I hate resolutions as a concept. Mostly because I associate the word with something I will almost instantly not accomplish as soon as possible. I prefer setting goals. Where resolutions demand perfection from the moment you make them, goals only demand a first step in the right direction. Goals don’t mind if you struggle to reach them. Resolutions mock you the moment you stray.

Speaking of goals, these are the three that God is pressing on me this year. Maybe you’ll find that He’s calling you to something similar.

1. Deepen Your Connection With God

I think ministers struggle with this more than they care to admit. Our lives are spent serving God, studying the Bible, thinking about His will. But how many times are we actually just doing our job, reading enough scripture to create a sermon, and praying just enough to get by. My goal this year is to stop treating God as a power source (though he is that and thank God he is) and get to know Him as the God that knew me before ministry. The God who loved James when there was nothing to love. I need to connect with God even when I don’t need to connect. Does that make sense?

2. Connect With Your Church

I’ve been at my new position for 2 years (last November) and though I totally love my church, my leadership, my ministry and fellow ministers… I don’t get to spend a lot of time mixing and mingling with my fellow church people. I only get one Sunday a month to visit “big church” and regular Sundays most folks have left by the time I’m free. It’s easy for folks who work in Children’s Ministry to get disconnected from the rest of the church (and I theorize that some of us actually like Children’s Ministry for that reason), but this year I’m going to work hard to reverse that trend in my life. The extra church events that aren’t mine, I need to go! Regular Sundays? I need to find a way to be able to greet my parents and others before they slip out of the door. I need to be on a first name basis with folks who have no connection to my ministry at all. I need to see people in my church outside of the context of “how can I use them” and more like “how can I matter to them”.

3. Connect With Your Families

Speaking of mattering. I really want to matter to families this year. When a child struggles with math, parents contact the teacher for help and support. I want to be the pastor my parent’s call when their child is struggling spiritually. We become that kind of pastor when we open communication channels, show that we care and prove that we’re worthy of trust. It also helps if people see our own children are well behaved and spiritually balanced. I have good kids, I care about the families in my ministry, I just need to work harder on proving myself and opening the access doors via relationships and communication.

Do any of these goals challenge you? What goals are God challenging you with? Leave your comments below. You pray for me and I’ll pray for you!

I have been at Sheffield Family Life Center in Kansas City, Missouri for the past 10 years. Two of those were as an intern, but the past 8 years I have been involved in full time ministry for youth and children.

November 8th, 2009 will mark my last Sunday at Sheffield. I have taken a position at a church in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Why the move? Family mostly. Jenn and I have felt a ‘stirring’ for a while now. I’ve even told folks I felt like a major life change was coming… but didn’t have a clue what it would be. Jenn and I finally decided to sit town and ask God what the deal was. We started with putting together a 5 year plan for our family. I asked Jennifer where she saw us in 5 years… the first thing out of her mouth was, “I want to raise our children around family”.

I guess I had known that she had a leaning toward her folks. There had been quite a bit of travel back and forth since the kids had shown up. But this was the first time she’d just laid it out.

We prayed about it, wrote out our list, and told God that though we were making plans, it was His that we truly wanted. God rarely speaks to me directly… so we committed to two things:

We’re Moving Slow – We gave God plenty of time to let us know if we were moving the right direction. We literally prayed, “God we ask for brick walls if we’re moving the wrong way… but we look forward to mile markers of conformation if we’re headed the right way.”

We’re not going to make any decisions that we’re not willing to unmake in an instant – Though we make our own plans… we do not put our trust in our own decisions. At any point in this journey that God leads differently, we’re ready to change direction in a moment.

There were a couple of brick walls. They typically hurt when you hit them… but if you’re moving slow… not so much. Eventually after every networking resource I had in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida dried up… I got an email from a Pastor in St. Petersburg. We talked, really hit it off and the next thing I knew I was in Florida for two days of interviews.

Long story short… we’re packing up the house and moving to Florida for the next chapter of our life. The job is everything I’ve wanted. The location is everything Jenn wanted. It’s a wonderful gift from God.

Though it’s a little heartbreaking to leave the kids and folks at Sheffield, I know that they are in God’s loving hands… and that He will send someone along to replace me that will be so great that they’ll make me look like dirty dish water by comparison.

So, reader. Have you ever changed churches? Do you have any tips? Post them, or any other thoughts, in the comments.

Kids, in a nutshell, are potential. An oversimplification yes… but still true. Everything a child does prepares them for their future. Even play is working to that end. My 4 year old daughter works harder at playing than I do at working sometimes.

When I look out at my group every Sunday morning I can’t help but see two future potentials for every child: The one God has planned and the version that Satan would have happen. With some children the God Version is easer to imagine. They seem like they’re going to end up that way almost automatically, though inside I know that is often far from true. Then there are kids who’s current behavior and/or situation make it easier to see the Fallen Version. They seem destined to become the back-row kid in the Youth Group.. mocking the kids who regularly fill the altar area during worship. Or even worse… they become involved in gangs, drugs, alcohol and start having destructive relationships with everyone they meet.

I value both of these views because both have value. One is a goal, the other is something to be avoided. Part of my job is to help one Version to win and the other to fail. If I can see each child through the eyes of my enemy, I can start to minister in a way that will minimize the chances of the Fallen Version to become reality.

If a child deals with anger chances are Satan plans to turn that child into a hateful, spiteful adult with a short fuse. The jails are full of men who were once children with attitudes and issues. But God has a different plan. A plan to help that child work through the anger, heal that heart, and help other people heal after being abused, injured or neglected. No jail time for helping others!

Same goes for kids who are the ‘good’ ones. We children’s workers can get a pretty twisted view of who’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ because we typically only see them in the context of a large group… for only a couple of hours. We have no idea how they are at home, at school… and how they are inside their thought life where nobody sees them at all. The ‘good’ kids are just as much at risk as anyone. Even the ones who really are good… if you were the enemy of humanity… who would you go after the most? The kids who are already halfway there themselves or the kids who are truly pure in heart? Darn straight… I’d be going for the goodie-goodies. Those kids need you to see both sides of their potential as well.

I could keep going with this all day. Ask God to give you a dual view of your kids. Then ask him to help you minister to them and their families in a way that will draw them toward what He has for them. It’s not our job to do it all… but we can do our part better when we see our kid’s potential. Both potentials.

Dave and I promised that we’d post copies of our typical service schedules on the site. Enjoy! Sorry, these files are outdated and have been removed.

These files are in zip format. You can download the free 7-zip program to uncompress them.

James is joined by guest-host Austin who poses the question, “What’s the goal of Children’s Ministry?”

Email cmmonthly@gmail.com for your chance to win 12 cd’s of animated clipart from AnimationFactory.com

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Resources mentioned on the show:

• http://www.kidzap.com
• http://www.whitsend.org/podcast
• http://www.clubhousemagazine.com
• http://cmconnect.org
• http://www.fiveamproductions.com