(image originally uploaded to Flickr by pixel pro photography south africa)

Here are some thoughts I sent to the 4th and 5th grade leaders that I have the privilege of working with at MPPC:

I’m not sure where the week went… I don’t know about you, but every year I promise to slow down at Christmas (the other time is Easter). Then Christmas rushes on by like a bullet train, leaving me gasping for breath and my head spinning. I feel bad for not reflecting… for not having that “Silent Night” moment. As I’ve been writing the storyteller scripts for the Christmas lessons, I rediscovered something: there was nothing calm or “silent” about the circumstances before, during and after Jesus’ birth. From a scandalous pregnancy, to a 3-day journey on foot, to a baby born amongst the smell of hay and animal dung, to shepherds running through the town, to a busy temple where two people prophesied over him, to strange foreigners visiting from the East, to a flight to a foreign country avoiding a homicidal king…  and not to mention angels popping up here and there! God did not stop time and space when he showed up. He jumped into the fray (and dare I say made it even more chaotic). If he can do it back then, I’m pretty sure he can do it today. So, instead of beating myself up this year for not slowing down, I think I’ll take Jesus’ hand and jump into the craziness with him. And just maybe, along the way, he’ll open my eyes to see how he can use me to bless those around me in little and big ways.

Just as a teaser, here are three of the points I make about helping kids read the Bible:

• Inspire children to hear and read the Bible as a whole
• Help children see the Bible as more than an instruction booklet
• Help children understand that the Bible has something to say about how they live from day to day

You’ll have to read the article if you want those points unpacked You can, then, hop on over to the Kidology forums where you can discuss the article and your thoughts about biblical literacy today. (If you aren’t already a member of Kidology, what are you waiting for?)

Speaking of things digital… I’m finishing up my presentation notes for a workshop that I am doing at Group’s Kidmin Conference in just over a week entitled, “Teaching Digital Learners.” I’m really looking forward to facilitating this workshop and the insights the participants and I will be learning from each other. If you haven’t registered for the Kidmin Conference, you might still be able to squeeze in. Online registration is closed, but you can call (859) 940-5847 to check on availability!

If you have registered, I look forward to meeting you there. In addition to the workshop, I’ll be part of the What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry conversations happening along with Amy Dolan, Matt McKee and Greg Baird. I’d love to chat, have coffee, or even share a meal with you and/or your team. Whether or not you plan on attending the “Teaching Digital Learners” workshop, I encourage you to hop on over to the Kidmin Conference discussion forum and join the conversation going on there about this topic. Your contributions will greatly add to the workshop.

If you haven’t watched the above video, I think it’s a great way to reflect on Holy Week.

Then, if you’re interested in an awesome take on the events of Good Friday, take a listen to John Ortberg’s message about that Friday. I promise you, it’s worth it! As I listened to the message, I was overwhelmed by Jesus’ love for me.

My main concern is that now anyone can post what they want with no peer review and there are many out there who read these blogs and take what is written in them as authoritative. I think there is a HUGE danger to that. Blogging also perpetuates our narcissitic egos that people actually want to read/hear what we have to say. We, in essence close our minds to thoughtful and reflective discussion and simply air our opinions as if our opinions are the only ones that matter.

I find myself starving, once more, for face-to-face networks with people I can spend time with in person. I do value the networking that happens virtually, but there is only so much that can happen through the ether of the information highway.

Especially in children’s ministry, I think we need to step away from our computers and RSS feeds more often and get out there and actually talk with those children’s ministry leaders that may just be down the road. Get out there and read something that is peer-reviewed and learn… actually learn something new.

So, I guess I better get done with my own (somewhat hypocritical) rant and get of this computer for a while as well.

I think that we’ve accepted the cultural definition that in order to present the Gospel to someone you have to walk them through the fundamentals of faith or the Romans road and taken that to be the ONLY biblical way of presenting the Gospel.

What would happen if we stopped seeing the unchurched as people who need to be fixed and simply see them as someone on a journey that needs our love and acceptance. Now, I am not saying that we affirm the sin in their lives. I believe that it is possible to be accepting of people without affirming or condoning their sins. Hey, we all deal with sin in our own lives.

How much more effective would we be to build relationships with people and allow our lives to present the Gospel. I think we preempt the Holy Spirit by rushing to verbally lay out the gospel before people without them opening the door first. We plant seeds by our love. Water them by our love. The Holy Spirit is the one who grows that seed into a desire to know more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow Jesus.

