Author Archive for Evan Doyle

The One Thing

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on June 27, 2008
in Encouragement, Leadership and Remarkable
. 3 Comments

I went into Starbucks this morning to get a Grande Iced Coffee.  While I was waiting, I was looking at the wall art and noticed a theme: the one thing.  It’s repeated over and over all over the walls.

At Starbucks, their one thing is obvious.  It’s coffee.  Yes, they do pastries, tea, and other things too, but coffee is who they are.  It’s what they excel at.

Each of us need to have our one thing.  The thing we’re great at, our passion, our way of life.  For me, my personal one thing is passionately sharing with children not only what Christians believe, but why we believe it.   Our church’s children’s ministry’s one thing is raising kids to be their best physically, mentally, and spiritually.  KidzMatter’s one thing is to partner with churches to help them to make an eternal impact in the lives of kids.

Continue reading ‘The One Thing’

Congratulations Ryan!

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on May 19, 2008
in Events and Random
. 3 Comments

Hey, this is Evan! Something very exciting happened yesterday: Ryan celebrated 10 years of full time ministry at our home church, Liberty Baptist. All along, his wife Beth has been serving with him in ministry. To show him the church’s appreciation, we threw a surprise party for Ryan and Beth yesterday during the evening service. It was an exciting night as we looked back over the 10 years Ryan has been at Liberty full time. And even more exciting, we were reminded of how thankful we are that the fashion from the late 90s is over!

Ryan means a lot to our church, as well as to many of you. So if you have a funny story, thank you, or anything else you would like us to share with Ryan, just leave a comment on below! This is our little way of showing Ryan how much his church family and his online family care!

Now, what Ryan didn’t know was that behind his back I sent an email to several of our Way We See It subscribers and asked for their comments to share with him. Here a just a few of them I’ve received:

“As children’s pastors, in networks of children’s pastors, we are learning, sharing, growing, and spreading God’s love in new and creative ways because kidz matter. You may never see or meet all the lives impacted this side of heaven, but heaven will be different because of your investment in the lives of leaders in the here and now. Your investment in the kids you minister to each week has ripple effects as you challenge, grow and stretch each of us. Thanks for allowing God to use you to make a difference in the Kingdom for kids, families, teachers, and leaders.” Susan Hoak

“Thank you, Ryan, for allowing God to use you to touch the lives of so many kids and those who minister to kids. It is easy to see that kids really do matter to you. I have been blessed through your ministry. Keep pressing on!” Melinda Autry

“Please add me to the count of Children’s Pastors that is so appreciative of Ryan and Beth for the support they provide through their friendship, Kidzmatter.com, the Blog, as well as the workshops Ryan leads. May God continue to use Ryan for the advancement of His kingdom at Liberty Baptist and throughout the world!” Deana Hayes

“I’ve always appreciated Pastor Ryan and Beth’s drive for the Lord. Whenever I think of Pastor Ryan and Beth I think of hard work, enthusiasm for God’s work, and most of all, integrity. Both Ryan and Beth are vital members of our congregation and the body of Christ as a whole. We, at Liberty, are so blessed to call them family!” Briana Pickering

Seuss and the Bible: Green Eggs and Ham/The Lorax

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on April 27, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

For those of you new to the blog or with very short memories (who, you?), you can view the first Seuss and the Bible post here.

Last time, I went over some truths we can learn from Horton Hears a Who.  This time our focus shifts to two more of Seuss’ stories.

Green Eggs and Ham:  If you can’t remember why your children always come home with green tongues on Seuss’ birthday, here’s the 5 second plot summary: Two friends.  Friend #1 has lots of enthusiasm about his great new food, green eggs and ham.  Friend #2 is (much) less enthusiastic.  Eventually Friend #2 gives into Friend #1, and ends up loving green eggs and ham. Continue reading ‘Seuss and the Bible: Green Eggs and Ham/The Lorax’

PowerPoint Tips for Your Services

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on April 20, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Tonight I was reading over at another blog of a children’s minister online.  His name is Hiew Hong Teck, and he’s a children’s pastor over in Singapore.  He had some great tips for developing your PowerPoint presentations.  They were just so good that I had to share them with you.  You can check them out at his blog, ragsstudio.

Legal Mumbo Jumbo Stuff: As always, any links posted here on The Way We See It are not controlled by us.  We don’t necessarily agree with everything that may be said on a third-party site, but we do recognize there is some great content out there on some blogs.  So enjoy! 

