Character Connex

Part of the set up

The crowd...about 300

Crazy Game

Skit Time
It's an illusion!

Rhonda and Garrett

We did our first Character Connex school assembly on the character trait of "Responsibility" on Tuesday and it went great. I had Randy, Garrett and Rhonda helping and they did a wonderful job. I found a couple of things to tweak but all in all it went so well for the first one out. Somebody has to be the guinea pig!

I talked to another school this morning and it looks like they will be booking an assembly in a few weeks. Pretty exciting! They also asked if I could do an after school program! Praise God for favor.

Thankful For Open Doors

I'm sitting at my desk at church and reflecting on my lunch date at school today. I had to stop and write a few words about what it means to me to be able to do those "dates." First, I am blessed to have a pastor who encourages me to be out and about in the community and not sitting behind my desk 8 hrs. a day. There is work to be done in the church building but we are in the business of reaching people! Thanks, Pastor Tommy!

Second, I do not take lightly the fact that God has opened the door for me to build this relationship with our community and the schools of Union City and Obion County. It is not every city and state that welcome pastors through the doors of their schools. It is a privilege that I am allowed because God has given me favor.

Third, when I go and sit with "my kids" while they enjoy those yummy school lunches, I get to spend a half an hour with them one on one and talk about things we don't usually have the opportunity to talk about at church. It's all about them, no interruptions, no competing for my attention. Every time I go, the classroom teacher says, "He/she has been so excited all morning that you were coming today." It means so much to them and takes so little effort from me. We always have our picture taken together. It will end up in our kid's bulletin and a copy will go home with the child. Another copy makes the bulletin board in my office.

And fourth, I get to see so many other kids. Kids from church, kids from the Boys and Girls Club, kids from the neighborhoods were we do visitation, kids who were invited to one of our events...all kinds of kids. God showed me today that those small moments of contact, that brief hug shared in the hall will add up to something that truly impacts their life. It's hard to imagine that those little things make a difference but the Lord really encouraged me through that vision.

I started mentoring two fourth grade boys this week. That is another door God opened wide for me. "D" and "J" are two boys who need someone in their life who will encourage them and give them some undivided attention. They are sweet young men who seemed pretty excited to have a mentor of their very own. It will be interesting to see where God leads in these new relationships. Neither are from Christian homes as far as I know so I'm praying that we can build a trusting bond that overflows to their families. I may be the only Godly influence they have. Lord, let me be a light to them.

Dinner at Pastor Lori's Kitchen

Our September mission's incentive for our Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC) offering was the person with the most $$ in their Buddy Barrel would win dinner out with me and a Building 2:52 team member of their choice to ANY restaurant in Union City! Could be anywhere from McDonald's to Applebee's, Taco Bell to Joe's Steak House. Soooooo...Elizabeth wins with her baby sister Lilly just pennies behind her. "Elizabeth, where would you like to go to dinner?" "I want Miss Hailey to come and I want to have dinner at Pastor Lori's kitchen." Seriously, she wanted hot dogs and steak fries at our house! Well, whatever my babies want, my babies get! After those delish Oscar Meyer dogs, we watched some Toys Story 2, and the girls had their chosen desserts....chocolate ice cream for Elizabeth and sherbet for Lilly. BTW, when I brought up the matter of Elizabeth only beating her sister by pennies, she agreed wholeheartedly that Lilly should be invited along! Love those silly girls! Good times and blessing some missionaries, too.

Happenings

Sunday was a fun day in Building 2-52. We are in a series about the great battles of the Bible and this week our sermon was on Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. We talked about what a miracle it was when God brought down the walls with the obedient shouts and blasting of the rams horns of the Israelites. Our main sermon point was that God is still the God of miracles today!

We had some visitors from the Army National Guard unit here in Union City. They brought a Hummer for the kids to investigate and some even got to ride around the parking lot in it. Both soldiers stayed for our service and joined in the fun. The kids seemed to enjoy the change of pace and it didn't stop us from having a great altar time as we prayed for the miracles we all need in our lives.

