Seeing Double

I've been a Kidology member for a few years now, and nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I do want to clarify that I'm not tooting my own horn, but it is a treat to see a reference to yours truly twice on Kidology. First on the Kidology August newsletter, and then on the homepage for the week (at least I think the homepage gets updated once a week).

Here are screenshots from the August newsletter and the current homepage.

Ten Apples A Day

Instead of an apple a day, what if God provides you with ten apples? And what if He asks you for an apple back everytime? Well, I've renamed the object lesson from One Cycle at Last blog as "Ten Apples A Day."

I've posted the object lesson on Kidology. Check it out here.

the last five years; ramblings & memories

disclaimer: i decided to forego the rules of grammar in this post.

5 years, wow! that's nearly a seventh of my lifetime. here are a couple of pennies' worth of reflection on this period of time.

anne finished 5 years of elementary school in one school district (actually 2 schools).
ellie-joy & nathan came to know Christ as Savior during this time.
joy was hospitalized & had surgery
nathan-now six years old, has doubled his weight in five years (from 26 lbs. to 52 lbs.)
betty and i got our green cards.
except for working part-time in different positions at dallas seminary, fbcc marks my longest employment term ever.
attended cpc (children's pastor's conference) 6 times

i'll keep adding as more random, trivial observations come to mind.

Rumor Busters (alternate title: if you want to know what's going on, ask ...)

The Fort Bend Independent School District's website has a section on its site dedicated to clarifying and correcting rumors. Apparently I need to add this section to the blog as well, in order to clarify some of the news and rumors about my resignation from FBCC.

If you hear anything related to our situation and you're not sure about the veracity (truth), feel free to email me for clarification.

RUMOR
I heard that you're leaving at the end of September.

TRUTH
My ministry end-date at FBCC is October 31. I informed the church of this date at the end of July.

I had originally submitted my resignation on June 22, with an effective date of September 30. In that letter, I asked FBCC to consider allowing me to extend my ministry on a month-to-month basis in order to better handle the transition. The Church Council in July asked me for a definite end-date instead. Thus, the date of October 31.

RUMOR
I'm not sure but some people are wondering if you were fired.

TRUTH
No, I was not fired. In fact, when I informed FBCC of my intent to resign, I was asked repeatedly to reconsider and stay.

RUMOR
I heard that because you're resigning, AWANA will be cancelled this year.

TRUTH
There is no decision concerning any changes in AWANA. At present, we are going ahead with the plans to begin AWANA at FBCC on Sept. 8, the Friday after Labor Day. However, there is a real need for volunteers and leaders in AWANA this year. We still don't have a Commander and have many other vacancies in key leadership positions. We need the parents and adults at FBCC to step up and volunteer in order to implement AWANA at the same level of excellence and quality. We are presently approaching some possible individuals to ask them about the Commander position.

RUMOR
Fourth grader: "My parents wants to know the real reason why you're leaving. They said God is not the real reason."

TRUTH
God IS THE REAL REASON. Betty and I have prayed over this decision for several months before we finally decided what to do. Our original commitment to FBCC was 5 years and in fall of 2005, at the beginning of our fifth year at FBCC, we began to pray for God's direction for our future. We did struggle over the timing, knowing that FBCC was already undergoing transition in the English ministry.

RUMOR
Is FBCC not pursuing family ministry? Is that one of the reasons you're leaving?

TRUTH
Family ministry at FBCC is not a reason for my leaving.

FBCC is pursuing family ministry. This is one of the goals for 2006, and is also a major part of the 10-year vision. There are many parents in the church who are responding to the challenge of pursuing family ministry. But this will require a lot of work and is not as easy as it sounds. FBCC is a North American ethnic Chinese church with different generations worshipping under the same roof.

RUMOR
Congratulations! I heard that you already have several job offers from other churches. [08/13/06]

TRUTH
I started sending out my resume to different churches on July 18. The list of churches included several in the Houston area and some out-of-state. Two churches emailed me to ask for a chance to get to know me more. I met with a contact from a local church and talked on the phone with a contact from out-of-state.

There are no offers, and I'm still waiting to see if the churches will contact me further. Also, the hiring process of church pastoral staff is usually a protracted (longer) one compared to hiring for other jobs. In most cases, the process will take the following steps:

(a) The church will communicate by phone or email for more information from the APPLICANT. (b) The church's search committee (or people in charge of hiring) will go over the list of applicants and decide who to consider as a PROSPECT. (c) The church will invite the PROSPECT and family to visit informally and allow key leaders from the church to get to know the PROSPECT in person. (d) The church's search committee (or people in charge of hiring) decides whether to upgrade the PROSPECT to a CANDIDATE. (e) The CANDIDATE is then invited to come in for a formal interview and additional meetings with other key leaders of the church. (f) The church's search committee (or people in charge of hiring) meets and decides whether or not to tender an offer. (g) The church contacts the CANDIDATE with the offer, and the CANDIDATE decides whether or not to accept the offer.

