KidMinspiration

Easter Reflections

04/03/201304/03/2013 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

This week, I am in total “chill” mode. Since our children are home on Spring Break, my husband and I took time off this week to have some good quality time as a family. This time together is precious and priceless to me because, if you work in ministry, you know that preparing for Easter keeps you very busy. Now that things have settled down somewhat, I’ve been reflecting on the flurry of activity I’ve experienced over the past 10 days.

Here’s a peek into what my world has looked like recently:

For the past several months, we have been busy preparing for our church’s annual Easter Egg Hunt. This year, I provided oversight for the Registration Team. As a team of nine, we welcomed over 120 families and over 200 children to this highly anticipated event. This year’s event included four activity areas: games, 4 “Journey to Easter” stations, refreshments and the actual Easter Egg Hunt. It was a lot of work but seeing so many faces, especially new ones from the neighborhood, made it all worthwhile.

Good Friday was the next highlight for me. My entire family and I (16 of us) attended my parent’s church because my mom was participating in the service. The scripture passage for the evening was Isaiah 53:1-5. Five different members of the church leadership (including my mom) took one of the verses and shared their gained and personal insights into their assigned verse. My mom did a fabulous job – she made us proud! The evening was also special because I served my 5-yr old niece her First Communion. I will never forget sharing that special moment with her.

By the time Easter Sunday rolled around, I was in overdrive mode. I had tidied classrooms, recruited additional volunteers to serve, hung banners, and set up various activity stations for our elementary and preteen students. After church, we hosted a family dinner for 20+ family members at our home.

While the season was busy, we are now thankful to take some time for much-needed rest at one of our favorite vacation spots. School and work resumes next week, but for now, we rest.

Are you taking some time for rest this week? What restores your soul?

Celebrate “Write a Thank-You Note Day”

03/20/201303/20/2013 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

My husband and I spent the year before we were married in a long-distance relationship (he lived in Alabama while I attended college in Virginia). During that year, we exchanged a lot of cards and letters. Every now and then I read through the notes just for fun. That’s easy to do because the notes sit in a floral basket next to my bed. The basket also contains cards that my children made in their preschool and elementary years as well as other keepsakes from special people in my life.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post encouraging leaders to speak their volunteer’s love language. Since my love language is words of affirmation, I treasure notes (hand-written and electronic) containing encouragement and thanks.

Yesterday, I received an email from one of my favorite home and garden magazines. They declared today “Write a Thank-You Note Day”. What a great idea, I thought.

Hand-written notes have almost become outdated in lieu of e-mail and text messages, but in my opinion, hand-written notes will never go out of style.

So, consider writing a thank-you note to someone you appreciate today. Make it full of reasons why you appreciate them and how much they mean to you.

Don’t have a clue who you might bless with a hand-written note? Here are some suggestions to get you started:

If you’re a KidMin leader:

Your spouse
Your children
Your pastor/supervisor
Someone who serves in your ministry
Someone behind the scenes but serves your ministry (i.e. your janitorial or church office staff)
Your mentor

If you’re a KidMin parent:

Your spouse
Your children
Your child’s principal/teacher/school administrator
Your child’s coach
Your children’s pastor/director

If you’re a KidMin volunteer:

Your spouse
Your children
Your ministry leader
Someone who serves alongside you in ministry
Parents of a child in your class

Challenge: Go ahead – write a thank-you note today, but don’t let it stop there. Take the time to regularly write thank-you notes to people you are thankful for. You can write one a day, one a week, or one a month. Just write it – your words and the thought behind it will bless you as well as the recipient.

What More Could I Have Done?

03/15/201303/15/2013 Kathie Phillips 4 Comments

For the past several weeks, I have seen several friends and ministry colleagues come under serious spiritual attack. While each circumstance is different, they are all trusting God for the next steps after seeing dreams become shattered pieces of what could’ve or should’ve been.

Earlier this week, I read a passage of scripture that made me ponder the feeling of defeat. The passage was Isaiah 5:1-7.

“What more could I have done to cultivate a rich harvest?

Why did my vineyard give me wild grapes when I expected sweet ones?”

Isaiah 5:4

Have you been in a place like that, a place of disappointment and heartbreak? Have you wondered why all of your hard work returned a ‘loss’ rather than a ‘win’? I have, both personally and professionally. After all, none of us work to fail. We invest and work hard to see results – favorable results.

