Our Elevator Pitch

Based on a suggestion from Growing Kids Ministry, we will be working over the next few months to improve this blog.  The first assignment is to create and communicate our "elevator pitch," that is, an overview of what we are trying to accomplish, which can be given in about 30 seconds.

So, what are we trying to do with this blog?  This blog exists to assist and equip parents to lead their children.  We do this by:

• Providing information about our Children's Ministry programming;
• Answering parenting questions;
• Giving links to other parenting resources; 
• Encouraging and exhorting parents to grow in Christ; 
• Sharing personal thoughts from staff members.

We would love to hear from you.  We started this blog almost 2 years ago, and we are averaging about 700-800 views per month.  While we are not, by far, the most popular blog out there, we are glad that God has given us the chance to be used by Him.

But we know that we can't rest now.  What else can we provide to assist and equip you?  What can we do to improve this blog?  A different focus?  A better name?  Let's hear your thoughts!

Engage the World

This past weekend, we had high school students from Grace Church present in our Camp Grace (1st - 4th grade) programming, about the mission trips they were involved with this past summer. These high schoolers talked about why they went on the trip, what they did, and how God grew them through this experience. They shared stories and pictures, to help the campers connect with what God did.

Why have we done this over the past few years?  For one, it helps adults, students, and children see that we are one church with a unified mission to spread the Gospel.  Second, it is a great opportunity for these students to be leaders and to be able to share what they did.  Third, this has helped our elementary-age kids grow in Christ.  We want them to grow up thinking that it's perfectly normal to go to another culture in order to demonstrate God's love through their actions and words.  (In fact, we timed this presentation to coincide with us beginning our study of the New Testament.  We learned about John the Baptist, and we feel that we are all called to tell others about Jesus, just like John the Baptist did.)

If you have a child in our Camp Grace programming, be sure to talk with them about what they learned.  Also, consider what it would look like for you to go on a mission trip (see our Culturally-Engaged webpage).  It is great when a child can hear about someone else doing missions work, but if you go, it brings it home to a much more personal level, even for them. 

To learn more about Grace Student Ministry, see their website.

Goals for Our Children: Thoughts from Titus 2

Earlier this year, I shared my thoughts about the adventure that we think God has for our family, to equip the next generation.  And I outlined our thoughts about how we might carry this out in the arenas of Family, Church, Culture, and the World.  We've been continuing to think strategically, and trying to be aware of wisdom from God in this matter.

Recently I was reading through the book of Titus.  With all these thoughts about family and children in the back of my mind, I read chapter 2 with an entire new perspective -- that is, how it applies to my family.  This is what I think God was teaching me:

1. Verse 2 applies to me as a husband and father.  I need to strive for self-control, reverence, being temperate, having faith, love, patience, and to be an example for my kids (verse 7).
2. Verse 3-4 applies to Joanna as a wife and mother.  She needs to be reverent, careful with her speech, and to teach what is good to our children.  (It also says that she shouldn't be a drunk, but I think we're safe here.)
3. Verses 5-8 give goals that we should have for our children:
1. We need to teach our sons to live wisely, to know God's truth, to not be easily tempted, and to do good deeds and have good speech.
2. We need to teach our daughter how to love her husband and children, to make good choices, to be sexually-pure, to be a homemaker (such as in this post), and to be good and kind. 

Of course, these goals must not be for worldly reasons, such as to look good to others, to make ourselves feel good, or to gain any other earthly benefit.  The main motivation to train our children must be because God saved us (see verses 11-14).  Being on God's adventure for us and and making disciples of our children are how we should respond to Him in worship.

Do you have goals for your children?  What is your motivation for those goals?

--  Joey Espinosa

Training Meetings Recap

We've had multiple training sessions over the past few weeks, where hundreds of volunteers heard our vision, learned what our expectations are, and connected with others.  Thanks to all the volunteers who participated, and especially our volunteer Coaches, who took the lead in our breakout sessions.

