As much as I prefer schedules and order, the real work of ministry doesn’t always happen that way. It happens at inconvenient times and beacons us to get personally involved, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. It’s funny how I’ve been experiencing this a little more lately. For years, I’ve worked with people who really understood the messiness of ministry. They lived and operated fully immersed in it. At times, I criticized this approach because there was no structure to scale and grow. I still stand beside my impressions, but I believe that there needs to be a balance of both in our lives. For me, I need to experience more of the messiness of the Gospel in my personal life and ministry.

Reggie Joiner opened up the Orange Conference with a very compelling talk about the messiness of the Gospel. It was probably one of the more significant talks Reggie has given at an Orange Conference.

Jesus set the example of what messy ministry looked like. His three short years of ministry were filled with frustration, difficult conversations and great tension. He didn’t live a sinless life to set a great example… he lived a sinless life so that he could pay the price for our sins. The disciples continued the ministry that Jesus began and it involved colliding with humanity is a personal and often painful way. They met people’s needs in dire circumstances that was often inconvenient and uncomfortable. I think that the reality that I’m discovering is that I am called to make disciples and it will never fit into my nice and neat schedule. Discipleship is messy and it will involve personal investment and sacrifices outside of my comfort zone. I’ve just got to learn how to be okay with that and walk into this lifestyle more willingly and then I’ll experience the joy that comes from seeing the gospel at work in the lives of others.

The past four years have been very rewarding, but not without challenges. I spent almost a year as a Children’s Pastor managing vacant positions at two campuses while we looked for just the right person. We made great strides during that time, but it was long and hard. The last year I’ve managed a vacant student ministry position which has been really hard. Very few weeks went by when I wasn’t gripped by the fear that this might be the week where all the leaders and students decide that they’re done and no longer want to come. But they never did and we’ve actually gained some momentum in some key areas while we’ve been on the pastor search. At a much slower pace than I would have liked, we’ve began building a ministry philosophy where parents are engaged much more intentionally. We’ve got a long way to go, but what we do offer is really good and the team pulling this stuff off really gets it.

Gateway Church has been a such a wonderful home. It’s not been perfect by any means. I’ve been frustrated at time and felt lost at other times. Sometimes I’ve doubted my place on the overall team, but I think that those are just the challenges that any leader faces. What I’ve truly loved about my church is how the mission of the church is being carried out in every aspect of the church and staff. We’re not just creating an environment where people can experience God through the services and programs we create. 30-40% of the staff came to faith at Gateway. I saw significant spiritual growth in my own life because of my involvement on staff. There may be a lot of churches that do certain things a lot better than Gateway, but the things that Gateway does get right, they’re probably some of the most important things of all!

So, here’s to four years! It’s not been easy, but it has been an adventure. I think we’ve laid the groundwork for some really powerful stuff that we’ll get to experience in the next 4-5 years. I’ve never been more proud to serve at a church than I am to serve here at Gateway.

Starting this blog five years ago has been one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve made in ministry. I clearly sensed God’s call in starting it… as I wrote this all those years ago. I’m so grateful because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have 70% of the relationships that I do today if I hadn’t been obedient. Guys like Jonathan Cliff, Matt McKee, Sam Luce have been brothers to me. Gina McClain and Jenny Funderbuke have been sisters I’ve never had. Jim Wideman has become a close friend, mentor and confidant… I feel like a treasured Timothy. I could go on an on with all the other names of people who have become good friends, faces I look forward to seeing at conferences, and ministry professionals that I like to learn from. I really don’t think most of this would have happened if I hadn’t started this little blog.

My analytics say that close to 800 people subscribe to posts (sorry to flood your inboxes so frequently) and close to 15,000 come by for a visit every month (event though many of those are robots… but robots are welcome here too). Thank you for being a part of childrensministryonline.com. It honors me that so many would read my random thoughts on leadership, ministry and technology. It brings me incredible joy and fulfillment to share and connect with so many of you.

So, now that I’ve got 5 years under my belt, I guess it’s time to really get serious with this blog, huh? No more messing around. I’ve got great ideas for the future, so we’ll see where we go. The next five years are going to be amazing, I can hardly wait!

