First New Series Almost Complete... Now Ready To Begin Some Major Renovations Of New Building!

I am SO pumped about our first new series for our new KidzTEAM large group stage-production, and the move to our new large group time in our new building, that I JUST CAN'T STAND IT! I can’t wait to see the faces of the kids (and adults) who walk into our new KidKonnect building and experience what we have planned for them. I don’t want to give away too many secrets [might ruin the surprise], but all I can say is “GET READY” for a wild time in Jesus!

Here's just a few ideas that are running around in my mind…

1. Worship time called “Jump Around”, opens up with some dancing Tele-Tubbies

2. Crazy Frog singing the “Na, Na, Na, Na Goodbye Song” when a group leaves Konnect to travel back to small groups.

3. A crazy storyteller that comes on stage to weave a story from The Book, ushered in by the “Baby Got Book” song.

4. Kids Media TEAM complete with our own DJ

5. And lots of crazy ideas that I can’t put into words….you just gotta come see for yourself.

In this post I’m including the logo for our new building/large group time [look above, just under post title], decided to call it KidKonnect ‘cause that’s where kids come together to connect with Christ and also with each other.

Gotta go for now, gotta finish writing that new series and get ready for some building renovations! [just a hint before I go...the new series is called "Bexter's Laboratory" and is a parody of a certain Cartoon Network show - wink, wink]

BTW - lady who works in the curriculum department at Family Bookstore thinks I'm "adventurous" for writing our own curriculum...by the look on her face that could've been code for
"c-r-a-z-y". [and it very well might be: code or crazy, sometimes you just hafta be a little crazy to attempt something that is new, different, against the norm...]

Be Blessed :)

Prince Caspian or The Return of Aslan?

So, I got to see the new Narnia movie last weekend and there are two things that impacted me greatly...so much so that I can’t seem to get them off my mind. [Don’t worry, for those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet---I won’t ruin it for you, won’t give up the plot or write a summary post of the movie]

Impact #1: Waiting for Aslan!
I found myself, throughout most of the movie, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for Aslan to return, save the kids and save the day. Since this lion parallels the lion of the tribe of Judah (a/k/a Jesus) my heart was literally beating out of my chest as I anxiously awaited the triumphant moment of his arrival, thinking about how I longed to see Jesus! As the movie progressed, I found myself obsessed with the moment of Aslan’s appearance on the movie screen and was overwhelmed with anticipation. [so much so, that I shushed my sister who was sitting next to me talking a little louder than I deemed necessary! Don't think she liked that too much.] When Aslan finally did show up, and I got to see him again[remembered him from the first movie, but this was his first appearance in this movie!]… all I can say is “WOW” and that I wish I’d had some tissues [my jacket sleeve had to suffice].

As I thought about how much I was looking forward to seeing Aslan again, and how I spent so much time during my movie-watching-experience anxiously awaiting his appearance, I began to ask myself the following questions:
-Am I living my life in anticipation of the return of the King?
-When He does come back, will He find me busy about the Father’s business?
-Will I be doing everything I can do to let people know about Him?

Bottom line: if I do live my life in as much anticipation as I felt during the movie, I should be on a mission – daily. When Jesus comes back, that’s it. I want to be ready and I want those who don’t know Him to come on in to the family before it’s too late.

Impact #2: Wake up, sleeping friends!
When Aslan did show up on the scene, he spent a few moments reconnecting with Lucy and then he helped her to fulfill her mission. She had gone (by herself) deep into the woods to wake up her friends, the trees, who no longer talked, moved or danced because they had retreated so deep into themselves that they were in a deep slumber. Aslan knew Lucy’s mission was to wake up the trees, so he said “now it’s time to wake up your friends” and with a loud roar successfully accomplished the mission. The trees came alive and started moving again. [I’ll stop here with the trees & leave the rest to the movie, again – don’t wanna ruin it for those who haven’t seen the movie yet!] It took Aslan’s power to wake the dead, but it also took Lucy’s step of faith to go to the trees with the message that it is now time to wake up...she was so concerned that they were “asleep” that she took it upon herself to try to go and wake them up.

As I watched the trees uproot and begin to move, I began to think about the people (all my “friends”) who have retreated so deep into themselves that they are not alive in Christ. Either they don't know Him, or they once knew Him but have tuned out His voice and have hardened their hearts without Him.

Bottom Line: It does take Him to wake them up, but it also takes us to care enough about our lost friends to go to them and try to wake them up. All we have to do is to take a step of faith and take the message of Christ to them…and He will do the rest.

