Just a few days ago, Vickie and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary of being Trinity Church International’s Children’s Pastors. I’ll have to admit, there aren’t too many Children’s Pastors that I am aware of that have stayed at one church for any where near that length of time. We are celebrating because during these years, we have been blessed, blessed, blessed to have loved on thousands of children (that’s a literal number … not some number to hype a blog entry).
The reward for these years of ministry is incalculable. It’s a rare Sunday when we don’t have at least one of our graduates (those whose age moved them on to youth) to stop by to see and love on us. Often, Vickie and I have “kids” who were once in our ministry when we first arrived at Trinity and are now in their twenties and early thirties stop by to hug us and remind us that they love us. Why? Because over the years I’ve told them that they may outgrow our ministry, but they will never outgrow me. I will always be their Children’s Pastor. They will never find a pastor who will love them more than we do.
Children’s leader, the children will someday (perhaps sooner than you think) forget your brilliant puppet skit. Years down the road, they won’t remember the magic trick that you worked on for days upon end. I seriously question if they will be able to tell you about the creative way that you told your Bible story. But, I do know that they will remember the love that you deposited.
