A Day in the Life
#cefjacksontn – Occasionally, I jot down an article like this one. It is not to toot any horn, but to help some of you understand what goes on in a ministry like ours. My story is not unique. There are many CEF chapters around the country that often cycle from blessing to testing and every point in between. Many of our offices only have one full-time paid ministry person at the helm. This is the case with Greater Jackson. We do see changes coming in the future, believing that God will allow us to bring on additional ministry staffers to manage specific tasks and duties. However, for now, I am it and I am blessed.
So, I sometimes get asked: “What does a CEF director do anyway?” I won’t get into the whole laundry-list of things, but let’s look at one day. It was a day filled with activity and blessings. Look at the photos contained within this post to visualize much of it. Now, on to a list of what the photos represent:
- Event e-billboard – this is not a great image to show you, but on the way to the office that morning, I pulled over to the side of the road to safely get a snapshot of it. A couple of my ministry committee folks helped me design the graphic to help draw attention to a major event that we have coming up on Oct. 26th of this year. It is a fundraiser for us, but also a community event which features two major Christian schools – Union University and Lane College. Click here if you want to know more about the event.
- School supplies – early in the morning, even before I headed to the office, I visited a local Walmart to purchase discounted school supplies that we will give to Good News Club® children over the next few weeks. When we have funds available, we try to bless the children with items that we believe are practical as well as fun.
- God the Creator King! – this is a shot of our current club series of lessons. Weekly, I take time to adjust PowerPoint slides to help us teach the club sessions more effectively. What that means is that at times we do not have enough volunteers to assist us, so we combine CEF approved PowerPoint presentations together and add in extra relevant verses of scripture to make the lesson flow easier for one primary teacher to present.
- A ministry gift – that morning, I also picked up a rather large, heavy-duty Coleman cooler that a local business gave us to use or auction off to raise money. We haven’t decided how to auction it off yet, but it is a great item and we are grateful for the generosity of the donor.
- New office neighbors – the photo with the balloons is from a ribbon cutting ceremony that I was invited to attend. The new business is called A Mind’s Way Home and they are our new neighbors at the office complex where we are located. They will specialize in helping people with mental health issues and other specialized needs. We wish them much success!
- Good News Club – I finished the day by assisting at a local school where we partner with Boys and Girls Club to share the love of Jesus once per week while school is in session. After struggling with the realities of Covid-19, we are truly thankful to once again start opening up club locations in the area.
- Shields Up! – in ministry, you often have to adapt to the times. The photo at the top of the page is a reminder of that. If wearing face shields and following certain protocols will allow us to reach children with the Gospel, you simply do what you have to do. Maybe you would like to join us in this adventure? Give us a call.
Thanks for reading over this little blog post and if you don’t mind, every now and then, whisper a prayer to our Heavenly father on my behalf. There is much to do and the fields are white unto harvest… amen.
