Lead Well

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash It’s been said that a new guest makes their decision to return to your church in the first 15 minutes of their visit. That’s a small window, especially when you consider most of that 15 minutes happens before service begins. From a children’s ministry perspective, a guest family will need to find a place to park, unload all the kids (which may include strollers, diaper bags, cups, toys, and anything else) The family is already unsure if this is going to work, and the kids may even be more unsure of what is to come. Once the family is ready to enter the building there are multiple questions they have before they leave the safety of their car. What door do we enter? Where do we go from there? Where is the bathroom? Is the preaching good? Is this a safe place to bring my kids? Will they have fun? Will they make friends? Since we’re talking about kids, we’ll look at the last three questions. 3 Questions Every Guest Asks 1. Do they feel safe? Safety is a...

When I first became a children’s pastor on my first Sunday, I sat and observed how the volunteers were managing their service. These were college students with little to no training, just a heart for kids and doing the best they could. Their stories and games were good. Their energy was excellent during worship, but they had one glaring problem. Discipline. The kids did whatever they wanted; whenever they wanted. I asked the leaders what their discipline plan was, and it was a convoluted three strikes and you’re out system, but the only consequence for any infraction was less candy. Essentially, a kid could misbehave all service and instead of getting three pieces of candy, they’d only get one. It didn’t take much for some of the kids to figure it out and exploit it. Rules and consequences were the first thing I changed when I took over, and the leaders were thankful. I was a certified teacher and spent many, many hours studying classroom management. I knew their system was neve...

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.

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...

On May 27, I held a small group leader training that focused on classroom management.  We had a great time and learned a lot. Below you will find the training video as well as the notes for the training. Student Notes

Tuesday was the first session of CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) of the new year at a local elementary school.  We are always excited to serve at the school because many of these kids don't go to church or understand basic biblical concepts, such as how you get to heaven.   I had the privilege of teaching the lesson to the 20 or so kids.  The lesson was the story of how sin came into the world and how we can find salvation through Jesus.  It ended with a call to salvation.  I thought I was really connecting.  I thought they were connecting with the message.  They all dutifully prayed with me to accept Christ, and I encouraged them to tell their small group leader if they had really prayed. When the leaders came back after the lesson, not a single one said they had accepted Christ for the first time.  I could have been angry.  I could have been discouraged.  I could quit right there.  But I wasn't, and I didn't....

Recently I visited James River Church in Ozark, Mo.  James River is one of the largest Churches in the Assemblies of God and have a great children's ministry. I love to visit other churches and see how they do things. While I was there, I saw great idea for games and toys before service. Our kids love to find fun things to do before service begins and for us our games are on a cart and the kids have to play on the floor.  This is usually not a problem, except the colossal mess that's left when service begins and ends.  In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep all the pieces together for the multiple board games.   Kids will be kids. While I was walking through James River's children's area, they had these games stations set up with a game or two on each table.  I thought this was a fabulous idea and am looking forward to implementing it in my own area. Do your kids play games before service? How do you set them out? Please...

Vacation Bible School is this week, so I am going to blog every night about the night's experiences. We did it!  The week is over.  The decorations are down, the materials are put away, and the lights are turned down.  Another VBS for the history books.  I could not have made it without an amazing team helping me along the way.  Here are some things I've learned through this latest journey: When advertising say pre-registration and not just registration. I had several calls all week asking if their kids could still come to VBS even though they didn't register before the event.  After pondering why this question would surface I've narrowed it down to this  possibility .  People were confused and led to believe that if they didn't register early they couldn't register at all.  That's easily fixed next year. Don't put VBS in the same month that everything else is going on. This month alone, I went to Orlando for JBQ national finals...

Vacation Bible School is this week, so I am going to blog every night about the night's experiences. We're in the home stretch now.  Tonight was the night that the whole week was building toward.  We gave the kids two opportunities to accept Christ.  While I don't know the numbers yet, I'm sure most of the kids have been impacted by what they have learned throughout this week.   Children's ministry offers us an awesome opportunity to impact lives, but also keeps us young and provides many opportunities to laugh.  Here are two funny stories from tonight. During Elementary Chadder's Theater, our wonderful station leader was saying the sinner prayer with the kids.  In the middle of the prayer, a little girl had to "toot."The entire room heard it and half the room smelled it.  After the prayer was finished the little girl kept looking around asking who did it.  No matter what happens...Trust God! For the Finale, I needed to put some...

Vacation Bible School is this week, so I am going to blog every night about the night's experiences. Day 3 is over.  We had another great night.  Our volunteers continue to deliver from the oldest to the youngest, they are doing an incredible job night after night.   Tonight we got to help some ladies from another church learn some things about how to run a VBS.  They were amazed with the organization, the production, and most of all the excitement surrounding each event.  I had a blast walking around with them sharing some of the knowledge I learned through the school of hard knocks.   There is no way we could do this without all of our volunteers.  Your hard work and feedback is part of what makes this VBS so great.  Thank you so much for giving of your time this week. Don't forget to check out the pictures and videos on the Kidtricity Facebook page: http://facebook.com/kidtricity If your kids love their crew lea...

Vacation Bible School is this week, so I am going to blog every night about the night's experiences. What a crazy day!  Day 2 is complete and Liz and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.  Tonight we learned that no matter how you feel...TRUST GOD!  We talked about even though we may be sad, afraid, or sick we have to trust God.  It was an appropriate theme for the night since one of our volunteer's mother was put in the hospital minutes before the night began.  Instead of staying home and sulking, the volunteer decided to come to VBS and trust God.  Several of us prayed with this volunteer after the night, and we ask you to do the same.   I am so thankful for all the volunteers who are giving of their time to come to VBS.  Without them this entire week could not happen.  We are laying the foundation to make a huge impact in the years to come with future vacation Bible schools.   If you would like to see some pictures ...

Vacation Bible School is this week, so I am going to blog every night about the night's experiences. Day 1 is over.  It was a crazy day that went so much faster than I ever could have dreamed.  For the first big VBS at Evangel, I am blown away by the volunteer response and all the kids learning that "Everything is possible with God!"   We had our ups and downs, schedule mishaps, scratched fingers and even an overflowing toilet!  Nevertheless our kids learned that "no matter who you are...trust God!"  One hundred six kids came to tonight's event and we are expecting even more tomorrow night. Please continue to be in prayer for sick kids and volunteers, and for Thursday as we will be giving our kids the opportunity to accept Christ. You're welcome to come hang out with us each night for our Up & Away Sing and Play and our Fly Away Finale.  We'll have a chair saved just for you. If you came to VBS, leave a comment below and tell us ab...

This Wednesday, I had the great opportunity to work in the nursery and watch 7 babies.  While I have a hard time holding a conversation with a 9 month old, (I’m sure you moms are old pros) I did enjoy my time there.  While in the nursery, I found the scariest baby doll. One of our toddlers asked, “what is wrong with this baby?”  Our nursery worker said she didn’t know but we should pray for it, and they did. While we know God is not going to fix the freaky eyes of this baby doll, our volunteer took a seemingly insignificant moment and turned it into a teachable one.  Many people think that nursery is just babysitting someone else’s kids, but it is so much more.  Our nursery workers have the unique opportunity to lay the very beginning foundations for faith, love, and community.  Everyone one of you serve a vital role in the children’s ministry.  Not everyone can do what I do, and I can’t do what all of you do.  As Paul said in 1...

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 ...