My Adventures in Intentional Ministry

When Doing the Right Thing is the Wrong Thing

2010-11-11T12:28:00.006-06:00

Hey how's it going?

Seriously...I now most of the time this question gets asked we don't actually want to know the answer, we just ask because it's “the right thing to do”.

Today I asked that question to a close friend and got the same question asked back at me. Our answers were the same, "good". In truth, I wasn't "good", I had just had a couple of difficult days in my personal life. I had just preached on letting God us our pain and hurt to help others. I found myself saying, "share your pain...share what you have learned". As our conversation continued I did share and it was both freeing and the right thing to do.

In our North American United States culture we are accustomed to not sharing the truth of how we are doing. We also don't typically want to know how other people are doing. We are content with non-descript words like "fine", "good", "not bad". While those words make everyone feel good, the are disingenuous and dishonest.

Proverbs 27:29 "The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright." If you search the word "dishonest" on biblegateway.com (or click here to see my search) you will find multiple verses where God speaks against dishonesty in business. If God is concerned with how we conduct business of our occupation; wouldn't He be more concerned with how we conduct the business of our emotional life?

As a Christ Follower working towards being completely committed, I need to work at being honest in every area of my life, including when I'm asked "How are you doing?".

How are you doing with this? Are you being honest about what is happening in your life?

WARNING: I don't advocate that you pour out your hurts and pain to just anyone and everyone. Find a safe person or persons who can support you, encourage you, push you, and has a passion to see you become a completely committed Christ follower. For everyone else, tell them you're having a hard time and ask them to pray for you. If they are not your safe person, the details are none of their business.

Hearing is Reading is Writing

2010-01-04T09:58:00.008-06:00

Here's some advice: when God keeps repeating things in your life it's a good idea to take notice and prepare action.

Last night my small group was sitting around talking about how God speaks to us and a thought came back to me that I'm still pondering.
This new year I was challenged by my friend Stewart to read through the Bible in a year.
At the Journey North we are looking at the Reveal Study and how we can more completely fulfill our vision; being passionate worshipers devoted to God and His mission; helping other become completely committed Christ followers.

Each of these three things continue to lead me to the same conclusion...

if I want to hear God I have to read His Word and interact with it

So this year I want to hear God's voice more clearly. I need to read His word so that I can know what He's saying. I need the Holy Spirit to reveal to me God's plans and purposes. I need to not just read, but I need to interact, I need to be active with what I read through journaling and meditation. These are the things that God has been pressing on me through my small group, through being a pastor, through my friendships.....I can't know what God is speaking unless I'm reading and interacting with His Living Word!!

What are your plans to hear God's voice more clearly this year?

Sharing is a good thing....

2009-07-07T10:20:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday I had a fantastic opportunity to be a part of a pulpit share. Pulpit Share is a funny way of saying that I was one part of 5 parts to the message for the day. I had part three of the three part message, Mike Verlennich (our church planter in resident) had the first part of the message, Julie Steiff (our adult education director) had the second part of the message, between the message sections we had music worship with Key Lane (our worship and arts pastor), and leading communion was Mark Bjorlo (our lead pastor). It was a pretty cool experience.

You can listen to the sermon online here.

Let me tell you that few pastors would allow to happen what we did last Sunday. Even fewer churches would embrace what we did.

People wonder how the staff at The Journey North gets along, do we trust one another, do we believe in one another, would we share with one another? This past Sunday was a testament to our commitment to one another in trust, in friendship, in faith, and in sharing the most important message...God's redemption and love for all of creation.

I'm so proud and honored and humbled to be a part of such an amazing staff and amazing church.

Noiseless Joyful Noise

2009-06-02T13:22:00.006-05:00

On Sunday I had an amazing experience. It didn't come from singing songs, it didn't come from a great sermon, and it didn't come from a great time teaching kids. My amazing experience came from a group of kids who were making a "joyful noise" with out making a sound.

I have always been fascinated with sign language. It has been one of those things that I have said "I would love to do that!" So, when Key Lane (TJN Worship & Arts Pastor) came to me and asked if it would be possible for our kids to sign a worship song some Sunday I jumped on the opportunity. Key introduced me to Kathi Stearns who is the wiz behind this project. Together we are helping kids learn a new way to worship...using their hands and facial expressions. It is awesome to watch them worship without spoken words to express their love. It is amazing seeing in their faces the heart of worship, it is truly precious.

Over the next two Sundays (during the 8:15 service) these kids are learning to sign a great song and on June 21st (Father's Day) they are going to be on stage worshiping with us. I can't wait!!

What I didn't realize though is how much I have loved it. It has been such a joy to me that on Sunday night during the Global Day of Prayer gathering I found myself signing the song as others sang it. It was the single most worshipful moment of the day for me. I even found myself signing the song in the shower this morning...which I'm sure the family appreciated not having to listen to my form of "singing".

What Do You Do With Experiences?

2009-05-19T14:08:00.003-05:00

This past week I had a very interesting experience. It was a blessing to me and it was something that I don't really embrace and yet I see how God was at work in it. So I'm left with this question, "how do I process experiences like this?"

I have always wondered what Jonah did and thought a month or year after Nineveh? Did he look back at his time in the big fishes belly as a blessing? Was he still ashamed for running away from God?

I wondered what Nicodemus thought after his experiences with Jesus. Did he continue on the path as a Pharisee? Did he journal, pray, and search scripture to find resolution to the new challenges that Jesus presented?

What about Jonathan from the Old Testament, he was the Prince of Israel, the king's son. Yet he sided with David, the king's object of jealousy and his enemy. How did he reconcile his love for his father and his love for David?

How do you process such experiences? If you are reading this take some time and share your process patern with us. You can do this in the comment section at the bottom of this post.

Why Fear The Apocalypse

2009-05-12T13:03:00.005-05:00

I have a confession…I love apocalyptic movies. Movies like, Mad Max, Water World, Resident Evil….but I don’t buy into apocalyptic fears. I find the fear of the apocalypse is as fanciful as the world of Narnia, Middle Earth, Hogsworth or Degobah.

So in the past year or so, the fear of the United States falling into a depression, a socialist state, or that I need to go out and stock up on gold bars, or that for some reason we would fall into anarchy and apocalypse, just hasn’t been a rational fear for me. In part because of my worldview, but more so because of my belief in who God is and what God can do.

I know that there are people who have lost their jobs, homes, and lifestyles, my heart goes out to them. Like many people I have feared the loss of my job, wondered when this economic roller coaster would end, and how things are going to be turned around.

There is a wonderment in our society on what will happen and will everything turn out o.k. Sometimes we end up worrying about it and most of the time we just feel helpless.

Over the past two weeks I have been reading and rereading a particular passage of Scripture, 2 Kings chapter 19. In this section the Assyrian army has laid waste to most of the countries in the area and has now set its sights on Israel. King Hezekiah, the King of Israel, has reached out to God for help and the Assyrian King has continually insulted God and Israel and has the city of Jerusalem under siege. Life was hard, painful, and not at all what the people wanted.

Hezekiah went before God and in verses 14-19 prays a beautiful and authentic prayer. He acknowledges that God is God (sovereign), that God is Alive (real and active), and that God is the only one who has power to change what was happening.

As the passage continues we hear God’s response and see Him follow through with His actions.

One of the most powerful passages showing God’s intentional design and plan comes in verses 25-28:

Did it never occur to you
that I'm behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I've gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,

Leaving their people dispirited,
slumped shoulders, limp souls.
Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,
insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.

I know when you sit down, when you come
and when you go;
And, yes, I've marked every one
of your temper tantrums against me.

It's because of your temper,
your blasphemous foul temper,
That I'm putting my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth
And turning you back
to where you came from.

- The Message Bible

In the face of this trouble God affirms for Hezekiah that everything that is happening is part of God’s plan. I personally like verse 28, where God is saying that He has recorded each of the King of Assyria’s “tantrums” against God.

As I have been reading this passage, I’ve been reminded that whatever happens, whether it’s been a recession, a war, a lost job, an accident…WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED it has happened by the knowledge and planning of God.

As the chapter comes to an end we find that God’s plan wasn’t just for Israel to go through pain, but it was also for Israel to receive blessings. God would once again bring the nation back together, have the nation once again put down roots, and once again be saved.

Orange Carols and Purple Songs

2009-05-04T12:51:00.004-05:00

Recently I spent some time reading the Beatles entry on wikipedia. I'm not a Beatles nut or really a fan, but I enjoy their music if it happens to be on whereever I am. In other words I don't own a CD or purposely listen to their music. As I read the wiki entry I was amazed at how big of an impact they made in music, in culture, and in international affairs. I have great respect for these men for what they accomplished but I wonder, "could they just have been at the right place at the right time?" I'm not a musician nor a music historian, so I don't really know the answer to my quesiton.

So I started to wonder, what if everything in life was just coinsidence? I recently got involved in a simple game called "Farm Town" on Facebook. In the game you can go to a place called the "Marketplace" and hire yourself out to harvest someone elses field. The unemployment rate in Farm Town seems to be pretty high, about 30 people looking for a job for every one that is available. It's completely up to the farmer to choose who he wants to hire. The other day I popped into the Marketplace to sell some crops and in the 15 seconds that I was in there I was hired to harvest a field. Was it just coincidence -- was I just at the right spot at the right time?

I hear people say, "it was fate", "it was meant to be", "the timing was perfect"; they say these things about finding shoping deals, finding potential romantic interests, and even about God. The struggle I have is that I don't believe that God leaves things to coincidences, I don't believe in fate. I beleive that God has a plan, that God has chosen the time and the place, that if something happens it isn't fate, good timing, or karma. It is God.

This makes me look at my life plans, at my daily agenda, at this very moment and ask...."if God has designed this moment for me--what are the plans that he has for me at this moment?"

"Did it never occur to you
that I'm behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I've gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,"
--2 Kings 19:25 in the Message Bible

MBT: Experience is a Great Reminder

2009-04-23T11:40:00.005-05:00

In the past year I have worked hard and at the same time drained myself, creating some significant emotional pain.

In the past two weeks I have taken an extra day off each week. This time off lead to a thought today that is just short of being an epiphany.

After coming off a day of rest, I found myself feeling whole and healthy in a way I haven't for a long time. It was the experience of taking some time off and feeling the effects of that rest that reminded me of the importance of taking time to rest. I know that it's important to rest, I have a regular day off each week, but it's not always a day of rest. God took a day and rested after creating, He tells us to keep a day of rest, He tells us to seek Him for rest both eternal and temporal. For me I needed to relearn this simply by experiencing it.

My Big Thought for the day is this....Experience is a Great Reminder of those things that are most important.

As adults we rarely learn things that are unimportant or useless in our lives. We learn those things that are most important and useful in our lives. A lot of this learning comes from our experiences. What have you experienced today or this week or this month that has reminded you of what's most important in your life.

Oh How Fun is Criticism?

2009-04-14T09:17:00.004-05:00

There are a few things I have learned about church in my years working in them. The lesson I continually have to remind myself of and even re-learn is the lesson on criticism. Recently I received an email from Church Volunteer Central with an article by Jim Wideman on criticism. It was a good reminder of the value of criticism and how to handle it. Here's what he said on the how he deals with criticism:

When unsolicited advice finds you, here are helpful ways to deal with criticism without becoming critical.

• Stay open. There may always be new ways to do things. Look for fresh ideas in others’ advice that may yield better results.
• Learn. A good leader never stops learning. Seek out ways you can learn from people’s comments or concerns.
• Maintain humility. You’re in ministry to serve others—this includes your pastor, your volunteers, children, and their families. Listening to those you serve will help you grow in your ministry.
• Know your call. Don’t take offense when people advise or criticize. Be confident in your call to ministry and don’t let others bring you down.

The best advice I’ve ever received about ministry is to grow thick skin but keep a tender heart. When you remember this wise advice, you can deal with criticism without becoming critical.

My roughest critic is without a doubt, myself. I process and analyze everything I do, it's like my mind never stops. I know that the above advice is certainly true on how I take criticism from others, but how about from myself. Am I humble, do I remind myself of my call, do I keep an open mind, and how well do I try to learn? The biggest question I have for myself is how objective can I be with myself? That's why when I'm working through this process in my own mind I find someone to process with.

Burnt Waffles and Life Lessons

2009-04-09T11:06:00.008-05:00

For every child there comes a time when they begin to believe that they know better than their mom or dad. For some this age comes at 2 when they first utter the words, “no”. For others it comes during adolescence or when they transition from high school to college. For my daughter, her time has come this week.

My daughter and I spent some quality time yesterday talking about the importance of her following directions and the directions that she is given are for her own good. When we ended our talk she seemed to grasp the concept and indicated that she would follow directions. She has also been working on learning to use the microwave. So I figured this morning was a good opportunity for her to demonstrate some self-sustaining, grown up, girlness; and I asked her to microwave some waffles for breakfast. I told her to put them in the microwave for a minute and a half, thinking that I might need to be more specific I told her, “just push 130”. Several minutes later I find the living room and kitchen are filled with smoke, the waffles are blackened and the plate they were on is broken into two pieces.

