Confessions of a Children's Pastor

CONFESSIONS OF A CHILDRENS PASTOR

By Pastor Sue Kahawaii
Champions Centre
Tacoma, WA
www.championscentre.com

I have a confession to make. I am a children’s pastor, but I am not a magician. I am not a ventriloquist, or a puppeteer. I don’t have a clown act, or a stage show persona that tours around. I don’t know how to juggle balls, and I can’t sing particularly well. But rather than apologize for that confession, I feel liberated by it.

There is a mistaken assumption that a great children’s pastor must have some kind of "special talent" to qualify them for ministry. I disagree. When the curtain closes, and the stage lights go dark, that’s when the real work of a children’s pastor begins. Too many churches hire people based on their performance in the talent show arena rather than on their qualifications as a leader. The question should not be "What does this person do in the spotlight?" but rather, "What can this person do when the spotlight is off?"Sadly, these talented individuals who have stage gifts from God can find themselves overwhelmed with recruiting nightmares, administrative tasks, parent problems, budget woes, and communication failures. The day to day tasks and challenges of children’s ministry can sap their joy, leaving them depressed and discouraged. No wonder that most of these children’s pastors drop out of ministry after just a few short years, their gift forgotten and their self esteem shattered from having been placed in a role that was outside of their gifting.

If you examine thriving children’s ministry programs around the country, you will find that most are led by men and women who have strong administrative abilities and leadership skills, but are not known for their stage show acts.Take, for example, the following examples. Kathy Wilkerson, of Christian Faith Center in Seattle, WA. (Pastor Casey Treat), has been in children’s ministry for two decades. While she enjoys bringing in special guests who have talent with ventriloquism, puppets, or dramatic flair, Kathy knows that the success of her ministry has come about because of her administrative focus and long term dedication. She has watched the children’s ministry in her church grow from just a few kids to thousands.
Rich Maus, of Toledo, Ohio (Pastor Michael Pitts) shares that same gift of administration, but freely admits that he has no claim to fame with a professional stage act. Rich, however, was named the "Children’s Pastor of the Year" by Willie George Ministries for 2002 because of his ability to deftly handle a thriving ministry with hundreds of children and volunteers alike, routinely planning and overseeing special events, services and outreach ministries without burning out.

That isn’t to say that Rich, Kathy or myself don’t know how to teach kids. On the contrary, it is our passion. No doubt, we have all used a puppet from time to time, dressed up in wacky clothes, and dyed our hair green for a cause. But seasoned, experienced children’s pastors understand that it takes a lot more than show time skills to survive and succeed. It takes leadership.Last year, I was contacted by a church about possibly coming out to their church in the summer and conducting elementary age meetings at night. As we talked about dates and travel arrangements, the caller suddenly said, "What is it that you do, by the way?" Not understanding the question, I was at a loss for a moment until the meaning of his question became clear. Teaching kids – and even teaching kids very well – was not enough. They wanted someone who had an "act" of some kind.

Now, in that setting and for that specific purpose, seeking a talented individual may be fine. But for the day to day operations in a busy church, I am very thankful for the "behind the scenes" gifts that God has given me. Children’s pastors need not apologize for the unique ability God has given them to as administrators and leaders in the church.

So, the next time someone asks me what I "do", I think I will answer them honestly. I am a children’s pastor and I teach kids.

SKILLS FOR THE REAL WORLD OF CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

L = Loves kids and has endless compassion

E = Energy to endure long term

A = Ability to do the job well

D = Detail oriented

E = Excitement is still fresh about ministry

R = Relates to kids and parents very well

S = Stable personality and home life

H = High expectations and standards

I = Influences others and recruits well

P = Problem solver

Jerry Apears on The Daystar Network and Update for Huntington WV

Dear Friends:

Thank you for your prayers and support.

We just had an awesome Easter weekend at Christ Temple in Huntington, WV.

We partnered With Christ Temple to conduct an Easter outreach into their community.

Around 700 + people attended this outreach and we saw 35 people come forward to receive Jesus and be born again.


Jerry was also interviewed on the Daystar Television Network on the local Tri State Celebration Program in Ashland, KY.

Below is the video of the program

Jerry interviewed on Daystar Network




Below are some pictures from our event this weekend.
Crowd Shot

Crowd Shot

Candy and Wild Thing

Jerry praying with children
to receive Jesus.

God Bless You

Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang
www. jubileegang. com
www. youtube. com/jubileegang
www. myspace. com/jubileegang
www. jubileegang. blogspot. com

Update for Reid Temple AME

Dear Friends:

We had an awesome time ministering at Reid Temple AME in Glendale, MD.tonight.

