Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
They Grow Up Fast….
Posted: November 20, 2010 in FamilyTags: carrie underwood, kids, mama's, mother's
Every Man Needs to Hear This
Posted: August 28, 2010 in FamilyTags: Andy Stanley, Marriage, men, northpoint, Sean Seay, women
Go to: http://www.northpoint.org/messages and scroll through until you get to “The Man I Want to Be.” Listen or watch Sean Seay bring a great message for men. Here are the highlights……..
- Life seems to be getting in the way of my dreams.
- Every man wants to be a hero to someone.
- Every man really wants to be the man God wants them to be.
- Every man really wants to be what his woman needs him to be.
- It’s in every man’s heart to be the man his children need him to be.
These things are never going away, because God put them there.
- You (Ladies) need to know that the man in your life, is under attack- temptation is on every single day. ”You’re working hard, come on over here and enjoy yourself for a little while.”
Joshua 24: 1, 14-15
- Men like to have options
- Joshua then says, “I’m going first.”
- Choose to serve God wholeheartedly. When men get it right, everybody gets blessed.
Most men make a living instead of making a difference.
1. Life begins when we trust Jesus Christ as Savior.
- Don’t try to become the man God wants you to be by yourself.
- You need to make the decision to pray with your wife. You can’t have the marriage you want to have if you don’t pray together. ”I know I’m goofing stuff up as a husband/wife, but we gotta pray together.”
Guys, you gotta lead- go first like Joshua.
Congrats Melonie
Melonie is 16 and was inducted into the National Beta Club last night! Melonie works hard, studies hard, and has sooo many gifts and talents. She wouldn’t tell you, but she can play any instrument by ear and can “go” in the singing department. She’s made us very proud!
Little Abigail
She turns 12 today……hardly seems possible but she is a little “sunshine” to everybody she meets. She loves people and loves to do stuff. Happy birthday Abigail! Can’t wait to eat tonight at P.F.’s to celebrate!
New Family Picture (Kim’s Side)
Posted: August 16, 2009 in Family, UncategorizedTags: Jody Ridley, NASCAR
Abigail Craven, Jordan Craven, Janice Ridley, Jody Ridley, Margaret Ridley, Anthony Ridley, Kim Craven, Shane Craven, Melonie Craven
Integrating Your Team
Our church shifted to an integrated family ministry strategy and combined our preschool, elementary, teens, and college ministers into one cohesive leadership team.
- Hold weekly meetings with an agenda and rotating participation: It is important for creating community. If you meet rarely, you are communicating to the team that they don’t actually need each other’s input.
- Have a standing agenda item for ideas and challenges: Bring a new challenge to the team each week.
- Obtain team leader buy-in: In order to create a strong team, the leader must commit his or her time and resources to the projects that are most important to the team members.
- Schedule one-on-one appointments: I have committed to thirty-minute weekly meetings with the people working directly for me. This is a great way for a leader to communicate, “You and your ministry are too important to me to let a week go by where we didn’t get at least thirty minutes to connect.”
- Communicate weekly to all staff members: I send a newsletter at the end of the week called “The Staff Loop.” Its purpose is to encourage our staff members as well as keep the vision right in front of them. I want them to know I’m accessible to them and involved on many levels.
Parents don’t lie in bed at night wondering about the topic the pastor will speak about on Sunday. They don’t even lie in bed at night thinking about God. They lie in bed thinking mostly about their kids. Our teenagers should be a part of our volunteer team. What would happen if we simply decided that our best resource for unleashing this generation and volunteerism is found in our teenagers. Here’s a novel idea. Let’s try saying to our students, “Here are the ropes. Here is a class or here’s a small group, or a worship platform and some technical equipment. Here are some things you can do to be a part of rescuing a generation, and we want you to plug in. You are enough of an adult now that you need to begin developing your skills and you need to begin seeing what God wants to do in and through you.” I think that kind of mentality sets a teenager up in a way that nothing else does. If students experience God at work in them, they’ll have a hard time getting over it. Engaging a teenager in ministry is the best way to ensure….a dynamic faith in God, a personal identity in Christ, and a responsive heart toward others. Churches have the potential to turn a generation around by handing them the keys to ministry and saying, “Guess what? Not only do we need your help, but God designed you and God created you for this very reason. You were called to use your gifts just as much as the pastor was called to use his. Each one of us has a personal responsibility to be the church, and if you recognize that, it will revolutionize your life.”
