the sandbox

I love the movie Aladdin. It's been a long time since I have watched it, but the message is timeless. The beginning of the movie starts with a monologging peddler who first shows us the lamp...

I can see that you're only interested in the exceptionally rare. I think then, you would be most rewarded to consider...this. (PEDDLER pulls the MAGIC LAMP out from his sleeve.) Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts.

The world is full of people who spend more time working on their outside appearance and forget to focus on what's inside. Better yet, who is inside.
This isn't new, I Samuel 16:7 in the Old Testament says;

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Preschoolers are really good at this. The haven't yet received their worldly training on what is "in" and what isn't. They are quick to accept anyone into their sandbox to play, they just tell them what they are playing and what the rules are. Sounds a lot like orientation to children's ministry to me!

Welcome to Children's Ministry!! You are Jesus with skin. Here is our philosophy and strategy.

Even in the sandbox, preschoolers are willing to tell their friends they can't play if they are going to throw sand or not follow the rules, they can go play on the swings instead. I think that's a great reminder that not everyone is wired to play in the "children's ministry sandbox" if you will, and that's okay, we just need to direct them to another area of service in the church. It's all good, really, it is!!

truth, respect, loyalty and excellence

Wow!! After I read this post from Perry Noble, I felt goosebumps rise on my arms. I love what Mr. Noble says about awesome team members, and for the record, I agree with every one!!

Four Qualities Of An Awesome Team Member

#1 - An Awesome Team Member ALWAYS Tells The Truth.

I have a rule with the leadership team that I serve with. (Who are they–another post, another time…but for now they are Jason, Jason, Tony, Paul, Shane, Trish and LB.) Here’s the rule…

When we sit in our staff meetings I want nothing but the raw, honest, painful truth about ANYTHING that we happen to be discussing/working through.

I am not one of those guys who allows only certain things to be said to me on certain days…I want honesty from those closest to me.

Let me say this…as a leader YOU must make sure to do all that you can to create this type of environment. You MUST invite conflict. For example, I’ve seen people give looks of disapproval when people make a comment but not speak up…and so I will say, “Hey Jason, it seems you didn’t agree with what Tony just said–what are you thinking?”

YES…it does create tension…but this is how the best decisions are made.

The same is true in our creative team…if I share an idea and it is not good–I want to know! AND…if I perceive that someone isn’t being truthful with me…I want them off of the team! Life is too short to surround myself with people who blow smoke up my rear end…I want the truth!

(By the way…this was not my idea…it comes from every successful leader I’ve ever seen.)

#2 - An Awesome Team Member ALWAYS Respects Everyone Else On The Team.

I am HUGE when it comes to respect. I am convinced that THE only reason that I am where I am in life is because of the favor and blessing of God, NEITHER of which I deserve…and so when it comes to our environment I do not want it to be a “respect Perry only” place…but EVERYONE respects EVERYONE.

Let me be VERY clear here…I respect EVERYONE on the team I serve with…and if I didn’t respect them then they would not be in the room leading with me. I LOVE these people…and when they speak…I LISTEN. God has used them to fire me up, inspire me, teach me AND humble me…and ANYONE of them can come to me at any time and share with me what is on their hearts because I respect them.

BUT…they also share that same respect with one another–which is ESSENTIAL for a successful team. If there is disrespect among the team members then you team will always drift towards dysfunction.

#3 - An Awesome Staff Member Is Always Loyal.

One of the things our team knows and understands is this–we all have each other’s backs!

Now let me be VERY clear…we would NEVER conceal any type of sin and disguise it as “being loyal.” That, to me, is overriding a Biblical mandate with a desire for comfort.

BUT…when someone else comes up to one of us and tries to talk smack about someone else on the team–we don’t put up with that–EVER.

Trust is ESSENTIAL for a team to achieve its maximum potential. You can’t sit around a table with people who you believe are going to go out of the room and bash you to their friends and co-workers. If I didn’t perceive that someone on the team was loyal to the entire team…they would be gone.

