Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder
The Kids Ministry Calling Podcast is designed to inspire and equip kids ministry leaders in every season of their journey! Join us as we dive into heartfelt discussions, practical tips, and uplifting stories that remind you of the incredible calling God has placed on your life. Tune in to be reminded of your purpose, share in the joys and struggles of ministry, and find renewed strength in your calling. Together, we can remember to have joy in our calling!
Kids Ministry Calling with Jana Magruder
66. Dreaming Beyond Sunday: Equipping Parents for Everyday Discipleship with Tristan Meza
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What if the greatest impact of your kids ministry didn't happen in your classrooms—but in your families' living rooms?
In this episode of Kids Ministry Calling, we're continuing our Summer Dreamin' series with a conversation that challenges kids ministry leaders to think beyond Sunday mornings. Tristan Meza shares her passion for equipping parents to embrace their God-given role as the primary disciplers of their children and offers practical ways churches can partner with families for lasting spiritual impact.
Together, Jana and Tristan explore what it looks like to dream intentionally about family discipleship, helping parents see that faith isn't confined to church programs—it can be woven into the everyday moments of life.
If you've been wondering how your ministry can move from simply serving families to truly equipping them, this conversation is full of practical encouragement and fresh vision.
This week, identify one simple way your ministry can encourage parents outside of Sunday morning. Whether it's a conversation, a text message, a take-home resource, or a prayer guide, look for one practical step that empowers families to continue discipleship at home.
Because the goal of kids ministry isn't simply to create great church experiences—it's to help families build a faith that lasts long after they leave the church building.
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Calling And Big Idea Setup
SPEAKER_01Are you dedicated to working with kids and families in the local church? Well, clearly that's more than a career, that's a calling. I'm Jayna McGruder and this is Kids Ministry Calling. Some of the most important discipleship moments don't just happen at church, they happen at home. In today's episode, I'm joined by Tristan Mesa for a conversation that will challenge the way we think about kids' ministry, not as the primary place of discipleship, but as a partnership with parents who are leading the way. We talk about what it looks like to empower parents as the primary disciplers of their children, how to start dreaming more intentionally about the role your ministry plays in that, and how everyday moments can become meaningful opportunities for faith to grow. Tristan also shares practical ways to leverage the resources you already have and to build stronger partnerships within your church and create a culture that supports families, not just programs. And along the way, you'll hear her personal calling story and the heart behind why this matters so deeply. So if you want your ministry to extend beyond Sundays and make a lasting impact in the home, this conversation is for you. Here's my chat with Tristan Mesa. Well, hey everyone, and welcome back to the Brentwood Studio. We are in person with my dear friend, pretty much family member, Tristan Mesa. Um, we actually had to re-record the intro because I said it just rolled off my tongue, Tristan Peters. Uh, because I've known her for so long. Yeah. Um, watched her date and be engaged and get married, went to your wedding. So I know you're Maza. But um, you know, Tristan Peters, Maza.
SPEAKER_00It's still.
SPEAKER_01Do you ever go by that?
SPEAKER_00Uh some people know me as Peters because it's like, oh, you're Chuck's daughter.
SPEAKER_01So that's Peters, but I'll take it, you know. That's right. Yes. Her last name um is Peters because she is daughter of the Chuck Peters. Um, so if you know about his podcast, he he has a podcast called Etch, so definitely check that out. And then he's been on KMC before too, so check out our episode with him. Um actually, he's gonna be on this same season, which is let's just go ahead and set this
Summer Dreaming And Ministry Calendar
SPEAKER_01up. Uh, summer dreaming is what we're calling it. Um, he's also doing an episode. And um, here's the here's the gist of it. So, Tristan, yes, you're children's minister at a a large church here in the Nashville area in Spring Hill. Um, and uh do you agree that there could potentially be a time? This might be too ambitious, but could there be a time in the summer months after VBS, after camp, where a children's minister could perhaps take a few weeks to do some allowing themselves to do some intentional dreaming about the ministry year ahead.
SPEAKER_00Could that exist? Absolutely. Okay, I do I do think that that could and should exist. Yeah, right? I do think it depends on the way your calendar goes. Yes. Our busiest time is July and August, but that dreaming for us would then happen in June, where we're thinking about what is coming ahead, what do we want the next year to look like, and you know, taking the time to plan. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so that's the loose theme for for this season. And we're gonna just take topic by topic of categories that we could do some intentional dreaming around. So before we get started, what are you dreaming about these days?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a great question, and always fun because you know, it's fun to dream about what is happening in your ministry and what God is doing.