We also know that some people were not able to attend any of the sessions (such as those who just this week joined the Children's Ministry team).  For their sakes, and for the sake of review, here is an outline of what presented:

1. Welcome & Introduction.  And at each meeting, we gave away some recommended books, including What Did You Expect?; Different Children, Different Needs; A Gospel Primer for Christians; and StrengthsFinder 2.0.
2. Key Passages from I Corinthians
1. Chapter 3, verses 7-10 --> Paul was disheartened to hear that there was division in the church.  He reminded them that God is the source of life, and it is a blessing to be used by Him.  Only the Spirit can make us grow in holiness, though the responsibility to make an effort is on us.
2. 4:16 & 11:1 --> Paul called the church to imitate him, not that he was perfect, but that he was moving towards Christ.  Likewise, children will imitate us, so we need to grow in Christ.
3. 15:1-4 --> After rebuking the church for a number of issues (the core issue being that they were concerned for themselves instead of others), Paul reminded them of his love (calling them "brothers") and of God's love, as proven through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus.  No matter what struggles and sins are in our lives, we need to always come back to the basic message of the Gospel.
4. 15:58 --> Paul encouraged the church to stand firm and work with enthusiasm.  Though we may not always see the short-term effects or rewards, God honors any work we do for His sake.  We quoted Stacey Wieland, a volunteer on whom we put a short biography on our website.  She reminds us that, despite the fact that Children's Ministry may sometimes feel like babysitting, we "are planting a seed of faith in these children's hearts."  Discipleship is a long-term process, and the blessing for us is to be a part of what God is doing.
3. Mission & Vision
1. You can read more about our mission here.
2. We discussed the focus for our curriculum (read it here).
4. Expectations.  We expect volunteers to . . .  (read more details in our training packets)
1. Prepare for the weekend
2. Execute the programming
3. Grow for a long-term impact  
5. Other
1. You WILL have an impact for God if you serve in Children's Ministry.  The question of how big an impact is proportional to how much you grow.  You cannot lead others (including children) in a direction that you are not heading in.
2. We need you to recruit.  We have over 750 volunteers, but we are lacking in some key areas.  You have to talk to the folks you know, to share with them the blessing of being a part of an awesome work that God is doing through Grace Children's Ministry!
3. We are thankful for the huge number of men who are leading.  When men are engaged in playing, teaching, doing motions in Big Group, etc, all children (boys and girls) notice and follow.  God created men to lead.
4. We are also thankful for the number of students we have that are serving.  It gives us (staff and adult volunteers) the chance to equip two generations for a life in Christ.  For the students, it gives them a chance to submit to authority, to love, and to sacrifice for the sake of Christ.

 We're looking forward to another great year in Children's Ministry!

Favorites of 2010

With 125 blog posts in the first 6 months of 2010, we thought we'd give some of the favorite posts, as judged by individual hits and comments.  For newer readers, and if you just missed some, this also gives you the opportunity to find some older posts.  Feel free to let us know if you had other favorites that we don't list here.

By far the most popular post was our Free Book giveaway.  We gave away about 100 copies of John Piper's Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die.  It's a great book for exploring the purposes of Jesus' death on a cross.  We hope everyone who got their own copy found it to be a blessing.  If you missed the free book, you can order your own copy here. 

The most popular type of posts were related to common questions that we receive and answer.  Here are the most popular questions, judging by the activity on the blog when they were answered:

• Can My Child Take Communion?
• Can I Bring My Kids to Adult Worship?
• Why Don't We Do VBS?
• Why Parents of Young Children Should Serve in Children's Ministry

Another popular type of posts were along the lines of vision, whether for the church and our Children's Ministry programming, or for family.  These include articles regarding:

• Special Needs Ministry
• Why Does Grace Children's Ministry Exist?  The Tension, The Mission, The Call
• Posts from Pastor Joey Espinosa about shepherding his children Hannah, Elijah, and Sender
• An article about being a Preacher's Daughter triggered some responses from PK's and a former missionary.

What were your favorite posts on this blog?

Vision for Preschool Small Groups

Our Preschool Ministry (from 2 year olds to kindergarten) is our largest program during our weekend services for all of Children's & Student Ministries.  On an average weekend, we have about 350 preschoolers in Small Groups on Saturday night & Sunday morning, counting all 6 services.  Being such a large population at Grace Church, and being such a crucial phase in a child's spiritual, emotional, social, and physical development, we recently spent some time discussing and outlining our goals and vision for our Preschool Small Groups.  Here are our thoughts.

Goals.  What do we want to accomplish through Preschool Small Groups?

1. To teach who God is.  The focus of our volunteer-written curriculum for this age group is the attributes of God, and we want to teach these Biblical truths in a fun and meaningful way.
2. To model community and the value of relationships.  We intentionally use the term "Small Groups" (instead of "Sunday School" or "classes") because we want to emphasize the importance of consistent relationships, whether between children themselves or with children and their Small Group Leaders.
3. To equip and assist parents and volunteers.  This is achieved through:
• Tools, such as this blog, take-home Parent Page, Volunteer Central website, and so on.
• Opportunities to serve, to use the resources and gifts that God has given them.
• Utilizing students as helpers, which is a way to equip two generations for a life in Christ.
• Shepherding, such as through our volunteer Coaching structure.
4. To provide a safe and secure environment where children feel comfortable and parents are free to attend adult worship without distractions.

