Author: Kathie Phillips

Flashback Friday: My Favorite Online Reads (Week of January 12, 2015)

Kathie Phillips

This Week’s Favorite Online Reads

Here’s a sampling of some of the online reads I enjoyed this week:

{MINISTRY/LEADERSHIP}

10 Questions Children’s Ministry Leaders Should Be Asking by Dale Hudson

4 Sources That Will Spur Your Creativity In Children’s Ministry by Courtney Wilson

It All Comes Down to What You Do Daily by John Maxwell

{ORGANIZATION}

12 Time Management Tips Every Children’s Ministry Leaders Needs to Know by Dale Hudson

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I hope you enjoy reading these articles as much as I did.

Did you read something this week that inspired or encouraged you? Share it with me so I might check it out, too!

{Throwback Thursday}: 120-Day Prayer Challenge

Kathie Phillips

Updated 1/15/15: Originally published in August 2012, this post was written during a time when our church was doing a 120-day prayer campaign.  While the campaign has passed, committing to making prayer more of a focus is always relevant.  Many of my friends have chosen a specific word for the year; why not pray that word back to God daily?  Blessings, friends!

Prayer

Our church recently launched a 120-day prayer initiative, designed to help us commit to a more focused, fervent prayer life.  While we have launched other initiatives this past year, this is one that has really pulled at my heartstrings.  Allow me to tell you why.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase, “What’s in the well comes up in the bucket.”  As church leaders, we pour our lives into our the busyness of our ministries and the many, many details that come along with the job.  Sometimes, in our efforts to serve the Lord, we can lose sight of our own walk with the Lord.  We can push our own time with the Lord to the side to check our messages, search for that perfect craft, shop for supplies, attend countless meetings, etc.  But that is extremely dangerous.  Over time, without intentional care and nurturing, our spiritual wells end up empty.

Have you ever felt empty while serving?  I sure have.  Thankfully, I am now able to recognize when I need to take steps to get things back on track.  This 120-day prayer couldn’t have come at a better time for me.

Our church provided ideas and resources for this campaign but God gave me a personal assignment.  For the next 120 days, I will pray one word back to God each day.  I will find a scripture that corresponds with that word and pray that back to God, too.  Then I will identify ways that I need to trust God in that area.  I am keeping these notes on index cards secured by a ring binder clip so that it is portable and easily accessible.

Let me share a synopsis of Day 1.  Day 1’s word was “PEACE”.  I meditated on Philippians 4:6-7, NLT:  “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”  I jotted down specific ways that I needed God’s peace in my life.

I am excited about what lies ahead in the next 120 days and how God will transform my life as a result.  I’ll keep you posted!

What about you?  Tell me how you keep your well from drying out!

Six Ways to Reconnect in the New Year

Kathie Phillips

Children (and leaders!) at your church are settling back into a routine now that the new year is underway.  As a kidmin leader or volunteer, you know the importance of bridging the gap and helping kids reconnect with you and each other.  That’s why my friends at Orange invited me to share helpful tips to do just that.  Please check out my guest post on their Lead Small website here.

Keep the conversation going by leaving me a comment below!  How do you help kids in your ministry reconnect after the holidays?  

{From the Archives} Dream Big!

Kathie Phillips
Updated 1/8/15: Earlier this week, I talked about goals and waiting for God to reveal His plan for you if your list of goals for 2015 was empty.  [You can read that post here.]
With that being said, I thought I’d share an archived post from a few years ago that talked about dreaming big.  The original post follows.  I wanted to share some quotes about goal-setting that I think tie in nicely to this post.  They are from blogger Michael Hyatt.
“For a goal to matter, it has to stretch us. That means that it has to stand somewhere outside our comfort zone. If you know exactly how to attain the goal, it’s probably not far enough.” 
“For a goal to be meaningful its attainment should lie somewhere outside our comfort zone—in the discomfort zone. You’ll know you’re there when you start feeling emotions we normally consider negative, things like fear and doubt.  Trying to work it all out in advance through detailed planning is just a fancy way of procrastination. ” 
“As we try to set goals that are challenging but still realistic, it’s important to remember what goals are for in the first place. They are about getting things done, yes. But it’s more than that. A goal is not just about what you accomplish.
It’s about what you become.” 
Archived post starts here
Years ago, I was told that I dream too big.  After the initial shock, I began to wonder:  Is there such a thing?  What if I dreamt too small–or not at all?  Would I have had the experiences of being awed by what only God could do?  I am not saying that a person should live in a fantasy world.  But I do believe that dreams help us not stay in a comfortable place, confined by thinking that keeps us in a box.  God has a plan and purpose for us; dreams remind us that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  Go ahead–dream big!
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish more than we might ask or think.”  Ephesians 3:20, NLT
So what are you dreaming about?  What’s stopping you from dreaming big?