Children's Ministry

I was supposed to be the Kids' City worship leader at our West Campus this weekend. It was no sweat because it was only two songs that I already know and only a few other lines to memorize. But then 24 hours before the service I find out that the other person scheduled to lead the kids' service with me backed out. This was a problem on several levels. First, his part was two typed pages long. Second, his part was to be a character actor--a secret agent who came to learn his mission. Third, did I mention he dropped out 24 hours before the service?

So which is harder...finding a replacement worship leader who could lead two easy songs or finding a replacement secret agent who could memorize 2 pages of text in less than a day? These are the times I don't like being the "buck stops here" Director of a ministry. So despite the fact that I am not an actor and definitely don't have the secret agent mystique (which is odd since I've seen every episode of Alias except the season 4 premier), I became the woman of mystery.

But that was not the only hurdle this weekend. We couldn't find the replacement worship leader. No one was available. So the brand new Campus Director who had never done it before had to step in (that whole "buck stops here" thing again). Then I get a call right before I'm leaving for the church and am informed that for some reason the powercord to the laptop we use is missing and the computer is dead. Then it took me 15 minutes to hang up one stage prop sign...fish wire is not your friend. Then the scheduled tech person is late (fortunately the Campus Director's husband was there and stepped in to run tech--that whole "the buck stops here by association" thing). Then 10 minutes before the service the preschool leader informs me that she is missing the crown...an essential prop to her Bible story. So as I'm standing greeting families at the Welcome Table (because right now we don't have anyone volunteering to man the welcome table), I am cutting a paper crown out of two pieces of yellow construction paper (btw...that crown was pretty darn impressive).

As an aside...as I'm cutting the yellow crown I overhear a parent say, "Yeah, they asked me to sub in the toddler room tonight so I'll be in there. You know how that goes. They ask you once and then they'll want you to do it all the time." She then proceeded to check her elementary age kid into Kids' City...something she does all the time. I wanted to slap her. But again that being the Director of the ministry thing seemed to get in the way. Later in the service we had a blowout in the toddler room. All I heard was "coming out the top of her diaper." Guess we got our money's worth out of that sub tonight. Was that God's justice? I'm not sure, but thank goodness the buck didn't stop with me there!

So this is Children's Ministry. But it's only one side of it. There's the part where the kids are smiling and dancing around as the new Campus Director leads them in worship. There's the part where the preschool children are completely engrossed in the Bible story (I bet it was that impressive crown). There's the part where a woman tells you that stepping up to serve in Kids' City changed her life. And there's the part where a 3rd grade girl comes up to you after the service and says, "I loved you as the Secret Agent."

Comments

[shabbychic]

ok, i am supposed to be in bed sleeping now....remember, i am on eastern time now....but, instead, i am laughing as I read your post!! sorry for your hard morning--but thanks for making me laugh.i will state the obvious: "Ministry is hard!"Ministering to kids is harder....Today was our "promotion Sunday" at church....and Jason is over the Christian Education from "Infants--College"---just a "small" scope of the entire congregation...don't you think???anyways....i felt like i was TOTALLY THERE with you as i read your post....:)

[Tammy]

Ahh... "promotion Sunday." Should be renamed "chaos Sunday" don't you think? Funny how something that was so exciting as a kid is so dreaded by church ministry staff! Jason has quite a spectrum of ages. I can't imagine having to oversee all of that!

[Jessie]

All I can say is that if your kids are excited about promotion Sunday, you are doing a fantastic job. My promotion Sundays (well,the few my sporatic attendance allowed) were sooooo boring. You stood in front of the congregation, the pastor said a bunch of things you didn't understand, and then after church old ladies in strong perfume would dot over you, all the while your pantyhose is itching and boys are snapping your training bra. I guess if I actually understood the significance of it all - or actually did anything to earn it, I might have thought differently. Thank you for all your hardwork! I know, despite the occasional admiration of a secret agent, it can be a thankless job.

[Steph H.]

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I'm the administrative assistant for our children's minister so I was so right there with you when I read your blog. This past Sunday was our promotion day, and not only did we change our entire security/nametag system for our kids this fall (all my job), we also knocked out walls in our sanctuary this past few weeks, thus obliterating our preschool Sunday school rooms. So yeah there was a little chaos getting ready for it all. It is hard work, but it is rewarding and exciting. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

Ha ha! Hang in there. Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless... or necessarily easy. God bless!