Perfect "Job"
Taming Chaos, Starting Lent, Speech Habits, and
Hey look, it’s Wednesday! Promises made. Promises kept. Won’t he do it. God that is, not me. Heaven knows I wanted to stay up late and watch basketball instead of write, and maybe I did, but you’ll never be able to prove it. Either way, we’ve got a great slate of articles for you to peruse, and a diabolical dad move to work into your repertoire. But before we get to that, settle in for story time.
Despite all my baggage that comes from hitting eject on pastoral ministry (long story that’ll never make the newsletter, but come to Louisville and I’ll buy you coffee and we can commiserate together), the last year or so has found me serving regularly on a kids ministry team at church again. I didn’t think it’d ever happen, and I still have a hangup about wearing the logoed t-shirt that I’m not sure I’ll ever get over, but God seems to be doing something in me. Try as I might, I just can’t seem to get away from the ol’ kids hallway.
One of the reasons I’ve been able to say yes, is because the gal who’s running kids ministry at our church has given me the best “job” (I’m a volunteer, just like everyone except our fearless leader) on the whole team, at least to me. I serve as a service coordinator, which means I’m sort of a Swiss Army knife that she can employ to tackle a wide variety of tasks, problems, and other menial issues. That may sound stressful to some, or entirely boring to others, but for me, there’s no place I’d rather serve on a Sunday. One of the reasons I love this spot is because of all the ministry tools I get to put to use each week.
Take this past weekend for example. I got there early (though not technically as early as I should have, sorry Madi!), and immediately put on my social butterly hat. I’m popping my head into classrooms, introducing myself to teachers, letting them know I’m there to help. Families start rolling in, and I get to chat it up with them too. We talk about the snow finally melting, the beatdown our team took Saturday night, and how kids stayed up too late and struggled to get up this morning. We’re moving, we’re shaking. Very demure, very mindful. This is a superb way to meet folks in your church. You learn what families are wrestling with and excited about, and you’re able to look for opportunities to sneak them into joining you on this team.
Next, I had an assembly lesson to teach for our elementary kids. Obviously, a totally different skill set than schmoozing with folks in the hallway. I looked over and prepped a lesson a couple days before Sunday, and had locked in all the hilarious punchlines and hard-hitting gospel bombs. I get to grab my Bible and a music stand and tell these kids about Jesus feeding the 5000, his compassion and grace, and what that means for them. Was there an altar call where each kid came up weeping, asking the the Lord to save them? Not that I saw. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a blast to get up there and invite children to trust Jesus, having faith that the gospel seeds aren’t going out in vain.
After the teaching adrenaline died down (IYKYK), one of our K/1st teachers poked her head out and asked for help with a kid. He was yelling out as they were working through the lesson in the classroom, and obnoxiously banging on the table through their questions. So I put on my kid-whisperer cape (this is not a real thing, though maybe it should be) and swooped in to save the day. Am I Superman? Definitely not, but I took a knee next to him and asked him why he was being crazy and disruptive. It turns out he shares a room with his younger brother, and he’d woken him up several times through the night. Not to mention he was, “STARVINGGGG!!!” It was basically a live action Snickers commercial. We talked about obedience and being a good friend. Then we bumped fists, his teacher snagged some goldfish, he made a quick apology, and he was good to go for the rest of the morning.
Then there’s all the water pitcher fill-ups, the quick runs to the supply closet for baby wipes or extra cups, the quick text to the parent of the fussy baby, the security checks, administrative attendance taking and list making, and the quiet conversation with my hangry kid’s mom to let her know what happened and how he rallied to make it a great day. Not the sexiest ministry to be sure, but it sure feels good to be of use, and most parents need all the help they can get.
I don’t tell you that story to celebrate me. Any schmuck could do this (or most any other role in the kids hallway), and that’s kind of the point. Regardless of what your gifts are, there’s a place for you back there. Not interested in teaching a large group lesson? No problem, stick to a single classroom and keep it small. Don’t love hanging out with kids that aren’t your own. All good, let’s get you setup at our check-in station so you’re just saying hello and waving them on down the hall with their name tag. Whatever you’ve got to offer, there’s likely a place to put it work for the kingdom.
God can take your interests, giftings, and time and turn it into something beautiful for the families in your church and your own discipleship journey. As Jesus reminds his squabbling disciples in Matthew 28:26-28, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” If we’re serious about modeling our lives after Christ, we should be on the lookout for opportunities to serve those around us. You’ll be amazed to find what God might teach you as you show up to care for kids and families in your own church. If a washed up kids pastor like me can strap in and find joy in the regular rhythms of getting to know kids and families and sharing the gospel with them, than I’d be willing to bet that you can too.
Taming Chaos (Kids and Student Ministry)
“But when our church operations systems are weak, our ministry is fragile. Healthy ministry requires healthy organization. Why? Because bringing order out of chaos is a biblical norm.”
Zach Cochran, my pal and former pastor, dropped a piece on TGC last week about the necessity of organizational health in the life of the church. It doesn’t matter how clearly the gospel is presented on Sunday, if someone’s not working behind the scenes to keep the lights on, the staff geared toward mission, and the members cared for, it all falls apart. Zach argues that as we see God himself bringing order out of chaos, that march toward order and clarity is necessary for thriving ministry.
Now, he’s writing primarly from the place of his experience in his role as executive pastor overseeing an entire church. That’s not typically who we’re writing to in this newsletter (or GCF itself), but there’s plenty of wisdom about building healthy organizations that you can apply to the ministry you lead. Whether you’re leading a staff of multiple people, or overseeing a volunteer team, the way you lead those folks will determine how your ministry feels. Giving some attention to the behind the scenes work of budgets, calendars, and vision can have a huge impact on how the gospel is felt in your classrooms and small groups.
Starting Lent (Parenting, Discipleship)
“To know the seasons of the Christian year is to know the milestones of Jesus’ earthly ministry—from the promise of his coming at Advent through his resurrection at Easter and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As Christians, we want our personal story to be shaped by his story. One way the universal church has practiced this historically is by letting Christ’s life shape our time—not just at Christmas and Easter but throughout the year.”
Here’s an oldie, but goodie, from Jared Kennedy that explains the value of the marking and celebrating the church calendar with your family. Lent kicks off today with Ash Wednesday (shout out to the marked up foreheads in the chat!), but aside from waking up early to get blessed with sidelong glances the rest of the day, what’s it all about? Jared’s glad you asked. He walks through both Lent and Ash Wednesday, explains their significance, and finally gives some practical wisdom about how to turn this part of the church calendar into a helpful season of family discipleship. Enjoy the quick primer, and give some thought about what opportunities you might find to tell your kids about Jesus in this season.
Speech Habits (Parenting)
“We want our homes to have an atmosphere of Christ’s love. But too often, expectations are crushed when our children (and we ourselves) do not act in godly ways. . . I’m convinced that frustration and dashed hopes happen when parents expect their households to run “righteousness marathons” without training a mile at a time. In other words, without the practice of righteous speech habits, families are unprepared to react graciously in tense moments.”
I stumbled upon this piece from Foster Toft, and wondered how a guy I’d never met could possibly know my parenting so well. After I finished, I checked my house for hidden cameras he must’ve used to source examples of mistakes parents make in speaking to their children. His work here is great. If we want to build godly disciples of our children, we must consider how to speak to them and what that speech instills in their hearts.
His premise is simple, and biblical. Find ways to encourage thankfulness, celebrate godly attitudes and virtues when you see them, and speak to build up rather than beat down. It sounds so easy! My heart is prone toward sarcasm, and it often bleeds into conversations with my kids. Toft rightly points out how dangerous the insults and irritation that sarcasm reveals can be to our children, and encourages us to set it down to pick up encouragement instead. You can’t successfully run a marathon your first time out. You start slow, pace yourself with short runs, and then start stretching yourself toward the big goal. Similarly, Toft’s encouragements aren’t silver bullets to slay the beast of jaded parenting. Instead, they serve as the beginning of training our hearts to bend our conversations toward building disciples instead of running the score up on our kids.
Too Far
I love my teenage daughter, but sometimes she plays too much. I’m not sure there’s a better feeling in the world than a dad who gets to take his teenager’s phone. I’ve never done hard drugs, but I’d be shocked if the high was anywhere near seeing the light go out of their eyes and then hearing how quickly they backtrack and apologize. Of course, this is all hypothetical. My daugher would never take it that far. Haha.