The first Sunday following the last day of school is technically the first Sunday of summer. With students living in two counties, my church kids have only 65 days to do all they want to do, or all they don’t want to do before the first day of the next school year.

So with my big silver bucket, the Children’s Moment invites the students to think about their summer bucket list. A bucket list is a written list of things to accomplish before the end of a season. One of my WCKids shared she wants to have a lemonade stand. Another shared she wants to go to Disney World even though her Mom says, ‘It’s not happening.”

I am a list-maker by DNA. There is something therapeutic about a list where everything is marked off. So these are the items I shared with the children at the first Children’s Moment of the summer, partly for the accountability of it:

• See Despicable Me 3 and Wonder at the movies. If you haven’t had a chance to read Wonder, you are missing out. Be sure to get the one with the extra chapter “Julian”.
• Watch the sunrise.
• Go to the pool. I don’t know why this is so hard for me, but my summer is so filled with non-pool things, I can hardly get there. This year with the grands living close by and after two great weeks of swim lesson boot camp, going to the pool is a ‘got-to-do.’
• Be at VBS….in a tutu….on Tuesday. Yep, gonna make each day something special and we will have Tutu Tuesday at VBS.
• Do something kind for someone in secret….don’t tell anyone…just do it…at least once a week.
• Read my bible everyday. I read my bible everyday, but more than just in the morning. Reading the Proverbs chapter that corresponds with the day of the month. I even downloaded the app “She Reads Truth” and starting the 1 & 2 Timothy reading plan with the KidMin Intern Team.
• Learn something new.

What’s on your summer bucket list?

“Those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.” Proverbs 14:22b

Wesley Chapel Academy is a series of classes presented on a Friday evening 6-7:30pm which teach life skills to students in 1st through 5th grade. The first three classes offered teaching and practice for housekeeping basics, cooking basics, and sewing basics. The fourth class of life skills focused around using power tools. It was shared with me by a counselor many years ago that if a person learns to use power tools, they are less likely to be taken advantage off. I wanted this for the girls and boys in my world.

Two amazingly gifted tool-men in our congregation answered the invite through bulletin and newsletter to join in the fun and planning. My son-in-law broke apart wooden pallets and removed all the metal giving the project a rustic feel and a great starting product. We set up outside in the shade to help with cleanup.

Supplies: circular saw, drill, screws, saw horses, clamps, hammers, aprons, carpenter pencils, screw drivers, D-hook hangers, nails, sandpaper, safety glasses and goggles, ear plugs, measuring tape

After introductions and much talk about safety, students were taught to use a measuring tape to mark off the line to cut. As they waited and listened to the ‘circular saw talk’, each student sanded their wood piece to take care of rough edges and keep their hands busy. If hands are busy, minds are calm. Using clamps and proper hand placement, each student cut their own piece of wood with the circular saw.

Sanding continued as we took a water and story break. I shared how Jesus was a carpenter, and his earthly father was a carpenter from Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3: an apprentice is one who has a teachable spirit to learn tasks to honor the Lord. Jesus was Joseph’s apprentice. We are apprentices of Jesus.

Back outside, students discovered the difference between a nail and a screw as each student measured where to connect the cut pieces of wood and install a hanger on the back of each project.

After the group photo, students were able to keep the tool apron, a carpenter’s pencil, measuring tape, two screwdrivers, and received a certificate.

Wesley Chapel Academy is an outreach ministry of WCKids. Completing this first season of four academy classes, 56% of attendance were students who we did not know beforehand. Four of the nine adult tutors were members of our congregation, but WCA was their first experience serving at the church. With an average class of 12 students, we used $200 for all four classes. The most expensive class was the cooking basics at $125. Advertising and registration through Eventbrite brought in 12.5% of our attendance, which proved effective marketing outside our own typical social media.

Thank you notes are going out in the mail this week for all our tutors and youth helpers. Fifth graders who will be aging up have already asked to be youth helpers for next spring. Each class proved to be greater than I ever imagined. Not sure yet what we will teach next season, but this is an outreach program that is here to stay.  Oh, the possibilities!

“Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood.” Exodus 15:25

We decided several years ago while evaluating our worship experience that we would be a local church which worships as a family. We plan nothing else and no other programming takes place during the two worship experiences. This way our kids can see their parents sing, give, pray, learn to engage and participate in the worship experiences of our faith tradition. This meant we would bring back the order of worship in the front of our hymnal which puts the sermon in the middle, add more visual elements through art, video, and space, and offer more music/liturgy with repetition. This was fine as our Ministry Insights reported we had no little-littles, and most of our kids were 2nd-5th graders.

Today there are more families moving into the area with little-littles. To offer a Sunday morning worship experience where the littles (and mamas) aren’t experiencing separation anxiety, when their little is too heavy to ‘wear’ anymore, and guest parents wish to get to know the congregation better through worship, we started talking.

We talked at Worship committee. We talked with our current mamas of littles. We talked with trustees. We talked with grandparents who wanted to worship with their adult children and grandchildren. We talked with the Lord in prayer.

The name “prayground” comes from Rev. Catherine Renken, pastor of Kirkwood Presbyterian Church in Kennesaw, GA who brainstormed with others when the prayground at Grace in Apple Valley, MN was being built. The name has caught on.

Though different churches have put it into practice in different ways, a prayground is a place in the front of the sanctuary where young children can experience worship through age-appropriate worship materials and tools that will help keep them engaged in worship. (Traci Smith)

We put together a packet of colored photos of what praygrounds looked like in other churches. We talked in every small group gathering. Even with the small group of ladies who prepare the Sanctuary and fold bulletins each Thursday afternoon. I wore it like a sandwich board and made it a topic of every single conversation at every table. We posted on social media every blog post or article we could find that would keep it at the forefront of our family’s minds and hearts.

A grandparent proposed preparing a prayground at the Administrative Council. Lots of discussion took place. A motion was made and approved unanimously for us to give it a try and re-evaluate come September. There are several intentional preschool entry events happening this summer so trying it out now would be a great next step to invite our community to worship as a family. Though the Ad Council meeting closed in prayer in the meeting room, everyone gathered for more conversation at the proposed space to get a ‘picture’ of what it might look like before heading home. The Staff-Parish Relations Committee Chairperson took the point of public champion and spoke about it at every service fielding all the questions for three weeks.

Promoted in person, bulletin and newsletter announcements, social media posts, and a sermon series on attitudes including the attitudes of gratitude and compassion kept the conversations going. Our pastor and trustees removed the pews, grandparents steam cleaned the floor space, rugs were ordered from Amazon, the senior pastor painted the wall, a trustee performed a safety inventory and made adjustments, other grandparents provided board books, foam blocks, receiving blankets, a bouncy seat, and a few small machine-washable stuffed animals.

We opened on the best day possible: Mother’s Day. The prayground space was used in both services, by two families, three generations each. A daughter-in-law led the first family when 20 minutes in, her preschooler was stacking foam blocks with his suited-up grandfather. A grandmother led the second family to the prayground when 20 minutes in, a toddler was engaged with his daddy in the front row and his grandfather in the pew behind. He bolted at one point and the youth corralled him before he ran up the steps of the chancel area. No one missed a beat. This endeavor was and is so worth the tension. We are worshiping as a family of faith. Prayers and praises for the champions who waved the banner!

“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:14

Christy Wright is a speaker/coach and the face of Business Boutique, a part of the Dave Ramsey brand. Though I listen to other leadership podcasts, her’s is the one that I relate to the most as it speaks to women in business. She acknowledges that as a woman in business, I don’t do all my best work behind a desk, but typically at the dining room table with the dog needing to be let out, the laundry on the other side of the table, a toddler’s mac-n-cheese on the chair to my left, a teenager’s forgotten gym bag at my feet, and the most up-to-date family calendar on my fridge. I lead a business…ministry with children in a local church…with a personal mission to know God and make Him known in every area of my life.

She shared last week on her podcast five qualities necessary for running a small business. She spoke truth. These same five qualities are exactly what I have experienced are necessary to lead effectively in ministry with children in the local church over the long haul.

