Memorial Day weekend is always a time of reflection. Reflecting on the families and generations who have given the ultimate sacrifices for my family to live as we do, as well as considering the events of the last school year in our own family.  Over the last school year we have watched families redefine distance- and home-schooling, learned a ton of new things on the fly, and even had a new grandson join our family. Without getting all crazy with emotion, here are four things I love lately:

Resilient Church Academy: Innovation Track and the Master Classes – I have chosen to reflect God’s goodness and generosity in this season. Our Creator is great at sharing and giving to us more than we can imagine for ourselves. To build my imagination muscle, I’m jumping into the deep end of the creativity pool by taking a class each Friday with the goal of setting the stage for taking risks and re-imagining  what faith formation can look like, sound like, smell like, taste like, and feel like for kids and their families. Not an event, but rather a fresh expression of developmentally appropriate faith formation for kids to grow in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man on my watch. With all that we have experienced, what is the Lord waiting with delight for us to discover?  Stay tuned!

Drinking >100 oz of water daily – Grateful for moving into some healthy habits in late January, I’ve learned a lot about hydration. I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV, but some of what I’ve learned is that typical adults daily lose 12 cups of water: 2 cups from perspiration, 6 cups through urine, 2 cups from breathing, and 1 cup through the soles of our feet. I know, TMI! 

My back porch – I’m only slightly joking when I say Mr. Bob and I have discussed a lot the original appeal of our open-concept living space. His work life has changed from being an outside salesman with a 5-day work week to an inside salesman with a 4-day work week. I feel I have a 7-day work week. Don’t judge and don’t make suggestions. I’m an enneagram 3 and it takes a mini-series to turn my brain off, and who’s got time for that? When he’s not in his office and I’m on the phone, I’m on the back porch. I love my back porch!

My Local Church Children’s Ministry Leadership Team – Every leadership team is filled with various creative types and we are better together. As we follow a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit, we’ve taken the Creative Types assessment and have a better understanding of our gifts and skills, so we are throwing everything at a weekly kid-friendly-family-engaging service presented three times each Thursday evening in June, possibly July. Using our collective genius with faithful, and even a few new voices, we are hearing and watching the Holy Spirit blow our minds through the design thinking model of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. Stay tuned!

What are you loving lately?

“Good things come to those who wait, and for experimentalists, it’s never too late to become original.” Adam Grant, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, pg 113

When the guidelines were provided for Drive-in church from our denomination’s leadership, an idea was formed. With the standing goal of resourcing families together to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves, we began planning.

The plan is to offer a kid-friendly-family-engaging service of less than thirty minutes outdoors at three different times. Families with multiples could choose their service as they’d all be the same. We chose a Thursday night so not to interfere with any other ministry choosing to edit their programming or service offerings through the summer. Nothing is as it was and everything is up for innovation. The services will be the same: 6pm for 1st grade and younger; 7pm for 2nd-3rd grade; 8pm for 4th-5th grade. The back parking lot is perfect for sound and no drive-thru traffic on Thursdays.

A ZOOM call with the children’s ministry leadership team gave direction followed by phone calls with the senior pastor, the head of trustees, the head of IT team, the head of AV team, and a super Dad who always has a spirit of YES. We reserved space, ordered an inflatable movie screen from WalMart, thought through the projector needs, and this amazing team of super-servants met at 6pm last Thursday to see where the sun would be and set up for a dry run. An upgrade in sound/visual equipment in our sanctuary offered some replaced equipment which was sitting on a shelf.

The location was perfect, but a tad windy. The inflatable movie screen was awesome to look at, but the wind made it so unstable we had to move it behind the sidewalk we’d hope would serve as a stage area. Moved it so far to rest against the building which was on a slope making the screen low and small. The screen also had a hole in it so it wouldn’t stay upright. We couldn’t get a visual from the projector even though it was in the shade to be seen by the cars in the parking lot. A new projector with the lumens necessary to be seen in the daylight would cost a fortune. We’re now rethinking how or even if we should present the music video and/or the story video. If not a visual, how else do we engage with more than one sense (auditory) to present the message, share the message in the vehicle, and invite families to respond within the boundaries given? The two heavy plastic kiddie pools we’ll use to collect an offering will give us an awesome sound when money is dropped in as families exit. Sidewalk chalk will X-out spaces where there is no parking. Traffic patterns were set and the sun will cooperate for the appropriate shade. More ideas are coming in from folks who have been silent for a while, but have jumped all-in to the deep end of the innovation pool because sharing Jesus with kids in a sticky, fun, and engaging way is the goal for us all.

The Resilient Church Academy has helped me process the fireworks of thoughts and ideas that can only be turned off by watching an historical documentary on Prime TV. What are you watching? Sorry, squirrel moment. Yesterday’s Master Class of mobilizing the resilient gospel spoke of creating spaces for lament, spaces for mission, and spaces for hope. Our Drive-in dry run created space for all three. And I’m good with that.