Applications.  What are some ways we are working towards achieving these goals?

1. Teaching
• We have continued to develop and revise the template we use for our Small Group Lessons, to make it easy for volunteers to use.
• Adding additional activities to the lessons, to give the leaders more than enough material to help them engage their Small Group.
• We are exploring adding questions to the lessons that help connect Big Group and Small Group times.
• One area that we know that we need to develop is with two- and three-year-olds who stay for 2 services.  These children stay in the same classroom and do the same material, which can be a little monotonous at times.  It affects a small number of children (less than 20 each week), but an area that we want to give more attention to.
2. Community
• For most areas, especially on Sunday morning on the Pelham Road campus (where we have multiple small groups per age-group), we try to group children together based on if their parents are serving; this grouping helps with moving children to and from Quest.  Furthermore, the children who come more regularly (because, of course, their parents are regular) have the great opportunity to develop deeper relationships.
• We want to communicate with parents that there is a deep and lasting value in consistent community.  Of course, children cannot control how regularly they attend their programming; for the most part, parents control the development of their children's community.  For a child who stays for two services (because his parents serve) and attends almost every weekend, he will be with his "community" twice as long and twice as often as most of our adult community groups meet.
3. Equipping
• We are continually updating our Volunteer Central web page, which gives ministry descriptions and volunteer biographies from different people each month.
• We recently revised our Parent Page, to include a summary of the crafts and Big Group skit, to go along with the Small Group lesson summary.  
• We want to regularly update our iMix, to include recent songs we sing in our Preschool Big Group time. 
4. Safety
• We have developed and readily-available Safety Plans for all 3 campuses.
• We run background checks on our regular Small Group leaders, and last year we began to run national checks, not just local.
• We have staff and volunteer Coaches who check on the rooms during the service (we have windows next to each door in our buildings to allow full view of the classroom).  

 Thoughts or questions about our vision for our Preschool Small Groups?

Shepherding Our Future Man Sender

After talking about our vision and adventure for our family as a whole, I also posted our thoughts about shepherding Hannah and Elijah over the next 10 years.  Last but not least, I will summarize our thoughts about Sender.

In 10 years, Sender will no longer be some high energy, "crazy" 3-year-old; he'll be a crazy 13-year old!  Like a typical third child, he desperately wants to have the same freedoms as his brother and sister.  Our job as parents is to only give him the freedoms that coincide what he is able to be responsible for.  It is too easy for us to "open the funnel too wide;" we must remember that this will only lead to frustrations, for him and for us.  (On the other hand, by watching and imitating his siblings, he has picked up on some things faster than they have.)  There is no doubt that our three children have very different personalities and gifts.  Therefore, we have been intentional to discuss each child's strengths, God's call for them, and what applications we intend to implement over the next year.  I've already gave my thoughts for the other 2, and in this post I will outline our ideas about Sender.

Strengths and Gifting.  The name "Sender" is from a the Hebrew form of Alexander, which means protector.  (Alexander was the name of my Jewish grandfather, who died when Hannah was just 6 months old.)  Since he was born, I have prayed that he will always be a protector of others.  Well, it seems that his physical attributes and personality may fit those prayers.  At every age of development, he has been bigger than either of his siblings, and he is the most rough and tumble of our three kids.  For example, just today, he was jumping from the couch to the ottoman to my back as I was laying on the floor.  Also, a couple of months ago I accidentally kicked him in the head with a soccer ball; he was sent sprawling, but quickly got up and told me to do it again.  He is outgoing, loves to play, and seemingly has no fear.  And he cracks us up with his slapstick humor, like running full speed into closed doors.  Like a typical preschooler, he struggles with being obedient.  This, of course, stems from his sin nature, but is made worse by us giving him too many freedoms.

God's Call.  I've already outlined a core definition of manhood in the post about Elijah.  I won't repeat it in full here, but I will give the language that we use for biblical masculinity.

