Lead Well

Photo by BBC Creative on Unsplash It’s coming to the end of the school year, and you’re probably thinking about promoting your kids to the next grade. But when is the best time? It’s a common question I’ve seen for years in Facebook groups. Someone looking for a change asks when everyone promotes their kids to the next grade and then a slew of comments ensues advocating for the beginning or the end of the summer. In my highly unscientific perusing of these comments, I’d say the answer is about 50/50. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to do this and in my own ministry, I’ve experimented with both and see the pros and cons of each. Here’s what I’ve learned. Promote at the beginning of the summer. If you promote at the beginning of the summer, then your oldest kids, let’s say fifth graders, are mostly happy. A lot of them are already out the door ready to move to youth. They don’t want to be with the little ones anymore. Moving kids up at this time works well because you can do...

My first VBS was a fiasco. I don’t use that word lightly. It was.  We had 8 weeks to pull off the biggest event of the year for 100 kids and 30 volunteers. To make it even more complicated this was the first VBS the church hosted in years, I started the position in mid-May with the VBS to be held the last week of July, and I got married the week following. It was one of the hardest few months of my ministry career and by the grace of God we pulled it off. Kids accepted Jesus, learned about the Bible, and the church was encouraged. I learned so much that first year and have built upon that experience ever since. One of my biggest mistakes was trying to do it all. I’m a high-capacity person and sometimes (frequently in my younger days) over-confident. VBS has a way of humbling you. I learned quickly I need to give responsibilities away. Many of the curriculums I’ve used over the years give you an idea of how many volunteers you need and where they should serve. However, if y...

Photo by airfocus on Unsplash If you’re like me when you’re planning your first kid services, you’re probably following the model that you’ve seen before. Whether you learned it from a mentor, internship, or just watching another kid’s service, you’ve decided this is the order for the service. The game goes here. The worship goes here. The Bible story or sermon goes here. And that’s the way it’s supposed to go, because that’s the way it’s supposed to be done. I’m going to introduce a thought that might blow your mind. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can change things up. Drop things. Add things. Get creative and experimental. Test things to see if they work, evaluate, and try again. When I started at church number 1, I had a template for services where I just filled in the blanks. It made planning easier, and I could work in the ministry without having to work on the ministry. Being bi-vocational, I needed something that was plug and play and this worked. Click here if you...

It’s the Friday before Easter. You’ve been busy with all the marketing, event planning, service prep, and inviting. You’re probably a little tired and the light at the end of the tunnel that is Monday is looking better and better. But you also have a family and obligations there too. If you’re like me, it’s far too easy to let work overtake the home. All the focus is on what the Church is doing, and your family gets the leftovers. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to you. What can you do? You can’t get out of Good Friday or Saturday’s Egg Hunt or Easter Sunday. It’s your job, and people are counting on you. It’s a struggle and not one that I have perfected. If you asked my wife, she would say I have a long way to go. Regardless, here are 3 tips to celebrate Easter (Or any Holiday) while you’re in ministry.  1. Take a cue from the Service Industry In ministry, it’s easy to take the "woe is me" mentality. You’re the only one who has to work on Easter, while ev...

Photo by Headway on Unsplash When you’re first starting out in ministry is so easy to go it alone. You have all the passion and energy and you’re ready to storm the gates of hell. However, if you’ve been in ministry longer than 3 months, you’ve probably realized you can’t do this alone. Moses tried until his father-in-law told him he was crazy and to develop leaders. David had his mighty men. Jesus had the 12 around him. Peter and the other disciples found 7 leaders to oversee food distribution. Paul had Barnabas and Silas. When I came to church number 2, I knew I needed to get help. The church was around 400, and we had about 80 kids. For those 80 kids we had all the Sunday morning age groups, plus Royal Rangers, Mpact Girls Clubs, Junior Bible Quiz, and a Café. It was a lot to manage and since I realized quickly I couldn’t be in 2 places at once (I tried 3 places one time. It also went poorly), I knew I needed help. Thankfully, my predecessor had already identified and placed...

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 Lavi Perchik on Unsplash Maybe this has happened to you. You had a huge event where hundreds of people came. People were saved. Lives were changed. You get ready to make an announcement in the service or post on social what God has done. But you’re stuck. You can tell them what happened, but only verbally. The pictures and video are terrible or non-existent. A picture is worth a thousand words. Getting that magic shot can tell the whole story of what happened at your event. Or better, get more people to join the event next time. I’m not a photographer, but taking pictures is one of those things that I wish I’d learned in ministry school . It’s something that I’ve had to learn the hard way, and I’ve relied heavily on others who are far more skilled. When I first started, the iPhone was just released and the best phone pics I could take were so blurry, they were unusable. Thankfully, mobile phone cameras have come a long way over the last 15 years, but having a great cam...