This week we hear from two champions for ministry with families and children in North Georgia. Gretchen Barker serves the children and families of Harmony Grove United Methodist Church located in Lilburn, Georgia. Hannah Harwood serves the church families of Sam Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in Cartersville.

When asked, “What areas of ministry do you knock it out of the park?” and “What are five tips/hacks for making that area happen?” These are their responses.

Gretchen knocks it out of the park in preparing her children’s moment videos: I have actually developed quite a routine for my production process. I start with the scripture lesson from the lectionary or a gospel and read it thoroughly while taking my own personal notes.

Next, I read through a number of different children’s sermons already shared and published online for that particular scripture and choose my favorite interpretation, which almost always involves something from the poet Lois Parker Edtrom. Many of these children’s sermons can be easily found on sermonwriter.com. 

From there I come up with a “script” that I use for filming, similar to a screenplay, but not that complicated. 

I extensively research Google images that relate to my message and use those to illustrate the main points. Up until now, I have strictly used Windows Video editor as my main tool, although I am ready to expand on my newly found video editing hobby with some different software.

This process used to take me an entire week to complete, but I now am able to get it done in about 3-4 hours.

You can find many of Gretchen’s videos at https://harmonygroveumc.com/2021/01/14/childrens-ministry/   If you’d like to find out more, contact Gretchen at hgumckids@gmail.com. 

Hannah knocks it out of the park at pulling off a 45-minute kids worship service: (1) Worship Extreme software, (2) Kids as worship leaders, (3) GROW curriculum, (4) Traditional elements such as the Apostles Creed and Lord’s Prayer, (5) Time for them to share requests on their hearts, Bonus Tip: (6) Lifetree Kids worship music.

If you’d like to find out more, contact Hannah at hharwood@samjonesumc.org. 

I’m sure you knock it out of the park in some area of ministry. What would that be? And when you do, what would be five tips/hacks you’d share to help your kidmin champions along the way?

“I answered them by saying, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We His servants will start rebuilding.” Nehemiah 2:20

The Rock Solid 5th Grade Retreat offers developmentally appropriate teaching and practice for students completing elementary school to build a rock solid faith through the holy habits of worship, prayer, study, and play as they prepare to move into middle and high school. I was a co-leader for the prayer station. My partner used yoga mats and body prayers. I offered self-directed stations with a short debrief at the conclusion.

Introductory teaching: Prayer is communicating with God. The best way for God to communicate with us is through the Bible. The way we best communicate with God is through prayer. God gave us five gifts to help us experience the world He created and to keep us safe. These were the stations using those five gifts based on Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Sight – Glow stick bracelets

Say a blessing prayer for someone by name, then give them a bracelet. Be willing to receive prayer from someone else only responding, “Thank you.”

Jesus asked his friends, “Watch and pray.” Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 21:36

Smell – Silence/deep breaths

Just be with God, light an LED candle, sit on (or near) the towel, and stay until you are tapped on the shoulder to move on.

I added  a healthy sprinkle of peppermint essential oils to the towel often to have the scent as part of the space.

God’s favorite smell is our prayers. Psalm 141:2 “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”   

Touch – Ask forgiveness for your wrongs, your hurts, your expectations, your words.

Recite the CONFESSION AND PARDON.

Merciful God,
I confess that I have not loved you with my whole heart.
I have failed to be an obedient church.
I have not done your will,
I have broken your law,
I have rebelled against your love,
I have not loved my neighbors,
and I have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive me, I pray.
Free me for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Tie a ribbon onto the frame as a remembrance that Jesus took the punishment for our sins. If you confess (agree with God) your sins, God is faithful and just (fair) and will forgive you.

God does not remember our repented sins, but we do so that we repent/turn away from them to love God with our whole heart for our whole lives.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just (fair) and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Hear – Pray the 23^rd Psalm from bookmark  aloud while walking a track around 2 orange cones

“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Think beyond the moment, but the future. God and you can use anything and everything you face to help someone else.

