One of our core values at Desert View and in Kid’s View (our Children’s Ministry) is being in the Word and memorizing scripture. This month our virtue is Peace – proving you care more about others than winning an argument.  For me personally it can be tough to concede in an argument particularly when I feel that I am right.  One such incident happened this week.

As you may know, I coach youth football.  I love the game and love working with the boys.  I also look at coaching football as an opportunity to have influence in their lives at a very impressionable age.  Sports can teach life-long values and help boys become young men of character.  One of the toughest parts of coaching youth sports can be dealing with parents.  This past week I had an incident with a parent that escalated to the point of requiring an Executive Board Meeting.

This meeting had the potential to become heated, even explosive.  When we sat down with this parent our decision on consequences had already been determined.  As you can imagine it was not well received.  One thing that kept running through my mind was “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Romans 14:19  I mean it was as clearly audible to me as any voice sitting at the table.  I just kept hearing it!

This is the memory verse for the month of August in our children’s ministry.  I know that my attitudes and reactions in this meeting were directly influenced by this Bible verse.  God was speaking to me “loud and clear.”  As a result of knowing the verse and hearing the voice I believe we left the meeting with a better than expected result.

God does speak and we need to be hearing his voice.  Get in the Word – Study the Word – Memorize the Word.  Hear God speak to you too!

Related Posts

• September 6, 2010 -- BHAG…who’s influencing who?
• August 23, 2010 -- Dinosaurs & Fire Breathing Dragons!
• February 25, 2010 -- Making Vision Stick
• February 2, 2010 -- Top Ten Reasons YOU Should Be at The Orange Conference
• January 20, 2010 -- ORANGE-Mania

Discover What Only You Can Do

Each of us have certain gifts, talents & passions in our ministry. There are some things as the leader of a ministry that can best be accomplished by only you. Too often we allow the tyranny of the urgent or the volume of the squeaky wheel drain our time. A few of the things that are best done by the point person: Cast Vision, Train Leaders, Handle Upset Parents, and Build Team Unity. When we focus on the things that only we can do it magnifies our impact and increases the potential of the ministry.

Delegate Don’t Dump

As we recruit and train our teams we should be looking to for unique individuals to help compensate for our weaknesses. This requires first that we understand our own weaknesses and we’re willing to share both the responsibility and the

authority. One of the dangers is to dump everything we don’t enjoy and move on. Big Mistake! Delegation often requires more work on the front end but can pay huge dividends down the road. Delegate – to entrust or transfer (as power, authority, or responsibility) to another. To truly delegate requires transferring, training & follow-up.

Failure can be Fun

I’ve been blessed to always serve with Pastors that gave me the freedom to fail. Having been a Youth Pastor for several years, living on the edge and taking chances was just part of the DNA. One of my favorite and most appealing Summer Series led to one of our greatest blunders. When “Survivor” was at it’s peak we wrote a “Surviving Your Faith” series which included creating Tribes that competed each week. We also tried to duplicate the previous week’s TV competitions. It was a huge success with astounding numerical growth and dynamic buzz for the ministry. One week our game included breaking plates hung on our softball backstop using slingshots. The only problem was the church parking lot was directly behind the backstop! After unknowingly shooting out two car windows and dinging the pastor’s suburban someone realized what was happening and had the wisdom to stop us. Point is, we as leaders have to be willing to give our staff the same freedom to fail. When we have a volunteer who is working within the defined parameters of our ministry we should give them the freedom to try new things and follow-up with good evaluation.

Self Evaluation

Where are you on the trail to discovering your strengths and weaknesses?

Do you delegate or dump?

Do you encourage your team to take chances?

Technorati Tags: Children’s-Ministry, Family-Ministry, Youth-Ministry, Kids-Ministry, Sunday-School, Family, Youth, Kids, Children, Religion, Ministry, Church, Leadership, Delegate

Related Posts

• August 31, 2010 -- DISCIPLINE…it’s not a dirty word!
• August 23, 2010 -- Dinosaurs & Fire Breathing Dragons!
• August 4, 2009 -- Winning & Losing
• August 3, 2009 -- Don’t Hoard Ministry
• July 28, 2009 -- First Impressions – There are NO Do Overs!

Today two of the leaders in the Children’s Ministry Internet Blogosphere released Extreme Makeovers of their sites. If you’ve been involved with Children’s Ministry for any length of time Jim Wideman and Karl Bastian should be on your radar. These two men are pioneers in utilizing the web to extend their impact in the world of Children’s Ministry.

