Every summer our Conference of the United Methodist Church holds its annual business meeting in June. For many of my KidMin colleagues, those are the weeks of Vacation Bible School and summer camps. Me, too. But what if you were able to carve out the time to be an at-large delegate to be part of the process?

For every clergy delegate there is a lay delegate. Some clergy delegates are retired, on medical leave, on loan to other UM Conferences. When we gather each year to discuss resolutions, share celebration reports, hear amazing preaching, and participate in various worship experiences, there are lay people who make ‘the representative pair’ of one clergy and one lay person.

I have been honored and thrilled to be an at-large delegate for my district for many years. My whys?  Networking, collaboration, table life with those I admire, face time with folks I have served with from day-one. I listen/participate in the debates of everything from church property management, promote and voice the needs of my KidMin colleagues, and vote on resolutions that help define our position in areas of social justice and mission.

There are specific activities for those engaged in Christian education, young adults, a fantastic team of youth delegates, clergy women, UM Men, UM Women, a 5K, and so much more. Baby Girl was a delegate in high school and college for years before I got involved. I would wait in anxious expectation for when she’d come home sharing stories of her experiences each year and decided I wanted in. I contacted our District Office and asked if there was a need or opening for an at-large delegate and the rest is history.

The district offers a stipend to cover hotel and meal expenses…our apportionment dollars at work to do intentional church business and give me access to people, places, and programs that can support our local churches and other KidMin champions in the trenches. Standing in support of colleagues at their ordination service, hearing the retired clergy speeches, and honoring those who have gone on to Glory in the last year are just a few of my can’t-misses.

Plans are in the works to have a gathering of KidMin champions while I’m there this year because we are better together in connection. Face time is always better than screen time. If you want to drink from the fire-hose of varied worship (as varied as our congregations across our Conference), have face time with folks who can make KidMin things happen, and get access to resources you didn’t even know were available in our own backyard, perhaps you’d like to join me in Athens to be an at-large delegate or a delegate from your local church at the 2017 Annual Conference. I guarantee it’s worth the conversations to get the ball rolling. And I’d love to share some table life with you.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

Ever heard of WordSwag? It’s an app from the app store that lets you pick a background, add text, then post on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. A great guy from a church from the Northeast USA showed me over lunch how to put out beautiful graphic text at a church administration training last summer to market my ministry. I’ve been learning a lot about marketing my ministry over the last 10 years. Lots of books, lots of reading, lots of training, lots of podcasts, lots of conversation.

Imagine we are having lunch or tea (and if we ever get the chance to do either, let’s do it!). Pull out your phone and download the WordSwag app. Open the app and press the ‘two photos’ button.

In the pixabay images search bar, type in ‘cup’ or whatever image background you wish. Pick your image, then choose to crop it or accept one of the various crop settings (I typically use ‘facebook post’) that shows up below the image. Press ‘SKIP’.

Double tap the ‘double tap me to change text’ which will bring you to a box to type the text you wish after x-ing out the ‘double tap me to change text’ or backspacing over the text in the upper right hand corner. Type in the text you wish.  Tap the ‘SAVE & CLOSE’ tab and move the text with your finger to where you’d like it to be on the background. Here comes the fun…

Tap the style tabs below the image and the various options to change how the text looks. The other tabs are fun to pick the color of the text and even change the background hue and shading. You can change the blur and even the brightness with a slider tab along the bottom. When you are satisfied with your image/text, tap ‘SAVE’. Don’t overthink it!

I typically get a ‘whoops couldn’t save it’, but just go on. I follow the couple of prompts to post to Instagram from here because after I add a caption to Instagram, it gives me options to post to Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms so I don’t have to retype a caption. You can even add a location. Hit SHARE and it’s done.

Single images are better than a collage. Blues and greens cause folks to linger on your images longer than red or orange. Putting your image or announcement through WordSwag and posting it on Facebook will let you SAVE your image to use for everything else so to use the same visual for current and future marketing.

If you’re using it for an upcoming event, be sure to send it to the church admin who prepares the bulletin, sanctuary media folks, etc as soon as possible so to keep consistency in the visual marketing. These folks are your best partners in getting the word out and offering your image/announcement to be shared in-house and beyond social media.

How’d ya do?

“We will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.” Numbers 10:32

There are so many things that thrill me to the bone about serving Jesus with little people: singing, dancing, teaching, candy, nursery photos of baby silliness, games, the Bible, children’s moments, faith milestones, field trips, camping retreats, dancing (love me some dancing before the Lord so it gets listed twice), and the laughter, oh the laughter.

To keep it short, here are four things that will be thrilling me to the bone about serving my Jesus with little people in the next 90 days:

1. Testimony – I will be challenging my students to give testimony. Think “Show & Tell”, but about what God is doing in their lives and using the power of their spoken words to claim His presence in their every day. Our church 2017 theme is to “Let the light of Jesus shine through you” and I wish for their words to do just that with boldness and confidence.
2. Wesley Chapel Academy – We will begin a series of Friday evenings to learn life skills. After setting up the EventBrite registration, the first class filled up in less than 48 hours. I think we have something here! A dear colleague in my home state of Louisiana shared her organizational plan and the first Academy class is less than two weeks away. Keep an eye on the blog for specifics.
3. Fifth Grade Only Retreat – Our denominational conference is offering a two day retreat for fifth graders specifically addressing ways to worship at our favorite retreat center, Camp Glisson. The place is holy ground for our kids and I am thrilled to be going in March. Blogs will follow for sure!
4. Done In A Day Training – Anyone who serves the Lord with little people will find this Saturday training 9am-12noon super-duper-helpful. Video driven plenaries and workshops with multiple stops for discussion, sharing, and hands-on responses will focus on what we all do every.single.week. : Connecting Kids in Worship, Connecting Kids in Mission, and Connecting Kids in Sunday School. The best thing is that this is taking place in every single district in the North Georgia Conference, at the same time, on the same day! I can’t wait to see what we can get done in a day to bring home to our kids.

What is thrilling you to the bone in the next 90 days?

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.” Isaiah 61:10