Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Family-Orange Conference
When you think of your family, what image comes to mind?
Maybe you developed your image of family
from the pictures around you.
What do you think a family should look like?
It might be encouraging to know that the families in the Bible were messy.
They were amazingly dysfunctional.
That’s because the Bible demonstrates
with surprising candor, that God
desires to use broken
people to tell His story.
God is more interested
in using broken people
than He is in creating a better picture.
What if you decided,
regardless of your situation,
to become a living demonstration of how
something that is broken can be restored?
How could you start looking at your family
through the context of a bigger story?
Lead yourself to keep loving your family.
What are other churches doing to connect church and home?
Victory Life Baptist Church places emphasis on children
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Story last updated at 3/30/2010 - 7:31 am
Things are changing at Victory Life Baptist Church.
At the center of it all - jumping up and down, waving his hands, singing loudly - was Tim Lester. The new children's pastor is striving to reach not just children, but their parents, too.
Throughout one Sunday morning service, the congregation sang songs and even danced a little. They played games and heard stories told in front of a changing animated background. They completed puzzles and received prizes.More and more young families are joining the church, and it's altering the way church members interact.
This typical weekend service was transformed to provided the whole congregation with a window into the children's church, Victory Life's Sunday school.
Of the 1,000 people who attend the five-year-old church's weekend services, about 300 of them are children, said Brad Jurkovich, Victory Life's senior pastor.
To better reach these young churchgoers, Jurkovich brought in Lester, a children's pastor who had most recently been working Frisco.
"As a multi-generational church, it's really about reaching kids and reaching every generation," Jurkovich said.
In the three months since Lester arrived in Lubbock, he's worked to make sure children understand Christian teaching and that parents understand their role in that teaching.
He and other church leaders donned black T-shirts with bold, white writing that reads, "1/168," referring to the fraction of hours members spend in church. The simple fraction is paramount to the theory driving Lester's work.
Lester knows he only controls a small portion of the children's time.
Their parents are much larger influences, he said. So he makes preaching to parents a part of his work as children's pastor.
"Our whole passion is to influence parents so they can teach at home and not just in church," he said.
Sometimes the children receive homework assignments to complete with their parents. They can return the assignments each week in exchange for a small prize.
Churchgoers said they are starting to notice Lester's mission and the changes he's made in light of them.
Amy and Bobby Harmon, along with their two children, joined Victory Life about two and a half years ago. Since then, they've watched the congregation grow. As more and more young families joined the church, they saw the pastors reach out to the church's smallest members.
"Now that Pastor Tim is here, he's taking it to another level," Bobby Harmon said.
Lester hopes other churches will take children's ministry to another level as well.
D6, a Dallas-based group dedicated to getting parents involved in children's religious education, holds an annual conference to teach some of the concepts on which Lester bases his work. The group's name comes from a Bible verse, Deuteronomy 6: 5-7, which instructs parents to take responsibility for their children's spiritual well-being.
"I do believe it's a movement that's happening, but it's at its ground roots right now," Lester said. "It's my dream to see that happen elsewhere."
To comment on this story:
kellie.bramlet@lubbockonline.com l 766-8754
FAITH/Victory Life Baptist places new focus on Christian education of children
Monday, January 4, 2010
What is "Age Appropriate"
By 12 months
Behavior Characteristics
• Anxious or shy around strangers
• Cries when separated from Mom or Dad
• May be fearful, especially in new situations
• Feeds self with fingers
• Can sit without assistance
• May test adult response to behavior
• Walks holding onto furniture
• Responds to simple verbal requests and “no”
• Says simple phrases: “mama,” “dada,” “no,” “uh-oh”
• May use sign language to indicate needs and desires
Learning Characteristics
• Loves to explore objects
• Can find correct image when it’s named
• Can find hidden objects
• Begins using items correctly
(hairbrush, toothbrush, phone, etc.)