Behind closed doors anyone is free to say anything to anyone…but when we walk out of that room we do so with one vision…and we won’t allow people to take our eyes off of it.

#4 -An Awesome Team Member Never Seeks To Do The Minimum.

If you have someone on the team who is constantly trying to get out of work (OR who wants a divine marching band to play for him/her every time they seemingly go above and beyond)–WATCH OUT!

One of the incredible things about the team I serve with is that I KNOW that NO ONE that sits around the table has EVERY thought, “How can I do as little as possible and still seem to be getting my job done?’

I serve with people who have a pit bull type of intensity. When we come up with a project and assign it to whoever…they don’t halfway do it and then throw out excuses…they MAKE things happen…and are committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure that God’s work is done with EXCELLENCE.

Jesus Christ did not change the world with half-hearted, lazy, self seeking people whose biggest desire was to be solitaire on their computer! He turned the world upside down with men and women who were willing to go wherever and do whatever He asked of them…and He’s still seeking the same type of people today.

Hope that helps…

new facility and some fish

We will be moving into a new facility in 6 months.

Some of you might think that because of the move, I wouldn't worry about what the current facility looks like, nope, not the case. Over the past two weeks, I have brainstormed with an incredibly creative friend, painted rooms with amazing volunteers, drove 4 hours to Ikea in Houston where we rented a trailer just to bring all the goodies home, and started setting up a couple of the environments. We aren't done yet, but we will be before Easter.

What a buzz this is causing! Some are excited, some wonder why.....................me, I just get goosebumps as I see the jaws of 5th graders drop to the floor with their eyes as big as quarters. I actually overheard one 5th grade student say, "I'm never going to miss a class now."

It never ceases to amaze me what happens when you remember, as Craig Jutila says; "It's the little things that make a little difference that make a big difference." Keeping the details on your radar is a must. One of my favorite finds is a fish tank frame, it's a real fish tank with a totally cool frame!! How fun is that?!??? I can't wait for it to arrive, the only question I have is what kind of fish should I buy? Got any ideas?

today's top ten

How can we draw people to the church? I'm not sure there is a one word answer, but www.churchredone.com came up with a list that does cause me to think about any barriers that might be in place that cause others to have a difficult time finding our church. Here are the 10 ways they found to keep people from discovering your church;

1. Don’t have a website : This is the information age, even 107 year old women have blogs, but not your church. No church website, no blog, no flickr account, and don’t podcast your sermons. Knowledge is power and providing me easy access to information about your church might empower me to learn more or even visit. So even if you must have a website, make sure it is poorly designed, lacking in information, hard to navigate, out of date and doesn’t have an rss feed to make things even remotely easy for me.

2. Be completely inactive in the community : If you’re not doing anything in the community then no one will talk about your church. That makes it a lot harder for me to accidentally find out anything useful. So don’t serve the community or partner with other churches or non-profits. In fact it’s really just best if you stay completely inward-focused and don’t do anything missional in your city.

3. Don’t answer your phone : Regardless of what time I call (weekday, weekend, morning, afternoon, evening) don’t answer the phone and don’t have an answering machine or voice mail for me to leave a message or prayer request. If you do have voice mail, don’t include your website address, service times or directions to your church on your message, and don’t ever answer the phone on Sunday mornings. That way when I’m lost en route to service, I’ll have no choice but to drive around aimlessly until I give up and go home.

4. Allow misinformation : Sometimes you just can’t prevent denominations or directories from listing information about your church. When contact information changes, don’t tell them about the update. You can save time by providing them incorrect information initially and for added confusion make sure each directory lists different information about your church, all of it wrong.

5. Lack clear signage : Even if I’m determined to visit your church, you have several on site options to discourage me. The first is to play hide and seek. Is your church in a nondescript building or on a street with several other churches? Have absolutely no signage; none, whatsoever. Except maybe on the mailbox, where you abbreviate things beyond comprehension. If you run a Christian school, put up a 10′ x 14′ sign just for it, so I’ll be led to believe the building is only a school.

