Lead Well

Are you the best in the world?  It seems like a lofty goal, but think about it.  Is it impossible?  Before we answer if this is impossible, we first must ask this question:  "What is 'best in the world'?"  The world is the place you live in, the materials and resources you have access to, the services that are available.  For instance my best adviser for children's ministry may live in Louisiana or Georgia, but since I live in Florida it doesn't matter.  They are not available for regular face to face meetings.  So the best adviser for me lives here in my town.  He is the best in the world.  Another example Pat's Cheesesteak in downtown Philadelphia may have the best cheesesteak in the world, but they don't deliver to Clearwater, FL so I'm out of luck.  The best in the world means the best  in your circumstance, your surroundings with your set of resources.  Are you doing the best or are you just settling for mediocre?...

Do you remember your grandparents names?  Your great grandparents?  Your great great grandparents?  I would dare say many don't know that far back unless they've done some ancestry work and made a family tree.  But even if you do know their names, do you know what they looked like? Sounded like? Acted like? Smelled like?  For many of us it's impossible.  These people were dead and buried years before we were born. The point?  Our life is short.  Very short, and unless you do something spectacular like becoming the President of the United States or become an A list movie star people will not remember you 50 years after you die.  Sure they might have a name and picture, and with today's technology, probably some video, but will they really know who you are? God knows.  He knew you before you were born.  He will remember you long after you left this earth. But we aren't the main character in the story are we?  No.  Jesus ...

Lately I have been digging in modern evangelical ideas through podcasts, blogs, and books, and it has been eye opening to how the church is changing.  I can feel it.  Maybe this is the way Jesus really wanted the church to be.  Something greater, something that has more meaning.  Something that will make an impact in the community and not just on the congregants in the church.  Shouldn't the church be more outward focused than inward focused? Rob Bell asks the question:  "If your local church all of sudden left, would your community be grieved?"  Would your community even notice?  I'm not saying the people who go to your church.  I'm talking about the people who live across the street and we don't even know their names. Jesus said that true religion is this:  Take care of the widows and orphans.  God's law constantly says that we are to take care of the poor. I am attaching a link to an ABC news video on the face of American E...

In the Bible the disciples ask Jesus how we should pray.  Jesus then gives us a model by which we are to follow.  This is historically known as the Lord's Prayer. In the prayer, there is a line that says your Kingdom come your will be done.  What that line means is "God whatever you want to happen let it happen."  Too frequently we get caught up in doing what we think is right.  We lose sight of what God wants.  We do our agenda instead of His. We then have to ask ourselves are we really following Christ or are we just doing what we think he wants, or even worse what we want to do?  Every day we need to focus on the Lord, and set our own wants and fears aside and trust Him.  As Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane "Not my will, but yours." It's difficult, I know, but whoever said being a disciple for Christ would be easy?

Recently I've been reading The Life of Christ by Ralph Riggs.  It's an old textbook from Global university and has a pretty good survey of Jesus' life and ministry. Riggs made an observation in Jesus early ministry that I think we can all be reminded. But first a little background.  During the time of Christ, the Sabbath had become much more than just a day of rest.  The rabbinical law and traditions had so construed the meaning of rest that most of the Jewish population of the day spent the Sabbath either in guilt for breaking a law or in paranoia of breaking one.  Jesus realized this and decided to set the record straight.  You can read the story in Matthew 5:1-14 .  He went down to the pool of Bethesda and healed a man.  Not a bad thing; actually a very good thing.  However Jesus decided to do this on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees, the ruling religious leaders of the time were appalled.  How dare Jesus do work on the Sabbath it is a ...

Recently, I was listening to an interview with Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God .  In the interview there was one line that stuck out and made me think.  He was telling a story of a couple in their sixties that have 6 foster children.  Now the world would say that's nuts!  Why wouldn't they just enjoy retirement and keep the money, energy, and time for themselves.  Here's the line:  It's crazy unless there is a resurrection. Because Jesus came and lived on this earth, died for our sins, and then was raised from the dead as the savior of the world, what may seem crazy makes perfect sense when we are trying to be more like Jesus.  Think about it.  Jesus said that the kingdom of God belongs to children.  James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Another point.  Look at ...

Many believe that we must get bigger in order to compete with the world, but is bigger going to serve our people effectively?  Maybe instead we should focus on getting better and then become bigger out of necessity.  Let's put the systems and people in place first.  Let's build a foundation, a good solid foundation on which we can build.  We may have limited resources, but are we doing the best we can with what God has given us?