Sunday was also Pastor Appreciation Day. I had the kids write noted of thanks and appreciation to Pastor Tommy and Deana on some pink, heart shaped post it notes and we stuck them on his office door. The kids loved being in on the secret mission! Our church members are so kind and supportive. I feel so blessed to be a part of the staff here. Thanks to all who made it a special day for us.

CMA RE:gional

Last week, I went to St. Louis for the National Children's Ministry Agency's RE:gional Conference. It was a round table discussion format on seven different topics. We had the opportunity to sit in a small group and brainstorm ideas, share challenges, and hear how other children's leaders tackle each area of ministry. I wasn't sure I'd like the format but it was great! Our general session speaker was Kevin Geer who is the Children's Ministries Director of the Northwest Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God. He was awesome! He spoke on leadership skills, vision casting and the keys of effective ministry. He had a way of communicating that just made everything make total sense! I had the opportunity to network with some other CM peeps and hang with some old friends.

Our hotel was a stone's throw from the STL Arch. Very cool....I had never seen it. We had lunch in the rooftop restaurant that rotates around so you get an awesome view of the arch and Busch Stadium. The architecture of downtown STL is beautiful. I enjoyed two favs while in Missouri...Starbucks and Panera! Oh, I was a happy girl!

Building 2:52 Stuff

For those who know me, preaching from a ladder is a great display of love for my kids!

Sometimes, you just have to play a crazy game!

We are doing a series in Building 2:52 called "Victory" focusing on some of the greatest military battles in the Bible. Just thought I'd share a few pics from recent services.

Family and Friend Day 2009

We had our annual Family and Friend Day yesterday. We encourage our whole church to invite everyone to some for an awesome salvation message and stay for lunch. We had a giant cookout and feed the whole crowd. It was so exciting to see our big school bus pull into the parking lot FULL! All but three of our bus kids brought their parents!!! That was an awesome sight. We had one adult get saved and five kids in Building 2-52 get saved. Many had a special time at the altar where they received a touch from God. Several rededicated their lives. Pastor Tommy preached with special music in between his points that really relayed the Gospel and Christ's love for us.

In Building 2-52 our sermon was "Transformers" and I preached from Romans 12:2 about how we need to transform the way we think about God. Some mistakenly think that they are not good enough for God to love, some think that they can live and act whoever they want and they will still gain Heaven and some believe that there is no way God could have a plan for them. We had a great time at the altar letting Jesus speak to our hearts and making Him the Lord of our lives.

See You at the Playground

Saturday, September 26 was the annual "See You at the Playground" gathering. It is the kid's version of "See You at the Pole" for people of all faiths to gather for a short time of prayer to lift up our schools, students, teachers, administration. We also prayed for our country and government. It was a small gathering, which is a little disappointing, but we had a great time of prayer. We met Shirley and her great grandson Levi. Levi's mom had called the church earlier this week wanting more info about SYATPG and she was sending Levi with her grandmother as she would be out of town. She had called the school for info and was told they weren't organizing it but could give them the number of someone who was and that's how she found us! Cool!

How Beautiful Are the Feet

Yesterday, I preached from Romans 10. We are gearing up for our annual Family and Friend Day here at Union City First Assembly of God. This coming Sunday, September 27, we are inviting everyone we know to come to church and then stay for a free grilled hamburger lunch. The kids have the additional Greatest Grade Challenge. The grade with the most kids here gets to come back the next Saturday to a free pizza and game night. So....I preached a message about inviting our friends. We had a little fun with a mystery feet power point put together by our techie guy Brian. Then to send them on their way out the door to practice having beautiful feet, we wrote Good News on the bottoms of the feet. "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." Romans 10:15

Iowa "Dream" and a BIG Announcement

Our son Keaton just finished a HUGE undertaking. He organized and led the very first ever Kid's Convention in Iowa. "Dream" was a big success with about 350 people attending the Friday night into Saturday afternoon adventure. The pictures I've seen are amazing and I'm hoping to get to see some video soon. I'd love to see something like this happen in Tennessee! Maybe someday. I'm uber proud of my boy!

