Catching Up...

I looked at the calendar this morning and it said "October 4th." What happened to the rest of September? And ack - someone the other day said that there were only 86 days until Christmas? NOOOOO - you can't do that to me yet! These are the days and months that I personally wish that God might stretch out time a bit like oh I don't know the sun stopping for Joshua perhaps?

The past two weeks have been incredibly productive. With the school year kick off done, and some leadership and management skills in place that I've been focusing on this summer I'm finding that I have moved into a predictable, orderly pattern of ministry once again. Here are some highlights of the past two weeks:

The entire church staff collectively used our Monday day off to come in and work on areas of the church that we normally don't get to. My friend/coworker Tina and I worked on the resource room - boxing up about 3 years of curriculum and storing it freeing nearly two lateral file cabinets for materials. We now have a resource room for teachers and children's ministry staff that is being filled with things like props, musicals/videos/DVDs/tapes, books, games and extra toys and art materials. And there is room for future growth. Complete with a table and other things we have a place where people can come in, browse, read without having things fall on them. We also were able to pull together the larger storage closet later in the week. I am amazed at what we own in the ministry! Enough materials to dress plenty of kids in biblical costumes and Christmas programs, extra materials from parties, VBS' etc. that are wonderful. Sports equipment like high quality tumbling mats, plenty of ball pit balls, carnival items etc.

I finished the recruiting for the Fall this week and will be filling up the last holes by tomorrow it looks like. Yeah God! This week I'm ordering curriculum for the winter and beginning to get that ready for my prep teams even earlier than before! I ordered our Christmas Sunday special curriculum for Sunday School - we're doing "Bethlehem Village" and will be gathering the event team to start working on that as well!

The nursery is up and running - we were this close to having closed circuit television for the services in the room and found out when we moved the tv from the toddler/2's space to the nursery 4 feet killed the reception so a tech guru from church is working on the problem. This week we had 3 babies in the room so mom's are slowly working at becoming comfortable with letting the babies go during service.

This week is "Crazy Hair Day" at church. We're celebrating how we are uniquely created by God and wearing our hair in a wide variety of ways - also a great excitement and community building event with little outlay. I think I spent $6 bucks on hair goo and stuff. The preschool through 3rd grade are coming with their hair decked out and the 4th/5th graders are doing their hair (and mine!) in class.

WoW begins again this Sunday after a two month hiatus and we're looking forward to it! The team has expanded by 2 people and I can't wait to see what God does this year.

God has brought a group of people forward who want to resurrect Bible Quiz Bowl and some sort of music for the children on a more regular basis. I'm so blessed that everytime I begin to pray for an individual for a ministry, someone shares their passion and we connect them into ministry! THIS is the lesson that I learned from past experiences and now that I have built some more intentionality and focus through mentoring experiences I am seeing the fruit begin to blossom on the vine. It's a blessing - I know that it will pay off in the long run for this ministry.

Last week was a swim party for our tween group Zoom Zone - we had a patch of really cold (by No Cal standards) couple of weeks and temps dipped into the low 70's with a day or so of rain - what my Texas friend would call "spitting" but rain for Californians. I told the kids they better start praying and they did, congratulating themselves and God on pulling a warming trend with near 90 degree weather last week letting the swim party go forward! We have a small group of kids so the numbers we had were a good sign - about a 40% class turnout of kids who didn't have practices or games. Tonight is our first monthly meeting "Game Night." We start with dinner for the first hour (tonight is "spaghetti a la MJ" ) and then will be doing group games such as Human Bowling, Cookie Monster (eating oreo's off of an upright surface), blanket races, cup stacking introduction. We'll end with a devotional that I haven't finished yet so no posting until then! I received an email from a parent this morning as follows:

Jeanette,
Well, you have done a great job of promoting Zoom Zone, because ____ was distraught at the thought of not attending this month's meeting. We've agreed to give him a "pass" on soccer practice and allow him to be there. That level of motivation to attend a church function should be rewarded!

Nice email to come into the office to I might add!


And finally, we're focusing on raising more awareness on our missions projects. We're raising $250 by Christmas to purchase livestock (goats) for Macedonian Outreach and then a quarter towards Heifer project (chicken and bees) and finally the last quarter towards water for a well - a new development per a connection I found out about yesterday. In three weeks the children have purchased one goat and are about 12.00 shy of a second one. It's rewarding to see them once again excited about this and having a growing understanding about tithing.

Well, that's it for now. Pics of the pool party and crazy hair day coming!

Presenting...

After much listening with members of our community, God blessed Children's Ministries with a great theme for the year "The BIG House." We're using the Audio Adreneline song "BIG House" for our year theme. Back in June, I had a chance to watch our kids sing this in our WoW (Wonders of Worship) experience. They really had a blast and it put this song in a new perspective for me. I had honestly just listed it prior to this experience as one of the many "tired songs that you are stuck singing in youth groups."

Here is a small 1:16 presentation that we're using in church this weekend.

Lessons in Leadership - the process continues

So okay, this morning I rolled over in bed(yes I know, there's an image you may not want to envision)and realized that our kids return back to school this coming Monday. I'm not sure how things have been in your ministry world, but in mine the summer has flown by with break neck speed.

