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What Every Pastoral Assistant Should Know…maybe

May 14, 2009 in Ministry with 0 Comments

Last week my assistant approached me about a presentation that she had been asked to share at the next Pastor Assistants meeting.  The topic is, “What every Pastor wishes their Assistant knew”, or something along those lines.  I put some feelers out on twitter, and got some great feedback.  I then took some of the greatness passed along to me and mixed it with some of the lame stuff I had and came up with the following list.  It is NOT all-inclusive, and I would love to hear what you would have added in the comments!

What Every Pastoral Assistant Should Know…maybe:

· That your position is a calling, just as much as we’re called to our roles as pastors/directors.

o You’re here for a purpose, calling, and reason. What an assistant does for the ministry is as vital the life-change of an individual as the pastor on a stage or in leader in front of a small group.

o You really part of what happens. You have value in the nuts and bolts of day-to-day ministry.

· Know that you have a voice in this, and let it be heard!

o Your opinion matters significantly. In the chaos of planning, writing, organizing, and pulling off great events and ministry happenings; it’s important that your voice be heard. Don’t be a willing participant in disaster!

· You are the first line of pastoral care.

o When you answer the phone you are the first touch point of grace. Your actual voice and conversation can bring hope and understanding to a difficult situation for someone.

· I view you as a level of protection.

o Discretion should be used in communicating information that isn’t life-giving. This is NOT a warning to keep secrets from the pastors, but using wisdom about what information should and should be communicated in its entirety.

· I’m as here for you as I am for others.

o Don’t be afraid to ask for prayer, encouragement, or share what is happening in your life. While it’s important to guard my time, it’s also important that you don’t create unneeded distance between us.

· Take ownership in the things you don’t fully agree with.

o You will not totally do everything the way the pastor may do it, but you should still do it with integrity.

o Taking ownership means that I don’t obey simply to fill in a checkmark next to the tasks on my to-do list. Taking ownership means that you defend the decision and pass it off as my very own.  If I make it known that I’m doing something in a way that isn’t “my way” it undermines my own authority, alienates those in authority over me, and decreases my potential for success.

The Power of Imitation

May 4, 2009 in Bible, Ministry with 8 Comments

As both a Children’s pastor and father I have learned that all children possess the great ability to imitate those around them.  They’ll imitate the things they see and hear, and even imitate the things you think they haven’t seen or heard.  A month or so ago, my wife posted these pictures on her blog and I wanted to revisit them.

To set the scene, the boys and I were outside in the backyard playing a game of twirl.  It’s a simple game really.  I grab them by their hands or ankles and twirl them until I get sick.  They ask to do it again and again and again.

However, my daughter will have none of that action. She keeps a safe distance from me, and tells me over and over, “I do NOT want to do that Daddy!”  I’m a good Dad, so I let her be and eventually stumble into the house trying to figure out who is more wore out, me or the boys.

When I get inside, I find Lauryn doing this:

 

The great power of imitation at work.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he Gave…”

When I give I am simply imitating the one that gave that great and wonderful gift.  My gifts of service, money, or time don’t in any way compare to the great gift of God’s only son, Jesus; but they should be a reflection of His heart when He gave.  God gave to us because he loved us.  In our desire to imitate our father in heaven, we give because we love those around us, we give because we love God, and we give because he first loved us.  Giving in it’s very essence is much like my daughter spinning the bear in the living room.  The bear is much different that what I was doing, but in essence it is the very same thing.  What a great thought that my Heavenly Father set such a great example of giving for me.  As my daughter unashamedly twirls the bear in the living room, I pray and hope that I can be as great a mirror of what God has done for me.

{This is a little adaptation of something I did at Trinity Church on Sunday, April 19th.}

Orange Conference Recap

May 3, 2009 in Ministry with 6 Comments

Orange Conference Recap from JC on Vimeo.

My week at The Orange Conference was a thrill. It was such a great time of inspiration and learning, as well as meeting all kinds of wonderful people. If you’ve been reading my blog then you’ve already seen my summaries from some of the breakouts and hopefully you’ve read some of the live blogging posts while me and many others sat in large sessions. I promise to pull back on the twitter rate that I kept up last week, and I’m suspending the daily twitter summaries as blog posts.