When I ask her how long she set the microwave for she tells me, “one zero zero zero”, ten minutes! I couldn’t believe it, I gave her specific instructions to set the microwave to one minute and 30 seconds (130). Here is how our conversation went….

dad: why did you set it for 10 minutes?
daughter: because I saw mommy do it
dad: so…you ignored what I said?
dad: do you remember me telling you 1-3-0?
daughter: yes…I thought….
dad: so why did you put it in for 10 minutes when you knew that I said 1-3-0?
daughter: because I thought that 1-0-0-0 was right ‘cause mommy did it.
dad: but I told you 1-3-0!
daughter: I know
dad: so why didn’t you press 1-3-0?
dad: did you think that you knew better than me?

As a dad I was amused at the outcome, relieved the microwave didn’t catch fire, and a little perplexed on why my 8 year old daughter would think she knows better than me.

Then I began to think of how God must feel about us. How often do we think we know better than God? How often do we know His instructions and yet do what we want?

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Joshua 1:7
Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

God has great plans and desires for us…plans and desires that benefit us and glorify Him. They are good plans, plans that don’t include charred waffles. Yet most of the time we believe that we know better. My plan was for my children to have some warm, yummy waffles. My children missed out on this great plan for their breakfast because my daughter decided to follow her own thoughts rather than follow my instructions for her.

How well we follow God’s commandments and how well we put off our own ideas in favor of God’s plans, will determine whether or not we get to experience the great promises and plans of God.

Recruiting Strategies

2009-03-17T11:52:00.009-05:00

On April 6, 2009 The Journey North will transition from a two service Sunday to a three service Sunday. It's a very exciting change...but does come with some challenges, for Children's Ministries it means we need more wonderful, dedicated, and gifted staff.

Here is a portion of a letter that I sent out last week.

What’s Needed?: Additional Staff. This is the number one need. For the past several years, we have been in a perpetual state of recruiting…now that state just hit warp speed. We need to increase our volunteer base in Children’s Ministry by about fifty percent or adding about 30 more staff members. This is a God sized task and not one that I can do on my own. So, here’s what I’m asking of you. Over the next two weeks be a recruiter.

How Do I Recruit?: Recruiting is the greatest and scariest thing most of us can do. When someone says “yes”, it’s a great feeling. When someone says “no” it doesn’t feel very good. What’s been true is that most people want to be asked, but sometimes we don’t know whom to ask. Here are two easy strategies you can use.

1. Friendship Recruitment – is one of the greatest strategies to build long-term friendships and volunteer service. You simply ask someone “will you serve with me?” As a friend you already know if they are gifted for service and you also already have a good relationship, so you’ll enjoy being with them. When they say “yes” then all you need to do is contact me and let me know they want to serve with you and we’ll get them scheduled with you and get the necessary paper work completed.

2. Passionate Recruitment – is when your passion for serving leads you to invite someone to experience the joy of serving. This is when you are actively inviting others to join the Children’s Ministry team. You may or may not know them. But all I need is for you to ask them to consider joining the Children’s Ministry team. If they say “yes” or seem interested then you give me their contact information and I can follow up with them. We each have different spheres of influence and to maximize our recruitment efforts we need to reach into all of them.

This Sunday when I arrived at church I was touched, honored, excited, blessed, surprised, and some other feelings I can't express in words, to find out that several of the CM staff had already been working on recruiting. When we made this commitment to move towards three services I knew that it would be impossible for me to be the only recruiter. I knew that I needed God to go before me to prepare hearts and I needed others to be recruiters.

So today I feel thankful and want to express thanks to those who are already recruiting, to those who will be saying yes, and most of all to God for going before us and preparing hearts and giving CM Staff courage to recruit.

T-23 – Decreasing through Increase

2009-03-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

I’m waiting…I’m anticipating…I’m nervous…and its T-23 days until we launch our third service. Yep, that is the BIG news around The Journey North Community Church. We’ll have three services beginning Palm Sunday, April 5th. The service times are 8:15, 9:30, and 11:00.

That is the news, but what does it mean? In our Children’s Ministry, it means that class sizes will decrease, while the overall numbers increase. Teachers and Assistants per classroom will decrease, but the overall number will increase.

A year ago, even 2 years ago, as we talked about the potential of adding a third service I was scared to death. I would have told you that I didn’t think it could be done, and you could measure the level of peace I had for it in a micropipette.

Today, when we talk about expanding to the third service, I have confidence that God will provide the workers, will work out the details, and most importantly of all will lead us. People have asked, “Is this really the right time?” and with all my heart, I can say, “Yes!”

So today, I pray that God decreases me so that His kingdom can Increase.

Hello...Long time no see

2008-11-06T12:07:00.003-06:00

Alright I have officially broke the #1 rule in blogging...don't go silent.

I imagine myself in a Catholic confessional booth confessing my sin of not blogging.

Father Blog please forgive me it's been 2 months and 29 days since I last posted.

However, I will be taking a little longer before I return to more consistent blogging. I'm in the process of "reorganizing" my life priorities and how I live my daily, weekly, and monthly life.

So if you have given up on reading my blog then you probably don't care that I'm posting this. However, if you are reading this that means that you have been checking my blog priodically. Thanks for sticking with me and look for some changes and a renewed commitment to blogging from me. Until then I need to go do some Our Fathers before the day's out.

Shalom-May the Peace of God be with you

Brett

Steven Curtis Chapman Commentary on CNN

2008-08-07T09:13:00.004-05:00

Here's an excerpt from a heart wrenching commentary from Steven Curtis Chapman on CNN.COM.

Only 12 years old, Emily went on an all-out campaign to persuade us to adopt. She bought a book on international adoption with her Christmas money and would read it to us regularly. She began fervently praying and writing letters to Mary Beth and me, encouraging us to consider
giving a waiting child a home. Emily knew God was leading us in the direction of
adoption; however, Mary Beth and I were not yet convinced.

If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.

Team Chemistry

2008-07-09T11:20:00.005-05:00

Last month I had the pleasure of working with Melinda Lanham for the first time in a leadership role. Melinda and her husband have come to be good friends of ours. I had asked Melinda if she would be interested in being our Odyssey of the Arts Coordinator, her job description: Do everything that I do, Make sure the camp is a success, Work well with me. Well that isn't the exact job description but it is practically what the job is. I felt that Melinda would be a good duplicate of me, she's detail oriented, gets things done, and knows how to think on her feet. I knew her heart for the camp and passion for kids.

What I didn't know was if we could work together and still be friends after the dust settled. I'm happy to report that we are in fact still friends and I' would work with Melinda on any project she was a part of, except gardening. So when I got this in my email box it reminded me of my thoughts and fears of working with a close friend and the chemistry that's needed for successful leadership. The whole article can be found here. Here's how I handled the three issues with Melinda.

1. Intentionally ponder how people will change the chemistry of a team....From working with and knowing Melinda I believed that she would be an energizer for me and the other staff. There were several occasions when I saw Melinda encourage and energize the staff.

2. If possible, provide time together with the team and individual before inviting a potential team member to join ....Melinda has been a volunteer in our Children's Ministry for several months, I watched her express humility, courage, and respect while serving others. I have also spent a significant amount of time with her family and have seen her interact with those who are closest to her. One of the most important characteristics I look for in potential leaders or teams members is their willingness to be a servant. If you won't serve, even as a leader, then your effectiveness is significantly hampered.

3. After a person has joined the team for a while (1 to 3 months), talk to team members individually and together to see how things have changed....I ask about everyone, especially those who I think might be leaders or teachers or people that can take on more responsibilities. I don't like unhappy surprises, that's why we always give people "outs" if they don't like where they are serving.

Odyssey Evaluations

2008-07-02T10:52:00.003-05:00

I love, hate, get excited and nervous about evaluations.

Like most everyone else in the world I don't really like being told what I'm doing wrong. I also really like being able to make things better. Evaluations, if done right, won't tell you what you are doing wrong as much as what you can improve on. Actually they will also tell you what you are or have done wrong, but most of the time I already know what I did wrong because it blew up in my face or in someone else's face. Most often evaluations tell me what I can do differently, better, or give me a different point of view.

At the end of the Odyssey of the Arts we sent out evaluation forms to all the families that attended and all the Pod Leaders and Ast. Pod Leaders; Pod Leaders and Ast. are small group leaders at the camp. So, when I came back from vacation I found a stack of evaluations that had come in while I was gone. I started browsing through them when one of them caught my eye.

It was from a parent who didn't want to identify themselves or their child, they listed just the gender and the age. On our evaluations we use a combination of short answer questions and some number ranking questions. The number rankings give us some tangible data to compile and the short answers give us some context to that data. On the front of the form this parent gave some opinions on what could be done differently next year which I appreciated. On the back some affirming words were shared about the camp. Then at the bottom we have a section titled "Other Comments". Here's what this parent wrote, "My son didn't think he was learning much about God, but has increased his awareness of how God is interconnected with all areas...Way to go with teaching in a way he was able to comprehend and use immediately!"

When I read this I was floored!! It was evidence that what we struck out to do was accomplished. This is exactly what we set out to do. With this child we hit the bullseye!! If we didn't send out evaluations then I wouldn't have ever heard this comment. I want to say thanks to the parent who wrote this, I don't know who you are but you made my whole month with that comment.

2 Days after Odyssey

2008-06-15T11:45:00.003-05:00

Odyssey is done and in the can...so to speak. It was a great year with more than 80 kids coming every night. I can honestly telly you that I am "fried" and will be gone for a little while recuperating. But here's the video that we showed to day during the church service.

Odyssey Day 1

2008-06-08T22:48:00.005-05:00

What's your magic number? Today mine is 84, that's how many kids we had at the first night of Odyssey. There are 5-6 more that I expect to attend tomorrow which should push us over the 90 mark, doubling our attendance of last year.

Other magic numbers...

12 -- the number of volunteers we had making sure the registration and electronic check in went well, in fact it almost went flawless. Just an issue with our database, which is completely out of our hands and I'll have to call the tech support tomorrow.

20 -- the number of Pod Leaders and Assistants that are needed. They are the backbone of the relational aspect of the camp.

8 -- the number of people who aren't pod leaders, snack volunteers, or registration workers.

25 -- the number of large pizza's that were consumed.

Numbers aren't everything!!

What a great night. It was amazing watching the kids building relationship with their pod leaders and assistants. "Mad Dog" Sarah did a great job leading the music and Marty was great at leading the "Odyssey Basketball". There were a couple of trying moments but at the end of the night tons more awesome things than less than awesome things. Watch for videos to show up over the next couple of days.

Odyssey is Coming

2008-05-29T12:02:00.001-05:00

It's now just over a week away...I can't wait...It's going to be so exciting...Must get back to work...

Odyssey of the Arts -- over 30 days away

2008-04-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

I can't wait for Odyssey this year!! I had a chance to share the vision of the Odyssey of the Arts with a few people at the Conspire Conference, sharing the vision really energized me.

Here's a video of last years camp.

Here's last years promo video.

Day 3 Session 6 – Don’t Eat the Glue – Phil Vischer

2008-04-25T12:08:00.002-05:00

Day 3 Session 6 – Don’t Eat the Glue – Phil Vischer -- GET THIS SESSION!!

Jelly Telly – online Christian TV Network
Check out the video from this session.
Phil told his story of what God has been doing in his life and how God has redirected him towards God’s presence. Phil shared about how he searched the Apostles Paul writings for understanding of his (Phil) and his (Paul) life.
He discovered that the truth of scripture leads us to let go of our own desires/life/heart and instead form our lives around God’s desire/heart/life.
We are called to give up our burdens and replace them with God’s burdens.
God’s burdens are heavy, but they bring life, energy, and rest.
Are you carrying God’s burdens, or yours, or your Sr. Pastor, or your parents, or your volunteers, or your kids, or your family, or your dog?
“God used my disaster to act as feed corn to grow what is happening now.”
Our personal burdens that are hanging around our necks are the burdens that prevent us from serving God to our greatest capacity. We need to let God take those burdens and cast them into the abyss. What are your burdens?
We can do things that Nickelodeon and Disney can’t do….WE CAN LOVE THEM!!
Children will come back to those who have loved them not those who have entertained them.
Your job doesn’t start with a job description, a ministry mission, or a love for kids…it starts with the love of God for YOU!

Day 3 -- Session 5 "Notes From You're Best Friend" David Staal

2008-04-25T09:30:00.005-05:00

Day 3 Session 5 – Notes from Your Best Friend – David Staal

One word: INSPIRATION. This is what David’s session was all about. Having God speak to your in the silence and relying on God for Him to do the work.
’07-08 Promiseland theme “What If”, Ephesians 3:20-21 “IMMEASURABLE MORE”
“Goodness came into the world despite me.” -- has God ever done things in your ministry despite you?
“…according to his power that is “WITH IN US” -- is your “with in us” prepared to do what God asks?
2 Cornerstones to Build Your Ministry On:
1. Nehemiah 1:4 “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept”. Nehemiah “OWNED A BURDEN” – that burden broke him, leading him to weep, allow yourself to be weighted down and broken down by your burden. There are plenty of burdens to choose from in Children’s Ministry (child safety, parents relations, child salvation, parent salvation, volunteer equipping & encouragement). What is your burden? What burden is God asking you to take up? Owning a burden will make you step up, act, be open and usable by God, and mobilized to share the gospel. Tune in to the burdens that your volunteers have and you will have capacities that you never knew you had.
2. John 13:34-35, 15: 12, 17 “LOVE ONE ANOTHER” – Jesus mentioned it 5 times in a short time. Don’t let people go through life alone. It’s easy to love those who you get along with, but how are you loving those you don’t get along with? Loving one another draws people into the church. Loving one another is critical to sharing the gospel. Get this concept correct before you try the newest and greatest programs/strategies. Love the people you lead, so that when your leadership comes up less than stellar they will cut you some slack because of the love you have in your heart and for them.
Salvation Sundays include parents to give the salvation message to their kids. Parents had an opportunity to share the salvation message from a card and discussion questions to talk about.