It's been a continuing process for me with regards to developing leadership skills. I had always been told that I demonstrated good leadership in past projects, I turned a corner with regards to leadership in a church or ministry setting during this season of my life. Leadership, I am beginning to understand, has more to do with the character and nature of the individual rather than the project timeline. I have struggled in how to lead without appearing to be "bossy", a term used to describe my leadership style from a Field Education experience I had. I struggled with trying to understand the subtle and not so stubtle differences by starting with a simple definition of what bossy is. Dictionary.com puts it like this:

boss·y1
–adjective, boss·i·er, boss·i·est. given to ordering people about; overly authoritative; domineering.

then of course, there was my favorite -

bos·sy3
–noun, plural -sies. a familiar name for a cow or calf.

and the one that just plain made me sick to my stomach after reading -

bossy
-adjective
offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power; "an autocratic person"; "autocratic behavior"; "a bossy way of ordering others around"; "a rather aggressive and dominating character"; "managed the employees in an aloof magisterial way"; "a swaggering peremptory manner" [syn: autocratic]*

Sucker punch to the gut. There are aspects of what I have previously identified as leading in these definitions - the cow one aside. I'm being stretched by God in this area. What I have seen differently in myself over the past few months is that I am walking in confidence; I'm becoming more comfortable in my own skin and that I really think is having an impact how I come across with others.

The more comfortable I become, I am able to listen to what others are sharing. When they are invited to join a team, it's because they are valued and cared for. I'm not babysitting individuals like I have felt I needed to in the past. When I touch bases I know that people have been working on projects and will be ready. And when you are part of a ministry team that is committed to working with kids because it is a value they all share - it's exciting to see what develops.

The summer has been key for me in this area. I've spent more time on relationship building than needing to extinguish fires which is wonderful. The ministry schedule is approximately 60-75% filled. Our WoW (Wonders of Worship) team leader just called and I shared with her the themes for curriculum this quarter and I'm looking forward to seeing how they integrate those plus our overall ministry theme this year. Kick off Sunday teams are starting to get things in place and there is a sense of positive anticipation. Here is a sample of what is taking place in our Children's Ministry.



The "BIG House" is our theme for the coming year. Our scriptural key is John 14:2-4 which is Jesus' last discourse, sharing on how we know the way to the Father, that Jesus doesn't abandon us but is with us always. Things have been in transition in this community for a season, and there is a hope that as we move forward in the selection of a Senior Pastor, there will be new focus and energy in envisioning what God is ready to do in and through us. It's a time to build on the foundation of God's word that has been laid in our children's hearts and ministry and enter into a period of planned expectation. And - from a family ministry/outreach perspective, laying a foundation on which our children will build their ethical/moral structures upon is a highly valued commodity in the San Ramon Valley community at large.

What's valuable in this season of development is recognizing the fruit that is happening, even if it is small at this point in time. When I share it's not out of desperation to "get" individuals to be a part of this ministry. It's to share the excitement and joy that is happening and ready to take place in the ministry. That joy is contagious.








*from Wordnet as found on www.dictionary.com

What a wonderful world!

GREAT Shadow Puppetry - For more of the funniest videos, click here

I was tipped off about this video from a blog post on Kidology.org. I am always amazed at the many ways people share God's creative talents with individuals. This happens to be a favorite song of mine and the images are simply amazing.

Hope you enjoyed the 2 minute break as much as I did when I first viewed this clip!

756...Staff Devotions and Romans 12

Wow is all I can say. The crowd cheering, the crack of the bat, the absolute anticipation of witnessing that ball going out of the park and into the stands. Finally we have the record broken.

I was not quite 11 when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record. I still remember my dad and I rivited to the TV waiting for that moment to happen. Now all "grown up" I still had that same moment of child like excitement last night when you realized that a previous record was shattered. It will be interesting to watch if A-Rod can make 757 before his retirement which I hope won't be anytime in the near future.The City is celebrating!

I wonder if we find time to celebrate the milestones in our lives - the ones where we recognize that God has been at work in our lives and we're just now experiencing that a-ha moment when we recognize something is changing within us. Celebrating the milestones in our lives both individually and as a community are important. They allow us to see where God has been at work in our lives; providing us with a reality-check of sorts where we can see that we are truly being transformed. This morning in staff meeting we shared on Romans 12 and the idea that Spirit is constantly at work in our lives transforming us not so we can sit back and applaud our change but to live out that transformation in the world about us. It's in the giving out that we discover where God is checking us.

And a little child shall lead them....

Plant the word deep in their hearts as children - and the future generation will reap a rich harvest!

It takes a village - especially to do VBS!

It's 2:45 p.m. The halls are strangely quiet. Avalanche Ranch has just ended and already the classrooms, sanctuary and halls are stripped and back to their normal look. I know many of us roll our eyes when we hear the proverb that it takes a village to raise a child but for outreaches such as this it really does. There were so many people roaming the halls and rooms this past week - and each person was indispensible coming at the precise moment. From nursery/toddlers who marched around their tables, preschoolers in awe as they recreated stories of Jericho, Naaman and all, elementary kids marching to their own created cadences it was a sight to see!

We had our ice cream social last evening and had the wonderful opportunity to hear stories from families who are not a regular part of our SRPC family. The stories they shared about how their kids loved and looked forward to each morning were gratifying. And the most wonderful words that I heard were from a parent, "I think we'll be coming to visit your church soon."

It's a hard job putting together VBS. I've struggled in the past with one, and been a part of teams that were phenomenal such as this years team. And even as Ministers to Children we wonder if there is a better way to reach our children with the message of Jesus' love for each of them, the value of VBS does become apparant.

You'll find below a Digital Postcard that all our VBS team received in addition to encouragement and notes home. Hope you enjoy it.

VBS down, now back to our Fall Kick Off program!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

The Making of Community...

It's Tuesday morning. I'm sitting at my desk having just read through emails and phone messages, getting ready to start another week. The past weekend at church was one of those gifts - I'm sure we can all relate to them. It was a collection of moments when you realize how God is moving in and through things when you weren't sure what was happening.

This past weekend at worship, I was with the preschooler's in class. In the two and a half months that I have been here, this is the first time that I have had to step in and teach - one of our mom's children came down with an ear infection and had to stay home. This class is hysterically funny! Most preschool classes that I have had since 2001 have been boy heavy and we are the opposite here. Two boys and six girls this morning. A light class with four missing on summer vacation.

