Posted on September 18, 2009 - by rfrank

It’s not just for boy scouts

Everyone knows the Boy Scout motto: Always be prepared. I was reminded last night that it’s not just for the scouts. Thursday night is Awana night at my church. I don’t know how many kids we had – over 200 I’m sure. Last night was also the kick off for our church missions conference. This means we had a guest missionary speaker for the kids. That’s all good and fine – if they show up.

Ten minutes before lesson time with the first batch of kids, I asked, “Is the missionary here?” and I got blank stares and a few shrugs. The Awana Commander said, “Not yet, he’s running late,” and she gave me the look. You know, the look that screamed, “I need super-children’s-pastor!” I put it in high gear knowing I had to put something together fast. I sprinted out the door over to the office building. It had been a few years since I’ve used the Cross Trick and there was a brand new one in my office. Running back to the church, Nicodemus entered my mind. Where did he come from? I don’t know. So I had the cross trick, the story of Nicodemus, now I needed a few visuals. Before sprinting upstairs, I whipped into the church nursery where I grabbed a baby doll, diaper, and bottle. I now had my opening to get the kids thinking about being a baby again. As I started upstairs, the thought hit me, “What if I need to stretch the clock?” This meant running down two flights of stairs to the resource room where I grabbed a bucket of candy for a last minute game.

I finally made it back to the third floor and with three minutes on the clock started setting up the Cross Trick and all my props. I was set up with a few seconds left to do a rapid review of John 3. The kids were about to walk it the room and guess what? The missionary showed up. I have to admit, I love missionaries but it took an extra dose of grace last night. It would have helped had he apologized or shown any remorse for the pain he had put me through, but I showed grace and welcomed him to my children’s ministry anyway with somewhat loving arms.

The end of the story? I packed up my stuff, hit the resource room and got a stroke of genius. I found a nice little tub that wasn’t being used and filled it with the cross trick supplies, the baby visuals, some cool little trinkets for prizes, and a Gideon New Testament. I scratched down some of my notes on an index card and placed it in the Bible. Now I have a ready-to-go lesson the next time “I’m the guy” with 10 minutes to prepare.

And no, this is not me in the picture.