justakidspastor.com

3 Signs #1- The Volunteer Team

2010-11-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

The first sign of a "Healthy Kid's Ministry" is the Commitment that is made to the Volunteer Leadership team. From time to time I am asked by others in Children's Ministry how I know whether or not what we are teaching or communicating is really sinking in. That is tough to gage with kids. With a teenager, you can usually get a good idea about the status of their spiritual life (sometimes simply by checking the status of their Facebook page). You can see Junior High and High School students going on Missions trips or attending retreats and special events (because they want to, not because their parents have signed them up).

With children's ministry, I can usually evaluate the rate at which our kids are grasping what we are teaching by the enthusiasm of the volunteers who are leading their classes. I have never had a volunteer come running out of a classroom on Sunday morning after service saying, "I am so excited, I had five kids who wouldn't sit still or pay attention." In fact, the opposite is usually the case. They will come to me and let me know how awesome it is that they get to serve, and that today in their class they had 5 kids invite Jesus into their heart.

I try to evaluate my leadership team on a pretty regular basis. If they are excited to come to class each week, it usually means that they are enjoying what they have the opportunity to do. Happy teachers are almost always better teachers, and better teachers equal kids who are learning in a fun and exciting environment.

3 Signs of a Healthy Children's Ministry

2010-11-02T15:01:00.002-05:00

I have been asked occasionally what it is that makes a "healthy" children's ministry. I think that isn't exactly an easy question to answer because it is something that is relative to the setting you are in. For instance, some would say that a healthy children's ministry is a growing children's ministry, but I would argue that is not always the case in a community that is in decline. There are however three things that I have consistently been able to see in children's ministries that I would describe as healthy: a commitment to the volunteer leadership team, an emphasis on discipleship and a focus on missions.

Each of these attributes are fairly simple, but extremely vital to the health of the kid's ministry. Over the next few days I plan to unpack each of these statements and explain why they are so important.

The Pittsburgh Steelers

2010-10-07T12:19:00.002-05:00

I know that the title of this one might polarize some people. After living in Dallas, Tx for nearly 4 years, I have come to find out that there are several people in this world who don't share my enthusiasm for the greatest NFL Franchise of all time. That is ok, in fact I am perfectly fine with fans of other organizations who don't like the Steelers, but I heard something this morning on the way into work that caused me to like the Steelers even more.

Mike Tomlin, the Head coach of the Steelers was being interviewed by Mike & Mike of ESPNRadio this morning. The hosts were asking Coach Tomlin about his teams success without their starting QB Ben Roethlisberger who was suspended for 4 games because he violated the NFL's player conduct policy (whether you think Big Ben is a good or bad person is irrelevant to this discussion). Coach Tomlin said that "we are measured by winning and it is never graded on a curve". He was letting the interviewers know that his team knew their responsibility was to win football games, no matter who was "under center".

What if we as church leaders operated like that? What would it look like if we built our ministries not on personality but on teams? Ministry today is so personality driven, it is easy to think that everything rises and falls on one key player. A lot of times, this is true, and the loss of a key team member will set the team back for a little while, but what if we built our ministries with the depth of a major league bull pen? When the "starter" stepped out, we would have someone right there ready to step in. Just a thought!

Go Steelers!

10 Things-Teams are Great

2010-09-15T12:09:00.002-05:00

I have been and always will be a huge proponent of teamwork. (Currently every time I say that word I have a song that pops into my head, if you have a preschooler, it probably pops into your head as well-"What's gonna work, TEAMWORK! Go Wonder Pets").

It is no secret that a great team will always beat a great individual. Sports, business, and ministry provide plenty of examples of teams triumphing over individual super stars, so I will not belabor that point here. However, more times than not, teams don't function at their highest potential.

Why is that? I think there are several reasons why teams sometimes falter. Teams are just like families. If they are not a priority, then things will begin to fall apart. From what I can tell, these are 7 keys to a great team:

1. Loyalty- The team has to know that everyone has the support of everyone else on the team. Does the team really have each other's "backs"? Or are they more worried about themselves and what they are doing and how they can further themselves?

2. Trust- Trust is huge on teams. Can you say the final 10%? Or is there always just a little bit you go without saying because you are afraid of how the other person will react?

3. Collaboration- In a great team, everyone needs to feel like they are valuable enough to give input to the team. Their input doesn't necessarily have to be used, but they need to feel safe to give it.

4. Fun- I have been on teams that have been so much fun that I can't wait to get back to the team, and I have been on other teams that cause me to want to stay away. In order for a team to be healthy, they must work hard, but they must play hard as well.

5. Growth- Healthy teams are always growing. They might not be growing in numbers (as a matter of fact, I think once you get to a certain point, adding people to the team will actually take away from productivity), but they will be growing together. For instance, our Team here at Hope takes regular opportunities to grow in our leadership by attending conferences and watching videos together. There is something huge to be said for attending a conference together as a team.

6. Communication- This one may actually be the most important, because without it, nothing else is even possible. Teams have to be able to have open lines of communication that travel in both directions. If the leadership team is only communicating "down", then the team will suffer for it.

7. Transparency- This one isn't quite as obvious, but it is just as essential. There are times, in business and in ministry, when leadership must make tough decisions. Most of the time when one of these decisions is necessary, a potential difficult situation can be averted if the leadership team will make clear the reasons for their decision. Sometimes this isn't possible due to the confidentiality of things, but if the leader has made it a habit to be transparent in other things, then the team will "TRUST" the leadership enough to know there is a reason for their decision.

I love teams, and I think that God has called me to serve on teams and do my part to help the teams that I am on to be healthy.

10 Things-The Individaul

2010-09-14T08:35:00.002-05:00

Very early on in ministry I learned an unusually difficult lesson. I had a very serious issue with a volunteer that had to be addressed immediately. I was somewhat new in ministry so I went to my Pastor to find out how he wanted to the situation handled. I will never forget the words he spoke to me that day. This was a key volunteer in my ministry, and I knew without a doubt that he needed to be dismissed, I just wasn't sure how to go about it. My pastor said, "No matter what Scott, you must always remember that the individual is more important than the ministry." It took me a few minutes to understand exactly what he was saying. I grew up playing sports and always knowing the exact opposite to be true. The team is more important than the individual, and no one player is above the team. This seemed to be the exact opposite of everything that I knew, so I asked the Pastor to explain what he meant. He took the time that day to teach me that the ministry that a volunteer is a part of, though valuable, is not the most important thing. What they do for me is no where near the most valuable part of them.

I think we lose track of that when we get caught up in our flow charts and our job descriptions. Don't get me wrong. I am a huge proponent of knowing what you need people to do, and where you need them to do it (In fact, I just examined every area of Adventure Kidz to see where we could use more staff, turns out pretty much everywhere has availability). The problem comes though when we lose sight of the individual and all we see is another spot on our chart filled.

My pastor taught me that day that every person has value and deserves to be treated fairly and with respect. He taught me that just because I had to ask that volunteer to step down, didn't mean that I needed to cut him off from the church and banish him entirely.

No matter how large our ministries grow, they will always be made up of individuals. People deserve to be treated as individuals and not just another spot on our flow chart that we have filled.

10 Things-Read to Succeed

2010-09-09T09:11:00.004-05:00

Let's face it, there are a lot of things that clamor for our time in the ministry. Most of the time, when I come home from the office or from some activity, the last thing I want to do is pick up a book and spend an hour or two reading before I go to bed. I would much rather pick up a remote, shut my mind off, and watch an hour or two of some mind-numbing form of entertainment (I have to "some" because it is entirely dependent upon who gets to the remote control first, if it is me it will be something on espn...if Sarah gets it though, it is likely to be some form of a reality show).How different would we be as leaders though, if we would put down the remote and pick up a book? I have been mentored by some of the greatest leaders of my generation simply by reading what they have written. Reading is an investment. It will cost you time, energy, and probably a little bit of money to read on a regular basis; but it is an investment that can pay almost immediate dividends. I have been struggling with an issue at church, and I will go home and pick up my reading material for the night, and a completely workable solution will be right there on the pages I am scheduled to read that night (almost like a God-thing or something).

I have been asked on more than one occasion, what should I read? So, here is my top ten list (in no particular order) for books that you should read if you are in a ministry leadership position:

1. Choosing to Cheat by Andy Stanley

2. Confessions of a Pastor by Craig Groeschel

3. The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell by Oren Harari

4. Leading from the Second Chair by Bonem & Patterson

5. In a Pit with A Lion by Mark Batterson

6. If You want to Walk on Water You've Got to get out of the Boat by John Ortberg

7. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton

8. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni

9. Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell

10. Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels

I have intentionally only listed one book from each of these authors. Most of them have multiple works that have shaped me as a leader and helped to cultivate thoughts and visions in my life that have brought me to where I am today. A book that just barely missed this Top Ten List is Tony Dungy's latest book The Mentor Leader. Maybe because I have only read it once and I just finished it about a week ago. There was so much to unpack in that book that I think I will be rereading it soon.

No matter what you choose to read, start making reading a habit. It can dramatically affect you and your leadership abilities!

I love you too Daddy

2010-09-08T15:02:00.002-05:00

I have a two year old little girl named Myah who is possibly the cutest little girl in the entire world (when she wants to be). Lately she has been on this kick of looking up at either me or Sarah and saying "I love you too." Pretty stinking cute, and it really melts my heart every time. As I was spending some time in prayer though, I got to thinking. That is kind of how God must feel each time we decide to stop and spend some time with Him.

The Bible is clear, Romans 5:8 says it this way: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." You see God is calling out to each of us in so many different ways, trying to share his love with us. He is just waiting for us to stop for a moment and look up and say, "I love you too." Being a dad is teaching me so much more than just parenting, it is teaching me about my relationship with my heavenly Father.

10 Things-Everything Rise and Falls

2010-09-08T08:58:00.002-05:00

For years I followed the quote of "Everything rises and falls on Leadership" as a principle to live by. Basically, what this statement is saying is that everything your organization does is a reflection of your leadership. I still feel this statement is true, but after spending time with my pastor about a year ago as he was talking to college students at Southwestern about church planting, I have modified it just a bit. Now I believe that "everything rises and falls on relationships." John Maxwell reminded us many years ago, that if you don't have any one following you, you aren't leading, you are only taking a walk. Leadership ultimately comes down to influence and your influence is relying on your ability to build relationships with those you are tasked with leading.

For some, forming relationships comes easy. They are gifted with the ability to establish bonds with people rapidly. For others this process is more like a "root canal." It is awkward and sometimes painful, but it is necessary if we are going to establish a healthy relationship with those we lead. Here are 3 hints for forming relationships with your team:

1. Learn about who they are outside of church. What are their hobbies and interests? What is their family like? Where are they from? (When you do this, find some way of recording this data, because if you are like me, you will not be able to keep up with all the info you get).

2. Spend time with the team. This is essential if you are a new leader coming in, but those of us who have been around for a while can't forget it either. When I first got to Frisco, I spent time with the team in place to allow them a chance to get to know me and give me a chance to get to know them. This has been crucial to the long term growth of our ministry and our team.

3. Listen to them. Your people don't necessarily need you to use every idea that they send your way, but they do need you to be open and receptive. They are usually the ones in the "trenches" doing the work. They have a first hand knowledge of the challenges that need to be addressed. They might be able to provide some valuable insight to finding the solution.

If you will value the people you lead and your relationships with them, you will get the buy-in you need to make the changes necessary for your ministry to go to a new level.

Random Thoughts...

2010-09-07T15:33:00.004-05:00

As I sit here watching the blue par steadily move across the screen in Final Cut Pro as it renders video and listening to the rain pound against the window of my office, my mind begins to wander a bit (it is not like I can do much as I wait for this video to render).