The curriculum this month has been on Daniel and following after God. (We're currently using Standard Publishing's Heart Shaper curriculum). This week - the ever exciting "Daniel and the Lion's Den." So together we built little "animal" homes, and explained them to each other, played a very loose game of Lion, Lion, Lion (think Duck Duck Goose) with the reminder that 4's don't always remember that you run around the circle - they were weaving in and out and having the best time.

When we were talking and sharing about the story, a comment came from one of the kids about God being faithful. His family has a strong missionary background and they have the great experience of living on a houseboat. He was sharing that every time it rains he doesn't get scared because God was in the boat with him! And Daniel knew the same thing. Okay, he didn't express it exactly that way, but paraphrasing it into adult-speak makes you realize that the philosophy of Christian Educators such as Maria Cavelleti is spot on. Children Caveletti would proprose, have an internal sense and knowing of God that only needs to be given the vocabulary to express. They already know God, they don't need to be convinced. They need to be supported as they find the labels that match their experience.

Sunday afternoon our congregation had a Tailgate Party. BBQ's and grills lined up the parking lot, a small instrumental section played great music and I watched community unfold. We were showing "Cars" that night in the church (on two screens no less!) and so for a children's activity we had a "pit stop" where kids painted small Oriental Trading Company wooden cars and then moved them to the "Show Room" where several High School members voted. One mom and her kids baked and iced dozens of car cookies (I need to get pics up here as soon as a friend has them downloaded) which were out of this world!

I sat back and watched people enjoy themselves, connect with each other. The Chinese Church which rents our space joined us and their kids mingled with ours. Food was shared, laughter heard. Kids ran around and later collapsed in the church exhausted. What I saw this weekend was a picture of a community that is gaining its second wind and getting ready for the next adventure that God is prepping us for.

What Do We Do With The Kids?

I strongly believe that community-especially a community of faith needs to incorporate all members. I don't think that many individuals or bodies would argue with that statement. But where we do wind up having differences in opinions, structuring worship opportunities and whatnot is when we delve into the question of how do we incorporate children into worship?

It seems that there have been in the past two or three distinctly different schools of thought with regards to this question.

Group One Provides children with their own Sunday School time which runs concurrently with a worship service. Children are not a part of the larger community. A distinction is made between "adult" and "children's" worship.

Group Two Has children involved and a part of the entire service. Coloring pages, books might be provided in the back, "cry rooms" are available for younger children who need to move about or parents with infants/toddlers. Children are brought along with parents during pivotal moments in the service such as Eucharist/Lord's Supper, prayer etc. Spiritual formation for children occurs at another time outside of the main service.

Group Three Is a hybrid of the first two groups. Children are involved in either the front or back end of the service. Spiritual formation happens for a smaller amount of time than in a traditional Sunday School experience.

I have always had a belief that emphasized the inclusion of children in worship, which I am certain had roots in my body being in a pew each Sunday as a child. As I went to a Christian School, my Sunday School happened Monday - Friday not on the weekends like my friends who went to CCD on Saturdays. I remember being awed by the "largeness" of what I saw and yet really had no clue as to what was happening or its relevance.

When I began to attend a church that I interned at, I was suddenly brought face to face with my hypocrisy regarding this great "idea" that kids should be in worship. At this particular church, children went to Children's Chapel (think Kid's Church) for the first half of the service (through the sermon) and then returned to the main Sanctuary for Eucharist and closing liturgy. "Great!" I thought.

That excitement lasted oh about .03 seconds. The kids came in with a thunderous noise. One set of twins were climbing the pews, running their toy cars along the top of the old wooden seats. Another child was providing a running commentary, others were voicing their displeasure at having to be in church and not on the playground. Meanwhile I was attempting to having a meditative moment with the Creator and these rug rats were interfering in my...

One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."

So what do we do with the kids? It is important for our children to know and experience worship within the larger community for a number of reasons, one of the most tangible being the reinforcement that they are a part of a people of faith. And it is true that unless your congregation specifically designs a regular worship service that incorporates family friendly aspects into it there will be a struggle for children's focus and attention. If we are not providing or expecting parents to return during the week for their children's religious education, when do we provide it if the kids are in service? Especially when statistics show that many families do not stay or participate in a Sunday School hour and then worship.

Here's a thought I'd like to throw out. Perhaps we're looking at the question backwards. We might be dealing with the question of how we include children in worship when what we might need to be considering is a redefinition of what worship is - within the context of community and specifically within the context of teaching our children to be worshippers.

I've recently handed over a copy of Teaching Children Authentic Worship to an individual in our church who shared with me their passion to teach our children how to worship. While this conversation in the larger context had to do with the possibility of resurrecting a children's choir which we haven't had in many years, it was the perfect opportunity to share some ideas on how we can go about fostering a spirit of worship in our children which includes opportunities such as a choir, Communion Sunday WoW Experiences and time in service weekly.

I'm going to be rereading the book over the next few weeks and will attempt to turn out key chapter points, posting them here before the end of August. Until then - I'm looking forward to hearing/reading your thoughts regarding this question.

It's been a busy few weeks. I will have been a part of this new community for 2 months on the 15th and they have been incredibly blessed.

VBS has been grinding out since before I came aboard. We have two of the most talented and gifted women chairing it this year. So far we're pushing close to 100 children with a good portion coming from the community. I'm heading up the preschool program and have 6 adults and a couple of youth coming in to help with the action. This past weekend we had our large "donation/borrow" wall hanging up with all the items we hope would be donated so our costs will be reduced. As of Sunday afternoon when I left church we had all but 16 slips responded to. Posters are being painted, bigger donated items are coming in. Creekside Community Church and St. Joan of Arc have graciously offered to share props and sets with us. You see - THIS is how the Body should be working together!