1. Reject Passivity
2. Accept Responsibility
3. Lead Courageously
4. Expect God's Reward

Applications.  Here are some ways that Joanna and I are trying to help Sender become the man that we think God wants him to be:

1. Begin to use the language of what it means to be a man (as given above).  He won't understand it all, of course, but it's important for him to begin hearing the language. 
2. We need to be more consistent in disciplining him.  He needs to learn that God wants him to obey and follow, and it's up to us to be the primary agents in this.  Sender can never be the leader God wants him to be unless he learns to submit himself to authority now.  Watch this video, from Pastor Bill White, from a question we received at the Future Men event (October 30, 2009). 
3. Going along with this, we need to give him clear and narrow parameters and boundaries.  At this point in his life, he needs virtually zero options.
4. Help him grow in understanding of who God is, through consistently teaching him from God's word.  This can be done with a good storybook Bible, through discussing our Preschool Curriculum (which focuses on the attributes of God), and even just non-structured talking about a biblical perspective on life (as described in Deuteronomy 6). 

Thoughts or questions?

--  Joey Espinosa

Homemaking Internship

Carolyn Mahaney has written a great article called Homemaking Internship (you can also view and print the article as a pdf on that site), published in the Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.  She views marriage as a sort of "profession," for both men and women, with skills to be learned. As opposed to most professions, "we aren't forbidden from marrying simply because we aren't prepared."  We believe that parents are entrusted by God with the responsibility to prepare their children for adulthood.  Since most people will be married at some point in there lives, this is not an area that should be overlooked.

As I previously discussed in Shepherding Our Future Woman, Joanna and I are intent on helping Hannah become the woman that God wants her to be.  In particular, Joanna wants Hannah to know "the joys of being a wife, mother, and homemaker. . . .  We must tell our daughters of the sacrifices that homemaking demands -- but also of the unsurpassed rewards it offers."

What are some specific homemaking skills that we can teach our daughter, so that she can care for and help her family?  It is a very diverse list!  (And please don't think that I'm saying every woman needs to be an expert in all these skills, any more than I believe that every man should know how to grill a steak or change the oil in his car; I can't do either.)

1. General management and organization of the home
2. Nutrition and health
3. Decorating capabilities
4. Childhood development and education
5. Finances and budget

I encourage you to read the full article.  Please let me know what you think -- comments, criticisms, and questions.  What other skills does a homemaker need?

--  Joey Espinosa

Why Don't We Do VBS?

For many churches in the south, summer marks the time for vacation Bible school (VBS).  Since we are such a large church, people often ask why we choose to pass on this.  For some folks, VBS seems to be a great time to reach out to the community and get people to come to one of our campuses; in this viewpoint, VBS can serve as an evangelistic tool.  For others, VBS is a way to bring members and children together during the busy summer schedules; therefore, it can serve as a means to fellowship.  While these are good motivations, I believe that there are several reasons for Grace Church to not have VBS during the summer.

To host a week-long VBS would require a lot of resources (time, money, energy, etc).  Instead of using these resources for a single week, we would rather pour our efforts into an entire year.  Our model of discipleship is more based on having long-term relationships, not one-time events.  Furthermore, we are already preparing for Promotion Weekend (where all children and students are promoted to their next grade level in our weekend programming), that will occur on Aug 14-15.  We try to minimize the number of events we do in June, and by July we are completely focused on getting ready for the fall, with recruiting, training, and planning. 

Despite the resources that are required, we would be more likely to host VBS if there were a big need in the Greenville area.  But it is obvious that there are no shortage of churches that have VBS.  Over the past 6 years, my own children have participated in VBS events at four different churches, and we have never been turned away for a lack of space.  Additionally, we have seen that the VBS programs that most churches do are very similar to each other, and well-executed.  From our experience, I honestly do not think that we could do significantly better than what other churches are doing.

Probably the biggest reason that we do not do VBS on our campuses has to do with our value of being culturally-engaged.  I love that my children get to be a part of other churches’ VBS events.  I want them to learn that it is normal to fellowship and worship with other local churches.  Furthermore, I think that this is a great opportunity to go be in our own community.  Instead of focusing on getting people to come to our campus, we need to go where others are.  For example, one summer my wife had the idea for our children to go to VBS with a neighbor’s kids, at their church.  I drove all the kids to the church, Joanna picked them up afterward, and she kept them until the other mom came home from work.  It was a great way to connect with, support, and love our neighbor.

 

--  Joey Espinosa

Connect With Us on Facebook

Grace Children's Ministry has a new Facebook fan page.  Connect with us by clicking here, so we can keep you posted on what's going on in our ministry.

