March is here, and it always comes with a kind of “madness” that a lot of us really enjoy. For all the non – “sports ball” people in the room, the month of March brings the NCAA basketball tournament that raises some people’s blood pressure, gets lots of people excited (at least for a week or so until your team loses), and often captures the attention of our nation. It can be a lot of fun. But we all know that there is a kind of madness that goes way beyond basketball and lasts all year long.
There is a madness to our world that can pull us down, redirect our attention, and derail us from living the life God has for us. This month’s M2P resources are designed to help you address this madness by providing you with some “conversational layups” to get the ball moving with the parents within your ministry’s sphere of influence. But M2P also wants to make sure that we help you, as a ministry leader, to rise above the rim and the madness yourself as you lead the parents, families, kids/teens, and volunteers within your care in a healthy direction as they navigate the world.
Don’t forget to out the blog articles, coaching video, online parenting class video, toolbox item, and the latest episode of the M2P Podcast with our special guest, Brian Housman. Remember that we are here to serve you and to help you serve parents, so let us know if there is ever anything we can do for you or your ministry.
All hands in … “Goooooooooooo Team! Sports ball!!”
The M2P Crew
WHAT IS IT?
This month we’re hoping families can take a deep breath and enjoy a little time together with our “Family Fun Bracket.” Families will be able to learn what “wins” for each person while maybe learning a little more about each other along the way. Sometimes we just need to sit down together as a family, go through a fun exercise, chat a little, and hopefully laugh a lot. But be careful; it’s possible that some of those March Madness competitive juices might get flowing, and somebody might want to stand up and “box out” for something in their bracket. Either way, it’s an opportunity to engage in “March Madness” at home. . .and you don’t even have to be able to dunk.
HOW TO USE IT
- Download the “Family Fun Bracket” and post it on your website for parents to use.
- Email parents a copy of the bracket or a link to it and encourage them to set aside some time to have a fun time with it; they might even include it in their “filling out the NCAA bracket” time.
- Print copies of the bracket for parents to grab at church.
This month’s coaching video encourages you to take a look at yourself and your ministry as you seek to march through the madness of the world and lead the parents, families, kids/teens, and volunteers within your span of care. Let’s be honest; there’s always a lot going on both within your own life and heart, not to mention all that’s going on inside your church. As ministry leaders, we have to navigate crazy schedules, plan events, juggle family, deal with church politics, and process all the information that comes our way. If we’re not careful, our hearts can grow cold, and we’ll move farther and farther away from having a real relationship with the God we serve. In this month of March Madness, we hope you’ll recognize the importance of evaluating how you are doing and think about whether you are in a healthy place where you can lead the parents, families, kids/teens, and volunteers in your church to walk away from the madness as they seek to live the life God has called them to live.
As we seek to encourage parents this month, we point out that we are all living in a type of madness that can lead our family away from having a healthy pace and perspective on life. Busy schedules, angst about the future, and a fixation on political and cultural events can spiral us all down. Our hope and prayer is for parents to rise above it all and live their lives with a sense of peace that will spill out onto/into their kids. If parents can learn how to navigate the madness in a healthy way, they have the potential to then lead their kids or teens to do the same. This month’s Online Parenting Class offers some practical suggestions and points parents to Scripture that can hopefully inspire them to point their families in a different direction.
New blog posts coming this month:
- For Kids’ Ministry Leaders: “Filtering Out the Noise” by Amy Diller
- For Kids’ Ministry Parents: “Distracted by the *Ding!*” by Amy Diller
- For Youth Ministry Leaders: “Paying Attention to Priorities” by Karin Sasser
- For Youth Ministry Parents: “Becoming What You Behold” by Karin Sasser
To view, click HERE.