Guest blogger Lorie Looney Keene shares a fresh thought about mentoring…perhaps something you haven’t thought about!  Perhaps after reading this you will think about using your church nursery as a place for mentoring others!

My church has experienced a recent outbreak of pregnancies.  Many of my friends, as well as myself, will be having another child in 2012.  It begin with just a couple ‘special announcements’ and began to spread seemingly everywhere.  So much so, that we are actually in the process of moving our church nursery to accommodate the impending arrivals. :)

We are all very excited about the arrival of these new mini members, and I have been very blessed to see people begin to step up and take on more nursery duties at church.  Typically, I have seen nursery workers to be young mothers doing there expected volunteer service and teenagers who enjoy playing with the babies. What has impressed me the most at my current church, however, is the number of senior adult women who are willingly signing up for ‘diaper duty.’

Some of these ladies have grandchildren of their own. Others, have none. A few have children who live out of town. A couple have family close by.  Regardless of their varied personal experiences, they are all volunteering to come rock babies who, for the most part, have no physical tie to them.  This is not a mandated duty. But rather, one motivated out of love.

I am thrilled by this, because it allows the moms a chance to sit and rock nearby seasoned mothers who usually can’t wait to get their hands on your baby. It is an added comfort to see your little one nestle up to a worn lap who has cradled many children and be held by hands who lovingly pat them to sleep.  This time also allows a natural environment for mentoring to occur. 

Titus 2 encourages women to teach other women how to love their children. Such an environment allows that teaching to occur without having to always use words. A gentle touch, a reminder that someone understands your exhaustion, a smile at the perfect time aides in teaching ‘younger’ moms that they are neither alone in the process of raising their children, as well as, they have women around them who love them.

If your church nursery does not currently include a span of ages in its workers, consider requesting that senior adult women (who are physically capable) volunteer some of their time. Some ideas for ways to recruit them are:

 1.  Remind them of how important they are to young mothers.  Just because they have raised their children, they are still needed as mentors.

2. Encourage them to use their ability to rock a baby, feed a baby or simply be an adult presence in the room is very valuable.

3. Share with them the precious opportunity God may be giving them to befriend a young mother and pass on their experiences in mothering.

Lorie Looney Keene earned both a Masters of Divinity in Christian Education and a Masters of Theology (Th.M) from Southern Seminary, where she worked for three years as The Assistant Director of Women's Programs.  Prior to working at Southern Seminary, Lorie served in Poland with the International Mission Board and has over seven years experience as an ER nurse.  She is the author of "Pull Up A Chair: You Me, and the Gospel of John" by New Hope Publishing, as well as a contributing author to Journey Magazine  . Lorie lives in Tullahoma, TN where her husband, Stephen is the Youth/Education Minister at Highland Baptist Church . She is a Sunday School teacher to HighSchool girls, leads a weekly women's Bible study and teaches Biology at her church's homeschool co-op.  Currently, Lorie is enjoying the role of stay at home mom to her 2 year old son, Elijah.

As a leader I am fascinated with Joshua’s leadership style. If you scan the book of Joshua, you see many incredible leadership principles that can impact our own areas of influence. He was the second to lead the Israelites. Moses of course was the first and he had died at this point but before he died, he commissioned Joshua to take over and continue the path to Canaan that God had promised His followers. Joshua, a descendant of slaves,  had trained under Moses’ leadership and Moses’ legacy lived on partially because of it.

Have you noticed the influence he had?  Check out Joshua 24:29-31. This passage comes after Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, the land had been distributed among the tribes and after the renewal of their covenant with God.

The main thing we see in this is that “throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua, Israel worshipped God!" That’s influence that lives on. What he learned from Moses was lived out during his lifetime and then passed on to leaders who followed.

Do you see a pattern of leadership legacy here? Throughout the Psalms we see the idea of leaving behind a legacy that will touch generations yet to be born! Now, consider your leadership…is the influence you have something you want to pass on to others and then leave behind after you are gone?

Watch for this new series on Leadership Lessons from Joshua that will be posted on this blog. Pray and ask God what you can learn from the life and legacy of Joshua.

Resources:

Called to Be God's Leader: How God Prepares His Servants for Spiritual Leadership, Henry Blackaby & Richard Blackaby

Women Reaching Women

I was recently reading a blog post by Jenni Catron  who is actually right here in Nashville and will be on one of our web casts later this year and wanted to share her message with you. If you ever felt your passion for ministry waning this will be an encouragement to you.

 This was the comment I made on Jenni’s post:

"Jenni, this is so true. I remember the first time I lost my passion for leading women's ministry. I just thought God was done with me in that area of service. I even began making plans for the change, but in seeking God He never would let me leave where I was serving. But during that time of desperation for Him when nothing was making sense nor did anything seem to be getting accomplished, He brought me to a new level of trust with Him and dependence. I remember one older man who worked on the same floor I was on saying, "God doesn't always call us to be fulfilled but He calls us to be faithful." I went to talk to him about it and walked away understanding what you are saying here about obedience even if the passion is not there. I believe in time, when we are faithful and obedient, we will ultimately be fulfilled in the eternal scheme of things, and that God brings back the passion in one way or the other, assuring us He's not done with us yet, OR He will move us into another way of doing ministry He has called us to do."

Leaders, when you feel the passion diminishing and yet you know you are being obedient keep stayingin His Word and ask Him daily to allow you to know Him better than you did the day before, love Him better than you did and serve more obediently than you ever have. He will answer!

You can read more about Jenni here. Watch for details about the December 12 web cast with Jenni Catron, Executive Director of Cross Point Church, Nashville, TN and founder of Cultivate Her, and author and women's ministry leader at LifeChurch.tv - OKC Campus Cindy Beall

Sheila West is a special friend and women’s leader who will encourage you as you read this post today. Ask God to help you incorporate these two essentials as you look forward to leading women in 2012.

I’m sure that it is just a matter of common sense that just because you get a car up to speed at seventy miles per hour doesn’t mean you can let up on the gas.  If you don’t keep the fuel flowing, the vehicle will slow down to a stop.

The same is true when we are responsible for keeping the momentum of women’s ministry moving. We can not rest on our laurels of past experience. We must keep pressing on with a commitment to purposefully pursue ways to minister effectively.

What does that look like? Even though there are massive amounts written on leadership, for me, there are two essentials: 1) being driven by a passion of purpose and 2) forever learning.

First, being driven by a passion of purpose means always keeping the end in mind. The end result of women’s ministry is equipping women to move in natural increments toward a more Christ-centered life as they purposefully fulfill the great commission. The focus is who women are becoming not on what are women doing. A passion of purpose fuels women’s ministry because it is about seeing His gals look like Jesus in the world rather than being driven by the pressure of being boxed into what women’s ministry looks like in the church.
 
Secondly, since we live in an ever-changing world, leadership in ministry requires developing a mindset of forever learning, an attitude of teach-ability. The willingness to learn and re-learn, is a crucial factor in keeping the “pedal to the metal.” Here are five components I have discovered that contribute to becoming a lifelong learner:

1.    Learn by observing. Be on the alert to notice what is going on around you.  Instead of resting on what you know, continually ask yourself, What don’t I understand, and how can I learn it?

2.    Stay flexible. Trade in the mindset, “but we’ve always done it this way” for an attitude of expectation and adaptability.  Our world is constantly changing – computers that were the greatest and latest yesterday are obsolete today.  Manufacturers know about the critical need for continual upgrading in order to compete. We must maintain a ministry position of flexibility in order to meet new challenges in effectively reaching women.

3.    Be a good listener.  The true leaner is always open to acquiring advice and information from those around her.  Practice listening to what others are saying – not to respond, but to understand and absorb. Soak in all the information you can acquire.

4.    Learn from followers as well as leaders.  In our cultural pre-occupation with authority and position, we often forget how much we can learn from those who are on our team. They have strengths that we don’t. And often their position as “followers” gives them insight and perspective that we don’t have. Don’t limit your range of vision to people who are high-profile.

5.    Fail forward. Failures don’t have to be setbacks. When you learn from mistakes, failures can put you ahead. Use them as stepping stones to insights you can put to use in the future.

This year, ask yourself as a leader, how to I lead with a passion of purpose and what do I need to do learn in 2012 to effectively lead the women God has placed in my path?

Sheila has been involved in women’s ministry for over 25 years, serving as Director of Women's Ministry for over 20 years in the local church. She is presently on the Leadership Team for Heritage Community Church, Lady Lake, Florida, including coordinating women's ministry. She is the founder of Real Living Ministries, a speaking, teaching, and leadership development ministry to women. Sheila is also a contributing author to Transformed Lives: Taking Women’s Ministry to the Next Level, Revised and Expanded edition. Sheila has appeared on numerous Christian radio and television broadcasts, including The 700 Club, and 100 Huntley Street. She is the author of Beyond Chaos, published by NavPress and is a LifeWay Ministry Multiplier. She and her husband, John, are the parents of two and proud grandparents of eight.