Lead Well

Photo by Miikka Luotio on Unsplash I was stuck. We were finally coming back from COVID and starting Wednesday night services back up. We decided to rebrand the night for adults and focus on groups instead of the traditional Wednesday night service. This was great for adults, but what about kids? Will I have the same kids every week? How long will the groups meet? What should I do on First Wednesday, when I’ll have more kids? To make things harder, I wasn’t sure how many kids, if any would come back, and the time I had available to prep another service was very limited since I was doing Sunday online and in person. I’m in the Assemblies of God , so most our churches have Royal Rangers and Mpact Girls Clubs on Wednesday nights. However, I’m seeing more and more churches move away from these programs and others like it for various reasons. This post is not an advocation for or against them, but if you’ve already decided to not do them or exploring your options, I hope this can h...

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.

Small Group time at my church 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. I’m in Florida, so I know that I’m a little bit ahead of the curve. We opened in-person meetings in May and relaunched kids (elementary only) on July 26. I don’t have all the answers, but this is what I’ve learned so far about launching kids ministry in a pandemic filled world.

Designed by Freepik This year was full of big changes.  In October, I accepted a new position at Church of Hope in Sarasota, Florida and said goodbye to all the friends we made in Montgomery.  With that change came a lot of stress.  As a result, I read a lot more fiction this year, than I have in a long time. 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.  It's about understanding the why of who you are and finding spiritual renewal as you search for health.  I have to say this book has impacted the way I look at life and how I interact with others second only to the Bible.  If you haven't read it yet, you should. So here's my list for 2018 in no particular order: The Bible The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson It's Just a Phase 3 by...

When Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ) season ended earlier this year at my church, I wasn't sure if it would be able to continue. With only one confirmed member returning, starting the new season in August seemed near impossible. But with God all things are possible. The ministry coordinators and I started to pray for God to send 3 new families into the ministry so we could continue this important ministry where kids learn God's Word like nowhere else. When August rolled around, God came through. Fast forward to this weekend and we have a bigger team than we've had in years, and to top it all off we went undefeated in our division.  Something we also haven't done in years. Thank you to the families and volunteers who dedicate their time to teaching these kids about God and the Bible. It's all working toward training our kids in the way they should go so that when they grow old they will not turn from it. This is just one example of God coming through and answ...

I get a lot of questions this time of year about what kind of Bible to buy for kids.  While there may be no perfect Bible out there for your kids, some are certainly better than others. It can be confusing with so many different translations and Bible types.  I want to help you make the best decision possible. First, let's talk about translations.  Before 1973 there weren't a lot of options out there.  You read King James Version (KJV) or nothing.  Thankfully, Zondervan put out the New International Version (NIV) and turned the Bible world up on its head. Now, there are hundreds of versions ranging from old school KJV to paraphrases like The Message by Eugene Peterson. Which one is right for your kids? It really depends on their reading ability and comprehension; however, there are a few versions that have stood out to me in the past few years.  They are: New International Version (NIV) New International readers Version (NIrV) New Living Transl...

Getting kids to learn scripture, especially long passages can be hard.  We have to make it fun and interesting for them to even engage.  A couple of my leaders did something really creative for their Ranger Kids (Kindergarten-2nd grade boys) to learn the 23rd Psalm. They challenged the boys, if they learned the Psalm they would have a party at local park to finish off their unit.  The cool thing about this park is that it has green pastures and still waters.  (I asked if they were going to use lawn darts for valley of the shadow of death. Thankfully, they said no.)  She also made sheep cupcakes. Last Sunday, I was teaching the 1st and 2nd grade boys small group and all the boys were eager to show off what they've learned. Many of us have curriculum that makes us think we don't have time for creativity.  In reality, there is time to do something fun and creative.  You don't have to do it every week.  Just doing something every once and...

What’s a “gentile”?  That’s the question that I was asked over and over the other day.  I was trying to explain that the Apostle Paul had been called to minister to all gentiles, and I thought I had explained it well enough by saying “if you are not a Jew, then you are a gentile.”  Fairly straightforward, right?  I was wrong.  One girl just kept asking what is a gentile?  I was forced to come up with another ethnic label that she was familiar with to explain what a gentile is.  I hope she got it.   This encounter reminded me of five important lessons I have learned throughout the years. Assume they don't know:   Don’t take for granted that your kids know what you are talking about.  Just because you covered it before doesn't mean they know or even remember you said it.  There are a lot of big words in the Bible, and we just assume that everyone knows what we saying.  In reality we have no idea who may be sitting in ...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had to deal with some pretty tough questions and attempt to be the spiritual guide in confusing and devastating times.  The first, my senior pastor died of brain cancer two weeks ago, and the second, a three year old girl was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. About 16 months ago my senior pastor was diagnosed with brain cancer and during a biopsy had a stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side for the rest of his life.  As a pastor on staff, I had to stand strong for the congregation and present a united front with the rest of the staff.  For over a year we desperately prayed for God to do a miracle, but unfortunately, God chose to heal him in the next life in heaven. Three days after his funeral, I received a text message that one of our church member's three year old granddaughter has brain cancer that cannot be taken out with surgery and most likely will not be able to receive radiation treatments because it could tur...

Recently I read an article in Relevant Magazine titled " Why Doesn't Anybody Talk about Sin Anymore? "  I was intrigued, and unexpectedly found a deep gaping whole in my Christian walk.  In Leviticus, God commands us to "Be holy because He is holy."  I know this verse; I memorized it years ago, but I forgot what it means for my life.  The article talks about how my generation is so wrapped up in God's grace that sometimes we fall into the trap of believing we can get away with anything because His grace is sufficient.  However there is so much more to following Christ than just leaning on his grace.  When we become saved, we receive and begin what is called sanctification, which is a fancy word for becoming more like Christ.  I say we receive and begin because sanctification has two facets.  The first is instantaneous sanctification or justification and the other is just sanctification.  Justification is a legal term stating that we are n...