God has a sense of humor...

We all know it’s true!

Yesterday I blogged about getting involved in the ‘messy’ side of ministry. Working an event at the church tonight. A woman randomely walks in. The event was not advertised publicly so I’m confident she did not know something was happening that night. I believe she saw the lights on and figured it was a safe place to stop. We fed her, gave her hot coffee and spent a few minutes talking with her. No heroic moves by any standard… but nice to stop and chat with someone that I might otherwise overlook.

I wonder where she is right now… God, protect her.

Dirty Ministry

Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by a very clean, pretty ministry. It's easy to keep it clean... play it safe... keep the pose.

Tired of that. Longing to get involved where things aren't so neat and tidy. Where I don't have all the answers... maybe not any of the answers. Deep within me is a longing to take my LifeGroup, get out of our living room, and get involved in the midst of someone's messy life. Help a single mom with repairs to her home or serve an invalid by bringing them groceries.

There is no process for that. No policy and procedures manual. No ordering form to complete by a certain date. Just a bunch of people pitching in to help someone that isn't able to help themselves.

Check out this video. It speaks volumes.

How Full Is Your Bucket?

Here's a great synopsis of leadership traits/skills that pertain directly to Kids Ministry written by Tammy Melchien, the Executive Director of Kids' City (the Children's Ministry of Community Christian Church).

Interesting to see another multi-site perspective.

"The average person suffers from three delusions: (1) that he is a good driver, (2) that he has a good sense of humor, and (3) that he is a good listener." Stephen Sample, The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership

I find that funny... and true.

My best leadership maneuver...

Maneuver - to manipulate or manage with skill(z)

My best leadership maneuver? Ask myself daily... "What am I avoiding?".

It's usually the hard stuff. The tough conversation. The uncomfortable scenario. The stuff I wish I didn't have to go through, but once I'm done I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

A productive day is when I look at my task list, choose the tasks I'd rather avoid and do them first.

2nd Life

There's a reason I am not the Digerati star at LC. Am amazed by this 2nd Life concept. A virtual world where people explore, live in community... whatever else you can imagine. And we have a campus there!?! It's just crazy enough to sound like LifeChurch.tv. I mean... why not?

Want to know more? Read Bobby G's post.

Thoughts from the weekend...

• Petting Zoo at church?!?... Great idea! Maybe not 4 weekends in a row! Feeling very removed from the general happenings within the kids area for the past several weeks. HOWEVER, had so many great opps to engage one-on-one with kids for more than 30 seconds. Probably a more productive 4 weekends than I think.
• I'm still not an animal person.
  
• Effective training... feeling the pressure (again) to push forward with more effective training systems. With additional campuses come more send outs. The amount of time we have with a volunteer could decrease before we send them to another campus. Not as much time to get them 'seasoned'. Not to mention... our kids 'feel' the bump in the road when a veteran volunteer hands the reigns to one less experienced.
• Need to reserve some energy on Saturday nights for ice cream with my kids.
  
• I love my team. I've never seen a more committed group. And I do not mean 'straight-jacket' committed. I mean no-holds-barred, make-it-happen, stay-late-to-get-it-done committed.
• I love our volunteers! They rock my face off. They work circles around me.
  
• They hang onto the 'crying-not-gonna'-stop-til'-I-see-my-mom' kiddos just so mom/dad can receive a life-changing message in Big Church.
• They serve multiple worship experiences just because they have the time and we have the need
• They encourage me the entire time
• My job is stinking cool