Conspire Day 2 -- Family Ministry Strategy For a Medium Sized Church

2008-04-24T22:22:00.005-05:00

I don't think any title has been more fake than the title of this breakout session, well maybe titling Milli Vanilli as an artist is worst. BUT IT WAS AN AWESOME SESSION!!! I don't even care that they didn't even utter the words "Medium Sized Church".

This Breakout session was lead by Pat Cimo, Dave Huber, & Holly Laurent; the three staff members that make up the Family Ministry of Willow Creek Community Church. As I mentioned above the session wasn't really specific to medium sized churches, but I think most churches that would be in the position to implement the the strategy they talked about would be medium sized churches. The notes were pretty basic and a lot of the discussion came out of hungry audience members who wanted to figure out how to be more successful with Family Ministry.

However here are the notes on the Willow website, just click on "C86 Family Ministry Strategy for a Medium-Size Church".

Here are some of the points that I noted:
Willow's Philosophical Model Journey

Supplemental Method: Sending take home sheets with parents in the hope that they will interact with their children. Pitfall -- the papers don't necessarily make it home or get used
Program Method: The Family Experience program where the parents and the kids have a shared experience. Pitfall-- it's isolated to the Children's Ministry
Structure Method: The ministry's report to one person who works to sync them together. Pitfalls: There is only one voice represented
Integration Method: All ministries have shared language, shared mission, and it's all shared at home, with the goal of using what is taught at home in authentic and real-world ways. In this method the Teaching Pastors are telling parents to ask their kids and the kids are being told to ask their parents. Leadership buy in is essential for success and the content and values come from the theology of the church.

Then they went through and put some Willow Flesh on their 3 year journey

FX -- Was their Family Experience (Program Method) for parents and K-5 grade kids. FX was based around the adult service content that ran every week for a month after the Saturday service (7pm) and between the 1st and 2nd service on Sunday. The Pitfalls: it was another event (event driven ministry), placed at the wrong time of the week (if service went long on Sunday time was cut, so a 30 minute program became a 13 minute program), and people were not using the DVD resources that they sent home with them.
The Story -- Zondervan bible titled "The Story" was used to go through the Old Testament from Jan-June (a children's version is in production and will be released soon). Resources, including a shortened version of the teaching for the whole family can be found on the willow website here and click on the . This resource can be used by families or churches, they stated that more than 400 homes are utilizing this resource every week. They combined the FX lessons with the Integration Method.
Celebration of Hope -- Church wide compassion project, including a Feed The Children Event. Created the "Jo Jo's suitcase" resource and handed out to everyone who came to bag food.

All in all it was a good session with a lot of already tried, failed, and improvised examples to share. If the session is offered as a CD resource it would be worth purchasing.

Conspire Day 2 -- Mastering Creative Communication Techniques

2008-04-24T22:02:00.003-05:00

Let me first say that Aaron Reynolds has to be experienced and can't just be explained on blue and white. So let me sum up the breakout with the following...

Observations of Communication Techniques:
Descriptive Tone of Voice (ie. empathy & character voices)
Incorporation of popular kids culture (ie. Madagascar song & Sponge Bob)
Audience Participation
Two Modes: Setting up the scenes and Telling the story
Subtle and Extreme humor
Interaction with actors and volunteer participants
Explanation of lesson: make it real
Silence for dramatic pauses and transitions; also to draw the audience in
Contemporized the moment: bring it into the modern
The Hook: get'em hooked into the story right away
Intentional Movement: Be aware of your body and where/what it is doing. Set up the environment so that you have places to move from and to.
Don't teach...just talk: talking is more authentic, teaching can come across as artificial
Step into the character you are talking about

Then the second part of the breakout session was focused on Aaron modeling how to coach teachers to be better communicators. Check out the breakout notes (listed below) for instructions on how to use some basic and easy skills to help your teachers be better communicators.

You can check out Aaron's notes here, just click on "B43 Mastering Creative Communication Techniques"

Conspire Day 2 -- Multi-Site Issues for Children's Ministry

2008-04-24T18:26:00.005-05:00

Multi-Site Issues for Children's Ministry with Tony Escobar & Tammy Melchien

This was the first breakout session that I signed up and was really excited to be in it. I've been reading Tammy's blog for about a year now and had an opportunity to talk with Tammy before the session, she's actually the first person that I've talked to after only knowing them through the blogosphere.

Tammy and Tony did a great job explaining how Christian Community Church reproduces their children's ministry across their multiple campuses. For some incredible resources check out this link and click on "A07 Multi-site Issues for Children's Ministry". This is a word document that lists several of their charts. You can also check out Tammy's blog for job descriptions.

The first question that Tammy asked was a good one, "Do you know what you want to reproduce?" Another way to put it is what is your DNA? It's a great exercise that I plan to share with my team when I get back.

A couple of other nuggets that I can share with out using the diagrams on the notes I mentioned earlier are...

The role of the staff is to equip others for ministry. I've heard this several times before and whole-heatedly agree. But it was this statement along with it that makes it stand out, "Move beyond just recruiting volunteers to intentionally developing leaders." Tony put it this way, we want to people to be owners not renters. Owners of a house care for it, build into it, and improve it. Renters use it, expect others to fix it, and will eventually (quickly) leave it for something else.
Key Staffing Learnings: Leadership Expertise vs. Kid Expertise. Few people are both, and in director, coordinator, and leadership roles we want Leadership Experts even though they might not be kid experts. People who work directly with kids are the ones we want to be kid experts.
The Service Coordinator is something I would love to develop.

Conspire Conference Day 1 UPDATED

2008-04-23T22:16:00.006-05:00

Session 1 “Erase Your Fears” Christine Yount Jones

Let me say that I didn’t really connect real well with this session, not because it wasn’t good but because we were late….really late. We spent almost an hour and a half getting to a place that was less than 15 miles away. I’ll take the blame since I was the navigator and sent us the wrong direction. So by the time we got there we weren’t mentally ready and missed the first 10 minutes of Christine’s talk and I wasn't able to get into it after that.

But here’s what I did catch:

Fear #1: (I didn’t catch this one, perhaps someone who was there could fill me in by posting it in the comments)

Quote: “Stick with it”

Interpretation: Stick with it long enough to receive feedback – don’t focus on the failure. Sometimes we’re too quick to change things or we change things for change sake. Perhaps what we should do is stick with it until we find a way to make it work.

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:4 “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.”

Fear #2: Fear of Worst Case Scenario

Quote: “Lean into it”

Interpretation: being real and authentic is how you can survive this one. Don’t run from your fear but instead push against it and don’t let it hinder you. Christine shared the story of the death of her husband in a snow mobile accident in Alaska a few years ago. It was her worst case scenario. You will survive it and you will not be alone.

Scripture: Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Fear #3: Fear of Breaking Things

Quote: “Don’t be afraid to break you ministry”

Interpretation: Sometime God wants you to break things so that they can be put back together and so that you don’t have as much of a hold on it.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:8 “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Session 2 “Running With Scissors” David Weil and Jon Klinepeter (worship leader)

This session was designed to be a refreshing session that focused on worship and communion. Jon Klinepeter was great, he sang one of his songs “Return” that really summed up the whole session. While not practical or Inspirational it was a refreshment to my soul. David talked about the imagery of the vine in the book of John.

Focus Points:

Pressure Causing Candidates

Sin – what do you have lying around the edges of your life?
Broken Relationships – who are you not right with?
Pace of Life Overload – Breathe in, Breathe out…have you taken the time to breathe or are you going going gone?

Living in/Remaining In/Abiding In

is all living in love, which is lived out in…

obeying Him
His truth
Listening & talking to Him
All of these produce fruit and which is when you become the hands and feet of Jesus

Session 3 “Color Outside the Lines” Kurt Bruner & Dr. John Trent

Kurt and John are both part of StrongFamilies.com, focusing on building strong families that will teach and build into their children a life long devotion and service to Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most intriguing session of the day it ultimately ended up being too short. Which is probably why it’s the featured break out session for tomorrow, but I’m not signed up and will probably purchase a CD so that I can hear what the talk about.

Pat Cima is a Willow worker who talked about the process of how they are trying to address the issues that Kurt and John brought up.

I will need some time to process this session so for now I’m going to post my raw notes.

Notes from Kurt Bruner:

The Minivan Years, that time in your life when the kids are less than 12 years old and you find yourself sacrificing for others rather than doing for yourself. Kurt said, “the most important season is when we are the least intentional.” The minivan years is the crucial time when faith transference takes place. If kids don’t transfer their parents/churches faith into their own they will eventually “graduate from God”. Less than 10% of kids who attend church talk about their faith with their parents.

Kurt reference a book called “Life after God”, written by Douglas Copeland the coiner of the phrase “Generation X”. This is a book that talks about the parents who fall in the Generation X time are the first parents to be raised with out religion, a greater focus that brings meaning to life.

Kurt’s take on the current spiritual formation of children in the church:

Church Programs = have never been better
Faith Transference = never been worst
Family Intentionality = is non-existent
Church is shouting “God is Love”
Home Family experience is shouting the opposite
It’s in the home that the truth of God becomes flesh and blood
The church can’t be the parent/family in being the spiritual architect of the child
The family can’t be the church, church is a communal faith

Notes: Dr. John Trent

Web reference www.homepoint.com

Success = Intentional Families

Cast vision intentionally
Create culture intentionally
Coach families intentionally

Web reference: www.willowcreek.com/innovationsalliance -- connecting with others to help solve the problem of children leaving the church after they graduate high school.

Notes Pat Cima

How do we connect church and home?

Supplemental Method – take home sheets are they helping parents do what they need to do?
Program Method – shared whole family experiences connects parents with what kids are being taught and what parents are getting taught. Must give parents something to take home to continue the experience and dialogue but vision must be share by all.
Structure Method – Small group discussion with youth or children’s leaders. Tends to be isolated from the family and other ministries
Integration Model – All ministries working together to connect church and home to produce faith transference and transformation in a child’s life.

Session 4 “Crayons & Mega Phones” Rick Dempsey, Glean Keane, & Aaron Reynolds

This session was about storytelling with insight and understanding on how Disney tells stories and how the church can learn and apply these lessons to impact children. Rick and Glen have each worked at Disney Studios for a long time. You can read their bio here.

Notes Rick Dempsey

Developing Great Stories

tell stories to cenve the truth of scripture
Great Story Telling = Great Messages
Story meets a piece of the audience’s emotional needs

How To Tell A Good Story

Know your audience – how can you better engage your audience
Avoid talking down to your audience – don’t dumb down your audience
Good stories have HEART – the goal is to penetrate the audience’s heart
Stories bring relevancy to deeper truth – both fiction and non-fiction

Notes from Glen Keane

tell stories that you know, don’t tell stories that you don’t know (figuratively and literally)

Glen spent most of his time sharing his salvation story and talking about how that story was lived out in his animation of Ariel, from Little Mermaid and the Beast, from Beauty and the Beast.

Aaron Reynolds

Aaron’s role in this session was to bring the information and stories that Rick and Glen told into a transferable understanding for Children’s Ministry. Aaron did a great job.

Relevance – in order to reach kids we must know kids. Rick told a story about Charelston Heston’s son and an encounter they had with Walt Disney. Walt spent more than 10 minutes talking to Heston’s son and less than 2 minutes talking with Heston. Walt’s interest in what kids were interested in drove him to intentionally seek out every opportunity to be more effective in his storytelling and movie making. We need to have the same level of intensity in how we plan and grow in our communication to children.
Ruthless Application – We must equip kids for transformation. We can’t talk down to them or dumb down or sugar coat the application and the message. If we want kids to grow and be transformed we’ve got to speak plainly, authentically, and ruthlessly.
Bringing the Bible to life – teaching is not just about talking, it’s about talking and communicating to everyone using multiple techniques and skills.

Conspire -- Travel Day

2008-04-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

Today Willy and I drove from Baxter, MN to Elgin, IL and had a great time talking and getting to know one another. I'm so glad that Willy's with me, I can't wait for us to experience the conference for the first time together.

Some highlights from the drive to Illinois.
We only had to turn around about 4 times.
We saw about 20-30 dead animals along a 2 hour stretch of highway in Wisconsin, including raccoon, lots of deer, a couple of coyote, a turkey, and a couple that we couldn't recognize.
Had to pay a total of $3.80 in tolls after traveling only about 80 miles into Wisconsin. We'll need to refresh our toll money baggie before leaving the state.
Ate a late dinner at a new restaurant called "Rookies" that just opened up yesterday. Do you know what it means when a new restaurant opens up? There is a an over abundance of staff which means that you get good customer service, albeit they are still learning the systems.

