Making Service Happen (Before Sunday)
It was a really busy week. I was bi-vocational and had a hundred different things pulling away my time and attention. Sunday morning was here and in about an hour I’d have 20 kids show up looking to learn about Jesus.
The problem was that I didn’t have anything prepared. No big idea, memory verse, Bible story, worship songs. Nothing.
Surviving a Tough Sunday in Ministry
If you’ve been in ministry for any length of time you’ve had a tough Sunday. You can’t find that vital item for service. All your volunteers call out. You had a huge argument in the car. You have some really bad news you’re not ready to share with the church.
It’s tough to walk into the place and plaster on a smile. But sometimes you have to do it.
How to Engage Older Kids in Your Kidmin
One of the hardest parts of kidmin is dealing with older kids in the late spring early summer. They get their own version of senioritis. They will check out completely, complain they’re bored, or misbehave.
As their behavior degrades, you can see the younger kids follow suit.
Busy Bag Essentials for Your Family Service
With the end of the year approaching fast, you’re probably looking at a few family services coming up. I’ve already written about how to have a great family service here. But in this post, I’m going to focus on one essential item for any family service, regardless of the time of year.
Busy bags.
4 Steps to Rediscover Hope and Rebuild Faith After Ministry
Last year, I lost my ministry job. I was at a church hoping to become the next senior pastor, and I didn’t get enough votes. The following day, I resigned. The subsequent 6 months have been some of the hardest months of my life. But now looking back I see it was also a gift. Let me show you what I mean.
6 Steps to a Great Family Service
Family services. Love them or hate them, they have their place. I'm an advocate for family services because I believe children’s ministry needs to be more than a ministry held in another room never to be seen or heard from. These services can be a great tool for emphasizing ministry to the next generation, highlight the great things that are happening, and give your volunteers a much needed week off.
How to Have a Kids Lead Team
Maybe you’ve seen this. You have a fifth or sixth grader completely checked out. They may have been engaged a few years before, but it’s getting close to their time to move on, and they have senioritis all of sudden.
You thought it was only for 12th graders, but now you see it in 12-year-olds.
But what do you do?
5 Steps to a Better Worship Set
I’m not a worship leader, but somehow, I’ve led worship in front of kids and now youth for over 14 years. I can carry a tune, but my rhythm needs help. I can move fairly well, but dancing was never my forte.
When leading in kidmin most of that doesn’t matter, because they’re learning too. Don’t get me wrong, the musical part of your service needs to be done with excellence, but sometimes passion and energy outweighs talent.
Planning Your Worship Set
Working in Kidmin, I’ve had the unique opportunity to plan not just what we’re teaching, but what we’re singing as well. I’m a church kid, so I’ve heard a lot of church music and my children’s ministry was pretty progressive, so we were singing worship choruses long before other churches were.
Get resources to lead well in your ministry.
Your volunteers are the greatest asset to your VBS. You need to give them all the tools to be successful. With this template, you’ll have all the tools you need to show them what to expect and what’s expected.