So what’s NEW?

At www.kidology.org there are a number of upgrades that make navigating the site much more user friendly. If you’ve never been to Karl’s site you need to make visiting a priority. “Kidology is a non-profit organization that exists to equip and encourage those who minister to children.” Quoting the website says it all. Karl and the team at www.kidology.org have done an incredible job of providing valuable resources to Children’s Ministry leaders around the world. So what’s new at Kidology? So glad you asked.

At Kidology “we’ve recently undergone some redecorating to spruce up the place a bit, added new features, and created a framework “under the hood” that will help facilitate innovative tools and development down the road.” Kidology gives you access to both FREE tools and Membership Only access. I have found that the nominal cost of a Kidology membership is an incredible value. There is a Discussion Zone, a CM Garage Sale, a Podcast, & so much more.

The name Jim Wideman is synonymous with Children’s Ministry Leadership and his website www.jimwideman.com has much to offer. “Jim Wideman is an internationally recognized voice in children’s and family ministry. He is a much sought after speaker, teacher, author, personal leadership coach, and ministry consultant who has over 30 years experience in helping churches thrive.” I personally have benefited from Jim’s leadership via conferences and his very own tool “The Club.” “The Club” is a monthly audio leadership resource designed especially for children’s ministers. Again the cost for this resource is well worth the investment of both dollars and time. Visit www.jimwideman.com and I guarantee the visit will benefit you and your ministry.

Technorati Tags: Children’s-Ministry, Youth-Ministry, Family-Ministry, Sunday-School, Kids-Ministry, Children, Family, Youth, Kids, Religion, Church, Christianity, Ministry, Leadership, Resources, Training

Related Posts

• June 22, 2009 -- Good vs. Great
• August 20, 2010 -- A Fresh Coat of Paint!
• July 24, 2009 -- Leadership is Tough
• July 22, 2009 -- Football & Children’s Ministry – Go for the WIN!
• June 25, 2009 -- Rewards & Bribes

I am a volunteer youth football coach. Football is by far my favorite sport to watch, to play and to coach. My youngest son, Tanner, plays on the team I currently coach and it’s a great deal of fun. Football is truly a team sport it takes every player on the field doing their job well to be successful. It is also a sport where the coach has a great deal of influence on the success or failure of the team. That’s why I think there are a lot of similarities between coaching football and leading a Children’s Ministry.

One of the most important things that happens during a football game is the huddle. In the huddle the QB calls the play, exhorts his team, and leads the team. We as leaders in children’s Ministry often fill both the roles as coach and QB. So how do we serve as both coach and QB?

Coach

Vision – you’ve heard it before and it’s still true. As leaders we must paint a picture of what success looks like keep it in front of our people.

Plays – curriculum, special events, and leader meetings all determine the direction of our ministries. Choosing or designing the right plays is critical to the success of the team.

Challenge – too often we try to recruit with tales of how easy it is. That’s not how Jesus did it. I’ve often found that, just like in football, when you explain the true challenges involved and call people to step up they will do just that.

QB

Exhort – long term ministry can be tough yet hanging in for the long term pays huge dividends. Continually encouraging our team with positive affirmation in many forms is one way to help team members to stay in it for the long haul.

Lead – leaders make the tough decisions, leaders take the heat for other people’s mistakes, leaders are continually learning, leaders show compassion, leaders see the big picture, leaders invest their time in the right things, leaders take the team down the field. Be a leader.

So how do you pull off the huddle? We do it with a quarterly meeting that is billed as important for everyone involved with our Children’s Ministry. My goal is that each meeting is encouraging, educational and FUN! One of the goals in our Children’s Ministry is to instill the value of fun in all that we do. In our “huddle” or leader meetings we schedule time to

1. Share Success Stories
2. Laugh together with silly games
3. Learn together
4. Encourage one another
5. Cast Vision
6. Challenge team members
7. Pray for one another, our kids and our church

So make sure you are taking time to huddle with your team regularly.

Technorati Tags: Children’s-Ministry, Youth-Ministry, Family-Ministry, Sunday-School, Ministry, Religion, Huddle, Coach, Christianity, Church, Team, Leadership, Training

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• June 30, 2009 -- Extreme Makeover – JimWideman.com & Kidology.org Edition
• May 23, 2009 -- Children’s Ministry Team Building – The Why & How of Brainstorming
• July 6, 2009 -- Leader + Team = Impact
• July 2, 2009 -- Who is Your Target?
• June 15, 2009 -- Who’s Your Sidekick?