Shepherding Our Future Man Elijah

As we did with our "future woman" Hannah, Joanna and I discussed our vision and desires for our two "future men," Elijah and Sender.  In this post, I will summarize our thoughts for Elijah, and in a couple of weeks I'll discuss Sender.

We are trying to picture what Elijah will be like in the year 2020.  He will be 16 years old, so instead of being a skinny little boy (he's very cute, but don't call him that!), he could be a hairy, deep-voiced, driving teenager!  Of course, while we don't know what the next 10 years may hold, we do want to shepherd and train him according to how we believe God has gifted him (Proverbs 22:6).  As I did for Hannah, I will outline his gifts, God's call for him, and what applications we plan to implement over the next year.

Strengths and Gifting.  The name "Elijah" means Yahweh [the LORD] is my God.  It is a bold statement, especially in this post-modern culture, and since he was born, I prayed that he would always know and stand for the truth about  God.  He is a good, deep thinker and absorbs the nuggets of theology that he is taught.  He is great at math and loves science (maybe he'll be a chemist like his Daddy).  Being a middle child, he shows good flexibility in either playing with his older sister (they could play together all day and then want a "sleepover," where they'll talk for another hour or two), or playing with his younger brother (trains, puppet shows, or just plain wrestling).  Much like his dad, he struggles with feeling the need to be right and technical about everything; he and I both have that major pride issue.  As a typical middle child, he hates being overlooked and left out.  He is probably the most emotional person in our family (when he's not overly-serious), and sometimes has a hard time controlling his emotions when he gets hurt (physically or emotionally), but he has definitely grown in his self-control.

God's Call.  It's awesome to know that God created Elijah in His image.  As I've learned from Men's Roundtable and other teaching at Grace Church (sermons, Future Men, etc), biblical masculinity reflects God's nature.  We have a core definition of what biblical manhood is, and how we think it applies to Elijah.

• Reject passivity.  Men, as a whole, tend towards passivity.  God created us to lead and to engage the world and people around us, but we tend to slide towards passivity.  Instead of avoiding responsibilities, we must run towards the battles in life (see I Samuel 17:48). 
• Accept responsibility.  As a man, Elijah must learn to own burdens and responsibilities, to wear that "pack" so to speak.  He needs to be able to recognize what needs to be done, and then act on it (like seeing that the recycling needs to be taken out).  We must help him learn that he must respond when we or anyone speaks to him, and to have self-control before he acts (he is responsible to control his emotions and actions).  Hard work is a part of being a man.
• Lead courageously.  In the concept of leading courageously, I like to imagine an army commander leading others in the field.  Leading may cause us to lose our life (at least metaphorically), and will at times cause us to fear, but we must move forward despite our emotions.  I want Elijah to know that his life is not at all about him, but all about serving God and loving others, no matter what the cost.
• Expect God's reward.  Men who read these first three definitions (which overlap with each), may wonder if it's worth the cost.  I want Elijah to know that even if he pours his life out, even if he is abused and taken advantage up, even if he gives up all his desires, that the end reward is worth it.  God's eternal rewards far outweigh all of life's hardships (2 Corinthians 4:17).  Like the apostle Paul, I want him to be poured out, to keep the faith, and receive God's reward (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Applications.  Here are some ways for Joanna and I to help Elijah become the man that we think God wants him to be:

1. Explain and help him learn to apply the core definition of manhood.  Joanna has worked on some images to go along with the 4-part definition, and I plan to share those in the future.
2. Help him learn to work more, like helping to make dinner, cleaning-up after dinner, being responsible for our recycling, etc.
3. Help him learn and apply God's word.  I already have him drawing pictures in a "journal" about what he learns each week in his Preschool Small Group.  This summer, I want to help him start coming up with a specific application for each week as well.
4. I have been pushing on him to be a model and a leader for Sender.  I call out a lot of his behavior based on how it affects Sender.  When we were potty-training Sender, I made it Elijah's responsibility to remind Sender to go to the bathroom when he woke up.  I want Elijah to feel a burden of responsibility for others, and this can start with his brother.

Thoughts or questions?

-- Joey Espinosa

Our Curriculum -- Summary

A couple of months ago, we asked some questions about how we got our curriculum, and what we hope to accomplish through it. In case you missed it, here is a summary of the questions we asked ourselves, and links to our answers.

