Listening for God's Voice

I had the opportunity to catch the Storytelling room twice this month-with the kindergartners and the 3/4th graders. I loved the game of listening to your partner's voice while blindfolded. We had to listen carefully in order to distinguish the voice of our partner in the midst of the other voices. God's sheep (his followers) know His voice.

Do I know God's voice? To be honest, it's very hard for me to listen to God. I always find myself thinking about what to make for dinner, my to-do list, how annoyed I am with so-and-so, etc. It's hard just to think about nothing and to leave room for God to speak. But I find that when I make the effort, when I start this little time of "meditation" out with a prayer-asking God to speak to me, to empty my mind of all the distractions of my day so that I can hear His voice-I do hear Him. Often, God brings to my mind a person I may not have thought of in awhile. Or He'll lay on my heart, completely out of the blue, the burden to pray for a certain person or situation, to reconnect with an old friend, to right a wrong, to step up or speak out, to show someone an act of kindness. These thoughts don't come from me-I know because they seem to come out of nowhere. I believe that this is how God speaks to me-in quiet, provoking thoughts.

How does God speak to you? Everyone connects with God differently, and I'd love to hear your stories of how God has spoken to your heart to change, challenge, and love you personally. I'd love to share (anonymously if you'd prefer) a few stories in an upcoming newsletter. So, that's my challenge to you: email me a story!

Psalm 23

Last weekend I was priviledged to shepherd in the Art Studio with our kids.

They created a poster based on Psalms 23. Here are just a few items the kids

wrote on their posters:

Don't be afraid

Jesus has my heart

My cup overflows with blessing

I live in the Lord's house

Beth Shafer was our teacher and she continues to inspire me with her grace

and love for Jesus in spite of the hardships she has endured. What an amazing woman of God.

It's all about the relationship

It's relationships, not programs, that change children. A great program simply creates the environment for healthy relationships to form between adults and children. Young people thrive when adults care about them on a one-to-one level, and when they also have a sense of belonging to a caring community.

Thoughts on Volunteering

The following data was from a broad research study, not specifically at WW. But research reveals some things that we need to look at.

Over a course of a year one third of the volunteers recruited do not return for a second year. Here are five reasons people quit volunteering:

1. Ministry area is not well organized – do you have a process or plan that helps you be organized so that when things are busy you can simply follow the process you have already laid out?

2. Serving in the ministry area is not a good use of their time – do you help your team members know how important their role is in the lives of the kids? Do they understand how they are being changed as they serve? Do they see the value of what they are doing?

3. Serving in the ministry area is not a good use of talents, skills and expertise - do you know your volunteers? Do you know what talents, skills, desires or expertise they have? Sometimes people are not serving in the right area. By building a relationship with your team, you can find out their level of satisification. We want to help people serve where they are best suited to be and sometimes that means we lose a person in our area but the Kingdom work is carried on.

4. Role and responsibilities are not clearly defined - do your volunteers know what is expected of them? Has that been clearly and consistently communicated with them? Do you know and understand your personal “job description” that you have agreed to fulfill on the wwKids ministry team?

5. Volunteers receive no thanks for their contributions - do you recognize and acknowledge your team members contributions? A thank you, a quick call to say “I appreciate you,” or share a story with me about how one of your volunteers, something I can share with overall church leadership.

As I look at these 5 reasons, I realize that they are all connected to communications. Good communications would eliminate most of these problem areas. Maybe you haven’t done well in the past on number 1 but do a great job with number 5. Wherever you are, I am sure that you can improve – as can I! This information is to encourage and to help us all be intentional about what we focus on! All of us are growing in our leadership abilities.

Be Encouraged

Since the beginning of March the Kids Journey area has enrolled 26 new families that bring 45 kids with them! A new person is someone who has been attending for several weeks and has decided to make Westwinds their home. That means over 71 new people have come to Westwinds Church! That means we get to reach out and touch these families lives with the story of Jesus.

How amazing and what a blessing and a huge responsibility and a lot of kids!

As a volunteer if you are currently serving one time a month, I am asking you to consider “stepping up” and serving 2x a month in your area. Or better yet consider inviting a friend, who is good with kids and is not serving, to serve with you.

Be encouraged! We are in labor, getting ready to birth something new at WW.

Serving in wwKids Ministry

Serving in wwKids Ministry

Our Stories

Our Story
For our kids engaging "God moments" look something like this:
it’s being kind to their friends at school;
it’s inviting a new kid to play on their team;
it’s helping a classmate who is struggling;
it’s encouraging a team mate on the soccer field;
it’s making blankets for grandmas;
it’s helping your school start a recycling program;
it’s complementing an opponent on a good shot;
it’s choosing to be kind to a brother or sister;
it’s giving their own money to lifestraws so other kids can have clean water;
it’s playing games with elderly folks;
it’s cleaning toys to give to other kids;
it's helping get food to kids who have nothing to eat;
it’s inviting a friend to church.

This is how our kids lives are being transformed as they participate in God’s Kingdom work!

Learning from the Kids

Once again, the 1st and 2nd graders astounded me with their wisdom. During the discussion after signing the song, "Mary Did You Know", I asked the kids to imagine what it felt like during the 9 months when Mary was a pregnant teenager living with her parents. I told them that the neighbors probably gossiped and made fun of her. The first answer they suggested was "embarrassed". The second child said "sad."

Trying to think along with this child, it was the first time that I had ever imagined Mary being "sad" while she was pregnant with God-most-high! And the more I thought about it, I said, "Yeah, when you're getting teased for months and months it gets old, doesn't it! It becomes really hard to bear!"

Wow!...embarrassed and sad...my heart is moved to send a thank you to Jesus' mother in Heaven! I have a 15 year old daughter, and I know how judgmental and vocal peers are.

I learn as much as these darling children learn each week.
Thank you for this opportunity.

Janet - Music & Motion Studio Directer/teacher

Who are you inviting?

The other week in Fusion, Dave talked about the “lies” of our world. One of those lies is “there’s not enough ______.” I suspect that Dave was talking about natural resources, etc. However it occurred to me that in the church community, the natural resource is people, God’s people. We frequently feel like there’s not enough help, not enough people, etc.

There are people . . . there are people who will serve. . . but we need to invite them. We need to invite them to join us in teaching the kids. As you hopefully know and have personally experienced, we are transformed in the process of guiding the kids along their journey with Jesus.

WW’s missional emphasis this year is the invitation to shadow God. Who do you know that you could ask to help you in the studio one weekend? Invite them to join you, so they can see and experience for themselves the joy of giving to others. Perhaps it is someone you’ve known for a long time OR perhaps it’s someone you’ve just met recently. Perhaps it’s a mature high school or college student. Many times people don’t help because no one ever personally asks them to help. Let’s ask!

I am willing to invite people to join us, but it’s just like coming to church. People come to church because someone- like you – someone they know invites them.

Who could you invite to get more involved at WW?