Elemental Children's Ministry

(photo originally uploaded to Flickr by Dave Keeshan)

I’m so sorry that I have been so lax in blogging lately. I thought I’d be able to keep up with blogging while we’ve been in our transition time, but I’m realizing that I have a lot less time than I realize! We are still trying to find a place to live. While I appreciate the graciousness of my parents and my in-laws over the past month, we really need our own place. Would you please pray for us. We are looking for a place that is close to where my wife works, which is in Santa Clara, CA. We’ve been looking in Fremont and Newark but are open to other cities… those two have seemed the more affordable ones and are in close proximity to public transportation to get Erin to work. We’ll be staying closer to those areas this week in an extended stay hotel so we’re hoping to find something this week. With that in mind, also pray that the six of us don’t go crazy living out of a hotel for 7 days :)

Once we get more settled, we can establish a new rhythm, which includes me finding time for blogging!

BTW, thank you all for your support and prayers through this crazy leap of faith. I’m in awe of this community. I’ve heard from some of you who I’ve never met, and I know there are more of you who I haven’t heard from. It’s humbling to know there are people all over the place praying for us.

It’s been three months since Orange 2010. For those of you who attended, you know that it was an amazing time. We learned a lot, were refreshed and left challenged. The thing about conferences, though, is that many times we leave pumped up ready to revolutionize how we do ministry in our contexts only to find that we get caught up in the humdrum of every day ministry putting to the back burner those things that we were challenged by.

I’ve been re-listening to the main sessions from Orange 2010 recently being challenged once again about how I think about ministry as well as hearing things I hadn’t heard the first time around! This week I thought it’d be a cool idea to post a series called Revisiting Orange 2010 posting my reflections on the main sessions from Orange 2010. I also invite you to share your thoughts about each of the posts as well as some things that you’ve done since returning from Orange 2010. If you weren’t at Orange, please feel free to interact as well!

In the meantime, here is a promo vid for Orange 2011 that was shown at Orange 2010.

Here is a list of bloggers that I know of who attended Origins 2010:

• Renee Johnson at Devotional Diva
• Jesse Giglio at Love Is Social
• Jordan Watson at Freestyle
• Julia Kate at Tither of Innovation
• Dawn Carter at Chronicles of Dawnia

Check these bloggers out for their experiences and thoughts about Origins 2010. If you know of anyone else who has blogged about Origins 2010, let me know in the comments.

One of the speakers who will be a part of the The Origins Event this weekend is Tara Russell.

Tara is the co-founder & CEO of The Momentum Group + Common Ground, social + entrepreneurial ventures that provide job-training and job-creation for disadvantaged and at-risk international community members. Tara is a visionary, an entrepreneur, a wife, a mother to kids who inspire her daily, and passionately committed to empowering those with the least through innovative business and training. (taken from the Origins Event speakers page)

I had the privilege of interviewing Tara via email, and here’s what she had to say!

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After officially launching a little over a year ago, The Origins Project is having its inaugural event on July 24, 2010 at the Nokia Center in Los Angeles. I am excited about following the event via blogs and twitter. I’ve been following The Origins Project since I started reading on Dan Kimball’s, Eric Bryant’s and Scot McKnight’s blogs about conversations that were thinking of considering a “Third Way” of doing Christianity. When The Origins Project was announced and the official site was up, I immediately signed on.

Why am I so pumped about The Origins Project and this event on Friday?

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What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

If you were to take Eric’s message to heart, what would that look like in your church? In your children’s ministry?

How do we teach kids to have this mindset?

I found out about this video on Eugene Cho’s blog. I thought it was pretty cool and a powerful way to jump start a conversation with children on loving your enemies.

Any ideas on how you would use it?

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Need children’s ministry volunteers? Ever thought of having a former president help you out with that?

My friend Nevan Hooker from Minister’s Label had this video put together tho help you on your next children’s ministry recruitment campaign. I thought it was pretty fun. Why bother with trying to get the actual George W to speak at your church? Just think of all the logistics of having to deal with the Secret Service! Simply download this video from Worship House Kids and use it for your next creative volunteer recruitment campaign.

Spread the word! Tell everyone you know about this fun video!