1. Be resourceful – Use what you already have. It may appear that someone else has more money, more land, more space, more supplies, more volunteers, more kids, yet God has called YOU to this community to be His shining light. Christy says, “When you shine in your gifts, people see God.” Shine on!

2. Be scrappy – Be willing to do whatever it takes to get it done.
When you run out of something, you improvise because we don’t have to be perfect in budget, attendance, or resources to get the job done of expressing the love of God, pointing little people to Jesus, or equipping Mamas to be the spiritual champions for their littles. Our battle is real. Our adversary is formidable. Our prayers are powerful. His Word is armor. Be scrappy. Not because of who YOU are, but because of who HE is! I’m in the middle of the bible study of Geri Scazzero’s The Emotionally Healthy Woman. It’s helping me to be scrappy well.

3. Be persistent – Don’t give up.
I can’t count the number of ideas that were complete failures in my house (my local church), but because I shared it on my blog or at a workshop, someone else pulled it off with great success and that leader was kind enough to give testimony. Keep trying. 60% of sales transactions come after four interactions. We are all salespeople and we are all in business, so learn the best practices of marketing and communicating to build relationships. I’m reading Gail Z. Martin’s 30 Days To Social Media Success to keep my skills sharp. If anyone’s in the business of building relationships, it’s those who dedicate their lives to ministry with children and introducing them to a sold-out relationship with Jesus. So don’t give up.

4.  Be creative – Surround yourself with creative people who want to be creative with you. I’ve learned that just because someone’s expertise is graphic arts, set decoration, or kids with special needs doesn’t mean they want to share their gift in the local church. I don’t get it, but it happens. Release them, forgive them, and move on. I’ll take faithfulness and enthusiasm any day over giftedness. Our monthly kidmin network lunch is filled with the most creative people on the planet and thankfully they take my calls.

5. Be willing to try – Risk is always involved in advancing the cause of Christ, so don’t stay in the dreaming phase. Talk about your dreams for your ministry a lot. All the time. Bring it up in every conversation. Wear it like a sandwich-board sign. I’m in the middle of reading Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High. This may not be their lives, but it’s God’s call on yours. Everyone is consumed with something happening in their own lives, so you have to wave your flag, banner, sign all. the. time. Champions come not from the words written in a bulletin or an occasional announcement at the beginning of Sunday services. It’s only face-to-face when folk can see your energy, the tone in your voice, and you can make the ask.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for God’s people will arise from another place, but you and your family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

The insight reports share that most of the students in my immediate community are 2nd grade and older which inspired us to begin CLUB345 for 3rd-5th graders six years ago. The 2017 CLUB345 theme came from Children’s Ministry Deals presenting the life of King David in colors. Each night we gathered with a color theme matching the life of David. We’ve been waiting all year for this very night to close out the 2016-2017 school season with our CLUB345 families.

We were blown away at the generosity of Team Smith who provided a taco bar with lots of color for family dinner for us all. Each fifth grader was presented with our traditional parting gift of their first names in scriptures that are timely for wisdom and continuing to grow in the knowledge of our great God. 5×7 frames come from Amazon, decorated lunch bags serve as the background, and a long list of scriptures collected over the years make for an inexpensive yet personal gift for each fifth grader. If you’d like the list of scriptures, send me an email at dedereilly@comcast.net.

Families went on a color scavenger hunt – gotta fit in the white lunch bag and can only collect from the children’s hallway. THEN, 20 seconds to return it all! Afterwards, it’s outside to play our two favorite games: the shoe game and a pool noodle sword game.

Amazon offers a Color Powder Party Box we ordered in January for around $50 for fun beyond belief, then continued the messiness with kiddy pools filled with water and Dollar Tree water shooters. Our BEST idea was to put out on social media a request for a free, amateur photographer to take the photos. Mamas weren’t getting anywhere near the color powders and we wanted colorful photos to use for the remainder of the summer for various purposes. Ms. Martha took AMAZING photos and had a dvd dropped off at my office door before I arrived with keys at 9am on Monday.

The littles in the family got a chance to play with ‘the big kids’ and it is the best thing we do to build their excitement for when they start third grade.

“The end of a thing is better than it’s beginning.” Ecclesiastes 7:8 KJV