1. Why does this ministry exist? What's our goal and mission?
1. The Tension between parents and programming
2. The Mission to pour into both
3. The Call: Grow, Learn, Serve, Preach
2. What do we value? What do we want to see happen?
1. Staff & Parents
2. Volunteers & Children
3. What's our philosophy of learning? What elements should be incorporated in our programming?
1. Big Group / Small Group format
2. Visual, audio, and hands-on elements
3. Take-homes materials to equip parents
4. What is the focus of the curriculum? What does the scope and sequence need to look like?
1. Camp Grace (1st - 4th grades): 2-year through the Bible, to teach biblical principles from some main characters
2. Preschool (2 year old - 5k): attributes of God
5. What is our ministry model?
1. Big Group / Small Group
2. modeled after Student and Adult Ministries at Grace Church
6. What does a "win" look like? How do we know that we're succeeding?
1. Parents & Volunteers are growing and engaged
2. Children coming and growing
3. Real-life stories

Thanks for reading!

Shepherding Our Future Woman

It’s hard to believe that Hannah will be 9 later this year. In light of this, Joanna and I spent time earlier this year discussing our vision for our children, where we would like them to be over the next 10 years and what we need to do to help get them there. (This went along with our discussion on Adventure for our family.)  In 10 years, Hannah could be a freshman in college!  We discussed things like her strengths and gifts, God’s call for her as a reflection of His image, and what specific applications we can implement this year.

Strengths and Gifting. The name “Hannah” means grace. Since she was born, I have prayed that she would be a giver of grace and a blessing to others. Even in a first year of life, a mom we respect told us that Hannah would be sensitive and come to know Christ at a young age; she was right on the money. Hannah loves being at home, and is very motherly. She practically single-handedly taught Elijah to read, she loves to help take care of younger cousins and other friends, and she figured out on her own how to change Sender’s diaper. She is very creative, whether in arts and crafts, or with the colorful outfits she puts together. Like her dad, she struggles with being “wise in her own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7), and with pride and self-sufficiency. But overall, she is very compliant. She is OK at math, and mostly likes science when it involves projects. Sometimes (again, like her dad) she struggles to communicate her feelings, as she bottles it up inside her.

God’s Call. God created Hannah in His image. That is, in her femininity she has been created to reflect His nature. We at Grace Church are delving deeply into the issue of gender. From over 8 years of Men’s Roundtable, we have a solid language of what Biblical manhood is. Over the past year, leaders at Grace Church have focused more and more on honing the language of Biblical womanhood. We’re not there yet, but for the moment, we’ll use the language that Joanna and I came across years ago.

• Embrace God’s calling. We must help her know that she was created with unique gifts that she must use to bless God’s kingdom. We feel that part of this involves nurturing the next generation, possibly through children of her own, but definitely through the local church.
• Reject the world’s temptation for significance. We want her to know that her value must never depend on material things, which is what the culture will tell her. A focus on clothes, money, friends, and even status will never satisfy her or glorify God. We want to disciple her to pursue modesty, and to respect and respond to authority. 
• Expect God’s reward. Above all, she must learn to trust in Christ. In life, she will experience hardships, unkindness, and even abuse. We must not aim to merely protect her from these things. Instead, we must help her to know that in all these hardships, she should rejoice, knowing that in suffering she has the privilege of identifying with Christ. Furthermore, instead of receiving temporary earthly rewards, she gets to receive eternal rewards from the One who died for her sake. Our goal is to shepherd her towards a gospel-oriented life, with her perspective centered around the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Applications.  Here are some things for Joanna and I to do this year:

1. Explain to her the core callings and definition of a woman, and why we think they are important.
2. Increase her responsibility around the home, so that she can acquire useful skills for life (load dishwasher, help make dinner, clean up after dinner, laundry)
3. When she does her ROAD Map Bible study, I will start to give her less guidance
4. Give her more opportunities to serve others, such as in our Preschool ministry, HOG Day, etc.

Thoughts or questions?

