New Year's Resolutions for Volunteer Ministry

The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time for examining the past and resolving to make improvements in the coming year. Here are a few things I will be thinking about in 2010:

I will stop treating church service as optional. Jesus called his followers to complete life changes. In fact, he went out of his way to make sure people understood how much he demanded before they became his followers. Jesus made it clear that he expected people to be actively serving him. For Christ-followers, giving time to ministry is not optional.

I will be a cheerleader. In a world full of negative attitudes and criticism, I will demonstrtae Christ's love by celebrating the accomplishments of others. I will give personal, meaningful affirmations.

I will forgive myself for last year. God chose to do his ministry through us, knowing that we are broken vessels. I plan to spend time determining what I need to learn from mistakes, and then I will join God in casting them into the Sea of Forgetfulness.

I will remember the one thing. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus reminded Martha that while all her attempts to serve him were good, the one most important was developing a growing relationship with Jesus. I will remember that ultimately it is not about my ministry or my church. It is about me and all those around me developing a growing relationship with Jesus.

Up In The Hills

Feeling exhausted yet? It's the Christmas season and our schedules are full of things to do and places to be. As leaders in the church, our lives seem to shift into high gear when this season approaches. There's just so much to do!

Preparing children for Christmas is exciting. This is a high point in the year when people (with much faith or little faith) look to the church to define the true meaning of this holiday. It's always a terrific time to proclaim the truth of the Gospel, to model the giving spirit, and show appreciation to those we love.

Yet, the other side of the coin is exhaustion. Events at church (as well as a schedule full of Christmas activities) can leave you feeling like a worn-out rag doll. Christmas day comes and you are spent, both physiaclly and spiritually.

How about a new strategy for this Christmas season? What if you make it to December 25th feeling tired (physically) yet charged (spiritually)?

More than we could ever imagine, Jesus understood the exhaustion of giving and serving. His ministry was filled with people who pressed aaginst Him, looking for hope, healing, or something to eat. Jesus spent untold hours trying to help the crowds of people, whom He perceived were harassed. There was great physical demand on His life and miinistry.

Yet, He knew the importance of escaping the busy pace and finding spiritual rest. He sought solitude in the hills with His Father in heaven. He didn't wait for some ending point in activity, either! Instead, He would move towards solitude in the midst of activity.

For many of us, seeking spiritual rest is something we do when other tasks are completed, or when life isn't so busy. Jesus, however, regularly paused in the midst of great demands He faced and made time to be alone with God. Spiritual nourishment was a key ingredient in Jesus' plan to minister to the needy crowds. So up into the hills he would go-even when the crowds pressed against Him.

How about you? When does spiritual nourishment come? Is it an after-thought, or is it something you seek in the midst of the busy holiday rush? To pause and rest in God is our best bet for navigating the holiday season well.

So before you stress about the evnts to be planned, find time to go into the hills. Before you wallk into another Christmas social, find time to go into the hills. Before you lead your sunday school class in seeing the significance of Christmas, personally go to the hills and charge your spiritRest and enjoy the God who defined the amazing meaning of Christmas.

Read it! Read Matthew 14. Observe in this chapter the different demands that were placed on Jesus. While facing these demands, how did Jesus handle the strain of giving and serving?

Apply it! Where is your spiritual place of rest? When the stress and demands of ministry iincrease where do you go to recharge spiritualy? Before the christmas season claims your entire schedule, mark off time for you and God. Mark off time in the hills.

Veggie Tales Christmas Movie Event

Come enjoy fellowship and a new Veggie Tales Christmas movie this Friday night at 7:00 at the Towne Center. Bring your family! Bring your friends! Bring your holiday cheer!

Winter Curriculum Is Here!

Winter Curriculum is here! The first lesson is this weekend, December 5th-6th. You should have recieved a new book this week. If you have not, please contact Nicole and she will get one to you.

The coming season brings wonderful lessons including those on Jesus' birth, His early years, and His miracles, among others. Join the Zone in reaching kids for His Kingdom!

Don't Interrupt Me While I'm Teaching

CHILDREN ARE NOT AN INTERRUPTION TO THE WORK, THEY ARE THE WORK.

