One more from the picnic

One last picture from the picnic, but it's probably my favorite one. Erin called up Tony and had him bring the kids out for a few minutes so they could have fun playing in the water and blowing bubbles. A nice break for them, I'm sure, since they had been moving all weekend. I love this picture of them. They are such an awesome family!

End of the year picnic

Okay, so weather wise our picnic wasn't a huge success, raining off and on throughout the day. And instead of jumping in the lake to swim we were pulling on sweatshirts. But hey, we still had fun. We even got a game of wiffle ball going...and when do we ever get the chance to show off those wiffle ball skills? And what's a little water...as far as I know none of us melted.

Rusty is an amazing guy on the leadership team of K-1. I could learn a ton from him about leadership and the history of Promiseland just by having a conversation with him. I asked if I could get a picture with him at some point before the end of summer...of course I had no idea he'd have us pose with me standing on a picnic table.
Here are some of the other awesome volunteers and leaders of K-1 grillin' all the meat...and warming up by the grill.
I can be pretty sneaky with a camera, so Erin and Rusty probably had no idea I took these shots...
...but I had to get em from both sides to get both their faces in pic.
Here's the wiffle ball game I wrote about. At one point in time we had four or five out fielders, a pitcher, batter and catcher. Pretty good considering the down pour that took place just moments before.

Mr. Jeff's Neighborhood

So much cooler than Mr. Roger's neigborhood. Instead of hearing "Won't you be my neighbor?", Mr. Jeff raps the intro and has modernized a classic show. What an awesome way to teach our Promiseland friends about what it means to be in community with each other.

Energized

For awhile now Erin has been challenging me to really pay attention to what energizes me...what gives me passion or excitement. Last time she asked me this question I told her it was hard for me to determine that, because for the most part I'm pretty low energy, or in other terms 'calm, cool, and collected' I'm definitely not someone who'd be considered high strung. I can only remember being hyper once in my life and it took three giant pixie sticks to get me to the point where I was literally bouncing from cabin to cabin at girl's camp as a kid. Anyone who knows me is probably having a hard time picturing that I'm sure.

Anyway...I've been struggling a lot lately as I've discovered more about who I am. Even in learning more about my spiritual gifts was a little discouraging to me. The call on my life to be in children's ministry is crystal clear to me, but since that moment when heard God's gentle whisper to me I've had a lot of doubts. The doubts were never about the call, but whether or not my gifts and who I am lined up with what I believe this call on my life is. I've struggled with the realization that I'm gifted much more in task related areas than I am in the relational aspects. And while I love the task side of things, doubts creep in that say, "Can I really be in ministry? How I can I be if I have no relational gifts? How can I be a leader without the gift of leadership or shepherding?"

Tonight I talked with Jil, the children's director at the college church I attend. She helped me realize that maybe my call into children's ministry is being refined. That maybe I need to put to death my own idea of what this call looks like...this idea that has been formed by the leaders I've been guided by and have learned from. She said that God can take away the ache in my life of putting to death this idea I have in mind as He leads me into something greater than I could imagine that uses all my gifts.

So, what energizes me? Creating something that can be implemented by someone and used to a greater capacity than what I could do. For example, writing and developing a curriculum...the style of it may not be the way I speak or teach, but I can imagine it being used in such a way that it could truly have an impact in a child's life. Or building sets...setting up environments that promote kids to use their imaginations and connects them to what's being taught. Environments that don't detract from what's most important, but add to it in such a way that they can't wait to come back and learn more.

And what else? Training...I haven't had a lot of practice at this, but I love the idea of studying something or developing content and then working with a small group or one-on-one with someone and diving into it with them. I love to see the steps they take in learning and being there to answer questions or coach them along the way. I've done it some and would love to do it more. In the fall I may have the chance to build a program from scratch, somewhat connected with our children's ministry. I'd get the chance to work with a team of people, training them in childcare...of course inviting (recruiting) people to come may be the most challenging part for me, so I better step into that more this summer and learn how to do it effectively. We'll see how that goes...I'm just taking baby steps here, but I'm learning a ton along the way.

Creations

For all those visual learners out there I wanted to share a couple things that I've designed recently. They have nothing to do with Promiseland, but are logos I've created for the two College churches I'm involved with. I'm also grateful for the chance to use this developing skill while I'm here this summer.

