A colleague lent to me last June, Get Their Name: Grow Your Church by Building New Relationships authored by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan. I’m just now getting around to reading it. I confess, because she’s asked for it back.

It’s a fantastic little book offering practical steps to sharing faith, building healthy, spiritual relationships, and growing a healthy church. Once I read, “The average UMC (United Methodist Church) member invites someone to come to church once every 38 years,” I couldn’t put the book down.

Simply put, they present evangelism in the following levels:

Elementary Evangelism is meeting new people through service…handing out water bottles, cleaning up a park, and being intentional about “adding the Good Word to your deeds.” Good deeds are merely good deeds if not sharing the why “We want to share God’s love with you because God’s love is available to everyone, including you.”

Middle School Evangelism is sharing life and faith through small groups with people you already know. Middle schoolers rarely step outside their comfort groups, but will do most anything in a small group.

High School Evangelism is sharing your faith through testimony of recent experiences for the building up of the persons around you. You want to share your story where you are safe for the sole purposes of offering hope to those listening.

College Evangelism is inviting others to worship who you do not know. In college, I recall inviting and being invited often to group gatherings and events on campus simply because we were within earshot.

The authors go on to share that until we are confident in giving testimony, most are fearful of inviting others to church. And when was the last time that testimonies were shared in the worship setting or even in the Sunday school setting? It’s been my experience that we are more about taking in more general information and spitting it back out, rather than learning how to tell our story or His story over the last week. I was challenged early in my walk that when asked “Why God?” my story can’t begin, “Well…when I was 10 years old…” My testimony should be no older than the bread in my breadbox.

The goal is to begin “real conversations with real people to build real relationships that lead to a real experience with Jesus Christ in the gathered community.”

The challenge: Have I built in enough margin, extra white space, in my day to make a new friend? Or am I so caught up in going to the next thing that I can’t make time to be interested in new people; making sure to concentrate on the other person’s story; building trust in who they are; making sure my questions are about them; resisting making the conversation about me and my story?

The authors were kind enough to lay out steps of how to begin a conversation with someone I don’t know because, “People looking for a faith community are not looking for friendly people, but for friends.”

As in Adam Hamilton’s Leading Beyond the Walls, we’d do well to offer a short (two-minute elevator story) response to the following 3 questions:

1. Why God? “God has been active in my life from when I was a kid and has always wanted good for me, but my free will is alive and active within me…Most of the bad that has happened in my life is because of choices made for me or those I’ve made on my own when I am not paying attention to the life lessons taught in the Scriptures…My church gives me the relationships and support to keep my free will on track.”

2. Why Church? “God has designed us to experience energy when we participate in community…God is best and most easily experienced in the faith community….We are the bridge to the gathered community….Then the Holy Spirit can do the heavy lifting.”

3. Why My Church? “God has designed us to experience energy when we participate in community….we need a gathered experience…we need to feel the win…going in the same direction….cheering for the same result…in the company of others with a spirit of “YES!””

A few statements stopped me in my tracks:

• “97% of all newcomers to a church have had a major life transition in the last two months.” (From The Race to Reach Out by Douglas T Anderson & Michael J. Coyner) Everyone has a story. Little do we know what life transition will bring someone through the doors.  Am I asking questions with genuine curiosity to learn another’s story?
• “The #1 roadblock for connected people inviting unconnected people to worship is that they are not confident in the guest experience.”  This is where radical hospitality comes in. Where our hospitality is going beyond expectation, beyond the average, beyond what we’ve always done, beyond the typical Sunday morning handshake experience.
• “Guests arrive early or late, but rarely on time.  Be prepared.”  Think guest, not a visitor (when was the last time I had a visitor in my home…never…I have guests).

I’m going to start asking questions of the people I DO know at my church and the ones I DON’T. It’s the beginning of sharing testimony.  And I’m ready to make some new friends in the Lord.

Lord, let me not just be friendly, but be willing and build in life-space to make new friends in the Lord.  Amen

Thanks, Cindy…you can have your book back now.

