Ministry. It can never be a part time job if your really into it... with your whole heart. You go home thinking and praying for students, you see things here and there that remind you of new games or get you excited for something new that you could do... it's a great life!
I've been working at my church for 6 months now. It's been an insane ride - so i wanted to share a few stories with ya...
Found: i started a small group for 4th/5th grade girls. I called it found - based off my favorite verse in the bible - Jeremiah 29:12-13. loosely put the Lord says that if you call on the Lord he'll be with you and when you seek him with your whole heart he will be found by you. I love that verse. It comes right after one of my least favorite verses (well, when people take it completely out of context...) jeremiah 29:11 that says that the Lord has good things planned for us... but people stop short and miss the truth that lies in verse 12-13... that he doesn't have good things for us and then just leaves us be... he's got good things planned for us and he's with us the whole way... So anyhow - i started this group to hang out and love on these students. The hope was to show them God's love in a real way - challenge them in their relationships and in their growth into teenagers and just be their friend and be around for questions and help encourage them to deepen their relationship with the Lord.
i started with 4 girls and the most i've had one night was 9... it's been fun. we've laughed, gotten frustrated, went to the mall, i've turned the church into a challenge course, and we've eaten cereal for dinner. The girls are faithful to come and love hanging out and having fun. I'm secretly teaching them about relationships and encouraging them to become Godly women...
Roots: this is our sunday night ministry. The theme is obviously growing deep roots of truth with the kids while they're young. I just started doing kidz church on sunday nights wtih the students and it's been a blast! we do a game, worship, bible lesson, and small group time. The kids are starting to get into the routine and are starting to engage in worship and calm down a little with their small group leaders and are having some fun discussions.
Caley: Caley is my friend amber's daughter - and when i started she was really shy, didn't talk much, and loathed coming to church. 6 months later - caley hangs out at church all the time, volunteers with the preschool/toddler class, has been helping us remodel the rooms and isn't quiet or shy anymore :) i love that kid - it's been so fun to see her grow and come out of her shell. I'm excited to build our friendship deeper and help her get to know her papa...
Summer Events: my church has done VBS for a gazillion years - well, we're not doing it this year :) it didn't fit in with my philosophy of ministry... i thought back to when i was a kid and the fact that i hated going to sunday school and church and vbs and that it was boring and i didn't really get what they were talking about... and then i thought about in high school when i did start to care about Jesus - it wasn't that i just needed to hear the stories again - it was because people were loving me and caring for me - treating me like i mattered... and telling me about jesus at the same time. So- that's my philosophy of ministry. To create an atmosphere where kids know they are unconditionally loved, safe, cared for, and believed in... and teach them about how much their Papa loves them. So - this summer we're doing activities that integrate the families are are made to help teach parents to having fun/spiritual conversation with their kids wherever they are. We went to silver creek falls, we're going to the zoo and the aquarium, we're having some bbq's and live music and we're going to have an epic paint battle... I'm pretty excited about them.
Jenny&Liz: i got 2 college girls that have stepped up big time and have been giving a lot of their time to come help me out. they are small group leaders for the 4th/5th graders, help sing on sunday nights, and have spent a majority of the past few weeks helping me renovate the "drop spot" (where we do kidz church) and are getting stoked to have painting parties when we get the paint for the other 3 rooms. It's fun to see them go from people that sat along the wall and watched the kids to leaders that i can share vision with and that i can leave at the church and know they'll get the task done ( as well as prank my office - but it's probably only fair)...
so - that's a lil snapshot of ministry lately. there's so much more, it's pretty awesome. Tomorrow is my day off - whatever that means - and me and liz are going to buy a new drill so we can be ready for building more stuff for the new rooms and clean the drop spot so it's ready for sunday... i'll have to put up pictures cause it looks REALLY cool!
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