Wow, powerful stuff! So what about you…
What are you doing as you anticipate His return?
Are you one of the lost people who is asleep and needs to wake up? Or
Are you going to your lost friends to bring them the message that it’s time to wake up?

BTW, I know the movie was all about "Prince Caspian" but for me, I think the title of the movie should've been "The Return of Aslan!"

P.S. I didn't read the Narnia series as a kid, or as an adult, and now I'm wishing I had!

Cheese or Pepperoni?

So, as I was looking over some Bible stories to include in our upcoming series [we’re attempting to write our own curriculum…for the first time EVER!] I ran across the very well-known story of Mary & Martha from Luke 10: 38-42.

As I read and reflected on this story, that I’ve heard so many times before, I began to think about where I am (at this very moment) in my relationship with Jesus. If I got a phone call from Jesus saying that he was on his way to my house and would be there in just a bit, would I freak out (like I normally do when an unexpected guest stops by) or would I be ready to greet Him at the door and invite Him for some good QT together?

Which reminded me of something that happened to me not too long ago…

It was the middle of the night, when my phone rang and I answered it to find on the other end of the line a friend who was in trouble. Seems as if my friend [we used to work together and were pretty close] was in town, as she had traveled about an hour from her home to meet up with a “guy friend”. As we began our conversation, she explained that she was in trouble [looked as if her “guy friend” wasn’t who she thought he was!], as a night of drinking and carousing had steered her right into a messy situation.

When I got her call of distress, I immediately went into defense mode [you know, defend the one who is in trouble – swoop in for the rescue and save the defenseless!] and offered to come and get her. She said she just needed to get out of her situation, talk to a friend and get somewhere safe…and that was already on her way to my house. She asked if she could bunk on my couch for the rest of the evening, and of course I said “yes” and then as I hung up the phone, I even practiced in my head what I would say to her when she arrived…how I would tell her about Jesus and how He could fill the void in her life…how I would explain that He could love her like no man could, if she'd just choose Him!

As I hung up the phone, I drifted back to sleep [I guess all that practicing "THE conversation” wore me out!] and I began dreaming of our phone conversation – when suddenly I jumped up out of bed to the stark realization that our conversation was not a dream and I had an unexpected guest headed my way!

As my feet hit the floor, I went into “hyper-cleaning mode” as I realized that my toilet needed scrubbing, my bathroom floor needed mopping and I had clothes strewn all over my bedroom floor! Not to mention, I wasn’t even sure if I had clean sheets to put on my bed. [You see, I wasn’t going to allow my guest to sleep on the couch, I was going to give up my bed and sleep on the less-than-comfy couch!]

Long story short, I spent a good 15 minutes making my house appear tidy for my guest [hoping she wouldn’t look in the closet to uncover all my clothes stuffed in there!] and smelling clean with a fresh scent of Pine-Sol cleaner that was still drying on my bathroom floor. Just as I put the mop bucket into the utility room, the phone rang again and my friend was on the other end telling me that she had made amends with her “guy friend” and therefore declined my invitation to spend the night at my house saying that she decided to stay put since she was really in no shape to drive.

As I put the phone down and snuggled into my bed, with the smell of a freshly “cleaned” house in my nostrils, I thought to myself “whew, that was close!” and decided that I’d better be more conscious of my house-cleaning duties (or lack thereof) just in case a situation like this one were to arise again in the future. [BTW, that was a short-lived decision, let’s just say you’d better call first before you come over to my house – otherwise you might be shocked at what you will find when you get here! JK, sort of!]

While looking over the story of Mary and Martha, the memory of the night of my unexpected guest came back to me and as I read the story, I was even envisioning myself as Martha. In fact, as I read that she was busy preparing for Jesus’ arrival I actually saw myself in her place….hurriedly cleaning as I was on that night of my friend’s phone call.

At this point, I stopped and asked myself this question: if Jesus were to call me out of the blue (just like my friend did) to say that He was on his way to my house, then showed up at my front door…would I react like Mary or Martha?

Of course, I really want to say the right answer which is clearly “Mary”…

Mary: welcomed Him in, sat down with Him, spent quality time with Him

But in reality, I have to admit that I could possibly answer “Martha”…

Martha: probably didn’t even notice He’d come into the house (since she was clearly distracted by all the preparations that had to be made) and was fretting over how the place looked, what she would serve to Jesus, if there were clean towels in the bathroom, etc.

So, I guess I must do a “Martha-check” daily! By that, I mean that daily I must take a time-out to make sure that I don’t get caught up in all the plans like Martha did. I gotta make sure that each day I spend quality time with Jesus talking to him about what’s going on in my life, which direction He wants me to take, what He needs for me to do in my personal life and in my ministry life.