During "Dream" they made a big announcement that involves Tennessee! August 2010 Iowa will be bringing a team of 4th, 5th and 6th graders to Union City to help do some ministry events! This will be the first Iowa Ministry Network Kid's Missions trip. They will be here for one whole week. We are working on schedules, budgets, travel plans and all the details to make this a trip that will bring many other kids to Jesus and serve our community in a Kingdom building manner. Our Union City kids will get to be involved in all of the activities but more importantly be serving and using their abilities to minister also. Kids leading kids to Jesus...that is soooo cool! The leadership in place for the trip is awesome...great people who will be a blast to work with! I know God is going to do some amazing things through these kids. Keaton said you could hear the buzz throughout the room when he announced the trip. I have a feeling those 25 spots are gonna fill up fast!

CM Beyond

I love networking with other children's pastors and leaders. The scripture says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17 My good buddy Pastor Kevin Umphress started a monthly Internet conferencing for any CM peeps. Pastor Kevin is the children's pastor at Berean Assembly of God in Des Moines, IA. Generally the first Tuesday of each month at 9 PM Central, you can log on the site and join a live chat via your computer (with or without video) or call in as a conference call.

Last Tuesday, we talked about spiritual landmarks for our kids. Iowa just has their very first "Dream" Kid's Convention with about 350 people attending. Pastor Kevin led us in a discussion about using that sort of momentum in our kids' ministry to build spiritual landmarks. Not as to lift up the event itself as life changing but as what God did in our lives while we were there. It's kinda like that Kid's Camp experience....even I get wrapped up in the good time we had and not focus on what God business took place. I remember when our daughter Micaela would come home from church camp and she would tell us every funny story from five days of camp before she would finally get to what she experienced at the altar with Jesus. We need to help our kids record and celebrate the landmark such as write it in their Bibles so they can look back on it and remember what God did for them.

It was a great time of brain-storming and encouraging each other. I love that Pastor Kevin makes sure we have time at the end of our hour to take prayer needs and lift each other up to the throne. I encourage any children's leaders to join us. October and November's discussions will be led by two other children's pastors who have many successful years in ministry to help us grow. check out the web site at http://cmbeyond.blogspot.com . Leave a question or comment and I'm sure Pastor Kevin will help you out!

Boys and Girls Club

Now that school is back in full swing, I started my weekly volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club here in Union City. Every time I am there I am impressed with how they operate. I don't know exactly how many kids they have from day to day but they are everywhere! The place doesn't have much room but they do have a big gym (they are in an old school building) and several classrooms. They maintain order with firmness but affection, get homework done and tutor those who need it, have some game time, feed them a snack and have other planned activities. The staff there is amazing. I'm so thankful I can help even though it's just a couple of hours a week. Many of our bus kids go there every day from 3-6:30 so I get to have some contact with them outside of Sunday or home visits.

I will mainly be helping with homework and just hanging out and building relationships. I get tons of hugs and thank yous but I feel like I should be thanking them. They help me see their lives in the true sense and be more sensitive to their needs. I sure admire the gal who runs the club. Tracy is a single mom of three who is finishing her college degree, working full time at the club and does it all with love in her voice and a smile on her face. The kids obviously adore her.

In December, the club will get to move to a larger facility! I'm excited for them. The club is such a vital service in our community and I want them to be able to do what they do a little easier. Wish I had a boatload of money to give them! If you are looking for a way to serve community kids, see if your city has a Boys and Girls Club!

Doing Life With My Kids

Crazy game in Building 2*52

Devon's first football game!

1st grade cheerleaders...how cute is that!

