I have to admit . . . I tend to go my own way. Not that I don't read, educate, learn and grow every day, but I'm not the type of person to jump on band wagons. I do what works for me. So needless to say, if I'm not the type of person to do fad diets, the latest parenting approach, yada, yada, yada, I'm certainly not the type of person to jump on ministry fads either.
The truth is that the church has been around 2000 years without me, and will continue to be around until Christ returns. So I'm not too worried about keeping up with the latest ministry trends.
But I thought I should take time to define my views on ministry.
While I've been working in youth ministry since I was involved in youth ministry, I really only count my last three years, since it's where I've had the opportunity to experiment. When I started at Calvary there were 5 kids in the youth group who were all juniors and seniors. So I prayed for them, and let them go. I turned my attention to a group of 5 6th graders. Is this right? Isn't it my job to reach all of the kids in the church? It's not that I don't encourage them to become involved, invite the, love them . . . I just didn't focus on them. I'm a stay-at-home mom and since I've started this job I've had two more babies! I cannot successfully nurture every child involved in the church. I would have quit by now. So that's my first stance in ministry . . . I accept that I cannot reach everyone.
Now to the five 6th graders. They're freshmen now. All five are still involved in the church. One is non-committal, one does not attend youth meetings, three are what I consider my core group. I know all of this sounds crazy unsuccessful! And you're thinking that I'm an idiot. But bare with me.
Those three, I disciple. I pray for them. I encourage them. I am confident that they have a personal relationship with Christ. I will predict that in the three years that those three girls have left in high school . . . our group will experience exponential growth. Why? Because they are sharing their faith with their friends!
My job for the next three years will be to let them lead, nudge them when they need nudged, encourage them when they're down, challenge them when they need challenged.
As far as the church as a whole is concerned? DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! I don't have a facebook page for my youth group because they don't use facebook! I text message my kids on the Saturday nights before we have youth group to remind them. That works! Before that, I sent them postcards. That worked! What if every Saturday night you got a text message from the pastor asking you to attend church?
Okay . . . this is no literary masterpiece but just ramblings.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I am definately lax in my blogging, which may serve as an idea of what the rest of my life is like. Ah! I have to admit that I never finished Mere Christianity. I also have to admit that while I stayed with the first two books, the third started going over my head, and I veered away from it. I also haven't been doing my scripture memorizing or yoga! And those are supposed to be my top two priorities. Well, besides making sure my kids get fed.
I guess I should put a disclaimer in here that the reason yoga is so high on the priority list is because I've learned that I'm a better wife, mother, youth worker, etc. when I'm in physically good shape. So it's a priority that I have in order to meet my other priorities.
I can partially blame the lice, which I think are finally gone! I spazzed out completely.
So here I am: wondering why I have no self-discipline. Back to my beginning blog making my spiritual life a priority in order to nurture the spiritual lives of others. Grrr. I am so thankful that God's grace is sufficient for me.
I am excited though that our home church started a devotional series entitled Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, so I will be blogging about it some! I'm going to be leading a group on radical hospitality: which is really one of my spiritual gifts:)
At the church where I'm the youth leader, we've also implemented a ministry team (I know that we should have had one for ions) and have some exciting stuff going on there. My honest prayer for all of these things is that I'll find someplace (that exists outside of cyber-world) where I can have authentic friendship, fellowship and accountability.
I guess I should put a disclaimer in here that the reason yoga is so high on the priority list is because I've learned that I'm a better wife, mother, youth worker, etc. when I'm in physically good shape. So it's a priority that I have in order to meet my other priorities.
I can partially blame the lice, which I think are finally gone! I spazzed out completely.
So here I am: wondering why I have no self-discipline. Back to my beginning blog making my spiritual life a priority in order to nurture the spiritual lives of others. Grrr. I am so thankful that God's grace is sufficient for me.
I am excited though that our home church started a devotional series entitled Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, so I will be blogging about it some! I'm going to be leading a group on radical hospitality: which is really one of my spiritual gifts:)
At the church where I'm the youth leader, we've also implemented a ministry team (I know that we should have had one for ions) and have some exciting stuff going on there. My honest prayer for all of these things is that I'll find someplace (that exists outside of cyber-world) where I can have authentic friendship, fellowship and accountability.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Conversation with Evelyn: Part III
Prelude: So we come home from church today (it's about 20 degrees outside), and Evelyn has her shoes off. Well, she knows that if she takes her shoes off in the car she has to walk in in her bare feet (she had socks on today). So I start walking in the house and decide to be nice to her and leave her shoes in the van where she can put them on before she comes in.