Don’t despair. Ex: Judas…if he’d just waited one more day! Pray aloud even when you don’t feel it….it’ll remind you until you do.

In the debrief I share they will hear this scripture at various remarkable moments of Christian lives like funerals, births, prayer nights, help, etc. The bookmark I found was a King James Version so I shared that it was the first Bible financed by King James in the year 1611 to be mass produced through the printing press and explained the old English words which were appropriate at that time.

Taste – Dumdum lollipop

Read a proverb each day for the day of the month. Today is the 17^th, so read Proverbs 17 from your own Bible.

Proverbs are wise sayings, not truths, but can help you along your way…will help you live like Jesus growing “in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

In debrief, I shared testimony of students who read a proverb every night before they go to bed or each when they rise each morning while in middle school/high school.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8

Debrief

• God has equipped you with 5 senses: tools to stay safe & enjoy the world He created. When we don’t know what or how to pray/communicate with Him, we can use our five senses.
• Go with what you know and not with how you feel. This is what you know: YOU are a beloved child of God, created by God, for Jesus, to bring good into the world.
• Sing an echo benediction: “Do not be afraid, God is with you, Everywhere you go, God is there.” (Thank you, Mark Burrows). Do not be afraid/fear not …. 366 times…one for every day of the year.

I’ve had a great number of conversations about open staff positions in local churches for children’s ministry over the last month. More than typical. Everything from half-time, ¾ time and full-time. Due to the little to no movement of church staffing over the last year, we can anticipate a good bit in the next 12-18 months. People are relocating, retiring, and making career moves. The Holy Spirit is moving!

I’ve had some experience in moving on. I started as a super volunteer in kidmin and on staff in weekday ministry at my home church. Due to a season of paralyzed vocal cords I could no longer serve in the weekday classroom, so I took on the Director of Weekday ministry at another local church while still serving as a servant leader at my home church. I was not called to seminary, but I was called to professional Christian education which was affirmed as I moved to two other local churches in part time roles until I heard clearly, “Get ready” which provided the opening to serve full-time in ministry with children and families at the local church I now serve. That’s five local churches, all within driving distance, in one district, from part-time to full-time, over the course of 25 years. Before that, I served in Christian education roles on staff in New England and Louisiana.

Through it all I was diligent to (1) ‘be faithful with little’, and (2) do whatever it took so that ‘surely goodness and mercy would follow me all the days of my life’. 

These are a few things to consider if a move might be in your future:

1. Without ordination, we serve at the whim and pleasure of the senior pastor. Know you will learn a little or a lot from each one. This will build your trust muscle like nothing else. We must trust the appointment process and we must submit to the authority over us or make plans to graciously move on if we can’t do either one. Do not be the face of disunity. This close to the appointment change date, it’s prudent to wait so that the one hiring you is not moving on in your first year. It’s in your first year you get your legs under you, you build trust currency in your families’ minds, and you understand the leadership culture for a season. Be a Joseph!
2. Talk with other kidmin leaders a lot. Build your network of those in the trenches. The average life expectancy of kidmin leads is 3.5 years UNLESS you connect with others outside of your own house/local church. Their shared experiences can only make you better and can offer help and hope in areas you don’t even know about until you’re in it up to your neck. They’ll encourage you, pray with you, and share their stories of what is healthy and hopeful. They’ll help you persevere, learn, and affirm your gifts and calling. Be an Esther!
3. When you move on, you will no longer be looked at as the super volunteer you started as, but the professional Christian educator you’ve sought to become. Learn your craft and hone your skills. What are you learning today to help you move the next church to the next level? Constantly be upping your skill set so you are ready when invited to take on the next big thing. Know this: Women typically wait until they are 100% ready to make a move. Men typically wait until they are 50% ready to make a move. (She Leads Church, 2021). Be a constant, ready learner, and you don’t have to wait until you’re 100% ready. Be a Nehemiah!
4. Deep dive into God’s Word in preparation to hear His voice. Waiting is a time of intentional preparation. It is unrealistic to expect to clearly hear the Lord’s voice if you are not in His Word learning His vocabulary. God has a perfect design for His people. He directs His own in the midst of uncertainty with courage and joy. Only in His Word can we fully discern that every open door may not be for you. Be a Paul!
5. Some will. Some won’t. Everybody can. Be an Abigail!

