Ministry can feel like you are running a race at times. No matter how cautious you are, you can still encounter life crises along the way. The school of experience taught me this a few years ago when my husband and I suffered the loss of our first child. I can remember, as we went through this unexpected trauma, longing for a place where I could “lean in” to find strength.

I do physical performances including mime, unicycling, and circus slapstick. I’m in my 50s and my body does not react the same as when I was in my 20s. In order to do what I do, I need to stay physically fit. Just as athletes train, I also need to physically train so that I can do this performance ministry.

In August of 2014, the Barna group published reliable statistics that were shocking to church leadership. It indicated that the number of Christian men looking at pornography virtually mirrors that of non-Christians. Approximately two thirds of Christian men look at porn on a regular basis (at least once a month).

I love the picture of a bull rider as a depiction of leadership. We as leaders are often in situations where the only thing we can try to do is keep in balance when the world around us is in chaos. Our culture, our situation, our environment often appears to do everything in its power to buck us off, but our call as leaders is to remain in balance.

One of the greatest challenges we can face in ministry is the continued stress that comes from being a leader. People have needs; your supervisor has expectations; you want to be at home with your family; there is never enough ___________ (volunteers, money, time)…. After a prolonged period of feeling the push and pull associated with ministry, leaders can feel beat up.

The children’s leader is ever learning. Great children’s ministry is forged through trial and triumph. In “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Grace,” Anne Lamott pens, “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us” God’s grace compels us to become more like Him. It drives us to excel beyond our own capacity and present the living Christ to children and their parents.