E: Wait on me!
Me: Hurry up! It's snowing.
E: Duh! (Said in the way that every parent cringes the first time they hear their kids say it).
A few minutes later, Evelyn is knocking on the door. In her socks.
E: It's freezing outside.
Me: Duh!
E: Wait on me!
Me: Hurry up! It's snowing.
E: Duh! (Said in the way that every parent cringes the first time they hear their kids say it).
A few minutes later, Evelyn is knocking on the door. In her socks.
E: It's freezing outside.
Me: Duh!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Licecapades
I can't believe I'm writing about this. But I am.
The Sunday morning following Christmas we found lice on Evelyn's head. A lot them. I was trying to calmly tell myself that this was not our fault and that a lot of families have a lot worse things going on their lives and this wasn't going to the worse thing I'll ever have to deal with and I could handle three kids, three and under and wash and clean our entire house and van and get it all done while starting a new teaching job and continue to keep up with my job at the church. (The run sentence was intential to demostrate how I was actually thinking). Then I spazzed out.
Literally - ask Richard.
So after all of that, I felt like we hadn't gotten rid of them because my head was still itching. But Richard refused to check my head anymore because he insisted I was being paranoid. But, I wasn't. Last Saturday I was fixing Evelyn's hair and found them! Again! Repeat the spazzing out process.
So tomorrow we will retreat for precautionary purposes. And I will pray that they don't return.
The Sunday morning following Christmas we found lice on Evelyn's head. A lot them. I was trying to calmly tell myself that this was not our fault and that a lot of families have a lot worse things going on their lives and this wasn't going to the worse thing I'll ever have to deal with and I could handle three kids, three and under and wash and clean our entire house and van and get it all done while starting a new teaching job and continue to keep up with my job at the church. (The run sentence was intential to demostrate how I was actually thinking). Then I spazzed out.
Literally - ask Richard.
So after all of that, I felt like we hadn't gotten rid of them because my head was still itching. But Richard refused to check my head anymore because he insisted I was being paranoid. But, I wasn't. Last Saturday I was fixing Evelyn's hair and found them! Again! Repeat the spazzing out process.
So tomorrow we will retreat for precautionary purposes. And I will pray that they don't return.
Conversations with Evelyn: Part II
E: Where's the phone? (My mom's old cell phone that she was playing with).
Me: We must have left it at Mammaw's.
E: That's freaking retarded. (She's three).
Me: We must have left it at Mammaw's.
E: That's freaking retarded. (She's three).
Liberals
I hate titles. Sure we all have them: some of them we're proud of, some of them we're ashamed of, and others of them we'd like to trade for a day!
The truth is: I am a liberal. I believe that we should give people a hand up, rather than a hand out; hence, liberating them. I believe that unborn children should have the liberty to be born. I believe that people who sin, should have the freedom to do so. I believe that people burdened with guilt, should also be freed through forgiveness. I believe women, wives, and mothers should be free from having to be slaves to low-paying, unrewarding jobs, so that they can stay home and raise their children if they want to. I believe that God made this earth, and we should cherish it and preserve it until Christ comes home to take it. My relationship with Christ liberates me so that I may share that liberty with others.
For those reasons, I am proud to be a liberal.
The truth is: I am a liberal. I believe that we should give people a hand up, rather than a hand out; hence, liberating them. I believe that unborn children should have the liberty to be born. I believe that people who sin, should have the freedom to do so. I believe that people burdened with guilt, should also be freed through forgiveness. I believe women, wives, and mothers should be free from having to be slaves to low-paying, unrewarding jobs, so that they can stay home and raise their children if they want to. I believe that God made this earth, and we should cherish it and preserve it until Christ comes home to take it. My relationship with Christ liberates me so that I may share that liberty with others.
For those reasons, I am proud to be a liberal.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Randomness . . .
Well, so far I've only read through Book II. I'm not very good at keeping up with and reading his blog, so I don't even know where everyone else is at. Here's a quote that I loved from page 50:
"That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended - civilisations are built up - excellent institutions devised, but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin."
Hmm . . . just something to think about.
I have been slacking on my memory verses as well:( I need to practice them.
So I started teaching. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep doing it, because I'm finding it difficult to keep up with my job at the church. But I really like it. A lot. It ended up not paying as much as I orginally thought it was going to, so that's a bummer as well. If my mom wasn't babysitting for free one class a week; it wouldn't be worth it at all.
I have also learned how to make an awesome chai tea latte. Something else I really like. A lot. I told Richard that if we ever need health insurance I can work at Starbucks!
