Everyone’s special

I’m going to once again test my discipline and try to be a consistent blogger. Why have I chosen now? Excellent question, I commend myself for asking. I intend to research and execute a ministry that scares me and makes me uncomfortable-no not a refrigerator cleaning ministry-a ministry for kids with special needs. Let’s face it, it’s a scary prospect! Our church building is small and ill-equipped for such a task. For that matter I’m ill-equipped for the task!!! However I believe it is vital that we minister to these children and their families!

This isn’t some flippant spur of the moment decision, it’s a decision I do NOT take lightly! I believe however it IS the right decision, and one that God has put on my heart. So I’ve decided to blog the experience. Here’s where I’m starting: at zero! I know nothing! So here are a few resources that I’ve started with;

The book, “Special Needs Special Ministry” by Jim Pierson, Louise Tucker Jones, Pat Verbal.

We also have discovered that we have two special education teachers that attend our church.

We have a room that for at least a little while is unused during our three morning services.

I have several websites of churches and bloggers that know this subject well. (Phone calls to follow)

That’s it, that’s what I have! Hop on and get ready for the ride!

Others

Today as I was reading in Exodus I read a familiar verse. Exodus 32:11, this is where Moses begs the Lord to let the Israelites live even though they had made an idol to follow.
God was so mad He was willing to wipe them out! So Moses’ first instinct? Beg for their lives! Moses hadn’t done anything wrong, he was on the mountain getting the 10 commandments he was set! Yet instead of going with natural instinct to see others get the justice they deserve-Moses’ first thought was protection and grace. I believe that God wanted to see that from Moses. I believe God wants to see that from us. Our first action should be grace! That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for actions, it means that we aren’t concerned about “justice” we’re concerned about the person. (Let’s face it if we all got the justice we deserved heaven would be empty) So I want to encourage you to show grace to the kids you minister to, show grace to the parents you minister to, and just as importantly show grace to the staff and volunteers you minister with.

The Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste.

I’m sure you remember back a couple of weeks to when the Chilean miners were rescued after being trapped for almost 70 days underground. The story captured the world and everyone felt like they were a part of it. I remember reading an article where one of the miners said something to the effect of,there are 34 of us down here, because God hasn’t left us. (Of course there were only 33 miners.) As we were eating dinner one night I shared that quote with my family. When the day(s) of the rescue came my 7-year-old was glued to the computer monitor watching CNN coverage of the miners coming out of the hole. (It was a Wednesday night so we were at church, she watched it in my office before classes began) She would watch until one of them “arrived” then would come in to the auditorium to give us an update of how many miners had been rescued. It was very cool to see her so involved. Later that night as I was putting her to bed she asked me if all of the miners had made it out. I told they had rescued the last one. She looked at me very seriously with crinkled eyebrows and concern in her voice she asked, “Did God make it out too?”
It was then that I realized that no matter how much teaching, training, and talking we do, sometimes it’s just hard for kids (and adults for that matter)to grasp certain things. My daughter is fully aware that God is everywhere, and even though we don’t see Him He is with each of us right now. But that concept is hard for a 7-year-old mind or an ALMOST 40-year-old mind sometimes. When she said those words the way she said them my heart melted! My daughter was worried about God. While I know we don’t need to worry about God, how many of us make Him that “real” in our daily lives? Are we “worried” enough to listen and follow Him, or do we just go about our business with an out of sight out of mind approach? I have to admit there are days where I just do my thing. Not intentionally, but automatically. I want to get to a place where I “worry” about God more in my life. I want to focus on Him more and my tasks and feelings less.As a children’s pastor I would love for all of the kids in our ministry to “worry” about God.

I’m Baaaaaack!

I’ve actually been back for a few weeks. I promised to tell you if I learned anything about vacation, the truth is I did! I had the best time ever on a vacation!! My wife and I had time to reconnect, we spent our days with absolutely no agenda! We sat on the beach until we felt like doing something else. We played ping pong, and walked up and down the boardwalk. It was so relaxing. In fact when we got back home I had this very strange feeling, I felt recharged! I’ve never come back from vacation recharged! I’ve always been more tired than when I had left.

We took steps to make sure this was the case:

1.We had the money in advance to do what we did. We didn’t have any guilt or fear when we did something, because we had saved up cash just for vacation.

2. We had grandma come to our house from a couple states away to watch our girls and keep them in school. (I know it’s rare to have this option, but the point is if you’re not taking them, make sure your kids are in someones hands that can make you worry free.

3.We took direct flights. We got on and off of one plane each way-that’s the way to travel. I know it’s not always possible, but it’s worth it when you can.

