What a "I Miss You" can do...

At Flamingo Road Church we just concluded our Heroes and Villains series. Hands down, one of my all time favorites. You can always check the teachings out right here. I was challenged to live a life living and choosing to be a hero rather than a villain. We saw 341 baptism. We had record attendance across the board of 12,000 +. God just is moving so huge. I am grateful to be part of the ride.

At FRC Kids Doral we totally had a blast. And for all those families that missed out---- ahhhh----- try not to again. There is just way to much AWESOME stuff that we are learning from GOD'S Word. How amazing is that!!!

Well, as you read the title to this post, I have a great story from this past Sunday. We are trying to be more consistent in writing "We Miss You" cards & Birthday Cards to our kids. This Sunday one of our little second graders came. [He hadn't been with us for almost 2-3 weeks] Right when his mom picked him up, he stopped and asked me, "Did you guys send me a postcard saying you missed me?" I said, "Yes, we did! Did you like it? Did it make you feel special?" The little boy replied back, "Yes, I loved it! Thank you so much for remembering me."

I cannot tell you what I felt at that moment. You see, his parents are separated. That's why we see him on and off. But you should have seen his face. It's like his whole world just lit up. His mom told me later on that he put that postcard right on his wall and would look at it everyday!!! OMG! I could just cry all over again. I share this only because you never know who may need a little encouragement or acknowledgment- whether YOUNG or OLD.

"Recruiting Secrets"...

Read this great article today on "what really works when it comes to recruiting a great volunteer team." - by Ali Thompson. [article, Recruiting Secrets] I wanted to share my notes.

1. An Invitation: "Wideman says that smart recruiters never apologize for giving people the opportunity to serve, bc you're presenting them with the greatest opportunity they'll ever have aside from following Christ. By giving them the opportunity to serve, you're presenting them with an opportunity to move forward and grow closer to God."
You never want to look desperate.. instead think strategically on how to invite people creatively. Give an invitation a party feel. This one is so simple "not easy", but simple: just ask people personally. "People WANT to be asked." Hey, that happened to me!! I was asked to fill in. ;D Lastly, just go out into the crowd. Just like Jesus, "come follow me." He recruited His disciples.

2. Focus on the Big Picture: Never recruit on duty or guilt. Cast vision: your church and ministry. I should be able to summarize that vision in 30 sec. or less. Help people see their service will have an eternal impact. Oh so true!!

3. Redefine your Church Culture: Our role as the church is to equip the people to serve and use their gifts. How can I do a better job of "equipping, assigning, maximizing and encouraging people."

4. Plan Ahead: Assessment. Wideman, "I don't work on the church that I have, I work on the church that I want to have." Measure your approach and Recruit al the time.

5. Build Relationships that last: This is so true. I need to act on that and find leaders that can do the same. Retaining is recruiting. "If they feel like your friend rather than 'just a volunteer,' they'll want to stick around." Make face-to-face contact, especially on weekend services.

6. Share the load: Pour into key volunteers and equip them to bring others on board.

7. Look in unexpected places: loved this story. One child director observed a couple worshiping during a kids worship time in the service. Saw their excitement, director invited them to serve, and they said yes!! Look into teens as well to serve. ---> yes I love that!!!

8. Pray: This was last in the article, but should be first in our daily life. Recruiting is do ne by faith, not by need. Philippians 4:19: "God will supply all your needs."

Hope you get some stuff out of this... If you lead in kids or any other ministry. I know I need to act and act now!

FRC Life Development Doral Newsletter...

Here is the 411 at FRC Doral's life development ministries. [preschool-elementary] If you missed us then you NEED to come this Sunday. Man, Heroes and Villains started off to an incredible start!!!

-Serving Him,
Marcy

Just some Random Thoughts...

Did you know:

• that last week my church, FLAMINGO ROAD CHURCH, baptized 333 people.
  
