article

Lead By Example

Posted on

slide-02Quite often we fail to realize that the eyes of the kids in our children’s ministry are constantly glued on us and on what we do.

For those whose parents are not saved we can be the only example they have of how a believer should act.

This raises a question that we should all be asking ourselves: am I leading by example?

There are many areas in our ministry where we can exhort our kids to do one thing, but we could be failing to live up to that exhortation.

Telling others to do something while you do the opposite is called hypocrisy. There is no other term for this and it should not be the conduct of a child of God.

“Do as I say and not as I do.” We have all heard this saying before and I am willing to bet that growing up we all saw this played out in an adult that we respected. We can remember that at the moment of seeing this hypocrisy we all felt a certain frustration or confusion. “Why is he telling me to do this when he himself does not do it?”

As believers and servants in our ministries we should examine ourselves to see if there are continual instances where we might tell our kids to do something and yet we fail to do the same. Are we being hypocrites?

A few examples of where we could be failing to lead by example.

Priorities– It is important that we schedule the unimportant events in our lives around our ministry; NOT the other way around. Do you give your churches children’s ministry priority? Or would you prefer to stay home and watch the game on t.v? We need to show our kids the importance of going to church.

Evangelism And Outreach– When was the last time that you preached the gospel to someone who is not saved? When was the last time that you invited someone to your church?

Memorization And Study Of Scripture– Superficially reading God’s Word is like going to a restaurant and walking out without eating your meal. When was the last time you spent time memorizing God’s Word? What was the last verse you memorized? When did you last study God’s Word and not just read it?

Preparation– A teacher that is unprepared is ineffective. Do you bring everything that you will need for your kids service or program? If you are going to be teaching, did you honestly spend enough time preparing yourself to teach? Do you remember to bring your Bible with you? (I hate to include this last one but it happens more than you think.)

Punctuality– What time do you arrive at church? Do you arrive early and make sure that your classroom is set up for when your kids arrive? Or are you running around like a headless chicken frantically setting things up? How can we encourage our kids to arrive on time if we are constantly arriving late?

Exhortation– Do you tell your kids to have patience and you easily get frustrated? Do you exhort your kids to love one another and yet there is a brother in your congregation who you cannot stand? Before you ask your kids to apply Scriptural truth to their lives, you should be putting it into practice in your own.

In our ministries we need to work hard to make sure we are leading our kids by example. Our words must match our actions.

Always remember that you have little pairs of eyes watching what you do and what you say.

Advertisement

This entry was posted in Articles, Leadership and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

In App Purchases

Posted on Updated on

How many of us would give our children our credit card and send them into a toy store by themselves? I hope not many of you :).

In the last couple of weeks there has been a big uproar over “freemium” apps and in-app purchases. Freemium apps are apps that are free to download but give you the ability to purchase items to help you progress or finish the game faster.

In App Purchase

You can find countless stories online of parents receiving their credit card bill and discovering they have been charged hundreds of dollars in in-app purchases.

This post is not about how evil these developers are or how Apple and Google should warn parents and give refunds. It is not about blaming the parent either; although parents should be informed when it comes to giving your child an expensive device that requires a credit card on file.

No, this post is about equipping parents and giving them the tools they need to be informed.

Thankfully it is fairly easy to block in-app purchases. Just follow the simple steps below to put a barrier before unauthorized purchases from your device.

For iOS

  1. Start the Settings app from your home screen, and select the General submenu.
  2. Scroll down and tap on the Restrictions option.
  3. Enable Restrictions and set an easy for you to remember password, which should, however, not be easy to guess for users of your gear.
  4. With the password entered twice, go down to the Allowed Content option, and put the In-App Purchases slider in the Off position. This way the phone or tablet will ask for a passcode each time an in-app purchase attempt is detected.

With iOS you can also open a separate account for you child using iTunes gift cards. When the amount on the card is used up the child will not be allowed to download any apps that are not free.

For Android

  1. Start the Google Play Store app from the homescreen.
  2. Tap on the Menu button and pick Settings.
  3. Scroll down to the User Controls submenu, and tap on the Set or Change PIN option.
  4. Choose a PIN that will be easy for you to remember, but hard for the kids to guess, and reenter it after pressing OK..
  5. Now checkmark the box next to the Use PIN for purchases option, and the phone will ask for the digit code with each in-app purchase try.

For Windows Phone 8

  1. On Start , tap Kid’s Corner  and then tap Next. (You can also get to Kid’s Corner via Settings  in the App list.)
  2. To add content to Kid’s Corner, tap Games, Music, Videos, or Apps, select the items you want to add, and then tap Done
  3. When you’re finished adding things, tap Next.
  4. If your phone doesn’t already have a lock screen password, you’ll have a chance to set one now and ensure that your child can’t get to your Start screen from Kid’s Corner. Tap Set password, type your password, and then tap Done.
  5. Tap Finish to leave setup and open Kid’s Corner.

For Kindle Fire

  1. To enable Parental Controls, visit Settings (first tap “More” in the menu) on your device and select the “Parental Controls” option.
  2. On the next screen, select “On” located on the right side. The feature will then ask you to create a Parental Controls password that will be required to purchase any content on your Kindle Fire. Please note that once you select this setting, your password will need to be entered before every purchase.

I urge anyone that lends their smartphone or tablet to their child (or maybe you bought one specifically for them) to take a few minutes to make these changes in order to avoid any headaches down the line.

This entry was posted in Articles, Technology and tagged , , , , , , , .