A Lesson in Humility

I'd heard that our custodial team had some new help in the form of a volunteer, but I didn't give it much thought until I found out who it was.

I had a really cumbersome, heavy box from Ikea in my van. I needed assistance to unload it and get it downstairs. I found one of our full time custodians having coffee with the new volunteer custodian. To my surprise he was a former college professor of mine!

I took two Bible classes from this man while in college. The classes stand out to me as memorable and life-impacting in ways that other classes were not. This man is highly academic and has traveled the world extensively. Yet now, retired, he is serving as a church custodian.

Not just speaking flattery, I told the professor about my positive memories of his classes and the impact they had on me. His response was filled with humility and grace.

As he helped transport this big load, he took time to speak some kind words to my tag-along four year old. He said that he didn't want to "toot his own horn," but if asked he would consider teaching at church. In words and in actions he exemplified Christ-like humility.

What a lesson! It is far more common to hear people talking about "what big thing" they can "do for God." It is rare and sweet to see someone who once was doing the big things, now just simply serving.

Lord let me learn from the Professor. Give me humility so that I may serve You with a pure, unselfish heart!

Amplifying Our Teachers

I recently heard a discussion on talk radio about the use of sound systems in public school classrooms. It seems that more and more school teachers are using microphones to aid their instruction and classroom climate. Here's what a December 4, 2006 article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune had to say...

It's read-aloud time and Johanna Tweit's second-graders at Normandale Hills Elementary in Bloomington sit in a cluster at her feet.
Despite that closeness, Tweit wears a wireless microphone around her neck, and before long it comes in handy.

A girl gets up to examine a large stuffed character at the edge of the group, but when Tweit whispers "Lydia" into the mike the wanderer hears and returns to the fold. The lesson continues uninterrupted.

Whether because of poor acoustics, hearing impairments or students learning English as a second language, the use of amplified classrooms is spreading across Minnesota and the nation.

Educators mindful of the need to boost test scores are finding that when kids hear better they can learn more effectively.

Improved audio will become as standard in schools as effective lighting, says Jeff Anderson, president of a leading audio supplier. He said sales at Utah-based Audio Enhancement have grown substantially since the federal No Child Left Behind law was passed in 2002.

Normandale Hills Principal Thomas Lee can't prove that the investment is improving scores, but he cites increasing anecdotal evidence.

"It makes a big difference in how much [students] engage" in class discussion, he said. "It's like adults. If we don't hear, we begin to fidget."

Lee patched together enough money in the past three years to equip 14 classrooms with infrared wireless microphones, amplifiers and speakers. Cost: about $1,500 apiece -- "basically the price of a computer," he said. He has equipped kindergarten to fourth-grade classes so far and has about six rooms to go.

Hans Olson, a Normandale fourth-grade teacher, said his amplified voice makes enunciation clear so that kids "can hear sounds better." He said that has improved performance on spelling tests.

Although "I'm a loud person" even without a mike, the equipment lets him command a youngster's attention without raising his voice.

"It's not rude," he said. "It's a nice little gesture."

The soft-spoken Tweit agrees.

"I don't think I could go back to teaching without it," she said. "We talk all day long and there's less wear and tear on my voice. I don't have to repeat, and the kids say it feels as though I'm talking right to them."

Normandale's teachers also pass around a hand-held mike that helps students feel a bit important while they recite or answer questions.

Fourth-grade teacher Melinda Chau said that makes it "kind of a classroom-management piece. ...

"I'm calmer. I don't have to talk above the kids," she said.

Kindergarten teacher Allison Ludgate said the infrared technology allows her to walk all around her large classroom and still be heard easily.

Barriers to hearing

Audio specialists say that hearing loss is the leading disability among newborns and that about 15 percent of school children have slight hearing impairment.

Normandale's Lee said that young children's frequent ear infections also can reduce their ability to learn "phonemes," the sounds of words.

Students who speak a different language at home often do better when they can hear a teacher's exact pronunciation regardless of background noise, Lee said.

Anderson of Audio Enhancement estimated at least 80 Minnesota districts are using his firm's products. That makes the state the eighth largest among his clients, which range from Florida to California.

Leslie Glaze, former president of the Minnesota Speech-Language-Hearing Association, said the Legislature last session passed a guideline that all new classroom construction take account of acoustic standards.

The Hermantown district near Duluth has fitted nearly all 36 of its K-3 classrooms with wireless amplification and gradually is extending it to upper grades. Superintendent Brad Johnson said that as word spreads, parents with hearing-impaired children in other districts are enrolling them in Hermantown schools under the state's open-enrollment law.

About half of Hopkins' elementary classrooms have enhanced audio, and the Robbinsdale district has ordered equipment for 14 classrooms, said spokesman Jeff Dehler.

While enthusiastic about the audio systems, Lee said it's frustrating when they don't work. One classroom's installation has been so troublesome that the teacher has turned it off until it's fixed.

Sometimes Tweit turns off her system when she asks students to talk during morning class meetings, to make sure kids don't get too used to it.

The new technology has introduced new opportunities for high jinks but not from the kids.

Olson has learned that when he walks through the halls with his mike turned on, his words get picked up by amplifiers in classrooms along the way. Sometimes he playfully chants "Fee, fie, fo, fum."It does scare me sometimes," Tweit said. "He sees me jump."

We are a very medium sized kids ministry. We have between 30 and 75 kids in each of our large group gatherings. When on the lower end of that range, we don't mike our teachers. But this article has caused me to rethink the use of microphones in groups of that size. Many of our large group presenters and worship leaders are reticent to wear a mic - they don't like them or they don't think it is needed. I think it is time to bring the mics back out and do some experimenting.

Will kids engage better when the leader is amplified?
Will distractions be minimized with a teacher miked?
Can we create more positive and focused engergy by using the sound system?

Report on experiment will follow!

The ones who "get it"

Last Sunday one of our small group leaders told me it would be her last week with her group. It wasn't working out for a number of reasons. Unfortunately she didn't let the girls in her group know she was leaving. She didn't have closure or say any goodbyes. This made me sad, but I think it was me that failed by not clearly conveying the importance of relational ministry.

Two of our other groups have pairs of sisters as leaders. Before I began looking for a replacement small group leader, I approached each of the sisters about taking on a new group. The first girl I asked, a senior in high school, said "I love my kids. I really don't want to leave them!" Now she really "gets it". She understands the importance of relational ministry and is enjoying the results of her investment. Her comment shouldn't have surprised me. I see this in her actions and attitudes every week as she interacts with "her kids". But to hear it verbalized was a huge blessing to me!

What can Kids Ministry learn from youth sports?

I've always been a little bitter about youth sports. It rubs me the wrong way when families can't come to church because of sports schedules. It irks me when parents can't volunteer in ministry because they are coaching their kids teams. But now we are on the other side of this: my own kids are playing basketball this season. It only took until the second week of the season to begin seeing the value of youth sports. And today, sitting at our second game of the day, I began to wonder, "What can kids ministry learn from youth sports?"

1. A place to belong. Team sports provide kids with a positive identity. They are placed on a team and assigned a coach. This group stays together for the whole season, building relationships based on the common goal of developing ball skills and winning games. Everything down to the uniforms they wear points to the fact that they are in this together. Wouldn't it be great if we could provide the same sense of belonging and team for kids when they are at church?

2. Parental buy-in. After signing their kids up for youth sports, parents are fully dedicated to getting them to practice and to games. They arrange the rest of the family calendar (including church sometimes!) around their child's sport schedule. Parents are a visible and audible presence on the sidelines, cheering their kids and their teammates on to victory. What can churches do to help parents "buy-in" to the importance of the spiritual development of their kids? How can we get parents to be visible, cheering their kids on as they learn to follow Jesus?

3. Don't just teach - coach! Watching the coaches has been a huge lesson in how to lead kids. They do teach skills and run drills. But what impresses me most is the way they constantly provide individual feedback to the kids during the games. "Justin - hands up, hands up, get in his face!" "Emily - stay between your girl and the basket!" "Justin - get open...take the shot" "Good shot Emily" "Way to get the rebound Justin." What if we could take the same approach to the spiritual formation of our kids? What if we went beyond teaching the lessons? What if we could give them individual feedback and encouragement as they walk through life?

There are more questions than answers here. But the season has just gotten started -I've got two more months to sit on the sidelines, cheer for my kids and think about what Kids Ministry can learn from youth sports!