Archive for April, 2009

Summer recruiting

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Your club may be done or winding down for the summer, but now is a great time to recruit new counselors and girls for the fall! You might want to consider:

  1. Having a float in a local parade (4th of July, etc.) and asking current counselors and girls to pass out promotional fliers (available through the Service Center) complete with your club’s information.
  2. Hanging GEMS posters or promotional fliers in local grocery stores or on other community boards that invites girls to attend.
  3. Contacting your local radio stations and/or newspapers to include information about your club in their various community events listings.
  4. Creating some sort of incentive for current GEMS who bring a friend to club. Or, give them something to offer their friend – like an invitation/postcard with information and a piece of candy.
  5. Sending promotional fliers or invitations/postcards home with kids after Vacation Bible School.
  6. Picking a nice day and getting current counselors together to canvas residential streets near your club; simply go door to door to hand out information and talk about GEMS.
  7. Contacting the local schools near your club. Some schools will allow you to send promotional materials home with girls – something you could do the last week of school. And sometimes schools will allow you to post items on their website as well.
  8. Setting up a display at church. Put together pictures and other mementos from your year and have several counselors stand by the display. Talk to other women in your church about the joys of being a counselor and how much fun you have with your girls.
  9. Having a recruitment party. Invite women to stay after church, serve refreshments, and talk about GEMS, what it’s like to be a counselor, the great relationships you foster with other women, the amount of growth you receive in your own faith walk, and how much fun you have with your girls. You may also want to consider doing a devotional book as a group of counselors and introducing this idea at your party. That way women will have an extra incentive to join!

Have any more suggestions? Let us know!

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Peace be with you (really, I mean it)

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Peace be with you, the pastor began.  As the congregation responded, I joined in the familiar cadence: And also with you.

But, as I settled back into my pew, I was overcome by the emotionless pitch of my own reply. I stopped to think about the words for a minute. My sentiment was genuine, but my flat, lifeless response created a disconnect from the true depth and meaning.

Peace is a big deal. Jesus talked about peace a lot. I instantly notice when peace is wanting in my life. I sincerely pray for peace in the lives of those around me. I even use it in closing most letters and emails.

So why the bland reaction to the pastor’s opening words?

My best guess: routine.

I don’t mind routine. In fact, I actually think starting a worship service with this call and response is an authentic way to mimic Christ’s attitude. But is there a way to preserve the meaning of the words and phrases we repeat so often – a way to overcome the automatic, unconscious responses?

More importantly, how do we raise a generation of girls who don’t just say the right words, but who actually understand their true essence and believe them at their very core? Girls who understand why we say something like peace be with you, and are filled with passion and amazement every time they utter the words?

Let me know what you think…

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Dormant or Dead?

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

My husband is servicing the lawn mower today. It’s a sure sign that he believes we’ve experienced the last snowfall for the season. That’s what I thought two storms ago, but I’m trusting with him that April will now bring rain showers instead of snowflakes. Soon the dormant trees and grass will be turning green – what a beautiful process to watch each spring.

spring-09

Sometimes I live as if my sinful nature is dormant instead of dead. Ugly sinful habits resurface and I respond as if that’s okay for a season . . . I’m stressed, I’m busy, I’m not feeling well . . . When things settle down a bit, “I’ll get back on track.” Have you ever lived that lie?

Oswald Chambers writes, “The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature.” Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And in Colossians 3:5 he wrote, Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Don’t excuse sin – even for a short season of dormancy – put it to death. Be ruthless. Be brutal. Look it in the face and say, “You’re dead! I’ve been crucified with Christ!”

Colossians 3:1-2 gives us a three-step plan for the battle:

1. Live the truth: You have been raised with Christ. We are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

2. Set your hearts on things above. There’s less room for earthly passions when our hearts are set on heaven’s priorities (Luke 12:34).

3. Set your minds on things above. Be a Christ-centered thinker. Allow the mind of Christ to be formed in you (Philippians 2:5).

Like creation’s transformation from brown to green, it’s a process to be holy. Daily fight to know and live for Christ!

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