Steve Conley

Wayna & Wilford

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:03:53 -0700

Stevespotlight

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:54:06 -0700

Books I've read lately.

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:56:10 -0700

Here a small list of some books I've read lately.

Eat Mor Chikin - S. Truett Cathy
How did you do it Truett? - S. Truett Cathy
Church is a Team Sport - Jim Putnam
90 Minutes in Heaven - Don Piper
The Shack - William P. Young

Currently reading: The Imagineering Way - The Imagineers

Rivers and Rainbows

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:04:35 -0700

Rivers and rainbows
Beginnings and ends
Thrashing at the enemy
Dinner with friends

Painful and healing
Searching and lost
Fakeness of heart
Counting the cost

Prison and freedom
Heaven and hell
Some never turn
Some never will

Good and evil
Rich and poor
Picking up pieces
Pounding the floor

Memories and vision
Life and then death
Tomorrow is yesterday
First and last breath

Go get ya some ugly shoes!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:40:48 -0700

Just something to pass on. I'm a shoe fan. The wilder the better. Several weeks ago my wife and I are in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. We are doing a bit of window shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall. Kimberly and my daughter are in some girly shop while AJ, my son, and I are outside looking cool. I just happen to look over and what do I see but some really beautiful but ugly shoes. I become drawn to them like a moth to a flame. They are sitting on an outdoor display at the Ecco store. I make my way over and pick them up to check them out. Mmmm... Ecco's 2nd Nature Slip on's,... pretty lite... look comfortable... what's the price? Mmmmm... marked down from $100 bucks to $34.99!! Time to try them on! Long story short... I bought em! So now I have these great shoes that my wife hates with a passion because they are so ugly, but I think they are great! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would not say they are as good as my Toms... but it's a close second. So, if you are ever in Pigeon Forge Tennessee... go get ya some ugly shoes!

Coke and peanuts

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:04:58 -0700

When I was young, say around 3rd grade or so, I was in the Y-Indian guides. Today it is known as the Adventure Guides. While in the Guides we went to camp. Camp was of course an outdoor adventure in which we stayed in small cabins and did really cool outdoorsy things throughout the day. We would also meet around a huge campfire at night and do things that indians would do. I remember one day we were at the snack shop and one of the dads had a Coke and a small bag of peanuts. He began to pour the peanuts into the Coke and drink/eat the peanuts. I asked him what he was doing? He told me this... This is what the indians use to do. So naturally, I tried it... and it was pretty good! After all the indians use to eat their peanuts bathed in a Coke, right? How cool!!! I actually believed this for several years until one day when the light came on. Anyway, this is your mission for today. Go by a Coke and a small bag of peanuts. Pour the peanuts into the Coke and enjoy. If anyone asks you what you are doing? Of course, by all means, tell them the indians use to do it.

Coke and peanuts

Joe Biden

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:21:36 -0700

Joe Biden puts the "I" in what?

Today I continue to struggle.

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:36:46 -0700

Today I continue to struggle. Sometimes I find myself thinking about different issues. I find myself wanting to scream how I feel about something without stepping over the line and without offending someone. I mean after all a minister has to walk a fine line, right? Well maybe, but maybe not.

Anyway, I'm sitting here struggling with the thought of abortion, Democrats and Christians. My thoughts often lean to this question, "If I'm a Christian, I'm against abortion. But if I'm a Democrat I'm for abortion?" Or should I say I'm for a woman's right to choose. There, that sounds better and takes all personal responsibility away from me, right?

Simply put, how can you be a Democrat and a Christian?

Now, don't get mad or upset. I'm just asking the question. As I said, I'm struggling.

But it seems to me that if I'm walking into the voting booth and pushng the button for a Democratic candidate, I'm also pushing the button for continued abortion. A woman's right to choose. So how does one separate their spiritual beliefs? Do they close their eyes? Turn their head? Turn their Christian beliefs off for a few seconds? Play the grace card and ask for forgivness?

"Since 1992, the Democratic party has called for abortion to be "safe, legal and rare" -- namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions, and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception, and incentives for adoption." (From Wikipedia)

Wait. Legal and rare? So making something legal will eventually make it rare? Perhaps we should make drug use (of all kinds) legal and then that would make it rare. Or prostitution, or pedophilia or fill in the blank with anything that is illegal! That's probably one of the most craziest statements I have ever read. Legal and rare. For some reason that sounds like an oxymoron.

And from what I've seen it is the Republicans who are the ones trying their best to promote knowledge about the incentives for adoption and other life incentives. Not the Democrats.

