vacation bible school: the great malay

Well, I love it when we have VBS. I really do. Yet being a control freak it is just one of those things that I have a very hard time with since I am not in control of it.

A problem of engineering

Like it or not, the church where I work and love is full of people who are either engineers, recovering engineers or spouses of engineers. Why is that a problem for ministry? Well, by training and nature they are planners and not people oriented. Therefore, the plan for VBS is fantastic, the decorations are very practical and everything is scheduled to a “t.” Again, why is this a problem? It’s a problem because working with young people is not a problem to be solved. Ministry is not a program to be operated. It is much messier than any building project.

So far, I’ve been trying to find a tactful way to provide “on the job training” for the practical parts of ministry. Such as…

1. “it’s not about me.” It takes some training to loo outside of yourself. When working with children, they are looking for you to provide the energy and enthusiasm. However, this is tough to do when they see that there leader is politely paying attention and being a participant.
2. “an eye for visitors” This is, by far, the largest and most effective childrens ministry event we will do this year. And yet they chose not to spend the most money on making it look fantastic. They have a hard time recognizing that new people are lost in the building and even the parking lot. They don’t know what door to come in… much less how to navigate a parking lot with no signs. In their eyes people “just know” what to do. Yeah right! Also, they didn’t advertise using our property. As if children read the newspaper. The children have no idea who the leaders are simply because they balked at spending $7 per person on t-shirts. “Who is safe?” “How do I know who my leader is?” These should have been all color coordinated and ready to go. We just missed that one.
3. “looking out for the child’s point of view” Working with kids is awesome because they want to learn so much… they see and notice every little detail while they are with us. Everything we do should be about them this week. And yet I had to walk around the building and lower all the signs to children’s eye level?

Again, I’m not upset. These are just some really key things that I would have done differently. It’s one of those times when a control freak is best left to hide in his office and pretend not to notice stuff.