The Internship Ends

The internship ended on Friday. It was a day with mixed emotions as the reality of leaving my newly acquired teaching post got nearer. I was very honored on Friday. The Kindergartners made me a picture book; the caricatures of me are hysterical! My mentor teacher made a memory book, which I truly treasure. Somehow she captured every student that I worked with over these last eleven weeks. Finally, I received a decorative plate, made of handprints, thumbprints, and finger prints, so precious.

My final teaching session ended with the making of “dirt”. Dirt is a fun dessert made from chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo cookies, and gummy worms. Since we had been studying plants for two weeks (planting seeds, plant journals, counting seeds, plant spelling words, reading plant books, etc) it seemed like a perfectly appropriate collaborative activity. It was fun to do, but eating a cupful of dirt at 8:30 in the morning taxed our stomachs.

And the hugs…I got several of my daily hugs. Those are mostly the kindergartners who just can’t say hi without a hug. Then came the occasional hugs, mostly from the second graders, since we spend most of our time with that grade. And finally the fifth grade hugs. Shocking, I know, and I was totally taken off guard. Those little rascals that drove me nuts now want to be my friend. (I want to think they wanted to be my friend all along, but being fifth graders, they were too cool to admit it)

I had lunch with my favorite fourth graders, AND my new best friend fifth graders (at their invitation!) Why did they wait until the last day? I read books with a few more of my second graders, and the day came to an end.

I have to admit that I am ready to get back to my normal day job, we have an exciting summer lined up at church. But I think I will miss my students on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday). I know this really dates me, but I hear the melody of the ending of the Carol Burnett Show in my head….

I’m so glad we had this time together,
Cause it makes me feel like I belong.
Seems we just got started and before you know it,
Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'

Thank you Lake Murray Baptist for giving me the opportunity to finish my Masters in Special Education. I can’t wait to tell you all my stories (I probably have more than you want to hear!)

Thank you Carolina Springs Elementary for making me feel like I belong, you're the best.

Thank you readers for reading the blog.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24-25

For the Children,

Al Lawson

The Truth About Field Trips

I remember taking field trips when I was in school. I remember loving the excitement of the bus ride, the day away from the school’s routine, eating a sack lunch, and taking pictures of my friends.

Field trips are supposed to have a significant educational purpose. Sometimes you have to find a zoo animal that matches every letter of the alphabet. Sometimes you have to seek out answers to questions that can only be answered during the field trip event. Sometimes you have to complete a task; like performing in musical competition or competing in an athletic event.

Don’t say this out loud, but field trips are really a chance for kids to practice their social skills and to be involved in creative play. I took a trip to the Aquarium at Charleston and the Zoo in Columbia during my internship. Different groups of children, but similar experiences.

The children were coached on their social skills and the expectations were high, especially since so many parents were going along as chaperones. And the children held up their challenge. They were quiet at railroad crossings (got to hear the train). They stayed in their seats (though they were never still). They stayed with their chaperones (only two were momentarily lost). And they worked on their worksheets (well, for the most part).

But when lunch time came, how they entertained themselves! On one field trip we had plenty of open space and in short order, lunch was eaten and tag and chase games began. Soon it was “kick the plastic bottle” (for us old timers, that would be “kick the can”), and several versions of “I dare you…” and “I betcha you can’t…”

On another trip, where lunch space was minimal, the children entertained themselves with wild stories, creative name calling and burping contests. What fun!! This is the real stuff of a good field trip!

Though field trips are a lot of work, they are very beneficial to a class. They demonstrate that lessons can be learned outside the confines of a typical classroom. They give children a chance to practice social skills, which are very important to a successful life. They build relationships between students, teachers, and parents. They remind us that play is important, and that our adult priorities might not be as important as we think.

I already know that we do not play enough at church. But I look forward to those few times when we do play and play hard. Times like Summer camp, and Vacation Bible School, and holiday events. It’s a sacred time; a time to build relationships and get to know each other, a time to practice our social skills and learn to love each other, a time to rediscover the child with in each of us and be reminded of the words of Jesus: “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:14-16)

Take time to play, especially with those you love,

AL

The Situation Room

At school, there is a special classroom called the Situation Room. That title comes from our President's working organization, and being very Washingtonian, I was attracted to the concept immediately. Finally this week, I had a chance to visit the Situation Room. I was impressed.