I'm Off Conspiring!!

2008-04-22T06:01:00.002-05:00

I"m going off to Conspire. Watch this space for updates and reflections from the Willow Creek Conspire Conference.

Odyssey is Coming

2008-04-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

I was thinking back to last years Odyssey of the Arts with great joy and warm feelings. Then I began thinking about this years Odyssey of the Arts with the same warm feelings, but then something else started to creep in…fear, doubt, anxiety, excitement, and even giddiness.

Just this week I passed out more than 3,000 fliers to area schools, heard about someone who passed out fliers to their girl scouts group, and talked to a Child Care Provider who was making copies to give to her families and encouraging them to send their kids to the camp. The last person doesn’t even go to the Journey North...they go to St. Francis!!

I believe that this will be an amazing year for the Odyssey of the Arts and I believe that God is going to send us an incredible amount of kids to impact with His gospel. This belief is what has raised up the feelings and thoughts that I mentioned above. Imagine with me…70…80…or even 100 kids we get to share the incredible love of God with. Imagine being able to connect families to the Journey North and more importantly to God’s grace through arts and relationship building.

So...I’m boldly asking you to help at the Odyssey of the Arts. We need Art Pod Leaders & Assistants (small group leaders and assistants), we need snack suppliers & helpers, registration helpers, Assistant Art Teachers, Security Team Members, people to help with set up/tear down, decorating and set design, cleaning team, Assistants with the Preschool Adventure, and many more. You can follow this link to see a complete list of all the areas you can help out. You can sign up to help with the Odyssey of the Arts here.

There is one thing I’m going to ask everyone to help with, Prayer. Pray for God to prepare, equip, and provide the volunteers for the Odyssey of the Arts. Pray for the campers, the children and families that He’s going to be bringing to us to impact. Pray for our Art Teachers as they share and teach their love and passion for art. Pray for Melinda Lanham and myself as we work to bring all the details together that are needed to execute the Odyssey of the Arts.

I can’t wait to see what God does through the Odyssey of the Arts in our community, our church, and in the lives of our children. Would you please pray and consider what role God would have you play in this great adventure.

Monkey...Get Off My Back!!

2008-04-16T15:01:00.013-05:00

For the past week and a half I've had a monkey on my back that's been creating a ton of internal pressure. More pressure than it should have and in two different occasions that monkey has grown twice it's original size.

About a week and half ago I started printing more than 3,000 fliers for our Odyssey of the Arts camp. I purchased nice brightly colored paper and began the process of printing the fliers in groups of 30 and I needed 102 groups. So I would start a print job of 30 copies, then another, then another, then another, til I had told the copier to print 10 groups of 30 copies. When those were done I would repeat the process until I had an even distribution of 4 color groups to send to the schools (30 sets of blue, orange, yellow, green and some purple).

When the copies were printed and they were organized into the correct number of groups for each school I began taking them to the schools to be distributed to the classes. The next morning I began distributing the fliers, I started with my daughters school (Baxter) since I was going there anyways. Then I worked my way toward the church stopping at Forestview Middle School (5th grade), then I went to Riverside, then Lincoln Elem, and finally Harrison before showing up at the church for a meeting. When I was leaving Harrison I had a very uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then I had a vision...I dare say a vision from God. This vision was of the bottom third of my flier and in this vision the number 14 was prominently displayed. I began thinking, "did I have the wrong date on the flier?" So checked a stack for another school and sure enough the flier listed the Preschool Adventure (a one day art experience) was dated for August 14. That was our date for last year, I didn't change the date, I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN THIS STUPID!! At least I couldn't be any more stupid than that. I managed to stop 4 of the 5 schools from passing out the incorrect fliers.

I decided that the best solution would be to print labels with the correct dates and affix them to the fliers. It wouldn't be perfect but at least the dates would be correct. So I printed pages and pages of labels. I asked someone else to help me put the labels on the fliers and the labeling adventure began. I sat at home on a Friday night, put in a movie and began labeling my share of the fliers. It was such a relief 3 hours later to be done, I felt so proud at accomplishing the task. The next day I was meeting with the other person who was helping with the labeling when they told me they weren't done. They told me how they had also put in a movie and started working on the labeling when they noticed something odd. The date didn't look quite right. The label read, Tuesday June 11. June 11 isn't a Tuesday it's a Wednesday!! I WAS EVEN MORE STUPID THAN I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT!!!!

So I make the changes again and began the process of reprinting the fliers. Had the dates double checked this time, since I was stupid enough to do it twice I might be stupid enough to do it a third time. So today I managed to get the correct fliers passed out to all the schools, with a little help from Adam B. whose doing the last school for me, thanks Adam.

Here's what I learned. Make sure you ask someone to specifically double check your flier. I had more than half a dozen people look at the flier, but I didn't actually ask anyone to look critically at it. This is not a new lesson for me and I'm usually a person who reminds others to have it proof read. The other lesson, don't let something like this dictate your mood or emotions. I admit that the pressure and stress I put on myself because of this impacted me and some people close to me in very negative ways. This became an all consuming struggle. I became obsessed with it and ashamed of my own stupidity. I was a grouch for several day and I felt like an idiot for making this mistake not once but twice. Now I am finding a way to move on, seeking forgiveness and restoration of my soul and for those relationships I hurt in the process (namely my family for living with me during this time). I'm normally a very even keel, cool and collected guy. But for some reason this whole thing completely knocked me off my rocker.

So now all those incorrect fliers will be shredded and used for a very good purpose. You'll probably want to make sure you are the winning bidder of some baskets at the next Missions Banquet so that you can share in a piece of this great story.

Draining and Filling

2008-04-14T21:11:00.003-05:00

I find that there are certain things that really drain me emotionally, physically, and mentally. As an Introvert things like going to a gathering with people I don't really know drains me. I once went to a Youth Specialties event by myself, I hated it I vowed never again to go alone. The next year I took my Middle School staff and we had a blast! I'm so glad that I'm going to the Conspire Conference with Willy Severson, it's going to be AWESOME!!

One of the things I really like about being a Children's Pastor carries with it a duality that tends to drain me and fill me at the same time. That one thing is "recruiting", it's no secret that every children's ministry can use more people to be able to impact kids in different and deeper levels. It's the one common denominator that all Children's Pastors have to learn. They might not all know illusion tricks, or how to juggle, or puppetry; but they all learn how to recruit. For some it comes easier for others.

For me recruitment has become a second nature of how I think. I'm constantly evaluating people on whether they would be a good children's ministry team member or where I could use their gifts or personality in the ministry of impacting children and families. This process I find incredibly filling...it energizes me to strategize and dream about teams of people making an impact for the kingdom. I also get energized by talking with people and getting to know them, entering their world and letting them enter my world. My recruitment technique though tend to be a little long, I like to hear about people's stories about their lives. This means that might spend 4 hours on the phone talking to people about their potential in children's ministry and I'll end up talking to only about 4-6 people.

All this time on the phone, the rejection (though I know it's not personal, but when I know that someone would be perfect and they don't see it I get sad), and the anticipation of making the phone calls or making the "ask" I find draining. What's interesting though is when it's all over my emotional state, mental state, physical state, and many times spiritual state is more full than it was when I started.

A few days ago I spent about 2 hours making phone calls, connecting with people, leaving messages and now several days later I'm still on a "high" from that experience and what continues to be more experiences. It's like I need to be drained to be filled.

3 things to remember when working with People

2008-04-14T20:39:00.006-05:00

A while back I had a conversation with one of my volunteers, where they shared with me 3 things that they remember when they are working with people. I've been thinking about these things and thought I would blog my thoughts.

Don't be Aloof: be authentic, genuine, and real with people. If we try to be something we're not people pick up on that and think that we don't care. If we are aloof then it appears, and it might be true, that we don't want this person to a part of our life. We should let people in, let people know that we care and that they can add value to our lives. Many times I've had the most unlikely of persons add value to my life, by being approachable, caring, open, and authentic we allow God to use others to build into us as we build into others.

Don't Look Down: the person you are interacting with is not better or worst than you, they are equals. As someone with the Includer strength it's important to me that people aren't pushed to the fringe. When we look down on someone we communicate to them that they are less important than us or have a lesser value. This communication then drives them away and towards the fringe of your life or worst yet towards the fringe of the church, creating a barrier between them and the people God wants to use to reach them.

What Would Jesus Do?: While I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty tired of this phrase, because of the marketing, I'll also be the first to admit that it's the starting point for all our relationships. The key to this rhetorical question isn't in asking it, it's more in living out the rhetorical. The truth of scripture is that Jesus always let people in to be close to him. He continually allowed people to be a part of his life. Jesus didn't look down on any person, he spoke truth, expressed love, and when necessary demonstrated his divine righteous anger in full view of others. Jesus wasn't aloof towards anyone and he didn't look down on anyone either. Jesus sought out the person on the fringe, and embraced those who admitted they didn't have it all together. Jesus did what Jesus would do.

Mike Kuck is...

2008-04-10T10:36:00.003-05:00

Mike Kuck is my favorite person of the day. listen

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Horton Hears a Who Review

2008-04-06T22:00:00.003-05:00

My latest movie review is up at Kidology.org

"The most recent cinematic experience from the Dr. Seuss library is Horton Hears a Who. This movie takes you on a great adventure with vibrant and lively characters that the whole family can enjoy."

You can check out other reviews for Kidology.org here.

Peeps...242 Peeps

2008-04-01T09:00:00.005-05:00

April Fools Day Sheila!

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take

2008-04-01T08:35:00.002-05:00

We're always looking for creative ways to identify people to recruit volunteers for children's ministry. Here's one of our new and more boarder line tools that we use.

Take the test and let me know how you score by posting a comment on my blog.

22

Easter Confessional Pt 2

2008-03-26T22:17:00.002-05:00

I'll admit what most pastor won't...I don't always look forward to Sundays. Sometimes I'm physically under the weather, sometimes I'm emotionally under the weather, sometimes I stressed, sometimes I just get a feeling of dread, fear or trepidation. Then there are the days when I'm just discontent. This Sunday I was not overly excited for Easter. I'll spare you some of the boring personal reasons for this lack of excitement. But I realized something as I was taking a shower at 4 am, regardless of my feelings I wanted to give God the best that I could. So as I soaked in the shower I prayed and prayed and prayed. I emerged from the shower in about the same emotional, mental, and spiritual state as I entered it. I got ready for church, got the family ready for church, arrived at church and started through the usual paces.

First service went well, taught the Elementary age class, which was fun and successful, I think. Then second service came around, I'll admit I was mostly in the state of "doing a job" then I sat with the kids around our red carpet and I asked them what they thought about Easter. I got the usual Easter bunny/egg stories, then one child said that "it's an important day". Curious about this response I probed deeper, "why is this an important day?" I asked. "Because this is the day that we remember the Jesus rose from the dead and brought forgiveness for our sins" she replied. At that moment I felt like the Grinch when his heart grew 2 sizes big.

Easter 2007 was a great Sunday, Easter 2008 started out as a dreaded Sunday but will always be remembered as the day God slapped my upside the head with the words of a preschooler. One of the great untold blessings of Children's Ministry is that God often speaks to me through the words of children.

Easter Confessional -- Part 1

2008-03-25T06:41:00.005-05:00

Easter 2007 was my favorite holiday of last year. A great sense of joy surrounded the entire day and the days leading up to Easter. Easter is one of the busiest holidays around the church world, most of the regular attenders show up, the more occasional attenders show up, the once-a-year attenders show up, and the seekers show up for the first time. Overall, the results are usually higher numbers than a typical Sunday. These higher numbers tend to create some excitement and anticipation that adds to the joy of the holiday.

For many churches, Easter is the date when they put on their Sunday bests. They work extra hard on creating services, plan for extra people, and the sermon is thought of as a “one shot deal”. I’ve even seen churches do this; change their worship style for a single Sunday just to capture the attention of the seekers that might come through the door. It’s as if the church is the girl at the dance who is all gussied up and hopes that in a single moment the cute boy will notice her and become infatuated with her. Like the eggs that we color and decorate, no matter what we do on the outside the inside still remains the same.

I must say that it saddens me to see this happen. Easter, or any holiday, shouldn’t be any more special than any other day. They are all days that God has made, they are all days that we should be mindful of the life that God has given us, of the truth that He calls us to live and share with others, days that we should remember that God loves us. I believe that people should be impacted every Sunday, that we should be putting our best on for every Sunday. Besides what happens when the egg cracks and the people see what's on the inside? How would you feel if your egg wasn't what you thought it was?

What happens the day after the dance, when the cute boy sees the girl who is no longer gussied up? Will he still be interested? Will he be disappointed? Will he be angry or feel manipulated?

Vacation

2008-03-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation and will return to the blogosphere after March 20.

3 H's and a Smile

2008-03-03T00:40:00.003-06:00

This Sunday I worked hard to live-out the 3 H and a smile challenge I gave our Children's Ministry Staff at our last training. The Challenge is simple, give a High Five, Hand Shake, and a Hug to different people and a smile to everyone. Today I gave a ton of High Fives to kids (I wonder if they even give hand shakes anymore?) a couple of handshakes to people, and a hug (plus I received some hugs from kids). I also gave away as many smiles as possible.