I always have so much that I think about writing about and then I forget it all. That's called momnesia. It's no wonder more women than men get alzheimers . . . it starts as momnesia!
Working out, sleep, health, ministry, career options, scrapbooking, economy: have all been things running through my mind lately. Maybe I'll say a few sentences about each.
Working out: I'm trying to 'get my body back.' I want to feel sexy again. I also like working out and would rather do it than diet:) I've really gotten into kickboxing. It's incredibly empowering.
Sleep: My girls are all sleeping well . . . for now! I deserve it after 3+ years of not sleeping through the night.
Health: I'm pretty sure that collostrum supplements are the best thing ever!
Ministry: Some exciting things are going on at my church. I'll write more about them later:)
Career options: I'm liking the Belmont Tech thing, but it doesn't pay as well as I thought it would. So I've been thinking of other things that I'm good at: photography. With the current economy, I've considered starting a photography business where I do events for $400-$500 and then just give people CD's with their pics. Yoga: I could get certified to be a yoga instructor and do private sessions . . . but that might not go well with the economy since private excercise lessons are one of the first things people would cut. A con to the photography would be working a lot of Saturdays. I've also considered running for school board.
Scrapbooking: I've been trying to organize our family photos so I can start scrapbooking for the girls. I started a book for Evelyn that doesn't even have her whole first year. I've been doing a little bit each day in an attempt to catch up.
Economy: I worry a lot about Richard's job. Mine isn't secure either, but Richard's job is commission so we see the effects of the staggering economy on his paychecks. Which sucks . . . hence the reason I'm working more and considering other career options. I wish that the whole world (or just country) would listen to me when I say this:
WE got ourselves into this mess. Wall Street helped, but we did it. We opted for cheap imported goods instead of standing up and saying "I'll pay more if it means keeping jobs in the U.S." (We also bought a lot of houses that we couldn't afford). So why don't we turn the economy around and start buying "MADE IN USA." We need to become the change we can believe in!
"That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended - civilisations are built up - excellent institutions devised, but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin."
Hmm . . . just something to think about.
I have been slacking on my memory verses as well:( I need to practice them.
So I started teaching. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep doing it, because I'm finding it difficult to keep up with my job at the church. But I really like it. A lot. It ended up not paying as much as I orginally thought it was going to, so that's a bummer as well. If my mom wasn't babysitting for free one class a week; it wouldn't be worth it at all.
I have also learned how to make an awesome chai tea latte. Something else I really like. A lot. I told Richard that if we ever need health insurance I can work at Starbucks!
I always have so much that I think about writing about and then I forget it all. That's called momnesia. It's no wonder more women than men get alzheimers . . . it starts as momnesia!
Working out, sleep, health, ministry, career options, scrapbooking, economy: have all been things running through my mind lately. Maybe I'll say a few sentences about each.
Working out: I'm trying to 'get my body back.' I want to feel sexy again. I also like working out and would rather do it than diet:) I've really gotten into kickboxing. It's incredibly empowering.
Sleep: My girls are all sleeping well . . . for now! I deserve it after 3+ years of not sleeping through the night.
Health: I'm pretty sure that collostrum supplements are the best thing ever!
Ministry: Some exciting things are going on at my church. I'll write more about them later:)
Career options: I'm liking the Belmont Tech thing, but it doesn't pay as well as I thought it would. So I've been thinking of other things that I'm good at: photography. With the current economy, I've considered starting a photography business where I do events for $400-$500 and then just give people CD's with their pics. Yoga: I could get certified to be a yoga instructor and do private sessions . . . but that might not go well with the economy since private excercise lessons are one of the first things people would cut. A con to the photography would be working a lot of Saturdays. I've also considered running for school board.
Scrapbooking: I've been trying to organize our family photos so I can start scrapbooking for the girls. I started a book for Evelyn that doesn't even have her whole first year. I've been doing a little bit each day in an attempt to catch up.
Economy: I worry a lot about Richard's job. Mine isn't secure either, but Richard's job is commission so we see the effects of the staggering economy on his paychecks. Which sucks . . . hence the reason I'm working more and considering other career options. I wish that the whole world (or just country) would listen to me when I say this:
WE got ourselves into this mess. Wall Street helped, but we did it. We opted for cheap imported goods instead of standing up and saying "I'll pay more if it means keeping jobs in the U.S." (We also bought a lot of houses that we couldn't afford). So why don't we turn the economy around and start buying "MADE IN USA." We need to become the change we can believe in!
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