This Sunday is Mother’s day…but you already knew that.

We’d love to hear you ideas for Mother’s Day – this year my church will be giving hugs and kisses to all the women in our congregation. Maybe I should clarify two points – it’s Hershey’s Hugs and Hershey’s Kisses and yes, all women.

Sometimes it is obvious who the moms are – the ones with kids. But Mother’s day isn’t just about the joyful reminder of your great kids, it’s also a reminder, a painful reminder for all the women who have lost children (and for those that can never have women). For years I’ve struggled with what to about this awesome and painful holiday. My solution has been to acknowledge both with the hope and grace of Christ.

This holiday, as leaders of the Church, let’s not forget the pain of infertility and the pain of loss as we celebrate those special women who gave us life.

Easter has come and gone…and, chances are, so have a number of guests.

The question you should have on your mind is, how am I following up with these guests? It’s not simply about numbers, but about caring for people.

Chances are guests to your church will not be the one to start the conversation, even if they are looking for a church home. They expect you to care about them.

Do you take names and addresses of new folks when you check someone in? Do you have a communication card? If so, most people expect that you will follow up – it shows that you care about them.

Technology can hurt and hinder in our follow up. We want to make sure that we’re genuine – form letters, mass emails, and blanket Facebook welcomes are cold – they tell people that they’re simply a number to you.

Many church management systems (we use CCB) have customizable ways to assign follow-ups, ensure people are connected with, and let you record responses. These types of systems can make managing big holidays a lot easier if you know how to use them.

If nothing else, why not grab a pack of friendly looking cards and jot out a few notes to the children that visited this weekend. You may not be able to write one for everyone, but that’s no excuse to not write any.

As we journey toward Easter Sunday I thought I would share with you the ‘Seven Symbols of the Passion’ that we have prepared for our Good Friday family experience.  Each family will be given a black coin bag that contains the items pictured to the right.  Families will pull out each symbol and pass it around as we retell the passion narrative from The Message Bible.

As you read through these scriptures I pray that you remember deeply the passion of our savior as he gave up his life so that we might gain life.

KB

Coin
The Betrayal.

 Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, “This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”

Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”

(more…)

Creativity. Vision. Ingenuity.  Are all things that rarely come from a place of exhaustion.

http://www.creationswap.com/media/934

As a coach one of the first things that you teach young soccer players is to keep their head up.  When a soccer player focuses all their attention on the ball they lack the vision to be a part of a game winning team.  When we fail to manage our schedules to incorporate seasons of rest we inevitable turn our attention to the ball between our feet.  All we can see is our next step, and we natural become more defensive then offensive.  As leaders this is not a place we can afford live long-term.

Rest affords us the opportunity to pick up our head and react offensively and proactively with the whole field in view.

http://www.creationswap.com/media/3278

I love to go hiking, but one of the keys to safely enjoying the outdoors is knowing where you are going.  Before you head out in the woods you stop and evaluate where you will be exploring, what you will need to take with you, and who you need to tell before you head out.

Intentional holiday pulls you out of the trees and lets you see the forest.  Creativity, vision, and ingenuity all flow from a place of rest.  So if we are going to lead ministries that adapt to the needs of our cultural context and provide innovative strategies for helping others grow in their relationship with Christ, intentional holiday must be a part of our spiritual formation process.

What’s your story?

KB

We all know that Valentines is a time to share love and kindness with others.  This year we thought we’d give you a quick Valentine sermon/lesson to help you plan your lessons for elementary kids.  Utilize it however you wish!

For most of us in the States they are called vacations, but I have always liked the term holiday that our Canadian friends use.  Holiday is so much warmer.  Just saying it makes you feel like you are wrapped in warm blanket in front of crackling fire.  But whether you call them vacations or holidays they are an important part of our spiritual growth that is often overlooked or even neglected.

When we look at the example Jesus set for us, and then look at the schedules of most ministry professionals there is often a sharp contrast.  We glorify ‘busy’.  We wear it as a badge of honor.  I’m guilty.  How about you?

Jesus was not afraid to get away and rest.  He understood that if he didn’t take time to recharge and invest in himself he would lose his effectiveness in ministry.  We need to learn from Jesus in this area.

So over the next couple weeks I want to give you three reasons ‘Holiday’ needs to be part of your ministry development plan in 2012.

