Category: The Ministry

Sunday Morning Make-Ahead Breakfasts

One way to make your Sunday morning easier is to make breakfast ahead of time. Invest some time on Saturday or earlier in the week into preparing your family a healthy or more filling breakfast for Sunday. You can choose to make a breakfast casserole and pop it into the oven when you wake up, fix something up in the Crock-pot overnight, or have some hearty foods frozen in your freezer. You will make for a happier husband, kids, and self if you’re filling up your tank on a day that we all know requires more energy than any other day of the week.

Sunday Morning Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Numerous ministry families rob themselves of the proper nutrients their bodies need and run on empty stomachs to face a busy schedule of service because they do not take time to eat on Sunday morning. You can help your family prepare for the ministry race by planning and preparing before the race begins. Just as you would plan for a Sunday afternoon meal, make breakfast a priority too!

I used to hand my children cups of cereal Sunday mornings and feel so guilty for the extra sugar they were having but it wasn’t just sugar, they were going without protein. After church ended I would be frustrated because they were begging to eat candy before we could get into our van and get home for lunch. (Okay, that’s kids but you get my drift…) They were starving because our breakfasts were only carbohydrates. They burned those sugars when they were excited to see their friends and singing at the top of their lungs in Junior Church! Experience has taught me if our kids have a heartier breakfast they do better at listening in their Sunday School classes and being a blessing to those around them.

Now, imagine how your husband serves without any energy to go on: doing busy tasks, dealing with unexpected situations, even diving deep into counseling situations. Sundays for a pastor have been said to be as hard on a man as a full-time work week with the burdens they carry on top of the physical job of preaching, teaching, and ministering.

If your husband has eaten healthy filling foods on Sunday mornings (and before all other services) he will be more prone to act in the spirit not the flesh.

We all know hungry men can be bears. A good breakfast can curb the bear and make him bear-able to be around.  Note: There are husbands do not like to eat before preaching and I understand it helps with nerves or is similar to fasting, but be sure to have good foods available if and when he would want it.

Sunday Morning Breakfast Quote

Ashley, a friend of mine has a breakfast casserole that she makes ahead on Saturday. On Sunday morning while they are getting ready she pops it back in the oven and lets it brown on top and warm up so her family gets a full stomach before they arrive to church. She shared her recipe with us.

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen hash browns (12 oz.)

1 can of green chilies, mild or spicy (omit if you don’t like green chilies)

12-18 eggs

1 lb. of cooked breakfast meat (sausage, bacon, or ham)

1/2-1 lb. of shredded cheese, depends on how cheesy you like it

Add salt and pepper to your taste.

How To:

Spray the inside of your baking pan (glass or metal) with oil.

Add hash browns to your pan, then add your meat mixture on top.

Beat your eggs in a separate bowl, then mix in green chilies.

Pour eggs into the pan. You might need to shift your pan back and forth to have the eggs settle between the hash browns.

Sprinkle your cheese on top.

Bake at 400  about 45 minutes until the eggs are cooked and browned on the edges.

Remove it from the oven when it is set and browned on the edges. Then, let it cool, cover and refrigerate until Sunday morning.
Reheat in the oven while you’re getting ready for about 15-20 minutes at 350. Serve with salsa and warm tortillas for a Southwest flavor or fruit and toast for a filling Sunday morning meal!
More recipe ideas for make-ahead breakfasts for Sunday morning:
Ministry Mamas, give us your ideas!

If you have any breakfast favorites for your busy Sunday morning that are hearty and healthy and even in the “make-ahead” category then please share them with us in the comments.

Helping Your Ministry Man Be Organized

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Helping Your Ministry Man Be Organized - Updated

This is an updated post that was written two years ago. I hope that it is a blessing to a ministry wife that just doesn’t know quite what to do when it comes to helping her husband become more organized. ~The Ministry Mama

What Helps Your Ministry Man Most

Each husband and each ministry is different, so this cannot be a one size fits all approach to helping your husband but I hope that some of the helps will benefit your specific situation.

The primary thing you can do to help your ministry man be organized is what a ministry wife said,  “Help him find what works for him.” There are a number of things you can do  but the first thing you can do before you help is, ask! Use the helpmeet’s most sensitive question, “What can I help you with?” Then, listen and help with that (it won’t always be what you assume for it to be).

Keeping track of schedules is a big problem for ministry men…

Whether your husband has a calendar in an organizer or a calendar on his phone or online he may need you to help him keep up with all upcoming events. Many men are very good at this, others are not. This will need to be something  you help with according to his preferences. Events and appointments are always added or cancelled and you will need to be involved knowing how to schedule your own time according to his calendar even if he is a top-notch organizer. The key is regularly discussing your upcoming events.

Find a good organizer and/or calendar and use it! If your husband needs you to schedule those events for him you do not have to wait until you are in the church office to do it. When you are discussing it, do it right then! If you have a church secretary or even a trusted child (teenage or single adult women are great for this) then by all means delegate. Be sure that reminders are given to him so that he has the event of the day or week in his mind. Another idea is to have it written on a white board calendar out in open view where he can look at it regularly. Update it as items come up as soon as possible.