A few things I have been thinking about lately:

1. My little girl just lost her first tooth. Ouch, I guess she really is growing up no matter how hard I try to keep it from happening. She is in Kindergarten too.

2. This could be a really rough year for my Steelers. With Big Ben out for the first 4 games, it could make for a long season listening to the Steeler haters talking all their trash.

3. I love teams, I think that a good team of people will out shine the "one man" show any day of the week. Not even the greatest players in the world can compete alone. Teams are vital.

4. Friendships are an important thing to have. I should do more to develop solid friendships than I do.

5. I am blessed with the most amazing woman for a wife. I have had to have the kids a lot lately because she has been working and doing stuff with the church. I don't know how she manages all that she does, and still keeps her sanity. She is unbelievable.

6. Waiting on God's timing is hard for me. I think that is what God has been trying to teach me lately and I am obviously not a very good student.

7. Trusting God is getting easier and harder at the same time. Not sure if that makes sense. I feel like it is getting easier and easier for me to trust God with some things, but more and more difficult to trust him in other areas.

Got to go, video is done rendering, back to my editing!

10 Things-Average is Easy

2010-09-05T20:19:00.002-05:00

After 10 years of professional ministry I can honestly say that I know how to do a kids church service. I have written my own lessons for more than 500 kids church services and I know what works and what doesn't. That is unfortunately not such a good thing. You see it has become very easy to "wing it". I have learned over the last few years that "Excellence is hard and Average is Easy". To often in ministry I think we do things out of habit or tradition. For experienced kids pastors it is very easy to look at our services and say they are "good enough" even when we know we can do better. I really don't want to have average though. Maybe it is the competitive strength in me (see Now Discover Your Strengths), but I want to be the best. It is that way in pretty much everything I do, I can't help it. That is the way God wired me, and I think it is the way that He wired every single leader I know. Excellence isn't easy though, in fact most of the time it is hard. When I am writing and creating a kids church service, it is easy for me to throw something together in about 2 hours or so. But to make it great, to make it more than average, I have to commit huge chunks of time to writing, prayer, and study. Isn't that what the kids and God deserve though? My absolute best. I don't ever want to settle for average, I want to always push through and go for excellence so that I can be the best for God.

10 Things-Someone will always Feel Cheated

2010-09-03T09:08:00.003-05:00

Ministry can sometimes be a "break-neck" speeds. It seems that there are times when I can physically not get everything done that needs to get done in the time that I have. This can lead to a couple of different scenarios playing out.

Scenario #1- Because there is so much work to be done, I begin working 85-100 hour work weeks to accomplish everything that needs to be done. This will allow me to accomplish most of my tasks, but there will inevitably still be things that do not get done.

Scenario #2- Because there is so much work to be done, I work as hard as I possibly can for a reasonable amount of time each day, and when that time is up, I go home. This will allow me to accomplish most of my tasks, but there will inevitably still be things that do not get done.

Let's face it, if we are doing ministry the right way, more often than not there will always be items left on our to do lists that we never make it to. You can work yourself to exhaustion, and though you might accomplish everything today, you will not have the energy needed to accomplish tomorrow's tasks. I read somewhere that the most productive week of almost every employees year is the week that is right before they leave for vacation. At first, this didn't make sense to me, but then I paid very close attention the next time I was preparing to leave for vacation. Suddenly I was accomplishing so much more. Instead of the one week's kids church lesson that I had to write, I was able to write 3 weeks lessons (one for that week, and 2 for the 2 weeks that I would be gone). I was able to communicate with my entire leadership team and let them know what their responsibilities would be while I was away, and I was able to accomplish about 3 weeks worth of work in that 1 week. So, what can we learn from this: That we should go on vacation every month :) Not really. We can learn that when we have to, we can work much more effectively and efficiently when we have to, so why not work that way all of the time?

I read a book by Andy Stanley called Choosing to Cheat about 3 years ago that radically changed my thoughts about the "ministry". I would highly recommend it to every new minister, and every veteran minister as well. In it, Stanley talks about the tensions between work and family. Reading his book made me realize that there is only one man in this world who my babies will call Daddy, there is only one man who my wife will call husband, and no one else can handle those responsibilities for me.

I have to find ways to "Cheat" at the office (read the book, it certainly isn't what it sounds like initially) so that my wife and kids will never feel cheated. A slight disclaimer here would be that there are "seasons" of ministry which will require me to "cheat" at home a bit because of what is going on at church. If I have done my job at home prior to the seasons, then they will be only that, seasons, and not catastrophes.

10 Things-Aim at Nothing

2010-09-02T12:01:00.002-05:00

I have learned that in ministry and in life it is very important to have a target that you are aiming at. I have a hard time just floating along in life. I am the type of person who really enjoys accomplishing things. If you have read Marcus Buckingham's book Now, Discover Your Strengths you will understand what I mean when I say that I am an "Activator". I don't really enjoy sitting in long meaningless meetings that I feel are wasting valuable time. I am really the kind of guy who sees what needs to be done and decides to go do it. Sometimes however, this has gotten me in to a little bit of trouble.

You see, you have to have a target (a goal). If you don't know where you are supposed to end up, how will you know when you have arrived there? Ministry and life are both this way. I can have a great event from an "outsiders" perspective, but how do I know if has truly been a great event if I don't know what that event was supposed to accomplish?

Let me give an example: Each year, like most churches in America, we do a Fall Festival. There are many different names and ways of doing this event, but for the most part, they are all held in the Fall and involve both candy and games. Our's is usually held the Sunday before halloween (mainly because there is a major mark up on the inflatable equipment we rent if we use it on halloween). When I first came to Hope, I had to make the decision on the validity and necessity of doing the Fall Festival. I wanted to make sure that I was not just adding an event because "this is what we have always done" (I value tradition, but I don't see the validity of spending an enormous amount of money on something just because we have always done it and little timmy will be very upset if he doesn't get his free candy from the church this year).

We decided that our Fall Festival would be an outreach event to the community where we did not "shove" the gospel at them as much as we provided them a "safe and relaxed" opportunity to come on our campus and experience the LOVE of God. We also wanted our children's ministry and church to have the opportunity to SERVE the community around us.

This is our target, without having a clear target, we would just be throwing a big party every year with no real purpose. Parties are great, but I don't think they are a great way to spend the "kingdom resources" of both time and money!

Always have a target that you are aiming at, because when you don't, you will never truly know what you have accomplished.

TEAM

2010-09-01T11:44:00.002-05:00

What does it really mean to YOU? Sometimes I hear people use that word and say things like: "We have such a great TEAM?" I hear them say that, and then I hear crazy stuff like, "we will not clean up after him any more" or "I am sure that HE DOES" in a very sarcastic tone. So, what does team really mean? I guess I am confused.

10 Things I've Learned-Never Do Ministry Alone

2010-09-01T11:20:00.002-05:00

I have learned a ton of things, but this one I learned very early on. Never Do Ministry Alone. This one is kind of stolen from Jim Wideman, he is a great leader and has an incredible teaching called the club, check him out here He has several great resources for kids pastors and leaders.

I think the theory behind never do ministry alone is more about training others to do the work of the ministry than it is about having help with what you are doing. There are times when I am doing ministry that would be valuable for others to learn. For instance, why go to a hospital visit alone when I can take one of my volunteers with me. Why build a set for kids ministry alone, if I can bring in a few people to do it with me. With both of these examples, the time I get to spend with them is as valuable to me as the amount of help they provide me. Many times, those moments of working side by side with someone provide opportunities for me to speak into their life. It is great when God opens those doors, and it only happens because I do my best to "Never do Ministry Alone."

Summer Events- Camp

2010-08-31T10:52:00.002-05:00

Kids camp is probably the single greatest week of my ministry year each and ever year! I love camp, I can't think of another opportunity that I as a children's pastor have where kids can be pulled completely out of their routine and dropped into an environment where God is the center and spending time with him is the focus.

We have developed a pretty good camp over the last few years. This summer was our 3rd year in a row to do our own camp. This year we saw 208 campers and 52 staff go with us to Adventure Quest. The reasons for camp are clear: We put kids in an environment where they can focus on God, we get to spend hours of time building relationships with kids, and we have the chance to see God do some incredible things in the lives of kids!

I love Camp!

10 Things-Attitude is Everything

2010-08-27T14:32:00.002-05:00

There is a great book that I was given to read when I was still in college and was interning with a children's pastor, The Winning Attitude. It was written by John Maxwell and it speaks directly to the importance of a positive attitude. I have re-read that book at least a half dozen times over the last 10 years. It is one that I would certainly put in the hands of every new Children's Pastor.

So often we think that our talents and abilities are our greatest assets in ministry, and while they are important, our attitude will truly make us or break us.

On more than one occasion a poor attitude has gotten the best of me. I have been swamped with ministry and stuff, and I have not focused on what is truly important. When this happens, my attitude can deteriorate very quickly. It usually starts as I allow a few negative comments to slip out of my mouth. It really doesn't matter who I am talking to, I know the minute that I slip up and I have a choice to make. I can remove myself from my current situation and go get my heart right, or I can allow the poor mood I am in to continue to linger. The big problem with allowing it to linger is that attitudes are very much contagious. My poor frame of mind can quickly infest my entire team. I have to make sure that I am keeping my "head in the game" and making sure my attitude is where it needs to be. When I do that, it really doesn't matter what problem comes my way, with God's help I know I can handle it!

10 Things-Less is More

2010-08-25T16:47:00.002-05:00

Early on in ministry I think that I felt a need to prove myself to people. Talking with young ministers, I think this is a pretty common problem. I tried to do as much as possible. I am pretty sure that we did almost every single form of Children's ministry possible. Bus Ministry, Side Walk Sunday School, puppet teams, human video teams, Boys ministry, girls ministry, game nights, kids church, and tons more were just the start of the ministry that we tried to have. As I have matured, I have learned a pretty simple concept. Believe it or not, I have a limited amount of time in each day. 24 hours is the absolute most time that any one of us has in any given day. I have learned that it is not my job to cram as many ministry opportunities as possible into our ministry, it is my job to make the things that are in the ministry as excellent as possible.

Let me explain this with a few examples. Just like time, budgets are also limited (depending on where you serve, they might be severely limited). If I have $100 to do ministry, and I choose to use that $100 on 10 different events, than each event will get $10...make sense? Ok, what if I were to decide to only do 2 events instead. Now, each of those events will get $50 instead of $10. Suddenly, I have free up the resources I need to do these events 5 times better than I would have before. It is the same way with my time/energy. I can only give 100%. If I choose to have 10 things going, than they will each get about 10% of my energy.

What I am trying to say is if I can focus on 4-5 things and make them excellent rather than having 10-12 things that are average, than Less really is more!

The hard part comes with trying to decide what the 7-8 things that I am suppose to stop doing are :)

VBS

2010-08-25T11:12:00.002-05:00

Our second summer event is Vacation Bible School. I know what you are thinking. Not exactly a new and exciting event that no one has ever done, but for us, it simply works. I have heard a lot of children' s pastors who are against Vacation Bible School because the people in their cities travel around from VBS to VBS looking for "cheap childcare" for their kids. I know this is also true here in Frisco, but we do it anyway for these reasons:

1. Scripture tells us that God's word does not return "void". Why wouldn't we want to take every opportunity we have to share Christ's love with the kids of our community. I know that we in the church world like to get the most "bang for our buck", but what greater investment could we make than sharing the word of God with a child. Do I really need to rehash all the studies of the importance of accepting Christ as a child?

2. For us it works as a great first step for people to experience our kid's ministry. We had 800+ kids on campus each day this year for VBS. There were more kids here each day of VBS than we had on Easter weekend!! Needless to say, many of them were visitors. I am not sure of the exact number, but we registered around 1000 different kids for this event. We have seen dozens of families come and experience Hope as a result of their initial experience at VBS. Sounds like a pretty good return on investment to me.

