Posts Tagged ‘life’
Helping Kids Fall In Love With Jesus September 29th, 2009
When I was a kid I loved the Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis. I still love the books, but when I was young they completely captivated me. Long before I could read on my own, my mom used to read to me. Whenever we would go on long car trips she would choose books to read to my brother, sister and me. (these were the days before in car DVD players) She read all types of books but the Chronicles of Narnia were always my favorite.
In fourth grade my teacher, Mrs. Vincent, read us the book “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.” As she read, I recognized a lot of the names and characters. After a few days I realized that this was one of the books that my mom had read to me when I was little. Better yet, I figured out that this was the first of seven books in a series. The next time our class went to the library I checked out the second book in the series. I read the entire book that same day. The next day I got to school early so I could check out the third book. It wasn’t long before Mrs. Vincent noticed my interest in the books, and because I was “a little less than well-behaved” in fourth grade, (sorry Mrs. Vincent) she eventually made a deal with me. If I would finish all my work for the day I could read for whatever time I had left. Most days I had finished all my work before lunch because I couldn’t wait to get back to reading. It wasn’t long before I had read the entire series. Then I read them again–and again–and again.
There was so much that I loved about The Chronicles of Narnia. There was action, adventure, sword fights and talking animals. But above everything else there was one character that stood out. Aslan. Aslan was the great lion, the son of the emperor beyond the sea. He was the central character in every story and things always got better when Aslan arrived. The way C.S. Lewis wrote about and described Aslan made him come alive. As I read the books over and over I fell in love with the character of Aslan. He was so amazing, strong and gentle, wild and kind, powerful yet humble. One of my favorite quotes in the Chronicles of Narnia comes when someone asks about Aslan, “Is he quite safe?” The answer, “Of course he’s not safe, but he’s good.” As I read the books I actually got excited every time Aslan was about to show up in the story. I was so enthralled with the character that I began collecting lions. (not real lions… mostly stuffed and ceramic) There was just something about Aslan that I wanted to be closer to.
As I grew older, I learned something about C.S. Lewis that you probably already know. Not only was C.S. Lewis a great writer, he was a great theologian. Most of his books were for adults but somewhere along the line he decided to write a series for children and I’m so glad he did. What I began to see over time is that the character of Aslan was based on Jesus. Everything I had grown to love about the fictional character of Aslan was true of the very real Jesus. What I didn’t realize when I was young, is that through the writings of C.S. Lewis I wasn’t falling in love with Aslan, I was falling in love with Jesus. Over the years my love for Jesus has only grown deeper but it began because C.S. Lewis wrote about Jesus in way that went past my intellect and penetrated my heart.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. How do we do this for the kids we lead? I think sometimes we’re pretty good at teaching kids about Jesus, but how do we help them fall in love with Jesus? What are we doing for kids that helps them see Jesus in a way that is so compelling that all they want to do is be closer to Him. How do we penetrate their hearts so they get excited at just the thought of who Jesus is and what he’s done for them? I obviously don’t have all the answers to these questions. Maybe you’ve got some ideas. I’d love to hear from you. What I do know is, I’m not content to just tell kids about Jesus. I want to introduce kids to Jesus in a way that helps them fall in love with Jesus the way C.S. Lewis did for me.
Tags: C.S. Lewis, children's books, Children's Ministry, christian living, christianity, creative, journey, life, me, Resources
Posted in Blog, Children's Ministry, Thinking Out Loud | Comments (0)
Big News September 14th, 2009
I have big news I wanted to pass along to everybody. I’m moving on from Brookwood Church. This isn’t a good place to get into all the “what” and “whys,” but if you’re interested you can contact me and I’ll let you know more. I do want to take a minute and say a few things though.
First, I completely support Brookwood Church. Brookwood is a great church and even though they’re going through a rough patch right now, I know that God is going to continue to do incredible things in and through Brookwood.
Second, I love and respect Perry Duggar. Perry has never been anything but good to me. I cannot begin to quantify all that he has taught me, or how he has invested in my life. Perry is one of the most humble and authentic men I know. That’s one of the main things that drew me to Brookwood in the first place and one of the things I’ll miss most.
Third, I will deeply miss the children’s team at Brookwood. I believe they are the finest collection of children’s pastors anywhere. I was blessed to lead such an amazing group of people. We put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears together and I will treasure every moment with you guys for the rest of my life. I love you and I’m proud of who you’ve become. Furthermore, I believe in this team and I believe they are going to continue to raise the bar in children’s ministry for a long tome to come. Hang on Brookwood, these guys are going to do big things.
Finally, I’m going to miss our awesome volunteers. No matter what challenge we threw at you, you rose to the occasion. I am so proud of you. I always said our goal was not to give kids great programming but to connect them with great people. You are great people! I’m so glad that the kids at Brookwood have people like you to invest in their lives.
So, what’s next for me?
I don’t know.
A long time ago I submitted myself to God’s leading and to serving Him in ministry. So, I’m on His plan and His timing. Truth is, I can’t think of a better place to be.