Ministryholism

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on April 19, 2008
in Encouragement and Leadership
. 3 Comments

Our senior pastor has been leading youth group for the past several weeks with a series on the book of Daniel.  Last week we were covering the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  If you forget the story, go read Daniel 3.  For a quick summary, the story was: king set up idol, everyone but three worshipped it, three get thrown into furnace, saved from burning by God, king is amazed.  I just condensed an entire chapter of the Bible into 22 words.  Wow.

In talking about idols, our senior pastor made this remark:
“Anything that comes between you and Christ is excess.  An idol.”

He went on to talk about how anything can become an idol: family, friends, socializing, even ministry. Continue reading ‘Ministryholism’

Seuss and the Bible: Horton Hears a Who!

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on April 11, 2008
in Culture, Leadership and Random
. 4 Comments

Last week, I went and saw “Horton Hears a Who!” in the theatre. I was reminded how much Dr. Seuss reminds me of Biblical themes. So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about the Seuss series and some of the things we can learn from it.

We’re going to start with Horton Hears a Who. We’re going to use quotes to make our points.

1. Children matter, just like adults.
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

OK, I know I’m kind of preaching to the choir on this one, but it’s something important to never forget. Every child from the youngest baby to the oldest preteen are just as important as the “grownups”. While we can’t use the same approaches with kids as we do adults, they have an amazing ability to understand God and who he is. Remember that they aren’t stupid! Continue reading ‘Seuss and the Bible: Horton Hears a Who!’

The most awesome birthday cake ever!

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on April 8, 2008
in Random
. 1 Comment

I have a lovely aunt who makes WONDERFUL cakes.  For my birthday I wanted a Macintosh shaped cake.  She lives in Arkansas, however, so I didn’t get my cake until we came down on Spring Break this week.  However, as you’ll see in the first picture, she tortured me with a less impressive decoy cake with a real apple on top.  The real cake was much better though!  Check out the pictures below:

Now, don’t you wish you had my aunt?

The promised picture(s) are here!

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on March 23, 2008
in News and Random
. 1 Comment

Ask, and you shall receive.  Bible works, doesn’t it?  Here’s the pictures you all requested from our rock climbing wall, as well as a couple more from our Easter celebration this morning!  These pictures were taken by Aaron Pickering and his wife, Briana , both volunteers in our Liberty All Stars children’s ministry.  Enjoy.

We’ve gone crazy

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on March 18, 2008
in Leadership, Random and Remarkable
. 8 Comments

Yep, you read that right. Ryan and I have lost it. It’s been in progress for a few months, but it finally happened. We put up a rock climbing wall in our Kids Church room.

I know. You just read that and went “WHAT?!?!? They are crazy!” Yes, we know. It’s a small one, and you have to climb on it horizontally instead of vertically, but the kids love it. And amazingly, they’re actually not too rough with it. (Yours truly has not yet attempted the wall. I don’t think it would be pretty.) It is a lot of fun for the kids. This last Sunday, all in all, reminded me of a few things:

1. Kids love having fun. What’s coolest about the rock climbing wall is that the kids are enthralled with it. They’re going to find their friends and telling them to come see the new rock climbing wall. The line can get really long. It’s something that’s just so cool for them they have to remark about it to someone else.

Continue reading ‘We’ve gone crazy’

Fifteen percent

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on March 9, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

“Among young outsiders, 84 percent say they personally know at least one committed Christian.  Yet just 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm.”  (Page 48, unChristian, Baker Bookhouse, Grand Rapids, MI)

The first time I read that statistic it hit me hard. It’s really something to think about. According to Barna Research, approximately 120 million Americans are true born-again Christians. Think about that fifteen percent. That means that out of the 120 million Christians in America, just 18 million of those live like a Christian.

Let’s visualize that number. Say that everyone living east of the Mississippi River was Christian. Based on 2005 population estimates, the only region within that area that would be living for Christ would be the New York City Metropolitan Area. All I have to say is wow. That’s pathetic. Puny. Miniscule in proportion.

According to Barna Research, statistically speaking, Christians live very similar lives to non-Christians. Just as many view pornography. Just as many are adulterous. Just as many get drunk. Just as many use illegal drugs. Just as many get divorced. For all intents and purposes, as far as scientists are concerned, the modern Christian lifestyle is identical to the secular one. We’ve got a problem.

We can’t just ignore this. We may not like it, but it’s simple truth. Our job: to raise a generation of Christian children who don’t have that problem. To make them part of that fifteen percent. To be in the world, not of it. To reverse the problems Christianity has. To remind the world that Christians are true, loving, real, transparent people. You, as a children’s minister, have the task of fixing it. It won’t be easy, but one child at a time, we can change that with God’s help. That’s not the way I see it. That’s the way we all need to see it.