Several years ago, my wife found a blog series about finding 100 ways to save $100 in a year. If you could find 100, then your annual savings would literally be $10,000. Some people live very frugally, but most people have a lot of fluff in their budget… even if they don’t make a lot of money. After paying gobs of cash for a baby and being back down to one car, we’re very motivated to hit some savings goals… by Christmas. We’re setting a goal to save $5000 by the end of the year. We’re off to a bit of a late start and there are several things that we started a few years ago and we’re already reaping the rewards from the savings.

Let me be clear, I’m not talking about taking on an extra job or making more money. I’m just talking about not spending as much money. Some of it has a cost, usually to comfort or extra time. I don’t have loads of spare time as it is, but hitting the savings goal seems worth it to me, plus it’s something Sara and I get to do together. So, below is the list.

I’ll write some follow-up posts with more details of what we’re doing specifically in the coming days. My wife typed out this list and I tweaked… so if it sounds like an odd thing for me to say (like having cute napkins) it wasn’t me.

Oh, last thing. Here’s how we actually plan to save where we dont’ just see the money get lost in the budget. Once we determine an item that we’re going to save (like moving our Netflix subscription from $19.00 a month to $9, we’ll adjust our entertainment budget by $10 and increase our monthly savings transfer by $10. So, every way that we determine to save, we immediately adjust our savings transfers so that the savings is actually being moved into an account. In areas like electrical/water savings, we can see our actual expenses versus our budget and transfer the surplus manually after we pay the bill. Okay, here’s the list. I hope that some of these things inspire you. If you end up saving $10,000 this year, feel free to send me an iTunes or Amazon giftcard to support my app and kindle habit.

1. Utilities – Time our showers (5 minutes is probably enough)
2. Utilities – Our HOA informed us after the drought last year that we’d need to replant our grass. (Thank you HOA. We did know that. Something about the brown dirt where we once had grass was a clue.) Buffalo Grass is a grass native to this area that only requires watering every 30-45 days even in drought. Yes, please!
3. Utilities – Turn down the temperature on the hot water heater (not sure we can go much lower actually).
4. Utilities – Look into a blanket designed to insulate hot water heaters. See if it’s worth it.
5. Utilities – Agree upon an acceptable amount of water for Titus’ bath and use the smaller bathtub consistently rather than the master bath garden tub… or even just going to 3-4 minute showers most days of the week.
6. Utilities – Look into faucet aerators (apparently a very cheap device that mixes air with water to create great pressure but reduce water usage).
7. Utilities – Plug all our electronics into power strips and turn them off when not in use.
8. Utilities – Unplug all cell phone chargers when not in use.
9. Utilities – Unplug all small appliances when not in use.
10. Utilities – Stop charging phones and computers overnight.
11. Utilities – Read fridge/freezer manuals to see if we can run them any warmer and still maintain appropriate food safety.
12. Utilities – Select a temperature that is our max for air and heat. Make dressing warmer/cooler the first action rather than adjusting the thermostat.
13. Utilities – Use the stove, broiler and crockpot more often than the oven, particularly in the summer.
14. Utilities – In the winter, open the oven door after cooking to help heat the house.
15. Utilities- Make sure all of us (Titus included) turn off lights in rooms we are not in.
16. Utilities – I often stays up late at night and falls asleep with his computer and lights on. Set a phone timer to wake me up every night to go to bed and turn off lights/computer.
17. Utilities – Check the utility company. If certain hours of the day are cheaper, run laundry, etc. during those hours.
18. Utilities – Check the trash company. How much is the discount for a smaller city bin? Be vigilant about recycling and composting to fit trash into a smaller bin.
19. Utilities – IDEAS FOR OTHERS – get a thermostat timer to adjust temperature while you’re at work. (Should pay for itself in first year and after that… it’s all profit)
20. Utilities – IDEAS FOR OTHERS – get a hot water heater timer to adjust the temperature while at work. Not sure this works for gas heaters (Should pay for itself in first year and after that… it’s all profit).
21. Utilities – Have electronic free nights somewhat regularly. Burn candles. Be romantic.
22. Utilities – Learn to pay attention to sunrise/sunset. Plan bedtime accordingly to maximize natural light.
23. Phone – DID THIS ALREADY – cancel our home phone
24. Phone – Review our phone plans/needs. Downgrade appropriately. I’ve heard that you can negotiate rates… be assertive on this.
25. TV – DID THIS ALREADY – cancel cable/satellite
26. Netflix… go to streaming only.
27. Internet – Review our internet plan. Make sure it’s the best plan for us. I was recently told that you can negotiate this.
28. Insurance – Review our car and homeowners insurance plans to make sure we are not paying for benefits we don’t need.
29. Insurance – Look at paying for the full year at once. Cheaper with many companies to do this.
30. Insurance – DID THIS ALREADY – Health insurance is thankfully through work and is already a high deductible/HSA plan.
31. Insurance – DO THIS ALREADY – Compare health bills with Explanation of Benefits from insurance companies. I was overcharged at least $300 last year.
32. Insurance – Save up a little money and move the car to a higher deductible plan.
33. Infant Care – Switch to cloth diapers
34. Infant Care – Make our own potty pail (this will make sense to those who cloth diaper)
35. Infant Care – Ask a friend for her recipe for homemade cloth diapering detergent.
36. Infant Care – DOING THIS ALREADY – Make our own baby food
37. Gas – Group errands according to vicinity
38. Gas – Check tire air pressure regularly to meet recommended level for maximum gas mileage
39. Gas – Be aware of cheapest prices (If you pre-buy gas at walmart or some places on a giftcard, you can save money)
40. Gas – Apparently driving slowly helps with gas mileage
41. Clothes – Learn to at least look at secondhand clothes for the kids. Don’t know enough about this to know if it’s really cheaper than shopping clearance sales which is my current method.
42. Groceries – Eat vegetarian at breakfast, lunch, and dinner several nights a week.
43. Groceries – Experiment with making our own bread. Certainly healthier. Cheaper and delicious? Worth the time investment? I don’t know…
44. Groceries – Use cloth napkins more often to cut out paper napkins. Bonus – they’re cuter.
45. Groceries – Learn to make my own household cleaners and detergents.
46. Groceries – Portion control.
47. Groceries – Don’t eat after 8 at night. (Good for weight loss too!)
48. Groceries – Only drink water. (Ummm…yes…I am kicking that Dr Pepper habit. So not Fun!)
49. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Watch meat sales. Meat sales rotate through a cycle every 6-8 weeks, so I buy in bulk when what we like is on sale.
50. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Watch produce sales. Learn to know what is a good price per pound and buy only what’s on sale. Bonus – usually what’s on sale is what’s in season, so it tastes better.
51. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – use meat as a “condiment”. Meat in chili or on a homemade pizza goes much farther than a pot roast.
52. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Make a meal plan.
53. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Learn to make simple dishes. A side of steamed broccoli is cheaper than a broccoli casserole. Bonus – it’s healthier too.
54. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Look in the pantry, fridge and freezer first to get ideas for the meal plan. Then look at the sales ads. Full-priced items can be the few remaining items to fill in the gaps. Websites that let you search recipes by ingredients can help with this.
55. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Cut the junk. Junk food is not filling, so you have to buy more food to feel full.
56. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Kiss cereal goodbye. For the price per pound, you can buy steak on sale. Just sayin’. Use grits, bulk oatmeal or bake muffins (which can be made in bulk and frozen) instead.
57. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – cut down on paper towels by using old rags/towels for cleaning
58. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – eat protein at every meal and don’t be afraid of healthy fats. Both help cut down on food cravings so we eat less food.
59. Groceries – DO THIS ALREADY – Run a zero-waste kitchen. If you want ideas for this, ask my wife. I’ve learned so much about this the past few years.
60. Groceries – Every 6-8 weeks, don’t go to the grocery store… just scrounge out of the freezer/pantry
61. Entertainment – Slash this budget significantly. Really – just say no.
62. Entertainment – Learn to have people over more often, rather than eat out.
63. Entertainment – Use the library for books and DVDs. I already mostly do this, but we can be stricter for sure.
64. Entertainment – Pay more attention to the free hiking trails, free city festivals, free museum days. Those are more fun than restaurants/movies anyways.
65. Entertainment – Trade babysitting with friends for date nights.
66. Haircuts – A friend offered to cut our hair. Take her up on it.
67. Haircuts – If you normally get your haircut once a month, push back to every 5 or 6 weeks.
68. Other – Cancel the gym membership. There is this thing called a trail. I should run on it.
69. Other – DO THIS ALREADY. Use a written budget. Thanks Mom, Dad, Dr. Rinne Martin at ORU and Dave Ramsey for teaching me this!
70. Other – DO THIS ALREADY USUALLY. Spend mostly with cash to not overspend.
71. Other – Spending cash only has a psychological affect on us… you tend to spend less.
72. Mortgage – Last year we refinanced our mortgage to 3.5% on a 15 year note. This didn’t free up any cash for us, but it’s saving us a TON of money over the life of the loan. Refinancing can be a good idea for some people.

1. The printer needs to be a simple B & W laser. Color doesn’t matter to me and I don’t want to pay the premium on ink. I’m not interested in those three in one printers… just a simple B & W laser.
2. It has to be mac compatible. I guess that if it’s a wireless printer, it’s easier for a mac to talk to it, but I just would prefer to have something that’s simple and doesn’t require me to hire an IT guy to set up the printer. So, mac compatibility is essential.
3. It needs to have the AirPrint option. I have iPhones and iPads galore in my house now and I want to print without having to use a computer.

So, that’s my situation and that’s all I’m asking for. Let me know some options and I’ll be forever grateful!

There’s probably no way I can write this post without coming across as a little bit of a jerk… so I apologize and the front end. This isn’t directed to any particular person… but just multiple encounters I seem to have on a weekly basis.

It seems that almost everyone has a smart phone today. That’s probably thanks to the iPhone where a very friendly mobile internet is available to all. With our phones, we have access to almost anything and everything. It’s an amazing time in which we live.

My pet peeve comes from when people with these amazing tools to access almost infinite knowledge ask me questions that no longer seem necessary any more. Obviously, if its something I should know that you don’t know, then ask me. But if it’s one of those things that very few people would know… then for goodness sake, look it up. Google it. Map it.

I know some people with a smart phone that rarely if ever have opened up google maps on their phone. Sometimes they ask me for directions and my response is almost always the same. Don’t you have google maps on that phone of yours? I get asked how to spell stuff all the time. I’m a horrible speller. I think people don’t realize how easy it is to look up a word, even on google. You could probably get the correct spelling faster than asking me, even if I was a good speller. Nine times out of ten, when someone asks me a question like this, I end up looking it up on google. Why? Because I have a smart phone with access to the internet.

Oh, so do you. You’re paying $30-40 a month to have google in your pocket… look it up.

Actually, my wife has gotten very good at this. We talk about all kinds of random topics every day. There was a time when the answer to 6 out of 10 questions she would ask me was “Google it.”

Now we’ll be talking about something random, like who won the oscar in 2003 for best actor and we’ll both reach for our phones at the same time and I’ll say, “Am I looking it up or are you?”

Sorry for being a jerk. If we’re going to talk, let’s talk. But if you just need answers to simple little questions, go talk to Google.

Totally unexpected, Genevieve came to meet us yesterday afternoon at 6:21 PM on 11/20/2011. Although her heartbeat and position was good, the doctors were concerned about her lack of movement and the low levels of amniotic fluid. We were in a gray area where we had a choice to move forward with a regular delivery where there were a lot of unknowns on how the baby was going to do with a lengthy process or just schedule a c-section where we could get her out quickly and avoid any potential complications. We’ve fought too hard for this little girl, so we opted for the c-section.

She was born at 6:21 PM at 6 pounds and 6 ounces and 19.25 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and looks amazingly similar to Titus when he was a newborn.

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us through facebook, twitter and text message congratulations. We look forward to introducing her to all of you soon! Enjoy the pictures below!

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I won’t be monitoring the live feed, so if you want to leave comments, just do so at the botom of this blog post!

Due to some “gray area” potential complications, the doctor recommended that we move forward with a C-Section and get the baby here today. So, we’re all set for a procedure at 5:00 PM CST. Woo Hoo! Everyone is very excited. So, this is my last post. However, I’m setting up a post to go live right after this with “scribble live.” That way all my twitter updates (which there will be many) will post on this blog as they happen.

Pray for us!

Well, this could be the day our little girl comes to meet us. As I was headed to church this morning, Sara informed me that she hadn’t felt the baby move at all this morning. She called the doctor and was told to go ahead and go to the hospital. Shortly after checking in, the baby started moving quite a bit.

Before being discharged, they needed to do a test where they see how the baby is doing. The heartbeat has been fine and the baby is pretty far down, so position is great. In this test thought, the baby scored a 2 out of 8 where 8 out of 8 is passing. What does this mean? We’re probably having this baby today.

So, stay tuned for more info… follow @kennyconley on twitter for more up to date notifications. Pray for mom and baby Conley!