The first weekend in November, I attended the Engage Conference in Mechanicsburg, PA. I am generally involved in planning and/or assisting the Awana missionary with their conference as well as leading several workshops and consequently I am not as energized when I leave as the attendees are because I am giving all day, not receiving. This conference gave me a good opportunity to participate, relax and learn. It was a refreshing experience and I’m glad I went.
Refreshing was not all I received though. At the end of the conference, someone walked up behind me and handed me a bag of potatoes and a cantaloupe. As I held the cantaloupe in my hand, I stated, “oooooo, I’ve got a use for this!” Another children’s pastor standing next to me said, “What? an object lesson?”
I’ve found that those who serve children in ministry are always looking for ways to reach children, being creative with almost anything they see, or are given. In a matter of seconds of receiving a bag of potatoes and a cantaloupe, we were already coming up with ideas.
In case you are wondering what I was thinking when I held the cantaloupe in my hand, I was thinking that it was the perfect size for a duck pin bowling ball. See, this past Saturday, I had a turkey bowl with the Trek aged youth in the church and I was looking for something to make it a little different from last year. The cantaloupe did not hold up that long before it cracked and fell apart. But it was fun 🙂
So I encourage you to attend Awana conferences and general children’s ministry conferences. You never know what you will take away from them.
Now I know why you were excited to get that melon! Can’t wait to see the video from the “bowling” That had to have been fun.
I knew someone would ask 🙂 …unfortunately, there’s no video of the cabbage or cantaloupe. The cantaloupe was fairly uneventful, it just split. The cabbage was flying everywhere!