I am still processing everything that we experienced, but here are some things I learned or came away with from the weekend:
*The Children's ministry team at LSC is amazing.....and crazy. However, I will not share any crazy stories because what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago.
*Don't try to go to downtown Chicago and expect to get a seat at a restaurant on the Sunday of the Chicago marathon. I'd be hungry too if I ran 26.2 miles (who are we kidding..I'd probably be dead if I tried to run one.) :-)
*We are doing a lot of things right in Kids Kanyon....not that we can't do more and make huge improvements, but it was encouraging to realize that we on the right track.
*Giordano's Pizza is the best pizza, but it is better at an actual restaurant than when delivered to your hotel. Just sayin'!
*We should actively involve kids in ministry and give them a vision for it as opposed to just having them be helpers. There is a huge difference between USING kids for service as opposed to MENTORING them in ministry.
*Due to the acting skills and networking of a particular member of a our team, a special needs consultant is going to come to our church for FREE to help us develop and hone our special needs strategy. SUPER STOKED!!
*Speaking of FREE, I am amazed at the amount of quality "free stuff" that was distributed. (I am a sucker for free stuff, but this was really amazing the amount of stuff they gave away. I think the retail value of the stuff I brought home was probably well over $200.)
*I am going to try to tweet more. For those of you who think I just mentioned something regarding flatulence, you may not be familiar with the social networking site Twitter. I have a twitter account, but totally don't get it. So, in my spare time I am going to try to figure all that out. It seems to be a great place to network with other people and I don't want to miss out some great ideas You can follow me at AmyOsterhout
*I am no longer recruiting volunteers, but instead working on building teams (so anyone who reads this blog and serves in Kids Kanyon can breathe a sigh of relief if you were worried that I would no longer find others to serve.)
*The Skit Guys are hilarious. I haven't laughed like that in a long time.
*I have to EXTERNALIZE everything. This was great point to remember that you constantly have to share your vision, expectations and ideas because people cannot read your minds and they forget
*I am still very inspired by people with disabilities who do amazing things. Mandy Harvey was profiled in a video and then was there live to perform. She is a musician who lost her hearing while she was in college studying music.
*We need to make sure that we are one step ahead of technology and using that to our advantage as opposed to being 5 years behind.
*I loved hearing from Jim Wideman (who has been doing Children's Ministry for 30 years.) He has so much to say that I cannot even process it all.
*I was obsessed with collection flair all weekend (little buttons to pin on your conference lanyard...so goofy, but don't be surprised if you see me rocking the flair in Kids Kanyon.)
*Children's Ministry is about making life transformations and not just going through the curriculum.
*What would Kids Kanyon or any other area of the church (or our lives for that matter) look like if we all chose to make a commitment to give 100% in everything we did?
Those are my initial thoughts on the weekend. I know I have much more to process and figure out how to implement into the Children's Ministry at Living Stones Church. It was great weekend and I am so thankful that LSC allowed most of the Children's Team to miss a Sunday and provided the resources for us to go. It was a great weekend.
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