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.

Fast forward months later, and now I’m older and wiser. It seems like five years since March 15 because of everything that has changed, and all my plans have flown out the window.

I’m frequently reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:34:

“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I’ve tried a lot of different things over the last few months. Some have worked, some have been dismal failures. But that’s how innovation works. You never get it right the first time or even the tenth.

That said here are three things I’ve started since COVID that are working.

1. Potato Head Theater

When I first started putting my services online, they were a duplicate of an in-person service. Multiple videos, a game, three songs, a Bible story, a sermon, more games. The whole service clocked in between 60 and 90 minutes. I’m super thankful to the Kidmin community especially those in the I Love Kidmin Community and Assemblies of God Kidmin Community Facebook Groups who graciously shared their services and ideas. I wouldn’t have made it this far without them.

As I started thinking about ways to make my service more engaging, I decided to try to tell the Bible story with action figures. I’m big into Star Wars and have a unique collection of Star Wars Potato Heads in my office. These toys usually just gather dust and serve as conversation pieces for people who come to see me, but I figured, "why not use them to tell Bible stories?" I’ve always tried to find the humor in Bible stories and if you can make someone laugh, especially kids, they’re far more likely to engage.

Over the past few months, I’ve learned a lot and my team is significantly better at making the videos. Even though I meet in person now, I’m continuing online services, and I use Potato Head Theater for both. I’m finding kids and adults enjoy them, and when we review the Bible story in person, kids remember a whole lot more than when I would just verbally tell the story.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a special thanks to Brian Dollar and High Voltage Kids Ministry for lifting his copyright. Potato Head Theater would be 10 times harder without his great curriculum.

2. Sending Birthday videos

I have a confession to make. I’m horrible at celebrating birthdays. Both personally and in the ministry. I don’t have excuses; it just is what it is. However, since I wasn’t seeing kids week to week, I wanted some way to connect with them in a meaningful way and birthdays are a great way to do it. So, I took a moment in my zoom calls with my volunteers, leadership team, and kids and asked them to record a happy birthday greeting. At first each greeting was personalized, but this took A LOT of time and the kids were not into it. So, I shifted the video to a personalized greeting and several generic “happy birthdays” from the different pastors and kids’ volunteers.

Then on or around a kid’s birthday, I share the video over email with the parents. I then call the parents to let them know I sent it. A lot of times the email gets stuck in spam or parents just gloss over it.

The feedback I’ve received has been phenomenal. The kids and parents absolutely love it. The best part for me is that these are quick to make, I connect with kids and parents, and it helps me provide pastoral care to families in a meaningful way.

3. Integrating small groups

With all the bad that the Pandemic has brought, one good thing is a complete reset in ministry. Not meeting in person for six months helped me to cut and add things to the service that normally would have taken a lot more time and energy to make happen.

The biggest change I’ve made in my in-person meetings has been reformatting my service to integrate small groups. My service model for years was meeting in large groups for the first two thirds of service then splitting into small groups. However, I found that my leaders weren’t connecting with the kids as much as they could be. Many of them would spend the large group time chatting with other leaders, working in their classrooms, and some didn’t even show up until 30 minutes in because they had nothing to do. Before COVID hit, I was playing with a new idea and started to pitch it to leaders with some resistance. However, after they had 6 months to think about it, we launched with a new service model.

Groups stay together the entire service. They sit in their groups and either play a game in their group or send a representative to play against others. Later, after Bible story, they immediately separate and talk about what they just heard, and then after the sermon they do the same. Then, they stay in their groups until parents come to pick them up.

After doing this for almost 3 months, I’d say we have a winner. Group leaders are more engaged. Kids are more attentive and are cared for. And I, as the primary presenter, get a breather every few minutes. H/T to Beth Cunningham and Church of the Highlands

We still have a few kinks to work out, but I’m optimistic that this model will just get better.

The Pandemic has been truly awful. I’ve teetered on burnout more than once. But as Jon Acuff tweeted everyday for months,

Something good is going to come out of this season. If you asked me to prove it, I couldn't. Not yet anyway. I don't have evidence. All I have is faith, this small, barely there at times, glimmer of belief. But that's more than enough for today.

These are just a few things good that have come out of the Pandemic in my ministry. I’m looking forward to more, and that’s enough for today.

What have you started since COVID that’s working?