tonight i tell my students.
prayers
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
the failing economy; the failing church
so this sunday after 10:50 service my boss calls me into his office w/ the head of sprc. i've been laid off. they cannot afford to pay a full-time person. the numbers just are not there.
forget i just graduated 3/4 of my youth group whom may i add were not of the character or set the mood of the youth group they needed to.
so i re work the group. i get students that had left b/c of the lude behavior to not only come back but to bring friends. youth group is fun again. we have games, no foul language, no homo jokes, no talk of sex or drugs. no yelling or disrespecting....
i have a new middle school ministry w/ even more parents involved and a praise team.
'lauren you've started moving us in the right direction. thank you for getting the parents involved, it's just what we needed.'
'we just cannot afford to pay someone full time. we'll be completely run by parents and volunteers.'
not gonna lie. i'm upset. i was willing to put in the extra elbow. this job has been an uphill battle but i put on my holy armor and was willing to work for it.
...realistically though we've lost 12+ members of our congregation to death (old age) and have only gained 1 family of 4 that comes half the time and about 2 other families.
sadly as much as i still love that church it's dying and will be consolidated.
any church that doesn't support the children is going to not thrive=going to die.
sadly it's also at my expense....they're paying me 2 months severance though. my last day is june 9th.
adam's fam is really supportive. i have not dared to tell mine yet. they told me i would fail before i began. i haven't decided if it's going to suck more to tell my mom and dad or my kids.
....oooh man.
my sweet sweet girls and reid, what am i going to do.
forget i just graduated 3/4 of my youth group whom may i add were not of the character or set the mood of the youth group they needed to.
so i re work the group. i get students that had left b/c of the lude behavior to not only come back but to bring friends. youth group is fun again. we have games, no foul language, no homo jokes, no talk of sex or drugs. no yelling or disrespecting....
i have a new middle school ministry w/ even more parents involved and a praise team.
'lauren you've started moving us in the right direction. thank you for getting the parents involved, it's just what we needed.'
'we just cannot afford to pay someone full time. we'll be completely run by parents and volunteers.'
not gonna lie. i'm upset. i was willing to put in the extra elbow. this job has been an uphill battle but i put on my holy armor and was willing to work for it.
...realistically though we've lost 12+ members of our congregation to death (old age) and have only gained 1 family of 4 that comes half the time and about 2 other families.
sadly as much as i still love that church it's dying and will be consolidated.
any church that doesn't support the children is going to not thrive=going to die.
sadly it's also at my expense....they're paying me 2 months severance though. my last day is june 9th.
adam's fam is really supportive. i have not dared to tell mine yet. they told me i would fail before i began. i haven't decided if it's going to suck more to tell my mom and dad or my kids.
....oooh man.
my sweet sweet girls and reid, what am i going to do.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
do you know the muffin man?
164!!! this is amazing.
well my adult men finally won a game last night. sadly last week during practice one of my guys broke his ankle and we had to replace him. even more sad news we replaced him with a 6'8" guy who can shoot from half court at 80%....woah is us.
sitting here reviewing my lesson for tonight. i'm pretty excited. it relates shrek to christ. idk how many of you have seen shrek but it parallels the story to "it's a wonderful life" in how people or in this case shrek wants to see what life would be like if he were never born....
...ah ha! here comes the christ card. what would the world be like if christ were never born....
[insert lesson]
it's going to be pretty ballin' and i got my girls some shrek coloring sheets. they'll be soooo excited.
canidacy is moving along pretty steadily too. i meet w/ the doctor finally to have the results of my psych test explained to me. then next thurs i get to discuss it w/ emily (my mentor).
been dog sitting all week....i get a new set of dogs starting thursday. i love the furry critters.
softball thursday!!! and hopefully tennis too. we shall see!
well my adult men finally won a game last night. sadly last week during practice one of my guys broke his ankle and we had to replace him. even more sad news we replaced him with a 6'8" guy who can shoot from half court at 80%....woah is us.
sitting here reviewing my lesson for tonight. i'm pretty excited. it relates shrek to christ. idk how many of you have seen shrek but it parallels the story to "it's a wonderful life" in how people or in this case shrek wants to see what life would be like if he were never born....
...ah ha! here comes the christ card. what would the world be like if christ were never born....
[insert lesson]
it's going to be pretty ballin' and i got my girls some shrek coloring sheets. they'll be soooo excited.
canidacy is moving along pretty steadily too. i meet w/ the doctor finally to have the results of my psych test explained to me. then next thurs i get to discuss it w/ emily (my mentor).
been dog sitting all week....i get a new set of dogs starting thursday. i love the furry critters.
softball thursday!!! and hopefully tennis too. we shall see!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
in-laws
i always knew he was kinda kwirky, but after last night i've decided i'm going to really enjoy having jack as a father-in-law.
he pulled me aside last night and was discussing in a real time way adam & me's plan for this whole marriage/school thing. he's genuwinely concerned...and then in the end he's like, but i'm not worried about you guys. you'll be fine. :-D
he's also giving my car a freon...free-on? (sp??) boost/shot/jolt....he's putting free-on in my car in hopes that it will fix the air.
wooooooooo for in-laws.
in the words of t.i. (according to jack) i am adam's motivation. woooooo I<3 him and can't wait to be mrs. gilliland.
he pulled me aside last night and was discussing in a real time way adam & me's plan for this whole marriage/school thing. he's genuwinely concerned...and then in the end he's like, but i'm not worried about you guys. you'll be fine. :-D
he's also giving my car a freon...free-on? (sp??) boost/shot/jolt....he's putting free-on in my car in hopes that it will fix the air.
wooooooooo for in-laws.
in the words of t.i. (according to jack) i am adam's motivation. woooooo I<3 him and can't wait to be mrs. gilliland.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
outcasts
The deeper and deeper i dig into this canidacy process, the more i discover about myself.
I've struggled a bit with some issues here at my job and some of the people i deal with make the job more difficult.
i've been tempted to leave a time or two but i have had something holding me back. i finally realized it sunday when one of my new student's mother came up to me and thanked me for getting her child involved with other students her age at church. she had been trying for years and her child just would not get involved.
through one on one sunday school secessions and a group meeting or two this former 'outcast' student is now not only actively involved but now on the praise team.
i feel like i can relate to the 'un-cool' kids and the ones that are socially rejected, cause i was like them too when i was their age, and i think they can sense that.
my job is still not easy, but it's revelations like these that make the other 364 days worth it.
I've struggled a bit with some issues here at my job and some of the people i deal with make the job more difficult.
i've been tempted to leave a time or two but i have had something holding me back. i finally realized it sunday when one of my new student's mother came up to me and thanked me for getting her child involved with other students her age at church. she had been trying for years and her child just would not get involved.
through one on one sunday school secessions and a group meeting or two this former 'outcast' student is now not only actively involved but now on the praise team.
i feel like i can relate to the 'un-cool' kids and the ones that are socially rejected, cause i was like them too when i was their age, and i think they can sense that.
my job is still not easy, but it's revelations like these that make the other 364 days worth it.
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