We saw around 28 children come forward to receive Jesus and be born again.

Below are some pictures from our event tonight.

Jerry and a young lady playing theMatch it Game.
Young man demonstrating the Fruit of the Spirit.
Jerry praying with children to be born again.

God Bless You
Jerry Moyer

The JubileeGang

http://www.jubileegang.com

www.myspace.com/jubileegang

www.youtube.com/jubileegang

Update for Jesus House DC

Dear Friends:

We Just ministered at Jesus House DC in Silver Spring, MD. We had a awesome service seeing over 31 children born again!

We will be ministering at Reid Temple AME in Glenn Dale, MD on March 18th and Christ Temple Church in Huntington, WV on March 22

Below are some pictures from our event at Jesus House DC today.

Candy and Wild Thing

Jerry praying with children



Jerry praying with children

Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang
http://www.jubileegang.com/
www.myspace.com/jubileegang
www.youtube.com/jubileegang

Online Store at www.jubileegang.com

Hey everyone Our online store is now up on our web site at the link below.

http://www.jubileegang.com/OnlineStore.html

In the store you can purchase a book that candy and I Wrote called "six Types of Games That Teach"



This book teaches how to use Games to teach children the word of God. Games are for more than just having fun, they can be an effective tool for teaching children.

Topics include: Why use games to teach?, Ice breaker Games, Object lesson Games, Memory Verse Games, Power point and Multi media games, Review Games, Crowd Control Games.

You can also purchase all of our Jubilee Gang Gear including T-shirts, Hats, Beenies, Dog Tags, and Necklaces.

God Bless You
Jerry The Jubilee Gang
WWW.JUBILEEGANG.COM

Below are some Pictures of some of our Gear

New Jubilee Gang Web Site

Dear Friends:

Our New web site is up and running! You can check it out at the link below...
WWW.JUBILEEGANG.COM

Visit our media center were you can see video's, Download articles by us and other leading children's ministers, and download Jubilee Gang wall papers for your computer.

Also check out our online store. We will be adding more products shortly.

Pleas let us know what you think!

God Bless You
Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang
www.jubileegang.com
www.youtube.com/jubileegang
www.myspace.com/jubileegang

Church Minded Vs. Kingdom Minded

Church Minded Vs. Kingdom Minded

We hear a lot today about church growth and church growth is good. A healthy church should be growing just like a healthy person should grow. A healthy church cannot help but grow!

A lot of churches are starting to evaluate every program according to how much it helps the church grow. Evaluation is good and healthy as long as we look at the big picture. The big picture that I am talking about is the Kingdom of God.

Matt. 6:33 says that if we seek first the kingdom of God that all these things will be added unto us. We do not seek his kingdom to get what we want, but as we seek first the kingdom of God our lives and ministry cannot help but grow.

Church growth cannot be the only reason we do certain programs or cut certain programs in our local churches. There is a much higher calling to grow the kingdom of God.

Jesus said in the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples. Those people that need to be reached and discipled in all the world don't just include people from our local communities that will attend our local churches.

A lot of times when people look at having a Kid's Crusade or family outreach event they count how many families return after the event and judge whether they should continue having this kind of events in the future.

A lot of times we see great growth in our local churches from such events, but sometimes it does not effect the growth of our local body however it effects the growth of the kingdom of God.

Now I am not saying that we should not evaluate the effectiveness of a certain ministry or outreach events. We should evaluate everything we do to find out if it reached the goals we had for the event and how we can be more effective in reaching these goals during future events. However, our goal should not just be getting new people to come to our church. It should be part of it, but not the entire goal.

When I was on staff as a children's pastor, I would ask myself what is the goal of any given event and how can we best achieve this goal. A lot of times we do an event just because we have always done this event.

When looking at the event of a traditional VBS and seeing the large budget it required and the manpower from our church, I would ask myself what the goal of VBS was. Was it to encourage the Christian children in our church to grow or to outreach into the community? Being the evangelist that I am and knowing that my children were well taught in children's church my goal for most large events was outreach.

Then, I would ask myself if we were achieving that goal through the current VBS program. Most VBS curriculums are designed to teach bible truths around a certain theme for the year and not to see children born again and made disciples. VBS programs in some communities have turned into nothing more than a baby sitting service to the parents of the community. Kids jump from VBS to VBS every week during the summer just to have something to do while their parents are at work. Churches even work together to make sure that every week in the summer is covered by a different church and that everyone is not using the same curriculum. Most VBS curriculums have been watered down so that it is not offensive to anyone to get more children to attend. Sure there is a small amount of Bible in the curriculum, but in its self is not anything that will change a life for eternity.