#1: Holiday is an Eternal Investment

You don’t have to be a Pastor very long to know that ministry takes its toll on your family.  Ministry requires sacrifice—time, energy, and resources.  And our spouse and children often take the brunt of this sacrifice.  But when we choose to take extended periods of time where we disconnect from our ministry work to be fully present with our family we build up an investment that has eternal rewards.

Even though ministry requires sacrifice from the whole family, it is import to show your family that they come first.  When we choose to take a holiday from our ministry—cell phones off, laptop put away, giving our family 110 percent of our time—we shout with our actions, “You mean more to me then what I do.”

Holiday is an eternal investment in your family.  It’s eternal because the only thing that we can bring with us to the other side is our relationships.  All our stuff is going away—but not our relationships.  Those are eternal.  It often baffles me when I see families choosing to buy a new television or some other new appliance that doesn’t help foster relationships when they could be investing that money in a great holiday for their family.  What’s worse is that buying stuff is often glorified while taking a nice holiday is viewed as ostentatious.

So forget all the critiques and invest your holiday where it will get the greatest return on your dollar…in your family.

May you invest well in 2012.

KB

Last week I mentioned the need to evaluate your Christmas services to better prepare for the next time Christmas is on a Sunday. The same is true for your home.

How did things go? What Christmas a blessing or a bit of a beast? Perhaps you’ve had enough of the Christmas holiday and you are ready to begin packing up your tree, gifts, and maybe even your children and putting them all into storage. Maybe, the last thing that you want to think about is Christmas. But, next year can be even better if you take a few moments to record what worked and what didn’t.

Did you spend to much? Commit now to figuring out how to spend less.
How about devotional times? You won’t remember what worked and what didn’t next year, so record it now.
Was there too much together time or not enough? Start planning now how to make that time work better.
Did you over/under work during this season? Plan now and talk to your boss about how to make adjustments.

Evaluation isn’t just about making our ministry better, it can help our home life as well.

What went well for you at home this Christmas?

What’s your church doing for Christmas?

That seems to be the question on many peoples minds. What do we do when Christmas falls on a Sunday? Some are closing, some are business as usual, others are even saying to come in your pajamas.

It seems like it’s been a long time since Christmas was on a Sunday and – in a sense – it has. Six years to be exact. But it won’t be another six years for the next one – it’ll be 2016. That may seem like a long way off, but think about the questions that you had as you prepared this year…wouldn’t have been nice to have a written evaluation from 2005?

So, as you plan out your Christmas celebration, start thinking about giving your ministry a great 2016 Christmas gift. Make notes about what works and doesn’t work this sunday.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Part of our Advent tradition is for me to take each of my sons out for a shopping date. It lets us spend time together, talk to them about the season (and talk about the greed), see what they want, and help them find gifts for others. I also gain a number of illustrations and life lessons from these dates.

This past Friday I was out with my older son. We spent 2 hours at Toys R Us and about twice that at the mall. Although I had a great time, I did hear “Hey, Look” more times that I could count. Each time we went down an aisle we’d stop, “Hey, Look.” On to the next item (yes, item, not aisle), “Hey Look.” For some aisles I would hear this upwards of twenty times as we explored the neat, odd, and many times useless items.

As I thought about our trip this weekend, I realized that “Hey, Look” is really what this season can be about. There are so many things that draw us away from focusing on Christ. Marketing, children, family, church – they are all saying, “Hey Look.” Meanwhile, I wonder if Christ is on the sideline patiently waiting for the season to pass by so we can return our focus to Him.

What are you doing this season to focus on Christ?

Memories make life richer more full of purpose. When experiential, Advent traditions and activities become more than something to fill the time but rather experiences to change lives forever and bring family closer.

Advent may or may not be a part of your Christmas season celebrations, however, when we consider its purpose, it can be a tradition that brings greater richness and depth to what God wants to do in your families. As families focus on the coming of Christ during the four weeks prior to christ’s birth they build the anticipation of his coming. Hope is stirred. The need for a savior is stirred. When we are waiting for a special day to arrive the anticipation can be unbearable. When the day finally came, your joy was greater. Instead of focusing on the gifts of Christmas focusing on the arrival of Jesus on that day gives focus to Christ. How wonderful to help our kids see with anticipation that Christ was coming to be with us and is now here!

(more…)