3. There is no greater way for us to get new volunteers flowing into our kids ministry. We require a massive volunteer staff to pull VBS off effectively, and most of those volunteers are new to working with kids at Hope. We get them on board for a week, and many of them stick around and help us out on a regular basis afterwards. It is awesome to hear people tell their stories of how working VBS helped them connect to Hope and to the kids ministry for the first time.

4. We do a family night at the end of VBS each year (on Thursday night because we only do a 4 day VBS). This is a huge opportunity to have moms, dads, grandparents, and brothers/sisters come to the church. This year we ran two services and gave away a ton of prizes. This was a great opportunity for our Pastors and staff to show the community that we really do care for them.

I have always used Group's VBS curriculum. It is well done, and allows for kids to move from station to station. We really enjoyed VBS this year. Let me know if you have any questions!

10 Things I have learned

2010-08-24T14:53:00.003-05:00

I have been in full time kids ministry for more than 10 years now, and I have been able to learn a few things along the way. Some of them would not be very appropriate to talk about in this setting, but all of them have helped to shape me into the leader that I am today. Here are the top Ten Things that I have Learned:

1. Less is More

2. Attitude is Everything

3. Never do Ministry Alone

4. If You aim at nothing, you will always hit it.

5. Someone will always feel cheated.

6. Excellence is Hard/Average is Easy

7. Everything Rises and Falls on Relationships

8. Read to Succeed

9. The individual is always more important than the ministry.

10. Teams are great when they work.

Hopefully, over the next few weeks we will dive into a few of these.

Each of them might seem simple, but they are huge to me. I use each of them on an almost daily basis.

Schoolz Out Days

2010-08-24T12:52:00.002-05:00

This event is designed to be a fun way for kids to get to know each other and members of my leadership team. The event runs from 8:30-4:30 on Tuesday-Thursday, and it happens the first full week that kids are out of school.

This year for day 1 we created our own "waterpark" here at the church with slides and squirt guns. It was a huge success and the kids came back on day 2 ready for more fun. On Day 2 we took the kids to a place called Main Event. It is an arcade/bowling/laser tag facility that the kids really enjoyed.

The final day we spent at Hawaiian falls water park. This was the highlight of the week, and I was really glad we made the decision to go there for Day 3 this year.

Over all, the event was a tremendous success. We had 125 kids registered, and I was turning kids away over the last few days leading up to it.

This event is strictly for fun. We don't provide any scholarships for this event, and it is aimed at kids 7-11 years old.

Summer Events

2010-08-20T11:39:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this summer of ministry has been incredible. We saw tremendous growth in all three of our summer events. I like to have three events for summer because they allow me plenty of time spend with kids and develop those important relationships between them and our team.

The three events that we do are as follows: Schoolz Out Dayz (June 8-10), Vacation Bible School (June 28-July 1st) and Adventure Quest Kids Camp (July 25-28).

As you can see, the events are spaced out just far enough apart that we have time to get ready for each of them, and moms and dads don't feel like their kids have something they have to do every week of summer.

Got to run for now, but on Tuesday I will begin explaining the purpose of these events (each one serves a different one) and try to explain what they entail.

I most not be a good blogger

2010-08-19T14:35:00.002-05:00

Wow, so I guess it has been a while. Not that anyone probably reads this anyways, but I think I should probably start blogging again. I have had one of the most difficult summers of my life while having one of the most productive ministry summers of my life.

Never thought those two would go hand in hand. I have seen some unbelievable highs and lows in the last 4 months and every time I think that things are starting to level out, another one hits.

I am tired I think more than anything. Physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually tired. I think I have gotten to a point where I can see clearly the few things that are truly important in my life and I want to make sure that I am living by the priorities that need to guide me.

I hope to blog more over the next couple of weeks. There are some pretty exciting things happening with AK, and I want to do my best to communicate clearly all that God is doing in and through me. I would certainly covet your prayers during these exciting times though.

3 More Quit-Yippeee

2010-03-16T14:38:00.002-05:00

OK, so Yippeeeee was not exactly my initial reaction. I found our on Sunday that one of the members of my 3rd Service children's ministry team was stepping down for a while, and then, on Monday morning I got an email from two more volunteers in the 3rd service, letting me know that they were stepping down for personal reasons as well. Normally, 3 volunteers would not be a very pleasant loss, but in 3rd Service, those 3 Volunteers represented half of my Kids church Staff.

SO, what am I to do? Well, the only thing that I can do is practice what I preached for almost 2 weeks in Kenya. I have to begin recruiting like Jesus did, find people who will be the right fit, and then work hard to train and grow them into the people that God has for this group of kids. It will not exactly be fun, but it will be a challenge, and I love Challenges!!! So here we go.

2010-03-12T07:42:00.003-06:00

Just a few of the pictures that I can't seem to get off of my mind! Thanks God for allowing me the opportunity to serve you in Kenya for the last few weeks.

Struggle #2

2010-03-12T07:35:00.002-06:00

The Next major struggle that every kid's ministry faces is the struggle for validity, let me explain. Often times in ministry, the leadership and membership of the church tends to see the real ministry as what happens within the Adult Sanctuary. They have a heard time viewing children's ministry as important or even anything more than a "necessary evil". By evil I mean that it is looked at as a ministry that they have to have, but one that is just a sort of money pit. Leadership realizes that they must have a Children's ministry, but only so that the adult ministry will be more successful, or so that the church will be more appealing to visitors.

I would argue that this way of thinking is not only wrong, but unbiblical. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." How often do we put children aside so the "real ministry" can happen? Jesus himself wanted us to make sure that kids were ministered to. He understood what we sometimes forget, "Christianity is only one generation from being extinct!"

I am thankful to serve at a church that values kids and kids ministry. Hope has been a great church that cares for the spiritual health of the entire family! I pray that we can lead the way for other churches to follow and truly validate Children's Ministry!

Struggle #1

2010-03-05T00:11:00.000-06:00

As I have spent the last few days in Kenya, I am becoming increasingly aware that all churches face the same problems. It really doesn’t matter the location of your church (or even the time zone you find yourself in), it comes down to a few basic struggles that we all face.

Struggle #1 Volunteers- I have yet to find a church that has every volunteer it could possibly need. I have found a few that think they do, but that illusion is usually dissolved rather quickly when you begin digging deeper into their situation. On the surface, it is easy to appear to have it all together, but most of the time there is more than “meets the eye”!

I have been spending time with the leadership team of a church here in Nairobi called ICC (International Christian Centre). Their leadership is struggling to develop teams of volunteers, and I have been helping to guide them through some discussions on how they can better minister through teams.

Jesus worked on a team. He knew that nothing great is ever sustainable if it is built on the shoulders of one individual. Think about it, not even Michael Jordan ever won an NBA Championship without the help of an incredible supporting cast. Too often in ministry we see people with the “Lone Ranger” approach. They think that a ministry built on them will serve them best, but who wants to see years of hard work crumble when they leave for another ministry opportunity? Does that bring honor to God? Or would God receive greater honor from a ministry that doesn’t skip a beat when a key leader steps aside?

I know that God has called me to lead teams. It is part of who I am and it is what I love to do. I pray that my passion for teams will spread through ICC and churches around the world so that we can reach even more kids and families with the love of God through teams of people who are committed to serve!

Team Building

2010-03-04T01:53:00.002-06:00

I have spent the last several days in Nairobi, Kenya working with Chris Exley. I have been leading discussions at ICC, a KAG church that is progressive and definitely on the right track when it comes to Children's Ministry.

I have learned a few things in my short time here already, and I hope to continue these conversations over the next few posts. This is what I have learned:

1) Churches, no matter how big or how small (or where they are at in the world), are struggling with the same problems!

2) Basic team building principles, when applied, have the potential to revolutionize the way a church does ministry.

3) Biblical Leadership principles can be applied and are never culturally irrelevant.

4) God is doing something in children's ministry around the world that I really want to be a part of!

5) Family ministry is a powerful movement that is not just sweeping America, it is a global movement.

My time here has been both eye opening and heart wrenching, but I know that God is doing something in me and through me.

Important Relationship #1

2009-11-23T15:36:00.002-06:00

The Single most important relationship that any kids pastor can have is his/her relationship with God. Bottom line is you can't continue to pour from a well that is dry. If I am not feeding my relationship with God daily, I am in danger of burnout, frustration, and a genuine dislike of people.

Sam Luce does a great job in an article for the latest article of K Magazine of discussing the importance of the Kids Pastor's relationship with Christ.

Important Relationship #2

2009-11-17T19:28:00.002-06:00

The next important relationship that every CP should have is with his/her family. I have two little girls (and a little boy on the way) who call me daddy. I have come to realize that there are a lot of people who can minister to the boys and girls in my church, but there is only one person who can be daddy to my kids.

Old school thinking says, "God, you take care of my family and I will take care of your church." Lots and lots of ministers went through life following this philosophy. Unfortunately many of them laid their families down on the altar of "the church".

I believe that God wants us first and foremost to be the shepherd of our own homes. What kind of kids pastor can I be if my own kids grow up resenting church and God because I couldn't keep my priorities in line with God's word.

I as a Kid's Pastor have to make sure that my relationship with my wife and kids is where it needs to be before I can even begin to worry about the church. To learn what the Bible says is expected of a person in leadership with regards to his/her family, just check out 1 Timothy 3. Pretty powerful stuff.

God help me to make sure my kids and my wife know that I love them.

Important Relationship #3

2009-11-10T16:17:00.002-06:00

The next vital relationship for every CP is that relationship he/she has with other Children's Pastors. I have a group of friends who are CP's in churches all across the country. My relationship with each of them is different. Let me give you a few examples of what I get from these relationships:

1) Friendship- I can't tell you how important my friendship is with these other Children's Pastors. It is awesome to know that I can always pick up the phone and ask any one of them to pray for me or my family. We do our best to make time for one another. If I am going through a rough patch in ministry or in my family life. I can call on one of them not necessarily for advice as much as for an ear.

2) Mentoring- I love to learn from my friends. I also enjoy sharing new ideas with them when they come along. We make it a habit to learn from one another on a regular basis.

3) Accountability- There are usually very few people in a pastor's life who will call them up and ask them the hard questions (questions about motives, thoughts, and integrity). It is nice to have a few people who aren't afraid to do that for me.

Scripture is clear, "As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another". We need relationships with other Children's Pastors that will challenge us and encourage us to be all that God is calling us to be.

Important Relationship #4

2009-11-06T09:34:00.002-06:00

The next Relationship on our list is with the Pastoral Team you work with in your setting. For me, that includes the following: a counseling pastor, a care pastor, a media arts pastor, a worship pastor, a youth pastor, a missions pastor, an operations pastor, and an executive pastor. My relationship with each of these individuals has to be on the right path, or Adventure Kidz will not be working at it's full potential. Let me give you a few examples:

1) The Executive Pastor and the Children's Pastor: In our setting the Executive Pastor handles all of the financial decisions, all dealings with the admin team, and a whole bunch of other "fun" stuff. If we are not working well together, or if I am not communicating clearly with him, there could be delays in purchases and other issues for Adventure Kidz. I am thankful for a good relationship with Mark. It helps to have an executive pastor who cares about kids ministry and sees its value/importance in the grand scheme of things here at Hope.