I can’t help but think that reaching out to a community in service through things like an active food bank, teen mothers’ groups, etc. (or even offering to rake your neighbors lawn, shovel someone’s driveway of snow, wash your neighbor’s car) do more to spread the Gospel than going through an Evangelism Explosion class and asking people questions like, “If you were to die, do you know what would happen to you?”

Again, I am not saying that we shouldn’t ask someone to cross the line of faith and make Jesus Lord of their life. What I am saying is that we should stop trying to artificially create those opportunities and allow the Holy Spirit to open up those avenues through our daily interactions with people. After all, it is possible to surrender your life to God at places other than events, altars and Sunday school.

Don’t get me wrong… I am not saying that you have to remove any aspect of God from these events. People aren’t dumb. They know they are coming to a church. They expect to hear something. What if, though, instead of hearing a sermon, people are shown the love of God through genuine relationships, a quality event and competent volunteers? Would that be wrong? Would that be a waste?

For our egg hunt event, we ended up singing two songs at the beginning… sort of a mini concert. The songs were Jesus the Soccer Star and The Bug Song. Both are from Rob Biagi’s V.I.P. to G-O-D CD that is available in the Kidology store. We, then, had a draw for some large plush animals and gave them directions as to how the hunt was going to happen. Before dismissing everyone, I invited anyone who did not have a place to go for Easter to come to one of our services.

It was a positive experience for everyone. The only thing that’d I’d probably change is to mention that there would be a mini program before the hunt. The only reason for having that, though, is because we have to do our hunt indoors due to weather here in Thunder Bay around Easter. It is practically impossible to have an outdoor hunt with 938 ppl when the snow just melted and the ground is squishy.

I’m not sure how many ppl took up our offer to return, but I do know that I made an impact on our community as far as to the professionalism and care we took in offering this family event. The local newspaper came and took pictures only to place a 1/4 page-sized pic on page three. We joked that the picture was bigger than the pope’s on the front page Also, a couple of radio stations had picked up on our ad and advertised for us. On Sunday morning one of my small group leaders mentioned that he heard one of the DJs on Saturday afternoon talk about how much fun his family had at the hunt and how well it was done. BTW, this was a DJ on one of the more popular 70′s, 80′s, 90′s mix stations in our area.

Anyway, I’ve been on an interesting journey in ministry. Five years ago, I would’ve said, “Of course you have a ‘gospel message’ at these events. Why waste an opportunity to tell people about Jesus.” Over the past five years… especially the past six months being at my current church, I’ve been challenged as to what it means to “present the Gospel.” Do we have to open our mouths to do it? I think we do far more to advance the Gospel by our actions. When we give to people with no expectation of anything in return… including having to listen to us talk about God. I think, too many times, we try and help the Holy Spirit to convert people. I know, I know that we still must speak truth and tell people about Christ, but when do we do that?

Ivy Beckwith, in her book Postmodern Children’s Ministry, brings up a valid point that most churches today get caught up in how many ppl get saved from Sunday to Sunday or from event to event. Salvation is seen at “The Goal.” Is it the goal, though? Is it the finish line? What happens after ppl cross the line of faith and make Christ the Lord of their lives? Many times we hand them a Bible, tell them to read it, pray, go to churchk, and oh yeah don’t forget to tithe.

We forget that Christianity should be an adventure. It should be exciting. To steal a term from Erwin McManus, Christianity should be barbaric. (If you haven’t read The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, stop reading this and go get yourself a copy!) Making Jesus the Lord of your life is simply the beginning… not the end. We would all say amen to that, but are we actually living out that philosophy?

I can’t help but think that when we say things like, “We had ____ people get saved at ______ event,” that we trivialize Christianity. Christianity is more than just a destination.

When it comes to large events, I think the emphasis should be on building relationship. Yes, present the truth, but it doesn’t always have to be “in your face.” In a world that is becoming more and more cynical towards the church, we need to reach out in love. We need to give our best. We need to offer programs and events that are professional, well thought out and organized. We need to listen first and earn the right to be heard later. We can’t do that from Sunday to Sunday. (Although, what we do on weekends should be top notch.) The only people who come in our doors are the ones who want to hear what we are saying. We have to “earn trust” by doing those things outside of our walls.