There is no chemistry with out F-U-N

On my Children's Ministry blog I posted a while back about the importance of chemistry. Well....today I was able to tap into one of the real sources of chemistry...FUN. It think with out fun you don't really have chemistry you just have people who tolerate one another.

Sheila, the office manager, and I have had a feud going on for a while about the placement of a "men's restroom" sign. She likes to put it so the arrow points to the office space I use most. Hinting that's where the men's restroom is. So I started placing the sign so the arrow pointed to her office. And back and forth we would go. It was all fun and games.

Then she upped the stakes by T.P.ing my office space. I left for a little while and when I came back my office space had toilet paper strung all over...and the restroom sign was on the back of my laptop.

So today I returned the favor. I rigged a contraption that had a paper bag drop pieces of toilet paper and hole punch remnants on her head when she opened the door. I've been waiting for 2-weeks to do this. So, today I got to work before her and rigged up my contraption. You can watch the video below to see what happened.

Great Podcast!

I listened to the "Dream Podcast" from the Children's Ministry team at Church on the Move in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As I listened I wanted to cheer at the top of my lungs and scream "AMEN". The team that puts this podcast together has consistently done a great job. If you're not currently listening to any podcasts I highly recommend this one as a "must listen".

On a side note...they do read a question I posted on the kidology website.

Chemistry

I was just reflecting today on the greatness that is our God. That he knows what we need and where we fit and why He made us....all so that we would fulfill His mission with our lives and that would produce great joy in our lives.

Today I was just thinking about chemistry and how when I was looking for new ministry opportunities, chemistry, was an important factor. In fact in one interview chemistry was so off that I commented with extreme honesty and tact how I felt. That pretty much put an end to that opportunity.

If you try to combine the wrong chemicals you can get disasterous results. When I was a kid I had a chemistry set and I tried to make paint. I used the wrong chemical and the whole thing was a loss. The right chemistry is crucial.

But here at The Journey North I feel like I fit...like I was made for this place. It's such a great feeling and an awesome reality.

Join me in the First Work

When we unveiled our BHAG for the year (doubling our volunteer staff by next year) I began to feel an intense burdon to be praying for those who will be joining our staff. Then I remembered the second post that I posted on this blog, you can read it here. So, I began thinking and praying and then I realized that I can't do this alone. I need you to pray with me. So I boldly ask you to dedicate time in prayer that with God's help we will be able to see this Big Hairy Audacious Goal realized.

We can't do it alone, we need God's help....I can't pray about it alone, I need your help.

Thanks Karl

I just want to give a quick thank you to Karl Bastian....Thanks man!

Touché

Volunteer Celebration Part 2

and now the conclusion...

....We will need these people because the children that God has given us are of the utmost importance.

George Barna, a well respected researcher, states in his book, “Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions”, that starting as early as age 2 children begin developing their spiritual foundation and that by age 9 that foundation is pretty well established (page 47).

This is why in March we will begin to have a structured time of understanding for our Toddlers. We will have a 3 year flexible curriculum for all children from age 2-12.

Barna also says that the probability of a child embracing Jesus Christ between the ages of 5-12 is 32%, that by the age of 13 their spiritual identity is pretty much set and that their world view is not likely to change. The probability of a child embracing Jesus at the ages of 13-18 is 4% and for people 19 and older 6% (page 34).

Before we can help a child understand who Christ is we first need to have them in our audience. Do you know how many VBS will take place in Brainerd, Baxter and the outlying areas this summer? Probably more than 20 in an 8-10 week span. There is a saturation of VBS’ in our area, that doesn’t mean it’s bad or ineffective; it just means that there are lots of them. We are looking at doing something different this year. We are looking at sports to reach children and some of them will be kids who wouldn’t be going to a VBS. How many sports camps does the YMCA do in the summer? NONE. What about LAYSO? 1 in Brainerd or Baxter the rest are out of the area. Sports camp will give us a new avenue to reach the children of our community. There are parents who would never think of sending their kids to a VBS, but would be beating our door to get their kid into a local nicely run sports camp. We see this year as just the beginning, next year we are thinking of starting an arts camp. Utilizing the assets we have in our building and increasing the spectrum of children who would be interested. It also shows our building community that we value arts and that because of that we value artisans, even little ones.