Around the four walls of the room were pinned the names of every student enrolled in the school. On each student’s card were notations indicating their respective academic goals for that school year. The student’s were divided into grades, and each class of each grade was a different color. Further, the walls were divided into numerical columns, titled with numerical ranges representing test scores.

Several times a year, the teachers meet in the Situation Room and move their respective student cards along the columns according to the student’s achievement. The teachers actually move their own class cards. There is something very positive about that; they are actively involved in the process, and they get to see how their class compares to the other 5 classes in their grade level. The classroom teachers, administrators and resource teachers discuss those students that have not met their goals. They then design strategies, called tiers, to assist those students in need. I was very impressed.

And then on the wall, I read four Key Questions. I was thoroughly impressed, and started copying the questions, while visions of application to our children’s ministry ran through my mind.

1. What is it we want all students to learn?
2. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?
3. How will we know when each student has mastered the essential learning?
4. How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skills?

These questions are going on the wall in my office when I return to church next week. And I am going to look for space or some creative way to develop a Situation Room, for I do not want to lose track of any child who attends my church.

Thanks for reading,

AL

Pass/Fail

This week we just finished the annual PASS testing. PASS stands for the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards. It’s the big, end of the year test that measures student achievement. And it’s not the first test these students have taken this year. They have taken the MAP test (Measures of Academic Progress) three times: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Throw in smaller assessments like Basic Reading Inventory, Running Records, Progress Monitoring, Voyager, DIBELS, and PALS and it seems that a student can be assessed on something every day of the school year!

Well, in reality they are assessed every day. It may be something as simple as a question, or a math or spelling worksheet or something formal like PASS. Assessment is one of the primary ways we determine if a student is learning. Can they answer the question? Do they know the answer? Can they pass the test? Is it the best way to determine if a student is learning? I’m not sure, but I know Assessments are here to stay. In fact, I had to pass a class on Assessments to complete this Masters Degree.

The danger of assessments comes when we teach for the score alone. When we do this we can get trapped into teaching the test. No one would admit to teaching this way, but there is tremendous pressure for school districts to “prove” that their students are learning. The best use of assessments is to call attention to areas of study that need to be improved and re-taught or teaching strategies that need to be changed.

Assessment has a hard time translating to church life. Most attempts to advance our faith, usually called Bible Study or Discipleship, are void of assessment. Sometimes I think we take the personal aspect of our relationship with the heavenly father so personal that we think we are exempt from assessment. How can you possibly measure my personal faith experience? No one’s experience is exactly like mine.

The scripture begins to answer our concerns: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15)

Assess yourself, what kind of spiritual fruit grows on your branch of the vine?

AL

Breakfast Duty

One of the requirements of the internship was to spend at least two weeks being totally in charge of the class. Whatever my mentor teacher did, I was supposed to do, on my own, without her help. Sounds hard, but it wasn’t. I love to teach. What was hard was getting to school early enough to do “breakfast duty.” Breakfast is served at 7:00 am sharp to about 175 students. Several teachers take their turn monitoring and guiding the children through the breakfast experience. Here are my top three observations:

1. Southern dining traditions are learned early. Though each meal met the basic food groups, one breakfast meal stood out: Grits with cheese, sausage, and biscuits. I chuckled when I saw the meal being served. Don’t worry if you don’t serve grits at home, your children will learn to eat them at school! And eat them they did, it was one of the most popular breakfast meals. Only breakfast pizza can compete with grits!

2. We throw a lot of trash away. My tour of duty at breakfast fell during Earth Week. How interesting! For quick serving, every food item had its own cup or container, and it all went into the trash can. The Styrofoam trays, the paper containers, the plastic bowls and cups and spoons, the milk cartons all went into the trash. I wonder what we can do differently. Though it may be cost effective to have every thing disposable, wouldn’t it be better to wash the dishes and deposit less trash?

