Your Children’s Ministry Team
A couple of weeks ago, we said goodbye to our Assistant Director of Children’s Ministry, Amy Baker. Shortly after that, Amy and her family welcomed their third daughter, Violet Faith! As Amy turns to building her family full-time, you may be wondering who’s caring for your kids on Sunday mornings.
It will come as no surprise to know that when it comes to people who love Jesus and kids, God has blessed our CM team with an embarrassment of riches. As we prayerfully considered what to do “after Amy,” it became obvious that God was raising up a new generation of leaders to disciple kids in the future, and we are graciously invited to be part of that. So rather than one new Assistant Director, I want to introduce to you our team of CM Associates, each of whom has a broadened role in leading kids toward Jesus. God has done amazing things bringing these folks together at the same time, and I’m excited to work with them to grow kids and families as disciples of Christ.
Sylvia Helming has been part of children’s ministry for nearly SEVEN YEARS, serving as the first face most of you see as you arrive Sunday morning for Orbit. She has also been largely responsible for our Early Childhood rooms, and will now step into leadership of all our ministry to young children as she begins her college education.
Sydney Scandrett instituted our Special Needs Ministry and will continue to oversee that area to keep strengthening the depth and breadth of resources for families of kids with special needs. Sydney is also a whiz with elementary small groups—if you have kids who have been to LAUNCH, they can tell you all about her ability to listen, ask great questions, and come alongside kids as they grapple with important truths about Christ.
Megan Tifft was our intern the last two summers and has a long history as a volunteer with children’s ministry. She will be leading our music initiatives in CM as she heads into the home stretch of a degree in education. You’ve probably seen Megan on stage leading worship in our Catalyst venue, and she has also served with the Praise Puppets, so she knows a thing or two about how we can praise God by singing and dancing.
Emily Kibbe has served in the Orbit Red Room with pre-kindergarten kids for four years. If you have kids in Ames, she’s probably one of your preferred babysitters! Emily joins the Children’s Ministry team this summer as our intern, where she’ll continue to serve pre-K kids and also help us with volunteer scheduling and running events like Can-Do Corps and Summer FM. In the fall, she plans to attend Drake University to study early childhood education.
If you know Amy, you know there’s no replacing her, but I’m excited to join this team as we take the baton from her and keep running in the same direction, building on what she has built, upon the one cornerstone that CAN be built on, which is Christ.