10/30/2022
It's SteppingOut's 3rd anniversary and we're celebrating by giving away a HUGE tote filled will goodies!
To enter, share our page with one of your children's ministry friends...or another children's leader. Then leave a comment below regarding what you would like to see in 2023. The winner will be announced next Saturday!
Three years ago today...Stepping out ministry was born. It was created for the sole purpose of encouraging and equipping other children's leaders...by sharing my experiences, gifts, talents...and encouragement.
I never realized that I would meet so many wonderful people...from so many faraway places.
I never realized that my own gifts and talents would continue to grow along the way.
I never realized that I would learn as much from each of you as you have hopefully learned from me.
I never realized that I COULD be so happy serving somewhere else...other than directly with the children.
I never realized that by sharing my thoughts, ideas, events, and gifts...I could reach far more children and families than I ever could before.
And I never realized (until just recently) how significant my time in children's ministry was...and still is today. It may have begun on a certain date...and ended on a certain date but my ministry can't be defined by a beginning date...or an ending date...it is defined by the time spent between those two dates...the children I ministered to...the lives I helped change. That is my ministry.
What happened before...or what happened after has no bearing on it. No one can take it away...no one can change it...no one remove a single day from it.
Keep serving...keep growing your ministries...keep championing for your children...keep spreading God's Word...keep sacrificing...but keep your eyes on God.
What is He doing in your life?
When thinking back, I can see how God had been working in my life long before I took the leap from children's ministry leader to starting over with my SteppingOut ministry.
During that time, I began to develop new interests and gifts. My eyes were opened to the need within the children's ministry community. My heart ached for those who were serving without resources or direction...those who were discouraged.
I myself was becoming discouraged with the direction that my own church was heading. I saw and experienced things that I held inside for the good of the church. I watched as new leadership began to pull apart what I had worked so hard to create.
After resigning, it took a long time before I realized that my ministry was not gone...it was not over. Unlike walls...no one could tear it down...or paint over it.
What I had worked so hard to build...still stood. It stood within the hearts of each child who had passed through the children's ministry.
It still stands today...and it will still be standing tomorrow.
I am privileged to see glimpses of it occasionally...in each child as they achieve amazing things in their lives...or I hear them repeat something that I had taught them. My tagline to each of them is "Keep making us proud!"
No matter where God has planted you...right smack dab in the middle of children's ministry...or a brand new ministry...know that your ministry is not defined by a beginning date or an ending date...it is defined by the time spent between the two. Give it all you've got.
The Dash
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears. But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth, and now only those that loved her know what that little line is worth. For it matters not, how much we own: the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left, you could be at "dash mid-range." If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real. And always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more. And love the people in our lives as we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. So, when your eulogy's read with your life's actions to rehash. Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