2) Youth Pastor and the Children's Pastor: This relationship tends to be very strained in most settings. Usually this stress is brought on by one of the following factors: competition for space, competition for resources (including but not limited to people and money), and a really ugly thing called jealousy! It is foolish for me as a kids pastor to allow any of these things to come between me and our Youth Pastor. Let's think about this for a minute. Each year where do the kids who graduate out of Adventure Kidz go? Duh, the Youth Ministry! So shouldn't I, if I truly cared about the kids, be doing everything I can to make their transition as smooth as possible. How do I do that? Simple answer is that I become his biggest fan (I might go into this more in future posts). I have to allow the kids in our Kids Ministry to see that he and I are good friends and we are working together. Anything less than a great relationship here does a severe disservice to our families and kids.

I have to be able to work hand in hand with all of the members of our Pastoral team. They can't be successful without kids ministry and kids ministry can not be successful without them!

Important Relationship #5

2009-11-04T15:50:00.002-06:00

An essential relationship that every kids pastor needs to have is one with his/her key leadership team. I have 5 people who make up my Adventure Kidz Leadership Team. These 5 include my Girls Ministry director, my Boys Ministry director, my Early Childhood director, my Administrative Assistant, and my Volunteer director. These people are essential to the success of the kids ministry. I have to make time for them and make sure they know how much I value each of them. These are the people who I meet with on a regular basis, they are some of my best friends in ministry and in life.

I have to spend a significant amount of time with this group of people because they are the ones who have to know my heart and the reasons why I make the decisions I make. If my relationship with one of these people is even the slightest bit off, it could end in huge disaster.

Your setting might be different, either larger or smaller, but you must have a core team of leaders that you surround yourself with. No one can do ministry alone and no one can lead effectively by themselves. I work best in teams and this team is the one that I pour my time and energy into!

Everything Rises and Falls on...

2009-11-03T15:58:00.002-06:00

Everything rises and falls on Leadership. I have heard this (and said this) so many times, I think it has become almost cliche'. I mean how many John Maxwell books do you have to read to learn the importance of leadership in almost every area of ministry. I understand this statement and I actually completely agree with it, but I think it is missing something.

I had the privilege to join my Pastor about two weeks ago for a Church Planting Event he was speaking at at SAGU. He was sharing with a group of students there who had some interests in church planting. His topic was leadership and the importance of it in the beginning stages of church planting. He said,

"Everything Rises and Falls on Relationships".

As I sat there and listened, I had some time to process what he actually said. When you think about it, that is so huge!!! Everything that I do as a Kid's Pastor is tied to the relationships that I have and how I have developed them. I can't expect my leaders to know my heart if I haven't shared it with them. I can't expect to get anything accomplished at all if I don't have a good, "healthy" relationship with my Senior Pastor and the rest of the church staff. I can't expect the kids that I have the awesome honor of serving to grow spiritually if they feel like I don't value them personally.

Relationship in ministry is huge. Over the next few posts I will share the 5 most important relationships that I think Every Kids Pastor should have.

fall festival

2009-10-29T10:32:00.002-05:00

Here is some video from our fall festival!

An Uncle Again

2009-10-29T10:21:00.002-05:00

Just found out that I am officially Uncle Scott for the 5th time now. Joey Bland was born about an hour ago now. 6 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long. Currently mommy and baby are both doing well. I am so proud of my little sister and her husband Kevin! Love them and wish I could be there to give my new nephew a hug!! (Times like these remind me how much I miss my Family)

The Volunteer Director

2009-10-29T09:49:00.001-05:00

What is the single greatest resource we have as Children's Pastors? I have read a lot lately on twitter and other CP's blogs about the top ten resources and the "toys every Kid's Pastor should have", but there is one resource that I can never live without-PEOPLE.

It would be impossible for me to have a successful ministry for the boys and girls of Hope Fellowship if I did not have the passionate, God-honoring team that I have. I am blessed to have a team that is truly committed to serving the families of Hope.

The question for me has always been, "How do I continually grow and develop this team to it's full potential?" If you are a kid's pastor long enough, you know that there are about a million things to do each week, so where do I find the time to 1) Recruit 2) Train 3) Encourage or 4) Communicate with more than 180 volunteers. There is no way 1 person can do all of this. That is why I have developed a brand new position for Adventure Kidz, the Volunteer Director. The Volunteer Director is responsible for anything and everything that happens with Volunteers. She (I only say she because right now the individual filling this position is a woman) assists me with every interview we have for new volunteers, she runs our New Staff Orientation Meeting, and she helps out with the recruiting process for all areas of Kids Ministry.

I have been blown away with the success of this position, and I will continue to post updates on the progress we are making.

2009-10-21T14:35:00.002-05:00

I have been a kids pastor for more than 9 years now, and I've been here at Hope Fellowship for almost 3 years. I feel like I finally have landed on a system for placing volunteers in classes. Here are the steps we take:

1. Potential Volunteer fills out a Ministry Application and turns it in.

2. My Assistant runs the background check and passes the application on to our Volunteer Director (more on this position in my next post).

3. Our Volunteer Director checks the references of the individual and makes the initial contact from us to them.

4. An interview is set with the Potential Volunteer and Me (I personally interview every volunteer who works with kids at Hope Fellowship, more on this in a future post).

5. The interview takes place and the New Volunteer is assigned a ministry position (they are then introduced to their direct supervisor in that new position).

6. The New Volunteer attends an Orientation meeting (we hold one of these the first Wednesday night of every month).

7. The New Volunteer begins their ministry assignment and the Volunteer director checks up with them (usually via email/phone) the following week to find out how they like it.

8. After 3 months, the New Volunteer is reinterviewed by the Children's Pastor to confirm their desire to stay in that class or to find out if another role might bette suit their giftings/interests.

This system is not perfect, we are still looking to develop it further, but so far it is working great!

Taking Care of Volunteers

2009-10-20T15:18:00.002-05:00

One of the coolest things I get to do as a Kids Pastor is work with volunteers! I have a few ideas for kids pastors out there who are struggling with ways to keep your team motivated:

1. Birthdays and Anniversaries- I had my assistant place the birthdays and the anniversaries of my entire kids church team on my calendar. This allows me to send each of them a quick note of encouragement on their special days.

2. Thank You cards- Saying thank you is the most effective thing you can do in my opinion for a volunteer. So often, we take volunteers for granted, but a simple note of thanks for a job well done goes a long way!

3. New Volunteer Process- We have a step by step process for every volunteer to go through to make sure they understand and they are ready for the commitment they are making. (I will talk more about this in my next post.)

4. Talk to them- I interview every volunteer in our ministry once a year. It takes forever, but it is one of the most beneficial things I can do with my time. It gives people a chance to let me know what they like and don't like about volunteering, and it lets them know that I value them and their contribution to achieving our goal.

5. Pray for them....I have a stack of Volunteer pictures that sits on my desk and I try to pull it out weekly and pray for each of the people who are serving our kids (bonus: this also helps me remember names!!!).

Been a While

2009-10-17T00:59:00.003-05:00

Wow, seems like a long time since I sat down to post anything...maybe because it has been. I have had a lot going on the last few months. Here are some of the things that I feel like God is teaching me:

1. Everything rises and falls on Relationships...heard my Pastor say this to a group of students just the other day at a Church Planting session he was doing. Wow, hit me right between the eyes. I feel like I have some pretty deep relationships with my team here at Hope. I know though that in order to go farther and go stronger, I am going to need to pour even more energy into those relationships.

2. There is a lot in a name...I have finally picked a name for my son (he is due in about a month and a half. His name will be Mason Scott Berkey. It only took me like 7 1/2 months to come up with it, but I really like it. I had it narrowed down to 3 names for about a month, I was so worried about picking his name. It is something that he is going to have with him forever and I want him to love it (a side note here would be that my dad said, "well you didn't name him sue, so he can't hate you to much if he doesn't like it." I thought that was pretty funny).

3. Teams are awesome!!! If you have ever read this blog, you know that I love teams...over the last few weekends we have had our Mpact and Champs sleepovers and it has been an awesome thing to watch those teams of leaders come together. Things are really headed in the right direction.

4. I love Hope Fellowship...I guess I always have, but lately I can really feel it. I love almost everything about it, especially my Pastor. The last few weeks I have been encouraged every time I have been around him. It is so awesome to serve a man of God that truly loves People.

5. Friendship is pretty stinking important to me...I know that is probably not the most grammatically correct phrase, but after some things happening I have realized that my friends hold a pretty important spot in my heart/life. There are few things that will get me angry faster than when someone is trying to mess with my family and my friends.

That is enough for now. I should probably try to start doing this a bit more often. Not sure why I haven't. Good night!

Mondays

2009-08-31T15:51:00.002-05:00

I don't usually work on Mondays, and it is amazing to me how quickly my body and mind can fall into habits. This week, I am working on a Monday because we are headed out of town to spend some time with Sarah's family. We leave Friday, so I switched my normal day off to save a vacation day. Wow, I am exhausted. My usual routine for Mondays is getting up (after sleeping in) and making breakfast for the girls. Usually we will run some errands and then it is back to the house for family nap time. I am really missing some family nap time right now :)

Oh well, the day is coming to a close, and we will be on our way to Colorado around 2:30-3:00 Friday morning.

It's a Boy!!!

2009-07-13T21:14:00.001-05:00

Found out today that our third child will be a boy! I really didn't have a preference, my only prayer was that all would be good and the baby would be healthy, but now I can honestly say that I am really excited. I love my girls and I am looking forward to loving my Boy!

Busy

2009-07-02T00:45:00.002-05:00

I think I could be one of the worst bloggers ever. Maybe because I don't really consider myself a "blogger". I watch others post countless twitter updates about new blog posts, and I think to myself..."I don't even have time to read that many blogs, how could I ever write that many". I guess this is a "season" of ministry and life that I am in right now. I want to be better than what I have been.

I do all kinds of things to help myself make this more of a priority, but nothing seems to work. I even set up a weekly reminder telling myself to post something/anything to get back in the habit. It is really too easy to ignore that reminder :)

Things have been unbelievable lately. I have had so many things happen since my last post, some good, some bad, some really ugly, but God is faithful (even when I am not so faithful to post to this blog), and He always sees me through.

I will do my best over the next few days to post some thoughts that I have had about life, ministry, and faith. Hopefully, whoever (if anyone) reads this will get something from it. God has really been showing me some things lately.

Gotta go to sleep now though. I am picking up breakfast for 130 of the world's greatest volunteers in like 6 hours.

2009-05-24T23:17:00.003-05:00

Today was awesome!! I am blessed with a great team. Today, they really shined. We were missing a huge number of team members today, but the people we had, they were awesome. We had teaching team members filling in in classrooms, lead teachers going way above and beyond the call of duty, and a bunch of volunteers really stepping up. Great job team. I really love you all! PS

Leadership Challenge

2009-05-20T12:27:00.002-05:00

As I said before, I have been thinking a ton lately about a few of the leadership challenges that I am currently facing. I think we (Adventure Kidz) are sitting at a crucial moment in our journey. I pray all of the time, "Lord don't let me get in the way of what you want to do!" I want God to do incredible things for kids and families here at Hope and I know it is going to be crucial for us to lay the right foundation now, so that this "building" doesn't collapse a few years from now.

The right leaders: I need to have the right people on the bus...but what do those people look like and how do I need to train them. (big questions, if you are part of my leadership team, know that I am looking at you and evaluating you now:).

The right Places: I really don't want to put people just anywhere I happen to have a need. I want to get people into the spots where they will thrive. I think I am looking for a Elementary Director and a Volunteer Director. These are two positions that I feel will take us to a whole new level, never know though, we will see.

Pray for ME!

summer is coming

2009-05-19T15:41:00.002-05:00

Summer time is a great time around a kid's ministry. Camp, VBS, and other fun activities make for a great time of getting to know kids outside of the normal environments! I am really looking forward to this summer. We have some great things planned for our kids and I know there are going to be some special moments for our boys and girls.

