Been thinking about what makes some volunteers amazing while others just kinda exist. Sarah's been helping two years. Kids love her. Parents trust her. I never worry when she's around. Tom started same time. Shows up but that's about it. Kids barely know his

It's 5:17 AM and I'm sitting in my Honda Civic in the church parking lot eating discount Easter chocolate because apparently when you accidentally turn the most sacred moment in human history into a Playmobil drama your brain demands sugar and public shame locations. The

Tyler and Mason are fighting again. Of course they are. This time it's over who gets to hold the shepherd's staff for our David story thing. Both of them grabbing it yelling "I was first! No I was first!" I'm just standing

Pastor walks into budget meeting and drops bomb. "Kids ministry events budget getting cut by seventy percent." My stomach just falls through floor. Great now we can't do anything fun ever and kids gonna hate boring church while other places have bounce houses and catered everything.

Sarah's been helping two years now. Amazing with kids. Always shows up. Great ideas. But she still asks permission for everything. "Can I change this activity?" "Should I handle this differently?" "Is it okay if..." Driving me crazy. Want her take ownership

So I'm sitting in my car in the church parking lot last Sunday, frantically googling "Bible stories for kids" because I completely blanked when Sarah's mom cornered me after service. She wanted to know which stories her seven-year-old should really know, and I just

So I'm trying to teach about God creating the world and the kids are just staring at me like I'm speaking ancient Greek or something. Marcus is picking at his shoe. Emma's braiding her friend's hair. Tyler's making weird faces

So I'm standing in middle of our VBS disaster last summer and everything that could go wrong is going wrong. Craft supplies never got delivered. Sound system's making weird screeching noises. Three volunteers called in sick. Two kids are crying because they can't find

Been trying figure out how thank volunteers without spending money we don't have. Our budget's basically nothing. Maybe fifty bucks month if we're lucky. Can't do fancy dinners or expensive gifts like big churches. But volunteers work their butts off. Sarah shows