Oh yeah, a couple more things…
I still have several blog posts that I wrote (or started) while a Brookwood. So, rather than change everything I’m going to post them as is. Hopefully that won’t confuse anybody. Also, if you know anyone looking for a children’s pastor you can send them here. There’s a link to my resume in the top right corner.
Tags: Brookwood Church, Brookwood Kids, journey, life, me, ministry, team
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Start Right March 16th, 2009
So, you’re thinking about starting a blog? Do you know about: hosting, urls, domain names, plugins, permalinks, php, .htaccess, apachee, index.php, seo, site redirects, mod_rewrites, widgets, ftp, chmod or the difference between 0644 and 0777 (besides 133 ☺) Well, I do, but I’d suggest that you not. Here’s the thing I started this blog a few weeks ago on a whim. Problem is, I hadn’t taken a lot of time to learn the basics. I just bought a domain name slapped it in an old web-host and got going. Fast forward a few weeks, and I’ve spent more hours trying to fix things on the blog than I have witting.
First, I didn’t have a good web host. Then I installed my blog in a sub-domain. This led to a site redirect. So when I tried to improve my seo (search engine optimization) I realized my permalinks were “ugly” but I couldn’t change them ☹ because my .htacces file was in the sub-domain not the root and then…. Sorry about that, I’ll get to the point.
If you want to start blogging, take your time and start right. Spend a little time researching the process. There’s a lot of good information out there and if you take a couple of days to check it out you might save yourself several weeks of heaches and a lot of details you’ll wish you never knew.
BTW… Isn’t this that why children’s ministry is so important. If we can help kids get started right, with a strong spiritual foundation. We can save them from years of frustration and confusion. Then, maybe, they can spend more time living for Jesus instead of fixing problems caused by careless mistakes.
Just a thought ☺
Tags: blogging, Children's Ministry, christianity, life, web hosting
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That’s how you know March 8th, 2009
I just finished watching the movie “Enchanted” with my daughter Brindley. I’ve probably watched this movie with her a dozen or more times. At the risk of cashing in one of my few remaining “man cards,” as well as my dignity, I have to admit, I love this movie!
I really do, especially the big musical number in the middle of the movie. I usually rewind the movie and watch this scene twice. The song is called “That’s How You Know” and it centers around the optimistic and naive heroine of the movie asking a very serious New York divorce lawyer if he’s doing enough to show his intended fiancé that he really loves her. Besides just being fun, the song always makes me consider, am I going out of my way to let my wife know that I love her? I love my wife more than I could ever express, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do everything I can (and then some) to try to show her how much I love her. How about you? Are you going out of your way to express love to those you care about?
This little song also reminded me of something we’re planning to teach our kids at Brookwood over Easter. We’re writing a series called “More Than A Story.” The basic idea is that the reason we find some stories so compelling, is that they capture or express an element of spiritual truth.
If you stop and think about it our God is the greatest lover of all, and He is the master of continually showing us how much He loves us. Maybe it’s a favorite song that stirs your soul, or a particularly amazing sunset that seems to be painted just for you. It could be a place that inspires you or holding your child in your arms. It often overwhelms me that God created such a vast and expansive world that still uniquely speaks His love to me as an individual. And, that’s how I know He loves me.
Tags: Brookwood Church, Brookwood Kids, Children's Ministry, christian living, christianity, creative, creative process, creative team, curriculum, life, ministry, music
Posted in Christian Life, Thinking Out Loud | Comments (0)
Snow Day and Sabbath March 3rd, 2009
Greenville, South Carolina has just recovered from a rare March blizzard. Ok, so it was just a few inches of snow, but it was still enough to shut down the city and knock out power to my house. So, I got to spend an impromptu day off at home with no electricity, no TV, no computer, no Internet, no… well you get the picture. It turned out to be a great day and it got me thinking that a snow day without power is probably a lot like what God intended the Sabbath to be. I’m not talking about some legalistic-based version of Sabbath but a day to just “unplug” and rest.
Here’s how the day went. I woke up early and spent a couple of hours reading while my wife and daughter slept in. (b.t.w. Ragamuffin Gospel = great book) Later that morning I played in the snow with my daughter. After playing in the snow for a while we decided to walk around the block and we got to chat with lots of our neighbors who were also out. When we got back I read some more, hung out with my wife and actually had time to take a nap. At the end of the day I felt rested, recharged and closer to God and my family.
To contrast, here’s how I probably would have spent the day with the power on. Wake up check my email and blog stats, (WooHoo three visits… thanks for reading mom) then a couple hours catching up on blogs, twitter, and facebook. After this I’d turn on the TV and probably end up watching re-runs of cooking shows, Mythbusters, How It’s Made, maybe some sports (if it’s fall, who actually watches basketball ☺) or whatever else was on. Before long the day would be over and I’d be left wondering where my “day off” went.
It’s always interesting to me how God finds new ways to get our attention. For me, it took a forced day off to show me what I was missing and I’m looking forward to building a lot more “unplugged” time into my life.
I’d love to hear from you. What does Sabbath look like for you and how do you “unplug?”
Tags: christian living, christianity, life, media, ministry, sabbath
Posted in Christian Life, Thinking Out Loud | Comments (0)