Just a Spirit Thing

This past weekend I got the chance to take a spiritual gifts class. I went into it wondering why it would take four hours...after all it's kind of like a personality test, right? Those take a half hour tops. Plus, I had already taken one of these tests a couple years ago. All I was looking for was to see if my gifts still matched up.

Once the class began it didn't take long for me to realize that this class was much more than just an allotted time to take a test in.

Spiritual gifts aren't about saying which box you fit into the most...although that does become our tendency. I know I do that all the time, but it's not necessarily a good thing. It's good to have a deeper understanding who I am, but I need to be careful not to box God in, in my life.

A spiritual gift is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in your life. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit presents himself in your life in different ways. A spiritual gift is not an object or personality trait...it's a person--the Holy Spirit.

So what do we do then? We need to stay connected to Christ, stay surrendered to the transforming work of the Spirit, and stay obedient by serving others in love.

In the class we did go through an exercise to determine what are gifts are. It was based on what we thought about ourselves, what a small group might have affirmed in us, and what a ministry leader has seen and affirmed. My top three gifts ended up being all task related; Helps, Craftsmanship, and Administration. No real surprise, though it was a little discouraging for me to see that there was no leadership or shepherding or pretty much any relational gift that came up. The leaders of the class were great in helping me to see that my style of leadership may look different based on my gifts, but even without a so called leadership gift I can still be a leader. It's comforting to know that I can be who I am and still live with the purpose God has given me. There's no wrong or right mold--as long as I am connected, surrendered and obedient to God.

I'll end this post by giving a definition of my gifts and you can see if it sounds like me.

Craftsmanship: To design or build. The Holy spirit works through you to creatively design items to be used for ministry. The purpose is to enhance God's ministry. To enable ministry to take place by shaping or enhancing the environment of God's ministry. Someone with this gift 'molds and shapes the physical environment' where God's message can be considered. They may work with wood, cloth, paints, metal, glass, raw materials, or tools. They are skilled and enjoy working behind the scenes with their hands to create, design, or build tangible items.

Helps: To support others. The Holy Spirit works through you to support a ministry project or another person by assisting in the accomplishment of ministry tasks. The purpose is to accomplish the mission of the ministry. To free up others to accomplish the goals and mission of the ministry. People with the gift of helps serve others by meeting tangible and practical needs of the ministry. They serve with joy as they sense God's purpose and spiritual value in what they are doing.

Administration: To create structure. The Holy Spirit works through you to organize and execute plans to accomplish ministry goals. The purpose is to accomplish ministry or Church goals. A person with this gift charts a course that helps the ministry arrive at its desired destination, without wasting time, energy, effort, or personnel. They bring order out of chaos and a sense of flow to the process. They are able to plan, develop strategies, manage, and coordinate a variety of responsibilities. They effectively, execute, and assist in reaching ministry goals.

Flipped again

Going back to what Erin said about God just flipping things upside down and taking your breath away...I've found myself breathless once again.

Originally when I applied for this internship it was to the Willow Creek Association, not necessarily Promiseland, the children's ministry. The WCA covers the business end of things, planning conferences, marketing resources, etc...etc. I didn't intend to apply to the WCA, so I was grateful when they offered to forward my stuff on to Promiseland.

Well...this week it became apparent how God was working in all of this. Of course as you can see I am a K-1 intern in Promiseland, but now I've been given another awesome opportunity. The children's ministry team at the WCA contacted me this week and set up a meeting. They laid out a ton of opportunities for me if I'd like to get involved with some of the projects they have going on. Most these include the chance to work with a team of artists doing design work for the next upcoming children's ministry conferences. These are an add on to the leadership summit for children's ministry leaders, a volunteer training conference coming up in September and next year's Conspire conference. I will also have the chance to plan out some of the details for the conferences, do marketing for them. And I could also work with the resource team and help develop curriculum and other resources that will be coming out soon.

Not only will I be using my art in this, but also my writing skills as well. I will also be growing a lot in developing the big picture aspect of things...which is awesome!

God is so cool! And I've definitely been flipped again!

