Environment vs Sincerity

Three years ago we took our daughter to the Shriners Hospital to have her "in-tow" looked at, we took her back in today to have it rechecked. Everything looks fine by the way.

Anyways, if you have been to a Shriners hospital you know that everything there is designed to help children feel secure, less anxious, and special; and our children really liked it there. We were greeted warmly by the medical personnel, they went to great efforts to engage my daughter and son (almost ignoring us), and to make sure that the children knew that they were important. I sat back and thought, "this is what children's ministry should be like!" With in a few minutes my daughter was at ease and even welcomed the medical staff into her private little world. I sat back very impressed. The lady who took my daughters vitals and the nurse that walked us through the initial set up were fantastic, I can't say enough about them.

Then the doctor came in, she was, how should I say it, not what I would call a "kid person". She didn't really try to connect with my daughter, she used her to demonstrate and teach us (the parents) stuff ignoring my daughters objections. Then in a loud voice proclaimed that one solution to the medical issue at hand was to "saw her femur bone in half and twist it", causing my daughter to instantly scream in fear, cry humongous tears, and begin asking to leave the doctors office. I just looked at my wife and thought, "did the doctor just say that!!!" Thankfully we were at the end of the visit, and no we're not going to cut my daughters leg in two!

As I've reflected back on the day I'm reminded that it doesn't matter what kind of environment we create if we're not going to be sincere in our love for children. We need to speak to them as people, we need to connect with them on their level, and we need to be sensitive to their innocence. I really really really like what the Shriners are doing, I really like how the Shriners operate, but I will never take my daughter back to that doctor. In the church world, parents can really like the environment that we create, they can really like the mission of what we are trying to do, but they really need us to sincerely care about and for their children.

Perhaps it sounds rudimentary, but we need to be in Children's Minstry BECAUSE we LOVE children and their parents and have a PASSION to see them live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ.

We can't do the latter until the former is lived out.

Strengths Based Parenting

Listened to the latest Catalyst Podcast with Marcus Buckingham today. I'm a fan of Marcus and the "Living your Strengths" ideas. In the podcast Marcus was asked a parenting question along the line of "what do you do if your child bring home a report card with an 'F' on it?" A question that I'm sure many parents have asked themselves. You need to listen to the podcast to get the complete answer, but the summary is find out what and why they bring home an 'A' and apply those strengths to the class where they're earning the 'F'. Again you need to listen to the podcast to get the complete answer, plus I think the English accent is one of the funnest accents to listen to. The interview with Marcus begins about 7 minutes into the podcast.

Here's why I like Marcus' answer and this approach:

• It gets parents talking to their children
• It gets the children thinking about how they can succeed in areas that they are failing
• It gets children and parents actively partnering in creative problem solving
• It focuses on the positive steps the child can take rather than the negative steps they are or aren't taking

Renew is Awesome

I just listened to the past two weeks sermons from the "Renew" series. When the latest one ended I was so happy that I'm pastored by Mark Bjorlo. And no this is not a "suck up" post. This past Sunday's sermon was incredible. I loved the vulnerability of the interview, the practical application of the "coaching", and the clear tie in to the Word of God.

I've been here for a little over a year and haven't said this nearly enough...

Pastor Mark ROCKS!!

Going Public

Today I get to out Sheila's blog. She's been blogging for a little while and just recently has agreed to go public. So check it out.

Each Child...

Here's what I believe about each child that comes through the doors of The Journey North Community Church.

• Each child has the potential to change the world
• Each child has the needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit
• Each child has a family that needs to be transformed by the Holy Spirit
• Each child has the potential to touch the life of a volunteer
• Each child has the desire to passionately worship God with their whole heart
• Each child is precious and important to God
• Each child is here because God brought them to us
• Each child wants to be used by God
• Each child wants to see others worshiping God
• Each child wants to be loved
• Each child responds dramatically when they experience the love of God
• Each child has had their sins paid for
• Each child should be discipled
• Each child needs to experience emotionally healthy spirituality
• Each child needs you
• Each child needs the church (the body of Christ)
• Each child needs to share their joy with you
• Each child needs grace and mercy
  
• Each child needs to _________

Add your own in the comments section.

4 for 4 & 2 for 2

On Wednesday and Thursday I went 4 for 4 and on Sunday evening I went 2 for 2.

In sports those are some great statistics. In ministry they are also great statistics, but there is more to it.

The numbers represent the number of people who I talked to about getting involved in Children's Ministry. People that either came to me or I called them about making an investment and commitment for our children.