Here are some of the things I learned at Orange this year:

  • Matt McKee really does indeed own and wear white pants.
  • Purchasing a Macbook may have indeed been the best technology decision I’ve ever made. I used this Macbook around the clock, and never once had to reboot to help it recover from a crash. Nice!
  • Kenny Conley is very, very tall.
  • That I can indeed live on only 4 hours of sleep a night. (at least for 3 days or so…)
  • Gina McClain is very, very short.
  • That I really enjoy telling our story of collaboration to others in “the industry.”
  • If you twitter 100 times in one day, that your thumbs get very sore.
  • Sam Luce does some great impressions. In the week I witnessed a spot-on imitation Jim Wideman, Kenny Conley and Matt McKee. I also heard the Indian, Irish, and English Cockney accents he has as a part of of his mad humor skills.
  • That others are as disturbed by puppets as I am.
  • I really enjoy having an espresso machine at my disposal for the entirety of a conference.

Daily Twitter Stuff

May 2, 2009 in Ministry with 1 Comment

  • 21:22 Daily Twitter Stuff tinyurl.com/dd5u6k #
  • 21:58 follow @joshtheintern he’s lonely and needs new friends #
  • 22:15 @samluce just told me I have to take him to the airport an hour earlier than we thought…we might just sleep in the Hertz parking lot #
  • 03:18 Leaving for the airport…ugh #
  • 05:04 Walking like a zombie through the ATL airport…must find coffee… #
  • 05:25 Now the waiting in airport part of my journey begins… #
  • 05:32 @summersjames you’re not on the 715am flight? #
  • 05:34 @kennyconley thanks again for making room for @samluce and I with the great Gateway team! #
  • 06:09 I miss my family so freaking much! Can’t wait to see them. #
  • 06:12 @kennyconley @uprisinglive & @joshtheintern are probably still sleeping…that makes me jealous #
  • 06:20 @anna_meadows is helping to make the 725am American flight am Orange plane #
  • 08:40 I’ve found it very difficult to sleep in a chair…thankfully I got to DFW on time. Next Stop: The South Plains! #
  • 08:56 @anna_meadows sorry I ran away so fast! I had a connection to grab ;( #
  • 10:08 twitpic.com/4emdx – How small is this plane when this is the view from my seat in 1A? #
  • 11:36 nothing reminds me better that Lubbock is flat like flying into the airport #
  • 11:45 My wife’s response upon seeing me…"God, you look tired!" #
  • 17:57 twitpic.com/4fu0l – My office totally got pranked when I was at #orange09 !!! #
  • 18:33 @jabberfrog @allyevans I’ll send more pictures later. I have a feeling there may be some more things yet to be discovered in that office.. #
  • 18:42 twitpic.com/4fybm – Office Prank pic #3…post-it note worthy? #
  • 18:43 twitpic.com/4fyem – And finally all my clocks were redigned with post-it notes… #
  • 18:43 twitpic.com/4fyfo – Office prank picture #2 …I’m thinking it’s a self portrait? #