I don’t EVER want to get caught up in “doing life” and “doing ministry” that I forget the most important thing…which is JESUS. If He were to show up at my house right now, I would want to be at the point where I open the door, welcome Him in, disregard all the clutter and mess around me, shut out all the distractions and just sit with Him on the couch together…just hanging out and discussing anything and everything.

I realize that I can be at that point, if I spend time with Him daily and leave all the plans and “to-do lists” of life (which don’t even really matter in the scheme of things, anyway) on the back-burner...as they will still be there, waiting to be checked off as completed. In a nutshell, I need to make Jesus my priority and not allow the distractions of life and ministry to impede my QT with Him. I don’t want to be “so busy” that I miss an opportunity to visit with the King.

When Jesus shows up at my door, literally or figuratively, I want to be ready for Him to come on in and begin our time together – distraction free, just a time of visiting and sharing together. What about you? Do you want to have a Mary relationship or a Martha relationship with Jesus?

Next time Jesus arrives at my doorstep, I will be ready. Of course, the Southern hospitality in me would want to offer my King something to eat [can’t do much talking on an empty stomach] so I have a plan. Instead of getting all distracted from making menu plans, trying out the best recipes from the Paula Deen cookbook, searching for clean cooking utensils [jk], taking time out to cook and set the table [not to mention clean-up afterwards]…

I think I’d just order in pizza for Jesus!

That way we’d both have something good in our tummies and we could spend much more time chatting over pizza than over a fancy dinner…

So what do you think, would Jesus want cheese or pepperoni?

We're going multi-site, sort of!

Ok, so here are the first pics of our new Children’s Ministry digs. As I mentioned in a previous post, God recently gave us an awesome opportunity to rent some warehouse space (across the parking lot from our church warehouse) to use for a large group meeting place for our kids...so I guess you can say we're going multi-site in a way! As you view our new space for the first time, keep in mind that the building looks a little rough right now, so you gotta look at it through the eyes of vision.

Now - put on your vision goggles, close your eyes [not really, ‘cause with your eyes closed you can’t read anymore of this post!] and imagine this:

*a stage filled with a junior worship team leading kids in singing, dancing, motions & music
*very creative actors & storytellers who weave awesome stories that make the Bible come alive for kids and give them a message they can take back into their homes and schools
*lots of bright, bold colors
*lights, sound & media that enhance the message & the overall experience
*loving, caring adults who interact with the kids and lead them to God
*kids, kids, kids
*high energy
*a lounge area in the back for 4th & 5th graders (and the Middle Schoolers who will be using it during the week for Bible study)…complete with air hockey, pop-a-shot & foosball
*and most importantly, the one true Big, Big God – living & active in the hearts and lives of those who come to meet Him!

As we are gearing up to renovate this new CM building, I want to make sure that we keep our eyes on God and keep Him at the center of everything. My prayer is that God would be glorified in all that we do, and that His name would become famous among all people. I want to always honor & glorify Him and keep Him first in everything! May He bless our new building and teach us how to use it as a tool to bring in the lost and hurting families of Madison County. Let it all be about Him and about capturing the attention, hearts and lives of the little ones He brings to us.
-Amen!
P.S. More pics as the new building unfolds…

Outside of new CM building, looking across the parking lot from MCC


Future stage area


This space comes with some cool benefits...a restroom, utility sink and a new ride for the CM Director! [jk]


Be Blessed, Candy :)

Long time, no post!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...got busy with end of the year school stuff [state testing & portfolio scoring, yuk!] and exciting new plans for our children's ministry (CM) at church! At our last leadership team meeting, our Senior Pastor prayed for creativity for each ministry team - and God answered that prayer BIG time! All I can say is "wow" He's got some great stuff planned, including a church make-over, a new CM building (complete with stage, sound, lights, computer, etc.)and a new CM production team. That's right, we're going to have a large group production going on for the kids every Sunday starting in July which means we are going to need "all hands on deck". Please keep everything in your prayers as we embark upon this new journey. I'm so excited about everything that I'm finding it very hard to sleep & even harder to concentrate at school as we wind down the school year - which is scary when you consider that I'm in charge of 110 teens each day! Like I said, God is very creative - He has been giving me some wonderful ideas for series & curriculum writing for our new CM stage production format & has also been keeping my mind charged with thoughts of this summer's VBS. Just pray that I will be able to finish up the school year quickly so I can devote my time to the transition of our children's ministry to a new format & also pray that we, as a church, would continue to have God's hand and favor upon us. I'll get back to posting regularly next week & will have some pics of our new CM digs to share with you. Until then, Be Blessed!