"Servant Leader" and Pride

I had the incredible opportunity to participate in Willow Creek's Leadership Summit via satellite this past week. It was an amazing experience that I would encourage anyone who ever gets the opportunity to attend. (more about this in my next post)

One of the speakers was Ken Blanchard, who along with Phil Hodges, wrote a book called "The Servant Leader." One of the first things they address is managing the demon of Pride. I found this line very thought provoking. "When the origin of an idea is more important than the idea itself, that's a matter of pride." How easy is it to base our self-worth, our ministry, anything, on whether or not someone liked/used MY idea or the way I planned something? But that's a matter of pride. We have to let pride go in order to effectively minister as a team. Most importantly we have to let God guide us as we seek His kingdom. We can only be servant leaders when we are serving God and serving others. In thinking about Pride, to me this means to not let our "toes get stepped on" when someone else has a different (or even better) idea than ours. It meas truly working together as a team within your ministry. Sometimes that might even mean that "plans" we have made will be changed to better serve God and the people we are ministering to. We need to be open to God and to others and not let our own Pride drag us down or get in the way of what God may be trying to do.

And that's easier said than done....

Two questions from "The Servant Leader" to contemplate:
-Are you thinking more of yourself than you should?
-Who is your primary audience in life - your God, yourself, or otheres?

Wednesday night Crosstraining and Kids

On Wed. evenings Crossroads offers Crosstraining classes for adults. These are classes on marriage, kids, finances, Bible study, etc. At the same time Kid Crossing provides activities for kids. For the past few years this has been a struggle. Each year we think we have a program that will fit us and by the end of the year we are back to the drawing board. We met with a group of parents and volunteers tonight to pick their brains on what Wed. ought to look like. We got some good input. Especially valuable in that it confirmed a lot of what Amanda and I had already talked about. Some of our obstacles are that kids are tired after a day of school. Adults want to take the great adult classes. Classes run on a 6 week schedule, so kids come and go just like their parents, there for 6 weeks and then not there.
So...which road do we travel this year on Wednesdays? The general consensus: Kids want to have fun...parents want them to get some "meat". Kids won't sit still for 90 minutes on a week night....they need to move around....Both parents and kids would like to see some sort of ministry/service aspect for the older (gr. 4/5) kids.
And that is where we sit at T minus 30 days or so. Any great ideas? Let me know? Interested in joining us for the ride and having the incredible opportunity to impact a kid for Christ and grow them spiritually? Let me know that too!

The FLIP

Get ready Crossroads - The Flip is coming to Kid Crossing. It's gonna be fun....It's gonna be exciting....it's going to change Kid Crossing! Mark your calendars for Oct. 16 and stay tuned for more info. It's gonna be GREAT!

Lessons from a 6 year old

I decided that August would be the month my family started using the FamilyTimes Virtue packs for our family devotions. We're starting with Patience (waiting until later for what you want now) which my 6 year old son can already recite on demand after only three days, and I think my 3 year old daughter could do it to if she weren't so obstinate about not doing whatever it is you ask her to do....(but that's a whole different story).
There are activities to do in the morning, in the car, at meal time, and at bedtime. We've done a little of all of them so far, but most consistently the bed time cards.
Now, I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but the last two nights I have been tired, it's been past my kids' bedtime, and all I've really wanted to do is tuck them into bed and postpone the bedtime readings for another day. Micah's (the 6 year old) has been the driving force to keep us on track. Each night when the little voice in my head has said, you can skip this night, it's late, don't worry about it, Micah says "Mom, what are we going to read about tonight?" While that sneaky little voice says to just tell him we don't have time, another part of me says to listen to him. So I have, and it's been good. The Bible says that a little child shall lead them...and he's definitely leading me. Tomorrow night we're going to be gone until late. He already asked tonight what we would be doing tomorrow night. When I told him we really wouldn't have time and he'd be asleep before we got home tomorrow night he said why don't we just do it there? Why not, indeed. So now the Bible and bedtime card are sitting on the hallway table, waiting to be taken with us in the morning.
What are you doing for family devotions, or family time? I'd love to hear from you and share experiences and ideas!

God Loves Chocolate part 2

Here's a short addition for those of you who just might have read my blog first and not seen the others about God and Brownies. Check out this one and this one! God is truly AWESOME! I can't say it enough. And it is very humbling to be used by Him, especially without even knowing it!

