Sunday comes every seven days and now that Christmas has been a huge success, it’s time to think about Easter. Let me stop you right there inviting you to take thirty minutes to do two things:
1. Write down five major accomplishments and successes of the last year to report anywhere you can, and
2. Write down five resolutions – lenses through which you’ll look in the year to come.

First, the five major accomplishments/successes of 2019…for me?
1. Parenting With A Purpose Classes for parents and grandparents as we walk into the challenges we face to lead our littles to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength AND love our neighbors as ourselves.
2. Initiated a God & Me and God & Family program for 1st-5th graders to share with their parents who will be recognized on 2020 Scout Sunday in service with brunch.
3. Began an exclusive monthly experience for 3rd-5th graders in play, Bible study, and service we call CLUB345.
4. Offering three Christian education and relationship building, developmentally appropriate experiences for 11am service: K5 & 1st grade Children’s Church, 2nd & 3rd grade Bible Black Belts, 4th & 5th grade Well-Versed Kids deep diving into the Holy Habit of journaling.
5. The incredibly committed leaders who faithfully prepare and execute these experiences and more. I’m surrounded by the most amazing team of Jesus guys and gals! Our team is built not on tasks to be accomplished, but friendships to be made.

Second, the five areas of resolve as my responsibility as a leader in 2020…for me?
1. Jesus every time, every Sunday, all the time.
2. Get trained in community. Attending a training/conference on my own only helps me. But in community, the partnership is plentiful, the brainstorming is relevant, and the implementation is shared so to equip my church and other churches through shared events. #bettertogether
3. Remain in upgrade mode, tossing or passing along what we can not use from the closets, and asking more questions than making statements in every conversation.
4. Stay in the word: The Bible. A regular diet of God’s word lets me know His voice when it’s time to shoot a cannonball or eat a frog. Bible Reading is the holy habit that reminds me He is who He says He is, and I am who He says I am.
5. Offer developmentally appropriate experiences which are sticky where children and families can build relationships with Jesus and one another straight-up…not a stretch…not an afterthought…not just a goal, but the purpose.

Ministry Architects calls this exercise ‘balcony time.’ “In balcony time, we step out of the wild, rushing current of doing ministry and step into a place where we actually work on our ministries. It is in the balcony that we gain the perspective to work on our ministries, not just in them. In the balcony, we find the leverage to move our ministries forward; it’s in the balcony that we learn to say no to secondary priorities in order to attend to the most essential ones.”

Can you schedule some balcony time before you start a new year in ministry?

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8