One thing that I remind my children’s ministry team is that while we can plant the seed, it’s up to God to grow it in His time. We might not see the results right away; we may never see the results. But that doesn’t mean that we should give up.

If you feel like throwing in the towel because an event that took weeks of planning flopped, leaders that you invested in turned against you, a door was closed, you don’t get the recognition that you feel you deserve, you were removed from a cherished ministry position or job, the child you raised in the church is no longer interested in following Christ, or you aren’t as far along in life as you thought you should be, don’t give up. Be encouraged: God will give you the strength you need to endure every season of your life, the highs and the lows. Lean into Him, do what He has called you to do and trust Him for the results.

What are you trusting God for right now? Do you believe that He has your best interest at heart?

Speak Your Volunteer’s Love Language

03/06/201303/06/2013 Kathie Phillips 8 Comments

Years ago, I read “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. The title was fascinating and I wanted to learn more. Not only did I want to learn how to best show love to my husband, I wanted to learn more about the way I best receive love. The findings weren’t astonishing – I already knew – but I could give it an “official” title.

If you are not familiar with The 5 Love Languages, allow me to give you a brief description of each:

Words of Affirmation: Use words to affirm other people.

Acts of Service: For these people, actions speak louder than words.

Receiving Gifts: It’s not the price or extravagance of the gift; it’s the thought behind it.

Quality Time: Give people your focused, undivided attention.

Physical Touch: Use appropriate touch to lift someone’s spirits

Since the first book, there have been subsequent books, including “The 5 Love Languages of Children”, “The Five Love Languages of Teenagers”, just to name a few. The author also penned a book called “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”. According to their website, this book gives “practical steps to make any workplace environment more encouraging and productive”.

I’d like to offer that as kidmin leaders, one of our goals should be to make our ministry environments more encouraging and productive. How? By creatively loving on our volunteers as often as we can. What if we loved our volunteers in ways that they would best receive it? What if we moved away from “one size fits all” volunteer appreciation? After all, if we don’t properly care for our volunteers, who will?

Show your volunteers how much you care by speaking their love language. Below are a few ideas to help get you started:

Words of Affirmation:

Praise your volunteers publicly, in front of other people.
Write notes to them, affirming them in how they are an invaluable member of your team.
Write notes to their family, thanking them for sharing their family member with your ministry and the impact they are having.
Catch them in the act and mention to them how they made the right call, gently spoke to a child, made the Bible story come alive, etc.

Resource: DaySpring provides free e-cards you can send to your volunteers to let them know how much you care.

Acts of Service:

Take them a meal when they are sick, have a baby, etc.
Offer to babysit volunteer’s children so that your volunteer can enjoy a date night with their spouse, a day of pampering, or a day of solitude with the Lord.
Run an errand for them.
Prepare their supplies for an upcoming lesson.
Love them enough to give them the Sunday off when needed.

Resource: Make a coupon book for volunteers for them to use in redeeming “services” (with advance notice, of course!).

Receiving Gifts:

Give volunteers their favorite piece of candy, a gift card to their favorite restaurant or a gift card to their favorite coffee shop.
Frame their favorite scripture verse in a beautiful picture frame.
Put together an electronic photo album, showcasing your volunteer in action. (I love Smilebox.)
Frame a picture of your volunteer in action.
Frame a picture of your volunteer’s class or team.
Have the volunteer’s make a handmade gift.

Resource: Find out your volunteer’s “Favorite Things” by asking them. Here’s a free form to get you started.

Quality Time:

*Disclaimer: Keep appropriate boundaries when interacting with someone of the opposite sex.

Take your volunteers out for coffee or meal just to chat and get to know each other outside of church.
Call your volunteer and ask how you can pray for them. Pray for them right over the phone.
If you share a hobby with a volunteer, do that hobby together – bake cookies, go fishing, take a class, paint a room, plant a garden, etc.
Serve together in a cause that you’re passionate about.
Read a book together and discuss it.

Resource: Subscribe to websites like Groupon or Living Social – they have great discounted goods and services.

Physical Touch:

*Disclaimer: Use appropriate touch, especially toward the opposite sex. I am a hugger by nature, but a rule of thumb that I follow is that I do not hug my male volunteers. I have a completely hands-off policy for male volunteers.