All of these things are so that we can help children and families understand and live-out God’s truth and love. That is our mission, that is what we will be striving to do. So our philosophy is to make sure that what ever we do accomplishes our mission.

It’s called Intentionality; it is a Christ like character. Jesus spent all his time being intentional. He went to certain places for a reason, he called certain people for a purpose, he did and acted certain ways to intentionally teach behavior. We want to do the same thing.

There are more things that we are working on for the next year that we’ll be telling you about in a few weeks.

But I want to end with this goal. We want to value, honor, appreciate, and equip you. I’m proposing a budget in which 25% of it will be spent on Volunteers. Tonight is the first of many planned “celebrations and events” designed to show you we appreciate you, that what you are doing makes a difference, and that we want to help you go to the next level in serving God. We want your service in Children’s Ministry to be the highlight of your week. To do that you have to feel like you are being equipped to do the work God has called you to. You have to feel like you’re an important part of a larger community. You have to feel like you are being used by God to change the world. If these three things are true you won’t have to ask people to help you, they will be asking you. So we’re planning multiple training opportunities for you this next year, one in November in Maple Grove and another in March in Chicago along with other local trainings. We’re planning on more celebrations and events so that we can encourage, build into, and get to know one another. And we are planning on yearly evaluations to see if we are actually being intentional in helping children and families understand and live-out God’s truth and love.

That’s pretty much the highlights of this next year. I value your input so if you have any questions or comments then now’s your time to share them.

Volunteer Celebration Part 1

If you missed the Volunteer Celebration we had a few weeks ago, or just want to hear it again, I'm posting in 2 parts what I talked about for the coming year.


The Journey North Statistics

· What’s the current Attendance on Sunday mornings, within 50 (350-400)

· How many children attend on a given Sunday, within 10 (86)

· How many Volunteer Staff are there in CM (44)

· How many people were here on Christmas eve (570) (111 kids)

· How many kids are on the TJN Role sheets (199)

Eighteen months ago I was teaching a group of children about Christ followers who impacted the world for change. I was teaching about a guy named George Mueller and how he was able to educate more than 2000 orphans in his lifetime. George started with 2 little girls and taught them to read, then gave them a bible, which was a big deal in the 1800’s. He repeated this process for years teaching orphans to read and then giving them a Bible and teaching them how to follow Christ. George Mueller’s impact was so big that the local factories that typically employed child labor had a hard time filling open positions. All the orphans were now able to live healthy and productive lives because of George Mueller.

I asked these young kids what they could do to help orphans and for 10 minutes I received idea after idea after idea of how they could solve world hunger, provide homes for orphans…basically how they could be “World Changers”.

At that moment in my heart and in my mind I told God, “I want to create World Changers, I want to make a difference”. That’s why I’m here in Central Minnesota, that’s why you are here.

In the next year we want to begin setting the ministry foundation to produce world changers. We want to help children and families understand and live-out God’s truth and love. We want to begin to be ready to serve the next 200 people that walk through the doors of TJN who don’t know Christ, and about 75-100 of those are going to be children.

We’re dreaming big dreams. We believe that by November we could have as many as 600 people attending Sunday morning services. That we might have to increase our services options from 2 to 3. That we could have more than 150 children coming to TJN on any given Sunday, and more than 200 on major holidays.

All this means that we have been faithful with what God has entrusted to us, and now he’s going to entrust us with more. When God provides a plentiful harvest he also provides adequate logistics to bring in that harvest.

This next year we have a major BEHAG, BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL. We want to double our current volunteer staff. We currently have about 44 people serving in Children’s Ministry, by November we want to have more than 80 people actively serving as a part of the CM Volunteer Staff. We can’t accomplish this goal alone. We will have to rely on God to fulfill this goal for us.

We will need these people because the children that God has given us are of the utmost importance.

Stay tuned for the rest....