Rethinking Space During Church Growth
SPEAKER_00Um, and for us right now, we are about to start a building um construction project. And so we haven't started construction yet, but that will be starting this summer soon. And so I do know there's been a lot of dreaming happening about what that will look like and what that will look like for our kids' areas. So specifically, our K through fifth environments are gonna be totally new, and so we're doing a lot of dreaming about that right now, what that will look like, which is exciting. Do you enjoy that kind of thing? I do. Okay, it's a little intimidating, uh especially the fact of like we're gonna be moving classes when construction's happening, but that the end result is gonna be so worth it that I'm very excited about the plan and the process.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and that is not just how many classrooms you need, it's really thinking intentionally about how you're gonna use the space, how you're going to group kids and age groups and things like that.
SPEAKER_00Together. We're actually thinking we could rearrange our age groups in a way where could kindergarten go back with preschool? Could it be, is it fourth and fifth? Is it third and fourth that are we, you know, we put together? So, like what's the best for each age group to learn best in the environment?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, such a rare time to get to do that, to rethink all of it. Absolutely. And I've been in your church multiple times and seen your children's ministry in action. And uh this is for for you out there that are listening and watching, this is the kind of church that has had tremendous growth with young families. Yes. And so you guys got had to get really creative about how you use your space. So can you just give us a little snapshot of what your little structures are?
SPEAKER_00Yes. So um our uh kids auditorium used to be the auditorium for the entire church. Wow. And so the room that our K through third graders are in used to be the auditorium, and then where our fourth and fifth graders are used to be the lobby, and then where our preschool is used to be all of elementary. And so we've kind of been put into these rooms that were not made at all for kids. The whole building used to be a vitamin factory. So really, I did not know that. Upstairs in our kids' kids' storage area, it still smells like vitamins and protein powder. Oh, I don't know about that. That kind of uh uh uh yes, so where we get our construction papers a little stinky, but um, but we're kind of had to use the space and turn it into something. And so our big room for K through third, we had no small group areas, it's just this big auditorium, and so we've done different things. My favorite was we had tents, like party tents uh for like a wedding that we put up to make small group areas. We decked them out with like rugs and lights and flags to make it feel like it's a small group room in this giant space. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's it's really fun, it's very thinking outside the the box, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and use what you've been given in the the time that you have. That's just great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I'm excited for for y'all to to get to do some uh some new space and um more space. Yes, most importantly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Parents As Primary Disciplers
SPEAKER_01Well, okay, so the topic I assigned you, because I could have assigned you many topics, but I want us to talk about um designing intentional ministry to families to help them understand their role as primary discipler of their child, um, to give equip them with some resources and some ideas for how that might look at home. Um, that's that's the broad category that I want us to be able to spend some time in. So um, why don't we just start with, you know, how do we, uh in our role as a children's minister, how do we help the parents in our ministry understand what God has called them to as being the primary discipler?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, right. I feel like that's the best place to start because I feel like uh parents kind of fall into two categories where they fall in the category of the parents that do not want to disciple their kids. They just don't feel like that's their job. That's why they bring them to church, they might say. And then there's the parents that want to and just have no idea how. Right. And then you have your select rare few that are like they know it's theirs, they know what to do. Yeah. Um, and those are great people to call on for help and learn from them because they're doing it right now. Um, but uh, I actually feel like more parents that I've been chatting with recently are falling into that category where they really desperately want to disciple their kids and they just don't even know where to start. They're busy, their calendars are so booked, they're doing after school activities, they're getting all these emails from different programs and groups in school, and so they just don't need things added to their calendar, but they need help forming like habits that can weave into their life so that way in their going, they're able to do things with their kids and in their family that helps them disciple. Um, but uh a fun story recently. So, you know, I was teaching a large group in our elementary area, and every time uh we open the Bible, we hold up the Bible and say, for the kids that do not know, this is the Bible, the Bible is God's word, it's true and it's for you. Yes. And this kindergartner raises his hand and he goes, I know what that is because my mom reads it every day. Oh I was like, that's I hope he told her that. I did, and it's like, even though this kid can't read, yeah, he's in kindergarten, he knows what the Bible is because he sees his mom open it at home. Amazing. And so even helping parents understand that family discipleship starts with personal discipleship. That's right. Yeah. And modeling that. Absolutely. Kids see what their parents are doing. I was talking to another mom recently that was like, I just can't get in my quiet time because every time I sit down to do it, my kids are right there next to me. And it's like, I know that feels overwhelming. Yeah, but how beautiful that your kids want to sit with you and just learn from what you're doing, right? They they want to copy what they see their parents doing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, on a personal note, that it reminds me. Um, when we got back, the research that your dad and I um uh worked on several years ago about what can parents do now that helps their child the most into adulthood spiritually. And the number one thing is Bible reading by far. That's the the biggest thing. And it was so convicting to me. I was a younger mom at the time, um, to to show those habits out in the open because I I kind of had my Bible more like on my nightstand and doing a quiet time, right? You know, right after waking up or before going to bed. So it was kind of tucked away. Right. Um, that made me pull it out into the living room on an end table, and that's where I started having my quiet time, even if it meant that I was interrupted. Yes. Because my kids could see me doing it. Absolutely. Yeah, so there's such value in modeling those things.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely, yeah.