We have a cemetery on the front lawn of our church. I love it. I use it. I especially like having a patriarch of our church come to share with our tweeners and youth the stories and the “why” it is there.

We schedule it for the 4th Sunday in October (no bugs and nice cool temps). After some “housekeeping” and “respect” discussion, we send the students in pairs on a scavenger hunt throughout the cemetery. These are the questions we had for them this year:

Find the name of someone that shares your first name, your middle name, or your last name

Find someone who died nearest your birth month and day

Find 3 people with the same last name

Find 2 people with the same first name

Find 3 people who served in the Armed Forces

Find someone who died the year you were born

Find someone who died most recently

Find someone who’s name has a color in it

Mr. Jimmy then arrives to share the story of why the cemetery is there, why two brothers have the same name yet spell it differently, that there are 4 civil war veterans buried there, and why some tombstones are larger than others.

Then….he asks if there are any questions. Their questions are honest, innocent, and so respectful of the burial process along with the whys of plants, markers, and rocks. He shares that most young people don’t think about graveyards very much, but the older one gets, it becomes important.

Before we are dismissed, we stand at the grave of the first youth director at Wesley Chapel. And I get to tell a few stories of my own as she passed away just this year in her nineties.

Before we leave we let them know that we have what we have and enjoy what we enjoy in our church because of the conversations, prayers, and gifts of many in this cemetery. They planned and prepared for our current children’s ministry and youth ministry.

A comment made by one of the tweeners, “I never even noticed the cemetery before, but now I like that it’s part of our campus. It’s filled with great people.” I couldn’t agree more.

“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past.  Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.”  Deuteronomy 32:7

It takes a lot of courage for lay and clergy leadership in a church to invite consultants in the house. A humble spirit of “Yes, I’m willing to allow fresh eyes on my spiritual heart and my physical presence,” doesn’t speak of failure or defeat. Rather it speaks of a rumbling of the Holy Spirit within the Body of Christ that says, “We want different God-honoring results, so we have to be willing to do something different. And we need a little help with knowing some ways to do it differently.” I get to do that in the area of ministry to children through a great group, Proactive Ministries (https://www.facebook.com/Proactive.Ministries.)

In the words of Rick Chromey, author of Energizing Children’s Ministry in the Smaller Church, he calls it an opportunity to stand as a guide from the side, rather than a sage from the stage. This guide-from-the-side spent last weekend with a church that needed some ideas to market their ministries to little people.

I totally get those folks in the local church who express displeasure with marketing ministry like “the world.” But if our goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, we gotta have kids to make disciples of. We have to get them in the door. I am shameless for what I love. I love Jesus and I love the local church. I am a shameless promoter of both.

Last week I spent a few days with a precious church in east Texas who graciously invited me to share in that particular area. The personal coaching time I shared with the current KidMin Director probably looked more like throwing a huge pot of spaghetti against the wall and hoping something stuck. It’s been my experience that marketing and promoting opportunities for kids to grow, tell, serve, worship, and belong with the goal of making disciples of Jesus Christ is worth it’s own strategies, and maybe it’s own budget line-item. Here are just a few of what we came up with…

– Pray for “more”.

– Ask other groups in the church to pray for “more,” especially the saints of the church who gather for prayer meetings.

– Pick one or two opportunities as a focus each month to promote. Even the ones that take place all the time, like Sunday School, need a time of promoting.

– On the church’s website or web presence, know that new people recognize what a church sees as important by the order in which the staff are listed. Any staff specific to children must be close to the top. The photo needs to make him/her look attractive, kid friendly, and the bio should express who he/she is, not just what they do.  New parents want to know who is on the bus with them as they travel the roads of spiritual parenting.

– The job description of the person responsible for KidMin in the smaller church should include a large percentage of his/her time in marketing, promoting, and communicating what’s going on. It’s been my experience that smaller churches hire their super volunteer who are the hands and feet of the ministry.  But smaller churches really need a mouth to move to the next level. Shamelessly promoting any experience to my kids takes about 25-30% of my time each week.

