Tag Archives: leadership

What is the Big Picture?

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As a leader in ministry, what is the big picture? Are you thinking beyond your own lifetime?

Intercessory Prayer ❘ The Mat Carrier

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Grandaughter,Grandmother, Great-Grandmother

Intercessory Prayer Through the Generations.
Grandmother, Granddaughter, Great-Grandmother

“Intercessory prayer is less about changing God’s mind and more about participating in His mercy” shereadstruth.com

“It seems the secret to real success is not found in a public place of power but in a secret place of prayer.” Jesse D. Lane

Have you ever been asked to join a prayer team? I was asked. I signed up! This is what I learned from years of intercessory prayer.

Please, don’t take that request lightly. Don’t think that praying for other people is easy and your participation on the prayer team will be the “piece of cake” action that makes you feel better about yourself and your “service in the church.” Intercessory prayer is not easy. If you think praying for others is easy and random, then you aren’t really experiencing the work of intercessory prayer.

Making a commitment to pray for others is arming yourself to work hard for people whom you may never personally meet.  Intercessory prayer requires a discipline of time, discipline to show mercy, discipline of thought…put yourself into their story…to envision yourself as their “mat carrier.”

A mat carrier is one that helped to carry a friend to Jesus. Do you remember the story in the Bible about a man who couldn’t walk and was confined to life on a mat? I’m sure he was a real likable guy because he had four friends that would do just about anything for him. I imagine they may have carried him to the temple to worship or perhaps the market to buy food. Perhaps they took care of his physical needs at home. The four friends worked together to lift up the four corners of his mat and carry him  from place to place. I imagine them struggling to fight fatigue and being surprised that interceding for a friend would beckon them to work hard…to get messy in the process.

The four mat carriers interceded for their friend…they would do anything to help him receive peace, grace, healing…they carried him to Jesus. They believed Jesus was the answer to satisfy the needs of their friend. They hoped Jesus would heal him. They knew Jesus would take care of everything their friend needed. The friends brought the needs of this man to Jesus (literally) and left him there…in front of Jesus. And Jesus saw their faith.

Do you know how this amazing chapter in the life story for this paralyzed man ends? Jesus, is compassionate and kind and changes the man’s heart with speaking the only words of truth that will grant real forgiveness. And then Jesus tells the paralyzed man to get up and go…walk out of the house and show people that he was completely healed inside and out…and “don’t forget to carry your mat, too!” (I embellished this story in my own words. Please read the full bible text here.)

I find this act of service and love by the four friends amazing. Wherever Jesus was, a crowd was sure to gather. The homes were probably small and it was shoulder to shoulder “standing room only” inside.  I imagine the over-flow lot was full of people too. Pressing in close and tight to one another just to hear Jesus, to see Jesus, to try to touch him. It was hard enough for one person with healthy legs to manage the crowd…much more harder for four people carrying their friend on his mat.

I appreciate the friends were also creative problem solvers. Their friend needed to meet Jesus right then and now! So they devised a plan to hoist and carry their friend up to the roof of the house. Then they started digging their way through the roof of the house, creating an opening large enough to lower their friend safely down to where Jesus was. The “mat carriers” were willing to get dirty and messy and take a risk. There were persistent to help their friend.

In conclusion, this is what I learned about intercessory prayer:

  1. Don’t take prayer lightly
  2. Intercessory prayer is hard and it requires discipline
  3. Ask God to help you to show mercy and love through prayer
  4. Put yourself in their story
  5. Imagine their sorrow or anxiety or loss
  6. Talk to God about their needs.
  7. God is never annoyed by “debris”
  8. Trust God to do what God will do
  9. Celebrate the answers of prayer
  10. Be a mat carrier. Period.

The Saturday Assortment

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The Saturday Assortment

The Saturday Assortment is a collection of unrelated and random things that I find interesting, challenging, motivating and sometimes quite out of the ordinary. It’s an assortment of things that caught my attention this week on the web. I bet you will find them equally engaging. There are no affiliate links–if you click-through and buy a book that is referenced, I don’t earn a dime. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: the video or advertisements below this post are not from me but are built into the WordPress site. These ads are shown on mobile devices.

