Luke 10:40 (ESV): “But Martha was distracted with much serving…”

This week in the devotional book that our youth group uses there was a devotional about being too busy. The author (Nathan Barker) said:
“Being [distracted] doesn’t mean you’re doing bad things or doing things for the wrong reason. It just simply means that you are not doing what you should be doing, because you’re distracted with something else…Once you’ve become [distracted], it is only a matter of time before you become burnt out. Burn out doesn’t happen because we’re busy, it happens because we are busy without the power of God on us. We have no power because we have no prayer. We have no boldness because we have no Bible. Remember, no amount of work for the Lord can replace your walk with the Lord.”

Those few statements spoke a world to me. I don’t get exhausted with ministry because I am busy, it is because I am doing the things that are not in God’s will. Wow.  To think that if we simply stopped doing things that were not in God’s will, our lives would be so much easier.  If only it were easy to do that.

When we become too focused on “doing Christianity” rather than “living Christianity”, that’s when the downfall comes.

Continue Reading…

OK, so it’s not such a new thing. In fact, it turned six today. It’s name is iPod. So you’ve heard of it? Yep, thought you had.

On the internet, there is a forum thread known as “Thread 500″. It is on MacRumors.com. Initially, people ridiculed it. Some of the comments made were:
“I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It’s so wrong! It’s so stupid!”

“Sure the iPod is cool, and yeah I’d love to have one, but only for half the asking price of $399.”

“The iPod requires me to change my lifestyle to meet it’s needs… I need round holes, not square holes. For $99 I might buy the toy, for $399? Why?”

Consider that the iPod sold 110 million units internationally as of September. All of this gloom and doom from those looking at the situation in 2001, but it turned out to be the most successful MP3 player on the market. And in the opinion of some, it became the best MP3 player. Continue Reading…

Last Sunday evening our Pastor made this statement during his sermon: “Servants can bring glory to God.”

Now, the way my mind works, I think over everything way too much.  But thinking about it brought this thought to my mind: Volunteers are good.  Servants are better.

You can have tons of volunteers in your ministry, and people will look in and say, “Great!  They’re having an effective ministry.  Just look at all of the volunteers.”  But are you really?  What is the heart attitude of those serving?  Is it a “I’m doing this because I have to do it to fulfill an obligation” or is it a “I honestly want to serve”?

A volunteer brings no glory to God.  A volunteer is all about bringing glory to themselves.  They are inward focused in their service.  On the other hand, a servant is outward focused.  They’re all about bringing glory to God.  If they are truly serving with a servants heart, ministering will not be a chore to them. Continue Reading…

Here’s an awesome, remarkable idea from, of all people, Martha Stewart.  Yes, that Martha Stewart.

So here’s her suggestion: take some chalkboard paint, and paint an entire wall.  There are a ton of things you could do with this. You could do, as she suggests, make a wall calendar and keep all of your ministry events for the month up on it. You could also do birthdays in the church.

Another option is just leaving it blank, and allowing the kids to simply draw whatever they want. Establishing rules would be a great thing (only things that build others up or glorify God). This allows kids to express themselves, while keeping them entertained before class and after class while waiting for their parents.

Don’t think painting your walls would go over so hot with your senior pastor? Just beg! OK, so there is a better solution. You can buy some foam-core board, paint it, and fasten it to your walls. If you just want a small area, just use one piece. If you want to cover your whole wall, use lots of pieces of the board. It’s an easy way to get around having to paint your walls, and still use the same idea.

It’ll take some work, but it could just be the one thing that sets your Children’s Ministry apart. You may even catch yourself doodling on occasion. Just give it a try. You might be surprised to find the talents some of your kids have!

P.S. Need some chalkboard paint? Check out ArtCity.com (I haven’t used them, just who I found first on Google!) for some spray paint. You can also check your local home improvement store.

I love coffee. I am the only one in my family that likes coffee (my mom says it’s a bad habit I picked up from Ryan). But I hate the room temperature coffee that we have in the Sunday School classrooms at our church. It gets brewed before 7:30, and sits for at least 2 hours, and I typically, if at all, don’t get to drink it until 10:45 or 11, so there’s only so much I can complain about. Now, I do appreciate that someone gets there early to make it, but it’s just nasty 3 hours later. (I have submitted a petition to put a Starbucks in the church, but Ryan just laughed at me.) I like coffee either icy cold or steamy hot, but room temperature? Blech. No, double blech.

So why am I ranting about coffee on a ministry blog? Because Jesus doesn’t like icky coffee. OK, so actually he doesn’t like lukewarm Christians (or ministries!). But you get the idea.

Revelation 3:15-16 (ESV)- “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

That passage was Jesus talking to the church in Laodicea (I had to respell that about 15 times). He was speaking specifically to the church members, but he was imploring them, “Either be cold or hot, but not room temperature!” He was basically telling them to either be all for him, or all against him, but somewhere in between was unacceptable. He didn’t want them to simply be “room temperature”, changing based on the environment they were in, because it looked bad! It was a poor testimony. Jesus was out and out telling these people that he would rather that they not tell others about him and live a life of sin than tell other about him and have a poor testimony! Wow!

Apply this to your ministry. Jesus wants you to have a remarkable ministry. He would rather that you did not do ministry at all, than give it a half-hearted, pathetic attempt and call it ministry. What it the reputation of your ministry with the kids of the community? Is it cool and welcoming, or old-fashioned and stodgy? If your ministry has a bad rep, ask what you could do to fix it! Don’t simply change the tone of your ministry based on the “room temperature”, the “trends in ministry”, but change it to meet the needs of kids to make an eternal impact. Have kids in your ministry, and parents as well, who remark on your ministry. The promise of “sitting on the Throne of God with Jesus” sure sounds better than “getting spit out like room temperature coffee”, doesn’t it?