During 2 of the Thursday conversations I had, our Office Manager, Sheila, over heard my recruitment bit. It was the first time she had heard my full court press spiel. Which reminded me of one very important attitude in recruitment, recruit boldly. What we are asking people to commit to and to get involved with is life changing. In Children's Ministry it's not just about being "with kids", it so much more than that. Here's what we ask of people:

• to allow God to use them
• to be passionate about what they do
• to be full of patience, grace, truth, and mercy
• to believe and know that what they do is important
• to be adventurous
• to be sacrificial
• to make their interactions count
• to take risk and responsibility
• to have fun
• to pray for the kids and their families
• to follow the promptings that they get from the Holy Spirit
• to know that God has called them to do something incredible in the lives of children

15 More

15 more people got baptized this past sunday. That brings the total to around 45 since New Years Eve!

Check out Pastor Mark's Blog for the pictures.

Attracters and Deflectors

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine today and was reminded of the differences between being an "Attractor" or "Deflector". My friend and I were talking about their experiences in Children's Ministry and those 2 experiences haven't exactly been the easiest. That's when I realized that they are an attractor of dysfunctional people and they are attracted to dysfunctional people.

When I look back at Jesus' ministry he was certainly an attractor. People came out of every town, every woods, every hole in the ground to see, meet, and touch him. It seems like many of them were dysfunctional, societal hermits, demon possessed, the dregs of the culture. But Jesus was an attractor of all people, he also attracted Nicodemus, the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducee's, The Centurion, Pilot, King Herod, and of course the children. Who ever was interested in coming to Jesus seemed to be able to get to him. He was there and continues to be there for all who come to him.

Then there are the Deflectors, those people who really try to deflect others away from them. I've known a few deflectors. When I look at Jesus' life the only people he deflected were.....he deflected.....you know that one story where he.....Actually, I guess he didn't really deflect anyone , did he? He rebuked them, corrected them, challenged them, but he never deflected them away from who he is.

In Children's Ministry if you deflect a kid they know it and worst yet they feel it. I would be a dream of mine that we would be known as a people who attract others with the love of Christ. That our beacon to the world would be, God loves you and so do we!

My friend is a magnet for people who lack stability in their life. And to be honest they are attracted to these people. Jesus was an attractor...not a deflector. Don't you think we should be attractors, rather than deflectors?

Living-Out My Own Words

This past Sunday I preached in our adult service, on Thursday I find myself living-out my own words.

Sunday I had a couple of points about the attitude of serving:

• Have an attitude of Importance -- what you do is important
• Have an attitude of Accepting the Risk -- there is a risk in serving
• Have an attitude of Laboring in Love -- living out "loving your neighbor" takes work

Thursday I had the opportunity to live out my own words:

• Soccer is important to my kids and the other parents
• There was a risk that I would end up coaching both my kids soccer teams
• For the next 6 weeks I'm going to be coaching soccer two nights a week and coaching 2 games every Saturday

As I sat on the bleachers in the Forsetview Middle School gymnasium I heard there were 350 kids playing soccer, yet they didn't have enough volunteer coaches. Four weeks ago I registered my two children for fall soccer in the Baxter area. When I signed them up I wrote "?-volunteer coach--please contact", hoping that I would be able to be an assistant coach on one of my kids teams. Then Thursday night I find out that not only am I coaching Ethan's team, but I'm coaching Izzy's team also! I though of bowing out of one of the coaching roles, then I realized that I needed to do what I talked about on Sunday, plus there were some teams that still didn't have a coach.

Several people told me that my sermon on Sunday spoke to them, now I can say that it also spoke to me.

Jott Blog Post

Just round out that with the service jott.com, I can automatically post to my blog, so I thought I will give this shot, this is a test and I am very excited about this possibility.
Click here to listen

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AWESOME

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach. It was a good time and I really enjoyed it.

At one time during the service I mentioned a man named Willy. I talked about recruiting him to be an Art Pod Leader during the Odyssey of the Arts. I talked about how he was a little apprehensive to serve because of his lack of experience with younger kids, Willy is a High School Principal. After the service he came up to me and said that the Odyssey of the Arts was one of the greatest experiences of his life. He also said that if we are ever in need to give him a call. I told him that he was already on our list to recruit. Then after second service I had a similar experience with another man who served during the Odyssey of the Arts. I'm hoping that 4-5 of the men that helped out with the Odyssey of the Arts will get more involved in children's ministry. Men is one of our greatest needs.

In February I had lunch with another man who was helping in CM and we represented 2/3 of all the men who volunteered in CM. We fit in a two person booth, I'm hoping that February 2008 I'll have lunch with all the men in CM and we'll we'll have to sit at a table because we won't fit in a booth.