Lunch with Riley

I love to be able to spend time with "my kids" outside of church. I know that the kids remember some of the sermons and lessons I teach but they ALWAYS remember someone who took time to do life with them! They are just that important...to me and to Jesus!

Lunch with PL and a Blessing

I tried to post this several days ago but had some sort of technical issues and had to rewrite it!

I had my first "Lunch with Pastor Lori" for this school year. I met with a 4th grader, Jayden, and had a great time chatting and meeting some of her friends. I LOVE going to schools! Kids are so funny...sometimes you discover a whole different side of them when away from the walls of the church. Jayden is a sweet girl, tender hearted and loves Jesus. She blessed me so much when she said, "I couldn't hardly wait for you to get here!" Of course, you get the others kids curiosity stirred up when you arrive. They ask if I'm the mom, the grandma, why I'm there, if I'm staying all day, etc. When they find out I'm a pastor, they usually look at me as though they have never seen a pastor outside a church building before. That's sad if true!

I'm doing a lunch a week and to take away the pressure of deciding who I should meet with, we have a new element in Building 2-52. At the end of second service, I draw a name from our new lunch box and whomever is drawn had a date with me. I got a metal Looney Tunes lunch box (thanks to my friend Debbie!) and anyone who wants a date has their name added to the mix. I then call parents so they can in turn call the school and give the okay and let them know what day I'm coming.

I was incredibly blessed to meet the pastors of the Hispanic Assembly of God church here in Union City! Pastor Villa and his wife were sharing their passion and vision for Asambleas de Dios Juan 3:16 with me and I was in awe of their determination and sacrifice. They moved here 8 years ago from New York to plant this church. They face many hurdles, mainly with language barriers. The children of their congregation are bilingual but not many adults are so the Villas end up doing most of the work and teaching of the church. They tell the children they are raising them up to be the church! I'll be praying for them and hope the Lord allows me an opportunity to help in some way. Sure wish I knew how to speak Spanish!

Building the Team

I have been working and praying to fill some team positions. I'm so excited to have Brian and Amy Johnson and Jaime and Amanda Winstead join the Building 2-52 gang! Brian will be leading the technology department, Amy is my big event coordinator and they both will be in children's church. Jaime and Amanda take on the nursery coordinator position. I also recruited some additional people for the nursery schedule. Woot woot!

Now, I praying for a bus pastor. I am in charge of our bus ministry and it's been an area that I have had to learn as I go. So far....not too much success but I know a bus pastor is the only way this area will grow. I simply do not have as much time as it requires. So I'm praying for the person or persons that will commit to reaching out to some kids that have a pretty tough life. Someone who will be willing to invest some time to visit homes and really know these families. We are working on a 65 passenger school bus. We are painting it and getting it all "kid friendly." Of course a school bus requires a CDL and some folks willing to take the test. I'm working on mine.

Building a team takes more time than I'd like. It would be nice to just make a list and assign the positions! It's helping me grow the fruit of patience. :)

Be Careful What You Preach

It seems as though God is stretching me right now. I feel a little like that old toy Stretch Armstrong, remember that one? Several weeks ago, the Lord changed the direction in Building 2-52 from Superheroes of the Bible to Fruits of the Spirit. Okay...I'm cool with that. I want to be going exactly where the Holy Spirit is leading...not doing my own thing. Well, let me tell you, I am relearning some of the very things I'm preaching.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22-23

Love - we ALL should constantly be challenged to love like Jesus. Some people are just not very lovable but.......you know. :)

Joy - I had to choose whether I was going to be joyful a couple of weeks ago when Randy was put into the hospital. Would I let the devil steal my joy? No way, forget it, not gonna happen. As I preached to the kids, the true meaning of J-O-Y is putting Jesus first, Others next and Yourself last. I'll keep my joy by keeping Jesus FIRST.