-- Joey Espinosa

What Does a "Win" Look Like in Children's Ministry? -- Part 3 (Real Stories)

Here are some comments that we have gotten over the past few months. Stories like these are what motivate and encourage staff and volunteers in this ministry:

“I just wanted to say thank you for what y'all are doing for the children's ministry.  I have cared about children's ministry for a long time but now have an even bigger interest (because [my daughter] is now old enough to "learn").  She LOVES church and her class.  On Sunday morning, we were eating breakfast and she told us "Meshack and Obednego go into the fire and they weren't scarred."  I had no idea what she was talking about...it never occurred to me that she was recounting a bible story!  I knew she was learning about them but hadn't asked her about it.  She is really soaking it up.  She is only a little over 2 and can tell you the story!  So...thank you for working so hard to make sure our kids are taught the truth!  She is learning!” (from a Community Group Leader)

 “[We] were walking around at Trunk or Treat, just looking around at everything and [my husband] said "I love our church!" and I wholeheartedly agreed with him.  Thanks for all you do for the Children's Ministry -- I know it's not always the easiest or most fun thing to do. We have been so blessed by things at Grace Church and we are so happy that [our son] is a part of such a great Children's Ministry!” (from a mom & volunteer)

 “I just wanted to tell you thank you again for allowing [my daughter] and I to be a part of the nursery. We are enjoying it so much. [She] looks forward to it all week.” (From a mom and teenage daughter who serve together)

“I am one of the volunteers that helps with Preschool Quest, and [your daughter] is in my class. I just wanted to let you know how much she encourages and inspires me every week. I missed seeing her last week, and I was so excited to see her today.  After being together for a few times now, I feel that I am starting to connect with her.  It is amazing to see her face light up when she discovers something new or gets excited about being with the group. She is just a true joy to be around!!” (from a single person to a parent)

“Thanks for all of the work you both put in towards making the children’s programs at Grace run smoothly.  We appreciate the behind the scenes work that makes it so easy and enjoyable for us to teach and nothing makes me smile more than to see my kids excited about going to church!" (from another mom & volunteer)

You can watch some other testimonies on the impact of Children’s Ministry on our website.

What Does a "Win" Look Like in Children's Ministry? -- Part 2 (Children)

Previously, we looked at some indicators of a healthy Children’s Ministry, focusing on seeing growth in parents and volunteers. Today, we will look at what are “wins” for children themselves. 

• Children are coming. It’s hard to have Children’s Ministry without children! Our goal has never been about getting more children to come to our programming, but we believe that growth in attendance is a by-product of a healthy ministry. Over the past 3 years, we have nearly doubled our attendance in our Children's Ministry programming.
• Children love coming. We hear so often from new families how much their children love our programming. In fact, for many families, the children have begged to come back to Grace Church. This surely is a testimony to the loving and engaging volunteers that we are blessed to have.
• Children taking steps of faith.  Throughout the year, there are children who are professing their faith and demonstrating it through baptism. How moving is it to see so many dads baptizing their children! Another big step of faith for many children involves going to our summer camp. We have had more and more children go each year, and for most of them, this is their first overnight camp experience.

But more than any numbers can indicate, what we value the most are notes and emails from parents. Nothing can express meaning and value like a real life application. Come back next week to read some of these stories.

What Does a "Win" Look Like in Children's Ministry? -- Part 1 (Parents & Volunteers)

This is always the “million-dollar” question, isn’t it? After all, we all want to know if what we are doing is meaningful and productive, no matter if we are in paid ministry or whether we serve as a volunteer. Of course, the ultimate goal for Grace Children’s Ministry is to equip the next generation for a life in Christ. We want children to know God intimately, and to grow spiritually.  But of course, this is something that is hard measure in the moment. Only God knows the hearts of each child, whether they truly are growing in faith.

So, is there some way to determine if we are equipping parents, volunteers, and children, as God has called us to do? (You can read about our mission here.) While spiritual growth per se is not easily measured, we do watch some indicators to help us gauge the health of this ministry. These are not determinants for our ministry; rather, they are signs that things are going in the right direction.

• Attendance at equipping events.  You can see a summary of our parental equipping events on our website.  In April 2008, we had 135 parents in attendance, as we taught on the subject of salvation and baptism. At the Intentional Parenting Conference (January 2009), we had 240 adults, and in the fall we had 392 at the “Future Men” equipping event. We are looking forward to Transitions Parenting Conference (April 16-17), and “Future Women” (this coming fall).
• Utilization of take-home materials.  Since January, we started collecting Smore Cards from the kids in our Camp Grace programming, to see what spiritual activities their parents were leading them in. We were most of all excited about the number of families who were using the ROAD Bible reading plan to help their children learn to become Biblically-oriented.
• Increasing numbers of volunteers. With an ever-growing ministry, we are always in need of more and more volunteers. Three years ago, we had 250; now we have around 650, and we expect to need 700+ by this fall! Last summer, we had over 120 people who were either brand new to serving in Children’s Ministry, or they stepped up to an increased role in serving.
• More volunteers being equipped. During the past few years, we’ve been tweaking how we do our summer training. One goal that we’ve accomplished is to orient our training schedule to give the maximum opportunity for volunteers to attend the training; this past summer, over 90% of our volunteers attended a training session, and most of the break-out sessions at these events were led by volunteer Coaches (another huge win!).
• Volunteers feel like they have contributed. We have worked to format our curriculum so that it is easy to use by our small group leaders, even for substitutes. Furthermore, through our Coaching structure, volunteers have an easy way to get feedback and insight from our experienced leaders.