God Loves Chocolate

I have proof! Just read this and see....
Wow, the power of a Blog! I made a friend through my blog, via Pete's blog, via who knows.... The point is I made a very valuable friend who gives me some awesome advice whenever I ask. Through a series of "God-things" her husband ended up here meeting with our Sr. leadership as a consultant for some "tech stuff" today. I had happened to mention to her the my husband, Brian, worked in Ann Arbor and she mentioned that she would love to have some Brownies from a deli called Zingerman's some time. She was even going to try to get her husband to drive up to Ann Arbor to get some. I was pretty sure he'd never have time, so I had Brian stop on his way home yesterday and pick up a pack. I just figured it would be a fun surprise! When I caught up with the guys today it was fun to see and hear his expression. But the best part was yet to come...
I just received an email from my friend and she told me, to make a long story short, that she had been feeling kind of lonely lately and that she had asked God to show her His love for her today. Then her husband called her about the brownies, and she knew it was God's way of showing her He loved her. (See God must love Chocolate - He uses Brownies to show His Love.)
Isn't it incredible that God can use us and the little things we do for such great things! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. God is truly GREAT!
Lesson learned: You never know when God is going to use you for His purpose. And sometimes the smallest random acts of kindness produce the biggest results. We always be on the look out for small ways we can show kindness to someone.
I imagine most of the time we don't even know He's used us. But what a cool feeling it is when you find out that He used some small thing you did for His Glory!

Back from Vacation

My family and I just spent a GREAT week in Colorado, camping and hiking. We even went to our favorite "church away from church" - Grace Place in Berthoud, CO. It was definitely a relaxing time, just getting away from all the hussle and bussle of normal life - we couldn't even find many hot spots for my wi-fi Axim which was probably a good thing in disguise, so it kept us away from email and the internet. I always have a very hard time coming East after being in Colorado (where I spent 5 of my growing up years), but as much as I hated to say goodbye again, it really is good to be back into the hussle and bussle of Crossroads.
As we look toward gearing up for the fall, especially in Kid Crossing, there will be a lot of exciting things happening! Families will be coming back from vacations, the Crossroads family will again buldge at the seems, and we (Crossroaders) will get the opportunity to minister to more people, more kids and more families. I can hardly wait!

Random Thoughts

OK, so I see I haven't written here in my blog for almost a month now. (I kind of knew that in the back of my mind.) I think part of the problem is that I don't have a focus/reason for my blog, or rather it's very unclear. So, I'm going to use this entry to attempt to focus or decide to unfocus my entries and once again try to become more regular at blogging. One of the things I want to be able to do with this Blog is to talk to Kid Crossing volunteers. Of course to do that I need to let them know it exists I guess. Another audience I could target is families. Families are a CRUCIAL part of Kid Crossing. Or I could just post about life in general. I was looking at my husband's blog (Brian Glass) this morning since it just happened to be up on our computer at home and his looked pretty eclectic. He even posts about my new Dell Axim (pda). (He's so funny - I was talking to Wendy our church admin. assist. and she said, "yeah I read about your new pda on Brian's blog" - oh boy....)
So, if you're reading my blog, and have an interest, what would you like to hear from me? Maybe I'll try to be a little more eclectic (although I don't think I'll be writing on Famine relief in Africa - Brian). Even as I'm typing this I'm starting a list in this cool program - List Pro - on my Axim with some ideas.
So hopefully you'll hear more from me in the future. And I'd love for you to comment on my posts if you are so inclined. (That way I'll know this isn't an exercise in futility!)

Families Get Involved!

This past weekend we focused on Families and how Parents can/should be/are the major spiritual leaders and teachers for their kids. This is something that even Brian and I are working to become better at with Micah and Hannah. As with everything else in life, I don't think we will ever stop learning how to be better parents and better spiritual leaders for our kids.
Of course the biggest question is How do I do this? What tools are available for me, as a parent, to assist me in teaching my kids about God? In a recent conversation with a friend who has two kids under 6, she said "I've seen a lot of devotionals and stuff for families, but it seems to be geared mostly towards older kids." We have had that same experience. I bought a really cool family devotional book that had a Bible reading, a story, questions to discuss, and even some activities to do. However, the stories are more about older kids. Our 6 year old mostly listens. Our 3 year old is usually off in her own world.

There may be an answer, however. One of the great things about blogging is that you start to get info from people who aren't in your area. I've got to admit that I didn't think anyone would be reading my blog really. However I do have the good fortune to be linked from several "famous" bloggers: Pete Bishop and Brian Glass (my husband). So, at least one other person is reading my blog! She sent me this info in an email:

I would like to pass along something that has really helped my husband and I feel equipped in spiritually nurturing our 10-year-old son. It's a tool called the Family Times Virtue Pack, produced by FamilyWise Inc. It is patterned after the verse in Deuteronomy 6 that talks about teaching and speaking with your children about spiritual things while doing the days' activities. It focuses on one virture per month's packet and all the facets of the packet highlight that virtue.

