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Archive for March, 2008

As I finished up our Easter service yesterday I thought back over the crazy morning our Children’s Ministry had. I came into Easter viewing it as an important day, understanding that there was the potential for extra first time visitiors, and for new children, everything was extra ready. The classes were immaculate. The greeters extra smiley. Material overprepared. Attention to details. Kind of like getting your home ready for a guest visiting. Our morning quickly got chaotic as a worker’s child got sick in the nursery, vomiting everywhere as a new family was checking their baby into the class. A worker was late showing up to another class. A first time visiting family argued in the hall about leaving their children where they weren’t. (they left) A parent unhappy about the morning plans to spend a little time outside. And the list goes on….

As I sat reflecting when it was all said and done, I thought about how much had gone into making this particular morning, Easter morning, a great place of quality for your children. We recognized that guests would probably be there. A first time family with a child, baby, or preschooler and we wanted them to have a great experience. Then I was confronted with the thought that there is that potential EACH and EVERY week! Why was so much effort spent on this particular holiday and the other 51 weeks of the year aren’t approached the same? This reality reminded me that every week could be someone’s first time visiting your church and you’d better be prepared with your ”A game.”  

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creativity

Where do you go to get your creativity? I know that creativity or the inspiration for creativity can be found in many places and it is different for each person. Some find it in watching or viewing things of great quality – i.e. Disney, others find it in a beautiful place, for me it is surrounding myself with other forms of creativity, whether that be art forms, visiting other churches and seeing how they do things, or visiting cool kid places. No matter where you look to for creativity, one thing holds true — inspiration is needed now and then. We become stale when we focus on only what we have and live in a maintenance mode. Wake up. Look around. Evaluate. Critique. Improve. Good inspiration fuels all of that and only betters our ministries.

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We are 5 days away from Friarsgate’s largest Egg Hunt! Join us on Saturday, March 22nd at Friarsgate Park at 10am to help search among 10,000 Easter eggs. All eggs are filled with prizes in addition to other prizes. We’ll also have games, inflatables, and food following the hunt. So bring your family out, tell your friends, neighbors, etc. and enjoy this FREE event we’re putting on because we care about your family!

I am excited because I got approval today to send flyers home with the children in two elementary schools in our town. Hmm…now I’m thinking there’s a 3rd I should have asked about too….. :) That’s already over 1500 flyers going to homes via kids!

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We are implementing a new web based software database system at church that will totally change how we manage people and ministries. Fellowship One is created by Fellowship Church and is amazing. It’s like an onion with all the layers you can pull back to do the things you need to do. There is so much to it in managing volunteers, tracking children, following up on visitors, creating room assignments, easy promoting of kids, etc. If your church is looking for great management software that is guaranteed to grow as your church grows, check it out. We’re far from a mega church, yet our church can utilize and maximize what we do with it even at the level we’re at.

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So when you go to a conference and you see the awesome things another church or ministry is doing only they are like 10 times the size of your ministry, what do you do with that information? It’s easy to get frustrated and feel like what you’ve learned doesn’t apply to you being the difference in size. I often leave a conference feeling like “well, we’re not there yet..” And I don’t want to do that. I want to be a student and find something to gather in what I heard. We just returned from Unleash at Newspring Church the other day and had a great time. The Children’s Ministry there is rocking and I love what they’re doing with writing their own curriculum. Curriculum is my passion. I could write curriculum all day long, okay, maybe not all day. But you get what I mean…

It’s easy to be in a ministry at that size and level and dismiss what they do as being a “big church” and you can’t do it. But I think a few things are important – (1) everyone does something well. It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 children or 600 children, your ministry does something with excellence that you should be proud of. Focus on that. Notice it and continue to do well with it. (2) even mega churches can learn something new and improve an area. If you were to ask Pudge or someone on staff at Newspring what they could improve, I bet they could give you a list. They might not be areas we think need improvement, but everyone has an area that they can make better. A system they can fine tune. A broken wheel they can fix.

Larger church just minister to more kids. They have struggles, they have hardships, they have conflict just like smaller churches. Their struggles may be the same or different, but it’s all there. So don’t be discouraged thinking “we could never do that” find what you can do in your context and do it with excellence.

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Part of my problem with lack of posting is that I never seem to know which direction to post in. Call it a blog identity crisis if you will. After attending a workshop on blogging this past week, I realized that the contents of my Children’s Ministry blog were too broad. It started as professional development, but I have friends and family that follow it as well. To keep this blog more church leadership focused, I started another one as a way of communicating with my friends and family. You’ll be kept updated on family happenings, interesting things I am passionate about, parenting, my spiritual journey, and of course boy fluff! If you want to visit there and enjoy that side of me visit “Mommy Needs Coffee.”

This blog will continue as a professional, leadership & ministry focused blog with possibly some family ancedotes thrown in here and there!

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We have 3 tickets for Unleash at Newspring Church that our church won’t be using, people have backed out. If you are interested contact me immediately. Tell me why you think you’re deserving of them and should be going! :) I guarantee you won’t want to miss what Perry has to say!

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I know, I know…to my few blog readers, I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Life is happening. You know? Family, kids, sickness, church, preschool, etc… I promise I will try to do better!

 That being said, I am sure within the next two months I will find inspiration in two conferences I will be attending. Next week a group from our church will be going to Newspring for Unleash 2008. We went in 2007 and it was the catalyst for MUCH change over the course of the next year. I’m excited about what Perry and the Newspring team will be bringing us, a chance to worship, and seeing the reactions to those we’re bringing. Dare say some will be shocked and not know what to think!

Then in April I will be going to Orange! I am psyched about North Point’s Family Ministry conference. Hmm…one day I wold love to present or teach at these things! But, right now I am excited about being the student, learning from some of the masters in the field of youth and children’s ministry. Hopefully I will be inspired, challenged, and stretched as I am there. I wold love to learn some practical application things too to apply to what we’re already doing with 252 Basics and First Look.

Between those two upcoming events, I should be able to find plenty to blog about, now I just need to find the time! :)

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