Doing Something Everyday Is Hard: What does everyday mean to you? It doesn’t mean, “If you have time” or “When you get around to it.” Everyday means every single day with fail or excuse. via Time Management Ninja

What’s the secret to longevity in leadership?   A challenge not to “flame out” as a leader. Here’s the truth: Only a few people in each generation become long-term leaders in their field of expertise. What is your story? Here are four ways to peak as a leader.

“My encouragement to you would simply be this. Be patient. The Lord has given you a gift for the building up of the body of Christ. He did not give it to you so that you would sit on it your entire life. Just be patient. When He’s ready, He’ll open the door.” ~The Village Church ❘  Titus, Part One

How to Guard Sabbath for Your Children: Because time is our most limited resource, how we allocate it reveals much about our hearts. A “Family Equipping” article at its best!

The Saturday Assortment

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The Saturday Assortment

The Saturday Assortment is a collection of unrelated and random things that I find interesting, challenging, motivating and sometimes quite out of the ordinary. It’s an assortment of things that caught my attention throughout the week. I bet you will find them equally engaging.  Enjoy!

The Power of Focus Most People Miss: “About a decade ago, a colleague said something to me that I haven’t been able to get our of my head. ‘What you focus on expands.‘”

Enough Time is a short story taken from the book, More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity by Jeff Shinabarger, founder of Plywood People. In More or Less, Jeff Shinabarger calls readers to create their own social experiments to answer the question, “What is enough?” Through more than 50 stories, readers will be challenged to change their worldview, change their habits and live a life of less, so others can have more.

Two books for families to read: 

Princes Poison Cup

The Prince’s Poison Cup Dr. R. C. Sproul continues his series of books designed to present deep biblical truths to children on their own level. In this work, he focuses in on the atonement to show that Jesus had to endure the curse of sin in order to redeem His people.

The Priest With Dirty Clothes

In this new edition of his classic story, The Priest with Dirty Clothes, Dr. R.C. Sproul continues his project of illustrating theological concepts for children. In this book, he teaches the concept of imputation, which lies at the heart of the important biblical doctrine of justification.

 

God Happenings

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God Happenings

Talking about God with your children and noticing his handiwork in the smallest details, such as a blade of grass or the melody of a bird’s song should be as natural as walking together or kissing them on the cheek as they head off to school. Be encouraged and motivated to share with your children how God helped you get through the grind of your work day. Share the “wins” of your day and honor all of that to the glory of God.  Thank God for those wins. Every good thing and even the troubling ones can be used to show your children more of God’s grace. Let your children hear from you about the many ways you experienced the “God Happenings” in the small and big details of your day and they will soon begin to notice their own “God Happenings” where ever they are.

“Don’t walk around with your head down, trying to ‘just get through’ your day so that you can get up tomorrow and do it all over again”. *  God wants everyday to be a delight as you live in His presence and discover His blessings. Model to your children the true kind of delight and joy that only comes from knowing Jesus and the way to know Jesus is to know what God says about Jesus and to know what God says about Jesus is to read His Book…the Bible.

I appreciate this simple acrostic as a guide for my personal bible reading and it’s proven helpful for my family too. We use the word:  P-R-A-I-S-E

Here is a simple summary Adapted from The Journey by Randy Pope, Perimeter Church.

PRAY: Begin with talking to God. No need for eloquent words. Just tell God what is on your mind and ask him to help you see  “God Happenings” through the reading of his Word.

READ: Chose a passage of scripture. Perhaps a chapter from Psalms, Proverbs, or begin reading the book of John. You may want to read from a devotional book  with your children.

ASK QUESTIONS: What does this mean? What should I do? How do I see  “God Happenings” in the verses read? What did God do? How should I respond?

INTERPRET: If you don’t know the answers to your questions, then use an online resource to find the answer or ask someone more knowledgeable about the Bible to help you. Write down the question to remember to investigate later and share the conclusions with your family.