If you are considering a move or wish to move from part-time to full-time, let’s chat. I’d love to help you be filled with health and hope as you fulfill God’s call on your life as a professional Christian educator. You were created for such a time as this! For this I know: We are better together.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24

“I just used all my skills,” with a shoulder shrug was the charming reply of my 5-year-old grandson when asked about his accomplishment. I love claiming that saying when considering my own successes. As a Children’s Ministry Director for over 15 years, it was always my goal to create compelling faith experiences for children and their families. I learned early that I needed to rely on all MY skills and so much more.

My top 5:

1. Cast a vision and share it with  your team and our families. They can’t buy in unless they can see it. Always important but especially now with a shrinking base of volunteers and what many are calling a rebuilding time.
2. Invite. Children and parents and grandparents; neighbors and seniors. Help them see their place in faith formation of children> Recruit others to invite. Find ways to reach outside your circle. Get personal!
3. Make engaging lessons accessible for teachers and students. Equip your teachers to cater to different, creative learning styles. Build in adaptations for age, time, and space.
4. Listen to your people and other influencers in ministry. Build on the successes of others. (One great reason that I faithfully read this blog!) Brainstorm. Collaborate. Network.
5. “Do all the good you can” — in this case, maximize every effort and every dollar to reach the most for Jesus!

I began serving in children’s ministry at a time when it was rather vanilla. Many great parents routinely taught using pamphlets and coloring sheets and a great Bible story. Fortunately, my mentor encouraged me to step it up a few notches and adopt the Workshop Rotation Sunday School method.

Talk about a facelift in many ways! Sunday mornings went from simple to spectacular. Our lessons began to fully engage kids by addressing all learning styles through workshops employing art, cooking, movies, media, drama and more. Teaching teams were easy to build. Kids and parents loved it and everyone learned while they were loving it. On Sunday mornings, there was excitement in the air. Best part: relationships were built with Jesus AND among our community.

Fast forward to today. Many of today’s leaders are tasked with rebuilding or energizing a ministry. I encourage everyone to look at Rotation.org. If you feel like a change is in order, there is every resource there to help you see how to get started.

However, if you are most interested in “upping your game” within a traditional Sunday school model, there you will find lessons and support with engaging lessons built upon creative learning styles. There are also very complete background materials which equip new or experienced teachers. Adaptations for our new normal are being added weekly.

I serve at Rotation.org with a team of experienced volunteers who are eager to help you find the answers you need via online collaboration. And finally, it is very accessible at a rate of $45 per year. Our one goal is to equip leaders to “Do all the good you can” for Jesus. We want to help you “use all your skills!”

Robin Stewart served the families on staff as the Children’s Ministry Director at Athens First United Methodist Church in Athens, Georgia until her recent retirement. She believes in Rotation.org so much, she continues to volunteer her time and energy to making their resources known and shared. Robin is a wife, mother, and grandmother. You can connect with Robin at robinafumc@bellsouth.net. 

*Rotation.org is a nonprofit funded entirely by subscriptions with only one paid website manager.

 

I was being debriefed by a very knowledgeable facilitator a couple of weeks ago. As she introduced herself to me I discovered she was a clergy spouse, incredibly experienced  and accomplished in the hospitality field, and the church she served did not have a ministry with children. Hmmmm…

I hope I get to speak with her again, because the innovator in me just started jotting down ideas for how they could begin a ministry to the families and children in their community. 

If they have a parking lot, what if they secured some orange barrels or cones and offered driving lessons? Our home church had a large parking lot. When they realized parents were bringing their new drivers on campus for driving practice, they purchased a couple of tall orange cones and set them out in the parking lot. Those cones moved all over as helps for parallel parking and the like.