Come back later in the week to read some more “wins” for Grace Children’s Ministry.

What is Our Model of Ministry in Grace Children's Ministry?

As mentioned previously, both the Preschool and Camp Grace programming are primarily set up in a Big Group / Small Group format. Though the specific schedule will be different based on age-groups and facilities, in general, the typical Saturday night or Sunday morning has this flow:

1. Small Group: welcome and introduction to the lesson, in a classroom
2. Big Group: multiple classes coming together for singing and a short drama
3. Small Group: back to the classroom for more Bible lesson, in depth discussion, and activities

We like the Big Group / Small Group format (as opposed to all-classroom time, children’s church, or “center” rotation), because we feel it more closely mimics what Grace Church does across all age-groups. For example, adults come together for “Big Group” time on Saturday night or Sunday morning on one of our three campuses. Then, during the week, deep relational connections are made through Community Groups, our adult “Small Group” time.

We interested in the idea of using “centers” for Children’s Ministry, and we have explored the use of them in the past and may revisit it in the future. However, we see the value of having the model of Big Group / Small Group times throughout all age groups, from children to students to adults.

Questions or thoughts?

New Plan for This Blog

From someone who, 15 months ago, totally resisted the idea of having a blog, I've really gone overboard. In 2009, we had over 100 posts. Already in 2010, we have over 50.  I realized (with the help of some loving and "brutally honest" friends) that maybe we need to cut back a little.  I'm going to try to have shorter and less frequent posts. Additionally, we'll be more strategic and organized in the types of posts that we give throughout the week. This way, if there are particle types of posts that you are interested in, you can be sure to know when they'll appear, and just skim the other types. Here's my proposed plan:

• Monday and/or Wednesday: Topics related specifically to our programming
• Thursday: Miscellaneous thoughts (such as from books or articles we're reading)
• Friday: Quick summaries and links to outside articles (you can peruse and read more on whichever interest you)
• Sunday: Specific examples that our family is learning, thinking about, and doing

In this, the plan is to have no more than 4 posts per week (on a stretch we'll have 5, but we'll keep it short). We hope to still get out adequate information to help assist you in leading your children, while not making you feel guilty for not reading so much.

Let us know what you think. Happy reading!

-- Joey Espinosa

Our Adventure

As explained over the last few days, our Adventure is to equip the next generation through serving and exhortation, in our family, our church, our culture, and our world. I want to be clear that we are trying hard to make sure that this is not just some “good deeds” that we are doing for our own desire. Rather, we feel that this adventure has already been set in motion by our Lord, and we just want to join His plan and do our part. This is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ; we want our lives to be a reflection of the grace and mercy that He has shown us. In our adventure, we want to grow in our trust in Him, and to spread the message of His gospel.

Does your family have a central and driving vision? What is your adventure about?

-- Joey Espinosa

Adventure: Our Culture & Our World

I’ve already discussed how we want to equip the next generation in our family and our church, as part of the adventure that God has for us. Now I’ll discuss two other areas.

3.  Our Culture. Not only should we pour into the children in our family and our church, but we feel that God has given us tools and experiences that we can share with others. From a staff perspective, we want to help other churches’ children’s ministries. We have had a significant increase in the number of questions and contacts from other churches (across the country and even from other countries!) over the past year. With regards to our own family engaging the culture, we are trying to prayerfully discern how we can make our resources (time, money, “stuff”) available, such as by mentoring young singles and couples, giving, opening our home, and possibly fostering and/or adoption.

4.  Our World.  How can we impact and disciple children of the world? This is more challenging logistically than the other three areas, and is an area that we’re still trying to figure out how to be involved in. Mission trips through Grace Church have been a great opportunity; I have been to Nicaragua (March 2003) and Kenya (November 2007), and Joanna is about to go to the Bahamas in May. We have also supported overseas missionaries, given money (as a family activity) to organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, and have supported a child through Compassion International for over 10 years.

I’ll summarize all these thoughts tomorrow.

--  Joey Espinosa