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Kids Ministry

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Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Taking Care of Yourself As A Leader

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As a kids minister, it’s easy to find ourselves so busy serving others that we don’t make time to care for ourselves. As a leader, it’s imperative to take care of yourself in order to lead effectively. If you’re like me, you’ve heard these reminders before (maybe even multiple times). With the new year approaching, it’s a great time for these reminders.

Take Care of Yourself Spiritually. Your relationship with Christ is the most important relationship in your life. Make sure you’re spending time reading the Bible, praying, and memorizing Scripture. Commit to attending corporate worship. Take a day each week for your Sabbath. Don’t be so busy SERVING Christ, that you aren’t BEING with Christ.

Take Care of Yourself Physically. This reminder may seem silly to some of you, but I’ve found it’s the one people most often neglect. We find ourselves going and going and going until we literally can go no more. We must guard ourselves to prevent burnout. Get adequate sleep. Schedule time to walk or run (this is a great time to pray or memorize Scripture.) Aim for nutritious selections with your food.

Take Care of Yourself Mentally. Be a lifelong learner. Read for work and pleasure. Audio books and podcasts (Kids Ministry 101) are great to listen to while commuting, especially in traffic. Carve out time for your hobby.

Take Care of Yourself Socially. As a kids ministry leader, it’s easy to find yourself isolated from adults not in kids ministry. Seek to be a part of an adult group in your church. Better yet, one that you aren’t leading. Be a part of a network with other kids ministry leaders from your area or state. It’s imperative to connect with other kids ministry leaders who understand the challenges of kids ministry. Take time to be with family and friends.

If you’re not intentional about these aspects in your life, they won’t happen. As you reflect on this past year and look to the upcoming year, take time to reflect and pray. In what ways can you take better care of yourself in order to be a better leader in kids ministry?

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership, Ministry

4 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for January

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Why do we do this? Why do we over schedule ourselves during December to the point that when December 25th finally arrives we’re exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically? There are the church staff parties, kidmin leadership parties, preschool and children’s ministry parties, church-wide events requiring child care, school programs, and extended family gatherings. And, good luck trying to decorate your house and go Christmas shopping!

 Do you ever wonder what God thinks about all this busyness? I think Solomon provides a glimpse of God’s view through this statement: “When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11) Taken in context of the entire Bible we know that this teaching does not condemn hard work, because elsewhere in the Scriptures God speaks against laziness.

 However, I don’t believe busyness and productive hard work are synonymous. I do think that when we are unnecessarily busy, we sometimes fail to follow God’s plan and are prone to miss His will. So, here are four things we can do now to be more effective kidmin leaders in January:

Review. Spend time listing major ministry accomplishments this year. Also, write down your biggest challenges and disappointments related to kids ministry.

Reflect. Think through both lists. What led to the kids ministry successes? Why did some of your ministry efforts fail? What is God teaching you about ministry success and failure? Whom did your ministry positively impact this year?

Renew. Thank God for what He accomplished through you in ministry this year. Ask God’s forgiveness for the times you strayed from His plan. Take extended time to meditate on God’s Word. (Note: don’t try to cram your annual Bible reading plan into the next 24 hours!) Rest physically. Turn off your mobile devices and the TV. Take a walk. Say, “No,” to some of the Christmas parties.

Refocus. Ask God to show you what is important and what is His desire for your church’s kids ministry in 2020. Write down one or two ministry goals for the new year. Write down one or two personal aspirations. These are not resolutions. They are what you believe God wants you to focus on in the next 12 months.

Confession: I’m terrible at reviewing, reflecting, renewing, and refocusing. I’m better at reminiscing, ruminating, regretting, and reliving. But that’s not God’s will for you and me in 2020. Instead, let’s join the Apostle Paul in saying, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Encouragement, Leadership

Help! I’m a leader without a team!

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“Do only what you can do then delegate everything else.”

We often hear or read that the best leaders are the best delegators, but what if there is no one on your team to delegate to? What if you are literally the only person on staff? What if you are the only person who is tasked with thinking about your area of ministry outside of Sunday mornings? 

This is a reality for many leaders in ministries or smaller organizations. You might consider yourself a “one person show,” and the amount of work and energy needed to pull-off your ministry can be overwhelming. 

