It seems like almost every week I get another flyer in the mail or read a blog post about a children’s ministry conference.  As children’s and family ministry leaders, we have many options for additional training in our field and the conferences we can attend range from thousands of attendees nationwide meeting for a week to just a handful of local leaders meeting for one day.

My senior pastor has challenged our ministry staff over the past year that really made me think about the conference options I have available to me as a ministry leader.  He asked our ministry staff to begin choosing conferences and training that get us into God’s Word and help us practice spiritual disciplines, over the larger conferences that focus on ministry strategy and execution.  This is the primary reason I have decided to attend The Gathering on May 9-11 in Costa Mesa, CA.

According to their website:

The Gathering exists for the purpose of inspiring, equipping, and supporting the faith community in order that they may become awakened to their role as ambassadors of God, His kingdom movement, and spiritual formation through family ministry within the local church.

The main things I’m looking forward to at The Gathering are the focused times of prayer (including a self-guided prayer experience the first evening of the conference) and worship.  There is a great lineup of keynote speakers too: Michelle Anthony, Gregg Jantz, and Chris Brown.  You can get all the info about The Gathering at http://dccgathering.com/.

While I love new ideas and fresh ministry strategies from experts, I want my experience this year at a conference to be about hearing from God and being challenged by the Gospel’s story.  I can’t wait for The Gathering and I hope you can join me!

I have been chewing on the book of Ezekiel for months and again read the passage about the vision of him prophesying over the dead, dry bones of what once were warriors (Ezek. 37). There’s so much in this passage, but as I read, I noticed Ezekiel was asked to prophecy when there was no living person around. There was no life! He could have doubted. He could have said, “Lord, that makes no sense. I don’t want to…” But it was out of his obedience to the Lord that the valley of bones began to have flesh on them. It was only out of obedience that the bodies needing breath of God became fully alive.

Consider the condition of your ministry or your life. What do you see? What has the Lord asked you to speak? Even if all you see is the remnant of a great army, you are the leader called by God to prophecy and say what He has asked you to say. He will be the one to bring the life. Your role is to be His obedient vessel.

It’s neat when things ‘just happen.’

When ideas simply flow, where a team works in tandem, or you find out that you and a coworker have been working toward a common goal. We often call those ‘God Moments.’ And they are moments that God has orchestrated and is involved in, but we can have a hand in seeing more of those in our lives.

Network.

Spend time with others that are in your field. Get on twitter, facebook, CM Connect or KidMin blogs. See what others are thinking and doing…but not just to steal get ideas, join them for the conversations and to get to know someone.

Go to lunches, meet ups, or whatever your area may have and get to know those that are working in your context. If your church has a staff, spend time with your peers, not just your volunteers. Knock on your lead pastors door and talk about something that interest you or him – or, even better, both of you.

These simultaneitic events come from those ‘hang out’ times.

This post is an example of what I am talking about. As came to the computer to write this, I had no idea what my fellow writers on Cory Center would be talking about….and wouldn’t you know it, Matt is talking about Community. This isn’t the first time it’s happened and won’t be the last. God is still in control but I’m sure that our time together outside of the context of the Cory Center has had an influence.

Who are you hanging out with?

Children’s ministry of any kind (large group/small group, kid’s church, Sunday School, kid’s choir, club programs) requires volunteers. The need for volunteers is constant and pressing in our field.  Last week I spent some time presenting a webinar sponsored by David C Cook’s Tru Curriculum with three creative geniuses: Matt Barnes from Rock Harbor Church, David Robles from The Rock Church, and James Pomeroy from Christ Community Church.  We spent an hour talking about how to add creativity to our ministry context and how to develop an amazing team of storytellers.

