In 2006, the first time that I accepted a responsibility in
the realm of children’s ministry, I was asked to teach a simple Junior Church
lesson. At that point in my life I was a
college student on my way through my undergraduate degree, working two part
time jobs, and serving in the van ministry at our church. What was one more item on my schedule? I routinely gave presentations about complex
business concepts and coordinated other college students. It would be a relatively simple task to
present a group of children with a story I’d been hearing since I myself was a
child. Or so I thought.
After spending some time preparing and reflecting, I realized
that I could not have more greatly underestimated my task. The more I thought about the lesson, the more
concerned I grew. This wasn’t just some
inane and overhyped business concept in a slideshow’s script I was planning to recite.
I was being given the job of teaching
God’s Word to willing minds that would take the words that I said and the way
in which I taught it as truth. With one
falter, I could permanently damage their perception of some key element of the
bible story or worse yet; one of the preacher’s precocious little girls might
even correct me, if I dared misspeak. In
short, when the big Sunday came, I was a wreck.
I was more nervous that I’d ever been presenting in front of professors,
interviewing for jobs, or tutoring college students. I was scared to death of my K-5 audience.
On that Sunday, I arrived at church early, ran through my
message several times in my head and tried to psych myself up. I only had to make it through Sunday School
and then the stage was mine. I sat
through my college and career Sunday School class and paid much less than my
full attention to the lesson; preoccupied with my impending onus. After
Sunday School and our song time with the kids, I was ready to face the
music. I’d been preparing my lesson for
three weeks. I’d mined the depths of the
story repeatedly, written multiple outlines, and scripted what I was going to
say no less than three times. Was I
ready? No. God knew.
At the last moment, it was announced that there would be a change of plans
and my gauntlet had been rescheduled to the following Sunday.
The next week was spent mulling over my notes and attempting
to calm myself down from my near-crisis the week before. Saturday night, after looking over my notes
one last time, I prayed that God would help calm my nerves. The next morning, I walked into the college
class and still felt the weight of worry.
My college and career leader began to teach, and his message just so
happened to be on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; the very lesson that I had
prepared for the kids. It was exactly
what I needed to buoy my confidence and bring me peace. It was one of those moments in my life that I
unequivocally regard as a direct answer to prayer. Despite all of the frayed nerves I’d felt the
prior week and even when walking in that morning, after Sunday School and
singing, I began my first ever lesson for the kids of our church with
confidence and a peace that certainly passed my own understanding.
This morning, I woke up as the director of children’s ministry
at my church. Needless to say, after
that first experience in children’s ministry, I was hooked. About seven years and an untold number of
hours spent on the kids of our church later, I can honestly say that I feel
like am in in the exact position that God intended for me at this point in my
life. I now find myself responsible for
leading all of our volunteers and making decisions each week that will have an
impact on how the kids of our church view worship during their formative years. In retrospect, the reverential awe that I had
at the responsibility of teaching one lesson is almost indiscernible from the
one I feel now in having been entrusted with such an important task. My lovely wife, Lydia, and I truly believe
that there’s no better way to display the love of God to others than by loving
and ministering to their children.
The purpose of this blog is to share what wisdom the Vines
have gathered through our years in children’s ministry and to share that with
anyone who can use it. We hope that this
blog will help children’s ministry administrators, workers, parents, and their children
through edification, collaboration, and education. We look forward to learning and growing with
whomever will partake.
P.S. – Never fear. I
would guess that nearly all blog posts after this one will be much shorter and
more concise. As my wife can attest, my
verbosity knows no bounds.
