For example, take the young mom who picks her children up from VBS a few minutes late. How tempting it can be to reiterate the correct pick up times. But doing so could easily erect a roadblock—particularly if we take an impatient tone. A minor inconvenience for us could morph into a comment that further tears down the morale of a discouraged, harried parent.  

 As I work with young families in our Christian preschool, I am constantly reminded that for many, this is their first experience with the church. In whatever program we serve, we need to remind each other that we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus as we greet and welcome new and returning families to the family of God.

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The only agenda? Spending time together. We would enjoy wonderful dinners, home-made goodies for breakfast, and lunches out on the town—during shopping adventures. What else would 16 women do in an afternoon? 

I’m so glad I went! We shared stories, pictures, and information about each of our families. We all wrote individual prayer requests in a book so that my aunt of 83 years, a real prayer warrior, could pray for each of our needs or concerns. There were copies of her favorite prayers and poems, collected over the years and now available for us to read and take home.

All of us have a biological family, but being able to put a face with a name and a prayer creates a much greater sense of family. Aunt Irene’s legacy can and will continue with my family. I am looking forward to next year when I can bring my three daughter-in-laws to share in this weekend and the legacy.

Editor’s note: As you plan for your family reunion this summer, consider using some of CTA’s Living a Legacy materials as mementos of the event.  

We just got home from two separate ladies’ “tea” events up north and then led in a local women’s conference on Saturday. Running around to speaking engagements and leading conferences is what we love best about our ministry.  Our face-to-face encounters and training sessions with women and girls are “God appointments”; we wouldn’t want to miss them!

We have been teaching women how to use the Woman of God: Moments of Grace book as a tool for evangelism.  We are showing women how something as simple as exercising “hospitali – tea” by serving a cup of tea and reading a devotion can open the door to developing friendships and sharing the gospel.

A number of the hostesses for our conferences, luncheons, banquets, workshops, and special events have used the color scheme of the book for their decorations.  Many of them have ordered accessory items from the CTA catalog as favors, door prizes, or momentos.

Our hands are tired from autographing so many copies of the book as women are grabbing them up as gifts for friends, classmates, and co-workers.  At these prices, they are cheaper than a greeting card!  We pray that God will continue to allow this beautiful little book to be used as a tool for spreading the Good News of His amazing grace.

Every Lent, I also like to do an activity with the Jelly Bean Prayer because the children relate to it so well.  They love the use of the colors and relating these colors to the candies they see at Easter. I also like reading the Jelly Bean Prayer book to my class.

Here are two of my favorite craft ideas related to the Jelly Bean Prayer:

• Prayer beads.  These can be made inexpensively by purchasing stringing beads and nylon cording, both available at any craft store. Give each child one of the Jelly Bean Prayer bookmarks. Talk about each line of the poem; then have the children string one or two beads of each color onto the  cording.  Have the children cut a cross from craft foam and add that to the string of beads, too.

•  Baby food jar craft.  Give each child one of the Jelly Bean Prayer bookmarks  and a baby food jar. Cover the lid with fabric, gluing it down. Then tie a ribbon around the jar. Let the children put one jellybean of each color into their jar. (If you let them make two or three jars, they can keep one and give the others away as a witnessing tool. Be sure the children take a bookmark to give to each friend who will receive a baby food jar.)

Enjoy preparing for Easter with the children in your life!

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, . . . not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be, . . . not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (NIV)

When I first read these words, they really spoke to me. I serve a little flock of preschoolers, actually pre-preschoolers, two- and three-year-olds. I love what I do and feel called to teach them about Jesus as their personal Savior. What a job! Every day I get to play, sing songs, eat a snack, and love the children as Jesus would love them. 

Not too far into my ministry, I found that my “flock” was a little bigger that I had originally had thought. I found out quickly that dads, and especially moms, were also a part of the flock.

After only a few weeks of school, my staff and I found ourselves answering questions about potty training, discipline, and other parenting issues. We would encourage and listen to the parents, often staying later or making our selves available at drop off. Trust grew, and all of us on staff were soon fielding questions about our church, the type of services we offered, and Baptism. This has been the pattern for the past seven years. Today’s young families are still seeking out caring, trustworthy places to ask questions.

When I reread this passage, I see that God not only tells us to care for his “flock,” but also tells us how to do that—tenderly showing the way, “being examples.” Taking care of the young children in a Jesus-centered program is an amazing job, but caring for and encouraging young families has become our mission!