3. We throw a lot of food away. I was simply hurt by the amount of food that hit the trash can. Fruit with one bite missing or even no bites were thrown away. Sometimes unopened milk was thrown away. Not to mention the pounds of leftovers. Now some children ate every bite, breakfast was important to them. Others took a few bites, or played with their food, and then tossed it all away, it wasn’t that important to them. There must be a better way.

When I was in elementary school, and granted it was a long time ago, nothing was disposable. Dishes were washed, milk cartons were turned into crafts and flower pots, and the leftovers were sold to the local farmers to feed their hogs. There was trash, but not as much. We are wasting a lot of resources to be efficient. We are taking shortcuts that make food service easier to operate with less people, but is it being effective?

So it goes with church life. We have become very efficient, and I suspect increasingly less effective. What shortcuts are we taking that might make us less effective? What resources are we wasting in order to be efficient? We must be careful that we do not become so efficient that we forget how to be personal, how to build relationships, how to invest ourselves into others, and therefore miss the God sent opportunities to share our faith in a real way.

Recycle something this week,

AL

Happy Birthday to You!

Birthday celebrations all run together in my family. Between late March and late June, it seems that we are constantly celebrating someone’s birthday. This year I made a birthday decree: no gifts, only cards. My daughters protested, but I ignored them. At this stage in my life, my wants are under control, and there isn’t anything that I need. To be remembered is really enough.

Well, I got some great cards; my family really put their minds to it. Some of my cards were endearing, others were down right funny. I love getting cards.

Even my school kids chipped in this year. I got over a dozen special “drawings” commissioned by my mentor teacher. They were really cute and neatly packaged in a booklet style that had “created at school” written all over it. I felt special because they had celebrated my birthday!

I know how important birthdays are to children, and I also know how much they love getting mail. So the Children's Ministry mails them a card. But I’m not happy with that, it seems a little impersonal with no opportunity for birthday hugs, high fives, or singling out kids who need to be singled out.

I am going to try something different beginning in June. I am going to hand deliver my birthday cards. I’ll seek them out during Sunday Bible Study and announce to all who will hear that this child is celebrating a birthday. I can almost see the young joyful faces, and the older embarrassed ones. (They’re not really embarrassed, but they’re fifth graders and they have to pretend to be).

Birthdays are worth celebrating, whatever the age, and if only with cards. God has granted us another year of life, another year with our family, another year to serve Him. Happy Birthday!

Blessings,

AL

What happened to the blog?

My apologies to anyone who has attempted to read my blog over the last several weeks. I was overwhelmed with the many other things I have going, and the blog ended up low on the list.

It happened this way: I had to take a university online seminar simultaneously with the internship and that required a weekly paper, daily discussion questions, etc. And then the reality of the internship hit….I actually had to teach, and plan, and write lesson plans, and prepare materials, and grade papers, and give assessments, and do breakfast duty and the blog fell off the radar.

So I am going to try to pick it up during this final week of my internship and try to write something each day. I realize I have gotten behind, and I have a prescription to remedy the situation: a few paragraphs, once a day, for seven days. Now all I have to do is to follow the directions….hmmm….I think there is a spiritual application here.

How many times have we gotten behind spiritually, perhaps even taken ill, only to go church and hear the prescription from the doctor, then leave, and never follow through on the directions?

When my journey is not the same from one day to the next, I can get back on track when I remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb 13:8).

Until tomorrow,

Al

Week 3.0 You Gotta Know the Rules

One of the thrills of being at a school where your church kids attend, is getting to see them almost every day. They wave and smile. I wave. I give hugs. They call me Pastor Al, and their friends give them strange looks. Their little brains are thinking, “I thought that was Mr. Lawson.” My church kids then get to explain who I am and why they call me Pastor Al instead of Mr. Lawson. I don’t interfere, I think it’s kind of cool that they get to talk about church to their friends.

One of my church kids invited me to eat lunch with him. He cleared it with the teacher and we made our plans to eat together on Wednesday. We met in the cafeteria line and he pointed to the table where his class was setting. I told him to save me a seat, and after I gathered my lunch I went to sit with him. He saved me a seat alright. Right on the crack of two benches. Right in the one spot where two tables come together and there are more table legs than the average dining room set. I looked at that spot and thought, if I ever get down there, I may never get back up. Not only was the leg area crowded, the table seemed shorter than normal. But probably just right for a fourth grader. The children saw my advance to the table and parted like the Red Sea. With the extra space, I was able to get seated next to my friend, balanced between the ends of two benches.