Here are five tips for navigating times when you’re feeling that pressure as a leader without a team:

  1. Check your heart and attitude. When you feel like you’re carrying a ministry or a workload all by yourself, it can be easy to grow bitter and entitled. “I should have a team like everyone else!” “I’m doing the work of 3 other people!” When you begin to feel these feelings, check your heart and attitude. Say a prayer and ask God to remove any entitlement or bitterness. Ask Him to remind you why He called you to your current position and to show you the impact you are making for His Kingdom through your hard work. Finally, sincerely thank God that you are able to be in a role that impacts the lives of others. 
  2. Seek out help and encouragement. As Christians, we know that it is not good to be alone. Even if you are the only one “on payroll” or on staff, it is vital that you seek out some help when you feel like the load is too much. Considering finding some volunteers who might have some free time during the week who can help you out for an hour or so. Don’t be afraid to ask a peer if they can spare 30 minutes to help you with a project occasionally. Find help wherever you can and always say “yes” when someone offers to help!
  3. Grow yourself. Always be challenging yourself to grow as a leader. Maybe you need to grow with organization and productivity—find resources to help you! Maybe you need to grow your creative talents—find resources to help you! Make time to read books or listen to podcasts that grow you personally. Most importantly, be sure you are growing spiritually by spending time in the Word, praying, and engaging with the Christian community. As a leader, make it a priority to intentionally help yourself by devoting some time to your own personal growth.
  4. Work hard when you work. Rest hard when you rest. Burnout is real. Burnout can come quickly, take everything you have, and spit you out on the other end exhausted. You are not meant to work 24/7 (even if you have a thousand things on your checklist that could take that long to finish.) Find ways to balance your schedule and have a healthy work schedule. When you’re at work or church, give it all you have! But when you are “off the clock” or “on vacation,” unplug from your email or notifications. Take time to recharge and fill yourself up before jumping back into work. 
  5. Communicate often and transparently with your leaders. If you’re struggling, overwhelmed, or feeling burned out because of the amount of work you do as a leader, have a conversation with your leadership as soon as possible. They may not realize the expectations that they have put on you or exactly what you deal with. It might be awkward at first, but having a great and transparent line of communication with your leadership could be the most rewarding thing as you lead. They could help you figure out solutions to issues, work through emotions you may be feeling, and could potentially make a plan to alleviate some of the demands on your plate. Be open, be honest, and (referring back to Tip 1), check your heart and approach every conversation with love and gentleness. 

While being a leader without a team is definitely hard work, I hope that these tips can help you as you navigate this incredible calling you have. Know that you are not alone and there are countless others in ministry who understand and are also working tirelessly to make the gospel known to kids and families. 

Micheal Walley serves as the LifeWay Kids Event Producer. He is a graduate of Mississippi College and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Micheal has been serving in Kids Ministry from the moment he was “promoted” out of kids ministry himself. He loves coffee, leadership, all things creative, and his wife, Anne Marie.

Encouragement, Family

5 Lessons I’m Learning as a Dad of Kids with Anxiety

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Many kids struggle with anxiety today, not a mere nervousness, but rather what can be an overwhelming and paralyzing fear. In this blog post, I share a few lessons I’m learning on how to help my own kids who struggle with anxiety in hope that they help you navigate the anxiety that might occur in your ministry.

Anxiety is an ever-present foe in my family, one which I despise. Two of my kids struggle with anxiety pretty much on a daily basis, and as their father, it destroys me to see it. Anxiety, like depression, is a word we throw around quite a bit, so let me explain what I mean, or perhaps rather what I don’t mean.

When I say my kids struggle with anxiety, I don’t mean that they worry some or that they get nervous on occasion. Oh, they do worry and get nervous, but it’s much more than that. For most of us, we can control those feelings. We can make sense of them and keep them in proportion. But my kids can’t. Their anxiety overwhelms them. It plagues their minds and crushes their hearts. That’s why I say they struggle with anxiety. They don’t want to be anxious and they try to fight against it, but it is a battle they often lose. They don’t just have anxiety; anxiety has them.

For my family, we see anxiety manifest itself in so many ways: going to school, being in new situations, experiencing changes in our routine, knowing where mom is, and even seeing a friend in the park. Handling these episodes of anxiety is challenging enough for me, let alone knowing how to help my kids during them. I tend not to be a worrier, so it’s hard for me to relate with what they are experiencing. Plus, I’m a problem-solver; I want to fix what is “broken” so I often come at these episodes from that unrealistic posture. Add to the mix that I am a selfish sinner who often lacks the grace and patience my kids need and deserve, and it is a formula of failure more than one of success.