After evaluating the program and seeing that my goal was outreach and evangelism, I decided to change to more of a Kids Crusade format. I do not call it a Kid's Crusade because the un churched community does not understand the term and usually associate it with the crusades of the dark ages.

I have always been a kingdom minded person. Probably because Matt. 6:33 was one of the first scriptures that really came alive to me as a teen.

We will not always see church growth as a result of an event or program; however we must ask our self if the kingdom grew because of the event or program. Now I am not talking about loosely using the phrase …

"If we touched one child it is worth it"

It is worth it to touch the life of one child. We do not know what that child will become. Maybe this child might become the next Billy Graham or something. But why should we only touch the life of one child during the event? While we are touching their live why not touch the lives of hundreds more. If only one child is reached we should ask ourselves how we can reach more next time and make the adjustments to our program, advertising, and marketing of the event to the community to reach more people.

We recently ministered at a church that had us in and had small crowds each night. Mostly church kids and a few un churched friends attended. The same children came forward each evening during the invitation to be born again. A few people that did not attend the church came forward, but it was mostly the children from their church. I would say around 20 children were born again despite having around 50 children respond to the invitation during the 3 day event. I could see where the pastor might be discouraged and consider not having this type of event in the future because of the cost of the program and the results he saw.

No one new that a friend of mine from face book attended the service from a neighboring town one of the evenings with a group of children including her 7 year old daughter. She had seen on face book where we were going to be ministering at this church and wanted to come and check out our ministry.

After the event I received the following e-mail from my facebook friend…

"Thanks for inviting us. I'm sorry we couldn't make all three days. The kids I brought LOVED it, they want you to come to our church. My daughter who's 7 also came with me on Monday night. She has been telling people in her class and in our congregation how she is "born again" and "how God gave her a clean heart". This is HUGE coming from a very Traditional Presbyterian Church. So thank you. You have encouraged me to change my Sunday School curriculum and change the direction of my ministry to be more evangelism based. I'll be back in touch soon after speaking with our finance committee to discuss scheduling a Jubilee Gang event at our church."

This was worth the whole event to see the lives of these young people changed and to see the possibility of an entire children's ministry at another church become more evangelistic because of the children's pastor attending this meeting.

I also received a testimony from a children's pastor in VA that was born again at a Kids Crusade at a church that he did not attend and never attended except for the Kid's Crusade where he was born again. Below is his story…

"When I was 5 years old my parents took me to see a traveling children's evangelist who was ministering in a local church. At the end of the service I asked Jesus into my heart for the first time. My family and I never went back to that church but found ourselves planted in another local church where we grew in Christ.

I often think about that first church where I found Jesus. I'm so grateful that church had a kingdom mindset when it came to outreach. Many churches see the goal of outreach as a way to boost attendance numbers. Outreaches are evaluated by measurable returns, but the Bible reminds us that we're here to build a kingdom…not just our own church.

I'm grateful for ministries like the Jubilee Gang who spend their time spreading the seed of God's word into young hearts. And I'm grateful that this first church had a kingdom mindset that allowed me to hear the gospel for the first time. Their measurable return may be considered insufficient by many churches today but I will be eternally grateful to God for them."

This is what it is all about folks! As a result of this church being kingdom minded this young child was born again and is now a children's pastor at a large church that is affecting hundreds if not thousands of lives.

It would be wrong to not give a testimony from a church that did not see growth from a Kids crusade at their church. I received the following letter from a church in OK where a child was born again during the kids crusade and went home and told his mother about Christ and led her to the lord…

"Our pastor's wife was teaching a Wednesday night class and a mom was helping. The mom brought in her form that we have everyone fill out before they help in children's church. Pastor's wife looked at the form and saw that the mom got saved in October and asked her about it.

The mom's two kids came to the crusade and heard about being born again. The boy came to the front to pray. (That's awesome at that) That night when they got home, they told their mom about being born again and the mom got saved in her living room that night and has been faithful to church ever since."

We would have never have know this if the pastor's wife had not asked some questions. The kingdom was affected by this event!

When evaluating events and programs let make sure that we are not cutting a program that is affecting the Kingdom when we do not see our church numbers increase.

By
Jerry Moyer
The Jubilee Gang

http://www.jubileegang.com/