Mad Church Disease

I am reading the book Mad Church Disease with my team. If you work for a church, volunteer for a church, or go to a church I would highly recommend it.

Last semester, LifeKIDS Stillwater was growing by leaps and bounds. We were having fun in and out of the office and it seemed that nothing could stop us. We let our guard down.

BAD IDEA

Satan was just waiting for a chance to jump into and jumble things up. All of a sudden we were all struggling with things personally and professionally. And it didn't just end with the staff. Our office volunteers were being attacked too. We had gotten so caught up in how fun everything was and how great everything was going that we forgot to cover our backs in prayer and stay broken and yearning for our Father.

If you are working to further the Kingdom of God, Satan is waiting to take you out. It's not a matter of if, but when. In my case, he clouded my mind with tasks and business so that my ministry kicked the Jesus out of my life. I no longer was seeking God FIRST to be my leader and show me what HE wanted. I was trying to do it all on my own. Let's face it, without the Holy Spirit, I'm just not that good.

You can't go too long without Jesus in the Captain's chair without noticing something is really wrong. I started to get worn down and just plain exhausted. Thank goodness, God doesn't let me go too long before He slaps me in face and asks me, "What are you doing?"

So now the question is, "What do I do now?" I feel like have to start over from square one and put Jesus as the foundation of my life and my ministry and start building for there. It may take a bit to get back to land of milk and honey. But I honestly never want to settle there. I never want to be at a place where I feel everything is good and I don't have a need to pursue my #1 anymore. I always want to feel a little uneasy. I never want to feel like I have it all figured out. I want to remain as broken as I feel right now so that I will always remember that with my Savior I am nothing. And only through His work in me that I may have the wonderful opportunity and privilege to impact His Kingdom.

Thanks Gina!

Last week, all the LifeChurch.tv LifeKIDS Directors from all of our campuses got together for a retreat. It was a great time to just shoot the breeze and talk about kids ministry, ask questions, and just compare ideas. And then Gina McClain the LifeKIDS Pastor at the OKC campus shared something with us that just rocked my world.

60-80% of kids who grow up in church will CHOOSE NOT to have a relationship with Jesus once they move out of their parent's house.

60-80%

60-80% of the kids that I minister to each week will choose that a relationship with Jesus Christ is not important to their life.

That sentence felt like a punch in the stomach. Then the doubt started to roll in. What am I doing? Why do I work so hard, loose so much sleep, and care so much if later on, all the LifeKIDS that I love so much will CHOOSE that they don't need a relationship with their Savior.

Then the fighter in me comes out. I will not let another day go by with out doing something to change this statistic. Gina then shared 5 things that parents can do at home to help change the statistic too.

I am one person have the opportunity to invest in these kids at a best of 3 hours a week. Their parents have a considerable greater amount of time. This year I am making it a priority to help parents take back the ownership of disciplining their kids. I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't know what I am going to do or what I am going to say. But I am asking God to change the mindset of parents today...and whatever He would like for me to do. The answer is YES!

Check out Gina's talk here: http://vimeo.com/3168978

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I know the popular consensus is that Valentines Day is a Hallmark holiday that card makers salivate at each year, because to them it means a fatty paycheck. But corny or not...I really like it. I know you don't need a day set aside each year to tell the people in your life that you love them...but why not? What does it hurt?

There's a dark side to V-day for the single crowd though. It's a dreaded day where the singles roll their eyes and huff and puff at all the people in love and who have "plans". But I thought that this is the day when we got to tell the people in our lives that we love them?? When is the make or break point of this chocolately holiday come to be determined by if we have someone to tell us they love us back, by us flowers and chocolate, or give us a sappy love poem. When has Valentines become all about me and what I get...instead of how I can make someone else’s day??

I didn't go out to dinner, get flowers or a love poem, or take up that Valentines date offer with a guy that has no future with me this year for the "sake of not being the lame single girl." Instead I spent it working on 7s multiplication tables, playing webkins, and watching a movie with my 9 year old little sister, who I love with my whole heart. I got to show someone what they meant to me. That's what it’s about anyways. And let the record show that I did receive chocolates...what more could I have asked for?

Mmmm! Pancakes!

So I am into the book of Mark lately and in chapter one (right off the bat) we have a little conviction. Mark tells the story of Jesus and the leper. We all know that Jesus heals the leper but what we don't talk about most of the time is that Jesus touched the leper FIRST. He could have healed him, then touched and huged him, but he touched him first. Before Jesus physically changed his life forever, he touched is heart and changed his spirit forever. Jesus recognized his deepest need.

So, if we are called to be like Jesus and show His compassion to the world and the people who do not know him. What do we do? We appeal to the deepest needs of people. We see them for who the beautiful people that God made them to be and meet them where they are. So what are some practical ways that we can show people around us compassion?? Let's brainstorm :-) feed them, hug them, fix something around their house, give them a ride, pay their rent, help them find a job, pray for them, make them something, write them a letter, visit them at the hospital, serve them, watch their kids...

Compassion doesn't just require us to feel, it requires us to react. Sympathy says, "I feel bad that you're hungry." Empathy says, "I know how you feel, I was hungry once myself." Compassions says, "What do you want for dinner? I'm cooking."

What do you think?

I didn't know I couldn't......

In ballet class at OCU, Jo the Toe would always say don't tell them what you can't do, let them tell you that. How do you know you can't do something if you have never tried before?

Too often we let our fear define what we can or can't do without even actually trying. All to often fear spells failure. How many times have you not done something because you were scared? Scared of what other people thought. Scared of not being good at it. Scared of looking stupid. Just plain scared of the unknown.

God gives us so many dreams and many of them just lay dormant because we are too scared to try and make them happen. You never know what you are capable of until you start dreaming and DOING it. Take a chance and see what happens. Nothing is worse than doing nothing.