What if her church notified a local driving school and offered to do a blessing of the driver’s license twice a year? What if a part of a Sunday service was to bless driver’s licenses? What if they offered parking practice and even a vehicle to some single parents from 10am-12noon on the first Saturday of the month even if just in the parking lot? With the parking lot, what if they offered to the local businesses or schools a place for meeting, overflow parking, emergency evacuation?  

Because she is incredibly accomplished in hospitality, what if she offered a social class in interviewing, service, hospitality, courtesy, speech, writing, completing an application, meet & greet etiquette, etiquette, dressing for success? What if she contacted the local elementary, middle, or high school counselors to coordinate a space for hospitality skills or offered her ministry of presence on a career day? What if the church promoted a special 1.5 hour hospitality workshop with her as the headliner for parents and their students at a meet and greet with her and list her credentials in the hospitality industry? She’s a woman of faith and highly successful in her field. What a gift to share these skills with students preparing to make their way in the world through a filter of faith in Jesus!

She shared that her husband is a musician. What if he offered introductory music lessons as a group where he could share a Bible story or a simple reading from a children’s Bible of the many ways music is spoken of in the scriptures? 

There are so many opportunities for children and their families to be welcomed on a church campus besides Sunday morning to begin relationships and live out, “We are your good neighbor, we want to help you along your way.” 

We are not event planners nor are we event venues, so we must insist on intentional faith formation elements which are developmentally appropriate. We won’t miss the opportunity for faith formation when someone from the church family welcomes, hosts, and leads.  We can be good neighbors and give real testimony to the goodness of God by making our presence known and sharing the skills and gifts of our church family with our community. 

What if we became places where the community learns about Jesus as they learn to bake bread, budget, shop, change a tire, talk car parts, use power tools, how to be a grill master, and garden/grow stuff out of the dirt? A vegetable garden, a flower garden? What skills does your church family know and then make it a matter of prayer to be willing to share it? All of our church saints are incredibly skilled and experienced in various areas of vocation and accomplishment. What if we figured out what we have in our hands, then put it out there? It’s almost like giving your saints the chance to serve in the mission field without packing a suitcase and they can still sleep in their own beds.

Most church locations have the spaces and resources for these things. Did you know that the likelihood of a girl being taken advantage of goes down to a non-existent level once she learns how to use a power tool? Did you know that good manners can get a young person’s foot in the door faster than anything else? Did you know that the milestones of driving, cooking, budgeting are all elements of service which are not taught in the local schools and most parents don’t even know where to start but are extensions of Biblical hospitality? All of these could be one-and-dones or part of a series over the course of a couple of years. Have a couple, debrief, then edit the next two to excellence based on what you learn works and doesn’t. I’m not talking about a Broadway production, just a space and a Jesus guy/gal who shares their story and His story with a young person.

Rather than say, “We don’t have a ministry to children,” could we say, “We do!” because of God’s people, their skills, and experiences, out of a place of abundance and gratitude for what God has made available and are part of your local church family of faith? Ministry may not look like what we think and that’s what makes it innovative. Nothing needs to look like what we already have in our heads. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to use what’s in our hands and watch Him show up and show off.

All this could be promoted on Facebook, social media, through the local school, or Eventbrite. Include a time of testimony of sharing the leader’s story of God’s faithfulness, God’s goodness, pray with the participants, and maybe wear a t-shirt with a Christian message or scripture. 

Fleshing out things like this is what we do at the Innovation Summit. The Innovation Summit is three hours of multiple ideas and real stories of moving beyond the sea of Nos to a place of YES, YOU CAN. You will leave with confidence to wonder, negotiate, push the boundaries, and advance the good news of Jesus where you are with what is in your hand. A Zoom option is not available because each Summit is filled with ideation specific to the participants present. 