This summer we have three major events: Schoolz Out Dayz, VBS, and Camp. Each of these events serves a different purpose for us, and each requires an unbelievable amount of preparation. Going to be fun!

2009-05-08T19:28:00.004-05:00

You know it has been a while when your mom tells you that you need to update your blog! :)

I have been swamped at church lately. I use the term swamped because it feels like I am constantly moving and going, but not getting very far at all. You know how it feels when your feet are stuck in mud. You can expend a tremendous amount of energy, and only move a few inches. I have felt that way a lot lately. When I take my eyes off of the mud though, and I stay focused on the direction that God has for me, I realize that I am traveling pretty fast. In the last two months (the time since we moved to two services) we have grown an average of 45 kids. That has taken us from the 375-390 weekend mark to the 425-440 weekend mark for kids. I know that doesn't sound like a huge jump, but that doesn't even take into account our Easter Weekend (573) and our Grand Opening Weekend (650). Those weekends were incredible. For Grand Opening we were blessed with the opportunity to have pureNRG. I was thrilled with their performance and their attitudes. They were great! (Madeline really enjoyed getting to know them as well, I haven't stopped hearing their cd.)

I think the swamp like symptoms are a result of some serious leadership challenges that I am facing. I have always staffed Adventure Kidz to be a larger ministry than what it currently is (for example when Sarah and I arrived here in January of 2007 we immediately began to staff for a kids ministry of 400, AK was only avg. about 275 at the time). It is my belief that God will only give us what we are capable of handling (I think that is somewhere in scripture!) and therefore, I wanted to do my part in preparing the way for more kids. One problem with this mode of thinking though: we have hit 400, now what?

Well, after some prayer and studying, I think God is wanting us to begin preparing for 650-700 kids. That is a significantly large jump. I have never been the leader of a ministry that large, and I know that it is going to take some "God" ideas to prepare us to do it. The first change that I think has to be made is with our Core Leadership team. Currently, we have 5 people who serve with me to lead AK. I feel like I need to reduce that number to 3. I want to have 3 people who each leads teams themselves... I just have to find the right people to feel those spots.

I will do my best to give you some more updates on this process.

Staff Meeting

2009-03-28T23:31:00.002-05:00

I feel so blessed sometimes! Tonight was definitely one of those times. We had an Adventure Kidz staff meeting tonight to prepare for a lot of changes that are about to happen in kids ministry. It was great. We had an awesome turnout and a great time of learning together.

I think the best part was seeing the group come together and get to know one another. We are rapidly expanding our volunteer team, and I feel like it is important for all of us to be on the same TEAM. The group seemed to have great conversation and I am excited to see where the Lord takes us as we strive to live for Him and teach His kids!

Pictures of Theming

2009-03-19T13:21:00.004-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures of the theming work that Planitbig has been doing for us.

Chris and the guys are really working hard to make our project look great. If you would like to know more, just shoot me an email and I can give you some info on what they are doing for us.

Proud of a Friend

2009-03-15T21:29:00.003-05:00

Got a phone call from a close friend a few hours ago, he is really my first "Timothy" in ministry. I met him when he was 13 years old and I was the brand new children's pastor at a church in Summerville, SC. His mom told me that he felt called into kid's ministry and wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help him learn what ministry was all about.

That was the beginning of a friendship that has grown tremendously over the last 8 1/2 years. Jonathon is now the Kid's Pastor at that church in South Carolina doing a phenomenal job. He called today to let me know that they were over 500 kids. It is awesome for me to hear this for a few reasons: 1. When I left SC a little over two years ago, it was my prayer that the ministry would continue to have an impact on the boys and girls of the community, obviously it is; 2. The team of people that we left behind still has a vision for greater things to happen in the lives of kids; 3. And the final most important reason is that a Young, Talented Kid's Pastor is "hitting it out of the park" for the kingdom of God.

I am really proud of Jonathon and Kimberly and all they have been able to accomplish. I know that Greater Things are yet to come and I can't wait to hear all about them.

Stress and Excitement!

2009-03-12T16:13:00.002-05:00

The last few weeks have been an incredible series of experiences! Since my last post, our theming has begun. I will try to get some pictures up in the next few days. All I can say is that it is incredible. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with PlanitBig . Chris and Jason our true professionals at their craft, and Hugo and the rest of the team have made things awesome.

We also had a huge weekend last Saturday and Sunday. My Pastor gave me the opportunity to explain some changes that we are making with our children's ministry. When I finished, he allowed me to present a challenge to the people of Hope Fellowship for 100 volunteers. The people of Hope responded well, and we have 65 new volunteer recruits who are in process (I have already had interviews and placed 6 of them). This will go a long way in helping us prepare for the flood of kids we are expecting to come our way when we have our Grand Opening on April 19th.

These have also been extremely stressful times for me. With all that has been going on with the move and completion of the facilities, I have been putting in some long hours and doing a lot of extra work (all of the staff have been spending tons of extra hours here getting ready for the new facility, not just me!) getting things ready to go. On top of that, the electrical company wired our AV plugs wrong and zapped my church laptop (It had to be replaced) and when they told me that the problem was fixed, I brought my home laptop up here to run the service, and sure enough, ZAP! the problem wasn't quite fixed (the good news is I got two new computers out of the deal, the bad news is a huge headache).

All in all, stress and excitement, I have been able to see God's hand at work in this time of my life. I am blessed with a wife that understands the seasons of ministry and she knows that thee extra hours away will not last forever.

2009-03-03T23:44:00.002-06:00

Moving is challenging! We had a huge group of volunteers show up on Sunday afternoon to help us move. Thanks to them, everything was moved in about an hour and a half. The only challenge was then sifting through all the stuff and getting the right supplies into each classroom. That is ongoing, though Helen got most of it done today with a team of volunteers.

I have always felt that Volunteers were the strength of the ministry, after these last few days I realize it even more. Thank you to everyone who has helped in this transition process!

Moving Day!

2009-02-25T23:44:00.002-06:00

Well, at least I hope it will be moving day! We are so close to the completion of our new elementary facility. This should be, our final weekend in our old space, for both Elementary and Early Childhood. We called for the certificate of occupancy today, and hopefully the nice inspector from the city of Frisco will come by and give us the thumbs up to move on Friday (the only day they do CO inspections here).

We have partnered with a company called PlanitBig to do all of our theming and I am super excited about what they are about to do. Their airbrush artists will begin the mural work on Friday afternoon, and the sculpture/styrofoam work will begin Monday. If you are looking for a theming company, Jason Mattingly and the guys from PlanitBig have been great to work with. They are a smaller company, which means less overhead/better prices. I will be posting several pictures of the process over the next few weeks as we move forward toward our grand opening on April 19th.

Interviews

2009-02-03T15:09:00.002-06:00

I have spent the last 4 weekends re-interviewing our entire ministry team. I have had conversations with almost every member of our weekend kids ministry team members. I think I have completed about 75 or 80 of these interviews. I am doing it for a couple of different reasons: 1. To make sure that we hear from people, what they like/dislike about what they are doing. 2. To get everyone on the same page, we are about to move to a new service structure, and I need to make sure that everyone knows what is about to happen. 3. To get people to buy-in. I am trying to find about 100 of our people who will commit to being a team member in either Early Childhood or Elementary. We need people to be Lead Teachers and Assistant teachers in Early Childhood, and to be Small Group Leaders and registration workers and teaching team members for kids church. It has been great hearing from our staff, what they like, where we can improve, and where we are getting it right.

I love serving with such a committed group of volunteers!

Retreat

2009-01-27T14:28:00.002-06:00

Had an amazing end to last week! I went with my Key Leadership Team from Adventure Kidz, and we spent a few days getting to know one another better and discussing the direction we will take for 2009.

I have an incredible team that I am so thankful for. Each of them brings their talents and gifts to the table to create a TEAM that is focused on doing great things for the kids that we are privileged to serve.

I would highly recommend this for any kids pastor who is trying to develop more of a sense of team unity. We did the retreat for less than $100, so even in an economically challenging time, it can be done.

To my team, Thanks for joining me, you all are incredible and a huge blessing to me and Hope!

A Dirty Word

2009-01-20T15:29:00.002-06:00

Change- We are all creatures of habit, and one thing that no one truly loves is change. I guess that is not entirely true, we don't really mind change when we can see the obvious benefits that are headed our way, but when there is even the slightest bit of uncertainty, change can be devastating! I have found that the only way to avoid change though is to stop breathing! I recently reread John Maxwell's book "Developing the Leader Within You". In it, he has a pretty remarkable quote..."the only thing that stays the same is the fact that change will always happen". Not sure if I got that exactly right, but you get the idea.

As we face change, or as we "cause/carryout" change, keep these three things in mind:

1. Information is key...make sure that everyone is well informed about the changes that you are about to make. The more info that they have, the less uncertainty they will have, the less uncertainty = the less anxiety.

2. Listen...Listen...and Listen some more. Most people will get on board with the change you are proposing, if they feel like they have had a voice. It is the people who are not able to communicate their frustrations to anyone who will cause the problems.

3. Pray... before making any change or talking about any change, bathe the issue in prayer. It is only by the Grace of God that any change will succeed. We deal with people, and we are unable to impact their hearts the way that the Creator of their hearts can. Keep going to Him with the plan, and make sure that it is centered on His will!!!

For the record, change usually equals growth!!!

2009-01-13T16:24:00.003-06:00

I was driving home from church the other day when my wife and I got to experience something pretty cool. Madeline, our 4 year old, loves music (she is always saying “turn it up daddy”) and she is starting to learn how to listen to the words of the songs that are on. She likes to sing along (remembering as many of the words to the song that her 4 year old mind can). We were listening to a song from the Passion CD “God of this City. The song was “Hosanna”, and I was almost brought to tears listening to my baby girl sing “ Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest”. I am pretty sure that she didn’t know what exactly she was singing, all she knew was that she was singing a praise song to her really big God. I went back and listened to the song one more time a little later, one of the verses jumped out at me. It said “I see a generation, rising up to take their place with selfless faith”. I couldn’t help but think of my little girls and all the children of Hope Fellowship rising up to take their place and do great things for the Kingdom of God.
Sarah and I are so blessed to be a part of the family of Hope Fellowship. Please join us and our entire kid’s ministry team as we pray for and raise up a “generation” that will soon “take their place” to do incredible things for God!

Planning Ahead

2009-01-06T14:32:00.002-06:00

It is a brand new year, 2009 in case you were wondering, and it is time to start planning for the summer time. I love these times, when my team and I get to dream about the stuff that God wants to accomplish in the lives of our kids. We had an hour and a half meeting this morning talking about our three summer activities and how we plan to promote them. It is going to be a great year and I can't wait for what this summer holds. Gonna be fun!

2008-12-23T11:31:00.002-06:00

The Blessings of God never cease to amaze me!!! I am blown away at the opportunities that I have sometimes, and the fact that God allows me to serve in His kingdom in this way astonish me.

I get to do some pretty cool things as a Kids Pastor. I get to be there when the "light" pops on in a kids head about Jesus' love, and I often get to lead them through the first few steps of their journey with God. I get to stand beside families who may be struggling and provide encouragement to kids who might be having a rough time. For the first time this year, I got to help a family through the loss of a grandfather by conducting the memorial service. I get to sit in waiting rooms with nervous parents as their "baby" has tests run to make sure "everything will be alright".

Why did God Choose Me? Why am I hearing doing what I love and getting the chance to do some really fun stuff when so many ministers and ministries struggle???

I honestly don't know, I can only thank God for every moment He allows me to serve Him. It is an honor to serve such a Great God!

