JUST PUDGE

I’ve found that a great question to ask is…”what does CM mean to you?” and just see the answers you get. Ask everyone. Families, kids, volunteers in CM, other volunteers, staff, yourself…everyone.

The answers may surprise you.

For now, I am going to pretend you just asked me. Here would be my response. CM is…

• Children’s ministry.
• the privilege of being able to teach & show kids Jesus, on their level.
• safe, clean and welcoming…no matter what.
• the opportunity to love on the kids of a single mom that can’t seem to catch a break and needs to hear about Jesus.
• personal interaction.
• having the best volunteers on the planet who get it and LOVE it!
• about families and kids!
• a place where the 3rd grader struggling with why mommy and daddy aren’t together anymore can feel loved and be a kid again.
• thriving, never stagnant.
• the honor of being able to reach out to special need families when most churches say “we just don’t have a place for you here”
• engaging on all cylinders; the antonym is boring.
• where a 1 year old learns how to handle their separation anxiety because they hate leaving mommy & daddy, but love their room at church.
• sets the culture in motion.
• a place where a 5th grader learns why his siblings decision to do drugs wasn’t a good one & why they never will do it.
• Children’s MINISTRY…not childcare.
• a cascade of stories that would blow our mind if we would just tap into them.
• an honor to be a part of.

CM is about people…people that hurt, people that are being healed and people that just need to know someone cares. CM is the honor and opportunity to be a part of the LIFE CHANGE happening all the time in our church. CM isn’t just watching a kid play, holding a baby, reading a Bible story.

CM is LIFE CHANGE…it’s FAMILIES CHANGED…its awe inspiring and HE chose us. If you are a volunteer or on staff somewhere doing CM…HE CHOSE YOU!!

I am humbled, unworthy and so thankful!

So, what’s CM mean to you? Your volunteers?

We all have a story.

You have one, I have one, the people we don’t know have one.

Having a story may be one of the key threads we all have in common…

Yet, how many stories do we know?

When was the last time we shared our story?

I believe one of the lies the enemy feeds us (and we so easily buy into) is the idea that our story doesn’t matter. It’s just my journey…no one ‘really’ cares…right?

THAT COULDN’T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!

Your story matters SO MUCH!! We all have a story. Stories that…

• Tell of our salvation, redemption, growth, brokenness, healing, and faith!
• Tell of the WONDER and GLORY that is Jesus, written out in a story of our life!!
• Are the TANGIBLE walk away to the miracles Jesus continues to do everyday.
• Remind us why we do what we do (when things are crazy or calm)!
• We may think to filter up to our leaders but not always to those around us.
• We keep silent because…they don’t matter ‘that much’…no one’s ‘really’ interested…

Our story is HUGE to what God is doing in our life and what God can do in the life of others. When it comes to our volunteers, more time should be spent telling stories and less on logistics and operations.

Let me say that again…I believe we could be IONS more successful if more time was spent sharing stories and connecting people.

Please don’t misunderstand me, it’s not because time doesn’t need to be dedicated to hash out the solutions to our “opportunities for growth.” It does.

The problem is when we become so naturally so entrenched in tasks that we forget; being a leader is 90% people…10% tasks (if that).

A leader is someone who simply connects people. They work to connect their stories, their lives, their paths…around a common idea (making Jesus’ name famous).

Don’t get me wrong…it’s not like I have arrived! I’m still learning all this myself, but I’m so thankful for what God is showing me and SO eager to invest more time in people and less in the “to do” list!

Real quick today, I wanted to share with you “three quick items of awesomeness” and get your feedback…

one

You have GOT to check out this post by Gina McCain (OKC LifeKids Team, LifeChurch.tv). She gives some great insight here and asks some awesome questions! It’s very encouraging and I’d like to say, I would LOVE to collaborate with other CMs out there…who’s with me?

two

As many of you know I am an avid Clemson fan!! When you go to school there you can’t help but love it! As many of you may also know our team has gone through a few challenges this week that could affect our season greatly (not that we were exactly THRIVING before).

So, I thought we would have little fun and take a poll to predict Clemson’s final record in 2008. I’ve placed the poll here so you can vote…it’s easy and it will be fun!

three

Here’s the deal, I want to know what are the challenges, questions, opportunities for growth, etc. you are seeing in your CM.

From your questions we will do a post and get other people’s feedback and insight. The post will be totally anonymous (unless you state otherwise)! I know I’m not smart enough to answer all your questions, but our readers are!

The best part is that through this we learn and grow together! So go ahead, send your questions to pudge.huckaby@gmail.com and let’s get started!

Well, that’s it for today!