One of the fantastic ideas that emerged came from Matt Barnes.  Matt leads the storytelling team at Rock Harbor.  In addition to developing specific values for the storytellers, Matt empowered the group of volunteers to meet together regularly as a small group using the children’s ministry Bible story each week as the small group curriculum.  According to Matt, the group fostered community within the volunteer team, gave each team member an incredible opportunity to “live in” the text they would be teaching, and helped everyone with creative ideas for how to teach the Bible story.

Great idea! (Thanks Matt)

How are you fostering community within your volunteer teams?

The past few weeks I have been talking about the connection between healthy marriages and healthy kids, and have offered a few ideas on how we can begin to strengthen and support marriages in our ministry context.  Today I want to wrap up this series with a word of encouragement.

As those who minister to children and their families you have been placed, by God, in your ministry context to bring awareness to the spiritual needs of children and their families.  If your church doesn’t already have a strong emphasis on strengthen and equipping marriages, you have the influence to be a catalyst for change.  You have a voice and you can make a difference.

You have the influence to suggest sermon series topics that speak to marriage and relationship issues.  You can propose marriage enrichment opportunities.  You can suggest policies for pre-marital counseling, or get certified as a Prepare-Enrich facilitator.  If you care about the spiritual well-being of kids then you have to care about strengthening marriages.  And you have been placed in a position to influence that change.

What are some ways that you can use your influence to help strengthen and support marriages in your ministry context?

KB

When I first started with Cory Center I went though a series of post asking what you were reading and extolling the virtues of reading. It’s still true that reading is fundamental to leadership – but not just reading books.

If you are involved in Children’s Ministry, it helps to know you are not alone – even though it often feels that way. One of the best ways to find help, hear what others are thinking, learn from some of the leaders of the #kidmin world, and simply get some encouragement is to read some of the many Children’s Ministry blogs that are out there.

Some blogs come and go and others have been around for ages. Tracking these down could be painful – but thanks to Tony Kummer, it isn’t. Ministry-to-Children.com, Tony’s site, publishes a blog list that is kept pretty up to date. Each year they also publish a top 100.

In addition to doing all that work, Tony’s also created a fun way to peek interest in some of the more active blogs. Each March, in honor of March Madness, they host a children’s ministry blog madness. 60 some blogs go face to face, one round at a time to find the winner. The best part is that you get to choose that winner!

Take a moment and head over to http://ministry-to-children.com/kids-ministry-bm-2012/ and check out some of the best children’s ministry blogs on the web. After you browse, give them some props by casting a vote.

Most importantly, I want to introduce you to some connection points – but if you are so inclined, we wouldn’t mind if you voted for Cory Center and I wouldn’t mind if you voted for my personal blog, Coffee With Dad.

Enjoy the fun!

For decades, animation has won over audiences both young and old.  From the first animated film, Snow White, to the Toy Story trilogy, animation has become one of the most powerful storytelling tools in our culture.

In the early days of children’s ministry, a church producing original animations was inconceivable.  The time, cost, and expertise required greatly exceeded the average church budget or staff.  Technology has changed all of that.   Now the average Sunday School can produce high quality, original animation for free.  If you’re interested in using animation to help teach children, let me introduce you to some of the tools available.

Toontastic: Toontastic is an iPad app that uses drawing tools to bring original artwork to life. Toontastic isn’t just the brute strength of animating your artwork.  It is a storytelling tool that helps users determine a story arc, setting, and the characters.  Imagine using this with your storytelling team in a training setting to help them illustrate the Bible story!

Xtranormal: Xtranormal is a web animation tool.  You provide the script and Xtranormal animates it for you.  I’m serious.  You type in the script and Xtranormal does the work.  You select the characters and backgrounds, then add the script by typing it or submitting your own audio recording.  Xtranormal allows you to choose the emotions, actions, and gestures for the characters along with the camera angles and sound effects that go along with the script.

What other tools have you discovered to aid storytelling in your children’s ministry context?

So we know that there is a significant link between spiritually healthy marriages and spiritually healthy kids, and we have established that culture change starts in our own homes.  But now what?