The church exists to illuminate. The role of the church is simply to turn on a light. Regardless of anyone’s bent on what they think church should be, there is always the common thread of turning on a light. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason some churches have more influence than others is that they are more intentional about putting Jesus on the spotlight? Maybe some churches have lost influence with their communities because they no longer focus on what attracts the hearts of people. Light is inherently inviting! As long as the light is large, the church will be naturally irresistible. Instead of fighting Harry Potter, maybe we should be spending our energies helping kids become intrigued with the mystery of God who made the universe. Maybe we should turn the spotlight on the supernatural powers of a God who can do absolutely anything. In the Bible, when the lampstand is moved, our influence is weakened. In other words, just show the light to others. We tend to drift when the lampstand is used to make political statements. The disciples got sidetracked even in the Gospels. They were hoping Jesus would overthrow the Roman government system that had oppressed the Hebrew people. Oftentimes we believe our mission is to get people to buy into our version of church. Your programs are not sacred. Your church is not sacred. What is sacred is the mission of your church. 70-80 percent of students who grew up in church walk away from their faith after they graduate from high school. The average age of one mainline denomination is over 60. Within ten years, half of that denomination will literally die off. The church is losing its influence with two entire generations.
Parents have a role that is as critical as the church’s role when it comes to influencing the next generation. We have assigned the color yellow to the church because of its call to illuminate, and we have attached the color red to the family because its role is to love and demonstrate God’s character through an unconditional relationship. If you’re a church leader, you have the potential to give every parent hope. You may be in a better position to influence families than many parenting experts. Your perception of parents’ potential to change can drive how you respond to them. Most parents need leaders with a strong sense of belief in their potential and leaders who are willing to become actively involved in helping them understand God’s plan for their family. Both the church and the home are comprised of broken, imperfect people through whom God has chosen to tell His story. What if it’s God’s plan to do an amazing work within the church and the home in order to put His grace on display? If so,then every parent and leader should work to combine the influences of church and home with a very strategic mindset.
If you’re a church leader, your purpose is not to equip parents to have exceptional parenting skills. A parents role is not to impress their children or anyone else with their ability to parent. Their role is to impress on their children the love and character of God.
God is at work telling a story of restoration and redemption through your family. Never buy into the myth that you need to become the “right” kind of parent before God can use you in your children’s lives. Instead, learn to cooperate with whatever God desires to do in your heart today so your children will have a front-row seat to the grace and goodness of God.
Orange Leader- Any leader who connects other leaders and parents in order to synchronize their efforts to build faith in the next generation. Sometimes people think in terms of yellow only; they think that what happens at church is much more important than anything else on the planet. Also, some parents have thought red for so long that they feel the church is not needed. Since Jesus gave his life for the church, it is important. And, since the Bible implies the love a dad has for his family should reflect that same quality of sacrifice, both are high on God’s list of important things.
What would happen if both churches and families started believing in the potential of combining their influence to accomplish the same mission? What if churches started programming as if they believed parents play a critical role in the moral and spiritual development of children? What if the church decided to treat families as if they played a significant role in the future of a generation?
That’s why we need more leaders thinking Orange. Most churches are characterized by random acts of ministry to the family instead of with the family. Family ministry should not be another program you add to your list of programs. It should be the filter you use to create and evaluate what you do to influence children and teenagers. Family Ministry- An effort to synchronize church leaders and parents around a master plan to build faith and character in their sons and daughters. It drives how both the church and the home combine their efforts to influence the next generation. If we really believe that nothing is more important than someone’s relationship with God, it makes sense to combine the influence of home and church.