Simple Habits That Fit Real Life
SPEAKER_00And it actually is pretty cool. So the vision at our church at the bridge is to bring the gospel to every table. And part of the reasoning behind that is helping families and individuals realize that discipleship isn't something that you have to go out of your way to do, but it's something that you can build into the regular habits of your home or your life. And so it's we've really been encouraging families to take the time that you have, whether it's eating a meal together or driving in the car, and use that time instead of watching TV, instead of talking about things that don't truly matter, to you just use that little bit of time, whether you're gonna read a verse together, or you're gonna pray together, or you're going to talk about what you are learning as a parent in your quiet time to bring that conversation, uh, make it more natural, like it says in I think it's Deuteronomy, where it's talk about them when you sit home.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Right, when you walk along the road, when you lie down or get up. It's a habit of just doing it in and through your daily life so it doesn't feel so overwhelming. It's like this really big, intimidating thing.
SPEAKER_01Right. I think um some parents, and I think my husband and I would have fallen into this category as as young parents, think that it has to be a father knows best family devotional. Father knows best was like an old time show. Not even my era, it's like my parents' era. For for you who are uh listening or watching, that that's where that reference comes from. Where the the you know, um the father of the home will sit and the children will will crisscross applesauce and listen as he unpacks scripture, and then we will pray, and then we will go to bed. You know, I mean and and in reality, you know, it doesn't have to look so structured. I think that's what makes parents think they can't do it. Right is because in no scenario could they imagine that working in their home.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, absolutely. And parents know their own kids best. I was reminded recently that as like kids' ministry leaders, we might be the expert on kids learning about Jesus, but parents are the expert on their own kids. So true. And so they know how their kids learn best, whether that's hands-on, whether that's auditory or visual or um reading side by side, whatever it is that works best for your kids is gonna be what works best for your kids to learn about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That is so true. Um, I remember interviewing David Platt uh one time, a long time ago. Um, and he I remember thinking, I wonder what David Platt does, you know, at this, you know, huge pastor and author and wrote radical, you know, about about you know disrupting your your American dream life, you know, what to to you know served under the gospel. What does David Platt do? I got to ask him that. Um and he was like, Well, you know, we we read some scripture and then we do a lot of wrestling with my voice. And it's like, oh, okay. That's and he knew his kids. He knew that probably about how much time he had their attention, and then, you know, let's let's have some fun and wrestle with dad. So that's just one example that came to mind about um contextualizing it to your family and what and the age groups and the mix of age groups that you have.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, okay, so helping kind of take the stigma out of um what family worship or family devotional actually means. You know, I th I think about um um the great storybook Bibles that we have.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um how we can encourage parents to just start there if they don't know where to start, do a read aloud at bedtime. Yeah. Um, and and those storybook Bibles, most of them are very um theologically uh not just accurate, but deep in just you know, a short amount of words. So you're actually helping moms and dads learn as well. Yeah. If they can just start there with a a simple resource like that.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And we've even started doing um, because we know some parents want resources, some
Easy Take Home Devotional Tools
SPEAKER_00people want a thing that you can give them. Yeah, some people won't read the email and they won't use the resource, but some families will. Yeah. And so if there is something that you can do as a ministry leader, um, so we've found that it's been helpful for us to make very affordable take-home devotionals that we pass out four times a year. So we're not giving them all the time, right? But we'll give them along with a seasonal thing. We do one every year for Easter. It's like a the week leading up to Easter, a very simple, we print them in-house, we make them on Canva, we give them out to our families. We'll do a Christmas one, sometimes a back to school. And we make it so simple. Like there's a passage you can look up, but also if you don't have your Bible with you, the verse is at the top, it gives you a prayer at the end because a lot of parents don't know how to teach their kids how to pray. Right. And so giving them the words where they're, you know, even if they just read that one page devotional with their kids in the car before they drop off at school or at dinner, it's helping them like form a confidence of I can do this. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. I I know I'll just give a quick plug for some free resources that Life Way Kids does at Christmas time and at Easter time, uh, where we give you the whole PDF um on our blog. And you know, some churches just print it out directly on um on just regular copy paper. Some have it professionally printed and some just send it out digitally. Yeah. But it's a free tool that is, you know, really taking advantage of the holiday season to have those intentional conversations about Jesus because Christmas is about Jesus, Easter is about Jesus, and any family is willing to, most any family is willing to do that around those times. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And so um, in addition to the holiday times when y'all when y'all create these little devotionals, what are some other things that you wrap it around?