How did you do with the 3 H and a Smile Challenge?

Know Thy Self

2008-02-29T09:26:00.005-06:00

In the past 8 days I've been reminded several times to "know thy self". It's easy to think that most people are like you or that they know what you mean when you say things. Last week I was watching a video on Volunteers with Craig Jutlia, in this video he talked about his personality and how other people react and respond to him. One of his points was as leaders we have to remember who we are so that we can most effectively interact with others. A few days later I was talking with my wife and she reminded me of my need to build relationships with others (as an introvert this is ofter overlooked). Then on Thursday I sat down and talked with Mike Verlinich, a great guy in our church, and we talked about our personalities and how we interact with one another and how we operate in ministry.

All this talk made me think about some of the great Bible characters, David, Moses, Noah, Jesus. I wondered if David only thought of himself as a shepherd until he stepped out in faith to fight a giant. I wondered if Moses knew himself so completely that he would argue with God about leading a nation. I wondered if Noah struggled with paranoid schitzophrenia in building a boat in the middle of the desert. I wondered if Jesus....we'll I'm pretty sure he already knew himself completely. There's one thing that seems to be common to all of these men's lives...they trusted God to do for them what they weren't able to do themselves. In each of their lives God lead them to be great men, God lead them to do more than they probably thought was possible, God revealed more about their character, personality, and capacity than they probably thought of themselves.

When I think about myself I wonder sometimes, "can I really do what I'm doing...can I really be a great pastor...can I really be something amazing for God?" So I look at who I am...I'm an Introvert (YES I AM!! and so is Craig Jutlia!)...I'm Intuitive...I'm Thinking (could also be Feeling since there are just a few percentage points different)...I'm Perceiving...According to the Myers-Briggs Test. I also have the following strenghts: Analytical, Includer, Individualization, Responsibility, and Strategic; according to the Strengths Finder test. I'm also a "Coordinator" half Beaver and half Golden Retriever according to John Trent's Strengths Wheel. As you can see my Analytical side likes personality/strengths tests.

All of this helps me understand how God made me, but it doesn't determine what I'm going to do for God. What's interesting is that God uses all kinds of people and I believe all us have the capacity, ability, and calling to help others become completely committed Christ followers. I wonder what kind of personality and strengths that those great men of the Bible had, I wonder if they ever thought of them as a liability or if they utilized them to the best of their ability? What's amazing about ministry is it doesn't matter what kind of personality you have or what your strengths are it's the hand of God on our lives that makes it possible for us to do the miraculous. We just need to make sure our personality doesn't get in the way.

Here I am. I am on my...

2008-02-24T13:48:00.002-06:00

Listen to Brett's experience from Sunday morning here: listen

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Miracle, Glory, Waterboy....Amazing

2008-02-17T22:15:00.005-06:00

Saturday night I was just chillin watching some TV....flipping through the channels when I found a movie that I liked. "Waterboy" starring Adam Sandler. I watched a few minutes then began surfing again when a commercial came on. As I came around the horn I discovered "Miracle" was on, a great movie about the 1980 Olympic Gold Ice Hockey Team. Another commercial came back on and so I began moving back toward Waterboy, when I came across my favorite Civil War movie, "Glory". I sat on the couch and thought what are the odds that these three incredible movies would all be on on the same night at the same time. So, I spent the next couple of hours surfing through each of the movies making sure I caught the best parts of each one.

Each of these three stories represent what I love best about movies.

The scrappy never say die team of selfless players can triumph over the favored sure thing (think Giants v. Patriots or David v. Goliath).
A group of people from diverse perspectives can come together to help the alienated, the oppressed, the defeated to come together and fight for the right to be free and to be respected as a people.
An individual that yearns for the simple connection of friendship, belonging, and acceptance finally finds a way to show the world that they do indeed count for quite a bit.

Each of these movies is a great picture of what God has done for humanity through the local church.

God pulls together this scrappy band of believers who think that they can make a difference in their community and in the world. Even though they are up against this bohemiath of a culture, where everything is anti-religion and pro-self worship. This scrappy band pulls together to perform a miracle, the birth and continuous growth of a local church.
God composes this beautiful symphony of individuals to help the oppressed, the defeated, the alienated, to break free from the bonds that bind them and to enter into peace and freedom. God takes all of the people and uses their diverse perspectives, their gifts, passions, their weaknesses and He uses those to introduce freedom to all peoples.
God brings the lonely, the emotional lonely, the physically lonely, the spiritual lonely, the mentally lonely, God brings the lonely into His house and says "be my children". In God's family people know one another, they care for one another, they show, tell, and hear that they count for an awful lot.

It's amazing what God can use to remind me of what my mission is. A fourth good movie was on but it just didn't have the same selfless, inspiring, joy that these did.

Upside of Death Videos

2008-02-17T17:31:00.005-06:00

Week 1 -- Bringing Life to Relationships

Week 1 Drama

Week 2 -- Celebrating Death

Week 3 -- It's Alive!

So, I'm sitting here...

2008-02-10T13:17:00.001-06:00

So, I'm sitting here after Sunday the 10th of February, the last in the series for The Upside of Death. My first thought is I need to learn to start my car and let it run to warm up, since it's freezing cold!

But, really just a reflexion from the service today my first impressions or parting thoughts, it was a good day. I truly believed that God met me and loved me and I did what God wanted me to do, so I am very contents and very excited for the series and now that it is over, so it was a good Sunday. Thank you God. listen

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White as Snow

2008-02-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

"White as Snow" is possibly my favorite song of all time. The mental picture that it gives me

always makes me emotional, even if I don't cry. So today as part of our staff meeting I asked the staff to write a Haiku around the meaning of the song "White as Snow". Here are some of t heir responses:

Old lives
from scarlet sin
to white robes

Death, I'm dark and stained
blood flows darkness flees away
Life, pure white like snow

Fresh as a snow flake
wrapped in love and purity
sealed on a cross

My white robe
from blackened heart
God is good

We used Haiku to help us interact in a more personal way with Psalm 51:7, Isaiah 1:18, and Revelations 7:12-17.

Week 2 -- Celebrating Death

2008-02-01T21:31:00.001-06:00

Upside of Death Drama

2008-01-29T09:11:00.000-06:00

Here's the Drama from Sunday's second service.

TJN's Own Ace of Cakes

2008-01-29T07:07:00.000-06:00

Since the writers strike has shortened this years TV season I've been forced to turn to the Food Network for mindless entertainment. And Ace of Cakes has emerged as my favorite TV show, it's ever taken the place of ER which I've watched since the very first episode.

Recently my Ace of Cakes devotion has paid off. I was at the MBC Family Gathering (Minnesota Baptist Conference) where other MBC churches gather together to connect and hear about what's happening in the conference. While at the gathering each table (probably about 18-20 of them) each had a contest to decorate a plain white frosted cake with the number 150 on it. We were all given the same decorating materials and about 5 minutes to decorate our cakes.

In light of the theme for the next year I we decided to be forward thinking. So we came up with the idea of turning the 150 into 501 to signify longevity and we included part of this year's theme on to the cake. I don't like to toot my own horn but this was my idea. Then with the creative handywork of Sheila DeChantel, Mary Piggot, and Julie Steiff we submitted our cake. Feeling pretty proud of our cake I felt great anticipation as we awaited the results. It was like sweet sweet music to my ears when I heard that the "501 Cake" was the winner. It was the first time a creative concept of mine had won something. I was ready to apply to be one of Duff's cake decorators on Ace of Cakes.

But now that's I've come down to earth I'm just very happy that we won 11 certificates each worth $10 off at any Trout Lake Camp this summer. So if you are planning on going to Trout Lake Camp then come and see me and I can get you $10 off your registration.

It's Coming....

2008-01-22T08:34:00.000-06:00

I'm Giving You All She's Got, Captain!

2008-01-15T09:29:00.001-06:00

There are seasons when I feel like Mr. Scott from Star Trek. Yesterday I found myself telling my captain, God, that I didn't think I could give Him warp speed.

I was thinking about the sermon from Sunday and also of my own teaching on Sunday, they were both about time. Pastor Mark had some great stuff to say about time management and how it is really life management. And I was talking to Elementary kids about the importance of giving God time in their lives.

Then I started to think about rest and sabbath. I have traditionally held to the belief that the sabbath and God's rest was more like the cessation of activity. So most of the time I think of using this time to sit around doing nothing, watching TV, playing with the kids, sleeping in, taking naps, or just not doing what I view as "work". That's when a thought hit me.

"What if the sabbath or God's rest was less about the cessation of activity/work and more about preparation?"

I don't know if this is true or not, BUT yesterday I spent time cleaning the house, doing dishes, making dinner, all so that today I could have all my energy free for creativity. What if God's plan for our rest is for us to prepare for the seasons where he's going to be asking us for warp speed. What if the sabbath is for us to take the time to put to rest our unresolved energies so that we can focus all our energy in attaining and maintaining warp speed.

Today I say to God, "Warp Drive at the ready Captain!"

Can you say it?

2008-01-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

For the past couple of week I've had a CM volunteer staff person named Kristi Anderson, who has brought me great joy. The joy that she brings me comes from a simple 11-word phrase that she shares with me when she sees me. It's happened at FPU (Financial Peace Universe), it's happened out in public, and it's happened on Sunday morning. Each time she says this phrase it brings a smile to my face and warmth to my soul.

Want to know what she says that makes such an impact?

Here it is...
Helping children and families understand and live-out God's truth and love.

Kristi has taken to heart the mission of the CM at TJN. She has made it a part of her heart by committing it to memory. When it's in you, you live it. When you live it, it changes lives. Which makes me ask the question...Can you say it?

111

2007-12-29T09:23:00.000-06:00

Since this is my 111 post I thought I would go back to the beginning, because the number onehundredeleven leads me back to God...the first blogger.

"Intentional CM is the vision that God has given me in creating an Intentional Children's Ministry.

Intentional CM or ICM is the conglomeration of different philosophies and the passion and vision that God has put in my heart for Children's Ministry.

This blog's purpose is to be a place where I can record my thoughts, experiences and vision.

Readers Warnings: Some posts may seem random and in truth they might very well be. But there here so you can understand my mental process and my experiences in the way that I do."

That was the very first post on this blog. While I look back at the last 110 posts I can see where I've been, what's happened and where I want to go in this next year.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T16:17:00.000-06:00

I'm taking a few days off and will be a little quiet on the blog front. I hope like me you take some time away from the craziness of life to remember and bring focus back on the reason for the season.

I hope you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My Christmas Card Self Appreciation, pt 2

2007-12-17T23:24:00.000-06:00

There are few people who will argue with you about the importance of expressing appreciation and sharing praise with your coworkers, employees, or volunteers. It’s just a given, you could even say that it’s an expectation. We have our kids pick out gifts for their schoolteachers and I even had my daughter write some nice words to her teacher on her math homework.

Early on in ministry, I learned that one of the things I needed to work on was expressing appreciation towards others. When I got married and got a crash course in the need for expressing appreciation. It has been one of my weaknesses, simply because of my own internal wiring. I’m not wired to require a lot of praise and for years appreciation and complements made me uncomfortable. I’m more wired for accomplishment, not complements. Over the years, I’ve learned how to cherish the encouragement I received from others and have also come to a certain level of comfort with compliments.

So, when it came to self-appreciation I used to give myself the short end of the stick. Then I found myself in a place where there wasn’t really anyone above me to give me very much praise. While I don’t usually require regular praise, I still need some. I was telling a friend how I just felt used up, how I didn’t really feel like there was anything filling me back up after I had emptied myself. He asked me when the last time I had received a word of appreciation. I told him it had been a long time. That’s when he helped me realize my need to practice self-appreciation.

There are a couple of reasons why self-appreciation is so important.

There won’t always be someone there to praise you. If there’s something you’ve done that you would want praise for don’t wait for someone to notice…praise yourself.

There are no hidden agendas or falsehoods when praising yourself. There is an authentic feeling when you self praise. We spend a great amount of time justifying, rationalizing, and flat out lying to ourselves about things, but the truth is we never really fully convince ourselves. So when we praise our selves it's very easy to know if we're being honest. When I first started to practice self-appreciation, I remember trying to praise myself for something I could have, and should have, done better. I just knew that it wasn't real. It was the same feeling I get when people try to praise me for what someone else does. It feels fake and dishonest. If you’re self praise is honest and transparent it will feel right.

There is a great emotional and mental strength that you attain when you can self-praise. You know if the praise is true, you know if you deserve it. Self-appreciation is incredibly powerful in building your self-esteem. It’s one of the best ways to build emotional and mental strength because it’s not codependent…it’s independent of other people. It comes from within; it’s you telling you that you’re good at something. It’s a very honest and healthy way of making yourself feel good.

There are numerous ways that you can appreciate yourself.

Write yourself a note and put it with other encouraging notes that you collect. By the way if you don’t collect encouragement notes you should start, other peoples opinions is what can protect you from being prideful and arrogant.

Give yourself an external reward. I once took myself out to lunch to celebrate an important accomplishment.

Pat yourself on the back. Literally, pat yourself on the back.

