when the milk spilleth

This young girl became ill on Christmas eve and found out that her heart was not going to last. She spent those months in a hospital bed hooked up to a Berlin heart machine to keep her alive. Even in this really tough time in her life she shared the love of Christ with thousands of people. Now she has a song to sing and is going to change the World.

@samluce asked ‘Do we have unrealistic ideals of family ministry?’ Initial thought: I’m not so sure. Is it unrealistic to encounter a sold out, whatever-it-takes, no-excuses follower of the risen Savior? I have, maybe not in the mirror, but have seen some incredible selfless, grace-filled acts by service and sacrifice. But is every believer there? Of course not. So, wherever each individual is in their journey, God has a next step of growth, in His perfect time for them. He is working His plan in each of us, @ a pace determined by Him. Same for the family ministry of each family. My role: echo Reggie Joiner’s point: let parents off the hook, tear up the Stock family photo, and ‘just get parents to do something’, praise them for whatever they are doing within this effort. As for me, I believe God CAN accomplish amazing things within the family. Therefore, I have high hopes for what each family can become.
Our travel to Atlanta from Mississippi Gulf Coast…we had to get to Mobile, then Montgomery, then Birmingham, all BEFORE arriving @ Orange’09. It was not a :30 minute ride, rather 6 hours, and we had some tasty honey-sweet pecans along the way!
‘where you are today is temporary. Is the picture not what you expect? wait… you have no idea where God will take you’ -as echoed by @jabberfrog

To follow up from last night’s post. I really do think it is awesome that our kid ministry leaders are not overly cool. I’m glad as a Dad even more so. Here’s why:
The excitement over an Orange gathering (my third) is a tremendous encouragement for all us in that fight for our kids eternal destinies. Yet, I for one, can get enamored with the ‘celebrities’ within these circles. People who have arrived where we are trying to get in regards to our ministries. They are believed to have the answers to our many questions, many of which they do. But within this admiration and awe can come a feeling of unreachable, unapproachableness actually hindering the community of like minds we are seeking through opportunities like cmconnect.org.
Not to mention, maintaining humbleness is certainly a target Satan can use in the lives of our created celebs.
Finally, as a kidmin, I know through experience that our kids have a boatload of stuff going on in their hearts and minds all day. Their challenges are just as heavy to them as us adult challenges are to us. Being lead, inspired, educated by a guy who is not perfect, or celebrity cool, is actually a comfort to these kids…”Hey, he’s just like me!”. Now we can get busy exercising that earned influence and pointing them to the truly cool, very real, unshakable, mega-celeb…our Savior.

Really cool to arrive at the Orange Conference and immediately get entrenched into the children/youth/family ministry sphere. So many passionate people. Got to hang out with our reThink rep, Amy a bit. Good to hear and overhear discussions common to our ministry. Some great feedback also. Tony and I went to the Varsity and had late night chilidogs, onion rings, and fries (full nightmare report tomorrow). Wasn’t sure what to expect with meeting folks only familiar via Twitter and blogging. Went in little intimidated about many I perceived as really cool and having it all together because of their seemingly have it all together ministries as viewed through their writing…all-stars of kid ministry. But found guys to be just so regular and a bit un-cooler than anticipated…that in itself is really cool, very refreshing. Just a bunch of tweeps trying to change eternity one kid at a time. Next few days will be great.

My dramatized audio NIV Bible is a great tool for refreshing, and often enhancing, my children’s ministry lesson prep for Sunday’s message. One Monday morning while driving the kids to school, it was left in the truck’s CD player and began playing. ‘Satan tempts Jesus in the desert‘. I, the more intellectual adult, determine that a 5 and 8 year old would rather listen to…well, anything else rather than a person reading the Bible through our truck speakers, even a dramatized version. So, I immediately change it. Then…the uproar “NO DADDY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” “Ya’ll wan’t to listen to that?!” I ask. “YEAH!” So, we do…and we do…and we do…every school morning for two weeks. Each morning, load kids, load book bags, “DADDY, CAN WE HEAR ‘TEMPTED’?” ‘Sure!’
Grandma comes to visit. We are going to Hudson’s (her favorite place to visit in Mississippi, makes her son proud). Kids proclaim “LET’S GO IN DADDY’S TRUCK”…”MIMI, YOU GOTTA HEAR ‘TEMPTED’”. Well, she did…for two and a half days. My guess is that our 64 year old Mimi learned a lot about the Savior that visit…all because of a couple kids with crazy demands.

I came upon this via a fellow Twitter. Enjoy.

Sister Peig Cunningham taught her North Dublin school children Bible stories and then recorded them retelling the stories. The recordings were discovered in storage by a priest long after the school had been closed. EMI released the recordings, some of which were made into award-winning animations like this one, by Brown Bag Films.

It’s Sunday. I am smack in the middle of delivering the close to my message for our 1st-5th graders. When finally, the 5th grade girl, there for bout the 3rd time as a friend of a regular, raises her hand. A question??…finally a break through! So I cease what I am saying and eagerly give my, and the entire class of 35 kids, attention to her. “Yes, a very important question from my friend…” She smiles and asks, with complete earnest: “How does that light behind you flash every time you say something?” -referring to the American DJ sound-sensitive-disco-light, that I forgot to turn off, hanging from the ceiling. …um, what? I respond “That’s it?! No deep theological question just burning for an answer?!” She’s smiling, knows I’m goofing on her, its still cool. The entire class laughs…at me. So, I drag out the fun for a few moments, then promise to provide her a thorough explanation of the inner-workings of that particular piece of equipment, later. Then something really cool happens. Her friend, who has been attending regularly for quite a while, raisers her hand, with a real Bible question (for the first time ever)…about Methuselah, and Bible history. Then, as I am finishing up, more hands, and more great questions, most actually related to the core lesson. Lot’s of engaged kids in engaged learning going on in the closing minutes of the morning.