TAILGATE Next Sunday night we're having a tailgating party complete with a screening of Disney's Cars. Children's Ministries is setting up a painting table where kids can paint a wooden car and then enter it into a mini "car show" where they will all get ribbons. People are very excited about it and we're expecting a great turn out of families.

SUMMER SUNDAYS Summer continues to crank out - we're completely covered for the summer staff and met the goal that I had set of having the last space filled by then end of June! June 27 was the day that I penciled in the final person.

FALL PLANS It's July and I am well into planning for the Fall. Thankfully the individuals who were watching over the fort prior to my arrival left an incredibly detailed calendar of what they hoped they would do for the year and when to start things. I'm taking a look at the calendar and trying to see how everything will fit together. In the meantime, I'm already getting individuals signed up for Fall teaching spots. Our new Parent Round Table will be meeting on August 26th for the first time and I am praying that we'll get a wonderful response from individuals specifically with regards to the curriculum review group. There's an entire post coming later this week in regards to curriculum....

WEBSITE I've never worked on content in a website before, and recently took a stab at the very basic forms of WYSIWYG web update. You can check it out at www.srpc.org look for the children's ministries pages. There's much more that I want to do with regards to the pages - really redesign the entire look of them but that will take an incredible amount of time and some talented IT people to make it happen. But for right now, the pages are updated and added to and I am receiving some great feedback already on the look which proves that people do look at church websites! I've begun posting the class summaries as well on the page - updating them weekly so parents can encourage friends to check out what we're teaching and also possibly refer back to it for conversations during the week.

MISSIONS My heart is being drawn to helping the children this coming year connect with the world around them. This community is incredibly missions focused and that is a blessing in disguise. This summer we are having missionaries visit our classes and share with the kids about life in their parts of the world through games, stories, slides and food. Our next missionary family is coming this Sunday to share. Our offerings for children's ministries are abysmal, so this coming Fall we're kicking off a year long project to raise money for animals through Macedonian Outreach and also Heifer Project. I'm knocking around how we can incorporate Old MacDonald's Farm or better yet Noah's Ark (Acts of Random Kindness) from Evan Almighty to get kids involved. If anyone has some ideas of song's we can parody for either (especially Noah) I'd love to hear from you especially if you have lyrics!

On the personal side of things - the townhouse is coming together nicely! Boxes are getting unpacked with all the kitchen stuff and I'm getting to know the area. This past weekend Diva was washed at the new Pet Food Express which opened up and when I asked the Manager about Dog Parks nearby she came back with two pages of local dog parks. Checked out one this past weekend, will go to another later this week. Diva is enjoying the idea of a dog park, she's never really been to one before so it is a new thing.

The 4th of July my roomie and I went to the Danville Parade. It is a BIG thing out here. Tradition is you set out your chairs the night before after 6 p.m. We got there at 8 and found most of the streets were already lined up with chairs and I mean lined up! Roped off, duct taped to the cement, rows and rows of chairs I think it would be easy to say there were at least 200-300 set up already. We set ours up and believe it or not they were there the next day! Yep I do live in Mayberry again. I thought Manhattan Beach was the only Mayberry but I was wrong. The parade was cute and loooong. I did manage to get a little brown which for me really means I'm a darker shade of white than previously with more freckles. And that was with sunscreen. This weekend is the Shakespeare Festival.

Well got to get back to work - the All Star Game is on at 5 p.m. and I must be home to watch the action from our very own AT&T Park!

Yeah Baby!!

THE DUCKS WIN THE STANLEY CUP!
THE DUCKS WIN THE STANLEY CUP!
THE DUCKS WIN THE STANLEY CUP!

And they said it only happened in Disney movies....

I tried to load a photo but blogger is not playing well with others. My favorite photo to come soon - hey you know who in Orange County - I want some confetti from the ceremony on Saturday!!!!

The first Californian team to ever win a Stanley Cup - gee I remember when they first were hatched in 1993 when I first moved to Southern California and some friends and I lived in the same complex as a couple of the little ducklings. My how time flies!

Okay LA Kings - what's up with you all?

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Jericho has been renewed for a mid-season replacement! After an incredible "bring em back" campaign waged by the viewers of Jericho (a series based on the premise of what life would be like after the detonation of multiple nuclear bombs within the continental USA through the eyes of people living in Jericho, KS) bombarded CBS Execs with peanuts which was a tag line in the season finale episode uttered by Gerald McRaney prior to his untimely death in the ending moments of the ep. People decided to send bags of peanuts to CBS in protest of pulling the series off after what appeared to be an incredible cliff hanger episode. This afternoon CBS has announced that it will be bringing Jericho back for at least 7 eps and possibly more, looking at ways to enlarge the fanbase through the release of the first season on DVD to rerunning the series this summer. That could work, it was how I got into LOST during the first season.

There aren't too many series that I drop everything for, or TiVo regularly - but Jericho and LOST are the two that are "must watch" with UGLY BETTY running a close third. Kudos to the fans for keeping this one alive. Keep your word CBS...there are more peanuts waiting to be sent if need be.

Be Still and Know

It's finals week, and I am like most of my Fuller friends and acquaintances trying to pull everything together for classes. I have one paper down and still have another 10 page paper, 2 books yet to read and 3 reflections (1 page each). Thankfully this quarter no take home exams. Ministry wise this is a good week for finals to happen (did I just say that?) as there is not too much on the pressing items calendar so that is good. What is on the calendar is in the hands of trusted and responsible individuals.

I am so incredibly blessed to have met such wonderful individuals in the congregations that I have been a part of who understand that ministry is an outgrowth of the generousity and grace we have received from God. In their big and small ways they make their invaluable gift of service to their congregations.

