I’ve been reading “Teacher: The Henrietta Mears Story.” This biography was given out as a take away at the Gospel Light’s breakout sesson at January’s Children’s Pastors Conference.

For a progressive thinking woman in 1928, she came to set the stage for a movement in Sunday School in Hollywood, of all places.  Her influence on Billy Graham, Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), and others instrumental in the discipleship of God’s people has earned her a place in the “saints who have gone before us.”   Check out some of her writings . . .

“How seldom the Sunday School teacher is asked for his credentials! A public school teacher is not questioned as to whether he will teach but rather, can he teach. Our request in securing Sunday School teachers is invariably, ‘Will you take a class?’ And good-natured men and women, much against their wills, answer, ‘I will keep the class going until you can find someone else.’ If a math teacher is absent, can you imagine the principal going out in the neighborhood, ringing doorbells and asking a housewife, ‘Will you come over and take a class in mathematics because the regular teacher is sick?’ Absurd! He notified the superintendent’s office of this need, and a trained person comes.'”

“Will you stop looking at your problems and wringing your hands in despair? Faith and despair cannot remain in the same heart. Take your choice; trust God or worry. You cannot really do both.”

In her research into teaching methodologies and the available curriculum of the 1920’s led her to describe the Bible as “the most poorly taught book in the world.” Where was the action, the color, the truth, the depth? Where was the passion to know an ever-living, all-powerful, all-amazing Christ?

“I think of Jesus as vital, alert, enthusiastic-full of zest and zeal. So much emphasis is placed on the suffering and dying Christ – and certainly that is essential – but rarely do we see paintings or hear sermons that reflect the vitality of Christ’s personality and life He wants us to have. Christ is the ideal leader – men leave their professions, their homes, their companions to follow Him. He inspired them to do their best, to be their hightest self. Jesus must have been a physically vibrant person, radiating energy and confidence, mental alertness and interest in everything about Him. Think of Him being able to speak to a crowd of many thousands of people without a microphone! See Him walking through cities, His head high, His shoulders thrown back, bursting with good will, kindness, courage and faith! No wonder the multitudes followed Him!”

I’m only on page 52. Can I get an Amen?

June & July are truly Kingdom-Building months as vacation bible schools or similar programming reaches out into the community of little people to offer a snack, a craft, a new song, and a fresh word all for the cause of Christ. All this and you don’t have to wear a tie.

Tips:

SHARE – one of the first things we teach little people in weekday preschool is that Jesus likes it when we share. If you are a smaller church, call a larger church and ask what you can do to help. If you are a larger church, call a smaller church and ask what you can do to help. The children’s director at my home church does this exceptionally well. She invites smaller churches to coffee/tea gatherings in March (immediately after confirmation retreat) to begin encouraging smaller church directors with all the tips she has learned over the years. She also invites these folks to take a small part in the decorating at her church (100 paper lanterns) only to be blessed beyond measure with sets and props and extra resources to be picked up on the last day of her VBS. “Blessed to be a blessing.”

SERVE – another one of those things we encourage of our own congregations.  Ever consider serving in someone else’s VBS? It is a guarantee of getting fresh ideas and learning more about how to provide an excellent VBS in your own house when you serve in someone else’s. AND it blesses the socks off of a Director to have a section leader or crew leader who comes with experience and an enthusiasm he/she doesn’t have to provide herself.  AND it let’s a director “PLAY,” which few get to do anymore.

VISIT – This year I have the pleasure of sharing our multi-vbs-at-other-church experience with a family friend who has chosen to spend her summer following graduation serving the LORD through vacation bible school.  On the 3rd day of VBS, at the church we are helping this week, the church invited her to serve at their church on Sundays.  They had no idea she came all the way from Massachusetts to serve in vbs’s and didn’t even attend that church.  Made us both smile.

NETWORK – Use facebook/social media to find out when and where other churches are having their Vacation Bible Schools (we used Children’s Ministry of North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church).  Then begin making phone calls to find out what you can share, where you can visit, even where to go when you are blessed with 10 more kids than you had planned for and need memory buddies or tshirts or whatever.  Then, be willing to make the drive to make it easier.