4. I had checked and rechecked to make sure everyone back at the church knew what they needed to do, then I ignored my phone.

5. I had 1 full day in between getting back home and then going back to work.

I know different situations make some of these things impossible, but the moral of this story is, do everything you can in advance to make things stress free on your vacation. You’re worth it!

Vacation

I haven’t posted in a very long time, I’d like to say it’s because I’m too busy (I do have a busy life) but it’s really just because I don’t think about it often enough. If you like reading this blog I apologize for my lack of commitment, if you don’t like this blog, you’re welcome for my lack of commitment.

Anyway…vacation! My wife and I are heading on our very first non-family visiting vacation since our honeymoon 11 years ago! We’re headed to Florida with virtually no plans in place. We know where we’re staying and we have plane tickets, beyond that things are pretty much up in the air. Not having a schedule and plan is so foreign to me that I feel almost like I’m about to visit a different planet. Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to it, I just don’t know what to expect. I know there will be a lot of time to relax, I’m just not sure if I can do it.
I said all of that to say this-we should all take time to recharge and relax! There’s nothing wrong with it, in fact I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, it’s biblical! I’ve never really seen the benefit of vacation, but I think I’m about to. I’ll let you know what I think when I get back.

Even “Good” Soil Varies

Matthew 13:8 is a parable that is used quite frequently to talk about evangelism. Which it should be since that is what it is about. After years of reading this verse and hearing it in multiple sermons I saw something the other day that I never really noticed before. Something that I knew was there, but it never really stood out. Something that is so basic I’m a little embarrassed to share it with the public. Let me back up a little before I share this with you. Right now I am reading, “The Me I Want To Be” by John Ortberg in this book he shares with us that God made us a certain way with gifts talents and personalities. When God changes us, He changes our heart and mind, but He doesn’t change the “raw material” we don’t become something we’re not. (This is a very basic and brief synopsis, and I’ve only read the first 2 chapters so don’t rely on what I just wrote to start making arguments about it, there’s a lot more to it. I’ve only shared what is necessary to make my point.) Here’s my point, in the second half of verse 8 it says this about seed that fell on good soil, “…yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” Now wait! This is describing seed that fell on good soil. Yet some yielded 100 and some 30? Then it hit me! It’s okay! Just keep throwing seed, don’t worry about why your results aren’t as good as the other guys. We’re not here to compare anyway! Good seed thrown on good soil doesn’t always yield the same results. What causes the results to fluctuate so much? I don’t know, maybe my personality isn’t right, maybe their attitude isn’t right at that moment. All I can do is be me, and keep throwing seed. If you have felt like you’re not getting the results you should, don’t worry about it! Are you still throwing seed? Because I believe that as long as you’re throwing out that seed, you’re a success. (For those of us who now think we just got a lesson on farming I’m sorry. The seed is God’s Word and the soil would be those we minister to. But hey I’m sure this all works for corn too.)

OHHH Silo-mia

I’m sure you’ve heard the term silos in ministry. The meaning is each department of the church is basically its own entity taking care of and watching out for its own interests. If you work in a church you already know this is a true concept. Each department runs like the land-grabs of the old west. The words, “it’s ours/mine” are uttered at least once a day. The sad part is this selfish behavior doesn’t end with things, it involves people, and attention as well. Everyone wants as much as they can get! The thought of working on a cohesive and comprehensive strategy that bridges all age groups is as foreign as having more money than you need.

The church SHOULD run as a collective group of people helping others know, learn and apply the things of God! Yet when you can’t work together as leaders how can you help others throughout their spiritual life? The children’s ministry should be happy when they have a group of kids move up to youth, because the youth and children’s departments have worked together in planning a great strategy for the spiritual growth of each child. The youth ministry should be thrilled that the college or young adult ministry is filled with their former students because those students are taking the next step in the well thought out plan that’s in place do to leadership working together. Sadly this is rarely the case, instead it’s every man (department) for himself.

We need to break this cycle, we as children’s leaders need to be willing to share and cooperate with other departments. We need to rejoice when they get a new toy! We need to cheer when our kids can’t wait to get into the youth ministry. We need to encourage our fellow leaders and support them. Not just in word, but in action as well. Most importantly we need to work together to make sure we’re doing all we can to support our families and kids by having a life-long strategy in place on how and what we’re going to teach. It’s time to break down the silo walls, and work together! 

Is Greatness Gone?