I know we don't all agree with everything our parties represent, but shouldn't my Christian beliefs come first in making every decision I make? So what is more important? Change or life? Not to drill in Alaska or life? Save the red eared, red toed owl or life? Government sponsered healthcare for me or life for someone who may never see life at all? Should I go on?

If God cared so much about you to send his son to die that you may have life... well, I would think life is a pretty importnat thing. More important than change or drilling, owls and trees and you paying for my healthcare.

So, I struggle with the question. Can you be a Democrat and be a Christian? Don't get mad, take a deep breath, and calm down. I'm just asking.

Be our guest

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:22:20 -0700

My daughter and I are in Chik-fil-A yesterday. While standing in line I'm watching the employees behind the counter and just kind of day dreaming. That is until something caught my attention. It made my ears perk up like a cat to a mouse. The lady behind the counter said, "May I help the next guest please?" There is was! I'm in Disney all over again! It wasn't, "may I help someone," or "Who's next?," or "Next costumer please." It was guest. They consider me a guest! I'm not a customer or visitor I'm their guest.

One of the best things a leader can do is read the books, "Inside the Magic Kingdom" by Tom Connellan, and "Be Our Guest" by The Disney Institute, These two books have been more of a valuable resource than any others. As a matter of fact I am leading my Children's Ministry Team through these two books right now. My team consists of the Nursery Director, Preschool Director, K-5th Small Group Director, Drama Coach, and Reactor Factor Worship Coach. I meet with the team on the first Sunday of every month. One thing I told my team is that we need to be on the same page as far as vision and direction. So the first thing(s) we are doing is going over these two books. We read four chapters a month and then I send them a series of questions about some things that really caught my eye while reading the four chapters. At our meetings we discuss the questions.

So what do you call the people who visit your church? Are they visitors? Or guests? There is a difference.

Silver spoon?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:20:57 -0700

So, this morning I come in to work and someone told me that someone else said that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Huh?

This is just one of what seems like a million things that this person has said about me. So it comes as no surprise really.

I've known this person for years, but this person doesn't really know me. He only knows what he thinks he sees. And his perception of me is not one of reality but one of jealousy. Nothing will ever change that perception and nothing will ever will ever drive that jealousy away. Nothing that I can do anyway.

James 3:16 says, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

If I look at this persons life I see the selfish ambition, I see the disorder and I have seen snap shots of evil practice. Say what you want to say, but James nails it!

Jealousy will absolutely eat you up inside. Period! It will control your every thought and even your days. It will rule over you until it owns you and you become its slave. The gossip he slings to others is drowned out by the sound of his chains. They simply pretend to listen. He wants nothing more than to infect others, enslave others. Some he will and some not. At least until his shackles are reveled.

I have a management position where I work. I work in an upstairs office. From a wordily view it appears that I don't do a whole lot. His perception is false and deceiving simply because he does not have visual access to everything I do. I DO MY JOB. AND I DO IT VERY WELL!

Jealousy. Plain and simple. You would think this person would actually dig deeper into his own life and try his best to concur his own demons, his own problems. And believe me, he has some demons. Family issues, control issues and other things. And no I'm not going to go into detail.

I could walk out of here, confront him, argue and tell him where he should put that silver spoon. But I'm not. I'm use to to it, and trust me, it wouldn't change a thing.

His issues are not with me, they are with himself and the chains that bind.

Someday God will free me from this job and place me into a setting where everyone who works there is on the same page. But for now, I'm here. And I have to play the role in which God has given me to play. A role of praying for this person. Understanding where he is in his life and all that is surrounding him. A role of knowing that I am a pastor (This is my secular job. I'm a bi-vocational pastor) and I am to be above reproach. So for whatever reason... I continue to travel around the game board over and over again.

So this is my 40 hour work week. Dealing with a grown man who's stuck in the 5th grade. Wow.

Clean by example

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:20:56 -0700

Well, this is probably going to make me unpopular with all the pastors out there, but here it goes. I believe we, as pastors, should clean the restrooms of the church. Yep, I said it! We should clean the restrooms.

I believe this for two reasons. Reason number one is that we teach our flock how we should be humble. About how the first should be last. How we must be a servant to all and how pride is a dangerous thing. I believe we should set the standard. We should clean the toilets of the church. We say we should lead by example. Do we?

Reason number two. Pastors sometimes get on their high horse. Without realizing it they get the attitude that they are above doing manual (stinky) labor around the church. Cleaning the restroom will always be a constant reminder how we should stay humble, how the high horse should be a low as the toilet seat, how we should never be prideful and think we are better than anyone else.

So, there you have it. It's just what I think. I was cleaning the men's restroom here at work today. We do this in shifts. One week is my week; the next is someone else's. So it just hit me. Like it or not, it's a good idea! Just being honest.

This should help you out.

Comments?

Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:25:20 -0700

So Tony Morgan is coming out with a new book, Killing Cockroaches. I like reading his blog so I will probably like reading the book. Here's a youtube vid, a teaser of sorts that I enjoyed... but, little things amuse me. You might be amused as well.

Please pray for my wife

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:41:10 -0700

Just asking everyone to say a short prayer for my my wife, Kimberly. She's been having a rough way to go at work. Her boss, Donna (pray for her also), is very hateful and mean to her and others in the office. It's just really hard for Kimberly right now... she can't quit, she/we need this job. So please pray for her when you read this. Thank you.

Ridgepoint Church car wash

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:13:42 -0700

We had a free car wash this past Saturday in Oak Ridge. It was a blast, had a great time... man, I love these people! I serve with a bunch of crazies!

Pager... cell phone... what's the difference?

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:37:28 -0700

So here's an idea. A lot of churches are going to a pager system for their nursery and preschool ministry. If there's a problem the parent is notified through a pager that is given to them when they register their child. I love the idea but the fact of the matter is that it can be very expensive. Exactly how many pager would you need? How much would that cost?

Here's my idea. Just about 99.9% of the people that come into your church has a cell phone. Heck, people will do with food and necessities before they will go without a cell phone. What you would do is while at check-in get their cell phone number, ask them to put their phone on vibrate, and let them know that if they are needed you will notify they by way of a text message. You can even be specific in your message to the parent... "Child is crying. Please come to nursery." "Child is beating up teacher. Please come to nursery." You get my drift.

So, there you have it. Stop spending all kinds of money on those paging systems. You have a free paging system right in you hands... well, not free, but you know what I mean. Most everyone have unlimited text messaging.

This is a something I plan on implementing at my church (Ridgepoint Church) once we move to the theater. I'd like to hear your thoughts. Comments?

This is the Truth

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:10:48 -0700

The goal... to be the monkey!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:18:29 -0700

I find myself praying often throughout the day for our move to the theater. I know that we are about to step into uncharted territory. None of us has ever had any experience with a church that meets in a theater. Everything we do is completely by the hand of God. And you know, I love it!

We will arrive at the theater at 7:00 on Sunday morning to set up. For some reason I'm excited about this. Lord knows I hate to get up early, but I know this is going to be a fun time. I serve with a lot of crazies! One thing I'm excited about is Reactor Factor at 9am. I'm looking forward to bringing to life a lot of my old characters. I haven't been able to do this in awhile but now we have a good, solid crew helping with this ministry. So, that gives me time to bring out some of those characters (Wilford, the old man, Professor Messitup, the rock star, Flo and others).

Also looking forward to adding a large group worship time for our preschool. Our Prek's will meet in small groups for about 15 minutes; leave for large group, 20 minutes, then back to small group. My plans during large group are to have a main character(s) to lead. I want the set to be sort of a Blues Clues or Pee Wee's Playhouse set. There will also be visitors who visit every other week. So my main focus now is creating the set for this. The hard thing about all of this is that it has to be portable. But, everything does so that's nothing new.

Later, I look forward to creating small groups for our k-5th grade kids during worship. I don't think I can do this until we are able to rent another theater. Right now we have one theater and one hallway. But, I don't think it will take very long for us to grow enough so we can financially be able to do that. I just feel it!

So, if you live in this area, let me take this time to invite you to Ridgepoint Church. This is and will be awesome! My goal is to create the best and most exciting children's ministry in the area, period! I want kids to talk about what goes on at Ridgepoint all week long. My vision is to be infectious. I want our children's ministry to be the monkey!!! (see the movie Outbreak)

Can a church ask for too much?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:15:45 -0700

For fun I've been keeping track of this church and their pursuit of finding a children's pastor. They have been searching since February. As you can see below in the job description their not looking for a children's pastor, their looking for God himself. Good grief, can a church ask for too much? Comments?