The next Innovation Summit will be held at Tucker First United Methodist Church located in Tucker, Georgia on Saturday, May 1st 9am-12noon. Register today.

We are hooked to our cell phones. Our cell phones are hooked to us. It’s replaced the GPS, camera, calculator, flashlight, the news, letter-writing, a calendar, and the home phone. It’s changed the way we do life. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s here to stay and we can admit we like it.

The latest research reports that an average person spends 2 hours and 51 minutes per day on their mobile device. 22% check their phones every few minutes and 51% look at it a few times per hour. Just take that in.

When our kids were little, before I was on a local church staff, I made Sunday morning the best day of the week. Nobody woke up to alarms, but rather breakfast in bed. The house smelled like muffins (thank you, Jiffy muffin mix) and each was accompanied by a favorite, morning, tasty beverage: coffee, tea, milk, hot chocolate. Every other day of the week could start by alarm, rushing, searching, running, on the move. But not Sunday.  I thought of it as ‘pouring out a drink offering as unto the Lord.’ This tradition continued when I went on church staff, because…well, Sundays are game day and it’s the day we prioritized to be dedicated to our family’s faith formation in partnership with the local church.

Mr. Bob and I decided early on, before I was on staff, to live out Hebrews 10:25 and had to constantly attend to guarding Sunday mornings for church. We still would participate in all sorts of non-church activities, but we knew we could not raise adults who would love the Lord with their whole hearts for their whole lives without the help of what the local church had to offer: relationships, values, teaching, practicing, and experiences in developmentally appropriate ways with other Jesus guys and gals. Today, that investment has paid off with both making attendance and involvement in their local churches a priority in each of their families.

When the pandemic hit last spring, I imagined what we could offer as an easy win for high impact effectiveness and would cover the greatest amount of territory (Prayer of Jabez). With the desire that our families not become accustomed to doing life without their local church, the cell phone was a good place and platform to love people to Jesus systematically, personally, and creatively.

For almost a year, if I received a text from someone, they’ve gotten a text from me on Sunday mornings. Not through a database, but by sitting down each Sunday morning in my quiet chair (which is not always quiet) and taking the time to reach out to them all on my cell phone. All of them.

I choose a meme, image, or scripture on Saturday evening so it’s at the top of my photo file and send a text to each person in my phone. I last counted in January for a total of 162.

I send the text. I pray for him/her. Once my phone reads, “Delivered” I send the next. Not everyone replies, but many do. I Sunday morning text with no expectation. But for those who I have not seen in over a year, it’s been a weekly check-in and the ongoing text conversations have been personal and precious.

I’m sharing this because it’s easy. It’s in your hand. Yes, it takes time, but everyone is worth the time and we know how special it makes us feel when someone texts us ‘just because.’ We are family! If I’ve gotten a text or sent a text in the last week, which builds the list, they hear from me on Sunday mornings. Just a quick reminder that, “I’m in this with you, Brother,” “I’m in this with you, Sister.”

Who’s in your hand? How are you checking in with them systematically, personally, and creatively?

Brooke Barksdale serves the families and community of Marietta First United Methodist Church as the Associate Director of Children’s Ministry. She leads Wonderfully Made: Loved by God programs and co-leads the Bible study component of the annual Rock Solid 5th Grade Retreat held at Camp Glisson in Dahlonega, Georgia for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She’s a wife, mom, daughter, friend, disciple-maker, and a great teacher.

In her own words, Brooke rocks it at “Coffee, postcards and thank you cards, engaging Bible studies for upper elementary, willing to be a whole lot of EXTRA for Jesus and food – maybe not preparing it or serving it, but definitely great at gathering around it to network and collaborate and listen and learn!”

When asked to offer her top five hacks/tips for adding EXTRA for Jesus with upper elementary disciples, she shared…

#1 Go big and fun!! They are kids – play games, do crafts, but tie in that deeper meaning.

#2 Be silly and loud and over the top in your presentation – when they see I am so sold out for Jesus that kind of joy and excitement is contagious! That excitement and contagiousness applies to adult volunteers, as well.

