Not mobile data- is that what you were thinking? I have a 4G phone released this year that’s not really 4G if that says anything about how long we’ll be waiting. No, our church has a regular meeting for all church leaders. This year we had about 400…more leaders than last year attend. One church, six campuses, 15,000 churchgoers. Yes there were a lot of leaders in attendance. Our thing for this year is five Gs. Let’s see if I can remember- the literature is in the car. Growing, giving/generosity, grace, gratitude, and… Okay, four out of five isn’t bad (giving and generosity are the same g). In addition to this upcoming series, our pastor announced a revisit of a past series done about 12 years ago and a new financial drive- no specific dollar amount goal, but something else. We’ll hear more about it soon.
In other church news, I am no longer a Liferock leader but am now a 4th and 5th grade leader. Did I ever name the ministry before? Probably not, but since I have stopped blogging for the most part causing my readership to heavily dwindle, I feel it is now safe to write. Back to topic, the kids ministry decided to dump all names and just refer to the classes by grade. Gone is Rock Solid (preschool ministry) and their climbers, leapers, trekkers, sleepers, and whatnot. Now it’s just nursery 1, nursery 2, preschool 1… (ten preschool classrooms if you can believe it- remember the number of churchgoers I mentioned above…?). Likewise, the separate names for the K-3 and 4/5 ministries have been removed. I’ll learn of whatever other changes they have in store in two weeks when we have are children’s ministry meeting. What this change means is I may be the only one who has served in the complete run of Liferock. The year I started doing kid’s drama at church they had a Friday night ministry for 4th and 5th grades which I did not serve in, but they called that Life on the Rock I just learned. They didn’t change it to Liferock until the following year when they moved the program to the weekends, separating the K-5 ministry into the now current K-3 and 4/5 as referred to earlier. Now that the name has been terminated, I have served from start to finish. How many years was that? Well, my nephew was in 4th grade at the time- he may have attended once or twice. He is now the equivalent of 16th grade. That’s right- a senior at a university. That makes this, what? My 12th year? Yes, I started drama in 1998, so Liferock the following year.
A note to L & C- 4th and 5th grade are quite different from junior high, but it is a real joy to teach those grades and I am sure you will agree. Not the handful younger grades are, but not adolescents pulling away from adult authority either. A perfect age in my opinion.
Blah- 11:00, and I have to get up and drive to Chicago in the morning. I detest driving over there. 30 minutes away in no traffic, so that means over an hour to get to where I need to be. I really wish this job of mine didn’t do business in the City…
I feel for you – I don’t like driving near the city either. I used to find it nice to look at, but fears of safety have overridden that every time we have to brave the craziness to drive past the city. And I’m glad you wrote that about 4th/5th grade – I have to remember to let C know. He had his first day yesterday teaching that grade and found the kids to be quite crazy. I think he will be good with that age group, but I sympathsize with him – it’s not too far away from the youth group age we deal with on Wed nights. I wouldn’t want that; I love the differences between Sundays and Weds nights!! As for my Sunday group – it went perfectly yesterday and was incredibly fun!! I have 2nd/3rd grade girls this year, and although I was bummed about missing out on the cute 1st graders, my new class is only girls and they were so quiet and sweet that I was able to get to know all 8 of them I had yesterday – with a few returns from last year it was great to see them. Nevermind that day one had the kids making their own ice cream sundaes – it wasn’t crazy at all (for me… but poor C…). After all, what better way to sum up ‘grace’ (getting something great that you don’t deserve).
Well, that’s enough about our ministries; glad to hear yours is going well… though from my point of view, I like the old names better. But I suppose with that many people and students it would be easier for parents to track their children given the newer naming system. Great to see you blogging again – I really enjoyed reading!!
I liked the idea of the group names. It adds color and character to the groups, but what can you do? A POST from Derek! YAY!
I do find something to post about now and then. 😉
I should add that there are some wilder kids in 4th and 5th grades, especially if they (truly) have ADHD. I have had them in my groups, and in my cabins during the summer. You just need to get to know them, and get to know their parents too. Parents can be an excellent resource in handling these few more active kids. In any event, as a whole I find the age group wonderful to work with as I said.