Talk to yourself. It may sound a little too much like Stuart Smalley, but verbally aloud tell yourself that you’ve done a good job. You can see athletes like Tiger Woods to this all the time when he has a great shot, sinks a long put, or performs in the clutch.

Self-appreciation is nothing more than a healthy internal acknowledgment that you have done something right. Like most things if you abuse it, its effectiveness will be diminished and you run the risk of becoming prideful and arrogant. If you underutilized it, you become codependent on others for your self-esteem leading to an unhealthy self-perception. So be truthful with yourself. Start practicing self-appreciation today.

My Christmas Card Self Appreciation, pt 1

2007-12-17T12:49:00.000-06:00

For the last four years in December, I’ve spent hours and hours writing Christmas cards for ministry volunteers. This year I’ve written more than 60 cards to volunteers, church staff, and church leadership. This is particularly significant for me since I don’t even write Christmas cards to family and friends. It’s one of the ways I convey my genuine appreciation for all the support, sacrifice, and energy that they spend making the Children’s Ministry at the Journey North great. It’s great thinking back over the past year about how each of the individuals has made an impact, how they have been a blessing to me or to the families they serve. Some of the cards I write are for the veteran servers, or for people who are just coming on and haven’t yet served their first Sunday. In the case of one couple, who hasn't even committed yet, I have a card ready and waiting for them. In some cases it’s for people who are so far behind the scenes they didn’t think that I noticed their contribution. In all the cases, I appreciate each of them. Each year I work hard to identify all the people who I need to send cards to, but this year there is one card I haven't written, yet.

When I first started in Children's Ministry, there were lots of things to learn, and there are still lots of things to learn. One of the most important lessons I learned early was the need to express appreciation to the volunteers that serve in Children's Ministry. I did a Google search on the phrase "Children's Ministry Volunteer Appreciation" and got back more than 418,000 hits. I did another search just on "Volunteer Appreciation" and got back 310,000 hits. Adding the words Children’s Ministry increased the hit count my more than 100,000! I think it's safe to say that volunteer appreciation is important and has a very high value in Children's Ministry.

All good managers will tell you that praise is important. Ken Blanchard, a well-respected management expert, says in his book "The One Minute Manager" that it’s one of the 3 most important strategies for a manager. In Children’s Ministry, where you are working with the largest volunteer force in the church, praise and moral is vital. Low moral can seriously hinder a ministry and a volunteer from living out their potential. A while back, I sent a card to one of our volunteers saying how excited and thankful I was that he was serving in our first session of Quest. He told me that in all his years of service in church he has never received praise. The card I sent him had incredible value and worth to him. This act of praise and appreciation is one of the corner stones of a successful and fulfilling ministry.

As important as it is to communicate appreciation and praise there’s usually one person that we forget. It's the one card I have yet to write, it's the card to myself. When I was writing the Christmas cards for this year I go was systematically working through our volunteer schedule. On the schedule I have a list of all the volunteers and subs, and then I add people who aren’t yet on the list, people who have demonstrated real world support, people who serve in the background, and finally the leadership and staff of the church. As I write in the cards, I cross people off the list. So, this year I was writing and crossing, writing and crossing, until I got to my name and I stopped cold. In the past years, I have just skipped right past my name, but for some reason I was fixated on my name. Then, as if someone was whispering in my ear I heard, “why don’t you write yourself a card?” The idea was preposterous, why would I take the time to write myself a card? The more I thought about it the more I became convinced that writing myself a Christmas card was the most appropriate thing to do. Here’s how I came to this conclusion.

Watch for part 2 of “My Christmas Card Self Appreciation” tomorrow

Golden Compass Movie Review

2007-12-13T11:19:00.000-06:00

My review of the movie, The Golden Compass, is live over at Kidology. There's also a pretty lively discussion on the themes of the movie and original book in the discussion boards, go here to read the discussion. There is also a well thought out commentary by Karl Bastian, the founder of Kidology, here.

More Chicks

2007-12-06T09:08:00.000-06:00

Continuing my chicks saga...the staff at TJN got me some chicks and native gospel training for my b-day. Here's some pics of their creativity.

Here's a link to find out more about how you can get some chicks and some native gospel training.

What do you get the person that has nothing?

2007-12-03T16:36:00.000-06:00

We live in the richest most opportunity rich country in the world. This time of year we find ourselves thinking, "what do I get the person that has everything?" When really we should be asking the question, "what do I get the person that has nothing?"

Here are two places to start:
Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog

Compassion International

This is what I have done this year. I asked my family to consider purchasing gifts from Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog (you can see my list here). In response my In-Laws sent me the following card with a brood (24) of chicks in my honor. I love their creativity, great job Lois! Below you can see the birthday card from my In-Laws, the chicks they sent, and the card I got from Samaritan's Purse.

The Ideal Staff Person

2007-11-27T09:16:00.000-06:00

I spent some time with some new friends last night and ended up talking about Children's Ministry with them, shocking isn't it. I was expressing my desire for them to join the Children's Ministry team when one of them made a comment, "you must be pretty desperate if you're asking us." And truthfully nothing could have been farther from the truth. So I spent the next few minutes explaining to them that I had been watching them interact with kids and shared a few of my observations of them.

In this conversation I identified for them, and me, the ideal person who I want in Children's Ministry. I termed it like this, a person who desires and acts on a natural interest in knowing a child as a person.

Here are a couple of examples of what this couple did:

First they introduced themselves to the child and asked for the child's name. They didn't wait to be introduced by the parents.
They really get down to the child's level, but they don't talk down to the child.
They take a heartfelt interest in who the child is.
They express, either verbal or non-verbal, an interest in the child along the same way they do with their adult peers.
They showed no embarrassment in acting with the child in the midst of adults and peers.
They responded positively to the affections and acceptance of the children.

When I see these things in people I get excited, these are intangibles that are a natural part of what makes an excellent children's ministry team member.

Journey Johnny & Journey Janey Discussion

2007-11-19T11:19:00.000-06:00

A while I go I began thinking about what we do in Children's Ministry at the Journey North. Out of that thinking came our mission statement, helping children and families understand and live-out God's truth and love.

Our mission statement represents the skeleton of what we want our children to be (understand and live-out God's truth and love). It's the part of them that we want everything else they do to hang from. So, now let's start to put some meat, flesh, muscle, and organs into our precious Journey Johnny and Journey Janey's.

Here's the question, what would you want our kids to look like when they leave our ministry?

what do we want them to know?
what do we want them to feel?
what do we want them to believe?
what do we want them to do?
what do we want them to have experienced?
how do we want them to act?

This isn't just a blog series I want you to read, I want you to participate. So, whether you are a parent, a TJN attender, a children's worker, a children's pastor, a friend, or a family member, post. Post your comments and your thoughts.

If you are on the TJN Children's Ministry Team, then I ask that also post your thoughts here, on our Children's Ministry Group discussion board.

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 11/16/2007

2007-11-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

Today's 1 hit Oneder video was a innovation for music videos, heralded as one of the greatest ground breaking videos of it's time. The video used a sketchy animation / live action combination called "Rotoscoping" (in which the video is first shot on normal video, then each frame is hand-traced over to give the animated effect) that tells a fantasy thriller story to the song. At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards "Take on Me" won in six categories. It was also nominated for Best Video Of The Year at 1986 American Music Awards.

a-ha is a Grammy Award-nominated band from Norway. They are the best selling Norwegian band around the world with a total of 75 million albums and singles sold (approximately sixteen times the entire Norwegian population). "

Positive is Positive and Negative is Negative

2007-11-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday November 14 an article came out in the Christian Post about the effect of negative and positive experiences of adults as children in Church.

Here's an excerpt from the article, found here.

"Fifty-six percent of Americans who no longer attend services say their attendance as a child has had a positive influence on their life; 55 percent feel their childhood attendance gave them a good moral foundation; 51 percent say they are glad they attended as a child; 48 percent say it gave them important religious knowledge; 35 percent believe it helped them grow spiritually; 34 percent feel it helped them prepare for life as an adult; and 27 percent say it deepened their spiritual faith.
On the negative side, 31 percent of adults currently not attending services say their childhood attendance turned them off to organized religion; 24 percent believe that past experience is not relevant to their life today; and 13 percent believe it sent them down a different spiritual path than the one they were on at that time."

You can read more of the article here.

So, what do you think of the findings and what do you think it means for why and how we do Children's Ministry? Post your answers in the comments section.

Staff Meeting & Business Meetings are AWESOME!

2007-11-14T10:22:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple of videos from our Business Meeting last night.

Here's what we did as a staff yesterday.

What's the Purpose?

2007-11-12T22:24:00.000-06:00

If you were to ask the staff at The Journey North what the vision statement is you should get the following answer "to be passionate worshipers devoted to God and his mission, helping others become completely committed Christ followers."
If you asked the Children's Ministry staff you should hear them say, "helping children and families understand and live-out God's truth and love."

But the bigger question that I've been thinking about is what's the purpose or reason for having a children's ministry? Most of the answers to this question that I've heard would fall into one of two groups. The first group would say something like, "children's ministry is for the parents to enjoy the church service and know that their children are safe", or something along those lines. The second might sound something like this, "children's ministry is for children to learn about God", or something like that. A third group might talk about the mode or methods of how to "do children's ministry", but a method or mode really isn't a reason or a purpose.

So the question remains, what's the reasoning for having a ministry focused at children? The reason for a children's ministry comes from the following scripture passages:

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:16-17

Jesus said this about his reason for coming to Earth to die for our sins:

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10

Jesus specifically said that he wanted the children to come to him, not just to be blessed but also to be an heir. Jesus specifically said that he came to seek and to save the lost, which would include children. Here's the harsh reality....children are dirty rotten sinners just like adults. We like to think of children as "little angels" and we like to think of them as innocent, but if you spend some time with one they'll eventually lie to you, physically and emotionally intentionally cause you harm, and with no apparent reason they'll share their art work with the world on your living room wall, in essence they'll sin. The truth is that children are in dire need of salvation and it takes a different method to help them come to that realization. So we have a ministry for children so that we can help them embrace a need to surrender, to give their life, to make Jesus their best friend forever.
It's about fulfilling our vision as a church, to help children to be passionate worshipers devoted to God and his mission, helping other children become completely committed Christ followers. So I guess I could have just said that the reason for having a children's ministry is the same as having church. It just wouldn't make for a very long blog post.

Bee Movie Review

2007-11-06T13:29:00.001-06:00

My Bee Movie review has been posted over at Kidology, check it out. If you have a questions you would like to see on the discussion board post it in the comments section and I'll post it on the discussion board for you.

Kisses from Strangers

2007-11-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

I got this email from a friend of mine. When I was on staff at Willamette Community Church I had some opportunities to show some simple grace and respect to people who didn't get a lot of it. I recently received an email from a friend who shared many of my experiences. I asked if I could share one of his recent experiences. Willamette Community Church also houses a private Christian school and is located in one of the more socio-economically, high crime-rate sections of the city.

This afternoon, a lady staff member informs me that there are a couple of people drinking, etc. on our property and asked what we should do. I got out of the office, grabbed Zach and said let’s go see what’s going on. Sure enough a man named Brandon and a lady named Paula were resting, drinking, arguing – just hanging out. Well, we introduced ourselves and I shook their hands, (Zach didn’t, he was afraid of the open sores on his hands). After hearing a few stories of their brokenness: Brandon being homeless and new to the area, and learning that Paula was “OK,” we escorted them off the property. Brandon went his merry way, but Paula asked for a ride about 3 blocks away. It was evident that they were both a little sloshed, but we agreed to take Paula for a ride.

Paula got in the back seat of Zach’s car, he turned on his car to the tune of Paula Abdul singing “Straight Up,” on the radio.

Zach blurted out, “Hey we got Paula on the radio and Paula in the car.”

Backseat Paula started right in on the chorus,

“Straight up, now tell me
Do you really wanna love me forever,
Oh, oh, oh
Or am I caught in a hit-and-run?”
Well, the first place we took her didn’t work out so she said, “take me to Los Amigos,” which is not slang for Zach’s place but a local restaurant.
We drove her there and came to a stop. As we said good-bye, Paula leaned up to hug Zach and kissed him in his right ear. It seemed fitting that guy who wouldn’t shake her hand was being kissed by her. But I knew that I was next and sure enough, I got a hug and a kiss in my left ear.

Well, something compelled me to get out and open the back car door for her, and when she got out, she took a step and lunged at me. My first thought, was, “hope she doesn’t stab me.” Zach figured that she was going in for a full fledged lip plant. But she just wanted a hug and told us thanks one more time.
I’m not sure what will happen to Paula or with Brandon, but it was fun to mingle with people, listen to Paula with Paula, and to get a kiss from a stranger.

It's amazing how people respond when you show them some love, grace, and respect. I'll be the first to admit that there was a time when I would look at a "drunk" on the street and think ill thoughts about them. But after encounters like the one above I've learned that what ever their present state of life, they're still a creation of a God who loves them and wants them to be a Child of God.

Jesus was continually in the presence of "drunks" and he continually showed them love, grace, and respect. Jesus said that he came to save the lost...to be bring hope to the hopeless...to heal the inflicted. It's a reminder that if we are called to live like Christ then it would be good if we treat others like Christ did too.