6. Have insufficient parking/seating : Other discouraging on-site options are lack of adequate parking and seating. Does your church seat 200? Only have 30 parking spaces. Been running at capacity for weeks or months? Don’t start another service, so that there will be standing room only. Have visitors’ parking? Put it in the corner of the lot away from the entrance. Have adequate parking? Don’t stripe the lot or have parking attendants; chaos is best. Have adequate seating? Make it as uncomfortable as possible.

7. Ignore Visitors : Despite your best efforts I have found and attended your church. In fact, I even filled out a visitor’s card requesting more information. Don’t acknowledge my visit in any way. Don’t call me, don’t send me a thank you card, don’t answer any of my questions or give me any information about how to become involved or learn more about Jesus. Also don’t have any literature available to provide visitors and don’t train your volunteers to be courteous or helpful in anyway.

8. Respond half-heartedly to inquiries : If responding to information requests at all, do so extremely slowly and only partially. Wait 1 week or more to return emails or phone calls and if I ask several questions, don’t answer them all. Instead just tell me I should come to a service to find out more. That saves you a couple minutes of response time and makes you look very busy and important. Whatever you do, do not start a dialogue with me.

9. Be evasive about your beliefs : When I ask a direct question about the church’s beliefs, ignore the question or act like you don’t understand and then start telling me about your denomination or church programs. For “What We Believe”, only include the Nicene Creed on your website or literature. If I’m adamant about wanting positional clarity, instead tell me about the love of Jesus and how Christianity isn’t about division. For those times you do answer my questions, act offended that I would even ask, then try and make me feel stupid or sinful for questioning you.

10. Lie to me : When all else fails, simply lie to me about your church. You might just get a few weeks of attendance out of me before I learn the truth. Are you denominationally affiliated? Don’t mention it ever and talk about how independent you are when I find out. Being on mission is important to me, so make it sound like all 500 of your members are actively involved in serving the city, even though you don’t give a single cent to local missions and never talk about it from the pulpit, because you actually hate the city and it’s sinful people. Lastly, spend a lot of time telling me how you are distinctive from other churches, even though you’re not.

Interesting to think about. It challenges me to really think about how others could view the church.

music to my ears

My oldest daughter just shared with me that during school yesterday she started singing one of the songs we played during large group when she was in third grade. She said; "Man mom, I couldn't get that song out of my head all day! So I just started singing it at lunch to all my friends."

How cool that my 15 year old remembered the songs she learned 6 years ago in children's ministry, let alone that she is singing them to her high school friends. What can we learn from this one example? Music is a powerful tool to use to minister to children. Enough said.

Reggie Joiner and his team at ReThink put out absolutely incredible music for kids! One of my favorites is called "The Big Story Soundtrack." ReThink describes it this way;

This is NOT just a collection of amazing music that you can listen to in your car, home or office.

This IS a way for parents and kids to connect, talk and think about what twelve exciting Bible Stories have to do with their lives.

Makes you want to listen to some sweet jams, I know right?!?!

friday funday

I love to laugh, seriously, it's true! I actually had a friend (i think, jk) tell me that whenever he needed to find me at church he would just listen for my laugh. Some say it's a "cackle," (thank you Nana) I say "whatever." Even my husbands former boss told me that people who laugh a lot live longer, then he said, "that means you (me) will never die." Was that a compliment? I think so.

Today, I totally laughed out loud over two amazingly silly things;

First, did you know that in south Texas "Groundhog's Day" is no big deal? Hey, I am from Michigan and it was a really big deal there. We all knew that if punxsutawney phil saw his shadow it was 6 more weeks of winter. Here, who cares? Winter is 60 degrees and sunny. Yep, it made me laugh out loud with no one around to share my joy with. On to number two.....

Second, I saw this picture on Joshua Griffin's blog. I tried it, it made me laugh again. I think I am going to frame it and give it to some of the staff I work with, we all need to laugh.