SPEAKER_00Right. That's a great uh question. So we've done some devotionals where it's about a specific topic. Um twice a year, our church goes through a sermon series on something they call ancient practices, which are just habits of spiritual formation. So one would be about prayer or fasting or serving or scripture reading. So kind of trying to teach people themselves how to build these habits. Yeah. Um, so we've done some around that where it's like, hey, your parent, the parents are learning this in the sermon right now. We're teaching something different in Bridge Kids that goes with our curriculum. But here's how we can give the parent a resource to talk about what they're learning at home with their kids, where they can teach their kids about prayer. Or we'll might do a back to school uh devotional, or we might do a New Year's devotional, just little things throughout that might be helpful for them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a that is a great um idea for how to put a tool in the hands of our families to to use in an intentional way. Um, I know you have other ideas for that as well. Yes. What what what else do you got?
SPEAKER_00Right. So I am even when you asked and said, like, we're gonna talk about family discipleship, I thought, oh no. I'm not the expert at family discipleship, but I also feel like that's every kids' ministry leader that's saying part of our role, right? We are not the experts at family discipleship, but I feel like so many of us kids ministry leaders are trying to get better at it. And so I I sat down and I was working through, okay, there's kind of some different categories of things that we do or you can do, that they aren't these huge things, but it's little things that are helpful.
Use What You Already Have
SPEAKER_00And so one of the things I realized was we can take advantage of, there's three different things. Okay. We can take advantage of free resources that are already provided for us. We can take advantage of the time we already have built in with parents, and we can take advantage of things that are already happening in our church that we can turn into family discipleship opportunities. So, with the resources, I mean, we use Hi-Fi curriculum, which we absolutely love. Hi-Fi provides so many family discipleship like resources. It's the take-home pages that we send home with the kids. Um, there's a slide uh that says every week, you know, what the big deal is in the Bible passage, and we put that on the TVs in our kids' check-in area. Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, so as families are checking in their kids, they're looking up at that and saying, Look, today you're gonna learn about Noah and the Ark, or you're gonna learn about God is always with me. And so it gives them like a conversation starter. We love when people stop and point that out towards their kid or preschooler, and then it gives them something to ask about as they're heading home. That's another great reason why. I mean, crafts are not pointless in kids' ministry, it helps us remember, but also it's giving the kid something to take home that their parent or guardian will ask them about and say, what is this? It's a conversation starter. Yeah, absolutely. And so just little things. We decided to start taking uh hi-fi as a Bible verse every month, and they give a printable, free printable for a sticker. And so we print it into stickers, we send it home with every kid, and so every kid is putting that on their water bottle. Um, we give kids little notebooks, they can collect all the stickers and love that, and so we call them little passports, and so then they're taking them home, they're talking to their parent, their parents helping them learn the memory verse. Yes, you know, little things that it's like it's easy, it's there, it's already given to us. How can we just take that? Hi-fi gives us social media posts that we put out on our stories so that way as parents get in the car and they open Instagram or Facebook. Hopefully, the first thing they're seeing is that's right, we posted the thing that said, Oh, and on your way home, ask your kid this question about what they learned today. Yeah, which is incredible. I love that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um in Hi-Fi, you're y'all use hi-fi, it's great. I know many curriculums provide these kinds of things. I think the point is make sure that you know about all those. So dig in and look at all the different ways that maybe the the resource provider suggests to use them for family discipleship or get creative and use some of the assets to create your create your own.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but you don't have to reinvent the wheels. See what is given to you in your curriculum or the resources that you already have. Like we have worship videos that we make with our emotions, we put them out on our YouTube channel. So then parents are watching them at home with their kids. That's something we've already made. It took nothing else to put it on YouTube, but then it's giving families something at home that they can continue doing.