Jan runs the Foodbank at a church in California. Each week she sees that the bags of food are put together, individuals have been coordinated to distribute, pick up food, bread etc. for over 50 families in the parish's region. She's been doing this for many many years.

Danny and Amanda were introduced to me this past year, both new to the community that I just left. Almost immediately they began to be greeters and ushers. You are in for a treat each week when you are welcomed graciously and enthusiastically by them. Tracy and Kathy, Anne and Dave, and others weekly share their gift of hospitality with visitors and regular attenders as well.



Delores and her team see to it that there is coffee, cookies, hot chocolate and assorted other things to help draw people closer into community after service.

Here at my new community, Nancy, Joyce, Chris and countless others who I do not all know yet - but you all know who they are!!! pour into the lives of our little ones each week. The children know and love each of you and when you are there in the classrooms they shine because they know that you are there just for them, not to only fill a spot.

Vince, Michelle, Cathy, Kendra, Vincent, Penny, Nan, Chris, Michelle, Tara, Lisa, Vicki, Pam, Linda, Janie, Morgan, Mary and many many many more have spent years sharing their love with children in the suburbs of Oregon. Anne, Karen, and their team created a mid week program that reinforced throughout the week God's love to our children. I know God will bring the right person for your community soon. Thanks for what you have done in the process, and for all the people who work with you in the ministry.

Each week as Ministers to Children we're faced with making sure that there are enough spaces filled with capable and caring individuals. We are checking and doublechecking all the rooms for safety needs and supplies, recruiting individuals for future classroom needs, matching gifts with needs and listening, loving and caring for those little lambs and their families that God has placed in our world. Sometimes you here more of what is going wrong than good according to an email I recently received from a fellow minister; sometimes the ministry you lead is not considered as pressing if the church is smaller; or you are finding it more difficult to keep up your work while tending to the needs of your own family, spouse and children. Then there are times when you are incredibly grateful as you look around as see the fruit of labor, love and tears that have been planted over the years finally bearing fruit. For all of those who are in ministry to children as the year winds down and summer begins - I share these words of encouragement.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.
Be Still and Know that I AM.
Be Still and Know.
Be Still.
Be.

WOW It's was WoW weekend!

Time is flying by. I can't believe that I have just finished my third Sunday at my new church. SF Bay Area weather and life agree with me - there is just so much time and so little to do...wait, as Willie Wonka would say, "Strike that, reverse it."

I am now in my third week without any rain. Of course, I think Oregon has gone without rain for oh I don't know 3 weeks too so it may not be a fair thing to say. I spent last weekend in the City, going to see a play "Dead Certain" at the Off Market Theater. Think Misery with Kathy Bates as a parapalegic playwrite and you basically have the plot - minus James Caan being hurt in a car accident. But for free tickets who is going to complain? If you're ever looking for great opportunities you can check out www.goldstarevents.com type in your zip codes and weekly you'll get a list of what is happening in your neck of the woods.

Our summer curriculum started this morning, "Journey with Jesus." The decorating team for Children's Ministries was busy this week setting up 2 out of the 3 rooms in as close to Middle Eastern fashion as we could using what materials we have stored away - which is a LOT! This next week we'll be adding banners down the hallways and the big fishing boat scene in front of the room where the games will be played. The curriculum chosen was a rotational style - after worship the kids start off in one room for 20 minutes, then rotate through the other two at 20 minute intervals. We have "Samuel's House" which is where the lesson/story is presented by our Village Storyteller in costume of course...move to the Marketplace where games are played and lesson reinforced more and then to Bethlehem Village where crafts are created. Our missions fundraiser for the summer will be to purchase a goat to send to Macedonian Outreach which is connected to our church and other local churches here in the San Ramon Valley - think heifer project and you'll get one small slice of what MO does.

The first Sunday of every month is WoW Sunday. We have an AWESOME team of people that lead the kids in their own worship, a skit and discussion. The kids all start the first Sunday in the Youth Room and then move up to class so they have their own worship together at least once a month for the purposes/goal of community building. It's a wonderful balance having the kids in worship each Sunday and their own worship monthly. We juggled this Sunday with the schedule because when the calendar was planned a couple of months ago the decision hadn't been made to keep WoW going during the summer - the folks that run it didn't want to stop! Talk about dedication and love for the kids!!! Several of our kids were involved in a dance program this past quarter called "Dancing Graces" and they premiered their first dance in public worship this morning. 2 first graders and 2 fourth graders (one a guy - go dawg!) Using "soldiers" by Out of Eden they shared 4 minutes of movement and dance with the congregation. The congregation encouraged the kids from the moment they hit the floor/platform with cheers and instant clapping - our kids dancing in the back to the beat of the music. It fueled the kids energy they told me afterwards. At one point in the middle - around the bridge, the music slows completely down and the kids came from the four corners of the church to the front of the altar lifting their hands in praise slowly. Then, each of them in succession joined the first dancer in a choreographed movement. It was a beautiful opportunity to focus attention on the Lord's Supper and draw back into worship any focus that might have been straying. The song ended to a stampede of applause and support for the kids and their choreographer Ms. Jenny who did an outstanding job. I'm hoping that we might be able to get some more kids to join the group and premiere their first worship offering for our 10th anniversary service in mid September.

Summer schedule is nearly staffed. I made oodles of calls this past week and had only 2 individuals say they couldn't because one is moving and the other has a family member that is in poor health. VBS is doing awesome - I'm going to focus on the preschool and we have our final teachers all lined up for our program already. Elementary is about 3/4's staffed. Our meeting a week ago had 1 7 people (all leaders) attending which was the first BIG VBS meeting of the season. I have the distinct honor and privilege to add these individuals to the many additional people I knew in OR and So CA who have tirelessly dedicated themselves to the spiritual nurture of children. I have been truly blessed to see that the next generation of children will be given the tools to live in the ever changing post modern world they've been born into.

Housing is all set - I move this next weekend into a nice townhouse. My roommate is the Jr. High Director for the church from which we were planted. Just found out that Eugene O'Neil is from Danville, CA and there is a home and weekend dedicated to him each September. This year they are going to premiere "The Iceman Cometh" with a discussion at the end. Guess who has that marked in their calendar already? I'm slowly learning where all the main streets are and also figuring out where all the In-N-Outs are so I can go by them quickly. So far the pounds are falling off of me since I arrived here and I plan on keeping the scales going in that downward direction.

Well, this diversion was a needed relief, now it is time to go back to the books and finish my homework for the week. Finals are this coming week and I have about half of my work still outstanding on my paper. Oy, I can see a late night in my future.

Groundedness vs. The Tyranny of the Urgent

This past weekend was the first weekend I flew "solo" so to speak - Pentecost Sunday, the birth of the church, the birth of new vision and ministry even though I often wonder along with scholars whether or not Jesus or the first disciples ever really planned on starting something outside of Judaism in the first place. If I were pressed for an answer at the moment, I would have to say that I line up in the camp that doubts an intentional departure, rather a new movement emerged over time due to culture and other influences that cropped up over time.

I've been fully emersed in Church History and Christology for the past week, partially trying to make up work for my Systematics 2 course online. The move and loss of computer for four weeks threw my GPA into a tailspin and I am grateful for my theology professor (Shout out to you Dr. K!) has been willing to let me make it up. In my experience at Fuller, that rarely happens and I think I exhausted all of my grace a couple of years ago when life got unduly hairy for me personally and I had too many balls juggling in the air. That has been a problem that I have had for too long and I am making it one of my primary areas of focus now.

In a way it seems that at the root of the situation was a lack of being grounded. I remember having a Spiritual Director who once had me step into a hula hoop and shared with me that "everything in the hoop is my stuff, everything outside of it is someone elses stuff." Boundaries 101 in a very tangible way. She then had me try to balance while trying to stand in two hula hoops located a distance away from the other. Needless to say it was challenging at best. The past two years have seemed that way for me up and down the board. One priest that I have mentioned in the past in this blog, Christopher, introduced me to the idea of mindfulness from a Christian perspective. Having been immersed in a religious culture that didn't subscribe to that idea, it was like a breath of fresh air had blown through my soul and spirit when I heard it. The challenge has been to really incorporate that idea into my daily life. I tried to make sure that I would have my "quiet time" in the morning, that I would have "Devos" (yep, I was a Campus Lifer can you tell?) at night, bible study group, Sunday School class, etc. but always felt more exhausted than I did grounded. When I became a part of the Episcopal Church, Christopher and others introduced me to the concept of a Rule of Life. I had let that Rule which I created get away from me when I moved to Oregon after realizing that what worked for me in LA wasn't going to work up there.

Funny thing is in this move, the Rule came with me. I found it easy to jump back into it from the start. At the moment, the Rule that I am incorporating into my life kinda looks like this:

Morning Devotional Prayer when I am walking Diva - I use prayer beads to help me focus - you know that "shiny object syndrome" problem I have. I pray one of the oldest and I think most beautiful prayers that I have learned called the Trisagion "Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us." Four times during the time I stop and I pray (praise for the created day and worship to the Creator God, reflection, confession and dedication of the day, prayers for family, friends and finally my immediate world, the nation and the world universal.) It takes me about a half an hour which means I am not only spending focused time in prayer but also getting a good walk in for both myself and Diva.

Praying the Office: I have to admit that I struggle with making time at night for Evening Prayer and Compline while I am temporarily housed at my Aunts because I don't have a space reserved for this but will soon.

Journaling I've found that this has been some of the most productive time that I've had to this point, until I can find a spiritual director here in the Bay Area, this has been a blessing in disguise. Richard Peace, one of my professors at Fuller demonstrated how to use journaling as a spiritual discipline in his "Pursuit of Wholeness" class and I've been using the time in that manner.

But by far the most important thing has been to take time for me. That means, making sure that I don't skip my Sabbath rest. I'm not a pro at this and I often find myself leaning towards giving that up for school, errands etc. But I am pressing on in keeping the day holy. Will let you know how it goes in the future.

Actually, now that I look at what I am doing, I'm realizing that much of what I am doing emerged out of my time at my parish in Beverly Hills and from the Pursuit of Wholeness class - never saw the connection before. The result so far is that I while life is busy, the demands still present - seminary, a new job, new environment and surroundings - there is a sense of stability...groundedness that is new. It's all new, and I have hopelessly been the type in the past to start something and then let it slide, my prayer is that this time I am willing to put my need(s) for groundedness first before all other things so that I can model what I share with others.

On a side note - I tried transferring my Y membership out here but the only Y close is in Pleasant Hill which is too much of a drag driving and honestly I'd find every excuse in the book not to go to the gym. So I found out that Fuller has a discount at 24Hr Fitness. Signed up this weekend and am having my first of 5 personal training sessions tomorrow afternoon. I got a discount on those sessions figuring that it would be better to have a professional training help me get off to a good start working out after a major back injury than going in halfcocked and injuring myself all over again. I have some paperwork to fill out before then - eating habits, favorite foods, exercise level etc. Talk about making me feel like a total couch potato. I used to move so much more than I did before I started grad school, I need to stop making excuses and do it again - I guess making it a fixed part of my schedule is going to be a non-negotiable item.

All Kinds of Families

One of the struggles in Children's Ministry-is how to handle those holidays which stress or emphasize families. Mother's and Father's day being two of the key holidays. As our culture continues to fracture so many children find themselves in family units that no longer reflect the traditional intact family. In fact, I don't even like using that term any more as nearly 1:2 marriages now end in divorce or separation.

This question was recently brought up on the Kidology.org website and I in particular love the response and action that one Minister to Children shared:

We celebrate Father's Day by celebrating God, the Father. And tell kids that God is our Father, the best Father there is and give cool Bible stories. This has helped ease over those who don't have dads either because they ran out on their family, passed away or never knew them. This actually increased our kids coming to church, because no matter what they all had a dad!

When we do crafts, we had those that didn't have a dad make that craft for their Heavenly Father and they would leave it on the altar at church. We've displayed these on our altars for the past 5 years!

What a wonderful bridge for children who do not have a father (or in general a parent) in their lives. The idea of grounding these children in the knowledge and experience of God as caretaker/parent whose goodness, mercy and grace is always present can be the pole on which they hold onto throughout their lives when harsh winds blow. My appreciation goes out to churches and communities that continue to express the many ways in which families are made.

Settling in...

The first week was a good one, while it seemed at times like I was going through information overload things all came together with the gracious help of three individuals who have been overlooking CM for the past period of time. I'm so indebted to each of them in so many ways (if you're reading this...THANK YOU!)

Sunday morning rolled along and I had an opportunity to meet parents and more importantly the kids. We have some really wonderful kids here at the church and their parents are involved in Children's Ministries - what a blessing. I'm going by "MJ" here at the church (for Ms. Jeanette) and the kids liked the name - and the fact that I have introduced early on my alter-ego "Gertrude Schlebimowitz." The name came from a gym that I went to years ago in Beverly Hills - I've always called myself Gertrude for fun and the owner of the gym one day called out to me the last name. The full name just kinda stuck after that. Gertrude originally came as a way to have to sign in on internet or other information sites that required a name. Beats having to give out personal info and get spammed to high heavens. Her character over the past few years has been evolving; think of a cross between Linda Richman from Mike Meyer's SNL "Coffee Talk" and The Church Lady a la Dana Carvey (see any connections?) and you've got the gyst of the character. Anyway, Gertrude always tries to pass herself off as me - horribly I might add and I've warned the kids that she might be showing up here trying to do the same again sometime soon. Hopefully my moving boxes will arrive soon and I can get out the costume again - otherwise I'll be heading off to Goodwill to purchase some odds and ends to make up Gertrude's should we say unique style.

VBS is underway here - we're using the Avalanche Ranch program from Group. I was so blessed when the meeting time came and 17 individuals mostly leaders showed up! Our ministry has two awesome volunteers to are chairing the experience and they are doing such a spectacular job! I drove away last night truly humbled at what a beautiful place I've landed at. The church has gone through some challenges over the past year and rather than seeing it crumble and lose hope the experience has somehow infused them with a sense of leadership and momentum - they've come to understand that the work of ministry has to rely on more than one individual and if they are not the ones to actively participate, it's not going to happen. Even Memorial Day weekend is already covered for Sunday.

On the personal front, I'm settling in. This past weekend I visited Newark, the town that I was raised in until high school. I lived in the Rosemont section and at the end of our block was/is a manmade Lake aptly called "The Lake." It's approximately 1.5 miles in diameter loaded with crawdads/mudbugs in the water, an occassional catfish (caught one on a shoestring with flour/water dough bait when I was 9) and more ducks/geese and seagulls than you can count. I brought my dog Diva over to the lake with me and we took our time walking around it - she definately had fun checking out the ducks, I kept her distance from the geese as there were a number of new goslings nearby. It was a deja vu of sorts for me - remembering the times we went out on canoes in the water as I passed by tiny boat docks, standing on the bridge where we would have rock throwing contests, remembering to stash stale bread to feed the duck and the happy times when my family would bike/walk around the lake in summers after dinner. In a sense, God was wrapping up some loose ends for me that together we've been working on over a period of time and I had a sense that a few more strands were being knotted up this weekend.

Yesterday before heading out to do homework I went for about a half mile walk on the beach in Alameda - I don't think I will ever get tired of viewing the SF Skyline from the beach as I walk. I really can't think of a city that I like more - even my time in Paris is a close second with Manhattan Beach running third.

Keep your prayers up for housing - I got a call last night from the individual that I was hoping to move in with and there might be a glitch, the church is considering a no pet policy again - I'm really praying that with a deposit they'll allow Diva in. Otherwise it will be a challenge coming up with first/last/deposits and I don't want to overextend my welcome at my aunt's place. So thanks in advance for the prayers.

How Do You Spell SUCCESS?

I can't believe that the week has already ended and I'm facing my first Sunday morning in my new congregation. There's a part of myself that is facing that first day jitters. Yet the class rosters are filled for the next two weeks and individuals are beginning to sign up for the summer months. This coming weekend the church is starting to add registration cards in the bulletins and passing out the bulletins at the beginning of service so they can highlight and give the opportunity for individuals to hand in their cards - good call. They'll be highlighting the summer months for children's ministries and beginning on Tuesday I'll be hitting the pavement high and low for individuals to fill the gaps.

It's been a good week of settling in. I still feel like I'm in a whirlwind with information overload yet it is different this time because there is so much information and preparation that has been made for the person who took this spot. For that I will be forever blessed and thankful! There's much to do; first on my plate besides the acclimation is a budget line item and then beginning to flesh out possible vision/objectives for the upcoming year. This is going to take time - I will be doing this in the culture and company of other individuals who have been a part of this ministry to make certain that we are focusing on what is of importance to this community and to help with buy in and ownership of what we plant. Afterall, it is the entire communities crop, I am blessed to be the one that is given the weighty responsibility of watering, weeding and harvesting. As I shared, this is going to take time yet it is again bringing me back to the question of what a spiritually healthy child looks like? And as I am this causes me to ask some questions:

• When a child moves to Jr. High School/Middle School ministries what foundation will they bring with them?
• Will the scriptural knowledge they bring with them consist merely of stories, memory verses and random ideas with no real understanding of how they all connect?
• Will a child be able to begin to make critical decisions about how they will incorporate their faith into their everyday lives?
• Have they begun to incorporate spiritual disciplines of prayer, study, service and worship into their lives?

And then of course comes the question of how can one really measure those responses? One of the biggest challenges in ministry to children is the quest for a reasonable way to evaluate "success." I admit at one time I was looking at success through the lens of growth - participate numbers, increase in giving, consecutive weekly attendance, volunteering parents etc. The problem with measuring success this way is that you can become so myopic on numbers that you wind up missing what is in front of you that is truly important. The child and their spiritual development. That's not to say that growth or increase is not a factor that needs to be considered - healthy programs will show growth yet it is an outcome of, and not the main goal.

My hope as I begin this ministry is that the answers to these questions will look something like this:

• Children look forward to being a part of our ministry with them. They desire to be regular participants in it and begin to build relationships not only with their friends, but with their shepherds and guides.
• Volunteers find that they are energized by their time in ministry and are eager, excited to be a part.
• Families become like the apostle Andrew who exhorted others to "come and see" about this Jesus. They become the first link in outreach to the community about what we're doing with and for children.
• Children develop a deep seated, heartfelt love for God that is communicated through involvement in worship, a desire to be discipled, living out their faith through their choices.

I'll be spending much time digging around for ways in which we can remain faithful to the message of Christ while fostering children's faith in this ever changing and challenging world.

MMMM....waffles

Mmmm waffles - there's none better than Ole's Waffle House in Alameda!

Welcome Back Kotter ... I Mean Netter

My family - myself and the Diva dog have finally landed! After many months of prayer and discernment, I submitted my resignation at the church that I was working at to return to California. I missed the large urban area and vibe that accompanies such a surrounding and felt so homesick the entire time that I was in Oregon...you know like continually writing "CA" instead of "OR", calling state troopers "CHiPs", etc. Tony Bennett was right - I had left my heart in SF and the Bay Area when I was 15 and we moved away from there. It took me a few decades to make it back but God was gracious and the move took place.

Originally, I was looking at coming on board with another church in the Bay Area, after a period of time in conversations the church had to put on hold the offer due to some internal issues. I'm thankful for that happening, it allowed me an opportunity to really continue to process whether the church I was looking was going to be as good a fit as originally presented. During the process I had asked for continual doors to be opened in prayer and God graciously answered those prayers with a church community in the Tri-Valley area of the East Bay. Yesterday I began work at San Ramon Presbyterian Church as their new Director of Children's Ministries. I couldn't have asked for a better location. San Ramon is situated in the valley which provides for the beautiful green hills and great weather that I was going to miss about Oregon, yet is a hop, skip and a jump from the SF shoreline.

We left this past Saturday evening after a marathon two and a half weeks of purging, packing and goodbyes. The little Mazda was loaded up as far as it could safely be packed and we left Newberg. I was hoping to get to Weed the first night but tuckered out after a couple of hours driving. Diva did incredible! She had her little pillow and blanket, the harness was too small for her and thank goodness she didn't feel the "need" to try to roam the car although I can't imagine where she would have gone. The iTunes came in handy - I finally finished Frank Peretti's "The Oath" - marginally good book for an audio book and if it fell into the right hands it would make a decent sci-fi script or B rated mini-series...but I digress. U2, Dave Matthews, Cold Play and a host of other jams kept the drive sailing smoothly. The weather was GORGEOUS - blue skies and great scenery all the way down. Mt. Shasta was visible. I didn't know how many rest stops there were which made traveling with a pet terrific. We took a few short stops for Diva to play and my legs to stretch out.

I hit California about 3:30ish on Sunday afternoon and found myself crying - surprised me! I discovered a couple of things this native Californian didn't know - Jelly Bellies are manufactured in Fairfield, and we now can ride the Diamond lane with one person on off hours when posted. And while I can say that I ate very healthy all the way down my car did a quick "exit" when low and behold I spotted an In and Out Burger. My first meal back home was a delicious double double and fries. Calorie and fat laden, but ooooh so delicious with those grilled onions.

The drive through the 80 wasn't as bad as I thought, with the MacArthur Maze being closed due to that horrendous accident that destroyed a large section of the freeway - they had the detours labeled really well and even this first time driver had no problem finding my way which is great seeing I can be directionally challenged at times. According to the news this morning the new estimate is that the freeway will be up and functional again 26 days earlier than scheduled as they are having round the clock crews working on the rebuilding project. I think that actually surpasses the the time that it took when a portion of the freeway fell in the LaPrieta quake in 89. I found myself crying again when I looked over to my right and found the skyline of SF. I am home.

We're temporarily housed at my aunt's home, she's been awesome and great company too! Diva now has a new playmate - Roxie is a 3 year old psenji who seems to enjoy having someone around. There's only been a small scrap here and there when someone (I won't mention any names Diva...) was a bit overzealous in her playtime. I'm meeting with someone this week and hope that it will work out to move into a townhouse in Danville which will bring my commute down from 30 minutes to about 15 at tops. Gas hasn't been too bad so far, the most I've paid is $3.54 and I found out I had gotten ripped when another station six blocks away had it for $3.37.



Well that is it for now - it's been a lot of information to digest and I am suffering from information overload. I think it's time to hit the road home so I can take Diva on a walk at the Beach. Ooooh, I LOVE saying those words again!