#3 Don’t underestimate upper elementary kids. They are dealing with some deep problems themselves so don’t think they aren’t willing to go deeper or have meatier conversations. 

#4 Provide opportunities every time you’re together for small group conversations. If you always meet in one room for large group, create smaller turn-and-talk environments. 

#5 Incorporate worship when you gather. This is the age where they begin to learn there are so many ways to give praise, thanks, and love to God Almighty! If you can have a volunteer provide live music that is awesome, but if you sing along to a CD or a YouTube video that’s great, as well. Encourage the expression of worship as singing, dancing, moving, waving arms, or just reading the words and the lyrics to yourself in your head. As a leader, if this isn’t your comfort zone, get out of it! This is where kids see the adults around them model that it’s okay to lift hands or stand still, but always be 100% in for worshipping God! 

Brooke went on to write, “I could talk more about specifics of the curriculum, but it’s your enthusiasm and how you present anything that is going to get the kids hooked and sold.” 

If you’d like to learn more, reach out to Brooke Barksdale on social media or by emailing brookebarksdale@marriettafumc.org 

Is your sense of urgency for all things ministry a bit less urgent than last month? Last year? As more and more public places begin to open and larger groups are beginning to safely gather, I’m feeling more a call to shore up some systems and less a call to basic survival.

I reached out to some dear colleagues in North Georgia and asked them for their top 5 hacks/tips in an area where they are rocking it with this post:

What do you have a really good handle on? Volunteers? Staffing? Scheduling? Transitions? Crafts? Video? Online discipleship? Sunday school teaching? Facebook? Postcards? Hospitality? Supply closet coordinating? Staging? Coloring? Texting? Curriculum? Filing? Wonderfully Made? Calendaring? Budgeting? Leaving a church when surely goodness and mercy follow ya? Starting at a new church? Survival? Coffee? Networking? Meetings?
We each have a something-something that we are really good at and knocking it out of the park in our context. We need to hear from you! Set aside any thought of tooting your own horn (I’ll do that for ya). Set aside any thought that someone else might be doing it better. YOU are doing something super awesome fabulous and I need to know what that is!
I get contacted all the time by a kidmin champion needing to talk with someone about some ‘thing’ and I need to know who we can connect. That’s YOU!
I’ve got a couple of gift cards for 2 of you (ended up gifting 3!) willing to tell me an area where YOU ROCK! I’ll pull from the hat (ended up being a china tea cup) and post next Friday.
You can comment below or send me a dm!
And in case you haven’t heard it lately: YOU ROCK! Thank you for loving your littles and their bigs to Jesus.
“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.” Psalm 107:2a

This week we pass along tips from Valerie Blackburn who is knocking it out of the park in organizing and maintaining supplies. Valerie serves the families and community of Bethel United Methodist Church in Stockbridge, Georgia as the Children’s Minister. Valerie is The Maker on the creative types assessment. When it comes to organizing and maintaining supplies she shared in her own words…

#1 Write it down on a list what is needed.

#2 Look ahead at lessons to see if something may be needed which is not typically handy.

#3 Put stickers on the drawers of bins which list the supplies included within.

#4 Have story books organized by the Old Testament, New Testament, and Others to help with easier access.

#5 Have a cardboard paper organizer to separate colors of construction paper.

What would you add to Valerie’s top 5 for organizing and maintaining supplies?

If you’d like to learn more, reach out to Valerie Blackburn at blackburn7893@comcast.net. 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

 

Grandparents hold a special place in the hearts of the grandchildren. It goes both ways. Grandparents are part of God’s continuing plan to grow up disciples of His son Jesus. Take a look at Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78 to get a small glimpse of that plan.