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, so it's just taking what you have and either seeing like, is there an email that they send you? Is there a what do you have that you can give out to your families with no extra, really a whole lot of effort on your side? Right. Um, but just taking advantage. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh for life weight curriculum, all all everything that we do. So gospel project, Bible studies for life, explore the Bible, and hi-fi, we have something called at home. And that is um a digital link that you would send home in a a newsletter, let's say, um, or your weekly communication, or your social media post. And then uh all families have to do is click on that and it will walk you through what the kids learned at church, including the videos that go with it. So, which kids love to re-watch videos and love to show mom and dad the video that they they saw. Um and and then there's a prayer prompt and a um activity suggestion. So it's it's chock full of things that you can do. Um, and and ministry leaders just send that home. And um, it's an easy way for it's another, it's just another tool in the toolbox.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah.
Built In Moments With Parents
SPEAKER_00So then the second category that I kind of brainstormed through was the fact that um sometimes it feels like in order to help parents, we need all this extra time with parents. We need to do an event or we need to do a parent night, or we need to do a parent training. But truthfully, we can take advantage of the time we're already getting with parents, and how can we take those moments uh and just give them a tool in that time that we have with them? Okay. So for us, that looks like Uh our first-time guest follow-up. Like every time we have a first-time guest, they get something in the mail addressed to the kids, has a little info card and a you know, thanks for coming, and then a resource. So we used to send like a bridge kids branded like bracelet or something fun. And we thought, no, like this is a missed opportunity to give a family a resource for teaching their kids about Jesus. And so we made these fun little uh alphabet verse cards, it has one for every letter of the alphabet, and it just has a Bible verse on each one. And so even if a family never comes to our church again, they were given one resource that they can use to help their kids learn more about Jesus. I love that. Yeah, or child dedication. I know a lot of churches do, child dedication. And so uh we recently started uh having families come a little bit early to the service, and we're using that as an opportunity, you know, we take their picture, you know, we get to know them. That's great, and then we were using that opportunity to have one of our pastors come and encourage and speak to the parents as like a quick little, you're not alone in this. Um, you know, so everything from we give them a prayer bookmark for their Bible that has, here's how to pray scripture over your child if you don't know how to do that. We made another little devo printed in-house of here's what it looks like for you as a parent to actually, you know, walk alongside with your child. And here's how we, as your church in your kids' ministry, is here to help you with that. And so just taking the opportunity of families are going to dedicate their kids. Yeah, how can we use that? Maybe it doesn't look like a little before brunch, but what does it look like at your church? Of how can you take that opportunity and give them a resource in hand? Yes. My favorite one is when we get to have gospel and baptism conversations with kids because families are coming. Um, whenever a kid signs up at our church to get baptized, we sit down and have an in-person conversation with one of our kids' team staff members. And so it really is, it takes a lot of time. Um, there's usually a lot of kids, but it's so worth it because it's face-to-face time with that family. Um, it's an opportunity to answer any questions those parents have about okay, how do I keep talking about this at home? Or how do I have this conversation with my child? The kid gets to then, you know, you talk through the gospel, you talk through baptism, and then we send them home with resources to continue at home. So every kid at our church gets the gospel God's plan for me uh booklet. Yeah. And we tell mom and dad or grandma or grandpa or whoever it is that's that kid's guardian, work through this with them, do it side by side, do it together. And that has been so cool to see. There's the kids are so excited, you know. And then it's giving the parents something that, you know, that we're offering to them. And because the kid's excited about it, mom and dad won't have any excuse to not do it with them because the kids can hold them accountable. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Absolutely.
Partnering With Church Wide Ministries
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then the last thing that has been encouraging to think about is that uh churches have things that maybe are not put on by the kids' ministry that could be used as a family discipleship opportunity. Okay. So tell me more about that. Yeah, so it's been a good encouragement to me that I don't have to do it all by myself. Yes. So true. It's not all on my shoulders as the kids' ministry leader to disciple all these kids and all their parents.
