Lead Well

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash With Easter in just a few weeks, you’re probably deep into prep for the big weekend. Whether you’re doing an egg hunt , planning your worship set , or just getting your volunteers ready , there’s a lot of focus put on this weekend. Not to pile on, but there’s one more thing to consider for Easter. What are you doing this summer? In the past, in the weeks leading up to Easter, I put my VBS and other summer activity planning on hold. However, I realized that this was a mistake. On Easter weekend, you will have more people come to your church than on almost any other day of the year. Whether they’re guests, CEO (Christmas and Easter Only), or all your regulars, almost everyone goes to church that day. Which means that it is a great opportunity to tell them about what’s coming and how they can continue to engage with your church community. Even though many parents aren’t thinking about the summer, yet, in a few weeks they will be. You can get in on th...

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...

Photo by Cláudio Luiz Castro on Unsplash Since this is coming out on Black Friday, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about one of my passions. Video Games. I’ve been playing since I was a little kid and still play regularly. Also working in NextGen, I’ve seen a lot of kids exposed to games and media way before they’re ready because of their parents' ignorance. It doesn’t have to be this way though. Every game has a rating ranging from E for Everyone to M to Mature. (There is a higher Adult Only rating, but those games are few and far between.) As a parent or pastor knowing what games are going to be fun and appropriate for your kids is important. For this post, I’ll pick three games from each system that are family-friendly and can be played easily with multiple people. I won't make recommendations on consoles, but you can see my buying guide here.   In addition, many of these games are on sale for Black Friday. If you’re looking for Christmas or update the games ...

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  No, I’m not talking about Christmas or Thanksgiving (I’m a no Christmas until after Thanksgiving person).  I’m talking about planning for the next year. I know I’m weird like that, but I look forward to the meetings, vision casting, and planning of the next year with great anticipation. Whether you’re weird like me or hate having look at dates and times until you go cross-eyed, I thought I’d help by giving  6 steps to make next year’s ministry calendar.

Baptism in water is an essential part of a Christian’s faith, and one of my favorite things to do. Working in Kidmin though, there are a lot of questions about kids being baptized. Can they be baptized? When are they old enough? How do you know if they’re ready? How do we partner with parents through this process? When I first started in Kidmin, I’d take any kid who raised their hand and said they wanted to be baptized. I would like to take the time to get to know them, but usually my evaluation was based on how long they’ve been coming to church. At my second church, we started spontaneous baptisms. This meant anyone who wanted to get baptized, could if they came to Welcome Booth during service. A person, usually a pastor, would talk with them for a few minutes to make sure they knew what they were doing, then get them all set up for baptism at the end of that morning's service. This is all well and good for adults, but one Sunday, I had a mom bring her three kids, ages 12, 8...