What I Read in 2020
This year has been crazy to say the least. As much as I love to read leadership and ministry books, I read less this year because of all the stress. I needed an escape. Since I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and we’re in the golden age of Star Wars there are a lot of great books continuing the story.
Video Game Console Buying Guide for Parents 2020
It’s been 3 years since I wrote one of these, but with the new generation of consoles coming out this year, I figured it was time for an update.
If you’ve been looking to buy your family a new video game console, the choices can seem endless and confusing. The web is full of unboxing videos, reviews, and tech specs, but unless you’re into computers and gaming many of those are irrelevant at best or nonsensical at worst. (I’m not entirely certain what a teraflop is anyway).
3 Things that are Working Since COVID
When the pandemic started, like many of you, I panicked. I had 3 days to figure out how to take my children’s ministry completely online with no equipment, no training, and very little help.
That first service was a train wreck that started 10 minutes late with low quality and a replica of what we’d been doing in person for years.
4 Things I learned from Relaunching Children's Ministry
Churches all over are trying to figure out how to reopen and relaunch their services and specifically their children’s ministry. I’m no different. I’m eternally grateful to the leaders I’ve talked to over the last few months who have successfully (whatever that means these days) opened their children’s ministries.
5 Things I learned from doing VBS Online and In-Person
I haven’t written in a while. This pandemic has done a number on me. My family and I have been healthy, but if you’re in ministry, you know the crunch we’ve been in for the last few months. Every new month feels like the next level of Jumanji. (What happened to the murder hornets?!)
A big part of most kidmin’s summer is VBS. I’ve led 12 of these as a kid’s pastor and been a part of one for as long as I can remember. However, it goes without saying, this year is different.
Building Your Ministry for When You're Gone (Workshop Notes)
One thing I was taught early in my ministry career is that you are always replaceable. You are not going to be where you are forever. Most likely there was someone before and there will be someone after you. You are just the steward of the ministry and it is up to you as to what condition it’s going to be in when you leave.
How to have a Parent Information Meeting
For a few years now, I’ve been holding a parent information meeting at the beginning of the year.
I originally started the meeting to help boost camp attendance. The cost of camp is sometimes prohibitive, and by the time I was getting the information out to parents to sign up, they had already made their summer plans.
5 Questions to Evaluate Your Events
Events and ministry go hand in hand. It comes from when the church was the center of town. Everyone’s social calendar was filled with church activities because the church was the community. Now things have drastically changed, but we still do events.
3 Principles of a Great Volunteer Meeting
You can’t be in ministry for long without having to host a volunteer meeting. A lot of time these meetings can drag on without any clear focus and not get anything done. When you first start in ministry, people show up because they want to hear what you have to say, but if you’re meeting is boring you may have a hard time getting them to come back.
The ____ Department is Not Your Enemy
When I first started out in ministry, I was naïve to think that everyone would get along. We all love Jesus, and we’re all in this together, we should be one big happy family, right? Unfortunately, church can be like angry Twitter.
No matter who you are or where you go there will always be conflict.
Starting Well
A few months ago, I wrote a post about leaving well. The inevitable happens when you leave something. You start something new.
But leaving something and starting something are two different things. They both have their hurts and their joys, but you have to approach them differently. Now that I’ve been in the new ministry for almost a year, I can look back at that first month or two and realize what helped and what didn’t.
Leaving Well
About a year ago, I made a huge change in my career and left my church of 7 years in Montgomery, Alabama and moved to Sarasota, Florida for a new church and new children's ministry. Next week, I will post about how I tried to start there well, but today I want to talk about how to leave well.
3 Methods of Communication that Work
You can talk about the event or program over and over again. You put up posters, make slides, and make an announcement from the stage, and you get crickets. Or even worse, the week after your event, someone asks you when it is.
7 Steps to a Great Follow Up Plan that Works
If you’re like me when I first started out in ministry, I didn’t think about follow up. All I focused on was doing a great event or service, and then move on to the next.
But just like following through when you swing a bat is key, follow up is as well. It doesn’t feel necessary but is essential to pulling off a great event.
Small Group Leader Training (Video)
Since starting my new position, I've had to build a team of dedicated volunteers to accomplish our mission or developing an authentic faith in Jesus Christ in kids that will last a lifetime. Most of the team I'm building right now are Small Group Leaders.
What I Learned from my First Mega Sports Camp
I have led vacation Bible school (VBS) almost every year of my ministry and had participated in VBS for as long as I can remember. When I first heard about MEGA Sports Camp (MSC), I was resistant, because I was very happy with the curriculum I was using. I had systems and procedures in place to put on a large VBS without having to reinvent the wheel every year.
What I read in 2018
My favorite book this year by far was The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. If you didn't hear about the Enneagram this year, you may be living under a rock, but I can say that it is so much more than a personality assessment.
3 Elements of a Successful Children's Ministry
There are a lot things to do in kids ministry. Sunday morning programing, Wednesday night, VBS, Egg Hunts, fall outreaches, small groups and so much more. It's easy to get overwhelmed with what you need to do next and what needs to be the top priority.
These three things are not an exhaustive list, but if you can do these 3 things repeatedly over time, you will have a successful ministry regardless of what programs your running.
5 Things I learned from a Parent Survey
A few months ago, I was challenged by the folks at Orange to do a parent survey to find out how the children's ministry is connecting and partnering with parents. Through their product Weekly, they made it super simple by giving all the necessary templates to create my survey in Survey Monkey and launch it out to my parents.
Get resources to lead well in your ministry.
If you want to know what’s working in your ministry or not, then you need to get your parents’ opinion. This kit gives you all the tools you need to find it.