Miami Needs More MOPS

This time last year, I was faced with a dilema... when I moved to Miami, there was no active MOPS group and I knew that God was telling me to start one.  As I began praying about it, I felt an increasing feeling that there was a major need for a ministry devoted to moms in Miami.  There was no place for them to receive this kind of support and friendship.

So along with the children's ministry leader at a local church, we developed a group and had our first academic year, last year.  It was a rough start.  A really rough start.  We had a lot of inconsistency, we weren't planning properly, plans fell through or changed last minute, sometimes we had 10 ladies show up, sometimes we had NONE.

But we remained faithful.  I knew that God was leading me to this ministry, and the more I became involved and dedicated, the more fruit we began to produce.  We ended the year with nine ladies who renewed their membership and committed to coming the following year!  That was a huge success for us!

During the summer, I did a lot of praying, talking and planning for MOPS.  Every time I met a mom at the park or the library or the supermarket, I would tell her about MOPS.  I was pumped up about the plans I had in store.  Then God brought me FOUR experienced MOPS moms... women who had been in chapters around the country and had just moved to Miami who were willing to help.  Things started to come together even more clearly.

We were ready to go.
We knew what we were doing.
We had a newsletter.
We had prizes.
We had crafts planned and prepared for.
We had CENTERPIECES!

And best of all, we had man power... it wasn't just me doing all the work, but finally I was able to delegate and spread around the work to other hands.

Our first meeting of the new year was on August 23 and we had WAY more women than I expected!  We had 16 moms and 18 kids show up!  And almost all of them committed to become members that very day.  We were excited and worried.
Did we bite off more than we can chew?
The women are not the concern... the children are.  We have plenty of space for more moms, but we only have a limited amount of rooms for the children and childcare workers are hard to come by.

We had a meeting the next week to figure out how to handle this boom we experienced.  And we decided that we would have to put a cap on membership for people with childcare needs.  We could only safely house 20 kids... so any mom that came in after the cut off with childcare needs would have to be put on a wait list.  And we've pretty much already hit our limit.

This breaks my heart.

We prayed for SO long that God would open up our group to help women connect, feel supported and come to know Christ, and now we were going to have to turn them away or put them on a wait list that may never open up!

So what are my alternatives?

The only option that I see doable is to help open another group in another church in Miami.  I can't open it because I've committed myself to this one, but I can train someone else to become a coordinator at their home church and help them pitch the idea to their church leaders.  I don't know if anyone would be willing to do this, but I'm praying that someone feels God calling them as I did.

I know that there is a need for MOPS in Miami.  If not, our group wouldn't have been capped by week 2!  I know that there are moms that want to connect, find friendship, gain support, learn and grow together in this journey.  But there has to be more women willing to step out and make it happen.

I'm not going to lie... it's not an easy job.  But there is so much reward that comes from women thanking you for organizing the group and telling you how blessed they feel just to be there.  Knowing that I'm helping make an impact in the lives of moms and their kids that will have eternal repercussions? That's incredible!  And so worth it.