INTERESTING UPDATE

Many of you have asked me what has been going on in my life and ministry since an earlier post indicated that my church was making some changes that might entail me having to leave children's ministries. First of all, I want to thank all of you who have prayed and expressed their concern. God's grace is truly awesome and amazing in the midst of some rather bewildering times.

Second, please understand that there are some things I do not want to share in an open forum such as this. I often joke with people that I have a lot of opinions and most of them are right! In the situation in which I currently find myself, I have some very strong opinions. I have had the liberty and grace to share some of those thoughts with the elder board. There is more to share and more to do to clarify this situation with our leadership, but I will have to wait for the right opportunity to do so. The very last thing I want to do is create a wrong impression about the church I attend or its leadership. We have an exciting body of believers that is poised to reach the ever-expanding population of our city. We have a group of men in leadership that I love and respect. One day, somebody reading this blog may visit our fair city and I'd love for them to visit our church without being put off by any criticism on my part.

"Okay, Teacher Tim," some of you are shouting at your pc's (or for a very small percentage of you, your macs), "Can you at least tell us if you're still in children's ministry?" The answer is, Yes. As it stands at this moment, I am still doing what I have consistently done for the last 12 years: personally lead the Sunday morning programs for our children. Soooo, instead of overseeing our five children's ministries, I am only overseeing one. And for the curious among you, this is not a punishment. I haven't done anything wrong. The church is in an ongoing development process to better minister to our ever changing community. One of the structural changes just happens to be in our Christian Education department.

The downside to this is not being able to find ways to tie all our children's programs together. While I have not been personally involved or directly leading each and every program, I've enjoyed providing support, encouragement, and training for all of them. All of those duties have been switched over to our Christian Education Elder of Children and Youth (who is also one of our KidServants on Sunday mornings and does an incredible job!).

The upside? Well, as the poker players among you would say, "I'm going all in!" I've always loved stepping outside the boundaries of "children's work as usual." My friends and colleagues over the years have opened my eyes to the wide world of children's ministries that doesn't rely on flannelgraphs and stale cookies. Now that I am down to one mission (Sunday mornings), I'm ready and eager to lay it all on the line for the glory of God and to the mission of "building His Kingdom and reaching His kids" (ahhh, CPC...providing themes that keep on giving!).

Things could change. I could get my old set of responsibilities back. Or the flannelgraph/stale cookie brigade could want their room back. In the meantime, I will "bloom where I'm planted."

Thank you once again for your continued prayers and encouragment. As the situation warrents, I will update you on what's happening on Sunday mornings.