Four-year old Kaitlyn was fidgeting with her name tag, taking it on and off, on and off, concentrating more on the sticker than listening to the story about Elijah and the widow. The lesson came to a screeching halt when the name tag tore in half. Kaitlyn ran over to the teacher in tears-the whole class was distracted. But Kaitlyn's teacher turned the interruption into a God moment. She picked up the name tag, removed it from sight, and said, "Kaitlyn, did you know Jesus knows our names even when our name tag falls off?"

Skillfully, the teacher transformed a distraction into a teachable moment, then returned to her lesson with the smoothness of a waltz. These God-moments, are breif windows of time. God opens a door-but it will quickly close if you don't walk through it right away. The moments are disguised as distractions and off-topic questions. They're hidden in interruptions.

As a wise teacher, remember that it's OK to set the curriculum aside for these moments. Don't put a God moment off to the end of the lesson. It might vanish before the lesson's over. Or you'll run out of time. You'll lose that opportunity for kids to experience Biblical truth in a real way.

If you strap yourself to a lesson, you can deadlock the learning process. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated about a twist, respond with a desire to use the interruption as a teaching tool.

This may not come naturally, at first. Being frustrated is easy-being patient and focused on faith growth is not. But here's the good news: When you seek God's direction, the Holy Spirit will provide the "antennae" to help you recognize-and skillfully utilize-God moments. Sometimes the back roads, the byways of the beaten path, are the ones that lead to the most memorable places.

"Let your Light Shine Before Men..." Matthew 5:16

"LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN..." Matthew 5:16

The Recipe For Success-How prepared were you last week?

Remember the last time you bit into your dinner and thought, That could have used a few more minutes in the oven? Or maybe you've chipped a tooth on an overcooked charcoal burger?

Preparing a lesson is alot like cooking. Underpreparing is dangerous.: we end up reading the lesson from a script. It's unfocused and confusing. But overprepare and we lose the nutritional value and taste: we've looked at the material so much we're bored with it.

Here's how to be sure to pop the lesson out of the oven right on time, every time:

Review your next lesson, right after you teach the previous one. You're in teaching mode. Why not spend a few minutes thinking about next week?

Make the scripture covered in the next lesson part of your personal devotion time. This is a good way to prepare your heart and your lesson.

If necessary, prepare in chunks. Work on one section a night, deciding on the best ways to enrich the curriculum for your students. Whether you plan to use personal experience as an example or add your own object lesson, preparation is key.

It's never too early to start preparing but it can always be too late. As you prepare though, remember it can be possible to be overprepared. As silly as that sounds, it's true. You know you're overprepared when you've gone over the material so much it's no longer fun and engaging. You're overprepared if you can't imagine making tweeks and changes because the lesson is already memorized.

Prepare so you can be faithful to the content. But be sure you're having fun, too-that's what draws children into the learning experience.

The desire to overprepare is often a desire for control. Control is good but so is spontaneity. Relinquish that control to co-teachers or studenrt leaders. Give them a section of classtime to lead and let them prepare that section.

Enjoy the surprises.

And pray. Ask God to calm your nerves and guide you as you prepare.

gourmet chefs spend years practicing and fine-tuning their greatest recipes. Find what works for you, and bam! you'll be cooking up effective lessons evertime.

Buzz Curriculum

Buzz is the great new, sweet and simple curriculum from Group Publishing! It is being used by the Cornerzone teachers during midweek childcare. This curriculum is flexible and easy to use. Buzz allows the midweek teachers to engage with their students in a variety of ways that requires little prep time. Just pray to prepare your heart and start teaching! Natalie is the go-to person in Brentwood if you have any questions about this fun curriculum.

WELCOME TEACHERS!

I am looking forward to communicating with you in this new and exciting way. I pray that this forum will make things easier for you to get the information you need. I will be working with you to address any special problems or needs that are unique to Cornerstone's Brentwood Campus. Please don't hesitate to contact me with suggestions and feedback. Your input will be invaluable to my abilty to create a program that works well for you, your students and their parents.