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2020-02-26 to 28 Pictures: Charleston, South Carolina

One of the few upsides of having to cancel our Spring Break trip last March at the onset of the pandemic is that we are "stuck" with a rather large voucher from one of those discount airlines. Last autumn, Tricia and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia and had a...

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

John 3:16 is one of the most well known and reassuring verses in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16 (NIV) The following is a little craft I threw...

2020-03-01 Pictures: Lyndsey’s College Signing Day

This afternoon Lyndsey made it official, signing her letter of intent to play college basketball for the Hiram College Terriers starting next year. While she made the decision and committed to Hiram before Christmas, she has been looking forward to this day since her...

2020-02-13 Pictures: Lyndsey’s 18th Birthday

I am little behind on posting photos. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weekends ago when we got a chance to celebrate Lyndsey's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe that my little girl is officially an adult. It was nice to have the family all back...

What is DOCTRINE?

Introduction I love working with kids, and I love teaching them hard concepts in ways they can understand. To that end, for years I have been working on a dictionary of theological terms for kids and teens. In sharing those definitions, there seemed no better place to...

If You Want It Done Right

In all likelihood, you know how the phrase ends: If you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF! This is a bit of a mantra for me, and frankly, something that I struggle with daily both in leadership and in my Christian walk.  In theory, this is easy to accept. ...

What Does God Hate?

This is the little and humble post that started it all. I happened to be reading through my Bible, and this passage impacted me so much that I posted a little blurb about it on Facebook. That was July 28, 2008, and I've been writing and sharing ever since. (Maybe...

More than Just a Volunteer

A while back, I made myself a promise.  I resolved that I would no longer refer to myself as “just a volunteer” when people asked me what my role was in Children’s Ministry.

You see, when people ask me what I do, I don’t say “I’m an accountant.”  First of all, that sounds really boring.  Even as I write this, I struggle to keep my eyes open.  Secondly, whenever I do tell people that they ask for help with their taxes.  I don’t like taxes.  I don’t do taxes.  I usually struggle to get my own taxes done on time.

So, when people ask me what I do, I tell them, “I work with children.”  If they ask how or what it is I do with children, that opens the door for me to talk to them about my passion for children’s ministry.  But, the truth of the matter is, I am a volunteer.  I am not a full-time Children’s Pastor or Children’s Ministry Director.  That is not what God has called me to do. He has call me to volunteer to work with kids my church’s children’s ministry.  I work in ministering to children of divorce, I teach a large group of kids, I lead a small groups, I run games, I work in VBS, and I do whatever else I can to help.

For a long time, this didn’t “seem like enough” to me.  When I decided to start blogging, I naturally started writing about the things that I liked to talk about.  Those were God, my family and children’s ministry.  Then something funny and quite unexpected happened.  People started to respond.  People started to ask me questions about children’s ministry – can you imagine?  I started to have conversations with people about children’s ministry.  People started to send me children’s ministry products to review for the blog.  I enjoyed, and still enjoy, every moment of it.  There was, however, a part of me that felt a little bit like an imposter.  Who was I to talk about children’s ministry?  My experiences paled in comparison to the people I was talking to, collaborating with, and learning from who oversee what seems like an entire empire of children’s ministries.   What could I offer to these people?  What could I possibly have to say that would help, inspire or guide those who do so much more than me when in comes to children’s ministry?  After all, I was “just a volunteer.”

Then, in a moment of clarity that could only have come from God, I realized/remembered something.  The way we are, and what we do, is no mistake.  God made us exactly the way he wants us, and he put us exactly where we are supposed to be.  When I started writing and blogging, I did not do it to influence other people.  I did it to record my thoughts.  God prompted me to put myself out there.  I didn’t know why at the time, but figured being obedient to God is a good thing and maybe there was an outside chance that out of 7 billion people on this planet that someone might find what I was writing to be useful.  My job was to put it out there and let God use it however He sees fit.  Whether I am a volunteer or a guru does not matter to God.

So, I am a volunteer, but I am not JUST a volunteer.  God has graced me with a love for his children and a passion to share his love with them.   He has blessed me with an all consuming desire to see kids enter into his kingdom and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  He has tasked me with the responsibility and joy of helping kids to develop a biblical worldview.  That is nothing to feel inadequate about.  It is an awesome opportunity and responsibility to be a part of God’s plan, and I am where God has put me.  I am working for my Heavenly Father who gives me every good thing.  I am a servant of God, and that makes me a whole lot more than “just a volunteer.”

UPDATE: This post was originally written in November of 2013. Over the last eight years, God has led me on a journey that has taken me out of day-to-day children’s ministry and into ministering to hurting kids who have faced all sorts of difficulties in their lives. While the volunteer work I am doing looks different these days, the principle remains the same. So, no matter what you are doing for God’s kids, remember that is you are following God’s lead in your life, you will never be “just a volunteer.”

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