The last couple of Sundays we’ve been getting the word out about several of our Family Ministry ministries (that sounds weird, doesn’t it?) 

Anyway, this past Sunday, we highlighted our Middle School Ministry.  Jim Gray leads this amazing ministry, and if you have a middle schooler and aren’t bringing them on Wednesday nights to Ignition, then you should be ashamed of yourself.  Jim and his aweseome volunteer team go all out every week for this unique age group, and I promise you that your student will not leave Ignition disappointed. 

In case you missed the super cool video from Sunday, I’ve embedded it below.  And if you’re not following Jim’s blog, you really ought to check it out sometime.

Yesterday, we started a four week summer push to recruit volunteers for our various family ministry environments. 

In the upcoming weeks, we’ll highlight our children’s, middle school, and high school ministries, but yesterday we highlighted our preschool ministry (aka “Awali Land”)

We have an amazing team of volunteers in our Awali Land ministry, and these volunteers our led by our equally amazing Awali Land director, Jennifer Tucker.  Jennifer loves preschool children like no one I know, and you can see it in everything that she does, as well as on her blog, which you can check out here 

Anyway, if you’re not involved in a ministry at Southside, and you love preschool children, we would love for you to join our awesome team of Awali Land volunteers. 

And by the way, here’s the video we shared with everyone yesterday.  Check it out.

Today, in one of my breakout sessions, I heard something I’ll definitlely be repeating at some point. 

Jeff Henderson, the campus pastor at Buckhead Church said this (and he attributed this quote to Andy Stanley): 

“When something dies, it begins to smell bad!  What smells bad in your church?  It might be dead.”

Just a thought.

The Orange Conference crew surprised us all in our latest session by bringing Andy Stanley in, and asking him some questions. 

For those of you who may not know Andy, he is the lead pastor of Northpoint Community Church, and the author of several of my favorite books, including, “The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry”, “Choosing to Cheat”, “Communicating for a Change”, and “The Best Question Ever”. 

Although it was an interview format, I still walked away with some great notes. 

Here are a few of them:

“At our church, we want people to become self-feeders.  We quit holding people’s hands a lot earlier than most models of church do.”

“Everyone I’ve ever talked to has experienced spiritual growth and progress due to one or more of the following:  Practical Teaching, Providential Relationships, Private Disciplines, Pivotal Circumstances, or Personal Ministry” 

“If spiritual growth happens this way, then why not be more intentional about making these things happen?”

“Why can’t we do what God wants us to do without being critical of someone else who is doing what God wants them to do?”

“If you’re teachable, you’ll go further faster.  If you’re not teachable, you’ll have to learn everything the hard way!”

“Everything we do must be tied back to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…if this truth is getting lost while you help the poor or do whatever else it is that you’re passionate about, then you’re missing the point!”