Other Ways You Can Help Your Ministry Man Be Organized

  • Cleaning His Office – Does his office become the storage place for upcoming church events? Is he a coffee drinker that piles up those coffee cups? Help him clean it up if you can. His office is a place where he can minister to others and his effectiveness will go farther when people are not distracted by a messy space. Clean work spaces also lend to greater productivity. This can have an effect on his sermons and outreach.
  • Creating an Organizational System – This could be a paper filing system in a filing cabinet with marked file folders for copies of documents that need to be accessed quickly. It may also mean that you help him find a digital way of organization like using a system like Trello or helping him learn and use Excel so he can keep track of work more easily. If you are good at this, then use it to his advantage.
  • Delegating – Helping him use his church secretary or a responsible Christians that have an interest in church work. Part of being in ministry is generally having the oversight over many things at once. If you can help him learn to delegate and work with other people to get tasks accomplished, then this will relieve some time and stresses.
  • Give Him Time to Focus – At times, all your husband will need to organize himself is quiet time. Many ministry husbands have in-home offices, so if possible, let him have his study time in a quiet environment. Do quiet activities with your children so he can have sufficient time to take care of business. If needed, help protect his quiet and study time from time interrupters from yourself and even others.
  • Having Clothes Ready – Save time for your husband by having his church clothes ready. Your laundry habits can positively or negatively effect him being on time and ready for the day. So get that laundry done in a timely fashion and have them hung and ready to go. P.S. Don’t forget the socks!
  • Keeping His Ministry Car Organized – Does your husband run here and there and do things get lost in transit from church to home and vice versa? Then he may need your help regularly cleaning out the car. He needs to have a car that is presentable for helping other people. Last minute car rides are easier to say yes to when you have a clean car for them to ride in. Also think about adding a trash bag, a storage container for his tracts to keep them from being ruined, and a pad of paper and a pen. If you share a vehicle do a quick clean-up after you get home from every outing.

Note: I realize that some of these areas are things that your husband can take care of by himself. I also acknowledge that you are a busy woman with a calendar filled with tasks yourself. Kindly, I want to remind you of your husband was designed to need your help and it would be better to help him in areas where he struggles with organization and help him be successful, and not neglect the opportunity and have him flunk out in performance. I pray you will be able to see his organizational needs and help him where the Lord prompts you to do so.

Church Puppet Skits Round-Up

Welcome to the Church Puppet Skits Round-Up! Children’s ministries in churches still regularly use puppets as one of their teaching tools to teach Biblical principles about the Bible to children (and even adults who are helping in those ministries)!  Here in this Round-Up you’ll find free skits and scripts as well as those you can buy. Each has a link where you can find the skits online.

If you have puppets in your storage closet from years gone by then think about pulling them out and bringing a new aspect to your Sunday School or Junior Church ministry again. It’s always good to rotate and revive the teaching methods you use to add interest and gain the attention of your students. Keep it fun and lively! Use people who will have time to practice (even if they just read the skit) and those who will have voices to make the characters come alive. Worried about not having a stage? A quick Google search will help you find out how to create your own low-cost puppet stage. Here is a link on how to make a portable puppet stage with PVC.  Puppeteering is a method of teaching people who can teach great Bible principles or even memory verses in a fun way.

Please enjoy this resource! Please remember to use these skits according to your preferences and adjust them to how you need to use them for your puppet ministry’s audience. If there is a skit in any of these lists that is not according to your liking just simply move on and find something that you do like and can use! I was not able to screen every single skit for correct doctrine or situational appropriateness so please make sure that you take the time to look into each one for yourself.

Church Puppet Skit Round-Up

Free Puppet Skits

Jason’s Puppet Skits – Jason has written a good amount of skits that are available now for free. Including Fruits of the Spirit, Heroes of the Bible, Life Issues, Special Occasions and more.

Bible Puppet Skits – wide variety by Garden of Praise.

First Baptist Church of Elgin, Texas has a variety of puppet skits for their program called Kingdom Kids.

Ripples Ministry – Puppet Scripts that are longer (about 15 minutes) with multiple puppets.

Fishers of Kids – Small amount of skits and some ideas about things you can do differently with puppets (Mr. Sin, Hand, etc.)

Puppet Resources has lots of free puppet skits. The great thing about this website is that it has a search engine you can search age, topic, number of puppets, etc. for what you’re looking for.

Kids Sunday School – Free skits (in green) for children that can be adapted for puppets.

Sunday School Network – 17 skits, some featuring a funny pink flamingo named Gabby.

Jesse Joyner has a free puppet script about Eddie the Explorer and Larry the Lizard.

World Ministry Resources has another good list of free puppet skits (some also included in this list).

Danielle’s Place Bible Puppet Skits -Free skits are available but more skits and other resources are offered through their yearly membership.

Wrangler Church has puppet scripts available for a variety of different number of puppets, themes, and scriptures.

Skits O Mania has all types of skits! There are 20 free puppet skits available.

 

Puppet Skits for Purchase*

Ann Shorb has created Skits for Fun and Learning (15 skits) that are for sale on her website.

Here is a list of puppet skit books that you can find on Amazon. There are a good 3number of choices to choose from both in book form and in e-book at various price points.

Search e-Bay for “church puppet skits” and you might some great deals on puppet scripts that other people are selling.

Bring Them In Ministries has some puppet script books that are available for sale. Prices range from $10-$20. There are a variety of script types: mission themes, holiday, Bible stories, etc.

*This round-up NOT contain affiliate links.

If you liked this Round-Up you might like our Sermon Notes Round-Up for Kids!

Sermon Notes Round-Up for Kids