My Story

While I don’t want to pretend that you are interested in my life story, I thought I would share this just in case you wanted a perspective on how I came to Children’s Ministry.

I will go back a few years to set the stage.

I’m in the 4th grade sitting in a small church listening to my dad, the pastor, preach. He’s a great preacher, but I’m a 4th grade boy who struggles with sitting still and paying attention. I day-dream a lot, flip through the pages of the hymn book, play with the offering card, find ways to annoy and make the kid sitting next to me laugh and that’s all in the first 5 minutes of the service.

Now, because my Dad was the pastor, we rarely traveled on the weekend. But one weekend we did attend a church in another city and it made quite an impact. You see, this church had a service just for kids. We didn’t have to sit in the adult service, we had our very own service. How cool is that?

“Pops” circa 1975

Well, once we got home, I couldn’t quit thinking about “church for kids.” What an idea. I would think about the games, the songs and other fun things that happen, but I was fascinated by the puppets. I kept thinking, “it would be a blast to be the puppet guy.” I wanted to be the “puppet guy.” So I ask my dad if we could have a church for kids in our church. I volunteered to be a part and specifically the “puppet guy.” He made me a deal. He said, if I would raise the money for the puppet, he would build a puppet stage and find a volunteer to do the service. So that summer I mowed lawns all summer long and earned $39.40. I used all of that, and a little more, to buy the puppet. Dad built a first class puppet stage, found the volunteer to lead the service and just like that we had a church for kids. It was awesome!

I continued to volunteer in the kids service doing everything from puppets, to running a film projector, to setting up chairs. And this continued into Jr high, then high school and into college. Later in my college years, I began seeking God for an answer to the million dollar question, “what’s next.”

The next thing I know, the Sr. Pastor of the church I was volunteering in, came to inform me that the Children’s Pastor was leaving and they needed someone to step in, right now. I agreed to fill the gap until they found their new person. It was during this time that God revealed to me, as clear as He has ever revealed anything, that Children’s Ministry is the place I could make the biggest difference for the Kingdom. A few months later, they asked me to take the position part time. Without revealing this newfound sense of calling, I accepted the part time position. It became clearer each day that Children’s Ministry was my calling. I felt like David in the Old Testament. God called me out to specifically serve this demographic.

It’s funny, it just dawned on me several years ago that I have been involved in Children’s Ministry since the 4th grade. (At the time of this writing I am 45…do the math).

I’m not sure what my legacy will look like when I leave this earth, but I do know this that the very calling I gave my life to, began with a crazy idea in the 4th grade and it never stopped.