Finishing Strong

2008-12-21T08:00:00.003-06:00

Watched a very interesting football game last night. Living in the Dallas Metro area, it seems as if the only team in America is the Dallas Cowboys. Personally, I am a Pittsburgh fan and I really can't stand the Cowboys all that much. I was however, cheering for them to win last night (not because I wanted them to win as much as I wanted their opponent to lose!). The end of this game got me to thinking about a leadership principle that I often don't even consider- "Finishing Strong".

I usually don't put much thought into finishing strong right now because I still consider myself to be relatively young. I have been in full time ministry for a little over 8 years, and "Lord Willing" I plan to have several more great years ahead of me in ministry, but I realized last night that the choices I am making right now and the habits I am forming will determine wether or not I "Finish Strong".

Just in case you didn't catch the game last night, the cowboys failed to win because of a breakdown in a very fundamental area of the game, Tackling. They simply failed to tackle in the final crucial moments of a game. Having never played football, I can't imagine how difficult it is to tackle a 260 lb. running back who is charging full steam ahead, but I do know that tackling is something that players are taught when they first begin to play the game.

It became very obvious last night that the Cowboys didn't prepare to win that game. That Preparation should have begun way back in August when they were in Training camp. They might have cost themselves a chance at the playoffs because of their inability to tackle at the end of the game.

I don't want to be like that, I want to make sure that I am prepared to Finish Strong, and the time to do that is right now, not later.

Productivity

2008-12-18T15:32:00.002-06:00

It is amazing to me the amount of work that can be done in the short window of time before a holiday or a vacation. I read a study several years ago that was pretty amazing. Some scientist actually did research on the productivity of employees during the days leading up to a vacation verses the "normal" work days in an employees year. It was something like 5 times the amount of work can be done in these few days leading up to a vacation. I can see it in my own life, this week (I am out of the office most of the next two weeks for holidays and vacation): I have gotten kids church written for the next three weeks, done research on some activities we are doing next summer, laid out the new structure for our ministry (when we move into our new facility and totally change the way we do ministry), and had several valuable meetings. It is crazy how much can be accomplished when it has to be accomplished.

2008-12-17T11:31:00.003-06:00

This was a post that I wrote for our Hope Fellowship Blog: you can find it here.
Enjoy!

I am sitting here in my office listening to the fire alarm go off every fifteen minutes, the pounding of the sledge hammers knocking down walls (it feels like my office wall is the one they are trying to knock down), and the buzzing of drills and other power tools working steadily to construct our new auditor. Hope Fellowship is certainly in a time of physical transition. It seems as though every day I come in there is something new and some change to the structure. Change can be very inconvenient, it is almost always messy (most of you only get to see it on the weekend when it has been “cleaned” thoroughly), and it is never easy! The only thing that keeps us going is the promise of the future.
It has been my experience that our journey with Christ is very similar. Each of us has a promise that we have received from God. God has incredible plans for our lives, He tells us in Jeremiah that He has plans to give us a future and a hope. You have probably received a “promise” from God. A promise for a future that looks so different from where you are at now, that you probably have no idea how it is going to happen. Before we can see the payoff of these “promises” (when it actually comes to pass) we have to go through a process. In that process God is preparing our hearts and our lives for the incredible payoff He has in store for us.
For us here at Hope, that process involves bulldozers, sledge hammers, and a bunch of concrete and metal. For each of us as individuals, it is usually a lot more complicated. Wouldn’t it be nice if God could send a “construction team” to take you from where you are to where He wants you to be! It doesn’t work that way though. I can remember singing a song as a little kid that talks about this very thing, it’s chorus said:
He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be. 
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, 
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. 
How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.

What is God taking you through right now? How is it “making you what you ought to be?” Are you willing to trust Him through the Process, so that you can see the Payoff?

“Enjoy the Journey”

Scott Berkey
Children’s Pastor
Hope Fellowship
www.justakidspastor.com

OK, So it is cold

2008-12-16T13:44:00.004-06:00

Today we woke up to some real winter weather. It has not been above freezing since sometime yesterday afternoon, and it is really nasty outside. I am not really a big fan of driving in this weather. Earlier this morning, when I was on my way into work, I turned a corner and the truck reminded me (by sliding to about a 45 degree angle) that there was ice everywhere. Not exactly what this Florida boy finds as a fun time.
It amazes me though, all the people who will not slow down. I heard a statistic when I got to the office, that by 4 am there had already been 90+ accidents in the North Dallas area. How many of those people could have saved themselves some headaches just by slowing down and using caution. Our spiritual life is a lot like that. It is so easy for us to fly right past all of the warning sings and the caution signs. We think one of two things, that "it won't happen to me", or "I know what I am doing, I can handle this". I can only imagine how God must feel when he looks down from Heaven and watches all of us running into stuff. I bet he would have us slow down and use caution during difficult times.

Leading Leaders

2008-12-11T11:27:00.002-06:00

I have been spending a great deal of time lately trying to figure out how to teach my Leadership Team to be leaders of leaders. They are each great leaders on their own, but in order for us to move to a new level, they need to become leaders of leaders. It is easy to lead followers. The added value comes when they become capable of leading other leaders. In Adventure Kidz, we are making a huge effort in the area of developing leaders during the spring of 2009. We sit at a crossroads, if we can make the right choices and develop our people, we can see some incredible things happen at Hope.
I have given each of my key leaders a copy of "Developing the Leader Within You". We are going to read through it together and spend some time developing their full potential. When we finish that book, we are going to follow it up with "Developing the Leaders Around You". Both of these John Maxwell books played a key role in my early leadership development, and I am hoping that they make a difference in the confidence level our our leadership team.

Team Leadership 3

2008-12-09T14:31:00.002-06:00

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am a big fan of teams. I have found that Teams can accomplish way more than individuals can. It is amazing the amount that healthy teams can accomplish. When you are developing a team, there are at least 3 types of individuals that you need in order to be successful:
1. Every team needs a dreamer:
What I mean by "dreamer" is that every team needs someone who helps them see what could be. A teammate that is constantly pushing the team to bigger/greater things. This member of the team never seems to be completely satisfied with the status quo, instead, they are pushing forward because they know how great things could be. Sometimes "dreamers" can get in the way though, because things still have to happen now, not just in the future.
2. Every team needs a driver:
A "driver" is the person who is constantly pushing the team forward to keep moving and keep accomplishing. They have a hard time sitting in meetings, they want to be out there doing. It is great to have these teammates because usually they are the ones that make things happen. You have to be careful with these team mates though, because sometimes they can be a little over zealous.
3. Every team needs a drummer.
A "drummer" is that team member that is constantly beating the "drum". They are the biggest champion of the vision and they are always communicating the vision to the team and to anyone who will listen. "Drummers" make it their mission to let everyone they come into contact with know that this is the "beat" of the team. They are great when they are "on-beat", but if they get off, on their own agenda, they can also be very destructive.

Make sure that your team has it's "dreamer", it's "driver", and it's "drummer". If you don't, you should probably look for someone who can help you fill in the gaps.

A Smile Goes a Long Way

2008-12-05T14:21:00.002-06:00

I do an experiment from time to time, I love walking around a store or the mall, and simply smiling at people. It is funny to see the reaction on most peoples faces. I don't recall a single person ever getting mad or offended, but I can remember hundreds of smiles in return. Try it sometime, simply smile at someone when you are sitting at a red light, or when you are waiting in line at the grocery store (be sure it is not a creepy "I am a weirdo" smile, but just a simple smile), and watch what happens. You don't even have to say anything, just smile, and I bet you will get a smile in return!
Wouldn't the world be just a little nicer if we all went around smiling at each other? Oh, and by the way, it works at church too!

Customer Service

2008-12-02T21:31:00.002-06:00

I am a big fan of looking at how companies and businesses operate. I read a lot of books/blogs about business and by successful members of the business community. Today I had an interesting experience with a company that I am somewhat familiar with: Apple. I have been using a Mac for about 6-7 years, and I think they are awesome, every experience that I have had up until today has been great, but today was definitely a different story. I walked into my local Apple Retail store today, helping a coworker try to fix a giftcard problem. I had purchased a gift card about a month ago, it was a gift that my Pastor wanted to give a friend as a thank you. The funny thing is, Apple had never charged us, and there was no money on the gift card! Big Problem! This could have been an easy fix, but instead, the associate told us we had to call corporate. So, we went out of the store made a phone call. 30 minutes later, still on the phone with "corporate" (which we are pretty sure is somewhere outside of the Western Hemisphere!) we are told that the only person who can fix the problem is the store manager. Back into The Apple store we go, and talk to a manager. He goes to the phone and we stand there... about 20 more minutes!
Turns out, Apple didn't charge us for the gift card, and therefore didn't put any money on the card...wow, I am pretty sure we told them that the first time we walked in!
This story got me thinking...How often do we treat people the same way. They often have a problem when they come to us, and we send them in as many different ways as possible. In ministry, we are in the people business, we should make it as easy on them as possible by eliminating hoops that they have to jump thru.

For the record, I am still a huge Apple fan, and this little experience will not change that!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T10:29:00.003-06:00

I want to make sure that the people who serve along side of me at Hope Fellowship know how grateful I am for each and everyone of them. I am amazed each week at the team of people who come together to serve our kids. It is a lot of fun. I had a God Idea of few weeks ago (I know it was from Him because I am not intelligent enough to think of it). I sent an email to all of the parents of Hope, and I was blown away at some of the responses. I thought I would share one with you:

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my appreciation with the Adventure Kids Volunteers. I am a single mom of a 20 month old girl. My husband left while I was pregnant. I was fearful I couldn't make it on my own. I was so afraid to leave my daughter with anyone, but I really wanted to come back to church. Miss Helen made me feel so comfortable leaving Kennedy with the volunteers in the nursery. I remember I almost cried the first day I left her in the nursery. Volunteers like Ginger and Shelby helped me to trust people again. Through my contact with the Adverture Kids Volunteers I realized it does take a village to raise a child and there are certain people you can trust for help. The hour and fifteen minutes I get in church is my time and these volunteers have made that possible. I have very little me time to grow my faith or to just relax and they have provided that for me.

There are no words to describe the appreciation I feel for these volunteers. They have helped me find the courage to rediscover my faith and live a normal life. I will be forever indebted to Hope Fellowship and the Adventure Kids volunteers. Thank you so much for all you do. You all touch my life weekly. I appreciate you and the sacrifice you have made to help a total stranger. Thank you!

Exciting Times

2008-11-11T20:10:00.002-06:00

Got a chance to sit through 3 incredible meetings today...Normally I am not really fond of meetings. I usually get so antsy that I can't sit still and I end up having to move around or find something else to focus my attention on. Today was different though. It began with a meeting of our Adventure Kidz Leadership Team. This is a team that I am forming to help me with the directional Leadership of Adventure Kidz. We are still forming this team, I have two more positions on the team that I would like to fill, but it is made up of myself, Helen and Jennifer (my Early Childhood Director and Administrative Assistant), Eric (my High Point Guy and Key Director), and Julie (my Girls Ministries Director). This team challenges me. I can be "set in my ways" sometimes, and this group is really pushing me to see things through a different perspective. This week we met to discuss two major events that have happened in the last few weeks, and to look at our 09 calendar. It was fun to meet with a group that is so committed to the ministry that God has placed them in.

From there, I went directly into our monthly leadership team meeting with the other Pastor's and staff of Hope. We discussed more of our mission and how we can continue to stay on course. We also went over the entire calendar for 09. It is always fun to meet with this group, though sometimes we have issues "staying focused." There are certainly never any dull moments :)

When we got back to the office after lunch, Helen and I looked at our new Early Childhood Structure. It was fun to dream a little bit, and look for opportunities to find the "perfect fit" for our leaders. It is our goal to make sure that every player on our team is in the position to score a big win for themselves and for Adventure Kidz!