There was soft music playing in the background as I unpacked and organized my lunch. I began to make small talk with my friend and the other children sitting around me. But as I talked, no one would speak to me. They looked at me, but would not answer my questions or continue my efforts to engage in conversation. Am I that out of touch that I cannot even carry on a conversation with a fourth grader? I am bombing out here! I felt like a rock sinking fast in a deep lake. Finally, I turned to my friend and asked quietly, “Why is everyone so quiet?” My friend whispered, “You can’t talk when the music is playing.” OooKaaay I thought. Now I get it. And about that time the music stopped and everyone began to talk at once. The volume of the cafeteria rose quickly, and all the new friends sitting around me became instant chatter-boxes.

Conversations were flying. I’m learning new names, hearing about their pets, what they like to eat or not eat, and what their plans were for recess. Typical fourth grade talk. Then the music began again, and room went quiet. “What happened?” I blurted out in my normal loud voice. “What did we do?” I asked, assuming we had committed some great offense. “Nothing,” they whispered. “The music is controlled by Dr. B. He monitors us in his office. When we get too loud, he turns on the music.” Now Dr. B is fantastic principal and highly respected by his staff. I’ve met the man and I can’t imagine him even taking the time to monitor lunch. Typical fourth grade fantasy. But the music was on and we all got silent and ate our lunch.

When the music stopped, we talked some more and debated the theories behind the coming and going of the music. We had a pear eating contest to see who could eat the closest to the core without actually eating it. Too soon lunch ended. My visit ended. We all dumped our trash and lined up to leave. Realizing I did not have to walk in line with my new friends, I waved goodbye, broke ranks and walked back to my class. What had started out as an awkward experience, ended well, once I knew the rules.

Application: By spending time in their world, even though it was just lunch today, I learned how their lunch world worked. I learned the rules of lunch. The next time I eat with them, I’ll understand them better. It won’t be awkward and maybe my relationships will go a little deeper. I wonder how much my church teachers know the world our children live in. Now some of my teachers are currently parenting, they understand their children's world. But many of my teachers finished parenting a long time ago, and like me, need a refresher course on kid culture. For in order to share faith, in a relevant, real way, we have to know the rules, the rules of culture, family, thought and relationship that our children live in each and every day.

Thanks for reading

Week 2.0 The Thrill of Victory ….

March 19 ….and the Agony of Defeat

Monday was a great morning. My fifth grade student and I really clicked during Math. Now granted, he was asleep when I came into the room. But I walked over, rubbed his back and quietly said, “Wake Up. I don’t know what we are doing and I need your help.” He woke up. We worked on Least Common Multiples. I got it. He got it. We were three problems ahead of the rest of the class. He even went to the board to write the problem for the class. We clicked. My Mentor and I gave each other a “high five” on the way to our next class. The thrill of victory!
It was going to be a great week.

I could not wait to see this student tomorrow. But wait I must, for I found out later in the day that my prize student had been suspended! Now how does that happen! I know you can’t tolerate a student that mouths off to the teacher and then tries it again on the principal, but how did my good student lose ground so fast? I’m still trying to figure it out. He came back later in the week and the rest of the week was just ok….the agony of defeat.

I know I can talk, but it’s becoming apparent in Daily Oral Language that I don’t understand anything I’m saying. If I ever knew what a digraph is, or a blend, or a vowel team, or glued sounds or welded words, I don’t remember. It sounds like English, but it feels like a foreign language. I’ve got a lot to learn about language and reading! (Lesson plans are due in two weeks!!)

Tuesday was St Patrick’s Day and I was smart enough to remember to wear my green! Everyone was celebrating from green hair, green t-shirts, to green tattoos (washable of course). Kids just love holidays! But the greatest celebration was in Kindergarten. They actually began celebrating the week before with Leprechaun words, art projects, rainbows and lima beans painted gold. They evened sorted cupfuls of Lucky Charms cereal in the name of math! My kind of class!