We are leveraging that relationship and intentionally helping with a Grandparent’s toolbox to share their faith through a closed Facebook group entitled Faith Grandparenting and four in-person opportunities each year to share stories and resources to help them along their way we call Grandparenting With A Purpose. “You cannot be a Christian family if you are not a disciple-making family, because your family can’t truly follow Christ if you are not doing what Christ commanded – trying to become more and more like Him and leading others to do the same.” (Family Discipleship by Chandler & Griffin)

Last week’s Grandparenting With A Purpose: Holiday Edition, shared in-person and through a Facebook Live event on the closed Faith Grandparenting Facebook group, was a very special time to share life and some great ideas.

We serve a God of celebration! Through festivals, special food, visuals, decorations, and community we stop and remember the faithfulness of God: Passover, Festival of Tabernacles, Feast of Purim, Harvest time, Holy Communion. We celebrate with our five senses with special sights (lights, tablescapes, decorations), smells (food, spaces, candles), sounds (music, words), tastes (food), and touch (clothing, expressions of affection). Traditions offer rhythms for connection and belonging for which we are wired by our Creator.

Holidays like…
Thanksgiving – table cloth with names of who has shared the Thanksgiving table over the years; favorite foods and the magic of the “how” to make it; handwritten recipes and sharing the faith of the ones who started the family recipe.
Christmas – Ask “What three things will make Christmas Christmas?”; three gifts (Magi)
New Year’s – Do overs; time capsules; goals for physical, spiritual, family faith experiences.
Mardi Gras – Looking for the baby (Baby Jesus) in a King Cake; masks (God knows all of our mysteries).
Valentine’s Day – The greatest love story in all the world is John 3:16.
St. Patrick’s Day – story of St. Patrick; the color green reminds us to ‘grow in our faith’ continually and discussion of how we will do that this spring.
Independence Day – visit patriotic/historic places and share the stories of the faith of our founding mothers (Harriett Tubman, Abigail Adams, Susanna Wesley) and Christian heritage (John & Charles Wesley, George Washington Carver, Jimmy Carter).

Milestones like…
Birthdays teach our kids to celebrate others. On #1 Son’s 16th birthday we collected gifts of tools from Godly men who wrote him notes of wisdom for the tool they gifted. On Baby Girl’s 16th birthday we collected letters of wisdom from Godly women, teachers, and local officials we knew who knew Jesus and compiled a ‘Book of Wisdom’ she carries with her to this day.
Anniversaries teach kids to revisit big family moments. We will share that #1 Son and his lovely wife went to church for worship on their first date after greeting her at the end of the preschool Sunday school class she was teaching.
Spiritual Birthdays – annual celebrations of making their decision to follow Jesus with a gift, donuts (life without Jesus is like a hole in the middle of your heart), balloons (God is round about His people), they tell their faith story of when they decided to follow Jesus and how they’ve grown in the last year as we prepared a plan to move forward in the next year.
Gotcha Day – celebrating when an adoption came through to become part of the family.
Driver’s License – hold a ‘blessing of the license’; laying on of hands and speaking truth of this new responsibility.
New Home – praying through each room before moving in; a New Year’s home blessing.

Moments like….
Rediscovering the wonder of the everyday – my granddaughter remembers me when she smells biscuits and bacon.
Time to linger – breathe & sip; chill & chat
Gifts of time – my step mother checked me out of high school just to take me to lunch and we talk about the great issues of my teenage life.
Gifts of words – handwritten notes; postcards; journals; recipes; scribe the scriptures; gift a Bible.
New skills – teach about tea; take a cooking class, power tool class; shadow a church saint (Baby Girl shadowed an ER nurse from her home church to discover if nursing was really what God was calling her to. It WAS!)

For those in-person, they enjoyed an ice breaker with The Visual Faith Project, took home confetti cannons and their own Share the Love Drive-thru bags of goodies we’d prepared for our Children’s Ministry drive-thru that had taken place the Sunday afternoon before.

If the average age of a first-time grandparent in the USA is 47, this is a demographic who is leaning into Christian Grandparenting with tenacity. These are amazing disciple-makers and I want to be on their team.