But in God’s kindness, He is teaching me—ever so slowly—how to support my kids during and through their anxiety. Here are five lessons He’s driving into me:

1. Knowing what not to say matters … greatly. We mean well, but often our desire to say something outweighs the wisdom of what we actually say. The result is that we can offer what comes across as platitudes. I’ve told my kids, “don’t worry,” but I can see how that rings hollow. Telling them not to worry, as if they can but are choosing not to, just doesn’t help. In that moment they cannot not worry. Another one I’ve said is, “everything is OK.” While I know that to be true, my kids don’t feel that truth in the moment. Rather, it’s better for me to acknowledge their struggle. Acknowledge that what they’re experiencing is difficult and let them know I’m sorry they are experiencing it, but I will be with them during it and through it. “This stinks. I’m so sorry you are feeling this right now. I’m here with you. We will get through it.” 

Likewise, be careful about quoting Bible passages, such as Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:6-7, or 1 Peter 5:7, as if a kid struggling with anxiety only needs to understand and believe these verses to be OK. Yes, the gospel is the ultimate answer for all that is broken in the world, but just as we wouldn’t quote Psalm 103:3 instead of giving penicillin to a child with pneumonia, we shouldn’t only give Bible verses to our kids. Rather, we want to remind our kids of God’s sovereign power and His love for them. We want to encourage our kids that the gospel says that in Christ, they are fully loved and accepted by God, no matter what—even if they might feel like a failure because of their worries and doubts. Give them life through God’s Word, not potential, albeit accidental, condemnation. 

2. Patience is not a virtue; patience is a necessity. Perhaps my greatest struggle with my kids’ anxiety is my lack of patience. It’s actually a problem for me in general, but when it comes to helping kids navigate anxiety, patience is not a virtue, it’s a must. So the best thing for us to do is to pray up. Remind ourselves that the kid doesn’t want to be anxious—it’s not a choice. Ask God to help frustration give way to compassion. Step away for a minute if possible and needed. Getting frustrated, or even mad as I have done at times, doesn’t help anyone—you, or especially the kid. 

3. Find and Encourage Tools that Help. My kids have been helped a great deal with tools taught or given to them by counselors. Perhaps it is saying something or focusing thoughts on something. Or perhaps it is squeezing a stress ball. Having tools to use can greatly help a child experiencing anxiety, but there may be times when the anxiety is so severe, it’s difficult to even get the kid to use those tools. Be ready for that. For me, it only adds to my frustration, so I need to be mentally and spiritually ready to help my kids help themselves when they refuse to use the tools they have been given. The flip side of this is that a kid who has found tools that work can provide help and encouragement to others. We have seen this with our kids helping one another when one is struggling and it is a beautiful reminder of God’s kindness to use any bad for His glory (see Gen 50:20).  

4. Routines Give Comfort. The best way to help with anxiety is to help your kid proactively. One of the best methods I have found is to create and guard routines as much as possible. For my kids, new and different prompt panic. The fear of the unknown is very real for them. As a result, we try to guard our family routine as much as we can. Comfortable, familiar rhythms are a balm on the mind and heart of a child who struggles with anxiety. But there will be times when new situations cannot, and should not, be avoided. Prepare your kid for the upcoming event by reviewing the schedule, talking about specific areas that might prompt anxiety, and planning on what tools would be most helpful.

5. Lighten the load. In light of the last tip, do what you can to lighten the load. Keep life as consistent and simple as possible. This means saying “no” to plenty of things, even good things. For our family, this might mean abstaining from various one-time events that pop up and trying to protect our daily schedule as best as we can (such as dinner time and bedtime). In the classroom, this might mean being extra careful about changing your routine, and when you do, giving any kids who struggle with anxiety plenty of advance notice. Talk them through exactly what will be happening … and be ready to have that conversation more than just once!

Brian Dembowczyk is the managing editor for The Gospel Project. He served in local church ministry for over 16 years before coming to LifeWay. Brian earned an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his family live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Encouragement

Setting Your GPS for Ministry

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The Day 5 Bible study for this summer’s In The Wild VBS highlighted the account of two disciples who encountered the living, breathing, resurrected Jesus as they walked along the road on their way to Emmaus. The two disciples had expected that He was the Redeemer, but they had not expected that He would die and be buried. In the midst of their grief and confusion, there came the news that the tomb had been found empty. They didn’t know what to do with all of this. So, as they went along their way, they tried to make sense of it all. That’s when Jesus quietly walked up and discreetly entered into their conversation, but they didn’t recognize Him. He listened to their foolishness, and then He spoke God’s wisdom. 

