Last year, as a brand new member of the Children's
Ministry Resources team at Group Publishing, I was blessed to
pieces in being a part of the KidMin Conference - the first of a fresh,
annual event aimed at refueling children's ministers and giving you
some much needed time with God. I was part of the welcome team at
the registration desk, so I saw all of the KidMin attendees as
everyone first came through the doors. It was a fun place to
be!
In its second year, the blessing of KidMin is GROWING! This year I
have officially been dubbed the Speaker Sherpa and have the joy of
working with all of our amazing speakers - and let me tell you,
after working with them over the past few months, we truly do have
an incredible speaking team. We dreamed big and in multicolor
sticky notes of who would join us this year and what the program
would look like.
After spending a LOT of time in this swath of sticky notes
pondering and praying and re-mapping them over and over, we came
away with a line-up aimed at serving everyone. A varied and
relevant mix of topics and voices geared to challenge, inspire,
educate, motivate, mend and replenish your ministering heart.
One of my fondest memories from last year is meeting Andra and
hearing her story. She has been in children's ministry the majority
of her life, over 50 years, and ministry is a legacy in her family.
Every time I saw Andra at KidMin 2011, there was a glowing smile on
her face and happy tears welling up in her eyes. After so many
years, she actually felt like the hero she is. Seeing sweet Andra's
heart so blessed is when I knew, for certain, that God is doing
something so profound at KidMin. Well beyond anything that could
ever be programmed with a billion skillfully placed sticky notes,
beyond what I'm able to really find words for.
I think the treasure God has for those attending KidMin, the
thing that was putting stars in Andra's eyes last year, is his
gratitude. He is thankful and so proud of the work you do in the
lives of children. What greater honor could there possibly
be?
