Being the Children's Pastor

Every week, on Sunday morning, I have the opportunity to teach Children's Church. For an hour, I have a group of between 12-17 small children (and a few bigger kids) in the Fellowship Hall of Charles Town Baptist Church. We have a wonderful time.

Our Children's Church program is nothing entirely special. We sing some Sunday School songs (Father Abraham, Deep and Wide, Down in My Heart), we take up an offering, we say the pledges, and we do a Bible lesson. Our program is not fancy at all. In fact, compared to some churches, we are probably amateur hour. But that doesn't matter to me.

I love Children's Church. I love the fact that I get to share the Gospel with little ones each and every week. Currently, we are using a curriculum called The Jesus Storybook Bible. Each story selected from the Bible tells the story and then explains how that story points to Jesus, the Rescuer who came to save the world from sin. Most importantly, I love the way the children are interacting with the message of the Gospel.

I was thanking a volunteer the other day and he responded by quoting a cheesy song from a few years ago about children being the future. This is somewhat true, although I tend to think of them as the church of right now as well. There are many people who will bemoan the biblical illiteracy of many in our churches today. I am doing my best, and relying on God as well, to combat that by teaching the children entrusted to me by God (and their parents) in the best way I can.

That is what I love about being a Children's Pastor.

Stuff Youth Pastors Like: T-Shirts

Everyone loves a comfortable t-shirt, but youth pastors go crazy for them. We practically build our entire wardrobe around t-shirts. If it weren't for Sunday morning services and my day job as a teacher, I'm pretty sure I would never wear a collared shirt.

Youth pastors collect shirts from everywhere. We have our youth group shirts, we have band shirts, we have shirts from conferences. We even have random shirts we found at Kohls and bought just because they were awesome.

Here are some of the awesome t-shirts I currently own. Trust me, my collection is growing.

This is my youth group's shirt.

This is my ridiculously awesome Charles Spurgeon shirt from Missional Wear.com

My Relient K t-shirt. This shirt got me in some hot water.

Chick-fil-a is seriously the best place to eat in the country.

I have many more shirts to share with you, but that's just a start. Remember, youth pastors like t-shirts and they will always love to receive more. Their wives may not appreciate it, but only because they do the laundry.

Coming Soon: Stuff Youth Pastors Like

I know, I know, the whole "Stuff (Fill in the blank) Like) has been done to death. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Stuff Youth Pastors Like has been done already (feel free to Google it and let me know). However, I'm of the belief that you can never have too much of a good thing. Hence, my list.

I came up with a list of things that I like and, since I am a youth pastor, I hope that it will resonate with others as well. I will try my best to be humorous, but really the list is just designed to make you smile and nod your head in agreement.

I currently have about 20 items on my list and will add more as I come up with them. I will post a new item every couple of days just so I don't overburden you with goofy things.

I hope that this list will make you appreciate the youth pastor in your life all the more. Enjoy!