And now to peace - Wow, I have been tested in greater ways with this one. I really don't want to go into a lot of details but last Thursday was a tough day for us. We had a pretty big disappointment and then to top the whole day off, Micaela had a car accident. She is fine...car not so much. But Satan would have me in such turmoil and confusion and then even attack one of my kids that it proves what a liar and thief he is. Have I completely gotten the peace victory? Honestly no, but I'm working on it and rereading the scriptures from my Sunday sermon.

So this week I'm preaching on patience. Hum...

I will NOT deviate from where the Lord is leading me so bring it on Stupid Head. (does the devil read my blog?) 1 John 4:4 says "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!" 1 Cor. 15:57 says "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

This is an awesome verse Keaton gave me as an encouragement this week....Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."

The scripture from Luke 12 that teaches, "to whom much is given, much is required" has come to mind often in the past few weeks. I'm trusting in you Jesus!

Obion County Fair

Giving a cup of water in Jesus' name....Mark 9:41

Julie and me...do I look goofy?

We had a great time this week passing out free bottled water, church fliers, and balloon animals. Thanks to all of our awesome volunteers...especially my friend Julie who was there every night!

Obion County Fair

Our church has a booth at the Obion County Fair. We are doing something simple for the second year in a row. We are giving a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. Free bottled water, a packet of church info with some candy in it, a friendly face and just an opportunity to be Jesus with skin on. Last night, I added some balloon animals and passed out some of my business cards. It's fun to watch the kid's faces when you tell them they can have a free balloon. Not much is free at the fair except boring business stuff that most kids could care less about. We will be at the fair three more nights. I'm praying for divine appointments and favor in our community. I want to be ready for that one person who may be at the fair that is hurting and open to a new friend. Lord, give me your eyes and ears tonight. Speak to me in the busyness of the evening so that I might show your love in a greater way.

My Man is Home!

Finally, Randy was sprung from the hospital!! His blood level was thin enough after seven days of being bed-ridden. He arrived at the hospital and was put to bed last Friday at 10 AM and we left his room at exactly 10 AM this morning. I'm so thankful he's home. He has to be off of work for two more weeks and as the doctor said, "You may putter." So I guess that means light duties and using caution.

He still has three blood clots but we are believing the Lord will dissolve those quickly. Thanks to all who have been praying and those who came to visit. We sure appreciate everyone's support.

Horses and the Hospital

We've had a hectic few days around here! Friday, Randy was put in the hospital with a blood clot in his leg...well, we found out today it's actually three blood clots. He will be in the hospital a few more days until they can get his blood thinned out a bit more. They have not determined how he got the blood clots but I hope they do before he leaves the hospital. He is being a good patient but I know he is getting tired on being in bed. He cannot be up at all! You can only watch so much TV, read and such before you go nuts. He can't even really play solitaire because he isn't allowed to sit up much. His leg has to be elevated at all times.

Randy had started his new job just four days before this all happened! He will have to be off of work for two weeks after he goes home and will have to ease back after that. So far, his new employer is being very good about all of this. We know that God is in control and He is going to work it all out for His glory. Everything from Randy's physical healing to the financial end of it. We don't have any health insurance and so this is an awesome opportunity for our miracle working, supernatural God to show the world how He takes care of us.

In the midst of this, I had a big day planned at church. Round Up Sunday was planned as a dual purposed event. Celebrating back to school and getting families back into the regular church attendance habit after the summer slump. You might be thinking, "Back to school?" Yes...our schools are back in session as of last Friday and today. Crazy, I know. So anyway....all went well even with making hospital visits and decorations for the big day. We even had two horses for some fun rides in the church yard between the two morning services. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to watch them enjoying the horses. The horses were so gentle and didn't even mind all of those kids getting off and on them. Great day even if we didn't have as many kids back as I would have liked. The kids all looked adorable in the western wear. We had some prizes for the best outfits and some crazy pictures of everyone in a "Wanted" poster.

Thanks to all who have been praying for us! We sure appreciate all of your love and concern. We'll keep you posted.