General Jody’s MARCHING ORDERS

Today, I was re-introduced to the concept of “special time” with your kids.  It is based on the research by Dr Russell Barkley regarding children with ADHD.  The concept is simple, spend 15-20 minutes with your child without the normal rules, on their level, letting them lead while you follow.  If they want to play a board game, play board games; if they want to have a tea party, have a tea party.  Let them lead and you follow.  Relax, enjoy the time and develop an attitude that conveys “Wow! That is really interesting!  Tell me more!”

Thru that time, both you and your child learn to communicate with each other as well as learning needs (what does your child see, what is the vision they have, how do they think).  The point of the exercise is to connect relationally with your child and let them feel valued, important, and loved in a safe environment where it is ok for them to make mistakes.  Once finished, the instruction was to keep a journal and write down something that you learned new about your child that you did not see or know before that you can use as an encouragement in the future.

How much better would your marriage, family, team, work, and every other relationship in your life be if you spent more “special time” together with others in your life?  For the month of October, I encourage you to put this into practice every day with your wife, your children, and your ministry team.  Start a notebook for each person writing down things that you learned or observed that can be used to encourage that person or something that you discover that makes that person more endearing to you.  What are their hopes, their dreams? Why has God placed them in your life and how can you be a blessing to them?  Leave me a comment and let me know how it has enhanced your relationship.

Here is part of an email that I received from Theresa Somerville. Thank you Teresa for the encouraging words to the Sunday night nursery team.  Many people overlook the importance of this team but they are making a huge impact.  To join this team, please call me or send me an email and i would be happy to talk with you about the opportunities for Sunday night service.

“I just wanted to send an email and let you all know how fantastic our
church’s volunteers are and how much I appreciate them.  During the DBTW
conference this year, I was 9 months pregnant.  The first night I arrived, a
parking lot volunteer (Louise Morales, I believe is his name) went out of
his way to find me a parking space in the upper parking lot.  A couple of
nights later when I arrived, the upper parking lot was almost full and he
told me to let him know if I couldn’t find a parking spot because he would
again, make sure that I got one in the upper parking lot so that I wouldn’t
have to walk from the lower parking lot.  I’m one of many people that attend
the church but it really meant alot to me that he went out of his way to
make sure that I was taken care of.

Also, I wanted to tell you about another recent experience I had with our
volunteers.  My daughter is a month old and the first 2weeks after she was
born, she had blocked tear ducts so her eyes were constantly watering and
getting crusty.  We would clean them, but it seemed like it didn’t matter
because not long after, they would water again.  Well about 2weeks ago, I
noticed that her eyes were getting alot better.  I was talking with Crystal
Pacovich, who serves in the nursery on Sunday nights about this, and she
told me that the first Sunday night that I dropped Emma off in the nursery,
she had actually prayed over her eyes.  That was almost 2weeks ago and I
know that her eyes have gotten better because Crystal prayed over them.  I
know that the Children’s Ministry is a blessing to the parents because we
can drop them off without having to worry and we’re able to get fed in
service, but it is also a humongous blessing to the children who are the the
children’s ministry services.

Thank you for all of the incredible volunteers that serve at Living Word and
thank you for all those who are leading them.  I’ve been at Living Word 5
years and I’m still constantly being impacted!”

It has been a really long time since i have posted a blog.  The ministry has been really full over the past several months.  We constructed a pirate ship, dressed like pirates, had a blast teaching 1239 kids (with 350 volunteers) that God wants them to be a hero and how to do that, trained our teams to look for the opportunity to be the image (the character) of Christ to those we serve with as well as the children we minister to, and are gearing up for Family Fest 10/31 from 6-9 pm.