I love these crazy times that I find myself leading it. As stressful as it is, it is so much fun!

-PS

Fun to be on a great team!

2008-11-10T09:50:00.004-06:00

Reminded again this weekend how awesome it is to be on a great team. When everyone is doing their thing and doing it great, and we all still work well together, that is truly fun!

What a weekend!

2008-11-10T09:50:00.003-06:00

This was a pretty incredible couple of Days at Hope Fellowship. On Thursday, my leadership team and I recognized the hard work that our volunteer teams have been doing all year long at our first "Leadership Appreciation Banquet". It was a fun time watching them come in and having the chance to honor them for all they have done. I had a "God-Idea" on Wednesday morning, and I sent out a request to the parents of Hope. I asked them to send me notes of appreciation to our team, or to send me a story from their experiences with our team. The emails came pouring in, and when I finally put the last ones together, we had nearly 15 pages of notes of encouragement. I was blown away by story after story of changed lives and families. It made me realize even more that God is using this team to do something special.

Two home runs to win the game!

2008-11-04T20:41:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I can get a bit discouraged. I am very much the type that wants to see things happen, and see things happen quickly. I am rarely satisfied with the progress that I see happening, and I am always looking for ways to improve. Every once in a while though, I am reminded by God that things move in His time, and not mine. Today was a long day, and at times felt like a very tedious day, but I got to see 5 of our girls play a softball game (two games, and all 5 of our girls were on the winning teams (oh yeah, and in the first one, they were down by two in the last inning, and one of our girls hit a home run to make it 2-1 and another one of our girls hit another home run with a girl on to make it 3-2) it was a ton of fun.)

I am reminded that my job is not the crowd that shows up on the weekends, although that is a big part of what I do, my job is to pastor the individuals, the kids and the team of people who serve those kids. I love doing what I get to do, and I love the people that God has blessed me with to serve alongside.

Being Just a Kids Pastor is really pretty cool sometimes!

Be Encouraged

2008-10-23T10:41:00.003-05:00

Life in ministry can be overwhelming at times. Right now we have a lot of "irons in the fire" if you know what I mean. We have our annual Fall Festival this weekend, we are producing about 12-15 minutes of video a week for our kids church service, and oh yeah, we are building a new auditorium, foyer, and kids facility. I am amazed at all of the things that are going on and going so well. I think the key is to maintain focus on the task at hand. It is so easy to feel like you are spiraling out of control.

Have you ever gone on one of those rides at the fair or at an amusement park that spins you around and around (I use to like those rides, now I guess I am getting too old, because they make me sick!). I learned a trick when I was younger, if you focus on one thing, and not allow your eyes to see everything else that is going on around you, it is much easier to not "lose your lunch". It is the same way in ministry I think. We, as a society (and therefore in ministry) are moving faster and faster. We have to keep our eyes fixed on the thing right in front of us to make sure we don't "lose our lunch"!

Be encouraged, seasons of life tend to be busier than others, and this is a season that is almost always busy for every kids pastor.

2008-10-18T21:45:00.002-05:00

Go Penn State!!!! My team had me a bit worried tonight. I got to watch the first half before church, and recorded the rest of the game. They lived up to their billing though and crushed the Michigan Wolverines in the second half. All we have to do is get through the Buckeyes next week, and we should be on our way to the BCS championship game.

This game made me think about leadership a little bit. It is easy to do just what Penn State was probably doing in the first half of the game. TO Look past the challenge you are facing, to a challenge that is coming in the future. Though they said all the right things, they were probably a little guilty of looking ahead to Ohio State next week. How many times have I done that. I have lost focus on the challenge at hand because I have too much of my attention on the challenge that is on the horizon.

The challenge for every leader is to focus on the task in front of you while spending enough time preparing your team and yourself for the future challenges you have to be ready for.

Go Penn State!!!! (Now we can worry about Ohio State)

This is Ministry

2008-10-15T22:20:00.002-05:00

I was reminded again today of something that I heard Craig Groeschel say at The Leadership Summit this year. He was talking about a particularly busy week he was having and how he ended up having to spend an extraordinary amount of time counseling one individual. He found himself getting frustrated, because he was not able to do the "work of the ministry". He said that he felt extremely convicted when God reminded him that "this is Ministry". Ministry is all about people. I have to remind myself of that fact almost every day. I am very much a systems and procedures type of guy. I find it difficult to slow down and spend time with people.

Today was one of those days, which seem to be coming a whole lot more frequently, that God reminded me that "this is ministry".

Thanks for the reminder God. Help me, and everyone else who has the privilege of serving you remember that ministry is not about programs and systems, but it is about people. Being there for people in the hardest moments of their lives and making sure that I am being your hands and your feet.

rest

2008-10-13T21:03:00.002-05:00

Mondays are typically my day off, and today was a great one. I got up at 5:20 and went for a run (a short one, but at least I am staying faithful, right???) I then met up with Eric around 5:35 am for a good workout. After we finished, I went upstairs, showered and went back to bed...but only for a little while.

Today was fun because Sarah and I took the girls and got Donuts. Myah experienced her First donut (she is very much like her daddy, she liked it). We then went to do some shopping for Myah's birthday. (Sometimes I can not believe how fast my little girls are growing up!!!).

From there, Sarah had a hair appointment and I had the girls for a while. We had a ton of fun.

As soon as Sarah got back we left for a Staff vs. Student football game (we won easily)

Finally made it home at around 4:45 and took a nap with MJ for 45 minutes before we were off to the Clanton home for some fun time. We had a great time.

I usually don't write a whole lot about personal stuff like this, but I am amazed that even though today was non-stop, I feel rested. It was a great day with family and friends, and I loved every minute of it.

Oh, and now we are watching Monday Night Football and MJ is yelling "GO PENN STEAK, GO PENN STEAK!!!!" She is a bit confused, but at least she is cheering for a great team!

Rest comes in all forms, todays rest was a bit more active, but it was still really great.

The Book "churched"

2008-10-07T13:24:00.002-05:00

Just finished a brand new book by Matthew Paul Turner called "churched- one kid's journey toward God despite a holy mess". If you are interested, you can find out more info at www.matthewpaulturner.com.

The book was a good read, it's title tells much of the story. It is a memoir book where Mr. Turner is taking readers through his childhood memories of growing up in a Fundamental Baptist Church. I was very skeptical at first while reading the book because I grew up in a very "holiness" driven church and culture as well, and I see many benefits to that "lifestyle" that are often overlooked by people who grew up hating it. I felt that the author did a fairly good job of depicting that "reality" without bashing it entirely.

As a kids pastor, it made me think about some of the lessons that I have taught, and how I need to make sure that I am communicating clearly to the little minds who are hearing me. I can see how easily some "lessons" could be misunderstood in the minds of kids and how it is necessary to make sure that every child understands.

I also appreciated what Mr. Turner had to say about some churches insatiable desire to "win" souls. I think that witnessing is important, and sharing our faith is huge, but I think there needs to be a greater emphasis on discipleship as well.

All in all, it was a good read. I would recommend it to mature believers who may have had similar struggles.

Team Leadership 2

2008-09-30T22:22:00.002-05:00

As I sit and watch "The Biggest Loser", I am reminded again about how it is all about teams. This year on the show, they paired contestants up with family members. It is allowing them to work together to achieve a goal. I want my team to work together to achieve the ultimate goal.

I have already talked about how important it is to have "faithful" members on the team, but I also think that it is vital to have the "detail" people on the team. I think of how Stephen, and several others, came along side the apostles to help them accomplish the gigantic task that was laid ahead of them. It was their hard work, and their attention to detail that allowed the apostles to focus on the study and preaching of the word of God. I think detail people are awesome because they allow the leader to focus on what only the leader can focus on.

So, it has been a while...

2008-09-29T15:25:00.002-05:00

This has been an unbelievably busy month. With family coming in, a conference in Indiana, and a ton of stuff going on at Hope, things have been crazy fun.

I have been thinking a ton lately about team leadership. Specifically, who do I need on the team if the team is going to win. I have been able to come up with a few "types" that have to be on the team in order to have a winning team. The first one I know for sure is the "faithful" player. The Faithful player is high on the priority list because they are the one that can help you keep things moving. They are always there, making things happen and helping the leader get things done. I am thankful that I have several members of this "type" on our team. The key to keeping "faithful" people on the team is making sure that they know how much you appreciate them and making them aware of all that they are doing to make your life easier.

I love leading a team of people that is committed to making Hope Fellowship a great place for kids and families!

IT

2008-08-09T20:05:00.004-05:00

Went to the Leadership Summit this week. It was pretty good overall! I am still not a big fan of the video venue concept for a conference, I would much rather be there in person to completely experience the event. It was nice though to be able to come home to the girls each night.

I think the session that was the most impacting to me was the Craig G. session on IT. His talk was all about the need to have IT and what churches have to do to get IT. His main point was that before the church/organization can have IT, the leader must have IT. The only way that a leader can have it is he/she Asks God for IT, and Earnestly seeks IT. I really enjoyed IT.

This was my second time hearing him speak and I was thoroughly impressed again. He wrote a book on IT and I am in the Process of reading it.

The other sessions were good as well, but that want hit me.

Camp

2008-08-04T09:45:00.002-05:00

Camp is over! It is funny how something you look forward to for so long, something you work so hard to prep for, something that can make such a difference in the lives of my kids can be over so quickly.

This year was incredible! We ended up taking 109 kids to camp (one went home on the first day, so we actually had 108 of our Adventure Kidz at the Camp). We had 26 staffers from Hope as well. The team of leaders that I had was incredible. I knew that they were going to be good going in, but they surprised me with their passion for the kids and their willingness to serve. I can't say thanks enough.

I have already reserved the facility for next year! Outside of a few difficult moments at the pool, the facilities were great! The food was good, the beds were soft (Just kidding, they were hard as a rock), and the kids seemed to have a great time.

I did feel like we learned quite a bit this year. There are some definite changes in store for Adventure Quest next year! Great job team, I look forward to serving along side of you for many kids camps to come.

Adventure Quest

2008-07-18T21:55:00.002-05:00

I am getting so excited about camp! Right now we are taking about 94 kids to camp and that number is rising daily. We leave in a little over a week and we are doing our own kids camp for the first time. It is going to be fun. We are partnering the church of a good friend of mine, he is also bringing about 100 kids. It is going to be so much fun.

I already have a great team going with us, all that is left is getting all the paperwork together.

I can't wait.

The Forum

2008-07-16T22:12:00.003-05:00

I wanted to make everyone who may be interested aware of a great new ministry resource: The CMA Forum It is a great way for kids pastors to connect with others from around the country. Great job CMA team.

Yes, it has been a while

2008-07-16T22:05:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since I have posted, but things have been crazy busy. In kids ministry, I think summer time can be the most productive/least productive time of the year. It can provide some great relational times: Camp, Day Camp, and other great events. But at the same time, there is an overwhelming amount of preparation time that goes into these events, and the best part of it all is that the normal "ministry stuff" does not stop just because you are preparing for summer activities.

I am excited though, we are about to hire an Administrative assistant to help us move forward in ministry. I think this new position will help me find ways to be more productive and be even more relational with the team I lead and the kids of Hope.

Building a Team

2008-06-30T22:37:00.002-05:00

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I feel like the greatest way to lead is through teams. I have been blessed with a great team, and it is becoming even greater. I think it is my job as the leader of the team to make sure that every member of the team is moving in the right direction.

There are people on the team that are on all different levels. Some are brand new to the team, it is my job to make sure they are finding their place, and feeling like they are a part. That is why we are working our way through interview after interview. Other members, ones who have been on the team longer, need me to challenge them and stretch them. Team members like Julie and Eric need new leadership challenges. I have to make sure that they are learning to lead leaders.

