I spent the morning in our Kid’s View Theatre room doing a little painting.  Over the summer we had been utilizing Big City Studio’s material for our Elementary kids.  It was great fun and at the beginning of the summer we had “installed” a “Shout It Out” board on our main wall.  This included attaching some firing strips to the wall and painting a portion of the wall black.  It looked great and the kids loved the game.

Now summer is over (technically, it’s still over 100 degrees daily!) and we are back to using 252 curriculum in our large group time.  Well, that meant that the black wall had to go!  So after two coats of Kilz and one coat of yellow we are back to normal.  Yea!

This project got me to looking around the room and noticing a few other things that need to go.  One corner had some left over project boards,  there were some staples left in the wall from VBS and I found a few loose cotton balls rolling around.  After going through and removing the objects and painting the wall the room really had a “new” feeling to it.

It is so easy for us to get accustomed to a little mess here and there.  We need to come in each week and view our environments with fresh eyes.  That’s the way every guest views our space.  A few minutes invested this morning and our large group room really looks nice.

This week I am going to walk through each room of our Children’s Ministry with “fresh” eyes.   Why don’t you take the same challenge and see what you find.

This summer I took on the challenge of a new “skill” – Balloon Twisting!  I know you may be asking… What? Why? What were you thinking?

As a Children’s Pastor I’m always reading about kids, watching kid’s television (of course with a 7 year old daughter & 10 year old son it’s not like I have a choice) and interacting with kids.  It is interesting to me the things that kids enjoy and the things that they find funny.  There is also great value in knowing what naturally motivates a child.

One of our stated goals, in Kid’s View, is for kids do develop a desire to memorize scripture.  I know there is great benefit in “hiding God’s word in your heart” and that as adults we see the intrinsic value.  With kids I believe that offering external motivation can lead to a growing love of the Word and a life-long habit of memorizing scripture.  With that in mind I began to look for ways to motivate our kids.

That’s where Balloon Twisting comes into play.  Go to any event, a birthday party, county fair, car show, etc. and look for a Balloon Twister.  You’ll notice that the majority of the time there is a long line of kids just waiting for the opportunity to receive a balloon.  Now, these are no ordinary balloons!  We are talking about Swords, Hearts, Teddy Bears, Monkeys, Motorcycles and more.  I’ve seen children convince mom and dad to stand in a long line in 100 degree weather for a balloon animal.  Now that’s interesting to me.

So take the child’s desire for a balloon (external motivation) and connect that with our desire for a child to know scripture (intrinsic value) and you have a “win-win” situation.  So after several weeks of learning about, twisting and popping balloons, I along with my two youngest children can now create Swords, Flowers, Teddy Bears, Motorcycles, Monkeys & more!

Over the last few weeks we have brought our “balloon bag” to church with an offer:  Quote this week’s memory verse and you get to choose a balloon.  It has been phenomenal to see the reaction.  Kids who before had taken no interest are now coming with their verse memorized and they’re excited that they know it.  An additional benefit is the interaction that happens while I am “creating” the balloon animal.  Conversations and relationships are being started by this “silly” thing called a Balloon Animal.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona also known as “The Valley of the Sun.”  If you’ve never been to Phoenix you need to know it’s a desert.  The thing I notice most is the absence of green grassy lawns.  Now, some people do try to grow grass in their yards with a modicum of success.  It takes a lot of work!  That’s what I want you to keep in mind as we think about ministry.

One of the issues about being involved in ministry is this idea that things should come easier.  Well, first let’s remember most of us live in a spiritual desert.  Biblical literacy is at an all-time low and that coupled with the growth of pluralism in faith has created a dry and thirsty land.

One of the greatest problems with serving in ministry is that people don’t even realize they are thirsty.  Their lives are so filled with busy-ness that they have placed strengthening their faith low on the priority list.  All you need to do is to take a look at a family’s calendar to know what is most important in their home.

As ministers committed to reaching and teaching families we must take in to account where people are in their faith journey.  Once we have discerned a family’s priorities we can then begin to map out our strategies to help them understand where they are spiritually and what next steps would be helpful in their growth.

A couple of the strategies we are utilizing:

1. Encouraging families to schedule and spend time at home reading and memorizing scripture together
2. Providing take home materials for families every Sunday
3. Rewarding kids for completing the “home work” with their parents each week
4. Creating a Resource Center for parents
5. Sending out a Weekly Email with the Key Points from Sunday’s Lesson

My hope and prayer is that each family will find something that will create a thirst for spiritual growth.  As we continue in this “desert” our goal is to be an “oasis.”   We have the “living water” and our passion is to get that water to the thirsty!

Our church is really at a high point right now.  My pastor, Sandy, is leading our church with a vision called “Project Reach.” The focus is reaching our neighbors, our communities, our city and our world.  What an encouraging and exciting time in the life of our church.  The byline is “transforming 40 acres for God’s Kingdom.  Phase One of this project is a new Children and Youth building which I have the priviledge of being involved in the design.

While we are in the midst of the planning and fund raising for Phase One I began to feel challenged to reThink our CM Vision statement.  We have a vision statement but it struck me as rather wordy and not very memorable.  As I began thinking about that and praying for direction I came across Andy Stanley’s book titled “Making Vision Stick.”  I must confess that Andy is one of my favorite writers and I’ve read most of what he’s written.  However, I had not read this little book.  If you are interested in creating a memorable Vision Statement for your ministry this is a must read!

I want to share a couple of highlights from the book and hopefully wet your appetite to go our and purchase the book. Vision is a tricky thing.  Every leader should have a vision for their ministry and every leader innately knows that they’ve got to clearly communicate that vision to succeed.  Vision also has to be repeatedly communicated for a ministry to stay on track.  With that said here are a some “big rocks” from Andy’s book:

1. State the Vision Simply
2. Cast the Vision Convincingly
3. Repeat the Vision Regularly
4. Celebrate the Vision Systematically
5. Embrace the Vision Personally

Now go get the book so you can reThink your Vision Statement.  After reading the book (which will only take you about 30 – 45 minutes – no kidding!) and thinking about the whole Orange process we are in at our church this is the “new” Vision Statement for our Children’s Ministry here at Desert View:

Partnering with Parents to Rescue the Next Generation

My prayer is that God will use this statement to clearly communicate what we are about here at Desert View and help to keep our ministry on track.  Hope to see you at The Orange Conference.