Ready for a Remodel

As you may (or may not) be aware, my role has changed a bit within the last 4 months.  While I still retain my responsibilities as Children’s Pastor,  my title has changed to NextGen Pastor and I now oversee all age ministries from birth to college.  One of the great things about this is the great team I work with, from the preschool and elementary assistants, to our Middle School, High School and College Pastors.  I have a great respect for each of these people and so enjoy working with them as we minister to this next generation.

One of the main reasons for this change is so that we can have a more cohesive, intentional approach for how we minister to our kids, from birth through college.  Our partnership with parents doesn’t end when the kids leave the children’s department, but our hope is that we will continue that partnership as parents seek to raise their kids in faith to college and beyond.  It has been a great transition and I believe great days are ahead.

One of my goals is to provide parents with more resources to help on our parenting journey.  One way that I will be sharing ideas will be through this blog, which, as you can tell, is undergoing a bit of a remodel.  Eventually, Children’s Ministries will have a new website page with all the basic information that parents and visitors need to know about HCN ministry to kids.  This blog site will accessible from all the age-level pages and will cover a wide variety of topics for all parents.  Of course, since we’re dealing with technology here, it is a process that might take a while for all the pages to come together, so stay tuned!

I look forward to the  days ahead of us.  I believe God speaks to this next generation, calling them to him for wonderful purposes.  It is such a privilege to serve him in this capacity.  I am dependent upon him for vision to lead.  I am confident of his faithfulness to provide that vision.

Leading the Way

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the start of a season of anticipating the arrival of the Christ child.  I’m sure your to do list is long.  Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, all the tasks that must be done for us to arrive at that “perfect” holiday season.  This busyness makes me even more grateful for the traditions of our church home.  Sunday nights through the Advent season give us opportunities to be with our families, both immediate, and our extended church family and celebrate the season in a variety of ways.

One tradition that we observe is lighting of the Advent candles each week.   Tonight the light was brought into the Center by a PreK friend of mine.  As we practiced the walk, and I showed him the candle, he seemed fairly confident that he could indeed do a fine job, even though this was the very first time in his life that he had lit a candle.  As a little insurance, I asked his dad to walk with him.  What was initially a move to ensure that the candle was lit safely and without incident, turned into a meaningful moment.  They walked up the aisle together, and as he began to light the candle, his dad gently helped him light this first light of the Advent season.

I watched this and thought of how fitting it was, that a father would lead his son in the lighting of this candle.  As parents, we are called by God to lead our children to know him.  In the busyness of this season, if we are not careful, those times that could be most meaningful to our children’s spiritual development will slip away.  My prayer is that as parents, we will all take hold of what’s most important, and continue to lead our children to the light of Jesus, walking along beside them, and instructing them in His way.

I look forward to observing this Advent season with you and yours.

October Word Workout

This is a bit of a challenging verse, so we’re using it for the entire month as we learn how to navigate the Old Testament.  Click here to see the Word Workout segment.   This verse reminds us that God’s word is what should teach us and guide us through our lives.

A Blessed Stroll

I had the privilege of walking Amanda Dillon for her dedication walk this morning.  She is three and was joining her baby sister  in dedication because their family had been between churches when Amanda was a baby.  It is a privilege to walk babies in this ceremony, particularly older children, because I get to talk to them about their church family, about how these people would be the ones to help teach them about Jesus, about how these people were singing to them, about how these people, their church family, love them.  Amanda was graceful throughout and listened and watched intently.  I love the fact that her parents brought her to the altar of dedication, even now.  It speaks of intentionality.

Intentionality.  It’s a word I’m embracing more and more within Children’s Ministries this year.  It reminds me that what we do is not to be done haphazardly, but with purpose — the purpose of  leading our kids to Jesus.  The baby dedication ceremony is one of the first markers of this intentionality within our church family.  It is an opportunity to bless the child with our words, an opportunity to recognize before God and each other that each child is a gift from God, and an opportunity for the parent, and the church family to commit to raising that child to know Jesus.  It is not for show.  It is serious business.  May we as individual families be reminded often of the day that we brought our babies to the altar of dedication and promised to raise them to know Jesus.  And may that reminder spur us to constant evaluation of our intentionality — are we as families living our daily lives in a way that would point our kids to Jesus?  It is not for show.  It is serious business.  May we be faithful.

 

Word Workout – Week of 9/11/11

To learn this week’s His Kid’s memory verse, click here.

Word Workout

One of our goals this year in Children’s Ministries is to place a greater emphasis on making sure the kids learn the memory verses.  Each week in His Kids, we will have a segment called the “Word Workout”.  This segment introduces and reviews the verse of the week.  I believe that having our kids memorize the Word is one of the greatest gifts that we can give them, because even as they age, these words will stay with them and will be brought to mind as they are needed in their lives.  This is a great tool for reinforcing within your family the truths learned at church.  Make it a family project to memorize the verses each week.  We will soon be implementing this in Lamb’s Club as well, so stay tuned.  Click here for this week’s verse and motions. 

VBS 2011

     June 13-17

     9:00-12:00

     Ages 3 through 4th grade.

    Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning at the church.  Join us for an exciting week! 

Join us as we learn more about the gift of God’s grace and how we can share that gift with our neighbors and the world!

Summer 2011 is here!

The summer is filled with activities that will connect your child to a community of faith and provide a place to belong, grow and serve!  Click here to download the summer brochure that includes information on all activities.  Register for VBS and HCN Camps by clicking on the Summer 2011 tab at the top of this page.

A Place to Serve

I’m sure that you have all been following the devastation that was brought about by the tornadoes that hit the southern states this week.  We have many Alabama connections in our congregation, and here’s a tangible way you can help.

Donelson Christian Academy has a coach with connections to those in Alabama, and is familiar with the areas that were hardest hit.  They will be collecting donations between now and Thursday, May 5.

These are immediate needs of the storm victims:

Blankets
Clothing – all sizes, t-shirts, jeans, shorts
Children’s clothing
Feminine products
Diapers
Baby food
Insulin…other immediately necessary meds
Toys for smaller kids
Band-Aids
Socks
Jackets
Bottled water
Chips
Juice (individual)
Packaged food for distribution
Fruit cups
Paper towels
Kleenex
Toilet paper

If you would like to donate any of these items to be sent to Alabama, you may bring them to church with you on Sunday and drop them off at the check-in station.  If you would like to donate throughout the week, you may take donations to Donelson Christian Academy.  All donations will be delivered next weekend to the hardest hit areas of Alabama.

Taken Over

As I write this, I’m sitting in my driveway.  Yes, I have other places to work, but right now my 2 year old is asleep in the car, and well, who am I to wake up a napping toddler?  So, I’m sitting in my driveway, catching up on some work.  As I just looked out at our bushes in the front of our house, I realized that our neighbors are probably wondering when we will get rid of all the weeds that are taking over the bed.  How long until a letter from the homeowners association will come? (Please don’t turn us in!)   But then I also  notice something else that is taking over this area.  It’s a  pink flower.  I have no idea what it is, but it’s aggressive.  It has wound its way through all the bushes, from one end of the space to the other.  And I’m delighted.  Why?  Because this flower vine-y thing is from my grandmother’s garden.

My grandmother was an incredible gardener.  She could tell you the name of any plant you pointed at and had an unusual assortment of all types of flowers.    Her yard was filled with many different areas of flowers.  And her method of landscaping?  I may be wrong, but I think it was just throw bulbs out there and see what comes up.  Now, I know that doesn’t create the most beautiful mental image, but somehow, each year, these fabulous flower gardens would burst forth all throughout her yard.  When she had to move due to declining health, several of us dug up flowers from her yard and replanted them at our own homes.   I have the most beautiful irises blooming right now that came from her home.   From the stash of flowers that I brought home from her house, I planted something at the corner of this particular area of bushes.  I don’t remember what it was, because, well, I didn’t exactly inherit her ability to keep plants alive.  However, because of the way my grandmother gardened, I got the beautiful surprise of these little pink flowers, that must have been mixed in with the other plant, that now spreads throughout this bed, and when spring returns, so do they.

Each time I look at these flowers from my grandmother’s garden, I’m reminded of her.  I’m so glad that she invested herself in gardening so that now I have these reminders of her each day.  The thing is though, that’s not why my grandmother spent her spring days digging in the dirt.  I would venture to guess that she never even thought about how those flowers would someday cause her loved ones to remember her fondly.  No, my grandmother gardened because she loved it.  She would spend much of the winter counting down the days til she could dig in the dirt again. And yet, that still wasn’t the thing in her life that she was the most passionate about.  Her love for gardening was nothing compared to her love for Jesus.   If you gave her a minute of your time, she would tell you about Jesus.  I often heard others ask her to give her testimony.  We grandchildren would begin to time her to see how long she would take each time.  Her love for Jesus was contagious.   Like these flowers, she didn’t keep it contained, she let her love for Jesus impact every area of her life and was quick to share it with others.

My oldest daughter just turned 13.   For her birthday, I asked 13 people who have influence in her life to write her a letter.  Each one made me cry.  They were letters of affirmation and wisdom for her years ahead.  And they all pointed her to Jesus.  Of all the things that we invest in, of all the things that we allow our kids to participate in to develop their gifts and talents, there is none as important as cultivating their love and relationship with Jesus.  It is one that they must choose as their own.  It is one we can cultivate by living in a daily, vibrant relationship with Jesus ourselves.  I believe with all my heart that our greatest goals as parents should be to live our lives in such a way that our kids constantly see what it means to live in a daily relationship with Jesus.  Not as a hobby, or a second-thought, but in a life-giving, passionate, love relationship with Jesus.  Has he made a difference in your life?  Has Jesus taken over your life and brought beauty to it?  Then pass it on.  Allow it to take over your life. Get rid of the garbage that weighs you down and that you pass on to your kids.   Live the passage of Acts 17:28 that says “For in him we live and move and have our being.”   Pray for that same thing for your children, and their children, and for generations to come. Be prepared to be amazed at what God will do.  I believe he will surprise you.