Wow! What a day!

I couldn’t wait until next week to write again because I wanted to celebrate with you some things that happened last Sunday in our ministry.  God is at work and it’s exciting!!

Last Sunday was fall kick-off Sunday at our church.  It’s always a great day with a big party on the church lawn after our third worship service, complete with bison burgers, sno-cones, many inflatables, carnival games for younger kids, and a concert by our praise band.

It’s a big day in the life of our children’s ministry for several reasons.

1. We offer our children’s program at both our 2nd and 3rd worship services instead of just our 2nd to make the day flow more smoothly for families and their visitors. It’s a lot of work but always fun to see how God fills the 3rd service.
2. We have a lot of kids who visit our church that day.
3. It’s a great day to hang out with kids and their parents.
4. It’s an opportunity for some of our older grade school kids to get a chance to serve.

The day was perfect!  The weather was gorgeous and families had a great time!  Things wrapped up at about 3:00 and those of us who did the final cleaning were done in record time.   After everyone else left, I hung out in the church parking lot waiting for Action Inflatables to come pick up their inflatables.   As I waited, I was able to think back over the day and was overwhelmed with gratitude.  I am so blessed to be able to serve God with such amazing, loving, talented people who are so committed to making our church a place where people can experience the love of God first hand!

I want to share a few of my “yea Gods” with you so you can celebrate with me:

1. We have incredible leaders in our Sunday morning Discovery Unlimited and Waumba Land programs!  Sunday was the busiest day we’ve had since Easter and it went off without a hitch.  Every time I was in Discovery Zone, things were running so smoothly!  The registration area was full of friendly greeters, kids were actively engaged in worship, the story was compelling, the media team did their job seamlessly, and the small group leaders were ready to lead and welcome many kids.  Our early childhood area was well-staffed and kids and parents were left with a loving impression of their Heavenly Father.

   I asked a few extra people in our church to help out on Sunday because we anticipated having more kids.  When I e-mailed one of them to see how her day went, this was her reply:

   “I loved it!  What a great children’s ministry that you have!  Awesome!  Don’t be afraid to call me again!”

   To all of you who have worked hard to make our children’s ministry so great, THANK YOU!!! YOU ROCK!

2. We had so many visitors! I met two of them at the end of the kick-off as they were attempting to bursting huge water balloons above my head.  They told me it was their first time to come to our church.  They’re in the process of checking out churches and had a great time on Sunday.  I’m thrilled that we had a team of loving, committed adults to provide them with an engaging program and relevant content.  I pray they come back soon.

3. Our kids did a fantastic job helping! I invited some older grade school kids to help out with our younger kids during our 3rd service.  Wow!  They were off-the-charts helpful! On Monday I received this e-mail message from one of the small group leaders:

   Just wanted to share a few tidbits from Sunday.

   Camden is AWESOME with 1st and 2nd graders.  Very helpful during both large group activities.  Jumped in, did what needed to be done, kept on task.   During third service he was a one-on-one helper.  He was SO considerate of his duties as a special needs helper that when he needed to sing on stage as a part of our praise team, he asked if I would sit with the boy he was helping.

   Elizabeth (another 6th grader) came in to help me during third service.  She was also awesome.  Huge help. warmed my heart since she’s the one who said she was going to come back and help me in with our program some day.   Jumped right in to help.  Awesome with the 2nd graders.

   I was thrilled to get this message, knowing that kids who have grown up in our church are grasping the concept of serving and are excited to be able to help.  They are developing a life-long habit of serving God and putting others’ needs first.

I’m so grateful to God for His blessing on our church and thankful to all those who work so hard to provide kids in our community with a fun place were they can discover how amazing God is!

What about you? Where have you seen God at work lately? Share your “yea Gods” by leaving a comment below.