The New Journey

I'm on a road of discovery right now. With a new group of kids to pastor, I must not fall into the "children's church formula" that would make life easier. What I mean is this; as a person who has been a children's pastor for more than 20 years, I have to be careful not to fall back on or rely on past successes to minister to my new congregation. I have to discover where they are in their faith journey, how mature they are in God's Word and what needs do they have socially, physically and Spiritually. That takes time, effort and being very intentional. Life would be easier if I just mapped out the coming year without really praying it through and allowing God to show me where He wants or needs these kids to go. At the MOST, I have them 7 years in children's church. Seven years to lead them to Jesus and through His Word in a way they can understand. Seven years to prepare them to go to the next level with the youth pastor. Seven years to build a Spiritual foundation that will be firm and steady enough to add worldly weight and pressure. Seven years to help them understand what we believe and why we believe it. Seven years to get them plugged into ministry and teach them to be servants. Seven years...sounds like a long time but remember that's only a couple of hours a week. I have to make them count!
So...the road to discovery has some bumps and pot holes but it's a road that must be traveled to achieve what those precious kids really need. I choose to make the road fun and not a burden. It makes it even more satisfying when you can look back and see how they got from point A to point B. What an honor it is to love kid's to Jesus.

In the Beginning....

God created the team meeting. Well, not really, y'all know it was the heavens and the earth! But here in Whitehouse it is my new beginning and it started with an entire children's department meeting. What a great evening of opportunity. I was able to share my heart and just a bit of vision casting. I don't want to overwhelm people with too much too soon but they were all on board and ready to see what God has in store for our church and community. I am so blessed to be in yet another church that sees the urgency of reaching kids for Jesus and is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish much for the Kingdom of God.

It was also very cool to have our lead pastors and student pastors in attendance; supporting, encouraging and showing unity with the new gal! If you are a staff pastor reading this and have such unity in your church, make sure you tell the team how much you appreciate it. Not every place has that and it sure makes a difference in how ministry flows and builds together.

I got teased a bit for my acrostic about my role as the children's pastor. I used T. E. E. M. and Pastor Michael chalked up my spelling of team to my Iowa education....ha ha! In leading this new team, I want to
T - Train/Teach each member in the position they serve in. If they feel educated, they have more confidence to do their job.
E - Equip each member with the resources and materials needed to make their job easier and more effective.
E - Encourage each one. We all need a pat on the back, a "hang in there", or a well done!
M - Mentor each one who would like to go deeper in their walk, or fulfill a call to ministry. We must duplicate ourselves!

Of course, we had to eat! I love to feed people so a dinner meeting is always good. It was fun to have the servants from nursery, preschool, children's church, discipleship, Royal Ranger and M'Pact girls all around the table sharing food, fellowship and excitement to be doing the Lord's work for kids.

Great things are ahead and I know I must continue to grow in my life before I can be the leader God has called me to be. Thanks Lord for all you are doing in us, through us and despite of us!

TEXAS!

Here we are in the Lone Star State! We arrived in Tyler last Friday night to our new duplex and crashed after a long day of driving from Tennessee. Saturday morning brought a great crew of peeps from Whitehouse First Assembly to unload the truck. We were even treated to a yummy soup lunch from our new pastor's wife, Angie! Many thanks for all the help but let me back up the truck a bit.

It was tough to leave such a great church family at Union City First Assembly. Our two years there are precious times of making lifelong friendships and new life lessons. We are so thankful for our time there and the doors that the Lord opened. It was not always easy with some struggles along the way but it is a time I wouldn't trade for anything. I learned a lot under Pastor Tommy's leadership and will sure miss the awesome team there. We never dreamed we would only be there two years but I count them successful for the Kingdom of God as I know we witnessed many lives forever changed.

The people of Whitehouse First have given us a terrific welcome and are very excited to see what God has in store for the kids and families of this community. Pastor Michael is gonna be awesome to work with and our youth pastors Danny and Celeste have an awesome group of students that I'm looking forward to getting to know. Look for updates on what's happening in Texas and I'm excited to be serving in yet another great church!