If you could hang out with somebody today, who would it be? Now, since this is a “religious” blog I’m sure you are thinking I’m about to say Jesus. Well, okay. JESUS. So now that we have the obvious choice out of the way…who else? Let’s take away deceased family members too. So that probably knocks out your first two picks (for the record: Jesus was my first pick and my granddaddy was my second!).
Jimmy Buffet. Yep. That’s whom I would like to talk to and hang out with today. BTW…Mr. Buffet if you are reading this, I have Mondays off!! You might be asking: why do you want to hang out with Jimmy? Well, it’s simple. I love stories. I love story telling. I was listening to his Margaritaville XM radio station on the way to the office today. I don’t know anybody else that can captivate a crowd the way he can. Look how fast his concerts sell out, year after year!
The reason I think of him with this is because he is so relational. I have no clue what he is like off the stage, but on the stage,WOW! He might be a totally different guy standing in line at his local Subway waiting for his meatball sub! When I am in front of the kids, I want to be just as relational. As leaders (especially in kids ministry) we have to walk a fine line between disciplinarian and fun, goofy clowns. I want
to present the Gospel in a fun, relative, and relational way. We need to draw the crowd into our subject matter the way Jimmy does. Of course he
isn’t the first great story teller (have you read one of Jesus’ parables?!).
There are thousands of children's ministry workers (and we need more...hint, hint) so what can you do to set yourself apart? Be relational. Be real. Be authentic. And most of all, have fun. Watch a video of Jimmy doing a concert. Watch how he interacts with the crowd.
Watch how he draws the audience in to his stories; it’s amazing because he does it for more than 2 hours at a time. This week lets do the same. Lets connect with these kids! Lets draw them into more than just story time, let’s draw them into Jesus!
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