RUMOR
I heard that you're planning to move away from Houston.

TRUTH
Whether or not my family moves is uncertain. I have sent my resume to local churches as well as out-of-town churches. It's too early to tell if we'll end up moving or not.

The Road to Rome

If you're looking for some old-fashioned boardgame fun as a change or a break from the electronics craze, The Journeys of Paul Historical Strategy Board Game, produced by Cactus Games Design is a really good family game to try. (Cactus is the company behind Outburst, Scattergories, and Redemption RPG card game.)

I picked up the game a couple of years ago but didn't really opened it until this past week. I thought it was great that someone decided to create a game based on Paul's missionary journeys, but I wasn't sure something as "low-tech" as a boardgame would create interest in today's kids.

Well, I was wrong. My three children, Anne (11 years), Joy (8 years), and Nathan (6 years) had fun playing by themselves. They kinda learned the rules as they played. After watching them go at it for awhile, mom and I got down and dirty with them and took off on the journey from Jerusalem through Asia Minor to plant three churches and be the first to reach Rome.

Sad to say, even with my seminary background and my pedigree as a minister, I failed to win both games we played as a family. Mom and Joy were the first to get to Rome to "get imprisoned" (since that's what happened to Paul in the Bible). Nathan said he won too, because he was the last to get imprisoned, and he built six churches, three more than the required. He's really getting the hang of this "church planting."

The game's pacing was slow. Before we knew it, we had played over an hour. It took about ten minutes to finish each round (two minutes average for each player), with all the declaration of the move, checking the Event card, and then coming up with a strategy to move or build churches. I love the concept that in order to build a church, you had to build at least seven cell groups. You could also appoint a deacon to help protect and guide the church. (Although I think in the Bible a presbyter (elder) fulfilled that role). You can also trade cards but sometimes that doesn't help your cause.

The map of the Mediterranean Sea is excellent. What would be interesting as well would be some trivia cards that provide more information (historical or geographical) about the ancient cities and tell of the modern city equivalent.

There's another review of the game on the web at RPG.NET.

One Cycle At Last

Object Lesson No. 1: If God gave you ten apples and asks you for an apple back, would you give him an apple or just the core?






I presented three object lessons taught together within the lesson hour during Junior Worship last Sunday. At first glance, they appear as isolated lessons but thrown together, they do present a whole. I taught this series of lessons several times during 1999-2001 in different churches. But after I accepted the position at Fort Bend Comm. Ch., I haven't had the chance to "re-teach" it to the kids.

Last Friday, I came to a realization though. Five years have passed since I first came to Fort Bend. The grade school kids I taught to in those five years have passed on to the youth, and one whole Cycle for me has arrived. I can now teach all the lessons I taught back in 2001 without repeating to any one child. Such freedom, such relief. This is extremely liberating!

I went back to my teaching history notes (back then, I religiously kept track of my teaching topics) and found some of the old but reliable sets of lessons I used. One such set is the Ten Apples-PB on My Face-Jonah Surprise Sketch. I have to confess to being exhilarated to teach the kids with something "low-tech" for a change. No computers, no fuss, no videos, no remotes. Just me, some apples, peanut butter, a marker, and a sketch pad. One of our Junior Worship volunteers commented that this was certainly not her idea of "low-tech," given the amount of creativity presented in one lesson.

Later, I talked with Tony Y., who serves as CM deacon and Junior Worship coordinator, about the Cycle. Since we teach third through fifth graders as a group, we actually have a three-year Cycle. Instead of looking at new lessons every turn, it's about time to take a look at the lesson series taught the last five years, evaluate them, and select the ones that will fit into a three-year Cycle.

This is certainly one of the best lessons I've learned from serving at Fort Bend these five years. That as you accumulate lessons and history, it is time to stop and evaluate which lessons God has truly used and you will want to teach again. We have a scope and sequence in our Sunday school curriculum, but have not considered that even in worship this will be effective.

Time for Change

My life is a series of adventures in faith orchestrated by the hand of God. I clearly don't believe in coincidences. So many of my past experiences have helped to create in me a whole that is greater than the sum total of its parts. Events and experiences that seem isolated pop up later to provide insight or depth to a new situation.

Our family is approaching a new milestone this year in October. I am resigning from the Children's Minister position at Fort Bend Community Church and am looking forward to God's leading. Am I concerned? Yes, but Betty and I are willing to let God take charge. Pray for us at this time as we deal with transition, search for new ministry, and possible future relocation, if necessary.

We've built many relationships these past five years and we'll need to find a way for closure in some relationships and be creative in continuing others, and wisdom to know the difference.