Dr. Lee of Church Cohort Life shared that unless the church chooses to change people will pull back and potentially walk away from God.

Methods need to shift in order to keep people engaged.  If we won’t, people won’t experience the presence of God, healing and hope because they’ve unplugged from the godly influence.

Similar to Dr. Lee’s challenge, Rick Dubose of North Texas shared, “unless we choose to change the structure to meet the changing families, our church won’t continue to be effective.”   For example, a family of two function fine in a one room apartment; but a family of six would truly feel the pressure and crunch of that environment.

How adaptable has your ministry been to the changes of your community?  Are you willing to change the structure or format of your ministry offerings to remain effective?

It’s May…and for me that means volunteer recruitment season is in full swing.  Having had the lead on multiple ministry positions in the church there is no doubt in my mind that those that recruit volunteers for our weekly children’s and family ministries have the one of the most relationally intense jobs in church ministry.  Even those in a small congregation can find themselves supporting dozens of people as they serve Christ through ministry to children.

The danger with such a relationally intense ministry is that, if we are not very mindful, we can find ourselves empty, tired, and discouraged.  We give and give and give until there is nothing left to give.

So… “Who’s Supporting You?”

http://www.creationswap.com/media/968

If someone or multiple someones haven’t already come to mind your already in trouble.  We can’t do what we do with out having intentional relationship in our lives where we are being supported, encouraged, and mentored.

Below are three key relationships I have found essential to remaining effective as a ministry leader who supports a relationally intense volunteer ministry.

Attend church regularly.  I don’t know how many children’s ministry leaders I have met that can’t recall the last time they attended “big” church.  If that’s you, this has to change.  And right now, as you plan and recruit for the fall, is a great time to make sure that happens.  It is absolutely essential that you spend regular time with your faith community worshipping, learning from God’s Word, and participating in communion together.  If you believe it is essential for others, it has be essential for you as well.

Participate in a Small Group.  You need a group of people that you can hang out with each week, where you can just be you.  Where you can take off your ministry leader hat and put on your follower of Jesus hat.  Where you can be encouraged through the study of God’s Word and prayer.  Where you can be supported and strengthen.

Find a Mentor.  We all need someone who is a little further down the path then we are to help us get to where they are.  In ministry we do this for people all the time, but if we don’t have anyone “up-line” from us, that can be our anchor and support, we put all those who are depending on us at risk.  And I recommend this relationship be more of a spiritual couch then a business couch.  More then we need someone to help us build the right programs…we need someone who helps us make sure our heart is continually surrendered to Jesus.

What are some other relationships/ways you find support in your ministry?

KB

Since I first started in ministry Monday’s have always been my Buffer Day.  A buffer day is a day (or even just a few hours) set aside each week to accomplish all those weekly tasks, that if gone unchecked, rob you of your productivity.  You know the stuff I’m talking about…e-mails, calendar planning, cleaning your work space, catching up on phone calls…all those little tasks that sit in the back of your mind and steal mental energy if not completed.  The beauty of a buffer day is that it sets you up to be highly efficient the rest of the week.  It’s a beautiful thing.

One item that I have recently added to my list of buffer-day-tasks is what I call “six-months-out”.  

In ministry it is really easy to get consumed by the day-to-day, week-to-week grind.  And, if we are not careful, we can become so wrapped up in doing that we forget to dream.

Six-Months-Out is all about dreaming.  Whether it is 15 min or 2 hours every Monday I spend some time dreaming about where I want my ministry to be in six months, what steps it is going to take to get there, and who I need to bring along to make it happen.  This simple exercise forces me to start my week off dreaming, reminds me of ministry vision, and pushes me to rethink ministry structures and methods.

What strategies do you use to push yourself to dream of something more for your ministry?

Recently I attended an inspirational talk on how my life can make a bigger difference than I realize.  The speaker’s words did make me shake my head and refocus my efforts.  But upon more research about the Butterfly Effect (originating with Lorenz in 1961), the approach to the words changed but the message didn’t.

The idea is that one act can make a difference for a child or a family.  Sometimes we don’t realize the importance of our simple words or gifts of ministry.  As ministers, we carry the potential of life change through our obedience.