Not the television show with Joel McHale, real community.  A place for all of us to belong.  What keeps a person from church hopping?  Community. Being a part of something bigger than themselves.  We need to create a community of believers that works, plays, and serves together.  The most successful sitcoms are based on families or a community of friends. We desire community.  The actual church building does not offer solutions to the hurt, sick, or guilty.  It is the body of believers. In other words, the community of believers.  Ask yourself, what is my community?  Can I create or be a part of community that not only plays together, but serves God and his people as well?  Can I?

In my last post, I talked about the loss of connection to my friend.  I started thinking about this connection and its spiritual application and this is what I came up with.  It is said that when people go to hell they experience the absence of God.  Because of their sin God can not bear to be near them.  They have lost connection.  At the final judgement, the unrighteous will be thrown into the fiery pit known as the second death.  Maybe this is a total loss of connection with God. My point is, if it hurts so much to lose someone you love how much more must it hurt to lose connection with an all powerful, all knowing, all present God.  How much does it hurt Him?

Yesterday while on Facebook, I discovered horrible news.  One of my friends from church and high school was murdered in his own home.  I am struggling to determine my feelings about this event.  Heath was not a close friend, but a friend nonetheless.  I rooted for him, when I heard that he was a DJ on a local radio station, and was even more pleased when I heard he moved to the local Christian station. One of my fondest memories of Heath is we were in the youth room after a young adults meeting, and he was writing a song.  I gave him some advice on the concept of the song and he appreciated the help.  I don't know if he used the advice, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure I never heard the song.  I just remember the connection. Connection.  Maybe that's what hurts so much.  Even though I have not seen or spoke to him in 5 years, the possibility of connection was always there.  Now the connection is lost until I go to heaven.  Comf...

Thinking outside the box.  Just because of who I am, I frequently don't think outside the box, and when new things are mentioned I have to make them fit into my box.  If you are like me thinking creatively does not come naturally.  It is a daily practice.  One thing I have learned through this process is to bring people into your organization and life that can think outside the box for you.  Someone with fresh eyes and fresh ideas.  They may be able to suggest things that you never considered.  This VBS go around try to do something outside of the norm.  Something that will wow your participants and your volunteers.  It is sure to go a long way towards bringing them back.

I know it has been a long time since my last post, but I was planning and executing the topic of this post.  A new addition to my VBS planning is a seemingly unrelated preliminary event.  This year I held an Easter Egg Hunt on the front lawn of my church the day before Easter.  I used this event to not only invite people to our church, but also to advertise for VBS.  In addition, every child who came to the event had to fill out a registration form with current address, phone number, and email address.  This provides me with a list to outside of my regular attenders to communicate with about upcoming events, specifically VBS!  I have not seen the effects of this event on my VBS, but I will keep blog about them as I start to see the results. My suggestion is to use any and every event leading up to your VBS to advertise.  This is a captive audience and if they like what they see at the event, they are in they are much more likely to check out the VB...

Why do you want to do a VBS?  Is it because it is what the children's ministry has always done?  or you really like having the VBS? or it makes you feel important? or maybe it is just one more thing the pastor has asked you to do?  There are many reasons to put on a VBS, but the most important reason must be to minister and plant the seeds in the hearts of children in your church and community. Studies show that if a child does not have a Biblical worldview by the age of 8 then the odds of them living a life for Christ gets dismally smaller every year after that.  It is a burden placed upon us as each kid walks through our doors.  It is not our job specifically to disciple or even see the children saved, but God has seen fit to give us the opportunity to plant the seed, water it, or even harvest it.  It is all in His hands.  If your focus is off, I implore you to spend some time in prayer and ask yourself this one question and answer truthfully....

Many ask when do I need to start publicizing my VBS.  High Seas Expedition says to start publicizing 8 weeks prior to your VBS, but I start much earlier.  How early?  My VBS is in July and I introduced it my kids last Sunday.  Nothing major, just a little teaser in the form of the theme song.  I do this for two reasons.  (1) To get the kids excited about the biggest event I do all year, and (2) to start teaching the songs so that when VBS comes the kids can really worship instead of learning 10 new songs in a week. In addition to this teaser, I list a graphic in our newsletter for the months coming and begin talking to station leaders.  This gets the ball rolling and starts to create buzz.  The key is to get not only the kids excited about VBS, but also the parents, teenagers, and other volunteers.  The final step to beginning to publicize is to talk it up.  Word of mouth is your best advertiser.  Mention it in conversations, me...