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 11/02/2007

2007-11-02T07:13:00.000-05:00

In honor of the "Bee Movie", which I'm going to see this afternoon, I thought I should do a "Bee" related 1 Hit Oneder Video.

One of the great songs from the '9o's. The summer after my high school junior year our high school church summer camp (1992) was actually called "No Rain", quite a coincidence.

This song & video actually made the album quadruple platnium in sales.

Here's still one of my favorite songs and videos of all time, Blind Melon's "No Rain".

My Next Kidology Movie Review

2007-10-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

I got the go-ahead for my next movie review, The Bee Movie. I like Jerry Sienfeld and I'm excited to go see this movie with my family this friday. So next week I'll post the link to my review when it gets published on the Kidology website.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly???

2007-10-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

There are Sundays when something just doesn't go quiet right. Most of the time it's limited to just one thing, like a staff member not showing up or a couple of kids who cry the entire service; sometimes it's something serious like an injury or a child that is completely disruptive and needs to be removed from the class.

Then there are Sundays when everything is almost perfect (assuming that perfection is impossible to attain). All our staff is distributed properly and having a good time. The kids in every age group are attentive, polite, and interactive and the parents have participated in a life changing adult worship experience.

Then there are the ugly Sundays.....those Sundays when everything goes wrong and nothing seems to go right. These are the Sundays that actually put some sense of fear into you. Sundays that make you think, "If that ever happens again I'll go crazy!!" On these Sundays the edge of the cliff is way to close for comfort. But the good news is that the line that divides an ugly Sunday and any other Sunday is a very fine line, because all it takes is something positive to bring you away from the the edge.

For me this past Sunday had the makings of a Very Ugly Sunday. There were a couple of creative staffing solutions I had to overcome, there were several children who were normally very calm and happy that were not so happy, and there were several disruptive kids in our elementary class. These things usually don't all happen on the same Sunday.

But my day started off as a Good day. I got to church early and got set up, went home and helped my wife get our kids ready for church (she usually does this alone), and I was teaching the elementary kids first service so I sat in on the first 20-30 minutes of worship.

Here are two other reasons why I had a good day (even thought it had the makings of an ugly day):

In all my days of teaching I've seen some pretty funny things, but this week was one of the funniest. We use some name tags that have a metal clasp for clipping them to the kids shirts. The clasp works similar to the teeth in our mouths, one part clips behind the other like it was "biting" down on what it's stuck to. So, I'm standing in front of the class talking about respecting God...when all of a sudden a little Kindergartner in the front row stands up and screams at the top of his lungs. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I looked over to where the screaming was coming from and suddenly I realized that what I was seeing wasn't quiet right. As my mind processed at the speed of thought, I realized that this child was screaming, his tongue was sticking out of his mouth and attached to his tongue was his name tag! I immediately ran over just as he was taking the name tag off. I looked at his tongue, which was still sticking out of his mouth, noticed that it wasn't bleeding or anything and then walked him to the back of the class where another staff person could help him. I've got to admit that it was one of the funniest sights that I had ever seen. The good news is that he wasn't hurt and he returned to his seat within a couple of minutes.

I love it when I see kids that are happy to be at church. In fact there is one little preschooler who runs halfway down the hallway to her class with a big smile and when she sees me she throws her arms out and gives my leg a big hug. Her parents say that every Sunday she wakes up and with excitement in her voice asking if it's "church day". I must admit that my words don't really do justice to this...so I got permission from her parents to put a picture up.

For a day that started good, turned ugly, it sure did end well.

Today's (not so) 1 Hit Oneder Videos 10/26/2007

2007-10-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

So, this artist isn't really a "1 Hit Oneder", but I love the video so much I just can't leave it out. I love how the video transitions from character to character, just like I love the show intro for the TV show Scrubs. Stacie has had numerous hits, but this is by far my favorite song of hers.

Remember

2007-10-24T11:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a part of a team that gave our Senior Pastor, Mark Bjorlo, the day off. Mark has been facing some life pain and grief that you can read about on his blog, we ended up taking a cue from him in what we did in the service. We tried to craft a service that would lead people to "Remember God's goodness and faithfulness".

(Deuteronomy 6:1-25) and then facilitated the service. I shared part of my faith story, more about that later. Sheila Julie Steiff lead us into the mood of remembering by reading and focusing on the Shema, and Sheila DeChantal shared part of her faith story for the first time ever and did a fantastic job. It was amazing to hear how she had buried her dad and sister then years later buried her mom and step-dad. It was an amazing day. The service ended with a time for people to remember and record times of God's faithfulness in their lives.

I have shared my story a few times, but this was the first time I have shared it in a Sunday morning church service. I had 15 minutes to share my story, of which I had to cut a ton of details out. I really love sharing the story of my family. I don't mean to sound like I'm being arrogant or full of myself, it just really energizes my soul when I remember and recount the story of my family coming into a relationship with God. So over the coming posts I'll be sharing the whole story partly because it sounds fun and partly because I don't actually have the whole thing down on "digital paper". So, if you're interested in hearing the whole story check back every couple of days and follow along. The first installment will be up on Tuesday night.

UPDATE: I'm not quite ready to post the first installment, but check back again.

Team Diagnostics

2007-10-23T15:05:00.000-05:00

I get a weekly email from Group's Church Volunteer Central, which usually has some nice things in it. Then there are weeks that I get stuff in the email and I want to jump out of my seat and yell, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!" Today was one of those times.

We are trying to create a culture here, where our Children's Ministry staff becomes a team...no make that more like a family.

In the email here are a few of the things they said about healthy team dynamics:

Team members demonstrate a high degree of comfort and informality when interacting.
Team members are able to kid around and joke with each other.
Team members feel comfortable being noisy and random.
Meetings often run overtime, and people stay around afterward.
Disagreements between team members are voiced and received non defensively.
Team members like spending time with each other outside meeting times.
Attendance at meetings is consistent, and team members rarely miss meetings.

Today's 1 Hit Oneders for 10/19/2007

2007-10-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

This song was a very unique song and some how got lumped into the "grunge" genre even though I think it's more of a "pop" song. The song shot up the charts partly for it's story telling and partly for the voice of the lead singer. Personally I owned this album and will publically proclaim that I liked it. The video was great and I loved the all the facial expression, even some are way too corny. Let me introduce you to the Crash Test Dummies and their hit song "MMM MMM MMM MMM" off the album "God Shuffled His Feet"

Experience & Program part 3

2007-10-15T10:49:00.000-05:00

At the conclusion of his resurrection life here on Earth, Jesus leaves the Disciples with these parting words...

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus had all the "Authority in heaven and on earth" and this is as close to a program that we are given, make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them.

It's interesting to me that for most of us who have been baptized it's more about that moment than it was about the program that gave the experience structure. I've baptized people in rivers and baptismals, none of them have come back to me and said that the structure or that nights/days service was memorable to them. No, people remember their baptism as what they were feeling, what happened in their life leading up to the baptism, and what happened to them physically, emotionally, and spiritually in the midst of their baptism. We remember the experience, even though it's the synergistic work of both the program and the experience that creates such a great and long lasting memory.

When program and experience work together correctly there is almost a divine purity of that moment. When a program ceases to be a just a structure and takes on a lifelike persona and the experience moves beyond an empty emotional or physical feeling, we discover that life change takes place as the Holy Spirit moves unobstructed through every facet of our lives. That is the goal of what we do in ministry. That is why programs have been created, that is why programs need to be recreated. That is why experience is so important and why experience shouldn't be left to fend for itself.

It's my hope, prayer and goal that what we do in Children's ministry it to provide a program that helps to create and add structure to the experiences that children have. That through those experiences the Holy Spirit is able to work unobstructed by human hands or desires. That lives will be be changed; children will embrace a life of love and dedication toward the God that calls their name, staff and volunteers will know that the Almighty God of the Universe chose them to be his instrument to impact this world today and for eternity.

YouTube Vortex

2007-10-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

OK So I got sucked into the YouTube Vortex and came out with these two Gems:

I've watched this so many times I never get tired of it..

I love the Mac vs PC commercials and I'm so glad that a church did a great spoof on these commercials to promote their series.

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 10/12/2007

2007-10-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

The blogging staff at TJN has decided to include some lighter contact, one is doing a song of the week and another is doing the commercial of the week. So I thought I'd do my favorite 1 hit oneders videos (If you've seen the movie "That Thing You Do" you'll understand).

When I was thinking up this concept I thought of tons of videos that I liked as a kid, but then I realized that there is only one video that could be the first video. It was the first video to be aired on MTV and ironically it's prophetic and hypocritical in it's message, making it the perfect mix of randomness and order.

Band: Buggles
Song: Video Killed the Radio Star
Album: The Age of Plastic, 1979
Director: Russell Mulcahy

Experience & Program part 2

2007-10-08T23:08:00.000-05:00

Experience:

the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something
knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone

Program:

a plan of action to accomplish a specified end: a school lunch program
a plan or schedule of activities, procedures, etc., to be followed

When I was in college I remember one of my theology professors trying to pound into our heads that experiences weren't important and shouldn't be used or relied upon in our spiritual life. I found his comments very perplexing and confusing at times. Since I had more than 19 years of experience that was telling me different and I didn't quite know how to deal with it. So, I spent a short time trying to ignore my experience and live my life absent of experiences, obviously this was short lived since the more I tried to eliminate experiences the more experiences I racked up. But I did learn something important about experiences, you can't stop them or prevent them. But you can use them to illustrate and point to the truth of scripture.

Programs provide the frame work for experiences to be useful and memorable illustrations. There are two kinds of experiences, one is spontaneous (it happens absent of planning) and the other is programmed (it happens in the presence of planning). After spending more than 14 years in Middle School ministry I know that in teaching and leading I would rather plan the experiences rather than letting them happen spontaneously.

Programs that are absent experiences tend to be those programs where you hear children say with brutal honesty, "this is boring". But not all programs need to be "boring", a little planned experience and even the most hard to please child will learn, participate, and have a fun time.

Here are three questions I ask about my program to make sure there's experiences built in:

Does it produce something that could be memorable?
Does it utilize 2 or 3 of the 5 senses?
Is it fun?

If the program doesn't affirm those three questions then I know I'm in big trouble. Recently I was faced with the problem of teaching a preschool class and I couldn't answer those three questions with the suggestions that the curriculum gave me. I had to spend some significant brain power to alter and adjust the program so that the kids would experience what we were teaching as much as they were learning what we were teaching. A program is only as good as the resulting experience. Like wise the experience is only as good as the reference frame the program has given it.

I have come to grips with what my theology professor was attempting to say, we were not created to rack up experiences. God creates experiences to help us understand what he's already told us.

Experience & Program part 1

2007-10-01T15:28:00.000-05:00

Experience:

the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something
knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone

Program:

a plan of action to accomplish a specified end: a school lunch program
a plan or schedule of activities, procedures, etc., to be followed

When it comes to life change, we usually remember the experiences that led us to that life change rather than the programs that created the opportunity for those experiences. We remember a particular challenge at camp, a story that touched our hearts, the feeling of being accepted, or the walk down the aisle to embrace the God that loves us. What ever the experience was, it usually becomes the peg that we begin to hang our outer garments of faith on.

Recently I have been thinking about the life of Jesus and the twelve. I was thinking about how Jesus led Peter, James, and John up the hill to witness the transfiguration. I was thinking how when faced with the condemnation of the woman caught in a trap of adultery Jesus drew in the dirt creating tension within the crowd. How Jesus taught from the boat, the hill, and the cross. Or how Jesus talked about the vines, the harvest, the sick, the eye of the needle, and the Kingdom of God. I imagine how all this must have been an incredible experience. The reflections on these events, teachings, and days must have crystallized in the lives of the disciples as they reflected on them.

Jesus uses words like seek, search, hope, find, look, touch, speak, taste, and see; all these words are experiential words. They are words that demand we act, that we participate, that in all ways we use all that we are (all our five senses, all our intellect, and all our intuition) to go deeper with God, to know Him more, to have an experience with him.

This is what we want the children of TJN to live-out. We want them to know, cognitively (with their brain), who God is. Even more so, we want children to experience God in their lives by taking steps of faith, by seeking Him in times of joy and sorrow, by having an encounter with the Creator of the Universe that radically transforms their life.

This passion for experience has begun to lead us into a new year of ministry. A year that isn’t full of programs, but is rich in experience. Experience that stretches children to lean on God, that waters their thirst for adventure with God, that takes the sterile words of learning and turns them into road worn words of action. We want children to have experiences that bring them closer in their relationships with their family. Experiences that show them how to build love into their relationships with their peers. Experiences that rip away the veil that hides the authentic and vibrant relationship with their Heavenly Father.

We believe that it is through experiences that we can speak the language of children most effectively. What they observe, encounter, and overcome will be the things that take up permanent residence in their childhood and will become the foundation of their adulthood.

Environment vs Sincerity

2007-09-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-17T21:39:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-09-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-17T10:27:00.001-05:00

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

2007-09-10T22:13:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-05T09:35:00.001-05:00

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

AWESOME

2007-09-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

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.

