As I sit, reflecting on an action-packed weekend, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for all of the bold (as well as subtle) reminders of how God is at work in and around me.
For the past few months, I (along with my mom and sister) have been planning to host a Priscilla Shirer simulcastevent at my church. We were so excited to welcome the ladies joining us for the simulcast this past Saturday. The worship, led by Priscilla’s brother Anthony Evans, was spirit-filled and uplifting. The Word that Priscilla brought impacted me so deeply that it will take quite some time to process it all. I felt God whisper to me…
Being with other women is life-giving…
There is safety in My presence…
Feeding your own soul spiritually is vital to your relationship with Me…
I want to be part of EVERY aspect of your life.
After the simulcast concluded, I helped my son pack his final things for his senior class mission trip. Early yesterday morning, we sent him off to serve in Belize. For the next week, he (and his classmates and chaperones) will run a VBS and Easter Egg Hunt for a local school there in Belize. This year has been filled with moments of letting him go and this one was a big one! Sending my firstborn on his first international mission trip was a huge deal for me, but I know that (1) he’s ready, (2) he’ll enjoy being with his classmates, and (3) he is so capable of helping to run the VBS and egg hunt. I’m so proud of him and the ways God is shaping is life. I felt God whisper to me…
You love him but I love him more…
Each season of his life will be filled with exciting and teachable moments…let him go…
All of the ways you and Lance have raised him have prepared him for this moment.
As if that wasn’t enough, my new Associate Director of Children’s Ministry was commissioned for service yesterday. I am so thankful for her and the energy, gifts and passion she brings to the team. I cannot wait to see all that God will do through her ministry to our children, families and volunteers! I felt God whisper to me…
I am faithful…
I heard your prayers for many, many months. My timing is perfect…
Cherish her, mentor her, do life with her. She is more than your co-worker.
And last but not least, five children in our ministry celebrated their First Communion yesterday. For the past three weeks, these children (plus an additional one whose First Communion will take place later this spring) have learned what Communion is, why we take it and how to personally reflect before taking it. As I watched those precious children partake of the elements, I felt God whisper to me…
What you do matters…
What you train and equip others to do matters…
You are impacting my Kingdom for eternity…
This is the call I have placed on your life.
The prayers I have prayed in recent weeks have been some of the most heartfelt I’ve ever prayed. I have seen God’s spirit move in mighty ways. For that, my heart is grateful.
Call me weird, but I love a good meeting, especially when the meeting is about something that I’m passionate about. As a kidmin professional, I spend a lot of time in meetings and leading meetings.
Over the years, I have learned a few things about meetings:
People lead busy lives; therefore they don’t want to waste time sitting in an unnecessary meeting. Only meet when necessary.
Speaking of time, people want you to respect it. Start and end on time.
It’s helpful if people know what to expect. Send an agenda ahead of time.
Speaking of agenda, keep the meeting on track by sticking to the agenda. Try to curtail side conversations.
Food and fun decorations makes all meetings enjoyable!
Since I recently hired an Associate Director for our ministry (she is awesome, by the way!), we have resumed our weekly Children’s Ministry staff meetings. The purpose of our time together is make sure that everyone is up-to-date about what’s going on and to pray for ministry & personal needs.
While we have only had two CM staff meetings so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed them both. Not only are we planning better but our friendships are deepening. It’s been a beautiful thing to watch.
When designing our meetings, I made the decision to make our time purposeful by keeping each meeting to 60 minutes and having a pretty standard (but flexible) meeting agenda each week.
Here’s a snapshot of what our staff meetings consist of:
Opening prayer & devotional
Recap the previous Sunday (God sightings, what worked well, what didn’t work well)
Updates on ‘action steps’ from the last meeting
This week at a glance: We look at Monday-Saturday events & Sundays separately. We assess volunteer needs and logistics. Then we assign tasks for the week so that we know who is responsible for what. We also review our calendars (who will be out of the office and when).
Other items? (I realize there are other things that might need to be discussed that don’t fall into any other area, so I try to allow some time to discuss other things as well. But, to honor our time, I will chat with the appropriate person about items outside of our meetings if they will cause us to run over our 60 minute time frame.)
Prayer (for ministry and personal needs)
Notes of encouragement (We write notes of thanks and/or encouragement to our volunteers – because we can’t do ministry without them, we need to make sure that we regularly let them know we appreciate them.)
After our meetings, I upload a summary and to-do lists to our shared folder on Basecamp.
For your convenience, I placed a downloadable Staff Meeting Agenda template under the Leader Resources “Forms” tab. You can use it to design your own agenda to suit your team’s needs.
What do your staff meetings look like? Share your ideas with our community!