This leadership challenge is the greatest one of my life, but it is also the most fun I have ever had!

St. Paul Assembly of God

2008-06-27T09:29:00.003-05:00

I Have spent the week in St. Paul, Va with a good friend, Jimi Watson. Besides not having any cell phone coverage, or even a Walmart for about 15 miles in either direction, we have had a great week. Wednesday we got to visit the world's fastest half mile! Bristol Motor Speedway was really cool. I got to climb up the embankment and touch the wall, visit the track owners "SWEET" (yes I know it is suite, but you should have seen it), and stand in victory lane (which at Bristol is on top of a building). I even got to take a few laps on the track, we were in a tour bus, so the experience was more frightening than it was exciting.

I have had a great time here though. Jimi has taught me some great leadership lessons and really taken time to pour into my life about what it means to truly pastor people. He has a love for this city and these people that is obvious. I know he will do great things here. I want the love in my heart for the kids of Frisco, McKinney, and the surrounding areas to be as real and as visible as Jimi's love for these people is. I know that God has called me to Hope and I believe great things will begin to happen as we continue to move forward with that call!

Feeling Prepared

2008-06-18T22:35:00.002-05:00

Have you ever felt unprepared for something? I hate the feeling of walking into a room full of kids and not being completely ready. It really seems like more things go wrong when I am unprepared than when I am set and ready to go. I can have my service prepped and all the things completely ready to go, and nothing will go wrong. Or I can come into the room and not be quite ready to go, and everything will fall apart. I had a coach in College who would always use a popular saying, "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance". I want to do my part to be prepared so that God can use me to great things.

What a Weekend

2008-06-17T20:19:00.002-05:00

We made an emergency trip to SC this weekend. I learned a few things along the way:

1. I have a great right hand man, and an incredible team here at Hope. You all are awesome, I had no doubts that you all could handle things flawlessly!

2. I want to leave a Legacy. We went for the funeral of a former Pastor's wife. Hearing stories and watching people, she obviously left her mark on her Family, her church, and the world.

3. My Butt falls asleep after multiple hours in the front seat of our truck (that one was just for fun, but it did fall asleep multiple times).

4. I love Hope Fellowship. Much like the last time Sarah and I went back to SC (for Jonathon and Kim's Wedding) we realized how awesome God is and how much we enjoy serving Hope Fellowship now.

5. My wife is awesome! She is an amazing Mother and wife, and I love spending Quality Time with her (Like 37 hours in the truck over 4 1/2 days!). I love you Sarah.

6. God has a magnificent plan for my Life. I could see once again how God has orchestrated things in my life and really moved me to a new level as a leader.

7. Tell the ones you love how you feel every chance you get! Mrs. Tania Burgbacher was killed in a tragic car accident 50 feet from her driveway traveling at only 25 mph. You truly never know when your time might come to an end. YOU MUST be ready Spiritually and you must take every opportunity to tell the ones you love how you really feel.

This was a worldwind trip, I am glad we made it, but I am even more happy to be home.

I am looking for great things the next few weeks at Hope!

People

2008-06-11T23:40:00.002-05:00

I heard a saying once, "If it wasn't for people, the ministry would be a really easy job"! I can definitely appreciate that sometimes, but lately I think I have come to grips with the fact that we are here first and foremost to help People get closer to God. I am sometimes easily frustrated by people, some people are easily offended, some people are over-concerned, some people are "unwise" in the choices that they make, and some people are just plain lost. I think I had a turning point tonight in my ministry. I was really frustrated about a situation, and it was almost like a switch flipped and I understood that people are just people, they are going to frustrate you, disappoint you, and sometimes even hurt you, and you have to continue to love them no matter what, because that is what we as Christ-followers are called to do, LOVE GOD and LOVE PEOPLE.

It doesn't take away from the conflict, it just helps me to keep my focus and priorities where they need to be while I am dealing with the conflict.

I had a Pastor tell me one time, the individual is always more important than the ministry. I think that is what I have to keep in mind. I have to be worried more about people, as individuals and where they are at in their walk, than I am with moving the ministry from here to there. I think I lose sight of that pretty often.

interviews

2008-06-08T21:37:00.002-05:00

It was really cool to spend some time with some people today talking about Kids ministry. Everyone was really responsive. I think I did about 10 interviews this weekend, and everyone was excited to jump on board.

I started this interview thing to try and place people where they can be most effective, but what I found today was a totally unexpected benefit. People were able to share their stories and connect with Hope on a deeper level. It is cool to hear how people are all at different stages of their journeys. I really like this process and feel it is going to be really effective.

Momentum

2008-06-06T08:47:00.002-05:00

Momentum is a cool thing! I love it when everything is moving forward, and nothing feels like a struggle. Sometimes ministry can feel like pushing a giant rock. When you have momentum, it is like pushing that rock down a hill, and when momentum is not on your side, it can be like pushing that rock up a hill! I think the key is to take advantage of those momentum times and push the rock as fast and as long as you can. I feel like I am in that mode right now. With our kids ministry, we are pushing that rock as fast as we can because so many really cool things are happening with relatively minimal effort. It is my job to push and see even greater things happen during this time when God is blessing us with this powerful force called "momentum".

Teams and Interviews

2008-06-04T23:05:00.002-05:00

Continuing where I left off before, Teams are awesome only when they are utilized to their fullest extent. I am looking for ways to use my teams strengths to their fullest. I want to allow people to be fully used by God to do great things. I know that if I can get the right people on board, then powerful things can happen. Right now I have a bunch of really talented people serving along side me in ministry. I have the over-the-top energetic people, and I have the more reserved behind the scenes people. I want to capitalize on all these gifts and make sure that AK is a better place because of it.

I am trying to totally change the way we place volunteers in kids ministry at Hope. A few weeks ago, we had a huge influx of people that wanted to serve, 52 to be exact, and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to start are new system. We are tracking this process and we know exactly where each person is on the road to become a volunteer that will stay with us for a long time. Here is what we are trying to accomplish: First, a person will sign up to be involved with Kids ministry, they will then get an email from me and a follow up phone call. The email explains the process to them, and during the phone call I am setting up a personal interview. Once we get them into the interview, we have them fill out an application, so we can run the background check on them, and we also find out a little bit more about them as a person. We then share with them the different areas of Adventure Kidz, and we find out what they might be interested in. We are trying to place them based on their interests/strengths, instead of based on our needs. After the interview, we will place them in a position, and then do a follow phone interview at one month, and again at 3 months making sure they are happy where they are serving, if they are not, we will move them. I know this sounds like a lot, but I really feel like this process has the potential to take our volunteer team to a new level of excellence. (Imagine, a ministry where people are actually serving where they want to serve and where they feel like they can succeed. That would be something, wouldn't it). The next step in the process will be to find a test that I can give them that will let me know what some of their strengths/weaknesses are. Then, I can really set them up to do great things!

Team Leadership 1

2008-05-20T16:56:00.003-05:00

OK, so it has been a little while since I made a really legitimate post. So, here goes.

Teamwork is a really amazing thing.a I am a firm believer that the best way to accomplish anything is by getting the right group of people on the team, giving them the authority they need, and placing the right tools in their hands. I think that a lot of people have the wrong impression of what team leadership is all about. They want to have people on the team, but they fail to truly trust them. Yes, you can be burned by team members. I have certainly been hurt by people who I felt were key members of my team, but I have also been unbelievably blessed by members of my team. In order for a team to truly be effective, I feel that you have to give the team the trust that they deserve. It is easy to assign away the tasks that require no authority. By authority I am talking about the positions that can truly make or break your ministry. Leaders are often reluctant to give away the authority. They feel like they are the only ones qualified to make decisions. This is why, after being some where for a long time, they are still the ones picking out what kind of construction paper is going to be used for the craft this week. I know this may be an extreme example, but it happens. Why not let leaders be leaders, not just glorified or promoted followers. If you make every decision for your team, you will always make every decision for your team. That is all the time I have for this right now. I will try to continue the thought later.

2008-05-14T22:21:00.002-05:00

Today was a fairly productive day. I am struggling lately though, I want to get a lot more done at work, but I don't want to have my day so structured that there is no room for creativity. I am trying to figure out the happy medium.

Home at Last

2008-05-11T07:11:00.003-05:00

Glad to be back in Texas. The meetings last week were great, but we are at a time in our lives where it is very difficult for me to leave Sarah and the girls. I really enjoyed meeting a lot of CP's and having the time to get to know them. All in all, I feel like it was a pretty successful time, it will be interesting though to see what comes out of it.

Last night was great. I had 2 hours with a brand new team we formed at Hope to help me with our weekend Kid's services. Wow, what a talented group of people I am blessed to work with.

I think the challenges of leading a team like this are a lot more fun than some other leadership challenges. With this team, I just have to concentrate on keeping them in the right direction. I can't wait to see how awesome the material is that they come up with. It should be fun.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

collision

2008-05-08T22:56:00.002-05:00

wow, so I just spent the entire day with a group CP's from around the country. We were given a task to develop a lesson on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Way to start the group off with a non controversial subject!) There were thirteen of us and I am pretty sure we had at least 12 different ideas of how we should cover this important topic. We are all used to doing things a certain way, and we were not so used to sharing that process with others. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the process, though it was difficult and tedious at times. Tomorrow is round 2, so it should be interesting to see how things go. I am finding that this group of leaders is much like any other group of leaders, they are looking for a strong vision and they are ready to run with it when they get it. It is challenging me to grow, because I know that the ladies and men I get to lead each and every week in Frisco are extremely talented and gifted in their own right.

It has been cool to hang out with some good friends. I am on somewhat of a Leadership Journey with some great guys from around the country, and 4 out of 5 of us are here this week. It has been cool to spend time with them and really have a chance to talk.

I still am not sure why I was chosen to be here. It is definitely another one of those why me moments.

Trip to Springfield

2008-05-08T07:54:00.003-05:00

I have an incredible opportunity this week to spend some time with CP's from around the country. We are looking to work on a piece of curriculum together to help the AG with a brand new look. I am honored to be here and grateful to my Pastor for allowing me this opportunity. I will let you know how it goes as often as I can.

Challenges

2008-05-06T21:03:00.003-05:00

Wow, so it has been a long time. Sorry about that. I have been doing a lot of thinking about Leadership the last few days. It is crazy, the challenges just keep coming and coming. It seems when we conquer one mountain, there is another one there waiting for us. I am grateful though that God keeps seeing fit to use me and allow me to serve Him.

Just like big Church!

2008-04-20T20:21:00.002-05:00

This was another great weekend. I tried doing something that I really have not done all that much of before. I met with My Pastor and his creative team, and we mirrored our service with the adult service. It was a lot of fun hearing the kids and parents talking about the lesson they just learned with their parents. We are going to try to do this, at least for the next couple of weeks. We will see how goes.

Focus

2008-04-16T22:56:00.002-05:00

Focus is something that I have been really thinking about lately. I feel like there are areas of my leadership and my life that are really focused, and other areas that need some help in the area of focus. It is difficult for anyone to accomplish a lot of things all at the same time, and accomplish them well. It is to sometimes spread yourself to thin, and not really accomplish anything all that well. I know that God is moving me to focus my leadership and focus my life. I think that is the next big step for me in ministry. FOCUS.

Friendship

2008-04-15T22:00:00.003-05:00

True friends are really great. I am in a position in life right now that I have never been in before. I feel like I have some great friends. I am blessed with a group of people who surround me now that I feel really cares about me. A bunch of them came over for my birthday the other night. It was great to just hang out, and then today, I got to go to a Rangers game with the staff. It was awesome. Just to spend time with Friends. I never realized how important Friendships could be.

I feel like God has blessed me with some great friends.