“He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:25-27

It strikes me that all too often we as followers of Jesus and leaders in ministry spend a lot of time talking about Jesus as we go along our way—sometimes even arguing and debating about the things of God and of the faith—but if we are honest, we really don’t expect Him to show up where we are and speak to us. I’m afraid that even if He did, we might be so wrapped up in our own thoughts and opinions and fears and worries and aspirations and hurts and hopes and disappointments that we might not recognize Him when He stood right next to us at the grocery store, or at the ball field, or at the coffee shop. 

Here are a few takeaways for today:

1) You are not who you are by accident and you are not where you are by accident. The Almighty God of heaven has a purpose and a plan for your path. He is with you on whatever road you are walking down today. Whether you are driving across town, or flying across the country, He put you on the roads you are on, He directs your steps and He is present even in the mundane.

2) We need to open our eyes and ears to see and hear Jesus, not merely in the dramatic mountain-top moments, but in the everyday.

3) Guys, it’s all about Jesus. All of it points to Him. Let’s not miss this! Our hope for life, both now and for eternity is only in Jesus and through His work to defeat sin and death so that we might have salvation in Him. He is our GPS as we navigate the road of life. We need to be faithful to listen to what He says, to follow where He leads and to remind everyone we influence that it’s all about Him.

Chuck Peters is Director of Operations for LifeWay Kids. A graduate of Columbia Bible College, Chuck has served vocationally & voluntarily in Student and Children’s Ministry for many years



Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Teaching Kids

Talking to Kids During Times of Crisis

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NOTE FROM CHUCK PETERS: The horrific attacks that took place in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio last week remind us that we live in a fallen and sinful world that desperately needs Jesus. Incidents like these can be traumatizing to children and can cause them to ask deep and difficult questions of their parents and at church. As leaders, we need to be prepared to help kids process events like this and cope with their feelings in a healthy way. 

Bill Emeott wrote the following article a couple of years ago after another tragic incident. The wisdom that he shared then is worth sharing again now. I pray that these words of advice help you as you have an opportunity to interact with the kids in your care.

Most young kids probably aren’t even aware of the tragedies that happened last week, thankfully. In this situation, ignorance may be the best plan. I suspect they’ll hear things…and you should be ready to have meaningful conversations, but I would advise being careful about the media exposure and adult conversations that you allow your kids to be exposed to over the next few days. 

When dealing with older kids, you’ll need a plan. Below are some ideas that might help you and the parents you serve as they deal with their children during this crisis. 

Be Sensitive: I believe that God gives us a sense, a tug… the Holy Spirit… that leads us when we’re careful to listen.  Be especially sensitive to His guidance during tragedy and crisis. Beg Him to lead you as you offer advice and comfort. He wants you to be successful. He wants you to “say the right thing.” Start with prayer.

Be Talkative: Talk with your children. Include them, when appropriate, in family discussions regarding the crisis. Find opportunities to talk to your child about the situation (around the dinner table, when “tucking” in your child for bed, in the car while driving to school). Most children are talkative by nature. Take advantage of this time to share and talk.

Be Honest: Tell the truth. Don’t deny that something bad has happened. Be honest with yourself.  Recognize your own feelings. Understand that you have feelings regarding this crisis. Know how you feel and understand that your feelings play a part in shaping your child’s feelings.

Be Respectful: Ask your child how he/she feels about the crisis and be respectful of his/her feelings. Realize that their feelings are real and respect their feelings. Give your child permission to feel the feelings that they have.

Be Age-Appropriate: Each child develops at different rates. You know your child and their level of understanding. Some guidelines to follow might include the avoidance of euphemisms and complicated explanations. Answer questions asked but be careful not to overload your child with too much information. If they want to know and you’ve created an atmosphere of freedom to ask, they will!

Be Reassuring: Reassure your children that it’s going to be okay. Assure them that they are safe. Many children may begin to fear leaving your presence. Honestly assure them that their feelings are important and that you and those to whom you entrust them are considering their safety. If you’re visually frightened, your child is likely to assume your fears.

Be Hopeful:  Support your child as they work through the emotions of this crisis. Expect them to be concerned but offer them the hope that we have as Christians. Explain that God is in control. He can use this crisis for His good. We may not understand His ways but we can trust His heart. Pray with your child. Teach them to seek God for their strength, especially in crisis.  Allow this time to grow them as followers of Jesus.