How else can you build up your grandparents with a purpose of intentionally sharing their faith with their grandchildren?

“We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.” Psalm 78:4

Listen to this and other posts on the In The Trenches with DeDe Reilly podcast.

There’s a small book of Haggai nestled almost at the end of the Old Testament. Two chapters, 38 verses, giving relief, a break from the constant rebuke of the prophets and just before God’s silence for 400 years.

The prophet Haggai is speaking to God’s people who have returned home from exile. They return home to Jerusalem to a hot mess of 70 years of neglect, burned homes, their temple in ruins, and a burning desire for all that used to be.

They grieve what ‘used to be.’ They start their sentences with, “I remember…” then it trails off with sadness and lament. When they first returned home they started to rebuild the temple. They got the foundation done, then they got distracted. Distracted for 18 years. Distracted by probably very good things, but distracted nonetheless and the work of their temple stopped.

God calls Haggai to speak correction and encouragement to the discouraged and distracted exiles. Through Haggai’s words, GOD breathes life into His people. He says,

“Give careful thought to your ways.”

“Be strong….and work.”

“Do not fear.”

“From this day on, I will bless you.”

The response of God’s people? They got to work! They built the temple from the foundation already laid. They built together. They remembered that God was still in control. And they remembered that God sees and blesses and lives in the middle of obedience in the right now. The temple would not resemble the temple they remembered, but they don’t wallow in the distraction of comparison. They did what God directed them to do: they rebuilt their spiritual house together as they heard these words and God stirred the Spirit:

“Give careful thought to your ways.”

“Be strong….and work.”

“Do not fear.”

“From this day on I will bless you.”

This speaks to me as we live out our faith in Jesus in rebuilding our faith-filled lives at home and in our local churches in this post-pandemic world.

The book of Haggai tells me, “Don’t be distracted by the health crisis, politics, the unknown future, our finances. Don’t be discouraged by the global or denominational church, social media, all the feels and all the fears.” Don’t compare and don’t despair.

These words of correction and encouragement are for us today!

First, in the words of Jesus, REMEMBER ME:
Remember Jesus, God’s own son, who came from heaven to earth,
Remember Jesus, who died for our sins to restore our relationship with a holy God.
Remember Jesus, who walked and talked for 40 days to more than 500 people after he rose from the dead on the 3rd day, including his brother James, (can you imagine that conversation?)
Remember Jesus, who returned to heaven so that we’d be given a comforter, a guide, a coach in the Holy Spirit
So that we would tell all in our world that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world…..

So what do we do? I look at Romans 13. In the most horrendous culture imaginable for Christians, the apostle Paul gives us some practical guidance, but essentially…..

We go close and go long.

Go close: with our family. Those with whom you have the greatest influence, over time. Your spouse, your parents, your kids, your grands. Be intentional about building and teaching the faith in Jesus in your own house. The research tells us that the 3 practices/holy habits which repeated OVER TIME propel us to make STRIDES in our faith in Jesus is Bible Reading, Prayer, and living generously with our hands open. Go close brothers and sisters.

Go long: Our great God is still working within us, among us, and beyond us. I settle with Romans 8:28
“AND we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love Him.” Go long brothers and sisters.

When I get discouraged or distracted, we have some amazing examples of what going close and going long look like:

Esther: Y’all! We WERE created for such a time as this!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: They stood together and told the king: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is ABLE TO DELIVER us, BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT DELIVER US, we want you to know your Majesty, THAT WE WILL NOT serve your gods or worship anything but our great God.”

Daniel: There is one statement made by the meaners in Daniel 6 which stopped me in my tracks. When the meaners wanted to oppress and bring harm to Daniel, these were THEIR words: “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel, UNLESS it has something to do with the law of His God.”

Lord, let us be found faithful to go close and go long.

Give careful thought to our ways.

Be strong….and work.

Do not fear.

We know our great God is with us because He keeps His promises to His people.

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“‘Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the Lord.” Haggai 1:8