PASS IT ON – We are helping one church (new church start, just moved into a permanent building, presenting their first vbs to their community), who were blessed with leftover resources from a larger church, who will be passing their leftover resources (and those they didn’t use from the larger church) onto to us.  After our week of VBS at the end of June, another church will pick up our goodies (and the leftover goodies from the other 2 churches) from our house to bring to their house to present their vbs 2 weeks later.  Blessed to be a blessing.

INVITE – Invite the community to get involved. If you go to Stevi B’s, they’ll give you certificates for your vbs attendees AND your helpers/leaders/teachers.  Our local Steve B’s actually came to the church we are helping this week and asked if they could drop off some certificates.  If you fill out a “donation request form” at your local Chik-Fil-A 2 weeks before your VBS, they will graciously give you these huge paper “VBS Graduation Certificates” for a free 6-piece nugget for your students.  When we were talking with the manager, he told us that he was helping at his church’s vbs this week during the day and working at night:  “I offered to serve in the snack area since I work in the food business.”

Then when you go to  pick up these precious donations, be sure to treat yourself to a small Banana Pudding milkshake because that’s how we roll for VBS in the south.

OK. So I got your attention. That’s a good thing. Because when you begin to talk about inviting volunteers to complete Criminal Background Checks and Servant-Leadership Applications the backlash begins.

Criminal Background checks are required by Scouts, School Systems, and Ball Teams and no one thinks twice. But to ask a church volunteer, the fear of “offense” can sometimes be overwhelming. And anyone over the age of 60, who already lives with the fear of identity theft (my mother in law won’t even mail her bills from her own home mailbox), the reluctance to provide a social security number is asking too much. But it is a fact of life and absolutely necessary to due diligently screen those who will have direct influence over little and vulnerable people.

There are companies now whose sole purpose is to provide Criminal Background Checks, maintain the records, and notify you when updates are necessary that will also offer Safe Sanctuary online training (Trac1) for a much more reasonable fee (less than $15) than several years ago. It’s an investment that should NOT be considered as part of the Kid Min budget, but more along the lines of security or office supplies.

But Criminal Background checks alone are not enough.

Servant-Leaders Applications go hand-in-hand in providing due diligent screening. But here’s the good part: These applications (kept confidential by the ministry lead/head) offer the greatest insight in placing folks in their “sweet spot.”

As a new staff member required to recruit and train volunteer servants, I can not know one’s gifts and graces by offering a handshake and a polite conversation in the parking lot or worship service in a few minutes on a Sunday morning. These applications are fabulous for finding out if volunteers can serve seasonally (VBS/got band in the fall) or are better to serve for special events (Christimas play) or are available during the school year (they travel during the week with their work.) This also lets you know where they’ve been “a-learning” their Jesus information, what spiritual disciplines they practice (and have no clue what you’re talking about as in, “Tithe? What is that?”)

And my favorite part, the personal non-kin references, give a ministry leader the chance to hear others toot the horn of a fantastic youth or adult. They will tell me stories about how you live out your faith in areas that a servant is usually too humble to share or don’t even recognize in themselves.

Criminal Background checks AND Servant Leader Applications . . .now that’s due diligence and a treat.

In the words of Loralee Boe, “The subject of safety and security in Children’s Ministry is one often overlooked or not emphasized enough. Sometimes this is from a lack of knowledge or from a desire not to offend. As those called to teach children the Gospel, we cannot ignore the environment in which we care for them.” (from “It Worked for Us: Best Practices for Ministry with Children and Families”)

Over the last 6 months I have logged some serious miles sharing the guidelines of what the United Methodist Church calls, “Safe Sanctuary.” What used to be considered a Kid Min thing, the audience has changed and I am speaking to more and more Administrative Councils. That’s a very good thing.

The architect for Safe Sanctuary, Joy Thornburg Melon, an ordained clergy-person as well as an attorney, comments that “Justice and hospitality are essential elements of the covenant between the people and God.”  We can truly do both.