SUMMARIZE: Wrap up the bible reading with a brief summary of what was read. This is the best time to recount the “God Happenings” discovered and responses to the some of the questions asked. You may want to make a few notes to remember the comments family members say.

ENGAGE with GOD: You begin with prayer and you end with prayer. Talk to God and thank him for showing you more of himself. It is a beautiful thing when families pray together. It’s a beautiful thing to experience the “God Happenings” with each other.

I hope this acrostic is helpful for you. Be watchful and expectantly looking for those “God Happenings”!  I would love to know what you find!

**  Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions For Kids by Sarah Young; page 236; Enjoy Life! 

A portable church environment — #4

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This is post #4 under category, “Portable Church–Church in a Box.” 

Portable Children's MInistrypreschool environment

Portable Children's Ministry preschool environment

Here are two photos of preschool environments in a high school classroom.  Simply furnished with a few folding pick-nick tables, carpets and mats. (We are grateful for the donated carpet!)

To set the rooms back up exactly the way the teacher left it, we make a note of the placement of desks and other furnishings on the classroom white board.  Often times, students have left posters on desks, school books, etc. Everything is noted and placed back in its original place.  Smart phones are used to take a photograph of the class, especially helpful for a very detailed arranged classroom. It’s important that we respect all of the supplies and classroom resources. This earns our trust with the teachers.

We have an incredible team of men and women that help set up children’s ministry every week. There are four set up teams that serve  for one month three times a year. We established a system that enabled the set up process to be completed in record time. We especially wanted to make it very easy for the newbies on the set up teams to quickly adjust to the set up process. Our goal is to have everything ready a minimum of 15 minutes before families and first time guests arrived.

Here are a few of the things that work for us:

  • Set up team arrives at the location about 20 minutes before the trailer arrives with the supplies. They map out the rooms, photograph as necessary and begin moving desks. They are careful to create a barrier of desks in front of the smart boards to discourage little people from exploring that area.  By the time the rooms are prepped, the trailer has arrived. 
  • We established this policy: “The classroom you set up is the classroom you put back in order.”  This helps to maximize efficiency and organization at the end of the morning. 
  • We colored coded the classrooms for each age group. For example:  Yellow-Nursery, Purple-Toddlers, Red-Preschool 3’s, etc.  Beside each classroom, we secure a color coordinated banner over the lockers. (Created small pockets on the reverse side of the banner for magnets)
  • Remember the last thing packed on the trailer is the first thing to come off.  We need the industrial size sweeper brooms and the colored banners off first. Often times the floors need sweeping before the carpets and mats arrive and if there is a question about  where a piece of equipment is to go, we simply direct them to “Yellow!” or “Green!”, etc.
  • Folding tables, pick-nick tables, carpets, bins, etc are all labeled with the color of the room.  We use colored electrical tape to put on top of the plastic bins or small supply boxes. (If a bin or box moves locations, we change the color of the tape.)
  • A supply list for each room and a photograph of how the room needs to be set up is placed beside each classroom door. This helps each team member work independently with setting up the room.  They  look at the photograph and place things accordingly. The supply list includes the number of carpets, chairs, tables, etc needed in that room. 
  • It is wonderful to have children accompany their parents and help with setting up. Those colored banners, colored labeled boxes and photographs of the classrooms make it easy for the elementary age kids to work independently too. 
  • All of the bins and smaller supply boxes are stored inside large carts. Each cart is labeled with a designated location (Preschool, Elementary, Administration.) Members of the set up team are assigned an area to set up for the duration of the month (rotation is to serve one month, three times a year). This also helps us to be more efficient with setting up and packing up the environments. 
  • Carpets are placed in the rooms first and vacuumed.  
  • Vacuum cleaners, cleaning products, first aid kits, colored banners and signage are loaded last on the trailer and the first to come off.

Gifts from Sunday–Thank You Redeemer Kids

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These many gifts were given to me, on a harried and busy Sunday morning.

I always wake up Sunday morning before the sun brightens the sky. Waking up to a fresh brewed pot of coffee that Don set to brew the night before.