If you are looking for additional resources, we recommend the following:

From the team at Kids Ministry 101:

Jana Magruder on talking to kids

4 Ways to Talk to Kids about Troubling Times

Landry Holmes on teaching them about God’s help

Help Kids Know Where Their Help Comes From

Guest blogger Linda Ranson Jacobs about grief and tragedy

Grief in Times of Crisis

From other trusted Christian counselors, pediatricians, and school counselors:

American School Counselors Association

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/professional-development/learn-more/shooting-resources

American Academy of Pediatrics Parent Site

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Talking-To-Children-About-Tragedies-and-Other-News-Events.aspx

We hope these resources will help equip you to answer questions and minister to your child in times of crisis. Allow this time to bring you closer to Him as your Deliverer and Savior. Allow God to use this time to bring you closer as a family.  Use these teachable moments to demonstrate that the faith we teach is real.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

When Leadership is Followership

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Are you a leader or a follower? The correct answer is, “Yes.” Sometimes God calls us to lead, and at other times God calls us to follow. Knowing the difference is key to being an effective preschool and/or children’s ministry leader. 

  • Recognize that everyone has a leader. You may lead a paid staff and/or a group of volunteers. However, your immediate supervisor is your leader whether you’re a volunteer or on the church payroll. And your supervisor is under the authority of his/her leader. To take this concept to its logical conclusion the only church leader not under the authority of someone else is Jesus, the head of the church. (See Ephesians 4:15-16).
  • Adapt your role to the situation. When you’re in a church staff meeting you are probably a follower unless you’re the senior or executive pastor. You will want to yield to the authority over you, and when you disagree you can do so with love and Christlike deference to your leader. (See Romans 12:3-8,10).
  • Step back and let others lead. As a leader of people, I have to remind myself that I don’t always have to be in charge. I learned this from a colleague who models followership. When he asks someone to coordinate the setup and take-down of an event, my friend places himself under the authority of that individual. If you assign a volunteer to coordinate a KidMin event at church, then empower that person to tell you what to do. This simple, yet difficult act is what Jesus instructed us to do when He washed His disciples’ feet. (See John 13:13-15.)

Young children are prone to exclaim, “You’re not the boss of me!” Sometimes as adults we think the same thing. Nevertheless, in reality, every KidMin leader is a follower. Whom are you following? Are you modeling followership to the people you lead?

The Bible says to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5) Volunteers will more likely continue to follow a leader who is also a humble follower than someone who acts like the boss of everyone.

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher.  Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of three adorable grandbabies.

Encouragement, Fun, Kids Ministry, Sunday School
Encouragement, Family Ministry, Kids Ministry, Leadership

Be Positive: In Leadership, Attitude is Everything

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Have you ever been in a confined space with someone who is clearly sick? The worst example I can think of is a crowded flight. You know how it goes. You board the full-flight plane and squeeze your way into seat B; the middle seat. You are squished between two big dudes in A and C and they are both hogging the armrests (ugh). You haven’t started to taxi and you are already feeling claustrophobic. You reach up and twist open that tiny air vent over your head to try to at least get a little air. That’s when you hear it. HACKKK! AAACK! WHUARRF! Someone on the flight is coughing up a lung. The pervasive echoes of their phlegmy expulsions make it difficult to tell exactly where the germ-spreader is seated, but you suddenly become acutely aware that it really doesn’t matter: the very same vent that moments ago brought you a sense of relief is funneling the stale recirculated air of the enclosed cabin right onto your face. The very same air that Mr. Hacky Hackerson is poisoning with his expectorations. You try pulling up the neck of your undershirt to cover your nose and mouth like a makeshift SARS mask, but you realize that resistance is futile. Within this closed environment, everyone on board is going to catch whatever the contagious person has.

This story is meant to do more than merely make you uncomfortable. There’s a powerful principle here that we need to understand as leaders in ministry. Are you ready? Here it is: Whatever you have is contagious. While you are (hopefully) not literally coughing on the people you lead, in a figurative sense you spread your DNA onto the people you lead every time you interact. The question is: what will they catch as a result of their exposure to you?  

It is important for leaders to acknowledge that our attitudes, opinions, moods, values, and work ethic are contagious. We need to choose to vaccinate ourselves against carrying and spreading negative, sickly, poisonous perspectives into our culture. While some people are more naturally inclined towards a sense of positivity than others, we are responsible to maintain a healthy mental, spiritual, and emotional perspective on our ministries and ministry teams.

