Pray, Plan, Prepare!

Hi everyone! God bless you! How is your Spring coming along?!
Here it’s been extremely busy. My Mom’s surgery in the winter, and the therapies she had to take after have not just gone well, but MIRACULOUSLY well! God have her the strength not only physically, but spiritually, to endure the process. Not only that but she really made everything seem so easy. But that was the Lord! Because it was indeed a tough situation, but through it all we just saw God’s hand in everything. I am extremely grateful for the Lord and what He has done with my Mom. She is a woman of the Lord and has really taught me so much about well, everything! Lol. But especially about God. I’m grateful for her, and that she is in good health.

I’ve also been busy with VBS planning! I will be posting more about this. I’m planning my church’s Vacation Bible School this year (VBS as it’s called lol), and the theme we picked for this year is really cool! Honestly, just reading the material, as an adult, I am learning so much! It is truly a blessing to be able to do this! I am so grateful to God for that.

I wanted to share today some tips that have helped me with my planning for church events and lessons. Because although we know God will help us with everything, we know we also have to do our part and get things ready ahead of time for whatever event we have going on. It can be kind of confusing though as to how to get things ready, so I’m sharing my “3 P’s” with you: Pray, Plan, and Prepare. I hope they help you! This is my process for getting things ready LOL. I think these can be applied to any project or area of your life too!

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Phillipians 4:6 NLT

1. Pray- The first thing to do if you’re doing anything is to pray! Lol. I know this sounds super obvious, but sometimes we can get so excited over doing things that we can forget to put things in the hands of the Lord. Pray for wisdom, for guidance, and for God to provide all the resources that you need, and to open doors and to put all the people in your way who God wants working in this task. To also bless and help all of the people involved, and to remove any plan from the enemy to stop this work for God’s Kingdom. In the name of Jesus! So pray pray and keep praying throughout.

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace–as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. – 1 Corinthians 14:33 NIV

2. Plan– The next step is planning. Very few things look worse than things/ activities being done last minute, poorly planned, not carefully thought through, disorganized, and/ or hastily put together! Our God is a God of order, not of chaos. If we get organized, we can accomplish SO MUCH MORE for the Lord! We are much more EFFECTIVE that way. So here are some questions that will help you with planning lessons and events:
a. What is it that I need to accomplish for this lesson/ event?
b. What is the objective/ goal of this lesson or event?
c. What is the key Bible verse for this lesson or event?
d. What is my audience? What is their age, gender?
e. How can I accommodate different learning styles?
f. What activities can I plan according to the lesson and audience?
g. What materials do I need?
h. Will I need anyone to help me with any part of this class?
i. Is the physical space and/ or calendar date I want to use available? Are there any other teams/ ministries with events on this date?

3. Prepare-Honestly nothing frustrates me more, than going to a meeting and having my time wasted because the host or person leading wasn’t prepared. And I am SURE I’m not the only one who feels this way! Lol. I feel like being prepared= respect. Respecting people’s time! So show respect by preparing ahead of time! Nobody if perfect of course, we understand. But trust me, people will appreciate it if you’re prepared MOST times! Lol. These are some tips that help me while preparing:
a. Study all materials thoroughly, don’t wing it. Read the entire lesson and the BIBLE verses or chapters that correspond. Study them, reflect on them.
b. Make notes and bullet points you want to cover.
c. If working with a team, make sure to communicate any important information early, and give each person enough time to prepare as well.
d. Gather all necessary supplies for lesson at least 1 or 2 days prior, avoid doing this the night before the event.
e. Prepare the space you will use before the class begins. Arrive early and set everything up. Make sure the space is clean and welcoming.
f. If you need a sign up sheet, create one and print it ahead of time.
g. If you will need help setting up any equipment, make sure you talk to the right people before hand and not at the last minute.
h. Make copies before the day of the lesson or event. Do not wait until the day of the event or class to make copies.
i. Try as much as you can to finish your lesson at least 1 or 2 days prior.

I hope these tips help in some way. I just wanted to share them because as Bible School teachers, it can be a daunting task, but when we get organized we can focus on Jesus! And I think this can be applied to other areas of our lives as well! Like work, school, or home projects!

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. – Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

Do you have any other tips you use? Or do you already have some of these strategies in place in any area of your life? Please do share!!

I hope you’re having a blessed weekend! God bless you! Xoxo

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV