistently for us bloggers and doesn’t get enough credit. I have learned a ton of countless things from his site and the ones that he points me to. If you are having any issues with blogging you need to rss to these two sites: ChurchCrunch and Human3rror. It will change the way you think about technology and the church, help you with your blogging craft, and it’s just a fun site!

John is coming out with a new Wordpress theme for us .com er’s called the Standard Theme. It’s sweet and I will get my hands on it one way or another and I’m thinking you at least need to check it out! Click on the link and visit his sites and comment all over his page. He’ll hit you back!

Anyway my readers, send me questions over twitter and email on blogging tips and how-to’s. I just point them to John cuz he is an expert and he’s committed to his craft of expertise. It’s time to take your blog to the next level. Buy the Standard Theme and RSS Human3rror and ChurchCrunch. It’s way more than worth it!

O and if you want something a little more awesome, check out his web company MilkEngine

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, originally uploaded by Si1very.

Simple explanation. Vote in the comment section below. Give reasons why and we’ll tally over the weekend.

Coca-Cola or Pepsi? And let’s take stable of drinks vs. stable of drinks:

Coca-Cola- Coke, diet coke, coke zero, sprite, barq’s root beer, fanta, fresca, mr. pibb, vault, dasani, vitamin water, minute maid, hi-c, powerade, nestea, etc.

Pepsi-Pepsi, diet pepsi, mt. dew, sierra mist, mug root beer, dole fruit drinks, sobe, tropicana, amp, aquafina, propel, gatorade, starbucks drinks, etc.

Which wins in your opinion?