Surviving the Summer Slump

Well, I'm excited to do this episode.

I think this is something that you and I both experience, being in, uh, student ministry and children's ministry, and it's something that we all dread.

It's the summer slump.

You ever experienced that?

So, yes.

I mean, g- approaching the summer you, you start to experience some things where the numbers start to dip a little bit, just due to various things.

Um, but I'm excited to talk about it and how to get through it, how to plan for it, prep for it, and, uh, to watch the Lord do some great things in the summer slump time.

Absolutely.

And by no means are we coming at this from a place of perfecting it or mastering it, but we're trying to relate in the sense that we have absolutely gone through this.

And whether you're a pastor or a parent, it's very obvious that we all go through these seasons of the summer slump.

And so today we just wanna be a help.

And, uh, you know, summer is, is funny.

It's, it's really funny, especially in ministry.

Um, schedules loosen up, attendance dips, and families travel, and it's as if routines just completely go out the window.

Mm-hmm.

And summer, in a way, can feel like survival.

Yeah.

It, it really can.

But, you know, on the flip side of that, really, you know, summer's not just something to survive.

It's something, I think, that we can steward.

Hmm.

So what are the opportunities? What can we do during the summer, uh, to crank things up for the kids ministry, teen ministry, church, whatever it may be, uh, to not just get through it, but actually thrive in it?

Yeah, absolutely.

And for ministry leaders, there's this temptation that when you get to about May, you... families go into vacation mode and ministry leaders go into survival mode.

And it can feel like, for parents, you know, as parents of children, obviously, we, we feel like, man, summer is just this ever, ever... never-ending shifting ground that we're just trying to find footing on.