daddy4ms

Here is a simple idea for families to do on Valentine's Day. Have an adult open in prayer. Then sing a song about God's love for us.  We picked "More Than Conquerors" by Seeds Family Worship. Read one of the many passages of Scripture that talk about God's Love for us.  Here are a few: John 3:16,        1 John 4:7-11, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Have the kids make a Valentine to God.  On it, have them list the reasons that they love God.  Or they could also list how they know God loves them.  Another option would be to have them make a Valentine for someone they think might not receive one and then go and deliver it.  Ideas would be an elderly neighbor or someone at a local nursing home.  Close your time in prayer. Note: I ended our time of family worship by giving my wife and kids their own gifts for Valentine's Day.

Bethany was telling me about a book called, "1000 Gifts", the other day. The premise is looking at the many "gifts" that we take for granted on a daily basis. So, I decided it would be fun to list the things I loved today. Here is my list: Waking up to the sound of rain Enjoying the quiet house before the rest of the family woke up Teaching Sunday School Class Hearing about the generosity of God's people to those in need Worshiping with my church family Having lunch with newcomer's to our church Nap time Supper with friends at PMC Singing "More Than Conquerors" with Molly at Hesston MB's Got Talent Eating homemade ice cream Coming to end of the day & relaxing with my wife

Tomorrow night, we will again have Family Night at our church. These nights have become some of my favorite nights because the entire family gathers together for a meal and then have fun together through learning and service. It is great seeing parents and kids talking about faith together. It is fun helping families have these conversations. This month, my focus in love. How brilliant! We will eat our meal together and then sing a few songs together. I have requests for Jesus Loves Me Rock and the Hippo Song. Then I will read from 1 John 4:7-11. I will discuss God's love for us and how we need to share that love with others. Following that we will play a quick game of hug tag and get started making Valentines. Who are the Valentines for? I cannot take credit for this idea, but we will be making Valentines for residents of Schowalter Villa ( Hesston's local nursing home). Our goal is a Valentine for each person. I look forward to sharing these cards with the resid...

I am a blessed guy! I have a relationship with Christ, wonderful wife, great kids, and love serving in the church. When I made the move to Hesston a year ago, I did not know what to expect. This was new territory for me and for the church. There are not a lot churches with family pastors and those that do have very different responsibilities. So, when I shared my job description with trusted friends and colleagues, they were impressed with the focus of this ministry position. Family Pastor was not just a title for doing another ministry (i.e. children's pastor, youth pastor, discipleship pastor, etc.) It truly was to focus on strengthening families (couples without kids, single parents, parents with kids). Within the last 24 hours, I have had the privilege to be a part of two very different activities that have been a blessing. Last night, I organized a Family Night (the second this year) at church. The purpose of the evening was to provide a meal as well as fun, learning...

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are focusing our family worship for the next few months on missionaries. As we think about the missionaries we personally support as well as our church, we talk about characteristics that they exhibit that we should have as well. We have already talked about making sacrifices and being content. During these times, we have made birthday cards for one missionary and Thanksgiving cards for another. This week, we are talking about telling others about Jesus and spiritual gifts. As we talked about how missionaries share Jesus in other cultures, we talked about how we need to do it in Hesston . Each of three kids looked up one of these verses: Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 10:13-15, and Ephesians 6:19-20. The kids participated in their usual ways as they played the piano, sang songs, and prayed together. We sang one of the kids' new favorite songs "Go" by Seeds Family Worship. When we talk about spiritual gifts, we are going to look at 1 ...

Last night, a dream of mine (and many others from Hesston MB) came true. We had our first Family Night at Hesston MB. The purpose was for the family to come together for a meal, fun, and learning together. Our regular ministries to children and 5 th /6 th graders were canceled and replaced by Family Night. Thanks to Edna Decker and her wonderful team of ladies for the great food! Thanks also to Tony for setting up and for Josh getting me sound at the last minute. I was very pleased with how the evening went. As families arrived they prayed and ate together. After everyone had finished eating, I led them in a song to get them moving. I used Go by Seeds Family Worship. Then I used a resource called "Family Friendly Ideas Your Church Can Do" published by Group and we used the one titled, "As For Me and My House". During this time, families made a baton for their family. All of the details are in the book. After each family had made a baton, we had some r...

So, I am home from church today with a sick kid. Molly has a fever, but other than that seems to be fine. She is a little fussy. I thanked God that no one got sick while I was at the D6 Conference. So, I spent a few minutes this morning having worship at home with Molly. We read the story of creation and looked outside and I asked Molly, Did God create the trees? roses? hoppers? sun? grass? birds? bugs? Molly? After her answers, we sang Awesome God to praise Him for creating all things. We sang a few more songs including one from Seeds Family Worship (Go). I closed by praying for Molly and for church and Sunday School at Hesston MB. To God Be the Glory! So, now Molly is occupied, I decided to write a post reflecting on my time at the D6 Conference. First, let me say that I have so much to pray through and process that today's post is the first of several more. I was first of all blessed by the 1500 or so senior pastors, children's pastors, youth pastors, discipleship ...