How to Build a VBS Kids Worship Team
One of my favorite parts of VBS is the music. I may say goodbye to the decorations and theme when the week is over, but the songs stay with me and the ministry for months, sometimes years, afterward.
4 Ways to Partner with Other Churches for VBS
We're not in competition with the churches around us. We're all working toward the same goal: reaching people in our communities for Jesus. Making your VBS stand out can seem antithetical to that ethos.
But I don't see it that way. We want to run excellent events, and excellence is what makes them stand out. That doesn't mean we can't also cheer on what other churches are doing and work alongside them.
How to Handle VBS Registration
One of the biggest administrative tasks of VBS is registration. You have to collect each child's name, birthday, grade, gender, contact information, emergency contacts, allergies, and medical notes. Then you have to make all of that information easily accessible to the right people at the right time.
And that's just the beginning.
6 Real Questions to Evaluate Your Events
After our church's Egg Hunt this Easter, I sat down with my new kids' pastor to walk through the after-action meeting… These are the actual questions I used in our after-action meeting. They gave us a clear picture of the event, helped us find the wins and losses, and left us with actionable steps going forward.
A Practical Guide to Determining A Kidmin's Salary
One of the biggest questions in kidmin is how much you should be compensated for your work. After all, Paul wrote to Timothy:
"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and the worker deserves his wages." — 1 Timothy 5:18
The problem is that many of us love this work so much we'd do it for free. But we also have families to support, ministry costs to cover, and real time invested week in and week out caring for our kids and families.
How to Send your Kids To Camp: Part 3
Going to camp may be one of the best trips you can take in your ministry. I love Mark Batterson's quote: a change of place plus a change of pace equals a change in perspective.
Taking your kids to camp, away from screens, distractions, and the indoors, changes how they see their lives and, hopefully, their relationship with God.
How to Send Your Kids to Camp: Part 2 — Volunteers
My first summer as a full-time kids' pastor, my pastor told me I needed to take my kids to camp. I'd never been as a leader and had only attended once as a kid. I had no idea what I was getting into.
I did manage to get 12 kids signed up, paid in full, and transportation arranged. Then on a rainy Sunday morning I climbed onto the bus, and one of the parents called out, "Wait, is no one going with him?"
How to Send Your Kids to Camp: Part 1
There is one summer event that helps kids grow spiritually and make memories that last a lifetime. That event is Kids Camp.
How to Celebrate Your Volunteers After Easter
It's Good Friday as I write this, and for many of us in ministry, that means Easter festivities are officially underway. I've written about following up with guests and celebrating with your family, but there's one group you simply cannot do Easter without.
Your volunteers.
Spiritual Disciplines to Maintain Your Ministry
Years ago, one of my mentors, Jim Wideman, asked me an all important question.
“Are you closer to Jesus right now than you’ve been? If you’re answer is no, who’s fault is that?”
It was a wake-up call for me. And has become a driver of everything I do in my spiritual life. It is too easy to do the work of the ministry, serving God week in and week out, and forget about our own relationship with Him.
A Strategy for Kidmin Gift Bags
With Easter right around the corner, a lot of kids’ pastors are asking the same question: what do we give to kids who visit? How do you give them something meaningful, something they'll love, and something that makes them want to come back?
Saving Daylight Savings Sunday
Last week was Daylight Savings Sunday. And as happens every year, attendance was down, volunteers called out, and momentum seemed to stall overnight. I get it. At my church, the Sunday before was my highest-attended Sunday of the year. Daylight Savings Sunday? Right back to where we started.
3 Ways to Intentionally Care for Your Volunteers
One of the most valuable assets you have in ministry is your volunteers. They can make or break what you're building. Getting a new volunteer, especially a high-quality one, can be a breath of fresh air. But even the most dedicated people can burn out and walk away.
As the leader, it's your job to care for them. Not just because you want to keep them around, but because they're people, and we're in the people business.
When It Feels Like Your Ministry Isn't Supported
Early in my ministry, a boys leader came into my office demanding money for training and trips. The problem was we didn't have it. I would have loved to write him a blank check, but that was never going to happen.
His complaint, though, wasn't really about money. It was that he didn't feel supported.
4 Principles to Get People to Come to Your Meetings
Picture this. You have an awesome volunteer meeting planned. You’ve spent weeks or months putting all the pieces together. You have food, childcare, printouts, and slides. You’ve been talking about the meeting for weeks. You even got your pastor to announce it from the stage!
But when you talk about it to the people who it’s designed for, they’re non-committal. They’re not excited, maybe even apathetic. You find yourself in a panic, thinking that no one is going to come.
When your Kidmin Budget is Zero
It was the great recession of 2008. My church had overextended itself financially and with the pop of the housing bubble, giving plummeted. Me, a new kids pastor, was left floundering. I went from having enough money to do pretty much anything to $75 petty cash replenished by what the kids gave.
5 Steps to Presenting Your Genius Idea to Your Pastor
I had a genius idea. I knew it was going to work. It was going to excite my volunteers and reach all new people for Jesus. But there was one problem. Ok, so maybe three problems. It wasn’t in the budget or in the plan for the year. Therefore, I needed to get my pastor’s permission to make it happen.
Leading Change Without Losing Your Team
Leadership is hard and leading change is even harder. But it’s an essential part of the job. Every year I look back on the last and ask what could we do differently? What’s working? What’s not? And how can I make what I’m doing better? And set goals for the next year. With those goals inevitably comes changes.
Is Your Ministry Moving Forward or Just Staying Busy?
I’d been serving at one church for a few years. I’d put in the systems the children’s ministry needed the most, most of my volunteer positions were filled, and I was happy with the way things were going. Kids were getting saved and baptized. Visitor flow was good. Outreaches were well attended. I felt like I could just sit back and relax. Which we all need to do from time to time.
But the problem comes when we take our foot of the gas for too long.
3 More Midweek Service Alternatives
In kidmin, there is a lot of help out there for Sunday mornings and events. But there is one recurring event that churches all over the country deal with that seems to be silent.
Midweek.
