Month: January 2014

2 Great KidMin Job Openings

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments
Photo Credit: www.befoundonline.com
Photo Credit: www.befoundonline.com

Are you or someone you know searching for a new kidmin opportunity?  Feel free to consider these 2 great options, both located in the Baltimore, Maryland area.

Nursery/Early Childhood Coordinator, Central Presbyterian Church

My church, Central Presbyterian Church, is looking to hire a part-time (25-28 hours per week) Nursery/Early Childhood Coordinator.  Central Presbyterian is an evangelical Presbyterian Church with an average of 1000 weekly worshipers and 150 children (birth – 5th Grade).  The ideal person will serve on the Children’s Ministry staff under the supervision of the Director of Children’s Ministry (that’s me)!  In addition, the ideal person will provide leadership and care for every aspect of the Nursery and Early Childhood ministry environments (Infants – Kindergarten). Prime requirements for this position are: committed and growing relationship with Jesus Christ; called to Children’s Ministry and our core vision, direction and philosophy; degree in Children’s Ministry or related field, or at least 3 years of equivalent experience; strong leadership skills, including recruiting, training, equipping and shepherding volunteers; committed to overseeing Nursery & Early Childhood environments on Sunday mornings; and satisfactory completion of all background checks.

For more information on this position, click here or contact Kathie Phillips, Director of Children’s Ministry at kathie@centralpc.org.

Kids Ministry Director, City Church Presbyterian 

Another church in our community, City Church Presbyterian, is looking to hire a part-time Kids Ministry Director.  City Church is a worshipping community focused on the neighborhoods of North Baltimore City. The church was planted in 2013 by Chapelgate Presbyterian Church and Mission to North America and is a member of the Presbyterian Church of America.

The position will start at 10 hours per week but could quickly grow to a full-time position as the ministry develops. For more information on this position, click here or contact Patrick Donohue, at patrick@citychurchbaltimore.org.

Please pass along these great opportunities to anyone in your circles!

Own Your Mistakes

Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

Last week, I received an email from Target’s CEO regarding the store’s recent data breach. The email contained an apology for the incident and steps the company was taking to be proactive in remedying the situation.

No one in a leadership position is perfect.  We all make mistakes.  The real test comes when things go wrong.  Will you own the mistake and take steps to correcting the situation or will you sweep it under the rug, pretending that nothing happened or – gasp – passing the blame onto someone else?

In my opinion, smart leaders:

  • listen intently before speaking
  • take ownership for any wrongdoing
  • ask for forgiveness
  • work to find a solution to make things right
  • listen some more

Doing these things will not only make you a stronger leader but you will gain and keep the trust of those you lead.

What would you add to the list? What else can leaders do to remedy situations gone wrong?

Praying for Romeo (or Juliet)

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments
Photo Credit: www.artflakes.com
Photo Credit: www.artflakes.com

My daughter’s 9th Grade class just finished reading Romeo & Juliet.  In a recent class assignment, my daughter and her classmates were given this question: What are the top five qualities you are looking for in a ‘perfect’ mate?  I’m sure getting her students to think ‘mushy’ feelings was a little challenging for my daughter’s English teacher!

They were then given a second question: What are the top five qualities you think your parents would want for your ‘perfect’ mate?  Again, probably challenging for the young minds, especially since we don’t want them dating at a young age let alone thinking about marriage at age 14!

The students were then given homework: Ask your parents the following questions:

  • List the top five qualities that you think your son or daughter would want in a ‘perfect’ mate.
  • List the top five qualities you want in a ‘perfect’ mate for your son or daughter.

When my daughter got in the car after school that day, she was excited that Mom & Dad had homework.  But as she described the assignment, I knew that those questions would make for excellent dinner table conversation.

Fast forward a few hours…

We’re seated at the table (my husband, our 17-yr old son, our daughter and I) and my daughter pulls out her questionnaire.  Mind you, I had a slight advantage over my husband – I had a few hours to ponder the questions while my husband had 2 minutes.  I wish you could have seen his facial expression. 🙂

Question #1: List the top five qualities that you think your son or daughter would want in a ‘perfect’ mate.

Hmm…what would Kennedy want in a perfect mate?  Knowing our daughter’s personality, it was surprisingly easy for both my husband and I to answer this question.  My husband gave his top five and I followed with mine.  We know our daughter pretty well – we both scored 4 out of 5.  Not bad!

Question #2: List the top five qualities you want in a ‘perfect’ mate for your son or daughter.

This question was a little more personal as this would reveal more of our heart.  Again, my husband went first and I followed.  What i found interesting was that my husband’s responses were more ‘selfish’ – meaning that he listed qualities for someone who HE’D like to get along with.  My responses, on the other hand, were more for the man my daughter (and Lord-willing, grandchildren) would love and live with.

I love that this assignment provided us with some good table talk but it also got me thinking – How often do I pray for my children’s future spouses?  Honestly, not often enough.  And that was convicting for me.

As a mom, I pray many things for my children..

…that they would love God first and most

…that they would live God-honoring lives and make wise choices

…that they would have friends with similar values

…for their overall safety in an unsafe, dangerous world

…that they would treat others the way that they want to be treated

…and many other things too numerous for me to mention.

But praying for their future spouse?  Not something that I regularly prayed for – until recently.

If you feel so led, do this exercise with your family and see what conversation emerges as a result.  You’ll get to know your child’s heart a little better and they’ll get a peek inside of yours.  And you might have a few good laughs like we did!

*Disclaimer: My daughter attends a Christian school, so that’s the angle that the assignment was taken from.

What about you?  Do you pray regularly for your child’s future spouse?  What do you pray for?

Dear Student Leader

Kathie Phillips 4 Comments

One of our adult leaders called me last week to let me know what a fabulous job the student leader working with her was doing.  So, I wanted to acknowledge the student leader’s service with a personal note.  Here’s an edited version of what I wrote:

Dear [Student Leader},

I wanted to let you know how wonderful it is to have you serve as a student leader in [Children’s Ministry].  I’ve heard how great you are with the children – how you welcome them, help them get settled, how you make them laugh and how helpful you are to [the adult in charge].

Keep up the good work.  Serving as a student leader is a big responsibility.  When children come to church, it is our opportunity to share God’s love with them.  That opportunity is a gift from God, one that is very important and one that we must take very seriously.  

You are doing a fabulous job of sharing Jesus with the [children] and we are blessed to have you on our team.  You are awesome!

Love,

Miss Kathie

Do you have students serving in your ministry?  How can you encourage them this week?