Servants can bring glory to God

October 13, 2007 in Blog, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

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…

Something purple, something neat

October 6, 2007 in Blog, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

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.

Icky coffee

August 23, 2007 in Blog, Uncategorized with 3 Comments

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?

Lessons from the State Fair

August 18, 2007 in Blog, Uncategorized with 1 Comment

The Indiana State Fair, officially “The Great Indiana State Fair”. (Yes, I know it’s cheesy, but every state has a State Fair. And Indiana’s is by far the coolest.) On August 9, I was at the Indiana State Fair. It almost hit 100 Fahrenheit (that’s 38 celsius for our overseas friends) that day, and it was downright oppressive. We were there to see Jeremy Camp and Casting Crowns at 7:30 that night. Before the concert, we had a ton of fun. If you ever get a chance, visit our awesome state fair (I would say most awesomest state fair like ever, but that might get me arrested by the grammar police), and swing by KidzMatter on your way through.

But that is all beside the point. Here’s some good ministry insights gleaned, from all things, the State Fair:

Continue Reading…

Today’s Quick Thought from Evan

August 16, 2007 in Blog, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

Here’s a thought that popped into my head a few days ago that I thought I would share:

Variety makes a ministry good, selective variety makes a ministry great.

I’m sure you’re wondering: What is that supposed to mean? What it means is that you should always be trying something new with your kids and changing things up. Keeping it the same is boring. But at the same time you need to make sure that you aren’t simply using the first idea that pops into your head or shows up on Google and calling it “variety”. Make sure it’s a quality idea that kids will love.

 

This may take some crazy thinking. What about some of these ideas:

  • Tech-free week- Support TV Turnoff Week, and have a totally technology free week (except for necessary things like a CD player and microphones). Leave the projector off, and do things the old school way. Once upon a time, not too long ago, people had never even heard of video projectors.
  • Game-free week- Eliminate games for an entire Sunday. “But Evan, how could you possibly fill all of that time? I NEED GAMES!” Spend more time on your lesson and community-building. Some kids may just learn how cool that “nerdy” kid in the front row really is. (Just so you know, I was the nerdy kid in the front row :)
  • Outside week- Take your kids (yes, all of them, even the misbehaving ones) outside. Have a Kids’ Church “Fun-out”. Maybe even have hot dogs and chips at the end.

What ideas can you come up with? I’m excited to see.

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