I wanted to take this quick moment before I start to enjoy my uninterrupted family time as they are still asleep, and give some things that I am very thankful for in Children’s Ministry and not in any order other than the first one is the first because to me it starts and ends there.
1. God. Not only is this one of the most popular answers in children’s ministry that serves as the “answer to all questions” type answer for kids if asked a question, but it is really the total reason for anything I have to be thankful for. Thanks God.
2. My family. At the end of everyday regardless what has taken place I get the privilege of ending my day with my family. My family provides for me not only love but a safe place to be. We are able to talk openly, honestly, let our guard down, get into our comfy clothes and kick up our feet while we laugh and play with one another. Thanks family.
3. My Pastor. Not only because he is my boss, but also because he wants me on his team. He pours into me, watches out for me, invest in me, challenges me, spurs me on to be all that I can be and so much more. Thanks pastor.
4. My team of volunteers. I have heard it mentioned so many times, and I am sure they are only joking when it is said, “Ministry would be great if it weren’t for the people.” I always disagree. Ministry is great because of the people. I have the greatest job in all the world and I get to work with the greatest people in all the world. My teams from birth - 6th grade pout themselves out everyday, every week, every year as a gift to me, the kids, and their parents and. Thanks Teams
5. My Friends. I am going to be very careful to not mention specific ones because then it will take forever, but, I will tell you I have some of the finest, greatest, kind, friends a person could know. My friends are there to talk, help, support, encourage, challenge, and oh so much more. Thanks friends.
6. Resources. I have truly been blessed over the 17+ years of full time children’s ministry to have run across some great resources. There is Kidology (here is a site that when I first started it was the only one out there like it and I actually stole or “creatively borrowed” all my lessons from at first), I also did a post on this titled: Top 10 Ministry Resources according to me. Thanks to all the great resources that help me to be effective.
7. My Mentors. I will mention only a few here that have been part of those mentors from the start and they are still there as mentors for me even today. Karl Bastian (Here is the guy who created Kidology and is definitely one of those “friends” I was referring to above), Jim Wideman (who again was in many peoples site an untouchable because of how successful he was but really he has always been very touchable. He is always there to lend a hand and invest in those who want to grow). There have been so many and still are today. But wanted to give that very specific shout out to these two as like I said they were there when I first started and they are still there today. Thanks mentors.
I am going to stop here. Most may try and take it to 10, or stopped at 5. I am stopping it at 7 becasue my family is beginning to move around and I am going to go and spend time with them.
P.S.
I am very thankful for all of you who read this blog as well and send me the emails of encouragement. Thanks Take TWO global family!
I always enjoyed David Letterman’s Top Ten List and now I have read a few children’s pastors who have jumped into doing their own Top 10 (like and thought I will do the same. I have truly enjoyed seeing what others, like Sam Luce have put on their list and found an item or two or maybe a web site or a book to look into that before that Top 10 I did not have or know about. maybe you will find the same to be true here as well.
I will list all of them in this original first blog post and then each day will take one and explain how and why I use it in ministry. Lets begin. These are not really in any particular order and I did not list some of the basic things like God, my Bible, even though I use YouVersion, which could have easily been a tool or resource I could have listed.
1. iPhone
2. Kidology
3. Live Scribe pen
4. Mac Computers
5. Library of books
6. Collaborating Community
7. Team
8. SugarSync
9. Evernote
10. DropBox
So stay tuned over the next couple days as I will share how I use these for ministry. I would also be interested in hearing any of yours or maybe different ways that you may use some of these same tools.
