Annabelle’s first house party

Kim and I love to have people over to the house.  It’s part of how we live, how we do ministry together, how we build teams.  Kim’s a great host, and one of our sweet spots in ministry is our home.  Over the past 11 years, we’ve been intentional about opening our home to developing leaders.  There’s something special about sitting in an inviting living room, sharing a meal together, and talking about what God is doing in our lives that brings a team of people together.

Since Annabelle’s arrival, we’ve put the Sublett House meetings on hold.  We wanted to make sure that she/we were adjusting well before introducing a house full of controlled chaos!  It’s been a good 6 weeks of semi-regular bedtimes, developing some routines for our family, and allowing us to bond together.  But our adjustment has been so smooth, we felt like we were ready to dive back in tonight.

Most of our work in the past has been with the good people who have teamed up to focus on ministry to middle and high school teens and their families.  But with the shift in my job (more emphasis on the midtown gathering) our attention has turned to include the folks who work with children at midtown.  Kim’s been meeting with individuals recently, and tonight we had 2 meetings.

The first was for a group of the teachers; the second was with the handful of teens who help out in various classrooms from week to week.  We got to eat, play, and plan together tonight.  Kim cooked a simple (but delicious!) meal, complete with her signature Gob Cake!  The people who have been working with Midtown Kids have done a great job of keeping their heads above water over the past 6 months, but they haven’t become a team.  Tonight was a step in that direction.  Kim and I shared a little about our journey into this new role, our adoption story, and what we believe God is leading us to shoot for with kids at midtown.  It was definitely a good night.

The kicker for me was during the second half of the night.  The adults had headed for home, and we sat in the living room with the teens who help.  After we talked and shared a little, we decided to play a game with them.  It’s what we call the Name Game.  Everybody writes a name (or candy, or car, or some other category) on a slip of paper, the names are all read, and then the guessing begins.  If your entry gets guessed correctly, you join the guesser and become a team.  Eventually one person has everybody on his/her team, and wins.

Annabelle jumped right in and played with us!  She understood what the object of the game was, and came up with a couple of pretty interesting entries.  I think Levi picked hers out both games, but she had a blast playing with us.

Overall, I’d call the night a win.  And I love the fact that we’re showing our kids what we believe to be an effective way to model ministry and invest in people.  That’s good stuff.

And there was the Gob Cake…