so looking forward to the launch of Gospel @ Center, April 6. stay tuned for more.
i have known jenny funderburke smith for years and the first thing that stands out to me about jenny is her smile and authenticity. she is the real deal, never sugar-coating her walk and journey, but leading in ministry and life from a refreshingly grounded faith. jenny is not only a kidmin pioneer and visionary, she is an in-the-trenches leader that is consistently putting Jesus first in the ministry God has before her. she blogs about kidmin and fammin at jennyfunderburke.com/blog/. one of the things i love most about her blog is that she doesn’t simply share lofty ideals of ministry, she offers up the practical steps to make events, programs, and Gospel-centered ministry happen.
i am so excited to join my friends jenny, sam luce, and jonathan cliff to launch gospel at center – a kidmin communityy coming soon. jenny’s heartbeat for Jesus, kids and families, is such a driving force behind this new venture and i am glad to be along for the ride to glean wisdom from her. 🙂
1 – what do you see kidmin and family ministry leaders doing right?
I am excited to see the beginnings of renewed interest in making the gospel the primary focus of ministry and making sure kids truly know Scripture. I feel like more people are talking about this and seeking help and resources. I think this is a huge win for the kingdom! Let’s be fun and relevant, of course – but let’s make more of Jesus than all the “stuff”.
2 – what do you see as the greatest need in kidmin and family ministry right now?
We need a whole lot more conversation, content, and community (ha – I didn’t mean for those to all start with c’s) focused on how we center our ministries around Jesus while making what we do as Bible-based, effective, age-appropriate, and fun as we can.
3 – if you could have coffee with every kidmin/fammin leader, what would you want to make sure you shared with them?
You can’t do it all by yourself. If you are always in a classroom or always the only one making decisions or if significant parts of the ministry are solely dependent on you, you are in danger of building your kingdom, not God’s. Your job is to develop other leaders who can lead well. If you are doing it all yourself you are going to burn out and/or the ministry is going to be limited to your capacity. Ministry is more fun with friends anyway!
4 – what word of encouragement do you have for today’s kidmin/fammin leaders?
What you are doing is hard, but what you are doing matters so much. You may feel sometimes like you can see very little difference as a result of the hours and energy you pour in. But, the fruit of family ministry isn’t seen often seen until years and years later. You are laying a foundation of faith that really, truly matters. You are providing opportunities for kids to build relationships that can be life-changing.
5 – why are you passionate about children’s and family ministry?
We get the very best job in the world. We get to spend our time and energy sharing Jesus with the next generation. What is better than that? God gives us the opportunity to be some of the first influences in kids’ lives. We get to coach volunteers on how to make an eternal impact. We study how to best communicate the greatest message there is to smaller ears. The kids in our ministries have the potential to grow up and change the world. Years ago, Gina McClain asked a question in her blog that I could never get over. She asked, “What if this generation is the one that fulfills the Great Commission?” What if the kids in our ministries are the ones that reach the last unreached people groups? God is allowing us the opportunity to be a part of that by training, equipping, and loving them. How can you not be passionate about that?
Jenny Funderburke Smith is the Minister to Children at West Bradenton Baptist Church in Bradenton, Florida. She is married to Dan and has three crazy and awesome girls. Jenny is passionate about equipping volunteers to live out their calling as well as seeing families take next steps in their faith journey. She also really loves the beach, Tennessee football, and milkshakes. She blogs at jennyfunderburke.com/blog/ and she is a core team leader at Gospelatcenter.com.
i just didn’t see it, and if i am totally honest i didn’t want my eyes opened to all the hurt and pain in the foster care system. i liked my comfy, bow-headed bubble in my suburb of alabama. if i didn’t know what was happening just miles away, the thoughts didn’t have to haunt me. the truth about children in foster care just doesn’t sink in until you begin to have your eyes opened so you can really see.
- seeing a request about an infant with more broken bones than months being alive can never be forgotten.
- role-playing real-life scenarios in foster care training hits a little too close to home.
- hearing stories from foster parents, birth parents, and state workers who have seen and experienced trauma situations we can never imagine, leaves a mark on you.
- picking up a child from the state and being handed all their belongings in a black trash bag is a sight you can never forget.