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17

Family Faith Kit Drive-thru was one of our many responses to the crisis of the pandemic and the resulting quarantine. We started with 35 bags and grew just last week to serving 161 with close to 100 bags. It’s been hugely successful, yet it was our response to the crisis. We can not sustain it physically nor continue offering it with excellence. After much prayer and many a phone conversation, our children’s ministry leadership team decided to end the family faith kit drive-thru on a high note and begin making plans for an intentional opportunity to build on our main goals of (1) resourcing families to keep their eyes on Jesus modeling and leading their kids to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength AND love their neighbors as themselves, AND (2) we’re better together as we follow the rhythm of our community for June and July. Our last Family Faith Kit Drive through will be today, so we wanted to be sure we equipped our families to continue to keep their eyes on Jesus with a Summer Family Faith Kit with the following instructions:

The Summer Family Faith Kit is a way for your family to keep your eyes on Jesus as you vacation and enjoy wonderful family time this summer, building memories around faith practices and holy habits.
In this bag are ways you and your family can…
GROW – JUMP ROPE; THANK YOU SEEDS
• JUMP ROPE to memorize Bible verses with a chant, a song, a rhyme.
• THANK YOU SEEDS – Write a note to Mom & Dad and give them this item inside the note thanking them for helping you to keep your eyes on Jesus during Quarantine and this summer, then plant it together.
TELL – FLAT JESUS; SQUISHY JESUS
• Color FLAT JESUS and then tape it where you brush your teeth to remind you to pray every morning and every evening to thank God, tell God, ask God, to know that God loves you and your family.
• Take a picture of SQUISHY JESUS and post it on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media with #kidsjourneywithJesus as you go/travel from place to place. Going to Grandma’s, take a picture. Going to the store, take a picture. Going to the pool, take a picture. There’s even a Facebook page as we share the Journey with Jesus challenge with other United Methodist Churches in North Georgia. 
SERVE – Mini STARBURST PRAYERS; SUNGLASSES
• STARBURST PRAYERS – Prayers are far from mini in size when offered to a great big God, so as you eat your snack, pray blues by naming those who are sad to find their joy in Jesus, pray pinks by naming those who are sick, pray greens for yourself asking God to help YOU to stay the course of loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength AND loving your neighbor as yourself.
• SUNGLASSES – The sun will be bright as you help others with a challenge to serve someone each day. When they ask you why you helped, you can say, “Because Jesus loves me AND Jesus loves you!”
WORSHIP – DRIVE IN; PRAYER WALK
• Come to the McEachern Kids Drive-In on Thursdays in June beginning June 4
6pm for families with K5 & 1st graders
7pm for families with 2nd & 3rd graders
8pm for families with 4th & 5th graders
If you have multiples, pick your service.
Services will be less than 30 minutes, no restrooms; back lot parking spaces only, bring your Bible as we tailgate together.
Weekly Family fun kits can be picked up at McEachern Kids June Drive-in.
• Use the Nature Prayer Walk to pray as you play on your family walks this summer.
BELONG – JESUS SQUISHY HEART; SIDEWALK CHALK; FUN DIP
• Write a note to your neighbors on your driveway that Jesus loves them, ‘JESUS LOVES YOU’.
• Place the SQUISHY HEART beside your bed to hold as you say your prayers each morning and each night.
• FUN DIP – enjoy right now, because YOU are a McEachern Kid which means YOU will have fun as you live out your faith this summer.

Through it all we want you to remember to take Jesus with you. Jesus is the most important thing in this bag, but especially in your family life, as you go about your day. Jesus isn’t a ‘one more thing’, but rather He is your Savior ‘as you go.’

I will show you my faith in Jesus by my deeds. James 2:18

Can I get a witness for how daily life has been altered since Friday, March 13, 2020? The last days, weeks, months have been filled with lots of changes, disappointments, hard conversations, new ways to celebrate, and probably the most creative time in ministry with children than ever in recent history. The deep dive into the new pool of ministry has made our world a new place for the development of new thoughts, new experiences, and new skills. These are just a few things I’ve learned over the last seven weeks:

• Parents are up to the task of teacher, nurse, doctor, counselor, chef, and spiritual leader. These superheros are working from home, playing card/board games, and doing laundry as they teach their kids math and life skills. They wear the capes in the eyes of their kids and finding their way.
• New favorite music by Cochren & Co music.
• I can learn new things: Play the ukulele; take Messy Church training online; take classes with Resilient Church Academy.
• I can get over myself and be videotaped. Watching some of the best on YouTube and Facebook Live have offered private tutoring lessons for this novice especially when thrust on the small screen.
• Not everyone recovers at the same speed. I thrive in changing environments and am ready to go at the two on a three-count. Others need to breathe deep and check all the boundaries before moving forward. We are all needed and living out how God has wired us. I’m honored to share life and laughter with these amazing people in the trenches. They make me a better disciple and better at life.
• Mother’s Day is at the end of the week and the mamas in my world have done it all. Collecting the comments made by other mamas, I’ve put together a fun list of some shared experiences of some of the women in our lives. Mother’sDayQuarantine
• My tribe of those sold out for families in the local church are the best and most creative people in the world. When one shows up at your house with flowers, a life-size plush Jesus, and a huge box of limes, you put the kettle on and enjoy the story she’s given you to share.

Yeah! Learning and living in a new way has made for connections and deeper friendships. Have you had a chance to make a new friend? Learn something new? Grown a deeper appreciation for those who sustain your faith? Played a game? Offered grace to those different than you? Made the phone call? Took the phone call? May these extraordinary times develop a more extraordinary you. You are indeed, an extraordinary you!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7