Simple doctrinal statement: Jesus is who He said He was; What the Bible says is true is true; Everybody is going to be somewhere forever. If those three things are true, then I have a compelling mission both as a leader and a parent to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the win; the measurable! Basically, it is another way of asking you to think Orange.
- Kids need parents who will help them advance in their relationship with God.
- Parents need churches that will help them know how to be spiritual leaders.
- Churches need leaders to do less for kids and more for families.
As a leader, you will have a limited amount of influence in the lives of those who come through your ministry. One day, inevitably, they are going to walk away. You may stay connected to a few for a while but not most. On the other hand, parents will have life-long influence! Doing more for the family requires the church to make and intentional shift from a yellow mindset to an Orange ministry mindset.
If you think yellow, you invest most of your time and resources creating programs for kids. When you think Orange, you invest quality time and resources creating programs for parents and kids. If you think yellow, you are consumed with answering the question, “What are we going to teach kids?” When you think Orange, you are consumed with answering the question, “How can we get parents to also teach what we are teaching their kids?” If you think yellow, you promote what you want parents to know about your programs. When you think Orange, you focus on what you want parents to do at home. If you think yellow, you think what happens at church is more important than what happens at home. When you think Orange, you believe what happens at home is as important as what happens at church.
Origin Family Ministry Part 1 (From Think Orange)
Posted: July 14, 2009 in FamilyTags: families, kids
Introduction: We only have about 40 hours a year with your kids at church. We also know that the parents’ influence is also limited and that other adult voices are needed in the lives of our kids. To develop a strategy to maximize the influence of both the church and parents is not only effective, but also scriptural. Think Orange is a paradigm shift. It is a brand new approach to capturing the hearts and imaginations of this generations parents and kids.
Church+Family= Orange (two combined influences make a greater impact than just 2 influences.)
This is all about churches and families working together to impact kids. What if every time you saw the color orange you thought about the changes that need to happen to reach the next generation? What if the blending of red and yellow always reminds you of the importance of partnering with each other and especially the family? What if whenever you came across something orange you thought about leaders who are investing their lives to influence kids and teenagers? There are two powerful influences on the planet- the church and the home. If they work together, they can potentially make a greater impact than if they work alone. They need each other.
Too much is at stake for either one to fail. Their primary task is to build God’s kingdom in the hearts of men and women, sons and daughters.
#1 Orange-ology
It stands out as bold. It is a secondary color, created when you combine two primary colors, red and yellow. Orange is what red and yellow can do when they combine efforts. If you paint with only one, you get only what one can do. But when you paint with red and yellow, you’ll get new possibilities, fresh solutions, and vibrant outcomes. What if the solution for the next generation is neither yellow or red? What if the answer is both? What if the church and the home combined their efforts and began to work off the same page for the sake of the children? We propose that the answer is Orange. For the Orange effect to become a reality in the next generation, a new breed of leadership must emerge. We need leaders who will recast themselves, becoming catalysts to change the way the church and the home partner.
Church leaders are the most logical people to champion this cause, as most churches have the platform and the network needed to rally the home and the church and the synchronize their efforts. But the church has not experienced leveraging its influence to truly engage the family. Too many churches are accustomed to painting in yellow that they have difficulty thinking in terms of Orange. Rather than synchronize their efforts, they attempt to convince parents to start painting in yellow.
What’s really at stake when the church and the family don’t think Orange , when they are not advancing the same strategy?
- The church forfeits it’s potential to have greater influence on kids’ and students’ lives.
- Churches miss critical opportunities to meet the needs of unchurched parents in their communities.
- Communities continue to perceive the church as institutional, insulated, and irrelevant.
- The church is characterized by superficial relationships.
- Productions or programs are positioned as the answer.
- Parents and leaders fail to teach the same truths in a synchronized effort.
- Parents avoid or abdicate to the church the responsibility to be spiritual leaders.
They need to work in sync. Working on the same thing at the same time is not as effective as working on the same thing at the same time with the same strategy. When you do this, you get Orange!
Click here! This is funny! Sorry Chip……….LOL!
