You do matter. I wanted to share a post with you by a guy named Jim Wideman. He’s the guy that wrote Volunteers that stick. A book that we are going through as a children’s ministry team. As a young guy it is good to have guys to look up to like this one.
Check it out and I pray that you God will bless whatever ministry you are a part of in fulfilling God’s will.
I just posted the picture to take up space until I get some pictures onto my new macbook for the blog. Also it is kind of a joke geared towards my friend Josh Martin.
I think he will understand the joke but I know my man Steve Murphy will. Anyway still looking for a new identity for the blog. I would like it to relate to children if at all possible. So give me some ideas. I’m not really trying to brand myself but I am also thinking about naming it J.C. Thompson as well for id purposes. Anyway tell me what you think. No idea is stupid.
Today has already been an incredible day. It’s 945 am and I’ve had so much encouragement from so many people around me. From my fellow children’s ministry staff, our pastor, and from some blogs that I read. I’m so excited about where I’m at in my life right now. Things are just happening so fast it’s crazy and I am riding the wave that God has put me on at this point in my life. I am just so blessed it’s nuts.
This may sound dumb to some of you, but I am so relieved that my computer is in my hands. I have been waiting to experiment and create with my own toy for about 3.5 weeks now. It is unreal how awesome this machine is and I hope that I will be able to tap into its potential.
P.S. If anyone from Apple reads my blog… Please Please get a store in Greenville, SC. You will have about 25 faithful customers right from the get go.
So i’ve have been patiently awaiting my macbook pro for the last few days. I am longing to see my creative desires fleshed out on my newly acquired mac. I have been dreaming of the possibilities and the reality is that my brain is running out of room.
See the problem that I have seen with programming in Children’s ministry is that it is mostly a fill a hole kind of thing. Well they will need something to do so lets just read them a bible story. It’s amazing to me that we spend so much time on students and on adults but fail to put mucho efforts into children’s programming. I mean think about it. When have you been to anything kind of kids programming and literally thought to yourself: WoW that is what kids deserve. Instead you see drained volunteers, crappy curriculum that you had to buy, and even lackluster worship.
I am hoping to not just to alter the trend but maybe change it entirely. Kids deserve attention. They shouldn’t feel like they are the last in line. But the reality in church is they are. I hope that we can minister as effectively to children and the volunteers as Jesus did when He let the disciples know that He wanted them to come and get some Jesus love. This is what is going on in my brain and I’m running out of room to contain it.
I went to a concert tonight. It was a special concert to a very special kid. She didn’t know I would be there and she didn’t ask me to be there but somehow and some way it meant alot. It’s amazing to me how such small acts make such an impact.
One of my favorite movies all time is Hardball. Keanu Reeves gives a heartfelt speech before the championship game with some great encouragement for the kids “I am overwhelmed by your ability to show up.” It’s seems like such a small act to show up but fathers especially have increasingly become worse and worse at this very basic act: being there.
I saw first hand tonight what it meant to about 50 kids when the special people in their life show up. I challenge you to show up when a need arises. When your kids are doing something, anything in life, show up. They will appreciate.
P.S. (thanks Dad, you always showed up…ALWAYS!)
out
Usually I am chipper on Mondays. I love to work and feel like I accomplished something. But today I am not my usual upbeat little self. I had a very tiring weekend: Wedding Bands and Apartment searching.
I felt exhausted on Sunday night but got to chill for just a little bit with Kristen and the Bradleys. It was a nice to time to relax and then I had to go to sleep in order to get enough rest for work and I don’t think that I accomplished that goal. Needless to say I didn’t start off the week well.
However, reading in 1 Samuel was encouraging and I was intrigued by some things. Make sure that you always stay the course. Compromise will take you down a path you don’t want to flesh out. Don’t settle or get lazy work your butt off to make sure you are obeying God and growing in your faith.
I feel like tommorrow will be better. Macbook Pro came in today and it is almost in my hands to get my creative juices flowing.
out
Now that the job search is over with, we have taken on the daunting task of finding a place to live and we have 3 weeks to do it!!! We looked at 6 apartment complexes today. Narrowed that list down to three and are now looking deeper into those but at the same time keeping our options open to random God ordained miracles that would give us a home at a crazy super price.
So greenville housing market meet your newest customers.
I am anxious to get this done as it will be another thing checked off the list of things that I need to accomplish before the wedding. Anyway I know i sound like a prayer whoremonger but please pray that we find an incredible deal for whatever reason and that we would have a peace about the entire situation.
Love you guys and thanks for the readership.
out
We are running a survey and the results are coming back from the volunteers. I want give you anything too specific but I will tell you this answer that isn’t really shocking but it will tell you alot about your volunteers.
We asked an open ended question about the what is their favorite part about volunteering in the Children’s ministry. The answers: about 85%-90% their favorite part had to do with the kids… another 7-8% had to do with the relationships between the volunteers themselves.
There are alot of other telling things about this survey that I think we all realize deep down inside but we don’t focus on them as much as “We have to fill this need”. But what we don’t realize is that God has to provide the volunteers and we must minister to them. They love the kids that is why they volunteer. The lack of motivation and development is why they leave. Period.
Where are you at in relation to your volunteers? Are you making them better? Or are they on the backburner cuz now that they have filled a spot you move onto the next hole?
Crazy stuff huh?
out
