Saturday, August 23, 2008

Wii!

The Wii is a wonderful invention! It provides hours of family fun, and some good exercise, too. We really want one. But that's not the Wii I'm talking about.

Today there was a special event at church called Wii. It was a one-day conference of sorts with the purposes of
1. Educating our church about the goals of our children's ministry
2. Inspiring people to use their gifts and abilities to make a difference in the lives of children
3. Connecting people with service opportunities in children's ministry.
We used the concept of the Nintendo Wii as a platform for this conference.

We had a fantastic turnout, with over 60 people in attendance! Matt did some drama. I ran all the tech stuff. Our children's pastor did a fantastic job communicating our church's children's ministry goals. She has such a great heart for God and for the kids, and has made tremendous strides in the last 2 years in making our children's ministry a place for kids to belong, a place where they regularly experience God's love for them. The overall goal is to effectively develop children who are fully-devoted followers of Christ, and to help them understand their place in the body of Christ.

A big highlight of the day was the inspiring message by Keith Jackson, a former player for the Philadelphia Eagles. He now runs an after-school program to help at-risk high school students in Little Rock to bring up their grades, graduate high school, and go to college. He talked about the keys to the success of the program, and reminded us all that with God, all things are possible. I was challenged by what Keith had to say. If all things are possible with God, what is it that He wants me to do for Him? I know one thing for sure: it will be immeasurably more than anything I could ask for or imagine. It definitely got me thinking, and I guarantee you that I'll be spending more time listening to God, rather than just talking to Him. I want what He wants for me.

Thanks, Stephanie, for taking your vision for today and running with it. I'm going into this year of children's ministry with much clearer purpose, focus, and goals. I know it's going to be a great year, because God is moving in the midst of it. You are one of my heroes.

1 comment:

Stephanie said...

It fills my heart to know that today had such an impact. There is nothing greater than the reward of following God when it wasn't easy and being allowed to see results of what he had purposed.

Thank you and Matt for being such an important part of the day being a success.