At this point here is what usually happens.  We find some church marriage-program-in-a-box and try to overlay another program on top of an already overloaded syllabus of educational opportunities.  I call it the band-aid solution.  It’s like putting a band-aid over a broken bone.  It looks like we’re doing something but it doesn’t do anything to fix the real problem.

That’s why I am moving away from programs to initiatives.  Initiatives are about changing the way we do things.  They are strategies for changing culture.  Our churches need more initiatives and fewer programs.  Programs tend to get people all fired up for 6-8 weeks and then when the program is over and the leader goes home everything goes back to the way it was because the culture didn’t change.

If we are serious about supporting marriages in our churches then we have to resist the band-aid approach to marriage ministry and seek creative solutions specific to our unique ministry context.

For my church that means leveraging the influence of our small group culture.  Our first initiative is to raise up and commission marriage mentors in every small group in our church.  We have tried the marriage mentor program approach and found that couples don’t seek mentorship until it is too late.  Our hope is that by raising up mentors in every small group we can infuse the foundation of our churches structure to keep an eye towards the relational health of the couples in our ministry and provide couples with the encouragement and support needed to provide a secure base for the kids in our community to stand on.

But that is just one example.

How about in your ministry context?  What strategies could you try in your ministry context to help encourage and support marriages?

KB

As we sat across the table from a consultant advising us on how to control our un-churched, inner city kids he said, “Do you know how many churches would give their right arm to have the community kids coming to their church? They can’t get them there.”

Hearing these words gave us a fresh perspective. We had become so wrapped up in the discipline side of things that we had lost focus on the relational aspect of reaching these kids. I needed to get out my “missions 101 handbook” to be reminded how our team and our families can reach another culture within our own walls.

In addition, we needed to realize that reaching out to another culture means that ministry has to change to create the bridge that will eventually bring down the walls so they will let us in. Although our mission and DNA as a congregation may not change, our perspective on the traditional church model must change if we plan to have a successful, evangelistic ministry.

How’s your perspective on ministry? Do you need to make changes in order to become more effective as a ministry?

We don’t live for this world, but we can make a difference in it.
While I know I will enjoy eternity, there’s so much to do here that I am in no hurry to leave. If that sticks true with you, then I think you will enjoy Alice Herz-Sommer’s story.

Alice, at 109, is the oldest living survivor of the holocaust. I was first captured by her story through her interview with Anthony Robbins where she shared many tidbits of wisdom from her lifetime – some of which I am convinced have contributed to her longevity.

Perspective
“I know about the bad but I look at the good thing.”
Alice is optimistic. She lives for music – it is her religion.
Her positive outlook has brought joy to countless others, helped her, her son, and many others survive the hell of a concentration camp. She admits that there is bad things and even catastrophes but they’re not something to live for.
We’re called to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, “the good thing” our hope is great, our perspective should be as well.
“Sometimes it happens that I am thankful I have been there. Because…I am richer than other people.”
“All that complain, this is terrible…it’s not so terrible.”

Forgiveness
“I was always loving. We’re laying two years on the floor with my son. And there is only loving. How can a child not love if the mother loves?”
Alice shows no anger toward her captors. She doesn’t hate them, in fact, it seems that she forgave while she was still in the camp. She knew that the secret to survival was not to become embittered at her situation. She also knew that her outlook would be passed on to her child.
“Hatred eats the soul of the hater not the hated.”

Gratitude
“Complaining doesn’t change people. When they complain…..[nothing changes].”
I’d add to this, but I think Alice sums up this point better:
“Everything is a present.”
“I have lived through many wars and have lost everything many times – including my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet, life is beautiful, and I have so much to learn and enjoy. I have no space or time for pessimism and hate.”
“Smiling helps a lot.”

Even if you are not interested in a long life, watch on of her interviews and see how joyful she is; you’ll have to ask yourself that if you have a better hope, why aren’t you just as joyful?