This is a gift. 

I enjoy a cup of coffee on the deck while I listen to the bird’s wake up calls and I talk to God about my expectations regarding the next few hours. I tell Him that I am addicted to stress and anxiety and perfectionism and fear that something will go wrong and that I am expecting to be totally exhausted by 1:00 PM. I slurp down the last drops of coffee while the sun begins to brighten the morning sky and gently flushes my face with its radiance and I am reminded by the continuity of the sun, by Creator God, that all things are YES in Christ! I am free from these addictions because of Jesus death on the cross.   

This is a gift. 

My husband makes breakfast for me. He helps me load the car with all of the other stuff needed for children’s ministry. He opens the car door for me. He hands me a mug of coffee for the ride to church.

This is a gift. 

We arrive at 7:50 A.M. Servant leaders, men in our church, sweating in the early morning hours of heat and humidity have begun unloading a trailer filled with supplies for children’s ministry.  The trailer is empty. They are preparing for children to arrive. We are working together…to do this task week after week so that children will hear awesome truth from God’s book, to learn about Jesus, to play, laugh, explore, sing, dance and worship the Lord.

This is a gift. 

The men are unloading the large wooden carts packed with lots of bins filled with toys, blocks, bibles, and resources and portable pack-n-play cribs, carpets for every room…everything needed for Sunday morning ministry to children. While we are setting up the children’s rooms, there are men and women patiently setting up the school auditorium for worship.

This is a gift.

Families begin arriving. Children are laughing. Volunteers man their stations with smiles and eyes sparkling. They arrive on time! Everyone is eager to help. Several fathers step out of their comfort zone to dress up like wild and wacky pirates…to tell kids about an awesome treasure that God has for them. Parents have gathered around to watch and listen, children are laughing and engaged, volunteers are loving this time with children. And I am observing all of this. I am laughing.

This is a gift.

I linger by the classrooms and listen to the language of the gospel being shared in a variety of ways. Children and Shepherd Leaders in small groups, huddled close, exploring details of this treasure God has for us. I peek to watch babies being snuggled and cared for, toddlers playing and 5th graders reading verses from God’s book. I am amazed to experience God work. I am humbled by the reality that I am included in all of this.

This is a gift.

The halls are filled with parents coming to pick up their children. It is now time to go home. Hungry children and ravenous teens are ready to bolt for the dinner table. The fellowship lingers, however, as families greet each other outside the classrooms while volunteers are sharing about the fun things they did that morning with children. While this is going on, the Servant Leaders are pulling out the large wooden carts and helping to pack up bins and fold up the camp chairs and carpets and pack-n-play cribs and empty trash cans…we are packing up for next Sunday. Two women, two servant leaders , pack these large carts. Every week they pack the carts.

This is a gift. 

The time on my watch reads, 1:00 P.M. And my task is done. I am ready to go home to the dinner table. But the Servant Leaders have not finished packing the trailer with those large wooden bins and all of the rest of the stuff that is piled outside waiting to be loaded in that trailer. They will continue to serve this church for another hour.

This is a gift. 

Don and I drive home. We talk about the morning and things we learned. I realize that I’m not exhausted. I feel refreshed and content. I begin to silently pray to Creator God…thanking Him for these gifts.

This is a gift. To see a little bug doing what Creator God created it to do.

Morning Calm Arrives

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Life and Light
Just a few moments to pray and prepare my heart for the busy morning that awaits. Praying that the Lord will speak into the hearts and young minds of children. I want to remind the children that they cannot make themselves love the words in God’s book. They can read and think about the Word of God and the way of wisdom but unless God gives them understanding, they will not see the goodness in the commands of God. They can fill their minds with God’s Word and His commands, but they cannot make their hearts love what is good and right.

Morning calm arrives with delight in God’s Word.

Lord, help me communicate that calmness. 

Psalm 19:7-11 
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure and bright, enlightening the eyes.
The [reverent] fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even than much fine gold; they are sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned (reminded, illuminated, and instructed); and in keeping them there is great reward.