We have really found it helpful because it makes the work of nurturing our child spiritually possible and practical. Although our son is 10 and I worked in the children's department at our church, my husband and I did not feel we could equip him with the tools to make his faith real, and so we were doing what our parents had done: passing our son off to the church and hoping he'd get what he needed there. All the while though, we were feeling that time was slipping away and that we were not seeing what we wanted to see in his growth. But we felt helpless to do anything different than had been done with us: give him to the "professionals".

When we discovered the FamilyTimes, we felt empowered immediately. It is so simple to use! It gives us something to talk about over dinner (a short 5-10 min. discussion starter), something to read at bedti (i.e. a Scripture story), a cd that has a radio drama for our son, encouraging tips for us as parents and a song about the virtue of the month for us all to worship God with, as well as encouragement cards to write on to affirm when we see our son is grasping and integrating what he's learning into his everyday life.

Although we've only been using these for 2 months, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of spiritual discussions this material is sparking in our home, even when we're not using the specific material. We now engaging our son in discussions about thethings that really matter in life. It's not overwhelming, so he doesn't feel he's getting "preached at" and it hits him where he lives. Amazingly, it also hits us where we live too, providing us with opportunities to practice what we're teaching our son in our own livesIf you go to familywise.org, you can go to their online store to purchase them. We get ours delivered directly to our house each month!"

The exciting thing is that we gave away several of these Family Packs at our Festival of Families. I bought one for myself, and although we haven't started using it yet, I definitely intend to try it, even more so now from this great testimony!
If you're interested in a great resource for your family, check out the family packs at the FamilyWise Store!

Plastic cups and 3000 hours

So, what do red plastic cups and 3ooo hours have in common? Well, if you were at the Festival of Families at Crossroads yesterday (June 5) you know! If you weren't let me tell you...
We learned this really cool statistic during a conference session presented by Reggie Joiner of North Point Community Church in Atlanta. CM volunteers have on average 40 hours each year to influence a kids life. Parents, on the other hand, have an average of 3000 hours a year to influence their kids' lives. That's a pretty HUGE difference and we wanted to make that HUGE impact on Crossroads families. So we made two cup towers - pyramids actually, one of 4o red plastic cups and one of 3000 plastic cups. Now let me tell you, the theory is good. The reality was a whole beast unto itself. I tried several ways to hold the cups together, so they wouldn't fall apart when moved, and the most stable way was to hot glue each cup. In the end the 3000 cup pyramid was made out of 3 sections, each with 7 layers (think like a snowman). (And yes if you do the math it was a few more than 3000 cups.) It took a total of 16 hours, only 3 of those I did not have a hot glue gun in my hand, and approximately 30 man hours, to build. The thing ended up being 7 feet square and 9 feet tall! That created the whole issue of how to get it out to the front of the stage (trying to get around 3 seperate sets). Finally we had about 6 people carry it behind two sets and out between 2 sets, with the top layer being added at the end by the Jester. I was behind the stage, but it was fun to hear the gasps as people started to see it come out! I've got to say it made a HUGE impact! You can see pictures on the Crossroads website photo gallery.
But what really made the whole building experience worth it, was seeing the guys jump off the stage and into the pyramid after everything was over. (I saved the top layer as a souvenier.) I've laughed more in this last week than I have for a very long time.

But don't miss the bottom line here: The 40 hours we, as children's ministry workers, have a year with kids is a big deal. But.... the 3000 hours we, as parents, have with our kids will make the REAL difference!

We DID it!

It's official, the Festival of Families was a HUGE success. First and foremost I have to give thanks and credit to God, for the inspiration, the guidance, the people, and the protection (I've never prayed so hard in my life about plastic cups!) Secondly I have to say THANKS to all the staff and volunteers who put an incredible amount of hours and effort into making the Festival the incredible event that it was! Pete Bishop, our tech guy, was amazing, remixing music, writing raps, creating video, etc. We couldn't have done it without him. Then there was the stage crew who began setting up the auditorium Friday night, until midnight, and then were back again at 8 AM Saturday and they worked most of the day. Of course then there were all the people who handled those red plastic cups and glue guns....you guys have my thanks from the bottom of my heart. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the plastic cup blog entry! My children's ministry volunteers who actually presented the service did a fine job! All the work Amanda Iott, the other Kid Crossing director put into making it a great day, and my friend and great helper Annette Armentrout who kept me from going too insane, and doubled as my personal secretary for a few days. Ben Mitchell, is a great guy, who humbled himself enough to wear a Jester costume, complete with green tights, while parading about on the stage, both in video and real time! Music, skits, kids parts, all happened to praise God and lead families to work towards a deeper spiritual commitment together. I keep thinking of more people I could add, but then I'd be at this all day! Just rest assured I appreciate each and everyone of you from those who helped for hours, to those who helped for 30 minutes! Each piece fit together to create a successful day!
It was a truely AWESOME day! There are pictures on our web site gallery. You won't want to miss them. We received a lot of great comments. One from an older gentleman who said it was the best children's service he'd ever seen. My personal favorite was from one of the little girls in my 3 year - pre-K Wednesday class who ran up to me and said "I liked you on stage!"