But I am a giant in the Kindergarten room. I constantly have to evade signage and art that hangs from the ceiling. Though I guess it has to be low enough for Kinders to read and see it, it still smacks me in the face. And to assist a Kinder, I have to get down on my knees, which exposes my number 12 feet to Kindergarten traffic lanes. One poor girl tripped and fell over my feet. I didn’t see her coming and she didn’t see me. Boy did I feel bad, and there was nothing “I” could do to comfort her. I try to look both ways before I kneel down, but I’m wondering if they make those flashing sole tennis shoes in size 12?

Applications:
What about the children that do not attend Sunday School or church every Sunday? My fifth grader missed a day of school this week. He’s missed seven days this year because of suspension. Many children do not attend Sunday School or church every Sunday, and most of the time it’s not their fault. Do we just accept it, or are we working to learn their story? Is there something we can do to improve their attendance?

When we talk to children, or tell a Bible story, do we speak in the language of a child? Do we listen to what they have to say? Do we answer their questions in words they can understand? Do we get down on their level, both physically and spiritually?

Children naturally trust their teachers. Now we know that Leprechaun’s don’t really exist. But they existed this week to those Kindergarteners, especially when the Leprechaun tossed the room during lunch! This speaks to their ability to trust, and trust hard. This was the kind of trust Jesus was talking about in the Gospels: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

March 13 - Fun Friday!

On Friday’s, my Mentor Teacher does a motivational thing called Fun Friday. Now most of our students have BIP’s (Behavior Intervention Plans) that measure their behavior on a daily basis. When the goal points have been earned, Fun Friday kicks in. Fun Friday is small block of time when a kid gets to do what he does best, play. And they love Fun Friday. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes board games, and always Legos.

What these young ones don’t realize is that Fun Friday is my Mentor’s sly way of teaching social skills. While they play, they still have to work on taking turns, sharing, asking nicely, and generally being polite and conversational with each other.

I spent my first Fun Friday playing Connect Four with one of my boys. It’s a simple game, but the concept of dropping four checkers in a row was a hard concept to grasp. Fortunately for him, I knew how to play the game, and how to manipulate it so he won more games than I did. The smile on his face was priceless. He beat the teacher!!

Now the big kids are too cool for Fun Friday. Instead they come to Friendship Groups. A Friendship Group is a small enclave of students who participate in a club like group. They do creative Power Point projects, read cool books, make puppets and write puppets scripts. And like their younger counterparts, they work on taking turns, sharing, asking nicely, and generally being polite and conversational to each other. My Mentor Teacher is so-o-o smart.

Now this Fun Friday thing was a blessing to me, because Friday is a really hard day. You see, for as long as I can remember, Friday has been my day off. And getting up to go to school on Friday was really hard. (Yeah, I know, you are not sympathetic at all) My challenge now is to get to school on time each Friday and earn enough behavior points so I can challenge another student to a game of Connect Four.

Application: When do we schedule time for our church kids to just play? Children are at their best when they are playing. The church word for Play could be Fellowship, a time when we get together to eat and enjoy each other’s company. We get to know each other better, which equips us to care for each other later. It’s not much different for children. Our children live in different neighborhoods and communities. They attend at least seven different elementary schools. The only time many of them get to see their church friends is at church! When do they get to play with their most important friends? Is there value in planning some events for children, just for fun? I think so…

Week 1.0 - Awakenings and Reminders

March 9 – Monday, Monday!

I did not start this blog until the beginning of Week 2, so I am playing “catch up” on this blogging idea. I am doing my internship in Special Education at the Carolina Springs Elementary school. It was no surprise that my Principal and Mentor Teacher are outstanding. I have received an encouraging welcome.

The hardest part of the first day, I must confess, was getting started early. Though I claim to be a morning person, arriving at school before 7:00 am seemed unreasonable. Daylight savings time had just sprung forward, and it is dark at 7:00 am! There is just something wrong about going to school in the dark! But my whining ceased when I pulled up to the school at 6:50 am and saw three school buses sitting in the bus lane. The day of an elementary student begins very, very early. When did these children wake up and get dressed? Did they get enough sleep? Did they eat breakfast? What time did the bus come? The answer: before 6:50, since these poor souls cannot get off the bus until 7:00 am! No wonder more than half the school arrives by car, who wants to get up that early?