Some of the basic goals of any local church to offer a safe haven and sanctuary for children, youth, and vulnerable adults would include:

1.  The 2 adult rule, where 2 adult team members are present in a classroom or environment at all times.

2.  Use of classrooms/environments with windowed and open doors.

3.  Institute a 6 month hospitality rule – this gives the congregation a chance to love on pre-servants before they run head-long into leadership roles.  My experience has also shown that anyone new coming into a congregation has some grieving to do, as well, as they say goodbye to their old family of faith and begin to build relationships in a new one.

4.  Servant leaders making classroom management decisions should always be adults over the age of 18.

5.  Name tags and/or identifiable clothing let others know that “you are safe to approach to get questions answered.”

6.  Check-in and release of students are in place and age-appropriate.

7.  Appropriate touch boundaries are understood.  (When are full-on frontal-body hugs appropriate for church staff and leadership?)

8.  Appropriate adult behavior (especially regarding social media, communication, and sharing of information).

9.  Adequate ratios of adults to minors and anyone in any sort of leadership role must be at least 5 years older than the oldest minor in the the room (and if under 18, the minor is considered part of the “minor” number in those adequate ratios.)

10.  Reporting requirements and expectations (before something happens.)

The adoption of Safe Sanctuary guidelines is just one more tool that the local church provides to better equip the disciples of Christ to serve without fear.  And there is nothing like serving our risen Savior without fear.

You can order materials at www.discipleshipresources.org.

Last year I picked up the newest tool for implementing Safe Sanctuary in the local church specific to Ministers, entitled “Safe Sanctuaries for Ministers:  Best Practices and Ethical Decisions.”  This is a must-read for anyone, not just ministers/clergy persons, who serve on church staff or in covenant leadership roles as laity, as well.

Remembering my comment at interview that I am a rabid reader, let me share what I’ve read in the last 2 weeks. This does not mean that I am studious, only that my family has eaten more cereal than normal.

Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly- read from my man’s Kindle and a page turner from the get-go. Of course reading it as if the dialogue is voiced over by Matthew McConaughey kept a grin on my face throughout.

Rock Solid Volunteers by Larry Fowler – corner foldover and underlined with a star beside it . . .”Drive past a church in America that has an unkept lawn, and what do you think? Here’s what I think, because I am a product of middle-class American culture: ‘That church is tired and visionless, and probably not much spiritual is happening there.’ In our American thinking, an unkept lawn can tarnish God’s reputation…We need to be familiar enough with the culture in which we are living and ministering to recognize the aspects of our lives, churches and ministries that damage God’s reputation in the eyes of those around us.'” Thus asking myself, do I have a passion to be culturally excellent so as to protect God’s reputation?

Energizing Children’s Ministry in the Smaller Church by Rick Chromey – My second read-through as it’s the children’s council’s summer read, “God loves to use the small, insignificant, unappreciated, disenfranchised, impoverished, quirky, and dysfunctional to do some of His best work’   (whew, I’m still in this.) “Children want to feel and taste and smell, not just hear and see.” “Children need as much as 4 times the space of an adult.” “Budget $50-$100 per child annually.”

The Twelve Sacred Traditions of Magnificent Mothers-in-Law by Haywood Smith (and published by Belle Books of Smyrna, Georgia) – is a very Southern mother-in-law’s humorous advice to mothers-in-law everywhere, including tried and tested tips on how to bite your tongue and mind your own business. Tradition One: Magnificent MILs Cut the Apron Strings. (this was a referral by the Right Reverend Pat with more than few chuckles.)

Priscilla Shirer’s “Life Interrupted: Navigating the Unexpected Interruptions aka A Study on the Life of Jonah” – although only 81% finished according to my Kindle, these 3 items were of special note . . .

1. Repentence is four-wheel drive

2. God sees relationship with us and obedience from us, not just a religious reaction. He would prefer that we get right with Him rather than just behave for Him. (deciding to go back to church is not the point, but go back and remember what He asked you to do when you jumped off the track in the first place and just do it)

3. William Fay, a Southern Baptist evangelist, cites statistics in his book, “The Sin of Silence,” from his own denomination that in a recent year 1/3 of churches welcomed NO new believers into their fellowship, 1/3 baptized less than 6 people, and the estimated percentage of Christians who will go to their graves without ONCE telling another person how they can be saved through Christ Jesus is 97.4%. That’s almost everybody!

And THAT is why we dedicate the month of June as kingdom-building month in our house. Vacation Bible School begins on Sunday at my home church and will run throughout the month at churches all over the country. Want a guaranteed opportunity to speak “good-news-ease?” Stop by a VBS, lend a hand and a cheerful witness. It’s not about what you say, it’s about telling the next generation that you and God are WILD about them!

I don’t care who you are, how old you are, or what you already have planned . . . there is a spot for you at your church’s VBS and don’t wait to be invited or asked, Matthew 28 is your 24/7 invitation.

In yesterday’s Children’s Moment I showed the children a picture of my Dad in full Coast Guard regalia. Sharing a picture of someone who had done so many things for me, it was a call to the children to remember special people who are no longer living. These special people are friends, loved ones, and soldiers who have given their lives for our country.

My Dad taught me to tie my shoes and to ride a bike. My Dad introduced me to Jesus and taught me how to love like Him. Daddy is in heaven now and I am so grateful for the lessons he taught me.  It’s probably the first time I spoke of Daddy in public without getting the chin quiver.

Then I got an email early in the afternoon.

My colleague and my greatest Weekday Preschool mentor passed way earlier on Sunday morning. The fact that her Assistant Director saw fit to notify me and so many others so soon after her passing reminded me of just how much we all meant to her.

She was 5’4 with an 8′ personality. She challenged me in so many ways: to honor and protect my staff at all costs, to be creative in showing love and faith in the character of every little person (especially those sent to my office), to never stop learning, and to include as many people as possible on the journey of our personal and professional calling.

My heart is breaking at her passing for the many up and coming preschool professionals who will never have known the road she prepared for us all. Her reputation was impeccable, her resolve for the underdog sure, and her encouragement to me was priceless.

As a certified preschool program of excellence through the North Ga UMC Conference, we are subject to on-site inspection.  She was part of the inspection team at every preschool I served.  She engaged in a conversation with a 3 year old at our last inspection as the preschooler asked, “Are you an old lady?”  She replied, “Yes.”  His face lit up and responded with glee, “Then, you must be a Grandma.”

She authored the letter commending us for our efforts and achievement at applying for certification through the North Ga UMC Conference.  I ripped open the envelope to find that we had earned that precious designation, only after enduring an opening paragraph where she took liberties to keep me on the edge of my seat since it was dated April Fool’s Day.  Along the bottom of such a serious letter, she handwrote, “Hang the banners, you’ve earned it!”

We had lunch just a few short weeks ago. She had called this luncheon for several of us to specifically address the safety of our staff and children. The guest of honor was the architect of Safe Sanctuary. I sat to her left and heard this great woman grumble that she couldn’t eat fresh fruit because of the medication she was on. She laughed. I smiled.

May that banquet table she is sitting at this morning with our Jesus be filled with the freshest of fruit. Linda, you will be missed and your legacy will continue until we join you at that table.

This afternoon, my fellow staff members and I will be meeting the newly appointed senior pastor who will officially begin serving at the end of July. The itinerant and appointment system of the United Methodist Church is a tradition filled with honor, covered in prayer, and anxiously exciting, all at the same time.

I have experienced pastoral changes, yet only as a layperson, never as a staff person. Sweet memories of hauling youth to clean bathrooms for the incoming, and helping pack up kitchens for the outgoing warm my heart. Transitional face-to-face meetings filled with moments of shared prayer time as we begin new adventures remind me of the power of prayer.

That said, I have a problem.

My hands are blue.

Seriously, my hands look like a Smurf (that’ll tell you my age).

I was moving wet laundry from the washer to the dryer and a new blue sundress got tied up in the agitator. After wrestling with the machine and freeing my new blue sundress, I looked down and discovered my hands are blue.

I have tried soap, baking soda, toothpaste, and all the other home remedies that #1 son researched to no avail.

I hope the new pastor has a good sense of humor. I now have to go through my closet and instead of finding shoes to match my outfit to make a good first impression, I will be trying to find an outfit to match my hands.