Don’t be a grouch. Kids ministry can be the most exciting and enjoyable place to serve and minister, but every ministry takes on the tone that is set by its leader. Determine to be positive, and set an expectation of joy in your work and service. People love a joyful leader and are drawn to want to be part of whatever they are doing. On the contrary, people reject negative leadership and avoid following leaders who are not pleasant to be around. Your attitude is a choice. Choose a positive one.

Be careful who you grumble to. It can be easy for leaders (even those who are predominantly positive) to inappropriately voice complaints and disappointments to people on their teams (and beyond). Wise leaders take care to keep criticisms private so they do not taint the opinions of those who do not need to hear them. It is wise to maintain a few close friends and advisors that you can go to with your struggles. It is not a good idea to air your grievances publicly.

Attitude is everything. At the end of the day, the attitude that you choose to exhibit will influence everyone around you. Lamentations 3 teaches us to look for hope through God’s mercy. Lamentations 3:40-41 challenges us to check our hearts and, if necessary, change our attitudes, “Let us examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.”

May we be faithful to maintain healthy hearts so that we may infect the people we lead with hearts that revere God’s Word, love His Son, and encourage others to do the same.

Chuck Peters is Director of Operations for LifeWay Kids. A graduate of Columbia Bible College, Chuck has served vocationally & voluntarily in Student and Children’s Ministry for many years.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

What’s in Your Hand?

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Quit worrying about whatever it is that you think you lack.

There’s something about human nature that causes us to want things that we don’t have and to devalue or disregard all of the things that we do have. Ecclesiastes 1:8 reminds us that the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. There is always something new to be desired or something next to be sought after. It can be easy for us as ministry leaders to be discouraged by what we don’t have and to pine for things that we wish we had. This can turn into ‘if only’ longings that can sound something like this:

“We could have such an amazing kids ministry and reach so many kids in the community if only …”

We each fill in the if only in our own ways. If only we had a gym. If only we had a better playground. If only we had a cooler kids space. If only we had more volunteers. If only we had more budget. Living in the depths of your ‘if onlies’ can be paralyzing. It can sap your strength and crush your spirit. Aren’t we blessed to serve a great God who heals paralytics and casts out false spirits? We need to remember that we belong to a God whose strength is made perfect in our weakness and who lifts up the downcast. All things are possible through Him. He is above and beyond our circumstances and He has promised to complete the good works that He has begun in us.

For all of my fellow ‘if only’ leaders out there, let me remind you of the account of one of our own kind. In Exodus 3 and 4 we find Moses tending flocks in the desert. He has made mistakes. He fled to the desert after killing an Egyptian who was harsh to one of his Hebrew brothers. You remember what happened next. One day he looked up and saw a bush that was burning. But this was a weird bush. While it burned it wasn’t consumed. The Lord spoke to Moses from the bush. God told him to take off his shoes. God told him His name. And God called him to a mission: to go to Pharaoh and tell the king to let God’s people go. Do you remember how Moses responded to this miraculous commissioning? He disqualifies himself. Moses tells God that He has the wrong guy. “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent” “my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” Moses wants God to pick somebody else. Anyone else. Maybe you’ve heard yourself making similar excuses. I can’t do that. I don’t have what I need. I don’t have what it takes. But God reminds Moses of a bigger truth: “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”

I love the question that God asks Moses in Exodus 4:2. “The Lord asked him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied.” —I can picture Moses looking at the stick he was holding. ‘This thing? It’s just a stick.’ Here’s Moses. He was raised in a royal palace as the adoptive son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He had every advantage. He was lavished with luxury. Now he is living in the hot dusty desert and all he has is a stick.—But, wait! Don’t miss what happens next! God instructs Moses to take the one thing that he has—his staff—and throw it on the ground. When he does it becomes a snake! Then God tells him to pick it up (by the tail) and it becomes his stick again. The point is not that this was a miraculous or magical stick. The point is that even an ordinary broken-off branch can be used for wondrous things when it is in the hands of one who is called and equipped by God. God used that very same stick all through Exodus. God used it as a lesson for Moses in the desert. God used it to display His power to Pharaoh. God used it when He parted the Red Sea.

God is not limited by what we do not have!!! While Moses was focussed on the ability that he lacked, God demonstrated that He already provided everything Moses needed. All Moses had to do was give it to God and follow His instructions. So, quit worrying about whatever it is that you think you lack. Whether ability, support, or resources. Offer to God whatever it is that you already have in your hand and watch Him do incredible things.  

Chuck Peters is Director of Operations for LifeWay Kids. A graduate of Columbia Bible College, Chuck has served vocationally & voluntarily in Student and Children’s Ministry for many years.

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