Special Seasons
Episode Four, Welcoming Guests, Seeing Disability, and Sure Isn't
Welcome back friends!
Mostly unrelated to this week’s devo, but wanted to give a quick shout out to the new Superman movie that debuted last week. I’d heard mostly good things over the weekend, so we packed up the boys, bought the large popcorn, and went to see if Supes could get his swag back. This movie is better than it has any business being after all the missteps at DC over the last decade. The new, bright aesthetic really works, Corenswet leads a very strong cast of interesting and enjoyable characters, there’s plenty of humor throughout, and the cold open is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a comic movie in a decade. Earmuffs for some language, but it’s a movie full of humanity, light, and hope. If you want a more official review, check out Brett McCracken’s take here over at TGC.
Our kids (and their exhausted parents) just wrapped another summer swim season. It’s simultaneously the best and worst part of our summer every year. The kids love it (what kid doesn’t love pools, piles of candy, and staying up late???), but it’s a rough six weeks for the sweaty parents who are busy volunteering, wrangling kids in line, and making events work instead of enjoying the cool, refreshing water that they can always see yet never touch.
Trey, you titled this post “Special Season,” not “Sweaty Season,” what are you doing here? Chill out, I promise we’ll get there.
Our kids swim for the Plainview Wahoos. “What’s a wahoo?” I hear you saying to yourself. Well, according to the list I just googled it’s the fourth fastest fish in the sea. This is shockingly accurate since we always finish fourth (out of four) at the championship meet at the end of each season. The team is made up of kids ranging from age four (Wee Wahoos, I mean c’mon, is there a cuter name in the world?) through age 18 (kids who are heading off to college in the fall). They race in their own age groups, but they also spend time together on the pool deck and at social events together. On the face of it, this sounds insane. What good could come from a bunch of high schoolers hanging around elementary school kids?
Most of the older kids have been swimming on this team since they were little themselves. When the little kids see them diving into the water with authority and tearing through the lane with speed and determination, they look at them and see super heroes. “Do you think if I figure out how to dive, I could be as fast as Nate one day?” We also pair each older kid up with a little kid (Big Fish/Little Fish), and they exchange gifts before each meet (usually candy, a gatorade, and a token piece of fruit). So not only do they get to see their version of the Avengers swimming, they get to meet them and be friends with them!
The young kids yell and scream for their newfound heroes every time their in the water, and the teenagers make their way poolside to cheer on little kids they’d never met until the summer started. This is where it gets special.
The season ends with a week-long gauntlet of playoff meets between the four large teams (150+ kids each) in our division. The first two are qualifying meets that are split up by age for a shot at the big dance—Champs. All the younger swimmers (10 and under) gathered last week for their quals meet, and you would have thought it was an Olympic qualifying event.
The club hosting had several sets of bleachers poolside, and each team had a section roped off for their fans. Each year, the Plainview bleachers aren’t full of parents. They’re relegated to standing around the pool deck, because our bleachers are full of Wahoo teens who show up dressed in blue, chests painted with letters spelling WAHOO, waving a huge Plainview flag as their younger counterparts swim up and down the pool. More than that, they’d printed off event sheets so they knew the name of every kid swimming in every event. They cheered and screamed for each swimmer by name as they hustled in the water. Whether they won their heat or not, every 10 and under swimmer got out of that water beaming because their heroes had given up an evening to bake in the 90+ degree heat to come watch them swim.
They probably don’t know, and Lord knows they’re not gonna believe me when I tell them, but these kids have some special in these swim seasons. In a world where everyone is obsessed with themselves, it’s refreshing to see kids give up their own time, energy, and effort to make life better for other kids. They spend six weeks modeling what sacrifice, care, and humility look like to a whole new batch of kids. Then, as they years roll by, they cross over to become old kids themselves and keep the cycle going.
As I sat poolside seeing all this (my role is running the timing computer, a mostly-boring gig that lets me sit right by the water to see my kids swim), I couldn’t help but think about the church. About how our kids ministries are separated from student ministries. About how middle school kids and high school kids are often walled off from one another. I feel like we’re missing some opportunities to build some special relationships and discipleship pathways between some of these demographics. I’m not saying every church should build a pool and model itself after a swim team, but there does appear to be some secret sauce in finding ways to involve these kids in each others lives.
