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   March 25, 2010

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   Carl said:

   
   

   Nice!

   – Here… hold this
   – If we just lay down some plastic…
   – The forecast looks fine, I think we can let Sr. High have the gym.

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   March 25, 2010

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   Vince Hart said:

   
   

   Painfully funny! I hit each and every single one of these in my carrer.

   Hope this list of mine blesses someone.

   MY TOP 10 LIST
   by Vincent Hart
   1. Devotional time builds thick skin. Doing God’s work is hard. Doing it alone never works. Telling kids about God’s love without loving God and receiving God’s love in a daily way leaves you vulnerable.

   2. All adults are little kids in big people’s bodies. Think about what the motivation is behind something and you’ll be able to respond with grace that’ll restore instead of reacting to someone in unhealthy conflict. Allowing people to be people, and handling occasional childishness with grace will build bridges.

   3. Champion the kids. Be their cheerleader. At staff meeting, it isn’t reasonable to expect everyone else to stick up for what’s in the kids’ best interests. That’s your job. Learn to lead up, sideways, and down in order to build a healthy and balanced church that has reasonable expectations and plenty of resources for children’s ministry.

   4. Build your team. Never do ministry alone. Jesus didn’t, and neither should you. Replicate yourself in others and you’ll more than double your ministry potential to the community. Every adult you personally recruit to minister to kids doubles the number of kids you can reach.

   5. Beware of the change trap. Don’t make changes. Let your team make changes that you cast the vision for. If you’re working toward a common vision, and if the team believes in it to the point that they’ll sell it to others, you won’t fall into the pit of oops-I-changed-it-without-bringing-anyone-else-along. It’s a bummer of a place to dig out of.

   6. Do what you say and say what you do. When you lead, be verbose in the communication department. If you tell folks you’re going to paint the parking lot purple at 2 a.m., then you better be at the parking lot at 1:50 a.m. with a bucket of purple paint. If not, then you won’t have as many on the next painting trip and when you try to tell them what’s next, not as many will listen.

   7. Cast vision constantly. This isn’t baby-sitting; it’s life change! And God rewards those who get it. If people are constantly reconnected to the purpose of ministry, then they won’t get lost in the details. Tell them over and over and over and over.

   8. Invest in cards, calls, and sweat equity. Ministry is all about relationships. People need to feel God’s love. It can’t be faked or ignored. If you love on them, they come and serve.

   9. Make time for people. The people are the ministry, not the things, plans, or programs. Don’t ever let the task be more important than people. If you start to hear “I’m sorry to bother you, but…” or “If you aren’t too busy…” from your folks, you’re in a trap.

   10. Keep perspective. If you find yourself getting stressed, heading toward burnout, or losing your head because of “all the things you have to do,” then stop. Building the church of Jesus Christ is more about being than doing. Be only what God called you to be and then let God do the rest. It’s Christ’s church; let him build it through you as you enjoy his company.

   Vincent Hart
   Round Rock, Texas.

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   March 25, 2010

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   Malcolm said:

   
   

   How about this one… real deal… luckily they just hired the guy out of Bible college so he was too young & dumb to get fired… “if you kids don’t settle down, I’m going to snap your necks with the love of Jesus!”

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   March 25, 2010

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   stacey windover said:

   
   

   I had no idea the fire extinguisher would suck all the oxygen out of the room.

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   March 25, 2010

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   rfrank said:

   
   

   These are good ones guys! Don’t be surprised if they show up on Roger’s website. (coldwatercafe.com)

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