What I learned in Oregon

This past weekend I had the privilege of spending 3 days with childhood ministry directors from all over the Northwest learning about kids and how to minister to them.  It was a jam-packed weekend filled with good food, spiritual retreat, and fellowship - and I came home up to my ears in resources and information (which is a good thing).  I thought I'd share some of the big things I took away (some new and some good reminders) from the retreat.

Children are so important to the kingdom.
I know this seems like such an obvious thing, but I think we all-too-often forget just how important children are in the church and kingdom of God.  Being surrounded by so many people who care so much about the spiritual maturation of children was a palm-to-the-forehead kind of experience for me.  Of course they're important.  The Bible is full of passages about them.  Good reminder.

Children are sponges.
One of the big points that was repeated over and over and over and...(you get the idea) is that kids learn even when you think they aren't learning.  Just because you aren't "teaching" them in the traditional sense doesn't mean they aren't learning.  They learn from a teacher's behavior and from their environments and from their own peers.  I think too many children's ministry volunteers don't realize this truth and just what big of an impact they're making and think they're "just playing" with kids - oh how we need to re-orient that mentality.

Ear plugs are powerful tools.
I add this simply because I learned very quickly that two snoring roommates make for one very exhausted Kendall.  Must remember this for the next retreat....and marriage.

Good, thorough vision is vital for any ministry.
One of my favorite sessions at the retreat was about developing vision for your ministry.  It was incredibly helpful for children's ministry, but I think it's going to prove to be even more helpful and practical for all areas of ministry in which I have a part.  The speaker gave some very useful steps for developing vision that I can't wait to put into practice.

Oregon can be just as rainy, if not rainier, than Washington.
This came as a bit of a surprise.  While we have had some beautiful weather up here recently, Oregon was pretty gross the whole time I was there.  Even more reason to love my state.

Children's ministries come second to the parents.
...which leads to the bigger point that children's ministry begins in the home.  We only get a small amount of time with the kids in our ministries every week, while the parents get significantly more.  This means we need to be equipping our parents to minister to their children in their daily lives and let the children's ministry be a supplement to what parents are establishing in their homes.  Families are important to God (see most of the books in the B-I-B-L-E), and the church should be raising up not just parents and not just children to love him and serve him but families as a cohesive unit.

On a personal level, it was so nice to get away from the daily grind for a few days and take some time for spiritual renewal.  And now I look forward to digging through all of my new materials and building up our childhood ministries at FBCPO.  This should get exciting.

New Adventures

It’s happened.  Seriously.  If you haven’t already heard: I’m officially the new Worship and Family Ministries Pastor at First Baptist Church Port Orchard!  The interview process actually started several months ago – I just had to keep it under wraps until very recently.  I was hired on Oct 2^nd, and I’ve been setting up camp in my – very own – office, putting my books on shelves, hanging certificates on the walls, and decorating the room with wall art and pictures.  I finally got to pull out my religion textbooks and Greek New Testament from college and crack open their dusty spines.  It’s been so nice getting to start a career in the field I love so much – not to mention what God called me to do all those years ago.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for the Lord to open a door for me – your prayers have definitely been answered.

Lots of you guys have asked me what I actually do, and I figure it’s easiest to post it here than answer each question individually.  My position has two distinct facets to it: worship ministry and family ministry.  In the Bible belt, my position is kind of the equivalent of a Music and Education Minister. 

The first facet is worship ministry.  Our church has two services on Sunday mornings.  The first service is more traditional, mostly hymn singing.  The second service is more contemporary, mostly praise and worship choruses.  We have several different worship teams who lead the different services.  For example, I am in a praise team with Chewie and one of our close friends, and we lead worship a couple of times a month during the second service (commonly referred to as the deuce service).  Some of my responsibilities for this part of my position include scheduling which worship teams lead on which Sundays.  I also provide leadership to the teams, answering questions and making sure they have the resources they need for the Sunday services.  I’ll also be intimately involved with the worship planning team which kind of creates a general template for the Sunday worship services and makes decisions regarding different aspects of the services (like what responsive readings to do.

