The Day After

My first Advent at my new church was a positive experience. Four weeks spent looking at the unexpected of God breaking through into individuals lives that never expected the likes of what happened to them. The kids led the community in worship on two separate occasions - once in music on the 16th and then again on the 24th at our family Christmas Eve service. I'm blessed to have such dedicated men and women who helped to make the Bethlehem Village experience a success on the 23rd as well. We had a number of friends brought to church by our kids, and I heard many positive things from parents as well as the kids.

I celebrated Christmas with my extended family for the first time in what must be at least ten years yesterday evening. My cousins children are now grown, home and business owners and doing very well for themselves. It was great to sit back and listen to what is happening in their world. And a bit strange at the same time to realize how differently my life has turned out than I ever expected. I never saw myself preparing to enter full time pastoral ministry but that is what I am doing. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to share and teach God's word to others, yet today I am preparing to preach this Sunday (and yes I know all the jokes about "Black Sunday" and preachers!) What started out as a year that wondered where my next zip code would be has ended in on a positive note. I've been living out our Advent message of expecting the unexpected this entire year. Spirituality, Christianity in particular is a journey, not a destination. It's something that is worked out in the inner parts of our being throughout our entire life journey and really doesn't become recognized fully until that moment when we exhale in this world and inhale in the next. Yet for me, the highlight of the day was having the opportunity to connect with a dear friend in a real, authentic conversation last night.

Yet all that said, I am glad that it is December 26th. It's nice to have a day where I am not having to focus on the madness that comes with a holiday like Christmas. Granted, I know that much of this 'post bah-humbug' is because I am not particularly fond of the Christmas season to begin with; yet I find for me the challenge is trying to carve time out for myself to find a way to prepare my own life and heart for what is happening. I'd have to rate myself a B- this Advent season which is a vast improvement over the past two Advents in Oregon where I was so out of my comfort zone. The added busyness of the time pushed my 'saying no' boundaries to the breaking point and I found myself more often than not putting myself on the bottom of the "take care of" list and basically neglecting myself too often. Today is being spent reading at a cafe sipping a great latte overlooking the SF skyline. Tonight it's working out at the gym and then coming home to a quiet of a candles and good music. The holiday season is over thank goodness - the challenge is taking the meaning of Christmas with me throughout the coming year.

The Unveiling

"and the word became flesh and dwelt among us."

It never fails. Each Advent I get stuck on this verse more than any other passage of Scripture that I reflect on. Why would the Creator of the Universe want to identify with humanity on such a level? I haven't the foggiest idea. It reminds me of my theology and Christology classes at Fuller, when we would get to the concept and thoughts on kenosis - God/Jesus emptying himself as he became man. The more I would read or reflect on the words, the more I find myself asking what I am sure is the million dollar question - Why?"

I wonder what it was like for Mary and Joseph, to watch their child begin to grasp the reality of who he was. When was that point when Jesus understood that he was "different" than others? When his destiny would never equal those of his peers, his family? How does one parent the Son of God? Amazing seems to be the emotion that I am experiencing this Advent season. Amazed at what God did by interrupting space and time to manifest as a child. Amazed at individuals such as Zachariah, Joseph, Mary and Elizabeth as they realized that God was stretching them beyond their wildest ideas and beliefs - forcing them to see and experience God on a level that others could never imagine. Amazed that in the midst of merchandising, Christmas specials, secularization and whatnot, the manger is still the focus of what this season is all about.

May your advent be one of amazement also.

I'm Stoked!

I'm so excited! I just got a ticket to Walking with the Dinosaurs in San Jose, CA!

Here's a video that captures some of the excitement!

"You Can Come to My Birthday Party"

Building Bridges was an incredible experience. I have never seen a group of people (both volunteer staff and our teams) work so well together and so hard. We sent out over 150 individuals throughout the San Ramon Valley to do everything from clearing trails, painting ball walls and cleaning yards to staying behind and packing care packages for troops in Iraq/Afghanistan and making lunches/cooking dinner here at church. This is a HUGE deal I discovered throughout the day. The logistics were amazing. The planning goes beyond what I was seeing/listening as we met throughout the summer and into the Fall. It really is true that you have to witness something sometimes to get a good perspective on what it really takes to pull off an event such as this successfully. There were some great moments out of the weekend. Our children had their own program at church while their parents were out serving. Our project was drawing/designing Christmas cards for the troops. And they were precious. We narrated the cards with what the children wanted to say to them. Before we had them get working on the cards we took them to the staging area where the boxes were packed, had them see some pictures of soldier whose mom's are part of the Blue Star Moms and showed them where their cards were going. It really helped I think for them to see what they were doing. Too often kids (and adults) do things in a vacuum never really understanding where their contribution fits into the entire picture. The comments/thoughts of the kids were precious. The Blue Star Moms were sharing that one of the ones that touched their hears was "You can come to my birthday party." Talk about pulling on heart strings. To a child celebrating is a part of life - and what a better wish to send to an individual in the line of fire than a prayer that they could come and celebrate life with them back stateside. It is beyond words.

We ended the weekend Sunday with a celebration service at church. The middle of the church was given tables for people to sit around and chairs were still available for those not at tables. A member of our community is currently in hospital and a giant hot pink card was passed from person to person being signed for them. There were such demonstrations of love from each of these people. You can tell how much this person-who is such a dynamic part of the community-is truly missed and cared for.

I have to say from a personal perspective, that I really think we need to consider as individuals who plan what a worship experience looks like - ways to encourage community and relationship building within church services. So much of what we do on Sunday mornings is relegated to an individualistic experience. It takes a great amount of intentionality to incorporate people communicating and talking with each other, hearing about their spiritual journeys into a worship service. What a gift we would be giving each of us if we could be vulnerable and open to both the Spirit and each other in the context of a worship experience? Coffee Hour after service just isn't the same. I saw something happen when the tables were set down. When people shared their experiences. When children and families and small groups were sitting around those tables in prayer and worship together. It was an entirely different atmosphere that rose up and took over. It was celebration, which is what we are exhorted to do throughout the pages of Scripture. What an invitation that could be - to invite people whose lives are really unknown to all but the Creator to celebrate, just as one of our children invited a soldier to their celebration. What kind of an impact could that have in the life of a church?

And you thought you've carved big pumpkins!

Here are some pics that I snapped last weekend at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin festival. I remember going to this when I was a kid and just loving the experience. A few weeks ago I saw a documentary on "Giant Pumpkin Growing Contests" on PBS which totally fascinated me. I guess that is what you get when you watch PBS when you are bored on a Sunday afternoon. Anyway, it made me remember about the Pumpkin Festival and the fact that they were having the weigh in contest for the great pumpkin the monday before the festival began. I didn't make it to the weigh in on my day off but I sure did have fun on that Saturday!


As usual, there was traffic congestion on the freeway out there. However what is normally around a 45 minute to an hour trip took over 2.5 hours to get there.



The scenery was beautiful - look at how the huge trees create such a canopy to drive under. We had three days of rain which for Northern California is a lot at one time at this point in the season. Yet Friday evening the skies began to clear up and the weekend was incredibly beautiful and warm. Didn't even need a jacket at the coast as I thought I would.



Almost there - the longest 2 miles that I remember.


The pumpkin fields and stands begin to show up just outside of Half Moon Bay. Boy where they festive!



Here are some pictures of the "great" pumpkin that came in at 1543 pounds and this guy who carves two giant pumpkins each year at the festival. This is the one that he was nearly done with as of 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Missional Mazes

This weekend is "Building Bridges" at the church where I work. It's premise is simple - do the most you can to those who ask for assistance. Be their friend. Be their assistance. Be Jesus to them. We're celebrating our 5th year of Building Bridges and let me tell you, it is one incredible project. My first meeting was literally the first Sunday that I came to work - mid May. Since then we've had numerous discussions, seen a major corporation sponsor via a grant this years' endeavor and watched as the projects have rolled in. It appears that this year our projects range from clearing trails in the local East Bay Regional parks, to painting at local elementary schools, installing new smoke alarms for seniors, and doing the tasks of cleaning out over-crowded homes and over-grown yards.

The weekend begins on Friday with a time of worship and going through the next day's activities. Saturday work day begins with breakfast, teams gathering at the church and then going out to their assigned projects with lunches either going with them or teams coming back to eat before moving onto another home. Saturday night is a celebration dinner and Sunday morning the entire church gathers together to process through the experience. I found out last week that this means our children will be in service as well - we have approximately 30 children who will be with their families directly serving their community and another 4-10 staying here at church doing their own service project!

This experience has led me to consider what it means to be a missional people in a post-Christian world. Anyone can be a part of a community event and there are plenty of them. Runs/races for cancer, HIV/Aids, homelessness. Marches to show solidarity for our troops, against the current Iraqi occupation, human rights. Telethons to assist natural disasters, terrorist tragedies. Picnics, festivals, parties to celebrate heritage, seasons, community life all abound. What makes what we who are Christ followers different?

I think it is community. I talk on or about this alot, probably nauseating some people who know me. Some would hypothesize that my discussion of this topic is a glaring demonstration of my need for community. At first I was offended by this comment and yet realized that they are right. I am in need of community. I am in need of a group of individuals who know me, accept me for my limitations and my gifts. Who will laugh and encourage, cry and exhort. I need a community who will kick back and watch LOST or Ugly Betty with me, cry when the Giants again miss the playoffs or cheer when USC is beaten by anybody - especially UCLA!

The reality is that we all are in need of a community. When the church is firing on all cylinders this is what we do best-we connect people to others and to God through relationships. In the past missional approaches from churches seemed to follow a traditional formula of offering a program, a speaker, an event and having individuals come to the church. Or perhaps the traditional visitation appointment. These may still work in certain cultures or geographical locations but the reality is that we must cast out a larger net in today's world. And we need to use different bait.

For Children's Ministry this means thinking outside of the box. It means that I spend time at the schools where my kids attend. At last count that is 14 schools throughout the year. I am doing yard duty or reading groups at 2 elementary schools which the majority of our kids attend. We send "thank you" baskets at Christmas to the teachers of our children's schools in appreciation of what they do for the children of our community.

It means expanding our families' horizons. And their comfort zones. In the future we will be going to homeless shelters as families and serving meals or passing out backpacks and clothes throughout the year. It means having desserts for parents only where you can relax and enjoy the company of other parents while honing your relationship with your spouse - after all family ministry begins with parents. Sports clinics such as baseball/softball, rock climbing and soccer are on the calendar for this year. And going out to local tournaments to pass out water or snack bars donating back the funds raised to community sporting events. These are ways over the next two years that we hope to make a broader impact in our community.

Will all of these cause large impacts in our community. More than likely not. Each one will cause a ripple that moves out from the center further into the community than we would experience if we stayed behind the stucco walls of our building. Yet the goal in all of this is not to boost numbers on the church roll. It's not to tell others about our church. It's to invite people into a community and into relationship with individuals who daily try to live an authentic life. It's an invitation to be the individual that God has created us to be when we are truly authentic.

It will take teaching. And sharing the vision and God's passion about building into our children and community the reality of Micah 6:8. And along the way we will continue to move towards being more creative in maneuvering the missional maze.

Welcome to the Ministry!

To a dear friend who just started her first "official" week as Children's Ministries Director at her church -

Congratulations and God's Best! I know that you will do well in your ministry, and see God's hands in this adventure.

Buckle your seat belts - it's going to be a great ride!

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.