Imagine skipping Starbucks for a month.

Imagine downsizing your car to save money.

Imagine that money building churches in China.

Daria and Samuel are church planters near Beijing, China.  Read their story here and imagine getting a little absurd with our money.

Dan Scott started a great conversation here about phrases to quit using in kids ministry.  Kenny Conley comments in that conversation about the process we go through as Christ followers.  Here is what Kenny writes.

…I’ve become a lot more comfortable with the idea that becoming a Christ Follower for many people isn’t an alter call experience, but a process. I’ve talked to too many people who can’t tell you when they became a Christ Follower because it was more of a process for them... I’ve had parents get frustrated when their kids “asked Jesus in their heart” and they’d already done it before… Could it be that this is a process? Kids may have made a heart decision, but their mind still hasn’t caught up (they don’t completely comprehend)…

I’ve talked to many parents with teens that have ‘grown up’ in church.  They stand before me confused because their daughter made a mistake and is now pregnant.  Mom/dad look at me and say,

“She accepted Jesus when she was 6, she never missed a Sunday, we volunteered every Wednesday night… now my 16 yr old is pregnant.  What happened?”

Are we offering a checklist?  Are we giving them hoops to jump through?

Don’t miss church.

Bring your kids to our events.

Do this bible study.

Pray this prayer.

We forget sometimes that mom/dad want to do this thing right.  If we throw a perceived ‘recipe for success’ out there, are we inviting parents to assume that following the recipe will produce the perfect child? Or at least a child with no MAJOR issues like teen pregnancy, social drinking, or addiction to 80’s hair band music.

I question our approach often.  I work to explain to mom/dad that choosing Christ is a series of discoveries and decisions.  It begins with discovering what He did for us and why.  Then continues with decisions… the everyday, ordinary decision of choosing what He says is best verses what we think is best.

Is anyone else (parent or Children’s pastor) wrestling this down?

I attended Chuck Bomar’s breakout about College Ministries at the Orange Conference.

I learned a lot and have many notes to digest.  Today I only want to focus on two statements that I’m still chewing on…

80% of young adults at 18 yrs old walk away from the church even after years of faithful attendance growing up.

80% of young adults 18-23 yrs old believe they have a personal responsibility to meet the needs of those less fortunate.

Interesting to me that people who feel such responsibility to clothe the naked and feed the hungry are walking away from the vehicle God intended for those actions.

Are you making a connection?

Check me out doing this all in sequence.  What’s up with that?!?  Usually I toss in a few random posts just to keep you guessing.  Not so, this time.  Let’s keep rolling.  If you missed the first two, you can catch up here.

Skill #3:  Dialogue with God

The environments created at home and at church will be one of the first places children and teenagers learn to pray

Talking with God is not a difficult thing to demonstrate.  Actually doing it is the secret.  Though mealtime prayers are a ritual in many homes; breakfast, lunch and dinner are not the only times to dialogue with God.  We don’t stop talking to our kids at breakfast, do we?

Here’s a fun idea to establish a habit of prayer with your kids:

Every time the bell rings at school, just say hello to God.

It draws them back to a focus on Him and encourages an opportunity to talk with Him.

As a Christ-follower, what could serve as a constant reminder to just say hello to God?

As a parent, ministry leader/volunteer, what ideas do you have that would teach a Christ-follower the habit of dialogue with God?

I’ll leave you with this little nugget.  Who could resist. 

The winner of a signed copy of Reggie Joiner’s latest book, Think Orange is…

**cue drumroll**

Sarah Thompson

Sarah is the Children’s Pastor of  SouthLife Church in Dunedin, New Zealand.  You can check out her blog here. She’s got some great questions and I love the perspective she brings to the Kids Ministry conversation.  I’ve become a big fan of collaboration and the pursuit of working with churches in our communities to make a bigger impact on families.  Sarah is hard at work doing just that.  She shares a little about that here.  Check out her blog and leave some comment love.  Working alongside Sarah, we can help teach kids in New Zealand how to follow Jesus with all their heart, mind and strength.

How Cool Is That!?!

Sarah, thanks for all you do… seen and unseen… to serve this generation.  Keep rockin’ it out!