Over the last several days I have been watching, “America, the story of us” on the History Channel. I love history so this is right up my alley! The episode “Boom” told about one of the golden ages of American history. A time when the Henry Fords and Andrew Carnegies were shaping America through self sacrifice and a never-say-die attitude! They lost or risked fortunes to do something great! Ford was actually fired from Cadillac and failed several times before he became the Ford we know him to be. Carnegie risked his financial stability on a new way to forge steel. Our history, along with the history of the world, is scattered with people who through great risk beat the odds, did something new and developed something no one else had. My questions is, does that greatness exist anymore?

I believe it does! I believe their are people everyday doing new and innovative things. We’ll never get anywhere if we always do the “norm”! When I look at children’s ministry I look at my own inclination to just always do things the same way. Not on purpose, just out of habit. I’ve worked really hard lately to always look for different ways to do things, to make things better and try things that will enhance what we’re doing with the families of our church. Sure there’s risk, and most likely failures involved, but we have God on our side and He will help us as we try to achieve “greatness ” for His kids and His kingdom.

Which way?

So have you ever been on a trip and thought you knew better than Mapquest? Where you threw caution to the wind and actually looked at the road atlas? I remember such a trip a few years back. (I haven’t mentioned GPS because at the time they weren’t available to anyone but guys in missle silos) We were on a trip to visit my wife’s family in Ohio, approxametly 7 hours from were we lived in Indiana. I looked at the map and got this great idea, we could shave some time off of the trip if we gradually made our way north east on some lesser traveled state routes instead of going directly north to Indy and then turning east. I would like to report that I was totally right. My new route changed the time of the trip greatly! It added about 2 hours to our trip! We saw some great Indiana countryside, which irritated me because I was trying to shorten the trip not take pictures of corn and cows!

All this to say I would have never known if I hadn’t tried. In ministry it’s the same thing. We can play it safe and follow the path others have laid out, never take a chance, never break out of the box. Yet what if my way had taken 2 hours off of the trip? What if doing something against the norm pays big spiritual dividends in your ministry? I’m getting to the place where I don’t want to ask “What if?” anymore. I want to try and then say, “Oooops!” or “See I knew it would work!” (you sometimes have to fake confidence in the glow of victory) So if you’re at a crossroads don’t just automatically take the laid out path. Check the atlas, ask the guy at the gas station which way? Or to put it a better way check the Bible, ask the guy who knows where you’re going. (that means pray, in case I didn’t make that clear)

DUCK!

I live in the Chicagoland area so you expect a certain amount of wind from time to time, okay all of the time! On this particular day the wind was in the 30-40 mph range. (gusts up to 50 were reported as well) In my new found desire to exercise I was riding my bike, when I decided to try a new path through our housing development. This new path followed alongside a  large pond. As I’m riding into the wind I realize I’m peddling incredibly hard, but making no headway!!! Granted I’m moving forward, but not as fast as my effort should have been rewarded. In fact I believe at the pace of my peddling; the land-speed record may have been shattered and I would have been on the front page of your local paper, sitting next to Oprah, and maybe even the greatest achievement of all- a guest shot on LOST as some soon to be dead extra (kind of like the guys wearing red shirts on the ’70′s version of Star Trek) Back to my point. I’m riding next to this pond and the water is obviously being churned by the high winds, in fact there are white caps as plentiful as government bailout money. Yet as I round the end of the pond I see two ducks floating in the water not being affected by the wind! This was such an odd sight, water is rolling, lawn furniture is flying, toupees were fluttering about like hairy crows, yet these ducks just float calmly totally unaffected! As I took a closer look, and believe me-I had plenty of time because I wasn’t moving forward very fast, I realized they were floating at the very edge of the chaos. They found a spot that was protected by the curvature of the bank. They were mere inches from mayhem, yet calmly stood strong against the force, (insert Star Wars quote of you must) of the wind.

Instantly, being the contemplative person I am (if you know me you just laughed a little) I realized there was a lesson in this moment. We all live on the edge of chaos! Yes it’s true let me say it again, we all live on the edge of chaos! Job issues, family issues, church issues, issue issues you name it!  What makes us different from these ducks is we forget to stay in the protected calm! We venture out into the choppy waters thinking we are in some sort of control! It’s crazy but in that moment I realized that I’m dumber than a duck (this isn’t the first time this theory has come up, but it is the first time it was proved) I allow myself to be swept away in the chaos, I worry, I react, I try to fix, the list goes on. I don’t need to do any of that! I need to stay in the calm. I need to stay in the protected place. I need to stay close to my God. In those moments when things are the craziest and I feel most like reacting-those are probably the moments I need to find the calm and stay put. I need to stay put through my faith and trust in God.

From here on out when I hear someone yell, “DUCK!!” it’s going to mean something a little different to me. I hope it does for you as well.

(By the way, did you get a picture in your mind about hairy crows? Just wondering.)