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Daily Twitter Stuff

May 1, 2009 in Ministry with 0 Comments

  • 21:22 Daily Twitter Stuff tinyurl.com/cdst8d #
  • 00:01 @samluce and I got locked out of our hotel room and since our name wasn’t @kennyconley we had to wait…that sucked! #
  • 06:52 Healthy Years tinyurl.com/cl4zyf #
  • 08:29 The bloggers chairs are fiilled with others…looking for seats… #orange09 #
  • 08:34 @kennyconley is the star of the #orange09 show! #
  • 08:36 @Anna_Meadows @jabberfrog @matttmckee @samluce @kennyconley @coffeewithchris @jonathancliff @human3rror @jcisonline #followfriday #
  • 08:39 looking forward to hearing Perry Noble at #orange09 #
  • 08:41 Follow along with some Live #orange09 comments www.jonathancliff.com/2009/05/orange-live-blogging-day-3.html #
  • 08:43 RT @kennyconley: perry noble on stage with reggie. #orange09 twitpic.com/4bzx9 #
  • 08:48 RT @kennyconley: the tri-fecta… #orange09 twitpic.com/4c064 #
  • 08:52 Reggie to Andy, "Why spend so much time crafting a message?" Andy, "I’m scared that I’ve said everything I know." #orange09 //I know I have! #
  • 08:53 I’m sitting by some old people that are freaked by @perrynoble …cracks me up! #orange09 #
  • 08:53 Orange Live Blogging Day #3 tinyurl.com/dk4dps #
  • 08:55 I’m getting real-time search results at TweetGrid tweetgrid.com/ #orange09 #
  • 08:57 RT @mattmckee: Perry to parents, "The most egotistical thing a parent can do is say "Watch me worship". #orange09 #
  • 08:58 I love the Authenticity talk happening between @AndyStanley and @perrynoble #orange09 #
  • 09:11 RT @cnieuwhof: If you almost came to Orange and didn’t, you are probably kicking yourself. Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Reggie and Lanny #
  • 09:24 RT @prince4jc: Andy stanley paraphrase at #orange09 – preach to your neighbor not your deacon #
  • 09:26 @jcsonline did you lose your chair? #
  • 09:29 it’s so fun to listen to Senior Pastor’s that understand why #kidmin and #stumin is IMPORTANT! #orange09 #
  • 09:32 RT: @geoffsurratt "The untold secret of North Point is that we grow through our kids and youth ministries." Andy Stanley #orange09 #
  • 09:44 @philwickham closing out the morning session #orange09 #
  • 09:46 #orange09 today at 1:15 at the top of the Escalators! Hear how social networking influenced a group of Children’s Pastors! Bring your Lunch #
  • 09:48 RT @kennyconley: Don’t forget the brown bag lunch. Grab something to eat and then head up to the bloggers lounge at 1:15! tinyurl … #
  • 09:48 RT @jcisonline: bit.ly/VDNS2 check out the info for the Brown Bag Luncheon!!! #orange09 #kidmin #stumin #
  • 09:54 @statedog Hey, we’d love to have you at the ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #
  • 09:54 @pgillen Hey, we’d love to have you at the ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #orange09 #
  • 09:54 @mcyouthmin Hey, we’d love to have you at the ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #orange09 #
  • 09:54 @ashleigh_paige Hey, we’d love to have you at the ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #orange09 #
  • 09:56 @dtmgallagher Hey, we’d love to have you at the ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #orange09 #
  • 09:56 @JoePuentes wish you were with us! Us fannypackers need some more goatees… #
  • 10:02 don’t be hating on me for my twitter spam, but Hey ministry collaboration brown bag lunch. at 1:15. #orange09 bit.ly/MQaHx #
  • 10:23 Orange Breakout Notes tinyurl.com/ca6av2 #
  • 10:40 twitpic.com/4c76c – Thank you @kennyconley for throwing water on my moleskine #
  • 11:18 If your at #orange09 then go eat lunch FAST and come up to the Brown Bag Breakout in the Bloggers Lounge at 1:15 pm #
  • 12:06 @henryjz check on mckeelive.com …maybe? #
  • 12:06 twitpic.com/4cdcz – Be HERE at 115pm!! #orange09 #
  • 12:31 RT @mattmckee: I’m live streaming video. Come see what I’m seeing.qik.com/video/1587562 #
  • 12:35 if your looking for the brown bag meeting, DM me and I’ll give you hidden directions #orange09 #
  • 12:54 @samluce @jabberfrog @kennyconley and @mattmckee are Brown Bag Rockstars! #orange09 #
  • 13:03 @jabberfrog just made everyone blush in the Bloggers Brown Bag // I love it! #orange09 #
  • 13:44 Brown Bag Notes from @d_w_scott! bit.ly/16eq0t #
  • 13:45 RT @jabberfrog: Reggie Joiner visited our brown bag lunch. How cool is that! #orange09 #
  • 13:45 @AllyEvans muchos gracias! #
  • 13:57 @kennyconley really does like other Children’s Pastors… I promise! #orange09 #
  • 13:58 I really wish @human3rror would mess up my blogger blog so he’d take it home and set it up on WordPress :) #
  • 14:17 RT @kidspastorcathy: A HUGE Thanks to @samluce @jabberfrog @kennyconley @mattmckee and @jonathancliff for a great brown bag lunch #orange09 #
  • 14:38 @michaelchanley are you here today? #orange09 #
  • 15:24 Orange Breakout…Again tinyurl.com/cgekub #
  • 15:37 RT @lostinlaundry: 23 hours and counting down….then back with my man! // I’m THAT man! #
  • 15:44 RT @theuprisinglive: myths of online collaboration @kennyconley 1 of 4 talks coming your way tr.im/keUG #orange09 #stumin #
  • 16:13 What my family does when Dad is out of town… twitgoo.com/1isn #
  • 16:16 @jabberfrog those would be trees…duh! #
  • 16:24 Final Orange Session tinyurl.com/cutl74 #
  • 16:32 @shaunking is bringing a tremendous testimony at #orange09 #
  • 18:33 So much fun hanging with the Lifechurch.tv girls at #orange09 @jabberfrog @allyevans @anna_meadows #
  • 20:22 Having dinner with @mattmckee @samluce and a talking buffalo at a steakhouse #
  • 20:29 @jabberfrog I’m so hurt…;) #

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