Now I certainly know that electronics are standard tools in today’s classroom, but I was overwhelmed with the volume! This is not my first public school teaching experience. I first taught in 1977, fifth grade. The sum of electronics that were available to me was a cassette player, and a record player. In the library were filmstrip and movie projectors that had to be shared by all classes. In my small special education resource room we have three computers, printers, scanner, phones, voicemail, email, internet, a SMART board (appropriately named, for at this point this white board is smarter than I am), listening centers, and an ELMO projector (I always thought Elmo was a fun red puppet from Sesame Street, but apparently he made good on his investments!). Wow, what a ton of resources! Our class must be really special, and then I got the building tour…Every classroom had the same equipment and more computers! I wonder what would happen to teaching when the power fails, I did not see any chalk….

The first days are days of observation. Just follow the teacher, watch and ask questions later. Working with a resource teacher is busy. Our schedule changes every 30 to 40 minutes, with a different set of children, with different needs, teaching a different subject. This week I tried to learn the schedule and the names of our students. Some have learning disabilities, some mild mental disabilities, and many have behavior issues. I’ll figure those out as I get to know the children better. I saw diverse classes, the brightest and the saddest of faces. I can’t wait to learn their stories.

Some Applications: One of my personal goals is to learn about the daily lives of the elementary children we attempt to minister to at church each week. Here are my first thoughts:
The school day begins very early. How does church programming contribute to a good school week?
The children live and learn in a very electronic age. What is the role of electronics at church? Is there a place for a computer in the Sunday School class?
Every child is a story. Every child is shaped by family and outside forces. How well do we know our children at church? How well do we know their families? Are we working hard enough to build the kind of friendship and relationship that gives us natural opportunities to share our faith?

Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use these next ten weeks.

For the Children,

AL

Prelude to the Internship

Reprint of The Living Water, March 2009. The Newsletter of Lake Murray Baptist Church.

From Pastor Al Lawson:

In 1982, while in the midst of my seminary education, Kristin was born. Kristin slept all the time, which I thought was wonderful, given the fact that I was working two part-time jobs and going to seminary full-time. But Elaine knew, as mothers do, that something was wrong. After two years of chasing “medical rabbits”, we were told that Kristin was developmentally delayed. (Actually we were told that Kristin had mental retardation, a perfectly legitimate medical term, but today socially unacceptable)

Thus we began a life journey that we did not plan to make. As hopes and dreams dissipated, the blue print for raising this child could not be found. What we did find were occasions when our own faith experiences were challenged, stretched, and reorganized. We found opportunities to minister to a remnant of God’s creation that was not even in our thoughts. And over these 27 years, a passion for special education has developed. Each church that I have served as a full-time staff member has either begun or grew a special education ministry. Elaine and I have had the privilege to write numerous articles and Sunday School materials for LifeWay Christian Resources. (The Spring 2009 Access materials is my latest publication.)

In 2005, before I came to Lake Murray Baptist, I began a Master’s Degree in Special Education. Over the last four years I have been chipping away at the course requirements. One class remains. The Personnel Committee and Pastoral Leadership have approved a Part-Time Sabbatical for me to complete a required internship in an elementary school in order to finish my Masters Degree.

During these 10 weeks, I expect to gain valuable insight into the daily world of the elementary children we seek to minister to each week. In many ways I expect these days to be a refresher course in the social and educational world of children. I expect to observe trends and behaviors that will enhance our ministry to children in the years ahead. In addition, I expect to gain new insights into the special needs world, which will help us minister to these families more effectively. During these 10 weeks, though you will see me a little less around the office during the day, I will still be available, and present on Sundays and Wednesday nights.

All of this to say “Thank You”. Thank you to a church that is willing to accept persons with special needs into church life. Thank you to a church that provides educational space and resources to develop a special education ministry. Thank you to a church that elects a Personnel Committee that values the education and development of their staff. Thank you to the Personnel Committee for approving this Part-Time Sabbatical experience. Thank you to my Pastor and staff for your support and encouragement.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and the leadership of our Children’s Ministry.

For the Children,

Al Lawson
Associate Pastor for Children