Growing pains

Do you ever have those days when your weaknesses shine through and your strengths don't seem so strong?

Today was like that for me. It's not necessarily a bad thing. There's growth taking place and I love to be challenged...but in the moments of facing my weaknesses head on, well there always seems to be a tension in that. It's like when you're younger and you reach those points where you just seem to shoot up in height. It appears to happen overnight, but before that growth takes place there's pain. There's tension before growth occurs, without it we would still be infants.

I've found the same to be true in my walk with Christ. When those tough spots come or problems keep recurring with the same theme I look for what God is teaching me. In school it seems as though every year has had a theme to learn that had nothing to do with books or profs. One year was about trusting God with everything, the next was to seek him first above a relationship, this past year conflict resolution and keeping my character in tact. All these lessons I've learned have come with some pretty tough situations I've had to face. But through all of that I've grown deeper in my relationship with God.

Today showed me that God is teaching me to be a strong leader, not only of those he'll bless me to shepherd, but manage and lead myself as well. This summer will be a refining process for me and I'm sure there will be more emotional and somewhat frustrating days to come. But I take joy in what God's teaching me. And I'm grateful for a friend who won't let me settle for anything less than the truth of who God has made me to be.

Mega fun in K-1...number 2

This weekend I had my first...and second opportunity to lead a small group. We were a little (okay, maybe a lot) short on leaders this weekend so Saturday night I had the green and yellow team. Even though the groups were combined into one I only had about 10-15 or so. Today was a little different...during the 11 service I was in charge of the gold team (this is usually our biggest group and today was no exception). Thankfully my group ended up being split 3 ways when a couple extra leaders showed up to help. I ended up with about 18 kids (can you imagine if it hadn't have been split?...there could have been 40 or 50!) Overall it went really well, though I haven't managed how to lead a game, keep an eye on the kids still coloring and be ready to connect with the parents as they come in to pick up their kids...it may have seemed a little crazy. Oh well...guess I'm learning.

Our fire pit was pretty cool...it looked pretty real too.
We ended up with a ton of tents...the kids had a great time playing in them

These are the finished and hung signs for the weekend I helped create

Mega fun in K-1...number 1

Mega fun in K-1 was our theme this weekend for the when the kids moved up into their next age/grade level. It was a huge celebration time and Erin, Jeff and I worked hard searching the church to find anything we could to turn our rooms into a campground. Erin put me in charge of the decor and I think we all did a great job setting up. The kids had a great time this weekend singing songs around the campfire, playing volleyball and making indoor s'mores. Overall things went great and I think the kids are excited about being in their new rooms.

I love the pond
Even the activity stations had a campy feel to it

The stage looked awesome too

Pictures 2

The prop loft (okay so maybe I'm a dork, but I think it's pretty cool)

Pictures 1 (for lack of creative title)

Here is my office area
These are the signs I helped make for Move up weekend


This is some of the props the artists are working on

Connecting

Each week I get to be a part of something called a D meeting. This when all the division leaders of each age group get together to brainstorm ideas about the stuff that's good, but could be better. This week we were discussing ways to train small group leaders how to keep kids fully engaged until their parents come and how to transition from kid thinking to thinking more about connecting with the parents as they come in.

This was a great topic that really caught my interest. As a Sunday school teacher at my college church I've learned the hard way that it's not so easy to keep things going and keep the kids interested after the curriculum activities run out. I'm learning some creative ways to keep kids engaged, so that the room doesn't turn into a circus (you think I'm kidding. I'm not...I'm pretty sure it was a circus). Not only is this important for the kids, but it also frees me up to do something equally as important as connecting with the kids...connecting with their parents. Things get pretty hectic, but I value those moments when I can go up to a parent and say 'Hey, your son/daughter did awesome today! I can't wait to see him/her next week!'

I'm also learning some creative ways to get those kids who seem to have a harder time each week connecting. Constant discipline problems can be frustrating, but it's cool to be able to brainstorm with some of the leaders here to think of new ways to connect with those kids and get them fully engaged. My goal is to be able to say to their parents so and so did a great job today...instead of we gave him a time out for breaking the crayons again. I'd much rather give praise than a negative report.

It's cool learning from the leaders' experiences here...can't wait to see what I'll learn next!