Are You A Children’s Ministry Cup Or A Colander?
One of my favorite perks of being in children’s ministry is getting to attend conferences from time to time. I love kidmin conferences – or breakfasts, or luncheons, or training sessions. I love talking with other kidmin about connecting kids and Jesus. I love listening to speakers who encourage those in ministry to new levels of understanding and service. I love listening to teachers explain their new perspectives on reaching and relating to kids. I have done this long enough to know that there are thousands of ideas that I haven’t heard or tried yet, and I want to hear them all and try them all.
However, there is one potential downside to excitement about soaking up all this new information. In my zeal to know all that I can, and to learn all that I can, I may easily spend all my free time learning, and never take what I have gleaned and put it into action. It’s as though I have become a colander instead of a cup. Very little is retained that can be shared with someone else.
Earlier this summer I attended a conference in Miami for my day job. While at the conference there were the usual main sessions and breakouts. During one of the main sessions there was a keynote speaker who said something that really struck me as both a father and a children’s pastor. He talked about his job experience, his wife and his kids. It was while he talked about something that one of his daughters said to him, that he struck me with a nearly mortal blow. She said, “Daddy, could you listen to me with your eyes and not just with your ears.” I nearly broke down in tears right then. How many times have I been doing something and have my son walk up and want to talk to me? How often do I continue working while half listening to what he is saying? More times than I care to admit.
My husband Kelly and I met while working on staff at Willow Creek Church. It was a fairy tale match made in heaven: he noticed me teaching the children with all of my passion and talent, and immediately knew I was the one for him. Not really. We were set up on a blind date by a friend! But, either way, it worked out and almost seven years later – we’re happier than ever to be married.
After a little break, it’s time for the next installment of the Non-Negotiables. In this series, we are reviewing a variety of things in our lives which we cannot afford to give up on in order to “make time.” Thus far we have looked at:
During the summer I started a new job, taking me to new ground: working with children that have special needs. Specifically, these kids have various developmental and cognitive disorders. I wasn’t sure at first if I would be effective in ministering to these children, as I have not had any previous experience with special needs. As I adjusted to this new job, however, I have learned some things that may be of benefit to others that find themselves with children that have special needs.
From Twitter, Facebook, Digg, YouTube, Linkedin, Stumbleupon, Designfloat, Furl, Technorati, WordPress, Google Reader….and the list goes on and on; you can quickly realize that social media is huge and is only getting bigger. There are two extremes to social media, there are those that are scared of the unknown so they never try it and then there are others that as soon as they wake up they grab their iPhone (or any other smartphone) to get caught up on everything that happened while they slept.
This week has been one of the worst for me emotionally and Spiritually (in a very long time). I started to write an article for our blog on Tuesday, but made the decision NOT to complete it (OR post it). Remember my previous “story” – with the character Flower? Well, everything fell apart in our office last Monday-and my post sounded way too negative to complete or post. It was absolutely awful. For the entire week, my co-workers didn’t speak to one another. My boss, who I hoped would address the issue, didn’t.
In part one of this article, I talked about how to identify a dying program, ministry or event. I also promised to offer some thoughts on how you might be able to breathe new life into such a program, ministry, or event. That’s what we will do here in Part 2 of “A Season for Everything.”
Teens have an energy that is contagious and so often are overlooked as a volunteer resource in children’s ministry.![clip_image002[4]](http://kidmin1124.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/clip_image0024.gif "clip_image002[4]")
