Lead Well

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

A few years ago, I read Brian Dollar’s book,  I Blew It . In one chapter he talks about investing in the next generation and mentoring kids to serve. I had done this in my previous church, but I wasn’t happy with the curriculum, so I contacted Brian and ordered his curriculum. I went through it and thought about how to work it into my church context and made some adjustments. I started my first class, called K-Team, a few months later with 12 students. Four of them— still to this day, five years later—have major roles in the children’s ministry. They serve as some of our main children’s church worship leaders and presenters. I believe you can do this too. You have kids in your ministry right now who God is calling into full-time ministry. You have other kids who will be lifelong servants. Either way, we want all our kids to have an authentic lifelong faith in Jesus Christ. Mentoring them to serve in ministry is one of the most surefire ways to do that. But how? Here are five ste

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 Corinthians, we are all part of one bo

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: