Ryan and I have this wonderful lady that attends our church named Martha. She operates (with her husband) the church bookstore, works with missions organizations, and she also bakes. Oh buddy, does she bake. Her best kind of cookies are simply known within our church as “Martha’s Wonderfuls”. These are seriously the best cookies known to mankind. I think these are the cookies that God serves in Heaven. She is simply an amazing cook, and all around amazing person.

So that was the good story. Now, I’d like to tell you another story. A much, much scarier story. A story that gives small children nightmares, and is not for the weak of heart. The kind of story you tell around the campfire and then go “boo!” and everyone jumps. Here goes:

Once upon a time, Ryan Frank played the guitar. And sang. The end.

So do I have you thoroughly scared yet? Yes, that’s right, Ryan went through a phase when he played the guitar and sang. Live worship was a big fad in children’s churches, and not having anyone else to play for us, he took up the guitar. God has blessed some people greatly with vocal and instrumental talent. Ryan, on the other hand, lacks the, um, musical adeptness of some.  His guitar playing was actually pretty good.  However, as even Ryan will admit, the singing was a little scary.  It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t any Michael W. Smith either.

So why do I tell you these two totally random and seemingly unconnected stories? If you’ve read my posts before, you know the answer already: to make a point.

Here’s the connection: One person (Martha) is doing what she is really good at to bless others, whether she’s using one of the latest and greatest things or not. The other person (Ryan) was doing what was latest and greatest at the time, despite the fact that he wasn’t very good at it.

Children’s pastor’s tend to suffer from “Fad-itis” a lot. Just think back over the fads from the last few years of children’s ministry that you remember. Many of the ideas you probably thought of are still in use today. Many of them can still be useful today. Some of them are still very popular, and for good reason. They’re great ideas.

I love fads, don’t get me wrong. They can be great tools. Where the problem comes in is when you try to use one of these fads and you’re not very good at it. Like Ryan, you may try to do something really hard and try to do it well, but you are simply not gifted in that way. That’s part of life. If you are not good at something, don’t force yourself to do it! If you can find someone in your church to do it for you, great! Go right ahead and do it. But don’t force yourself to follow one of the “fads” if it will do more harm than good.

So, after all of that, here’s the quick, two second summary:
Don’t force yourself to do something you’re bad at if you can do something you’re good at and be just as effective.

P.S. Ryan, please don’t hate me (puppy dog face). I was just picking on you because I knew your feelings wouldn’t be too hurt, and you know that you don’t sing very well already. So, still friends ;)?