POSITION TITLE: CHILDREN'S MINISTRY DIRECTOR
LOCATION: EASTERN UNITED STATES
SALARY RANGE: COMMENSURATE WITH EXPERIENCE
JOB DESCRIPTION / DUTIES:
Direct leadership of Children's Ministry (K - 5th grade with 600 children and volunteers)
252 Basics curriculum application and implementation
Oversight of all weekend programming for children's ministry
Development and growth of children's ministry
Provide organizational structure for a children's ministry (K-5th)
Strategic planning and direction for the entire children's ministry (birth-5th grade) in the areas of recruitment, training & development, and execution
Building/maintaining children's coaching/small group structure
Management, development, and oversight of paid staff (full-time Ministry Assistant, Family Ministry Director, Preschool Director) and ministry volunteers (small group leaders, coaches, and all weekend teams - 100+ weekend volunteers)
Planning and coordination of Children's Ministry Camp (2nd-5th grade)
Serve on the Senior Team Management: 1) Children's Ministry representative on the Senior Team; 2) Staff evaluations/adherence to the employee handbook; 3) Strategic thought on the direction of the church and continued implementation of the vision and values; 4) Continued focus on Children's Ministry strategy for discipleship
*Raises are based upon evaluation by Executive Pastor of the following areas - Provided in 6 month and 12 month reviews.
Execution and attainment of yearly plans/goals
Execution and attainment of church goals
Execution of staff development/morale
Execution of strategic discipleship plan
Health of overall children's ministry
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:
At least 2 years experience leading in a children's ministry with at least 150 children
At least 2 years pastoral staff experience in a church of 1000+ in weekly attendance
At least 2 years of successful management of 40+ volunteers
At least 2 years experience overseeing effective 252 Basics Children's Ministry
At least 1 year experience managing 1 or more paid staff
A strong desire to minister to children and their families
Spiritual gifts of teaching, administration, and exhortation
Entrepreneurial leadership
ORGANIZATION!!!
Bachelors degree
PREFERRED EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:
5+ years experience overseeing and managing a children's ministry with at least 400 children
At least 5 years pastoral staff experience at a church of 3000+
Theological degree - graduate level
License and Ordination
Please make sure you meet all requirements/qualifications. If you do, immediately click the APPLY button at the top of the page.

One Stop Shopping

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:48:03 -0700

So one thing I've always had problems with is how volunteers keep up with the rotation schedule. If you email the schedule they'll either delete it, or say they never received it, or just forget about ever having it. If you post it in the bulletin it ends up in the floorboard of the car then in the trash can at the car wash. (That's one reason why we don't print bulletins.) If you print it and place it on the welcome table, they never pick one up. So what do you do?

Well I've created a blog at wordpress.com and posted all of our children's ministry rotation schedules. I can even use this for announcements and different things such as that. When one rotation is complete I just go in and edit the schedule and change it as needed.

With this free site (and Blogger) online it's a one stop shopping experience and our volunteers can go to this site anytime and check their rotation. I understand churches have websites they maintain and could post these things on the site. But, the blog site is simple to maintain, I can do it and not have to go through some difficult process of changing it or getting someone else to change it for me. The blog site is very simple to use. Period.

So if you ever want to do something like this give it a try. I think you will find it very useful.

My soapbox. (I know, here we go again)

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:39:29 -0700

Well, I know this is a blogger no-no but I guess I need to give some sort of reply to Dr. Dittman. Fist off someone must have stumbled into this site and sent you a link to the blog. No one reads my blog intentionally, well, maybe my mom and she wouldn't even admit it if you asked her. Anyway, nice to see someone out there reading even though it's probably a one time thing.

Just wanted to say real quickly that I'm not against the LBF program. It's wonderful that Dr. Falwell set this up for "senior" pastors. And I do mean that! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

My complaint is that it is for "senior" pastors only. It's not fair (I know I sound like a five year old)! It dumb downs the role of every other called pastoral position in the church. It's not open for a "children's" pastor, "youth" pastor, or any other pastoral role. Only senior pastor. I'll say it again, it's not fair.

I think I can look back at my ordination service and never see, find, or whatever, any mention of the reference to "children's" pastor. Everything that was said, preached or written was only referenced to... pastor. In fact, I'll have to get my ordationation certificate down from the closet and see if there is any reference on there.

Bottom line is, I am a pastor. Hold on; let me scream this to the world... I AM A PASTOR!!!! Stop treating me like the black sheep of the family just because I don't carry the title of "SENIOR!"

When Dr. Falwell set the LBF program up I know he had fabulous intentions. Heck, there were probably very, very few children's pastor's back then. The thing is, now, there are multiple pastors in the church.

So, I love the program. It's great that 1400 pastors have the opportunity for the LBF and other scholarships. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I am thankful something is available for them.

But, if you're not a fulltime student... you're out of the picture as far as scholarships go. And, if you're not a "senior" pastor... the door is closed there also.

As for the baby sitters in the world, children's pastors... bi-vocational children's pastors. Well, were stuck with gold fish and fruit punch. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.