• 2 out of those 333 were two girls from FRC Kids Doral. Congratulations Mia & Casey!!!! [2 & 3 grade]
• The team at FRC Kids Doral set a goal of 5 kid baptisms for 2009 [I'm not always good at setting goals. Not always sure what is good or not]. We have had 5 kids get baptized so far!!! It's been reached so we will passionately lead & serve for 5 more. ;)
• Last week I realized how much I enjoy Disney better than Busch Gardens & all their parks. And not because of the rides, mostly because of the leadership. [& it is a little more magical]
  
• FRC Doral Life Development will have a Orientation on July 23 [& 26]. Excited to see new faces, structure, and eternal change for our campus
• Every Wednesday is Pixar Day at FRC at noon. Join us in the main auditorium, bring lunch in a creative lunch box, and meet some new leaders and life changers
• You can join our BLOGGERS BOOK STUDY, if you haven't already. Click the link to see what you've missed and join me here tomorrow to read our next chapter.
• FRC will be hosting the Leadership Summit on August 6 & 7. Get more information here and REALLY sign up!
  
• I challenged myself & FRC Kids Doral team to pass out 10 invite cards this week so people can join us at one of our services at FRC [Doral]

Yea, these are my random thoughts. I hope they spark some encouragement; spark you to participate in something you haven't yet. Do you have any random thoughts you'd like to share? Come on, give it a try here.

parents, kids ministry leaders..

check out our first iKids live show on www.frclive.tv. Have some family fun and give us your feedback. Log on at 4:00 pm and then join our Internet campus to catch one of our Easter services.

Thank you...

First, great Easter kick off at Flamingo Road Church.  Thank you Jesus that we can take time to just remember what you did for this whole world.  More and more my heart is beginning to yearn for You and my eyes are beginning to open up to the lost and hurt of this world.  All We Need Is YOU!!!

So don't miss out one of our many services this weekend.  Check it here.

Also, here is some great collaboration.  Doral RUSH... FRC Kids Doral says THANK YOU FOR STUFFING OUR EGGS!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Baptism...

I had to post the great news that one of our students at FRC Kids Doral made the decision to follow Christ and take their next step through baptism.  God thank you for doing your work.  You are awesome!!!  We at FRC Kids are excited to partner with this child and her father and family to reach their God potential.  Goodnight!

Sunday...

If your in ministry full time, part time or serve every other week, you know you have some not so great weekend's. But you most definitely have tons and tons of awesome weekends.  Yesterday was an AWESOME Sunday at Flamingo Road Church Doral Kids.  

I wanted to say thank you to all who served yesterday and those that came in afterwards to tear down on their day off of serving. ;)  Thank you for making a kingdom difference! Thank you for taking initiative and allowing me to go and speak to parents! Yay!  Excited to end strong and start a new year even stronger.  

???...

If you read my husband's blog [go to it after you read this] you know that something BIG is brewing over at Flamingo Road Church. We just finished "The Series before the Series" series [lol] yesterday. This weekend we will be Unwrapping everything and displaying the new Christmas series. [It is soooo much more than a series] I can't say anything else.
I did want to share these pictures of what we did at Kid's yesterday [at Doral]. Each child/family was given a gift and they can only open it this Friday. The kids were so ecstatic! They are also excited because they will be learning and participating in the same things as our youth and as their parents.

Don't miss the unwrapping this weekend @ flamingoroadchurch.com. I've seen it- I've heard Pastor Troy's heart- it's going to rock!!!

Extreme Week Rocked!!...

I've been away from the face of blog world because we had our Extreme Week camp last week.  Can I say T-Y-R-I-N-G but so W-O-R-T-H it!  There were about 24 kids and a little more than 25 volunteers.  There were volunteers serving in the kitchen making wonderful snacks, to tech & lighting team, the worship band, small group leaders, check in and resource table team, rec team, and awesome teaching team.  I cannot say thank you enough for everyone who made it possible.  The kid's team was there and a lot of other new faces were involved as well. In the process we were able to add a new team member to the FRC Kid's team at Doral.  

The kids had a blast as they Journeyed to the Deep.  [Deep standing for:  Decision, Equipment, Environment and Potential- the topics our kids learned about]  Each night after the teaching our kids had a theme night: team night, water night, messy night, and family night.  We closed the night off with a black light puppet show for the kids and family.  My friend ministers with her team through puppetry.  Each child and parent received a glow in the dark necklace and the message behind the puppet show, of Christ's love for us through the cross, was just awesome.  

I only have a few pictures and a snip bit video of our praise time.  Again, I can't say thank you enough for everyone who participated, every parent that trusted us, and for God to give us that opportunity to serve.  

Back from Peru- FRC Lima...

I have been dying to update my blog since before I left to Lima, Peru. There is so much to say. Here is a run through of my trip to FRC Lima.

FRIDAY:
- Got to the airport 3 hours before flight took off. Paid $100.00 extra for an overweight bag.
- Flew out to Lima with my team members: Melissa Nadlman, Ricky Garcia, and Brian Fuller.
- Arrived in Lima around 11:00 pm. Didn't leave until midnight.
- Steve and Dorcas took us to our hotel.
- Shared a club sandwich with Melissa and we went to bed like at 2:30 am.

SATURDAY:
- Woke up at 6:45 am and met up with Raul and Heather and the rest of the gang at the gym.
- Got ready and had a breakfast buffet. Yum. Bread and honey is good.
- Off to meet the FRC Lima team at the Radisson.
- Watched a video message from Pastor Troy and then broke off into our teams. Melissa- First Impressions, Ricky, Fuller, HP- Mag, Marcy- Children's Ministry.
- Had an excellent time with Mariana and Patty talking about vision, ministry, and getting to know each other.
- Ate some awesome food. Tried Ceviche for the first time. DELICIOUS!
- Each member [from FRC USA :)] explained one of the ETHOS. Yes, I said it all in Spanish.
- Spoke some more with the team and went back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.
- Walked around Larcomar and then ate at the Vaca Loca.
- Had coffee with the girls and Ricky of course. [He was our bodyguard] We had some good talks.
- Spoke with hours with Melissa [awesome] and went to bed.

SUNDAY:
- Didn't go to the gym. [not feeling good]
- Left for service at our FRC Lima campus
- Observed and experienced worship there and the Children's Ministry
- Later had our final evaluation, last Q & A time with our teams. We ate at TGI Fridays
- Said our goodbyes and went back to our hotel.
- Bought a calling card to call my husband [finally!!!] So good to hear his voice and my mom's as well
- Said bye to my FRC USA crew and my uncle picked me up
- Had an awesome time with my mom's family. Uncles, Aunts, cousins, grandma, etc. Ohhhh it was GREAT!

MONDAY:
- Shopped at the mall with my aunts
- Saw Raul and Heather. LOL.
- Ate at BEMBOS. Yummy!!
- Went back to uncle's home
- Spent time with my beautiful grandma [who looks great! She has cancer, but it is going away Praise the Lord- I believe that]
- Said my goodbyes :( and off to the airport
- Almost missed my flight because of the horrible traffic.. but we did play who can spot the most volkswagon beetles. Girls won!

TUESDAY:
- Arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, on time, and gave my husband the biggest hug and kiss!!
- Had breakfast at Panera Bread
- Got home, showered, crashed until 3:00 pm

In a nutshell that was my trip. I just can't express how grateful and honored I am for my leaders to trust me to go over and share and cast vision and so much more. Thank you for the opportunity to see my family as well. Thank you Lord! Thank you church family!! Praying that next my Heredes and I can go together and serve overseas. Here are some pics from the trip. We did more than eat. LOL. I have other video and pictures on my video camera that I haven't imported yet. :)

A movie?...

I haven't read this book yet, but I know a lot of people who have and I came across this blog (which is on our FRC Kids blogroll) with an article on the new Blue Like Jazz movie. You can read it here. I thought some of you may find it interesting.