– Coordinate open-house-like field trips, aka meet and greet opportunities, a couple times of year, especially if the children’s area is distant from the tall people areas. We use Pentacost Sunday at WC with the kids and youth inviting every Sunday School class or other small group to a birthday breakfast in the gym during the Sunday School hour to bump elbows, as one opportunity.  The kids do the decorating, setting up, cleaning up, and we teach them how to “work the room.”

– Prioritize website, bulletin, and before/after service PowerPoint slides with photos to include children and youth.

– Offer a photo and facebook release to be signed by parents/grandparents so the families will be expecting to see these photos among the promotional materials.

– Access support to develop a KidMin Info board in the main hallway to highlight 1-2 major focuses for each month, but not everything…visual overload makes it hard for someone to find the info they need about a special opportunity/event. Make it big and colorful, but visually easy to get the info while walking past.  A Mom with a toddler hanging on her leg and an infant on her hip with two diaper bags doesn’t have time to read everything on her way to the nursery or to the car, so we need to make it easy for her.

– Acquire and use acrylic folder stands to display flyers for the next major “community invite” event and place on any table where a group meets, i.e. Sunday School, scouts, coffee pot, Weight Watchers, conference room, library, etc.

– Expand postcard ministry for all children and families related, even distantly, to the church (preschool, scouts, basketball league, Sunday School, VBS, special event – have a “guess how many” location at each event where someone gives you his/her name and email, etc.)  Postage and professional looking postcards cost money (though they can be purchased inexpensively online) and a budget for marketing will give permission to the KidMin Director to do just that.

– Sandwich board promotion in the hallways enlisting youth to wear and walk around without saying a word.

– Increase personal touches and communication to any paid staff who support other community ministry to little people (preschool, daycare, etc.)

– Introduce and communicate to the church family who is serving in the children’s areas through photos, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc.

– Address church-wide publicity such as name of the church van, signage outside, signage inside.

– Engage in regular, frequent (at least quarterly) opportunities to collaborate with everyone involved with ministries to children (preschool, Sunday School, VBS, music, etc.) to develop relationships and guide decision-making, shared resources, written/verbal/image-driven cross promotion opportunities.

– Plan for special Sundays when the kids are on stage in big church (scouts, preschool, choir, worship art exhibit, etc.) at least quarterly.

– Prepare fliers to go to all the nearby daycares and education centers.

– Encourage 2-4 “all hands on deck” community-invite experiences, or piggy-back with like opportunities already on the calendar, that offer elbow-bumping between those already in the church and those we are inviting.

– Quarterly emails of upcoming “specials” to everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, on your email list.

– Photos and teasers in newsletters.

– Photos and teasers on facebook pages (yours personally AND everywhere you can).

– Announce it from the pulpit.

– Put it in the bulletin (did you notice where this made the list?)

What else would you do?

“Jesus said to them, ‘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

For over a month now I’ve been on a rant in the Children’s Moment. When the musicians begin playing “Jesus Loves Me,” just before the Pastor’s sermon, I have been heading up to the altar with my bible, a yellow rope, and a resource.

After asking the children how many hours there are in a day (24) and how many days in a week (7), we calculate that there are 168 hours in a week. Inviting 2 children to hold each end of the yellow rope taught, I share they are holding a rope of 168 inches long. One inch is marked in a black marker about 2/3 of the way in.  Each Sunday for the last 6 weeks, I then add…

“If we have 168 hours a week and only take 1 hour a week to devote and honor the Lord by coming to church, how will we ever learn to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind as God’s people are told in Deuteronomy and Mark (and I say the “D” book in a funny way)? And that’s if we come to church every single Sunday and don’t miss a Sunday….ever, never miss a Sunday.”

Then I show a different resource each week to give the Lord more than an hour, more than an inch, each week.  How can we practice and learn to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind?  Each week, I used a single resource:

Cake mix & can of frosting – Bake a cake with Mom, Dad, or Mimi and give it to a neighbor saying, “God loves me and He loves you and I wanted to share something special with you.” And I give a cake mix with a can of frosting to one child at each service to do at home.  (I will do for one what I wish I could do for everyone.)

Muffin Mix – I would wake up the earliest on Sunday than any other day of the week to make it especially special when my children were still living at home. I would bake muffins for the whole family and bring them breakfast in bed. That was the one day a week that no one woke up to an alarm, but me. I would bring Mr Bob a cup of black coffee with a muffin. I would bring a huge glass of OJ to #1 Son with a muffin. I would bring a cup of hot chocolate to Baby Girl with a muffin. And the house smelled like muffins. Then I give a muffin mix to one child to use at home.

Glory Bell – A hotel dinger bell (found at Staples). Psalm 100 tells us we serve a God of celebration, so any time something happens that is praiseworthy, we ring a Glory Bell kept in the kitchen. Get a good grade? “Ding” and shout “Glory!” Get up early on Sunday for church? “Ding” and shout “Glory!” I have teeth to brush each morning? “Ding” and shout “Glory!” And I give a glory bell to one of the children to use at home.

Bible – Leave the bible out on the table at breakfast for everyone in the family to read that day. If they are very good readers (tweeners), we open the bible to the Proverb chapter that matches the day of the month. Even a children’s bible with cartoon pictures is worthy of reading at the kitchen table over breakfast for everyone.

Prayer – I speak of and show my prayer journal and how I have traced the hands of those I love and mean so much to me in my journal. When I pray for each one, I place my hand on their traced hand in my journal and pray that they would love the Lord our God with all their heart, soul, and mind. Then invite a child at each service to allow me to trace their hand in my prayer journal. The child then writes his/her name in the traced hand. If any other child wants me to trace their hand in my journal for me to pray for them, they see me after services…one did.

Mirror Marker – The #1 way God’s people grow closer to Him is by reading the bible. Mirror markers/dry erase markers are great to write a bible verse on the bathroom mirror to be sure we pray or memorize scripture when we brush our teeth. How many times are we supposed to brush our teeth? (2x each day) For how long? (2 minutes) We can pray God’s Word back to Him, and memorize scripture twice a day for 4 minutes. I even suggest they might like Luke 12:35 “Be dressed and ready for service.” Or Philippians 2:14 “Do everything without complaining or arguing.”  (Moms love those!) One child would get a mirror marker to take home.

Blessings Journal – If a blank composition book or journal and an attached pen were to be left somewhere in the house (kitchen table, counter, bathroom) with the title “Blessings” written across the top, we would be able to write down what we see as blessings given to us by God.  Kind of like a family blessings journal and anyone is welcome to add something.  One child get’s a  journal to take home from each service.

Bill Hybels wrote in the Afterword of Follow Me: What’s Next for You, “First, Christ-Centered people need to be reminded that they’re not crazy for taking Christianity so seriously. They need to be reminded of the Scriptures that tell us that making our lives a living sacrifice is a normal part of the Christian life. Second, Christ-Centered people need resources. They are actively building relationships, sharing a verbal witness and helping their friends explore Christianity. They’re learning more and more to die to self and to humbly do whatever Christ calls them to do. But many of them are asking, ‘Could I get a little help here?'”

What else can we do to give our families a little help offering Christ-Centered experiences and give Him more than an inch, more than an hour this week?

Grow*Tell*Serve*Worship*Belong

This is the new tagline for our ministry to children at Wesley Chapel. Merriam-Webster defines tagline as “a catchphrase or slogan that serves to clarify a point or create a dramatic effect.” The dramatic effect part made me laugh.

Our team of servants on the front lines of making disciples of Jesus Christ has continued to grow in our family of faith, and I sensed a need for a bit of clarity.

Building spiritually healthy kids is not about programming. It is about providing opportunities and resources for meaningful experiences where little people can encounter and respond to the recognizable presence of a great God who made them and His son, Jesus, who loves them.

It is my hope that this tagline will keep us in conversation and focus for the fruit of their experiences while they are in our house. These are the questions we are asking and the filter through which we will measure effectiveness. We used large post-in notes and lined the walls with what we thought we did well and where we think we need greater opportunities.

GROW
Luke 2:41-52 reports for us what Jesus did as a kid: He went to church, He listened to His teachers, and He obeyed His Mama. The result? “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Are we intentionally offering experiences where little people can grow in wisdom of our Lord and Savior, AND in favor with God and men? What are they? Can we realistically expect them to learn to “love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls” with 1 hour out of 168 hours in a week? Knowing the stats of church attendance, what can we provide to offer these experiences outside of church, by Mom & Dad, Grandparents, and the community?

TELL
When a kid can explain it, we know she’s got it. Are we giving our kids an opportunity to tell what we said and what we think we’ve taught? We have curriculum and beaucoup resources to teach with, but what are they hearing?

James Bryan Smith’s three-book series, “A Good and Beautiful God”, is all about replacing false personal narratives that we may have learned along the way which are in complete opposition to what Jesus says about God in the scriptures. These false narratives filter our faith in our One True God. Are we offering time for testimony? Are we building in time for little people to tell us when they recognized God’s presence in their lives, or are we just getting through the assignment?

SERVE
When a little one’s hands are busy, their minds are calm. God wired us to gather in community and be His answer to the many of the hurts of the world. WE are the plan. What can a little person do in response to what they hear about God and His people? What can a little person do in response to what they hear about the hurts, disasters, and trials of the world? This is our window to practice compassion, help, mercy, kindness, empathy, love. Love is an action word.

When they serve, is there a face and a name attached? In keeping with our annual church theme of “Go into the world” from Mark 16:15, we’ve been inviting folks to speak with our children and youth who have gone into the world as missionaries and those who have received the gifts and graces of little people (ShoeBox recipient who came to America and was adopted by faith-filled parents). The fire God has placed within their hearts for others in the world is palpable as a result.

WORSHIP
Children’s Choir is fantastic, but what if we have introverted kids (and we all do). Worship is more than music. Are we offering opportunities to worship corporately and individually? Teaching and practicing prayer, journaling, meditation, reflection, silence? Are WE practicing such soul training? Are we telling about our own soul training?

And let’s talk about art..worship art.  We serve a God of creativity and color and texture and sound.  A canvas, paint, modpodge, and foil can go a long way in presenting what one has captured in their heads and hearts.  What does scripture look like in color and not just in black in white? This is not a craft, but rather, child-directed art.

BELONG
Is our church a community where they feel they belong? Are they known by others in our family of faith besides their parents and the children’s director?

We recognize that we get kids in our CLUB345 from much larger churches in our community. I asked one last year, why. She said, “I don’t have to wear a name tag here. You know me.” Community is a place where a kid is known. Even when we have smaller numbers, our mantra has been, “We will do for one what we would do for 100, for when we are faithful with a few, God will bless us with many.”

There is no other organization in our culture where inter-generational opportunities happen within community like the local church. How do we make that happen when short people go to the left and tall people go the right after worship? Oh, you can bet, we will be making more “bumps” happen between our generations this next school year.

Grow…Tell…Serve…Worship…Belong

How would you “tag” your ministry to children so “that all may know?”

Crazy, huh? As the KidMin blogs continue to discuss whether or not to even invest in summer VBS, we choke it up and put on two.  Although we are a smaller church, the most amazing volunteers took on two difference vacation bible schools within 3 weeks of each other this summer. We were on a mission to present an exciting faith in Jesus Christ to little people, and we needed real data to answer some nagging questions.

The set up:

We planned our typical night time VBS the last week of June with a themed program from a national publishing house. AND we planned a three-day day time VBS in the middle of the week, in the middle of the month of July with a themed, denominational publishing house from last year.

This is what we learned:

1. Both curriculum’s provided great material.

The denominational program offered a fantastic gathering of options to choose from which would be great for seasoned VBS volunteers. The books were lengthier and required a lot more filtering, prep, and people. Flexibility was tremendous and the creativity was plentiful. For a seasoned VBSer, this was a dream.  It was like diving into the deep end of a beautiful pool.

The national program offered 3 concise options/goals for each day at each station.  The beautiful visuals and concise tips were perfect for newbies to VBS.  It offered a short list of supplies found in most KidMin closets or kitchens and even with no prep time, could be implemented with ease and success.

We were blessed by the generosity of shared decorations and assorted goodies from other churches both in the area and shipped all the way from West Virginia.

2. All of the kids who came to the nighttime VBS were familiar faces. 50% of the day time VBS kids were new faces, escorted by grandmas and stay at home moms who loaded the family SUV with friends of their own kids to share the experience.

3. Even a larger number of day time kids were much more calm than a smaller number of night time kids. We had to fire up the day time kids for singing and dancing. We had to calm down and herd the night time kids for singing, dancing and programming.

4. Our volunteer youth involved in team activities and band were available to lead and serve in June, but by July they were involved in practices and their own camps, making some of our best volunteers only available in June.

5. Night time VBS gave us 2 volunteers per student. Day time VBS gave us 1 volunteer for every 2 kids. Lots of volunteers were great and frequent communication was necessary. A skeleton crew of volunteers were great and not as much communication was necessary. The lesser communication needs may have been because they had just experienced the night time VBS and knew “the ropes.”

6. For the first time we planned an end-of-week family celebration for the night time and not for the 2nd daytime week. The end-of-week celebration gave our folks a chance to mix and mingle, build relationship, and fantastic photo ops. THIS, we will do again. The families sing, dance, eat, visit, play, and laugh. What new and visiting parent or grandparent wants to see their kids happy, running free, and see other folks loving on their prince or princess? Every single one of them!  We planned an outdoor picnic for the last daytime snack station and it was also fantastic.

All this begs an answer to 3 questions our Children’s Council will consider:

What is the purpose of VBS? …audience or volunteer?  us or them?

What “type” of volunteer do we have? …what curriculum will we choose if our volunteers are more newbies or more seasoned?

What is the best date to offer VBS? …when are there more volunteers; when can the visitors have access to the pastoral staff?

How do you decide the best time, best date, and the best goal of your VBS?  How do you measure successful investment in your VBS?

In the words of my KidMin colleague, Katie Atcheson, “VBS is my favorite week of the year.” This is the week where anything goes and anyone can come. Both little people and taller people are actively sharing the love of God. We make sure that every learning style is addressed, from the crafty to the drama queen, from the wet game boys to the snackers. And we share the family stories of the Bible. We plan for 5 months to pull off 5 days. It’s glorious!

But now what?

1. Instead of filing the registration forms, place them in your bible and pray for each one to continue to grow in their faith. Pray their families will find a church home or become even more connected to the family of faith.

2. Be ready when they come through the door on a future Sunday morning or on campus for a camp or other future KidMin special event.  Be ready to greet in the children’s hallway.

3. Add their contact info to your database so you can invite them, with a personal note, to the next 3 things you have on the calendar that involves:
Worship – Blessing of the backpacks the Sunday before school starts
Belonging – Drive in movie night on a July Friday where there is mingling and chatting
Mission – Fall packing party for Operation Christmas Child

4. Leave a few things up on the walls for when the kids bring their families on a future Sunday. The space will resemble what they enjoyed for the week, and it’ll feel more like home.  The stairway is great for this!

5. Follow up with your volunteers by personally inviting them to join your KidMin team in another service opportunity, especially your first-time volunteers. (I trust you have already shown your appreciation through a goodie, a thank you note, or a planned pool party for your youth volunteers).

6. Send a letter to each child’s parents who made a decision to follow Jesus.  Offer suggestions to help their new disciple grow in his/her faith and knowledge of God and His son, Jesus. And don’t forget to add a flyer with the upcoming happenings.

7. Wear your VBS tshirt often over the next 90 days…you’ll never know when you may run into a child at the grocery store or Home Depot.  It’s a great conversation starter and you can offer a personal invite.  The Kingdom of God grows through the ministry of conversation.

The last day of VBS is not the end of my favorite week of the year. It just might be the beginning of something fabulous!

What other suggestions do you have for followup?

If you’ve been on church staff for any length of time, you know what it feels like to prepare, plan, and market a great idea only to have so few come that you wonder, “Why don’t they come?” It happened last night at the Family Drive-In Movie.

We have access to a huge stand up movie screen and a high end LED projector. We have a fantastic back parking lot that could hold 200 lawn chairs with beautiful shade and a fantastic breeze. We had a girl scout troupe with fresh movie popcorn and lemonade to sell at 50 cents each to support a local animal shelter with the theme of lost animals as we showed “Homeward Bound.” We had picnic tables and a sno cone machine. We had indoor bathrooms. We had beautiful weather. It was free.

Who came? I’m glad you asked.

Our pastor and his family came. He is kind enough to set the projector and screen up. The moms of 5 girl scouts came. Our staff parish chairperson and his family came. The lovely champion of Family Movie Night came. Our youth director came.

And a new family came with 3 little people who had never before set foot on campus. They were welcomed by the few in attendance, but had to wonder, “Where is everyone?”

Yes indeed, it takes only a few to build a faith community. But it happens so much easier and more quickly when the founding community comes out: to visit, to welcome, to greet, to show around, to make connections with new people, to introduce themselves to new faces, to make some new friends-in-the-Lord, to perhaps be the answer to someone’s prayer through the relaxed time of shared fellowship.

It is not my intention to be negative, but it would be dishonest to not express my disappointment. So, even when you do all the preparing, marketing, sharing, and planning well, sometimes they just don’t come.

This Sunday, we have a giant, inflatable, dual water slide inviting everyone in the community to come. It was originally scheduled for 2 weeks ago, but the bad weather caused us to reschedule. Sliding Into Summer may be about running through a water slide for little people, but what will our surrounding community think about us if the founding community of faith doesn’t come out to welcome and greet them?

“I am carrying on a great project and I can not go down.”  Nehemiah 6:3

There is so much going on in my head today. Let’s just start there:

The 2013 Confirmation Season is finished and we experienced 50% participation in almost 50% of what took place. The time and energy and resources that were involved are almost like pulling off a vacation bible school for 5 months. I love it…but 50%? Recapping what is experienced, taught, and shared, I have to look at the wins. These are the wins: New retreat based on Micah 6:8, additional late night, active involvement of 2 more churches, additional element of worship art, active involvement of confirmation alumni, and 50% participation. The measure of success comes from the “after”: who/which families are continuing to choose active faith development in the (any) local church one year later: Over the last 2 years, we can say 70%. I feel like the girl in the commercial, “We want more! We want more!”

A Church Nursery is a deal-breaker or a non-issue for new and visiting families. Our goal is that it is a non-issue. Best vehicle to do that? train for unity. Stop the baby sitting and start the baby loving. A Mom once shared that she knew her baby was loved when “I see lipstick kisses on her forehead and she smells like her caregiver’s perfume.” Faith of little people begins on the floor…and the forehead. That’s what I’m talking about!

Vacation Bible School supplies have taken over the hallway outside my office. We’re doing two. One as always, 5 nights, last week of June. But in response to last fall’s reading of “Deep & Wide,” we’ll be taking what we already do well, change the date and time, and the audience can more easily change. we are offering a 3-day daytime VBS for community outreach and as a vehicle to train our youth to lead VBS and grow beyond helpers. I am hearing more and more movement to move VBS from a Children’s Ministry-only endeavor to a partnership with a church’s Missions and Evangelism Committees. That makes this gal downright giddy! 6 months of time and resource investment for 10 hours. A good investment? Oh, yeah!

North Georgia United Methodist Church Conference Discipleship Team on-going continuing education opportunity to offer a certification, or whatever we can call it, to give tools to those hired from the pew into professional ministry. Supported by the Conference, championed by influential clergy, and implemented by those who have had a taste of it. Lunches, teas, Skype, car rides, late night events, phone calls, emails, blogs, hallway meetings…all for the cause of implementing a top notch continuing education program that empowers, teaches, builds relationships, and shares resources so that local staff hired from the pew can experience the thrill of personal and professional discovery. Collaboration abounds, but I am so ready to get this ball rolling, that I about can’t sleep. I am consumed with waving the banner to equip lay people called and tapped by their local churches to move beyond paid volunteers into professional ministry.

#1 Son and our Daughter-in-Love have started premarital counseling and considering wedding dates.  They love a certain month, but those weekends have been booked for me for months.  I’m making phone calls to get some items shuffled.  He’s already told me that no matter what, they’ll be coming home for supper twice a week.  Grin.  SO excited to see the face and get to know the heart of the one I’ve been praying for since he was a little boy.

What’s going on in your head?

“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.” Nehemiah 6:3

Vacation Bible School season is one of my favorites of the year. June and July are truly Kingdom-building months.  The Leadership Luncheon is a great way to kick it off and let the ones totally sold out (like this church lady) get a jump start on what to expect and plan.

This year we will be having 2 vacation bible schools: a night time in June and a 3-day daytime in July. The night time will be Kingdom Rock published by Group Publishing. My servant leaders find it very leader friendly and it does a great job of addressing all the learning styles of students and servant leaders.

Post cards to invite everyone to the Leadership Luncheon went out 3 weeks ago to everyone who served last year, all the retired folks on our church roster, and all the families.

Lunch will be PB&J sandwiches cut out with castle cookie cutters found at Wally World in Orlando at the CPC conference, fruit kabobs on sword toothpicks, and Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies.

The Confirmation class will be setting up the room with gold table cloths, paper plates, cups, and napkins. The tables will be set with colored balloons for the table centerpieces.

For fun we put together a Royal Bible Quiz that included the following items with tshirts to the winners:

Royal Bible Quiz

1. What woman’s name is translated “princess?” (Genesis 11-25)

Diana      Sarah      Deborah      Bathsheba

2. Who was the first King of Jerusalem? (1 Samuel 10:1)

David      Og      Abraham      Saul

3. Which is the first Queen mentioned by name in the Bible? (1 Kings 10:1)

Sarah      Tahpenese      Sheba      Esther

4. Which King danced half-naked in public? (2 Samuel 6:16)

Solomon      David      Joash      Hezekiah

5. What was the fate of evil Queen Jezebel? (2 Kings 9:30-37)

She was thrown off a high place     Trampled by a horse
Eaten by dogs             Died a natural death
All of the above           None of the above

6. Which King ate grass like an animal for 7 years? (Daniel 4:25-32)

Ahab      Nebuchadnezzar      Ahaz      Artaxerxes

7. Which King did God say was a man after His own heart? (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22,26)

Solomon      Samuel      David      Paul

8. Which King wrote Psalm 23? (Psalm 23)

Ahaz      Paul      David      Samuel

9. Who encouraged Queen Esther to do the right thing? (Esther 1-9)

Haman      Artaxerxes      Holy Spirit      Mordecai

10. Nehemiah was the cup bearer to which King? (Nehemiah 1:11, 2:1)

Artaxerxes I      Nebuchadnezzar      Ahab      Pharoah

11. Who was 8 years old when he became King, and reigned in Jerusalem 31 years and did what was right in the sight of the Lord? (2 Kings 22:1)

Ahab      Hezekiah      Josiah      Jehoiachin

12. Who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? (1 Timothy 6:14-15, Revelation 17:14, 19:16)

Jesus      Jesus      Jesus       Jesus

And we’ll give everyone a chance to make a crown to wear in June to help publicize the event.

Gotta go…on my way to Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree for goodies!

“Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.” Isaiah 26:4