Been reading “Rock Solid Volunteers” by Larry Fowler – FINALLY, a book that shares the importance of equipping people of faith for work AND war . . .

Putting on the belt of truth (knowing God’s truth better and better)

Putting on the breastplate of righteousness (personal integrity and personal holiness)

Putting on the sandals of peace (provide an environment of peaceful service)

Putting on the shield of faith (keep faith in God, not my own giftedness or the giftedness of others)

Putting on the helmet of salvation (keeping an eternal perspective is the key to helping servants deal with frustrations of ministry)

Putting on the sword of the Spirit (know God’s Word for ourselves)

Ephesians 6:13-17

It’s been my experience that the war IN the church is what will defeat the work OF the church.

May I not be found a spiritual streaker today, wearing only the helmet of my salvation – ugly visual, indeed.

Over the years of serving children in the local church, you would think I’d become more mature in the things that make me chuckle. Not so much. Maybe because I grew up with 4 brothers, bodily functions remain a top laugh-getter.

Anyway, I have collected over the years some bible passages that have caused me to fall in the floor laughing:

Luke 12:35 “Be dressed and ready for service.” (a permanent post-it-note on #1 son’s XBox during high school)

John 12:7a “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. (my all-time personal favorite)

Jeremiah 1:17 “Get yourself ready!  Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.  Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.”

Proverbs 10:19 “Where there are many words, Sin is not absent.” (aka “shut thee up”)

Leviticus 13:40 “When a man has lost his hair and is bald, he is clean.”

Exodus 32:24 (Aaron speaking to Moses) “So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Proverbs 26:17 “Like one who seizes a dog by its ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.”  (nothing like a bite in the face to keep you in your own business)

Proverbs 25:24 “Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”  (self-explanatory, and said again in Proverbs 21:9)

Nehemiah 6:3 “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.”  (a Mama’s mantra through middle school)

2 Timothy 4:11b “Take Mark, and bring him with thee:  for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (Baby Girl found this when she and Mark began getting serious)

Psalm 119:139a “My zeal wears me out.”

Ezekiel 44:18b “They must not wear anything that makes them sweat.” (Can I get an “AMEN!”?)

A clergy friend of mine has begun to get in on my collection and has added some of her own:

Jeremiah 49:32 “Their camels shall become booty, their herds of cattle a spoil.”

Ecclesiastes 10:1 “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor.”

Ecclesiastes 10:11 “If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.” (duh)

Yep, “She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”  Proverbs 31:25

Got any you are willing to share?

Children’s Council last Wednesday evening was a thrill as we looked at the summer programming AND the last month of “the good, the bad, the ugly, and stuff we gotta look at next month.” Made me laugh. Only a few things were tabled and we have begun our summer reading of Rick Chromey’s “Energizing Children’s Ministry in the Smaller Church.” When Rick signed my copy a few years ago, he wrote, “Dare to be a David.”

“David wasn’t concerned about what other people thought or what he couldn’t do. Instead he concentrated on what God could do through Him.” (page 60) We serve a can-do-through-you kinda God and when it comes to kids, He shows up and shows off all the time.

Our 2nd Fantastic Friday/Parent’s Night Out was themed “Noodle Night.” Dinner was multishaped pasta, butter, parmesan cheese, carrots, and watermelon. The children played a game where they had to “use their noodle” to figure out what their back-tags said they were, noodle baseball, and other pool noodle games. Then off to the sanctuary to watch “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” We will take a break for the summer and use “our noodles” in July to plan for the next school year.

Summer Jubilee is planned for the regular Sunday School and Children’s Church servants. We already have June covered; now to prayerfully recruit for July and August.

Servant-Leadership applications are out for folks 7th grade through adult to serve with children, 3 Safe Sanctuary trainings on calendar, mass emails to winter basketball leagues about Art Camp and Puppet Camps for June & July, and VBS volunteer signup boards in the narthex are now sitting on the floor in my office.

Scripture claimed for the summer . . . “SO, whether you eat or drink, or WHATEVER you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 Keep a lookout for the tshirts to come.