Festival of Families

Hey Everyone! This coming Sunday, June 5, we (Kid Crossing) are taking over the auditorium and main stage where we'll be presenting a Festival of Families. And if you don't already know, it has been quite a ride to get here! There's been a whole slew of people working to get this service ready, from Kid Crossing volunteers, to main stage crews, to rappers, and our ever faithful tech guru - Pete Bishop. Between us we have designed sets, written scripts and raps, choreographed music, advertised to the community, etc. etc. etc. If you're in the Adrian area this is one Sunday you will NOT want to miss!
We (the Kid Crossing Leadership team) have been challenged several times lately about how we can better incorporate the family into Kid Crossing and parents into the lives of their kids. It often seems that parents leave their kids' spiritual development to the church. We want to re-educate parents and families so that they become the spiritual leaders and teachers of their kids. Kid Crossing wants to be a partner with families to help parents' efforts in laying down a spiritual foundation for their children. We are going to be working over the next year to incorporate more tools and information for families to assist them in taking more of an active roll in their kids development.
Let us know if you are a parent/guardian and would like some specific info. Or if you have any great ideas that have been useful to you in your family share that with us so we can pass it on!
(And if this is a little jumbled today it's because I had 4 hours of sleep last night and a gazillion interuptions writing it - so my apologies:) ).

Who I am

In case you don't already know....

My name is Shari Glass. I live in Onsted, Michigan (which is in the SE corner of MI) with my husband Brian, kids Micah and Hannah, 1 dog, 3 cats, and 1 hamster. We've lived in this part of MI since 1996. I grew up in MD, CO, and VT (so why am I in SE MI?) I taught elementry school in small, private, multi-grade schools for 6 years and then retired to be a full time mom.
We are members of Crossroads Community Church in Adrian, MI and that pretty much sums up our life! I am part-time staff at Crossroads as one of the Kid Crossing (Children's Ministry) directors. We have fun, creative, relevant, Biblically based programs for the kids of Crossroads. It's a blast, and there's nothing more exciting than knowing you played a part in leading a child to Christ.
In my free time (what's that?) I like to scrapbook and read. And I love horses. My son has recently been taking riding lessons which gives me a small horse fix each week. I also like to garden, but we haven't yet gotten our veggies planted for this year.
That's pretty much my life in a nutshell! Hope you enjoyed it:)

Attitudes

I have been thinking a lot about attitudes today. Probably because for a while mine wasn't very good. I recently attended the PDCM (Purpose Driven Children's Ministry) conference at the Saddleback church in California (which is where Rick Warren is the pastor). One of the key phrases we heard over and over again was "The attitude you choose is the attitude you use." Think about that for a while....

I know it's true for me! Today I was feeling overwhelmed and time was running out for a project I needed to get done. My natural desire at times like that is to just throw it all up in the air and not do anything. But I didn't really have a choice. I thought about that line "the attitude you choose is the attitude you use." My first thought was that I didn't want to choose a good attitude! (and that's not the first time I've thought that.) So, I went and took a break - actually I took a nap - then I got up and wrote two permission slips, read and edited a script, and now I'm even blogging! And I feel so much better about it all.

I guess my point here is that we need to choose our attitude. And if we can't choose the right attitude, maybe we need to take a break, or do something different for a bit. Take a nap! So, maybe you don't feel like jumping around during the songs in Children's church - what's your attitude? Try looking at it a different way - you might discover when you choose a different attitude, it's a lot more fun. So the lesson doesn't get you excited? Look at your attitude. Then take another look at the lesson. Sometimes we get an opinion about something and decide that thing is bad or won't work. I'll admit to getting stuck in that rut on more than one occasion. Try changing your attitude. I can guarantee it will change your outlook and quite possibly your opinion. The attitude you CHOOSE is the attitude you USE!

This is a test

So, here is my first official entry and it is a test. Because I don't even know if it will work, so here you go Brian.