Lead Well

Today is my 15th anniversary of vocational ministry. I owe my first job to Steve Lambert who saw potential in me and gave me a shot as a kid’s pastor. He paid for me to finish college, officiated my wedding, and gave my wife and I a place to live. I am forever thankful for his vision and generosity. May 12 of 2008, I was full of vim and vigor. I had so many dreams and passions. I remember telling my pastor that we were going to hit the ground running, and we did. In those first 12 weeks, I put on my first VBS with 100 kids and 50 volunteers and got married the following weekend. I can say that as the years have passed, things have not gotten any less exciting. My wife and I have had our ups and downs just like anyone else and now on the edge of a new ministry season, we are filled with as much passion as we were all those years ago. All that said, here are 15 things I've learned in 15 years of ministry. 1. Nothing is more important than your relationship with God.

I have led vacation Bible school (VBS) almost every year of my ministry and had participated in VBS for as long as I can remember. When I first heard about MEGA Sports Camp (MSC), I was resistant, because I was very happy with the curriculum I was using. I had systems and procedures in place to put on a large VBS without having to reinvent the wheel every year. However, over the past few years, I’ve seen a shift in my area. I was doing some well-known VBS programs, and our church was just one of many churches in my town doing those same programs. I also kept seeing the same kids from other churches come to our VBS without experiencing any real life change. I knew I had to try a different curriculum. A ministry of my church takes place at a private school that serves kids from six weeks old to twelfth grade, and that has all the sports facilities and equipment I needed for MEGA Sports Camp. Hosting the camp seemed almost like a no brainer, so I decided to give it a shot this sum

When I first started working in children’s ministry as a part-time bi-vocational pastor, I was so excited to finally work with kids every week. I looked forward to the fun we would have and the lessons we would learn as we explored the Bible together. Alas, I learned quickly that this is not always the case. If you’ve been full time, part time, or even a volunteer leader in children’s ministry, you know exactly what I’m talking about. A typical week is spent planning, recruiting, organizing, scheduling, and juggling more balls than we care to count. It’s a tough job, and no one should do it alone. What you need is a team and a plan. Our kids are our future, and we can’t take that lightly by using a few puppets and adding baking soda to vinegar (again) to make our point. The problem is that many children’s workers I’ve met don’t know how to lead an organization. This was my challenge, and I’m sure many of you lack these skills as well. Framework Leadership by Kent Ingle gives

Success is awesome.  Having a bunch of people telling you how great a job you're doing gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling and can cause you to ride high for days.  I love to hear it and love to give it. However, there is a downside.  It can all go to your head.  God can bring you to a place, give you opportunity, prepare you with the necessary skills and walk with you all the way, then when it all comes together, you drop God faster than flaming hot lump of coal from the furnace.  How do I know?  I've done it more times than I care to tell. Recently in my prayer time, God reminded me to not forget who I'm doing all this for.  Who am I working for really?  Who made all this possible?  Who put me in this place with these people with this skill set? God did. Facing the Giants had the same concept.  In everything they did they praised Him.  I know this is churchy and I cringe at the phrasing, but the truth remains. Let God work through you and in you, but when

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, went to Ki

Last week I attended the Orange Conference .  It was a great week of equipping and refocus for me and my wife Liz.  In our last break-out session the leader, Joy Bowen , made us promise not to "puke vision" when we come back home. I though that was funny and a good reminder to leaders.  How many times do we go away to a conference, meeting, or trip to just come back and tell our team all the things we are going to do.  Sadly in our excitement we don't allow for essential buy-in or to even think through our ideas.  We end up scaring our team as well as hurting our integrity, because we end up doing only half (if we're lucky) of what we said we were going to do. So as I check myself, I beg you don't puke vision.  Take the time to think through your ideas, make a plan, organize resources, build buy-in, then roll out the ideas when the time is right.  Maxwell says that the right idea at the wrong time is still the wrong idea.  Let's commit today to do the nece

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 the audience or what they know.   Break it down: