Take 2.0 Ministry for the Next Generation

I am just a little excited at this time so I am trying to type slow so you can keep up and understand (that was a joke referring to when people get excited and end up talking fast not typing). Here I was sitting down at the computer after my time with God in the morning and reading through my RSS feeds in Google Reader, when I came across one titled “Dad in the middle”. And as I was reading this one there to my surprise I saw it…yes something that made me feel like I had won an Oscar or an Emmy or something HUGE!! Yes Take TWO’s blog has made it to a top ten list.

Now for some, this may not be very big as you may have your blog hit the top 10’s all the time. But, now for me, this is still huge!!

Why?

I think it compares in ways to how some volunteers in ministries that I talk with around the globe feel as they volunteer. Let’s look at some common or much more common than any of us would like to think it may be, especially in today’s developed children’s ministry world.

How often do faithful volunteers show up and pour into the kids in your ministries? Often times through out the week volunteers are prepping their Sunday school, or object lessons, midweek material, shopping for the supplies they will need and taking the cost out of their own pockets as a way to just help the ministry out more, calling kids or sending them birthday cards, showing up at their school events representing us the children’s pastors and really the lists could go on and on. But the whole time this is happening they never seem to make the list of those we the children’s pastors have invited over to our homes to eat, taken them out for a coke, wrote a brief little card and sent it to them or maybe even built them up for their faithfulness in the site of their peers.

These volunteers don’t do it for any of the potential benefits or Kudos from above, they do it because they love to serve, they love the kids, they love the direction of the cm, they Love God and want to serve His Kingdom as much as they can. But, even through all of this, when someone takes some time to say - “Good Job, what you are doing matters to me”, well it still feels good. It still feels like they have just been nominated by their peers that what they have been doing is worth something, even if it may be just from you.

There it is. For me whenever I’m mentioned in a list or the Take TWO blog is, it feels like one of my peers as well is saying, “Thanks, what you are doing matters and has value”. Allow me to encourage you today to remember those volunteers in your ministries who would love to hear from just you - “Thanks for what you do. It matters me to me.”

Thank you Wayne Stocks for taking the time to say, “Good job”.