I have a niece and nephew who will be going off to college this fall. Helping them (and kids like them) feel special takes just a little extra effort. Gift cards and personal notes are easy to mail. To go a step further, you might pick up two or three US postal priority boxes at the post office. (They are free.) It takes a $4.95 stamp to ship the smallest box. As the USPS says, “Whatever fits, ships”—no matter the weight. 

If you’re at a loss for what to add to a card or put in a box, CTA has some great items you could include. My favorite is the 911 Cell Phone Magnetic Bookmark; it will easily fit inside a card. Or consider the Ticket to Heaven Bookmark or Ticket to Heaven Pendant Set, the Be Blessed Flashlight/screwdriver (for girls) or the Strength for the Journey Multi Tool (for guys).

Food from home almost always gets the attention of college kids! Have church members donate breakfast bars, candy, cookies, and other items. Then stuff boxes with it as a Fall Festival service project. Surprise a college kid with the Pumpkin Slap Bracelet. It’s sure to be a hit!

I know you’re not ready to think about Fall just yet or about welcoming new workers to the paid staff or volunteer army that you’ll rely on to get your ministry off to a great start in September.

So here’s just a quick note you can file away for August when you begin to focus  with gazelle intensity on staff appreciation!

CTA’s new line of Christian Worker recruitment/appreciation products for Fall–Serving in His Steps–is another in a long line of tools designed to save you lots of time in creating an integrated look and feel. In fact, you could easily turn it into a leadership-wide  or even church-wide theme for all of 2009-2010.

The art is spectacular and the content, Christ-centered and Bible-based. You’ll love the encouraging messages, all drawn from Scripture and the free, kick-off Ministry Message CTA plans to provide.

‘Nough said for now. Get out and enjoy the sunshine, cook-outs, and lazy days of summer! But tuck the theme, Serving in His Steps, into a corner of your mind and heart. You’ll want to explore it further in early August!

1. Use the addresses in your guest book from the last two or three months to create a mailing list and announce plans for summer Sunday school and VBS. Send a postcard or e-mail that lets people know what age levels are welcome, what the theme will be, and whether or not there is any cost involved.
2. Many churches have started charging a small fee for VBS. Could you spark people’s interest by offering them an amount off the fee when they bring a friend? There might be someone, or even a few someones, in your congregation who would be willing to pay the difference if it would spark attendance. For example, you might create a coupon that gives $1 off if two friends sign up together. Or make a coupon that members can give to friends offering 50% off the regular VBS enrollment fee.

Statistics support the anecdotal evidence. I recently read about a study by the Southern Baptist Convention. The results are for 2006, the most recent year for which data was available. Consider that in that year in the SBC:

• 3 million people enrolled in VBS.
• 212,000 Sunday school prospects were gained for local churches.
• 94,980 decisions were made to accept Christ.

My own faith background would call into question some of the terminology used in the study. But it’s hard to quarrel with the opportunity VBS offers to connect with thousands of currently un-churched or de-churched people—people for whom Jesus died.

I don’t know what your neighborhood is like, but on my block I see seven or eight children playing every day. How many of them get into the car for church on Sunday morning? How many of them get out of the car after church on Sunday morning? Based on what I’ve seen after living in the neighborhood for 18 months, the answer is zero. How is it in your neighborhood?

Are you thinking about leading, teaching, helping, or otherwise supporting VBS at your church this summer? Or have you decided VBS is an old-fashioned agency that doesn’t fit today’s culture? The statistics and the stories say it’s still viable! How will you help make it vibrant at your church?

At our church we had more visitors than usual for Easter worship. We especially noticed a lot of families with young children. What happened at your church? Did you have more visitors than usual, as well? Did you hear any thought-provoking comments from your visitors? As you look back on your preparations for Easter, is there anything you’d do differently for next year? Click on “Comments” to let us know.

Most likely, you now have a visitor book with several names and addresses filled in by visitors on Easter Sunday. Here are some ideas for keeping in touch with them:

• Phone, E-mail, or visit them during the next two weeks to thank them for visiting and ask if they have any questions about your church or needs your church can help with. If you can’t get a visiting team together, send them a postcard. Here’s one you can use for free.  (Note that it has two pages to download–front and back; depending on your connection time, this may take a minute or two.)
•  Compile your visitors list into a mailing list and use it for publicizing VBS and special summer Sunday school events. CTA has a free GLOW (God Lights Our Way) postcard invitation you can print up and mail to them.  It’s generic enough to work for any summer Sunday school or VBS program. (Again, download times will vary.)
• Save your contact list for fall and use it again to let people know when fall programs will be starting up or to invite them to your fall festival.

Here at CTA, we’re always interested in what’s going on at your church. Let us know what’s keeping you busy and how you’re staying in touch with visitors!