Posted in teaching, urban children's ministry, urban ministry on May 27, 2009| 3 Comments »
I was doing some research this afternoon about how to teach kids about justice from a Christian perspective.
PBS Teachers has a website on justice activity ideas that I found helpful.
But, really, I can’t find many resources on the issue. If you know of any, let me know! Otherwise, maybe I should do some curriculum writing this summer!
Posted in videos on May 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Posted in photograph, urban children's ministry on May 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
My beautiful 4th graders are leaving my program and moving up to the older kids camp, so today we had a day to celebrate them. I LOVE these photos!
Posted in ideas, photograph, urban children's ministry on May 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Last week we had an afternoon of celebrating our teenage staff members, who we call StreetLeaders (SLs). They are high school students who work in our after school program, helping with tutoring and working with the kids. Our staff this school year was phenomenal!
The kids did a skit of impressions of the SLs, which was hilarious. Then we played a game where the SLs wore a posterboard and the kids wrote encouraging things, which also ended up being hilarious. One of the gems for a SL was, “You like to eat.” Um..Okay?!
Then, we gave gifts to each SL that reminded us of their personality or a funny experience with them. And finally, we ended with cupcakes. I tried to be creative and spell out “We Love You” in cupcakes….it didn’t really work, but at least I tried. Love is in the details, right?!
Posted in quotes on May 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible, a worldview in which the rich, the powerful and the unscrupulous do not after all have the last word. The same worldview shift that is demanded by the resurrection of Jesus is the shift that will enable us to transform the world.”
– NT Wright, Surprised By Hope –
Posted in photograph, urban children's ministry on May 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »
We spent an afternoon at Cooper River Park stalking some geese and playing on the playground.
Posted in ideas, links, recommended websites, theology, urban children's ministry on May 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The Foursquare Church has an eight lesson series on Holy Spirit Discovery for Kids. Check it out!
Posted in urban children's ministry, videos on May 3, 2009| 1 Comment »
Check out this two minute montage of our spring break trips. Of course, the people who donated $$ will get an extended (much more awesome) version on DVD. We DID go over budget, so if you still want to donate (and thus, get the much more awesome DVD version) let me know!
Posted in photograph, urban children's ministry on May 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Last night we had a sleep over party. I looked at my co-worker Mwai and was like, “We’re parents to 13 kids tonight!”
The evening started with roller skating. We went to a try out a new roller skating rink in Cherry Hill, but were pretty much told at the door we were not welcome! So I was all, “Forget this, we’re going back to Camden!” And we went to our regular skating rink – Millenium Skate World – which was much more family friendly.
When we came back to our campus, we ate pizza and played hide and seek. Our other staff members Ryan and Molly stopped by for awhile, which the kids were really excited about. At about 11:30pm, we started to watch a movie and calm down, but eventually gave up and went to play on the playground during the midnight hour.
In the morning, after only a few hours of sleep, I finally got to see where the kids ended up. Several slept on and under our pool table, which was hilarious. And we had pancakes and cereal for breakfast and the party was over.
I always learn a lot about myself and child care during events like this. I don’t know how parents do it! Kudos to you! We had a lot of fun and it was a really special time. I love my job!
Posted in personal on May 1, 2009| 6 Comments »
I don’t normally rant about pet peeves, but I have to make a statement about the following:
I really dislike pretentious people.
Even more so when the person is equal to me in age, education and experience!
In my position as an after school program director I have often experiened condescension from others. There isn’t a lot of “respect” that comes with my position, for whatever reason. I’ve gotten the impression from others that they assume I’m uneducated, inexperienced and that anyone could do my job because I’m babysitting. People have talked down to me and tried to walk over me. Even from those also serving in urban ministry I’ve encountered people who act like they are super important and their work is more worthy and valuable than mine. They’re all – “I’m Ms. or Mr. Big Shot and uh….who are you??!”
WWJD?
Cliche, but it’s what I have to ask myself when I experience this discrimination. When encountering pretentious people I want to raise my eyebrows and be like, “Uh, really?!” and put them in their place and elevate myself.
But, Jesus was the suffering servant of humanity, and the godly response to these pretentious people is to….let.it.go. I smile and nod and let them think whatever they want to think about me and my position and department. A) Because I know they just don’t “get” it and B) As cliche as it is to say, it’s true – God is the one who defends us and he’s a better fighter than I’ll ever be.
It’s still really, really difficult for me, though. I have a low, low tolerance for pretentiousness.
How do you deal with pretentious people?
Jesus Loves The Children 