The other facet of my position is family ministries.  This mainly pertains to the preschool, children’s, and youth ministries at our church.  I provide leadership to the teachers of those classes and will hopefully get the ministries to a point where they flow naturally into one another.  For instance, I would like for the 4s and 5s class to be taught in a way that prepares them for the 1^st-3^rd grade class, which is being prepared for the 4^th-6^th grade class, and them for the youth group (and the youth for an adult class).  I’ll also take a more active role in planning events for these age groups, including overseeing VBS during the summer.  In the more immediate future, I’ll be taking more responsibility in the youth group because our youth pastor’s husband just accepted a position as associate pastor at a church in Oregon and will be moving there in the coming months.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list of my responsibilities at the church, but it hopefully gives a better feel for what I’m doing now. 

I’m incredibly excited about being here.  I really feel like God has been preparing me for this position for a long time.  I had no way of knowing this is what he had in store, but I believe this has been his plan all along.  It’s cool how he sometimes gives us a glimpse of his bigger picture.  For so long I questioned why God brought me here to the NW without giving me clear direction about my career and ministry here.  And now I can see and understand a bit more why he brought me through the stuff he brought me through to this point.  All the trials and tribulations and doubts and uncertainties make a little more sense. 

Other things in my life are really great right now.  Chewie and I are doing especially well.  I’m probably going to buy a ticket to visit home in the near future.  My small group is thriving right now – we just started a new Bible study and changed the time of week that we meet, and I think it’s a definite move in the right direction.  There really isn’t much else going on other than starting the new job.  It’s kind of the biggest thing happening right now. 

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods, wherever you are.  Be blessed this week in the knowledge that Jesus paid it all for you!

Finale Friday: Quiet Week

Hey-howdy-hey there!  Week one of daily blogging ends today, and I can't believe I made it through!  I find myself constantly seeking out blog ideas everywhere I look now - I think we call this border-line obsessed.  Lol.

As far as life goes, things are swell.  This week has gone by exceptionally slow.  I find myself thinking, "Is it really  only  Friday?!"  It hasn't been a particularly bad week or anything - just SLOW.

Some pretty exciting things are going on as far as my leadership roles at church.  I'm the Children's Ministry Coordinator (or something to that effect), and I just met with our associate pastor and the nursery ministry leader to discuss our mission and goals, etc., for our ministries and how they can work together.  I'm super excited about what's going to be happening there.  AND we're hosting a pancake breakfast for our teams to thank them for all their hard work and get some feedback from them.  So much to be excited about!

Another rather new thing going on is that I am now the teacher for our new Singles' Small Group - that Matthew has fondly dubbed "The Quarter-Lifers".  Our church has suddenly had a huge influx of single people come through,, which is super awesome since Matthew and I have been two of the few there for a while.  Matthew has taken on the role of "Shepherd" for our group, which basically means he plans/coordinates our fellowships and service projects - the more social role of the two.  On top of all this, we've had a wonderful new(er) family in our church offer up their home to host our mid-week group!  So our group starts this coming Tuesday, and I can't wait (and any prayers offered up for this budding ministry are much appreciated)!

Other than that, I've been working.  On the up side, I'm in love with my job.  The Lord definitely has me in the right place, or, at least, the right state of mind for what I'm doing.  I've also been reading a lot.  My  parents got me "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" - the book that was the inspiration for "The Sound of Music" - for Christmas, and I absolutely love it!  I can't put it down.

One last thing, Matthew is trying to get a job at the shipyard up here.  It would be a really great career move for him - really great, actually.  We worked on his resume on Monday, and he'll be going to the career fair at the shipyard at the end of the month.  If you wouldn't mind offering up a prayer for him regarding this pursuit, he - and I - would really appreciate it.

And that's about it for this week.  Nothing too-super-exciting has happened, which I can't say is necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes quiet weeks are good.  :)

Hope you all have a great end to your week, and look forward to this weekend's "Word-free Weekend" post!