God
I am a follower of Christ. Far from a burden, I enjoy reading, studying and constantly learning more about God and the Bible. I also enjoy teaching others (particularly kids) what I have learned. I share some of my thoughts and insights here.
Kids
I love kids! I love my own kids, and I love working with other people’s kids. A big part of my ministry is working with hurting kids. This section includes articles about kids and working with kids including parenting, children’s ministry, child development and more.
Us
My work with hurting kids has led me to be interested in emotions, coping, and more generally the human mind. In addition, I sometimes venture into areas of who and where we are as a society and offer my two cents on various topics. You’ll find it all here!
Photos
In the last few years, I have taken up photography as a hobby. I am far from a professional, but I do enjoy fooling around and sharing my photos with others. Here you’ll find lots of pictures of sports, my family, the dogs and anything else I find interesting.
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”
My name is Wayne Stocks (thus the name of the site). I am a sinner saved by grace. Tricia and I have been married for going on 22 years now and are the proud parents of four kids (three boys and one girl). We currently have four dogs roaming around as well, but over the years we have housed rabbits, hamsters, fish, lizards, chickens, ducks, guinea pigs (and I’m sure other animals I can’t even remember) here at the Stocks zoo.
I did not grow up in the church, but am grateful for two great friends who invited me to a service in 2003 that would ultimately change not only my beliefs but the trajectory of my life. Over the last 18 years or so, I have had the pleasure of volunteering in children’s ministry, teaching kids, writing lessons, starting my own ministry (see Hope 4 Hurting Kids) and teaching other volunteers how to minister to hurting kids.
I am accountant by trade and spend my days doing consulting work. Between that and ministry, I don’t have a lot of extra time, but I spend most of my “spare time” running around to various kids’ sporting events. I recently took up photography as a serious hobby which has been a great outlet for my creative side.
You can find more about me here, and my complete testimony here if you’re interested.
This blog started with a little article in July of 2008 with a post on Facebook (back when Facebook had a blog feature). From there, it shifted to WordPress.com where it was cleverly named “Wayne’s World.” A while later, I moved it to a self-hosted site less cleverly named “Wayne’s Random Thoughts.” After some good natured ribbing from some other Children’s Ministry bloggers about that lack of creativity in the name, I decided to “rebrand” once more. One of my favorite songs is “Somewhere in the Middle” by Casting Crowns. Dad was a natural fit for me, and so Dad in the Middle was born.
Like the blog though, my life and ministry has also shifted over the years. Wayne’s Random Thoughts and Dad in the Middle were both primarily focused on my volunteering in children’s ministry. Years ago though, God called me out of that ministry and into ministering to hurting and traumatized kids. The focus of my writing also shifted to those topics and most of those articles were published (and still exist) at Hope4HurtingKids.com.
Through all of the transitions in the blog and in my life, the site has remained faithfully at WayneStocks.com. As my interests have expanded, and I find myself focusing on different topics, it seemed appropriate for this relaunch to take this page back to where it first began as WayneStocks.com.
My ministry these days is focused on hurting and traumatized kids and is conducted through Hope 4 Hurting Kids. At Hope 4 Hurting Kids, our mission to help young people on their journey from hurt and trauma to hope and healing. We focus on providing resources and training to help those who work with kids and teens help them to explore and cope with their emotions. The hand in our new logo at WayneStocks.com stands for the work I do with kids. You will see at Hope 4 Hurting Kids, that the same hand is also a prominent part of that logo.
With the rebranding and relaunch of WayneStocks.com, I intend to cover some of the same topics that Hope 4 Hurting Kids deals with on this website. That said, Hope 4 Hurting Kids will continue as its own ministry and hopefully one of the leading resources on the web for helping kids deal the difficult circumstances and traumas they face.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.“
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God
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Us
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“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”
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