According to the research done by Lorenz, though one minor change completely altered the outcome of the weather forecast, it was not completely proven what made the difference; but a difference was made.  We may make minor changes in the life of a child, but because we don’t know exactly which thing we do will bring about the change needed, each move becomes important.   In comparison, our ministry efforts will change the “forecast for a child’s life” who will then change the course of their life so their children and grandchildren will reap those benefits.

Hebrews 6:10 says that God is not unjust to forget your work of love.  Galatians 6:9 states, “You will reap if you do not faint.”

Check out this inspirational clip at  The Butterfly Effect

Restore the joy of your ministry.  Restore the truth that God has chosen and appointed you that you should bear much fruit (John 15:16).

Read the full article on the  “Butterfly Effect” at Boston.com

The purpose of this series is to equip leaders in children’s and family ministry with tools and resources from the digital world.  We’ve covered theological topics, leadership issues, volunteers, worship and music, research, budget, and social media.  Today I want to introduce you to a concept that completely changed my work style and effectiveness.  Whether you are a Sunday School Director or Children’s Pastor, you are a busy person, so busy that often people tell you, “I didn’t want to call you because I know you’re so busy.” Am I right?

The problem with being busy is that you reach a certain threshold where no matter what you are working on in the present; your mind fixates on the things you’re not working on.  We tend to think about what needs to be done instead of focusing on what we are doing.  This is a critical issue for children’s ministry leaders because in the moments when we are strolling the halls of our ministry environment, instead of looking like we have all the time in the world to stop and talk to parents and kids, we look like we’re trying to solve a complex algorithm.

Are you too busy?  Determine how much time you can spend with people without thinking about supply shopping, set-up, or curriculum and let your heart decide.

Almost five years ago I read a book called Getting Things Done by David Allen.  Getting Things Done (or GTD for short) is a system of organizing your work.  In GTD, I learned to give all of my work a place.  It was a pivotal moment for me as a leader and pastor.  I recommend the book and invite you to look across the interwebs at the myriad tools available to help you keep track of what needs to be done: Remember the Milk, Omnifocus, Nozbe, Wunderlist, Action Method, Outlook, Google Tasks, Things.

I will never forget an online exchange I had years ago with a prominent figure in church leadership.  He argued that seminary was a complete was of time because its role was to “help people answer questions no one is asking.”  According to that leader, a seminary education was irrelevant to “real” church leadership.  Without a doubt, one of the greatest gifts I received from my time in Bethel Seminary’s Children’s and Family Ministry Program was the gift of understanding my own leadership and the passion to pursue leadership topics that were previously untouched.

This passion brought about the resources behind What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry and the newly released Kindle ebook Nexus: Central Themes in Children’s Ministry.  The focus of all of these projects was to answer big questions because that very act of collectively and collaboratively identifying and pursuing the primary issues in our ministry work is what leaders do.

Nexus answers the question: What is at the core of children’s ministry?

Why do children’s pastors, Sunday School teachers, Christian Education directors engage in children’s ministry?  When you take all of the programming, special events, recruiting efforts, and shopping for supplies – what is the foundation of ministering to children?

David Csinos, Greg Carlson, Nancy Davies, Amy Dolan, Larry Fowler, Ryan Frank, Matt Guevara, Stacy Igarashi, Ed Jenkins, Melissa MacDonald, Matt McKee, Dustin Nickerson, and Nicki Straza contributed to the book and their answers and passion for ministry are inspiring.

Nexus is available for free this week on Amazon.  Stop by the Amazon store and pick up a copy of the Kindle ebook!

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!

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?

In the unexpected seasons of life are the times when God wastes not a moment, a loving lesson, nor a time to show His character to us.  We often don’t like these times and wish them away, but if we could pause to see that every speed bump, detour and closed road has a kingdom building experience waiting for us, it may help.  I’d like to share a couple of stories with you to stir your heart as you enter this unpredictable coming year.

Closed Roads

Headed to spend some days with my family over the holidays we encountered a freeway that was closed.  Closed!  How do you have a closed freeway?  We of course hit the detour button on our GPS which took us seven miles out of our way only to dump us onto the soon closing freeway.  In the middle of the detour, we had some decisions to make as our four children were watching our attitudes and actions.  It made me think about the major financial decisions our church is experiencing where the “freeway was closed down” symbolically speaking.  Our congregation and ministry teams are watching to see our character as well as conduct.  It’s tough to keep it cool when things don’t go as planned while the Lord teaches us incredible lessons about trust and integrity.
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