SPEAKER_01And should be a partnership with your adult discipleship.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And so everything from our missions department uh puts on several family serving opportunities throughout the year. And so I don't need to do a separate, you know, kids serving opportunity when I can partner with what the missions department is doing, right? And so we do like a gift market every year for one of our local schools, and we give out gifts to families in the community that get to hear about Jesus and get invited to church and get gifts for their kids. And so that has turned into a the kids' ministry is helping uh bring in all those gifts. And so instead of doing a separate like drive or missions giving challenge, we're partnering with the missions group and doing it together, which is really cool. Perfect. Um, we just kind of moved towards the idea of um our church does nights of worship a few times a year. And we used to host a separate kids' night of worship on the same night of the church night of worship. So we're like kids should have an opportunity as well. And we were a little convicted about the fact that every time a family walks into church, they don't need to go separate ways. That's right. Sometimes it's really good for them to stay together. Yeah. And so it's really been powerful to say, you know what, we're not gonna do a separate kids' night of worship when they can go to night of worship with their family. Yes. And so it has turned into kids and parents worshiping side by side, praying together, and kids following their parents' example of what it looks like to worship.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00So it's just been a beautiful thing to almost say, sometimes the best thing we can do is less and do it together, and it turns into an even better opportunity. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think we say something like smarter, not harder.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Those partnerships with your colleagues in ministry are so important because you can get really strategic about the things that you're doing in each of the age group areas or ministry areas and say, how can we make this work in a more efficient way that benefits families, benefits um our time as leaders, and and overall it just ends up being a better experience.
SPEAKER_00Right. And so maybe that's something with small groups, and maybe that's something with worship or missions, but there are things that we could do where it's all almost doing less in the way that it helps bring families together a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01Something that comes to mind on that at my church, I know all of this is contextualized to what you how your church functions, but because we have a um adult discipleship small groups that are going on at the same time as children's programming. So a Wednesday night, you know, parents can go to um, you know, they can pick and choose. They can go to a women's Bible study, a men's Bible study, but sometimes quarterly, we will do um a parenting like event kind of thing. Not in a whole event, but a seminar, let's say. So during that time when you already have them, you've got your child care situation because kids are already doing their discipleship program. Um and the parents can you could you could do some training around technology, some training around, you know, these these hot topics that parents need equipping and support from the church. That's a great time to to kind of work smarter, not harder. Yeah. While you've already got them. Um I hear churches, you know, kind of struggle with having a separate parenting event on a Saturday. Um, they lose a lot of people because maybe it is a child care situation or they've just got other things going on on Saturday. Yeah. But Wednesday nights, I even hear churches doing it on Sunday morning. Um, you've got them, you know, for churches who have that model, you've got them. How can you capitalize on that? So thinking about family discipleship through that lens too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's incredible. Our church does a marriage conference every year. And while not everyone that's married has kids, a lot of them do. And so we were talking about do we do a separate parenting event? We're like, you know what? This could almost be a same thing. So some of the breakouts at the merge event were parenting specific. There you go. How to walk with your child through this season of their life. So it's been it's been really neat to see. Some of this is a little bit more, you know, we can do it together and not all by myself alone. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Okay. Well, we've talked a lot. But you've come up with such great ideas. I know you've done some pre-thought work on this. Is there anything you didn't get to share yet?
SPEAKER_00I don't think so. Okay. I would just say, I was, I mean, even coming in, I was like, I don't feel like I am the best person at family discipleship. And so for the other kids' ministry leaders that are feeling like you are struggling with family discipleship, you don't have to do it all. And families don't have to do it all. But it's helping families realize they can be intentional with their time with their kids and you can take advantage of what you have. Yes. And you you're learning as you go, right? I will get so much better. And then you will get so much better, you know. So it's it's the little things that we can do to make it more helpful for families. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think you knew more than you thought, number one. Just gonna say that's why I asked you because I knew I know you think intentionally about that. And maybe it's more of a modern thing. Uh, but children's ministers, this has become part of our role. Yes. Because we know that if if parents are depending on us alone for the discipleship of their child, we don't see them enough for that. First of all, it's not biblical. Right. But even if it was, let's say, if they're only coming, you know, one hour every other week, that we're not, we're not going to be able to, you know, completely disciple them. So it's a partnership, you know, we're really big on church and home working together. How can the the church come alongside families and and their role of of discipling their child? And all of these have been excellent ideas. And so hopefully, watchers and listeners, um, you are take taking away some good ideas or inspired to think through the lens of your own church context and how this could work uh best for you. So, okay, we're not done yet. Okay. Because this is your first time, Tristan, to be on Kids Ministry Calling.