Art Show Sunday Pictures

2007-08-29T11:15:00.000-05:00

Jazzed, Schizo, and Grade A

2007-08-28T08:35:00.000-05:00

In two days it will be September and the unofficial beginning of fall. Fall means many different things to people in different ways. For me it means winter is coming, my favorite season, and it means the beginning of a new ministry year. A new ministry year means recruitment, my Yin and Yang. I love recruitment and I hate it….it’s both good and bad....it makes me feel schizo at times.

Here’s why I love recruitment…

It affords me the freedom to ooze ministry mission. I get to talk about the potential we have to build into the lives of children and families. I get to repeat our mission statement, “Helping children and families understand and live-out God’s truth and love.” It amazes me how excited I get when I live in this mode. I truly believe in the deepest recess of my heart that we (the church) have an incredible opportunity to harvest and plant in the best Grade A field in the all of humanity. We get to work with the greatest treasure the human race has ever had. We have the privilege of working with and supporting parents in helping their children connect with God. How can that not be exciting?!

Recruitment affords me great opportunity to hear the passions of others. I love hearing what makes people jump out of their chair with excitement. I believe that it’s important that each year we reassess and ask our staff to reassess their involvement in Children’s Ministry. Many times I hear people’s joy of working with the children; “I love the kids”, “they are so amazing how the pick up the truth”, and “I miss them when they leave” are common comments I have heard from people who serve. It makes me feel good on the inside when I hear these things.

Envisioning what we can do together is a powerful force. When I begin thinking about who is serving and what it is that God has planned for us to do I get jazzed!! Believing that we can do incredible things together. Believing that God has planned, gifted, and may I say ordained for us to lead, teach, and reveal kids to him is why I get out of bed. As an introvert, I like being alone at times, but I don’t like doing things alone. I went golfing once alone, I didn’t like it. I like thinking alone, but I don’t like living out life alone. Recruitment reminds me that I can’t do this alone and that God didn’t design us to do ministry alone. Instead, God designed us to believe in what we can do together. He designed us to envision what is possible as a body of Christ empowered with the Holy Spirit to do amazing and incredible good works.

So this week and the next I fight against my fears and embrace my passion, my mission, and the joy that comes at the end to see God put into place the pieces that will build up a generation of World Changers ready to live-out God’s truth and love in a world so hungry for it. I invite you to join me in this. You can pray or you can pray and get involved.

Three-Tre-Trio

2007-08-21T08:41:00.000-05:00

Three Things That God Taught Me This Past Week

Dream BIG: If you asked me if I was dreaming big with the Odyssey of the Arts I would have said yes. But now I look back and wonder, "did I dream big enough?" So now I'm DREAMING BIGG for next year.
Strength: He will give me strength. I certainlly felt God's sustaining power in my life this past week.
Follow: Follow God's leading and he will take you to an incredible place and through some incredible adventures.

Tre Things I Would Do Different

Beginnings: I would start way earlier than I did. Like planning now for next year.
Training: I would have better training for our Pod Leaders.
Advertising: I will advertise in more strategic places, like the Art in the Park or another similar event.

Trio of Things That Were Special To Me

The support from the church staff. Those who I work closely with all week long all took a part in the Odyssey of the Arts and that really has been a great blessing to me. Thanks Mark, Sheila, Key, Aaron, and Nicole!
Odyssey of the Arts was by far the most fun camp I've ever been a part of. It has truely been a blessing to me.
Some people were very concerned that I was leaving on Sunday. Although this isn't Odyssey related it still made me feel good. On Sunday we announced that Bret Toman was moving on from leadership of out YOUTH MINISTRY and that Aaron Sutton was taking over. I had some people come up to me after the church service to express their concern that I was leaving. But I'm not and it's great to feel loved and appreciated.

Post Odyssey of the Arts

2007-08-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

Odyssey of the Arts is over and boy am I tired! But...man...it was such a blast!!

You can check out some pics and the video from the church service here.

Exciting First Night!!

2007-08-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

What an exciting first night at the Odyssey of the Arts!! Here's a quick recap..

45 Kids attended
Art Girl squirted everyone with water
There was an amazing storm, thankfully we didn't have to seek shelter from it.
Lots of artists expressed some amazing creativity
Kids met "Spicolli"
Michelle and Eileen, the art teachers for the day, were AMAZING!!
We introduced our "it's not about me" aspect of the camp.
Kids had a great time!!

Tonight we express our creativity in Photography. Pray for good weather so we can take pictures outside.

Preschool Camp kicks off tonight as well. Diane Resche is leading it and she has some awesome things planned for the kids. If you haven't registered your kids make sure you do that because the preschool camp is almost full!!

Please continue to pray for the kids as they connect with God through the expression of their creativity.

Oyssey Update

2007-08-12T23:45:00.000-05:00

It's the eve of the first day, the rooms are all prepped, the volunteers are ready to go, the campers are signing up....it's almost GO TIME!!

This week we'll utilize more than 50 volunteers and serve more than 70 kids (40-50 elementary and 30 preschool). I'm so excited I don't know if I should be scared or elated!!

There is one note on the Preschool Class...IT'S ALMOST FULL!! We have room for about 10 more kids. Because of space issues we are only able to accommodate about 30 preschool kids. If you are thinking of registering your kids then I suggest registering online here or call the church office 218.824.5617. Once the number reaches 30 we'll have to close registration.

Watch this space for updates over the next 4 days!!

What's still needed?

2007-08-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

I've been getting a lot of questions about the Odyssey of the Arts Camp next week, the two most common questions are:

"How many kids are coming?"

"Not enough" is usually my answer. At the risk of sounding greedy...I want more, more, more!! I don't think we'll ever have enough kids coming to satisfy my appetite. I want more and more kids to connect with God, to express their creativity, to worship God with their talents. I'll never have enough kids at the Odyssey of the Arts! So get your kids, grand kids, nieces & nephews, neighbors kids (with their parents permission) registered today!!

The second question is...

"Where do you still need help?"

We really need people to be Art Pod Leaders & Assistants for both the elementary (4 day) and preschool (1 day) camps. This is the most critical role at the camp. These people will be the ones who get to know the kids the best, they get to see and experience first hand God's transforming power. These are the people who get to be in the midst of kids sharing prayer requests, making funny faces, building friendships, and making an eternal impact in their lives. While women are need and are important...we especially need men, men that can be a positive model of who Christ is.

There's one area that no one has asked about though...Digital Cameras.

When we made the decision to try to go with digital cameras for the kids to experience photography, we knew it was a risky idea. After all who would want to let a kid use their multi-hundred dollar camera. You know the one that you bought a couple of years ago that's now half the pixels that the most current models are selling for. There are art mediums that haven't changed for thousands of years (watercolor, pottery, basket weaving) and then there's photography. My children don't even know what "film" is! When my 6 year old was 2 she used to walk up to her grandpa's film camera and ask to see the picture after he took it. All she's known is digital. We want to help kids to express and experience the art of photography through modern tools that will allow us to use and print their images the same day. This can't happen though unless we have some people who are willing to take a small risk and allow some children to experience the beautiful creation that God made through the art of photography. Here's the skinny, the kids will be with 1-2 adults at all times, they won't be running around playing catch with cameras. They'll treat them with respect and if on the slimmest chance that one gets broken we'll (TJN and me personally) will make sure you get a replacement. If you have a camera you'd be willing to let some kids use please email me (brichmond@thejourneynorth.com) or fill out this form online.

I also want to say thank you to all those who have volunteered to help. Most all of the support positions are filled. We have people helping and providing snacks, cleaning rooms, setting up, registering kids, and keeping us all safe. Thank you...Thank you...and Thank you.

Refuse of Society

2007-08-06T22:31:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine thought that she could find something of value in the garbage. So she crawled in found what she was looking for and then climbed back out with her treasure. Unfortunately for her, someone caught her on camera and sent me her picture.

When I think of this picture, the following verse comes to mind from Matthew 9:1-12.

"While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

Jesus was asked about his associations with those who were viewed as the refuse of society. A couple of times the religious leaders of his day asked him about his contact with "sinners". Each time Jesus shows love, compassion, and grace towards these social garbage people.

Jesus came to earth to be with us, he cast off his holy glory and lived among us sinners. Jesus jumped into the garbage can that is our lives and comes out triumphant with us as his treasure. What a beautiful picture. While we might think that trash diving is not so glamorous, God did it willingly and came out smiling.

How about you have you jumped in the trash to lift up a treasure?

*all pictures used with permission by Shiela who's a good sport

What's on this blog?

2007-08-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

There's a debate in the cyber world on what should be posted on a blog, especially with pastors and ministry leaders. There are basically two views; 1. Don't say anything that's personal or controversial, and 2. Share it all, bare your soul with abandon. And of course there are some degrees between the two.

I've been thinking about this for a while and here's where this blog and my personal belief lies.

I will never say anything inappropriate about my ministry, my church, people I know, ministries I don't know, churches I don't know, and people I don't know. In short I will not blast or demean the body of Christ or it's members. If I do you have permission to take me to task.

However, I will share my personal feelings, frustrations, and perspectives. Sometimes this will seem to cross the line of what I said above. The difference is one is outward focused (the paragraph above) the other is inward pain. I believe that one of the greatest tragedies in the life of people is keeping inward pain inside. I believe that we should share our pain with one another so we can build, encourage, and convict one another. So I will share my inward pain.

I hope that this will not scare you away from reading in the future, but instead I hope that my openness will help you to release your pain and find a healthy relationship with God, yourself, and others.

Unexpected Moments

2007-08-02T17:08:00.001-05:00

Recently I had two unexpected moments related to the Odyssey of the Arts camp.

On July 2nd about a dozen people gathered together in our Adult Education Room to stuff Odyssey of the Arts postcards in packets to be handed out at the 4th of July parade. In a matter of hours these faithful individuals managed to stuff more than 5,000 postcards. It was an incredible feat and an advertising venture that I wondered if it would pay dividends. This past week I started to see some return on the hard work of these people. One of the greatest outcomes is that neither of them go to the Journey North and one of the moms I talked to was so excited to have her daughter involved and even asked if she could come and sit in on an art class. What an awesome answer to prayer!

Originally when I thought of staffing for the Odyssey of the Arts I thought of the people who were already members/attenders of TJN. But recently I've been talking to people with arts backgrounds who came to church for the first time and felt like this was an adventure and church that they could get involved in. I talked to one lady who had googled another local church and one of the search hits was our website. She decided to come check it out and heard about the Arts Camp and said that her undergrad degree was in Art History and that this camp was "right down her alley". My limited thinking was that we could reach kids with the arts, God showed me that we'll be reaching adults as well. Thank God that he is much bigger, smarter, and plans bigger than I do!

My Adventures in Intentional Ministry

When Doing the Right Thing is the Wrong Thing

Hearing is Reading is Writing

Sharing is a good thing....

Noiseless Joyful Noise

What Do You Do With Experiences?

Why Fear The Apocalypse

Orange Carols and Purple Songs

MBT: Experience is a Great Reminder

Oh How Fun is Criticism?

Burnt Waffles and Life Lessons

Recruiting Strategies

T-23 – Decreasing through Increase

Hello...Long time no see

Steven Curtis Chapman Commentary on CNN

Team Chemistry

Odyssey Evaluations

2 Days after Odyssey

Odyssey Day 1

Odyssey is Coming

Odyssey of the Arts -- over 30 days away

Day 3 Session 6 – Don’t Eat the Glue – Phil Vischer

Day 3 -- Session 5 "Notes From You're Best Friend" David Staal

Conspire Day 2 -- Family Ministry Strategy For a Medium Sized Church

Conspire Day 2 -- Mastering Creative Communication Techniques

Conspire Day 2 -- Multi-Site Issues for Children's Ministry

Conspire Conference Day 1 *UPDATED*

Conspire -- Travel Day

I'm Off Conspiring!!

Odyssey is Coming

Monkey...Get Off My Back!!

Draining and Filling

3 things to remember when working with People

Mike Kuck is...

Horton Hears a Who Review

Peeps...242 Peeps

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take

Easter Confessional Pt 2

Easter Confessional -- Part 1

Vacation

3 H's and a Smile

Know Thy Self

Here I am. I am on my...

Miracle, Glory, Waterboy....Amazing

Upside of Death Videos

So, I'm sitting here...

White as Snow

Week 2 -- Celebrating Death

Upside of Death Drama

TJN's Own Ace of Cakes

It's Coming....

I'm Giving You All She's Got, Captain!

Can you say it?

111

Merry Christmas

My Christmas Card Self Appreciation, pt 2

My Christmas Card Self Appreciation, pt 1

Golden Compass Movie Review

More Chicks

What do you get the person that has nothing?

The Ideal Staff Person

Journey Johnny & Journey Janey Discussion

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 11/16/2007

Positive is Positive and Negative is Negative

Staff Meeting & Business Meetings are AWESOME!

What's the Purpose?

Bee Movie Review

Kisses from Strangers

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 11/02/2007

My Next Kidology Movie Review

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly???

Today's (not so) 1 Hit Oneder Videos 10/26/2007

Remember

Team Diagnostics

Today's 1 Hit Oneders for 10/19/2007

Experience & Program part 3

YouTube Vortex

Today's 1 Hit Oneder Videos 10/12/2007

Experience & Program part 2

Experience & Program part 1

Conspire Conference Day 1 UPDATED