What happened??

My guess: A simple, bold question was embraced, and given approval to be asked. Yeah, it’s OK to ask, even if seems silly to you. We sometimes want to ask, but don’t. Let’s make it OK to take a chance. Especially if it leads to knowing real truth. That’s the kind of environment we want in Children’s Ministry.
I guess a little of that wouldn’t hurt in adult ministry either…

Never did get back to the disco light explanation. That’s why she is getting a copy of the owners manual next weekend. And for her friend, some more info from Genesis.

So, I got two buddies (actually more than 2, but this is how the post begins today) and I happen to meet one for coffee one day and by chance, the other for lunch.
One buddy, who doesn’t really do the pray out loud thing much offers to pray for me. He is a big get-a-mentor kinda guy. I had been sharing how I wanted to really grow in my leadership of Children’s ministry through connecting with others of like mind and vision. So he prays for me, right there in the parking lot…cool!
Then, my other buddy, the get-networked-with-your-peers guy spends his morning schooling me in how to better use Facebook, etc. to get connected with your peers.
Two great, encouraging encounters in one day.
The moment I return to my office, I am greeted by a new follow on Twitter. A cool kid minister in New York. Well, now the fun begins. I begin expanding on the Twitter network through all these great chains of networked Children’s and Family ministry folks…that I didn’t even know was out there! I am suddenly in the pipeline of what is ‘happening’ out there and ministry like mine, and within the first DAY, God had already used it to encourage, educate and equip our ministry here.

I wonder what would have happened if my two buddies and I would have just talked about our favorite coffee flavors that day?

Read this morning. Got me wondering about my urgency in ministry.

Imagine that you could take a quantum leap in time and you landed in Southampton, England, in mid-April, 1912. A newspaper headline reads, “Titanic to set sail on maiden voyage today.” What would you do? You’d race to the harbor and try to persuade as many people as possible not to get on board. You’d probably have very little success. “What do you mean you know the future? An iceberg? Fifteen hundred people die? Come on! Quit trying to spoil my vacation! Didn’t you hear? Even God can’t sink this ship!” You’d watch hundreds sail away, headed toward certain death.

The Bible says that this world with all its pleasures will pass away. Our only hope is through Jesus Christ. If we really believe that’s true, we’re going to do everything we can to persuade as many people as possible to get off the sinking ship of this world and come to Jesus Christ while there’s time. Evangelism must be the primary mission of the church.

excerpt from When God Builds a Church by Bob Russell, senior pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

http://www.childrensministry.com/article.asp?ID=2055

Welcome your thoughts.

We’re dancing…my 5 y.o. girl, 8 y.o. son, and I, along with about 30+ other family/friends/strangers at my cousin’s wedding reception. The DJ has some classics going for us 40-somethings. The whole list of line dancing hits. Some I remember, some I had forgotten, several I never heard of (especially the country ones). Then comes that one…the one big and small, young(er) and old, mothers and grandmothers jump up for.

STROKIN’

I must have danced to that one 99 times in the past 20 years (seems like). We all know it (my generation, anyway). No less than 10′ from the loudspeaker, I am cheerfully directing the footsteps of my two children…”hey, this is one daddy really knows!”
Then I hear it…
the actual lyrics. 99 times before this moment, yet never actually listened to what/how they were saying, much less derived at what they were doing as described in the song. ‘Is this the same song?’ I hadn’t heard it in at least 8 years (see above reference to timetable).
Now, standing there, not as Mr. Fun Time Charlie (not my real name, you get the idea), but as Daddy.

No need to elaborate on the exact lyrics. If you are unfamiliar with the song (because you are no Mr. Fun Time) then just take my word for it…it’s definitely for adults only, excluding my mother, grandmother, mother-in-law and any other female and/or person I would cringe at partaking in the description of events being expressed between the twosome in this particular song. Especially my 5 and 8 year olds.

We shield/protect/insulate/(add your own descriptor here) our kids senses from the influences of this world’s master. Yet, here is Daddy leading “step left, left, back, back…” along with “#@%^$*@&#$$%$^~@#@%$^” oblivious to where I have hand delivered them.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SAYING/DOING IN THAT SONG!” I exclaim to my wife after whisking the kids from the dance floor faster than … well, faster than you can whisk your kids away from a really provocative, adult only song. “Exactly, that’s why we didn’t play that at our wedding.” she replies with the calm grace of a loving wife.

I had no idea.

So now I wonder, what else do I have ‘no idea’ about?
What about you…do you have an idea?
An idea of what we are demonstrating, contributing to, allowing, prescribing, fostering, saying, doing, acting like, modeling…in front of the little ones watching our feet and hands as we lead their steps?

As for me, I’ve learned to give a bit more scrutiny to what their senses are barraged with on my watch.

Share your thoughts.