- sitting in a family court waiting room brings with it sights and sounds that we like to pretend don’t exist, but once they are seen can never be erased from your mind.
- then there is the film “removed.” i was a blubbering puddle after it’s all too accurate portrayal of the life of a child in foster care. nothing opened my eyes to the great need to help these kids like this short film.
so, if you want your eyes opened to see a glimpse into this world that has hurts and sadness only our great God can begin to heal, take time to watch part one and two of “removed.” oh, and have a box of tissues handy. come, Lord Jesus, come! (part one and two links are below.)
i first met brian when i began writing for the Gospel project. not only did i admire his heart for Gospel-centered ministry, i loved that he served weekly in his local churches kids ministry. i have so much respect for fellow in-the-trenches ministry leaders. then he authored the book “Gospel centered kids ministry.” i couldn’t get enough. i read it, had my staff read it, and gave a copy to each of our kids ministry investors (volunteers). this is a book i think should be in every kids ministry and family ministry leader’s library. then i got to read an advanced copy of his newest book, “cornerstones”. y’all i cannot wait for this book to come out and to hear there is a parent guide as well is a win/win. not only can we 
equip ourselves and our leaders with questions and answers to points kids to the truth, we can hand parents a resource i believe will be life-changing as the approach their role as primary faith trainers. so, of course, i couldn’t wait to hear brian’s response to these five questions. he didn’t disappoint. so if you want to be challenged and encouraged, be sure to soak in brian’s answers.
1 – what do you see kidmin and family ministry leaders doing right?
Two areas that stand out to me where I see the Church moving in the right direction are (1) wrestling with how to best integrate kids ministry, student ministry, and ministry to parents and (2) finding the proper balance of our ministry calendars. In the first, I am encouraged to see churches breaking down ministry silos between kids ministry and student ministry and then these church ministries and the role of parents in the home. This is so critical that we work to develop a comprehensive discipleship plan for our kids from the time they are born through when they graduate high school. We are tasked with stewarding for their spiritual care for that time, and to not have a strategy for this is not proper stewardship. So I am glad to see churches working on this. And at the same time, we know that parents are the primary disciplers, so I love seeing how more churches are working to equip parents and partner with them—in something as simple (yet critical) as using the parent resources in the Bible study curriculum being used.
In the second, I see churches trying to find the right balance of what they offer kids, students, and families without overloading their calendars. Up until perhaps the last 10-15 years, I think most churches qualified the vibrancy of their ministries by the quantity of activities and events they scheduled. So a “good” ministry was a very busy one. The problem is that business is not a synonym for godliness or even effectiveness. We were wearing our leaders out, wearing our families out, and isolating ourselves from the culture we are here to reach. Some churches over-reacted (as we tend to do) and cut out almost all programming. That’s a huge mistake too. Each church needs to find the right balance for their context. I am glad to see churches striving to do that.
2 – what do you see as the greatest need in kidmin and family ministry right now?
Gospel-centeredness. I wrote “Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry” for this reason. It weighed on my heart when I would read a kids ministry facebook group post from a leader who had a great theme for VBS, or a retreat, and he or she would ask the other group members for a Bible verse to go with it. That’s backward. We start with the Bible—with the gospel—and go from there. A great theme matters, but that is not what will stick with our kids for the long-term. That is not what will carry them through challenging days when they are a preteen wrestling with their identity and peer pressure. That is not what gives life. But the gospel does—and that is what we need to give them. The gospel is what needs to drive our ministries and everything we do. It is the starting point, the ending point, and all the points in between. I think this is why we see moralism taught so much today. Many kids and student ministries don’t want to teach it, but it is the default in our hearts, so if we are not proactive to teach the gospel, moralism will come out of us. Designing a VBS or retreat around a theme is a clue that the gospel is not driving our thinking, and if that is the case, there is a good chance that the application of that event will be moralistic.
3 – if you could have coffee with every kidmin/fammin leader, what would you want to make sure you shared with them?
I would, of course, want to talk about gospel-centeredess. What that means and looks like.
But I would also want to encourage them to stretch themselves and grow as followers of Christ. I believe that our kids, student, and family ministry leaders should be the greatest theologians in the church. (We often aren’t seen that way.) But think about it: Our task is to take some pretty intense doctrines and communicate them in a way a kid understands. Whenever I teach or preach—to any age—my goal is always to be true to the gospel and to be clear. A win for me is hearing someone say that I explained something well—not that I used a lot of big words and sounded smart. The sign of really mastering a concept is to be able to explain it to someone else simply, so they understand. And that is what kids, students, and family leaders are to do. So that is why I say we need to be great theologians. We need to grasp theology such that we can communicate it like this. And to be a great theologian we need to grow in our knowledge of theology, our love for God, and our practice of it.
I would also want to hit on our need to partner with parents for this exact same reasoning. We are in this together with parents and they need to be great theologians as well. The problem is, they aren’t trained (most of them anyway) and feel so ill-equipped for the ministry God has called them to. So we need to look at our calendars, our ministry budgets, and our prayer life and see how much we are building into parents to partner with them in discipling their kids.
4 – what word of encouragement do you have for today’s kidmin/fammin leaders?
You are so much more important than your church might indicate. There are times when you might feel like you are sitting at the “kids table” at Thanksgiving, instead of sitting at the “adult table.” Your pay might indicate this. The way members of your church view you might indicate this. Even the way your pastor and other staff treat you might indicate this. But I want you to know that you play a critical role.
5 – why are you passionate about children’s and family ministry?
Because I am a father of three kids and I know how important my church partnering with me is. Because I have served in this ministry and know what it means to kids and students to have someone who loves them and is echoing the gospel to them alongside parents. Because I was a kid who was not taught the gospel and I know how it almost drove me away from the church. Because I am a follower of Christ and I see in Scripture God’s heart for children and how He established families as the primary building block of not just our culture, but our churches.
Brian Dembowczyk is the Managing Editor of LifeWay’s The Gospel Project and was previously Team Leader for The Gospel Project for Kids. He has seventeen years of pastoral ministry experience in churches in Florida, Kentucky, and Maryland and is the author of “Gospel-Centered Kids Ministry,” “Cornerstones: 200 Questions and Answers to Learn Truth,” and “Cornerstones: 200 Questions and Answers to Teach Truth (Parent Guide).” Brian and his wife, Tara, have three children and live in Murfreesboro, TN.
in 2015, birmingham was #1 on the list and in 2017, we were second place to chattanooga. i am not surprised birmingham is on the list. we are the buckle of the Bible belt with more ministries and churches than street corners. i get it. i have Biblically minded conversations almost daily and see God working in great ways, but then i read a verse that has become near and dear to my heart – james 1:27:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
with that knowledge, i take a look at another set of numbers, numbers that absolutely crush my soul.
with such a stark contrast in numbers versus principle, i had to go back to the first article and discover what they are calling a Biblically minded city. here is their definition:
“Each year, Barna and American Bible Society rank the nation’s top media markets based on their level of Bible engagement. Individuals considered to be Bible-minded are those who report reading the Bible in the past week and who strongly assert the Bible is accurate in the principles it teaches.This definition captures action and attitude—those who both engage and esteem the Christian scriptures. “
let me be clear and say i don’t dare throw a stone from my two-story glass house (i had no idea about our great need for foster parents until my eyes were opened), but at the same time, i can’t just sit and be silent. birmingham is consistently on this list of biblically minded cities, yet the state has numbers about foster care that should haunt us all. the craziest thing is, the number of churches doubles the number of kids in the system in our state. my takeaway,
[bctt tweet=”if birmingham is really a biblically-minded city, we must be using a black sharpie marker to highlight james 1:27 so we don’t have to be held accountable to its charge.” username=”dandibell”]
i don’t have all the answers and while i have adopted one through the foster care system, i simply can’t take in another 4,000. (although it is my dream to be the old woman in the shoe. i just hear the pay isn’t very good.) call me crazy, but what would happen if only half our state’s churches rose up? what if our biblically minded city really took this verse to heart? honestly, through the messy work of foster care (with either reunification or adoption as the outcome), i think we would begin to see revival as we see the Gospel lived out in loving the least of these.
so for now i pray, i educate, and i speak up for these kids. may God use this biblically-minded city to blow people away with the love of Christ displayed by those that love His Word.
please comment and share what the believers in your area are doing change these statistics?