Adapted in part from “AAP Children’s Health Topics:
Developmental Stages”
By end of 3 years
Behavior and Age-Group Characteristics
• Physical development is well-rounded; climbs, runs,
kicks balls, pedals tricycle, and bends over with ease
• Can hold a pencil in writing position and create
vertical, horizontal, and circular strokes with ease
• Can follow complex commands (two- or threecomponent
commands)
• Understands most sentences and
can say name, age, and sex
• Speech is generally understandable
to those outside immediate family
• Imitates others
• Expresses affection
• Can take turns
• Separates easily from parents
Learning Characteristics
• Can match objects (image, color, and category)
• Plays make believe
• Sorts objects well (shape, size, and color)
• Objects to major routine changes
Adapted in part from “AAP Children’s Health Topics:
Developmental Stages”
By end of 5 years
Behavior and Age-Group Characteristics
• Physically agile (hops, somersaults, swings,
climbs, skips)
• Dresses and cares for most personal needs
(uses eating utensils, cares for own toilet needs,
and put on and take off own clothing)
• Speaks sentences of more than 5 words
• Tells longer, more complex stories
• Says name and address
Learning Characteristics
• Counts 10 or more objects
• Has some grasp of concept of time
• Typically will agree to rules
• Shows independence
• Sometimes demanding,
sometimes cooperative
Adapted in part from “AAP Children’s Health Topics:
Developmental Stages”
By age 10 to 12
Behavior and Age-Group Characteristics
• Interested in teen culture
• May wear braces
• May have done some paid work
• Watches around 3 hours of TV per day
• Loves to socialize with both sexes
• Girls are typically taller than boys, but boys are
preparing for a big growth spurt
• Typically gossips about
friends and foes
Learning Characteristics
• Can solve abstract problems using logic
• Seeks independence from adults,
especially parents
• Relies on peers for advice and
interaction in and out of school
• May show anxiety in form of
physical symptoms
(headaches, stomachaches)
Adapted in part from “Behavior and
Development,” TodaysParent.com
A good word from Group
by Brian Proffit
The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time for examining the past and resolving to make improvements in the coming year. Here's what I resolve to do in 2010:
I will be more of an equipper and less of a doer. Ephesians 4:11-12 says that the purpose of leaders in the church is to equip the people to do the ministry of the church--not for the leaders to be the ministers themselves. So I will spend more time consciously empowering others in ministry. I will make it clear to my staff that I won't measure their performance by how much they do, but how many they equip.
I will stop treating Christian service as optional. Jesus called his followers to complete life changes. In fact, he went out of his way to make sure people understood how much he demanded before they became his followers. Jesus made it clear that he expected people to be actively serving him. For Christ-followers, giving time to ministry is not optional.
I will be a cheerleader. In a world full of negative attitudes and criticism, I will demonstrate Christ's love by celebrating the accomplishments of others. I will give personal, meaningful affirmation. If someone fails to show up, my first reaction won't be anger that he or she let me down; it will be concern that something might be wrong. I will take more pleasure from their successes than my own. I will praise them publicly.
I will call people boldly. Rather than recruiting people timidly, hoping not to offend them, I will boldly invite them to contribute their time to the most significant cause in the universe. In John 6, Jesus called people to such radical commitment that many turned back and no longer followed him. If Jesus' focus was on the level of commitment people were willing to make, rather than the number of people who followed, then I will not be shy in asking people to give more of themselves.
I will devote resources to developing others. Equipping people for ministry is more than just giving encouragement. I will give them constructive feedback. I will pay their way to appropriate training events. I will purchase the tools needed for them to flourish.
I will forgive myself for last year. Because we take our ministry so seriously, it is easy to pile on guilt for the things we failed to do or did wrong. But God chose to do this ministry through me, knowing that I'm a broken vessel. I will spend time now consciously determining what I need to learn from my mistakes, and then I will join God in casting them into the Sea of Forgetfulness.
I will remember the one thing. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus reminded Martha that while all her attempts to serve him were good, the one thing most important was developing a growing relationship with Jesus. I will remember that ultimately it is not about my ministry or my church. It is about me and all those around me developing a growing relationship with Jesus.
And perhaps I should add one more: I will keep these resolutions longer than the one about dieting and exercise.