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about building a team to be successful in your VBS.  I am going to expound on that concept a little today.  It is an awful but very true reality that you cannot do everything and you are not good everything either.  There are just too many jobs out there and too many skills required to accomplish everything that must be done.  This may seem quite obvious, especially if you are doing Group's VBS, which calls for a different leader at each station.  However we still try to do everything that we can and give as little responsibilities to others.  After all VBS is your job.  If I could I would probably try to do it all, but I know that I am not good at everything, so I try to find people who are.  For instance, I have little to no musical ability, which works fine week to week because I have time to improve, but for VBS there is no way.  Therefore, I intentionally recruit people who have strengths in this area an...

If you have looked into running a VBS at all you will soon realize that it is not cheap.  Sure the craft looks cheap at 1.50 per unit, but multiply that by 150 and it is all of a sudden not so cheap.  An additional expense to VBS not including supplies for each class is decorating the main room and each classroom. Last year I made a list of everything I will need for VBS and sent some volunteers on a scavenger hunt.  Keep in mind that this was done 4 months in advance.  I had them go around and label paint, find decorations, and locate supplies.  Just by them looking for what we needed and using what was already available, I was able to save hundreds of dollars. In addition to looking for what your church already owns, make a booth where members can see what you need and provide for you.  Group suggested this to me for Power Lab by making a molecule wall.  Members who helped me during the actual week of VBS or not were able to participate simply by...

A very important part of VBS is the team you're working with.  It is impossible to have a successful VBS without an incredible group of people working around you.  These people bring creativity, ideas, skills, and resources that you could never have imagined.  Sometimes getting people on the team is all about putting them in the right place.  Jim Collins talks about this concept in Good to Great.  He says that building a team is like getting people on a bus.  You may have the right people, but you must get them in the right seat as well. I am reminded of how this concept worked for me.  I had one volunteer who is an incredible organizer, but is also good at crafts.  I originally wanted her to work in crafts, but because of outside circumstances became a regular crew leader.  The next year she said that she would not like to be a crew leader again.  I was worried that I might lose an incredible volunteer so I asked her what she would ...

So we've picked a VBS, now what do we do?  In planning a VBS, we have to think about the big picture at get smaller and smaller as the event gets closer.  When I did my first VBS, I had to decide what time to do it.  No one time is the right time for any church and if you don't get it right the first time that's ok.  Just chalk it up to experience and adjust next year. There are several questions we have to answer to help us plan. 1. What time works best for my church for this VBS?      a. At night      b. During the day      c. Sunday School      d. Summer Camp      e. Sunday Morning      f. Wednesday night? 2. How long do I want this VBS to last     a. 1 week     b. 2 weeks     c. a weekend     d. the entire summer? 3. Consider volunteers     a.  Do yo...

One of the daunting tasks of putting on a VBS, is which program to do.  If you put it out that your looking to do a VBS a veritable flood of flyers and advertisements and the like will flood your mailbox and your inbox.  One thing I did this year to help me with this decision was to attend a VBS fair at my local Christian Bookstore .  At the fair they allowed me to look into all the starter kits and get a better idea of what the program really looks like.  This is an advantage because, if you don't already know, a VBS starter kit can run up to $150 dollars, which can be quite expensive if you want to do this on your own.  When picking the VBS, I look for several things.  (1) Is this the program I feel God is leading me to do in my ministry? (2) Does the message line up with my beliefs and the goals of the ministry? (3)  How does the structure lend itself to what I have done in the past?  Will it be easy to get my volunteers to buy into and unde...

I have been thinking for a long time about blogging. All the books I have read on marketing have said I need to start a blog. Then that begs the question... what do I have to blog about? I began to think what is something that people would want to read, but also be a sounding board for ideas I have in my ministry. It hit me the other night what I could finally blog about. VBS! Vacation Bible School takes a lot of my time and effort and while the actual event won't be until July, the planning has already begun. So here is my proposal for the blog. I will blog about the entire planning and preparation process of putting on a VBS from picking a program all the way through follow up of the kids who attend. Since this is my third VBS, I am still learning, but I have a pretty good idea of how to make the program successful, and I hope that some other new children's pastor can find this blog and use it as a resource for their own VBS. I hope you enjoy and that you find the...