Tristan Mesa Calling Story
SPEAKER_01Um, I want to give you a chance to share your own calling story with our our friends that are listening and watching.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's so fun. I I always get excited when I get a chance to share this story because it just brings glory to God. Um, so I did not think I was gonna end up working in kids' ministry. Um, that wasn't something that I was really that wasn't the plan originally. I was thinking and pursuing other things. Um, but when I was uh in high school, I was attending a summer camp, a Christian summer camp called Barefoot Republic. Um and so I was a camper there one summer, and uh I think I was maybe 16 years old, and uh the pastor one night gave a whole sermon to this group of high schoolers about the importance of a uh next gen ministry about caring for students, caring for kids, um, and almost encouraging anyone that felt called in this area to pursue that calling. And so the whole time I'm listening, I'm like, this is incredible. Uh for a second I didn't even realize, like, you know, I could pursue this. This could be a thing. Um, and at the end of his uh his sermon and his talk, uh, he invites anyone who feels called to the work of kids in student ministry to just come and receive prayer. And I'm sitting in my seat, terrified, frozen, because I know that the Lord is He's talking on my heart. He's like, Tristan, this is for you. And I'm like, I can't do it. This is terrifying. I don't know what that looks like, I don't know how to pursue this. Um, and maybe 10 out of these hundreds of students go to the front, and he starts to pray, and I'm still in my seat. Yeah. Okay. And uh about halfway through, I get up and I walk up to the front, uh, and he puts his hand on my head and prays for me. And it was just this moment of I in my own strength did not walk up there to receive prayer. And what a great reminder that it is not in our own strength that we do any of this. Um, and it was just such a tender moment of uh God showing his favor towards uh it's not by me, it's not by my own strength, but it is by him and his power that he will provide and guide through this whole season of being called to kids' ministry. And so from that moment, God has provided all these doors uh for things uh from my first internship in kids' ministry to jobs to opportunities to learn from amazing people like you. It's just been so neat to see that I didn't pursue any of those things, but God has provided them. And it's just truly reminded me that uh it is not my own power, my own strength, my own ability or knowledge that I'm doing any of this. It is something the Lord has like entrusted me with, right? My ministry is not mine, it's his. The kids are not mine, they're his. And so it's it's always reminded me that um I am just following in his footsteps and he's the one that's guiding, which is really cool. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for sharing that. I don't know if I've heard that full story about the camp. Um, so I'm really, I'm really um excited to hear that. Thank you for sharing it. And maybe you're thinking about a young leader. Tristan is a young leader, clearly, but she is wise beyond her years, um, which is phenomenal. Um, so I hope this inspires you to come alongside a young leader, maybe even uh be inspired by that camp pastor who felt convicted to call out leaders, children's ministry, next gen leaders in this camp.
SPEAKER_00And I've never heard anyone else do something like that before. So it really was just it was incredible. And I hope and pray that all those other students that made that decision and felt that calling are still working in in ministry today. But it's really neat to see all these years later that God has been so faithful.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
Final Encouragement And Closing
SPEAKER_01Well, I know that that encourages you and blesses your heart like it has mine. Um so thank you, Tristan. Thank you for sharing um these ideas and how it works at a church like the bridge. Um, y'all are doing so many fantastic things. We'll be praying for you in your remodel. Thank you. Um, and so excited that y'all are getting um maybe out of the little tents and into some small group uh classroom space for those groups. Um, anyway, well, thank you everybody for joining us and come on back next week to the studio for another episode of Kids Ministry Calling. This episode of Kids Ministry Calling Podcast was brought to you by our amazing team, including Executive Producer Angie Elkins, producer Nikki Ogden, edited by Trey Garza, and recorded in the Lifeweight Podcast Studio in Brentwood, Tennessee, with Sound Engineer Donnie Gordon, and artwork by Cameron Wilson. And I'm your host, Jana McRuder. Thanks for listening to Kids Ministry Calling.