Swim team isn’t perfect. I’ve had to break up 7-year-olds slap fighting, remind teenagers which words are and aren’t appropriate around kids, and calm down frustrated parents. But I’ve also had to do the same thing in kids ministry classrooms. I wonder what it would look like to encourage middle and high school kids to serve in kids classrooms on Sundays, or how cool my fourth grader would think a high school student was that came out to playground time with his class to play kickball or push the merry-go-round. I wonder how an awkward middle school basketball or softball player would feel if the juniors and seniors from his youth group showed up to their game to cheer them on.
Jesus promises that he’s with us, and it’s a beautiful truth to hold on to when we feel lonely, afraid, or isolated. What if we worked hard to find ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us? What if kids didn’t have to wonder if Jesus was present for them, because they could see his face in the cheering crowd of friends and strangers that showed up for them. How might the world be different if we taught our kids to sacrifice their time, or risk embarrassment by throwing on some face paint to support someone younger (or older!) that could use a friendly voice of encouragement?
How can our presence point someone to the presence of God? How can his perfect love be reflected in our showing up for someone when they need it most? I don’t have all the answers (or any if I’m being honest), but I do think about these questions. How is your ministry wrestling with building relationships within and across age groups? Have you found success in making connections between older and younger kids/teens? What’s been most helpful? Most difficult? Would love to engage in some conversation in how to pursue these pathways for friendship, encouragement, faith modeling, etc.
Episode Four (Parenting, Devotional)
“Welcome back Press Pause! This week we’ll be exploring every parent’s favorite piece of scripture, the fifth commandment. Here’s our question and answer for this week’s episode.
Q: Why does God tell us, “Honor your father and mother”?
A: So we will love and obey our parents.
Listening and obeying seems so simple and straightforward, yet we all struggle to do it consistently. What we want often gets in the way of what we’re asked to do, and we’d sometimes rather do our own thing than fall in line with expectations our parents have set before us. Why is it so important for us to learn to listen and obey? Grab your Bible, and read Exodus 20:12 together before listening to this week’s episode.
Welcoming Guests (Kids Ministry)
“Kids, students, and their families want to feel comfortable in a new environment and feel welcomed and included. If people come to our churches and don’t feel welcomed, they likely won’t return. They’ll miss opportunities to hear the gospel and grow in their relationship with Christ.” As summer is winding down, and you’re gearing up for the fall, now is a great time to consider how new or returning families get acquainted with your ministry. Thankfully, Delanee Williams has you covered. She walks through eleven pieces of the hospitality puzzle for you and your team to think about. Some require some forethought and a budget line-item (think signage or simple name tags), while others require more personal mental preparation (think queueing up questions to ask newcomers, and asking the Lord to calm our hearts as we welcome folks in).
You shouldn’t feel the pressure to nail every piece of hospitality she mentions here (we’ve all got room to grow!), but it’s a helpful tool to get a snapshot of what’s working well and what could use some work. Work through it yourself, or invite your leadership team to help you think through what first impressions families get when they make their first visit to your church.
Seeing Disability (Special Needs, Devotional)
Our friend and special needs ministry champion, Sandra Peoples, put together a five-day devotional aimed at discovering what the Bible has to say about disabilities. Like any good Baptist, she’s given us five words to focus on that all start with the letter P—plan, purpose, provision, place, and promise. You can click through to each day at the top of the landing page, and then scroll through the short devotional, the application questions, and then the scripture passages she points to (even with direct links!). While these are all quick reads, Sandra does a great job of laying the foundation of a theology of disability that can serve your church or kids ministry well. Whether this serves you, or families in your church, this is a great resource to hang on to.
Sure Isn’t
Ahhhhh, summer chores, and the character it builds in our children. I know my son’s been upstairs in his room for an hour after I asked for him to clean his room. Yet, as soon as he comes down and I ask if he’s wrapped up, I know good and well what the answer is before it ever comes out of his mouth. Here’s to building character in them, and in ourselves as we figure it out together.