Monday, December 27, 2010

The Spiritual Use of a Cricut

I could write a whole series on the subject of the many ways a Cricut could bless our lives. Click the link if you just thought, "huh"! I got my Cricut Expression with one goal in mind, a spiritual, family centered, Deuteronomy 6, type of goal, 6 months ago, that I've yet to accomplish.

I've read several books that talked about praying scripture over our children. This was a new concept for me. But, from that grew an idea to put a Scripture/blessing on each of my children's walls. I've been trying to decide just which verse to go in each of their rooms ... for a year. It would be easy to stick with praying Scripture, I wouldn't have to make a decision on one verse that will stick on their wall semi-permanently.

I want the Scripture to be in the form of a blessing ... a direction for their lives to take, a glimpse of their future spiritual selves. Otherwise, a self-serving verse such as Exodus 20:12 would work great in large 6 inch bold letters.
"Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you".


So, my goal is to make a decision on the verse in the next day, cut it out and put it up in their rooms. What a great way to start the New Year for each of the kids! Well, at least the one that can read. The other one will probably use it as a target. But, it will be a good reminder that David and I are purposed by God to raise our children to love God with all their hearts, soul, mind and strength.

Christmas Break

This week the kids are both out of school and we don't have any Bible classes at church so I'm taking my own Christmas break. I find it helpful to take full advantage of the "down-time". When January comes, we begin planning all sorts of fun things: Art Camp, Leadership Retreat, Vicki Courtney Simulcast from Moms and Daughters, and we get to decorate "The Park" and finish some other decorations. Part of me keeps thinking of little things I could go to the church building and do now, but, then I remind myself that the kids will be back in school in 8 days, we will be traveling for part of that, my bedroom needs to be organized, and River needs to finish her Science Fair project.

Yesterday, I bought a bike. I started spin class last year and love it but I'm needing to ditch the costly gym membership so David convinced me to use my Christmas money to buy the bike I've been wanting. Reese used his money to buy his seat. This is important. My only free time is free time with Reese. I used to be able to take Reese to the gym and get to work at a reasonable hour but now that River is at her new school, I spend a lot more time dropping off and picking up. I've been paying for the right to say I am a member of a gym over the last few months. Unfortunately, the benefits only happen if I actually use the gym.

River's science fair project is on Geocaching. Geocaching is a super cheap, family fun, outdoor activity. Geocacher's hide objects all around the city and put the coordinates on a website. Other cacher's use the coordinates to find the caches and log them. For the kids, there are fun little treasures to trade. I'm thinking about hiding one at the church building as yet another way to encourage families to spend some time together.

My goal for Christmas Break is to organize a couple of seriously neglected rooms in our house so I can have people over again. Yeah, we'll see if that happens. Organization and children really don't go well together.

Today it is freezing outside. The high is supposed to be 50-ish. That is way too cold for me. There was ice in the dog bowl this morning. Tomorrow though, we should be near the 70's so the kids and I are going to go look for treasure ... and do the Science Fair project. If you see my family wandering around a greenbelt holding iPhones and GPS units, don't worry, we know what we are doing! We might be lost but we have technology to save us :-)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

"What I Wished They Told Me In College" - Volunteers

So, I've been thinking about this one for quite sometime. If you are a children's minister, you do A LOT of recruiting. And, not only recruiting, but the eventual volunteer management that comes with the job of overseeing a ministry with lots of volunteers. Depending on the number of classes we are staffing and the number of children attending some of the younger classes, we have 40-60 volunteer positions to fill each week. That is a lot! A WHOLE LOT. And since some of those positions are filled by someone that only serves in that one position every 13 weeks, I've estimated that it can take 100 people or more a month to do everything that is needed to be done in the children's ministry. One last statistic and then I'll move on. In a church that has an average attendance of 400-450, that means I use 25% of those in attendance to staff a months worth of classes. And remember, we, in the Church of Christ, will count EVERY HEAD when we count our attendance, and I dare say the heads under 13 years old are  not eligible to serve many of the volunteer needs in their own classrooms. And, we have a few heads with pretty silver hair or even no hair that really couldn't serve in the ministry even if they wanted to (and some really want to) so our pool of possible "volunteers" quickly dwindles from 450 to 400 to even 350.

What am I saying? No one ever said that recruiting volunteers to staff a children's ministry is not only a HARD task but is an almost IMPOSSIBLE task at times.

I know, you are probably thinking, "In God, nothing is impossible". Yeah, your right. It's not impossible. It's almost impossible. And anything that is sticking it's little toe over into the almost impossible category can be a lot overwhelming for, well, anyone that is a Mom, Wife, and Minister.

So, what would I tell anyone fresh in ministry about the almost impossible task of recruiting volunteers.
1) Develop a list of priorities for your ministry. What is most important to the spiritual growth of children, the churches numerical growth and to the parents? Rank it. Be ready to let go of what ranks lowers so the most important tasks receives both the financial and human resources that are needed.
2) Start from a resource management point of view. We all know it, but, hate to admit it. Sometimes we just have more classes than our church is able to staff. Some special events pull volunteers from places they are needed. Do what you can and let go of the rest.
3) Pray, pray, pray. Probably should be #1. You get the gist. God is in control.
4) Develop an Ephesians 4 culture. God has given each person a ministry. Don't look at the holes to be filled. Look at the giftedness of the person and ask them what they need to best serve God.
5) Understand that everyone is in a different place. That's ok. Maybe someone feels that they have "done their time". Could they give a Sunday a quarter in the nursery? Maybe someone is an excellent teacher but has little time. Could you use a curriculum system that minimizes preparation?
6) Be flexible. We can't have all the classes we want to have. We can't go as "all-out" as we want to go. Let go of what must be let-go of so that the tasks that are within reach are done well. Then, take the next step.
7) Don't be afraid to ask. Most people just want to be noticed. They may not know that they are qualified for a particular volunteer position. Just ask. Talk. Encourage. Equip. Speak God's blessings into their lives. You will only get a handful of "ready" volunteers. The rest, need your investment.