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Month: August 2011

The Training Cycle

When I was a young boy my dad had a framed sign in his office that he had made himself. It read: I do. You watch. I do. You help. You do. I help. You do. I watch. It summarizes the process of discipleship or training it a nutshell. This summer I volunteered at my church to teach the preschool Bible stories for our churches sports camp because my son was attending. (I knew that fit my skills better than volunteering to coach sports!) I used props and objects to illustrate the Bible stories. For my own self-training purposes I video taped the sessions with my flip camera. (I like to watch and learn to improve.) One of the leaders had to teach the same Bible stories a few weeks later for the second week of sports camp when I was off to teach at a camp and couldn’t volunteer. I boxed up all my props and spent a little time coaching her on how to do it and gave her copies of the flip videos to watch and study. She did great! This week she is on a mission trip to Nairobi and I just got this picture posted…

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You Don’t Have a Recruiting Problem

You Don’t Have a Recruiting Problem. You Have a Relationship Problem. I have some hard news for leaders. This may come as a shock to some. You may need to sit down. Get a coffee or tea or soda… whatever you enjoy. But you need to hear me on this. There is a Grand Canyon of perception between why you serve in children’s ministry and why most volunteers volunteer. You? You love kids! You knew long before Barna that there is a 32% greater chance of them coming to Christ if they are reached before the age of 12. You know Jesus said we ought to come as a child, not hinder the children, and blessed the children. You feel called to children’s ministry. You read Roger Field’s The Calling and it gives you goose bumps and you nearly cry because THAT’S YOU. You would serve if no one asked, no one noticed, and no one said thank you. Sure, you’d have your little pity party when no one was looking, and you’d whine to your spouse a little… but you’d never quit. Because, like Roger Field’s also said so well – You are a Special Ops Kidmin. The Few.…

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Pocket Puzzle Evangelism?

O.K. – this may sound silly, but it worked. Here was my dilemma. I would meet kids out and about in public, strike up a conversation, and want to invite them to church. Being a man – I had to use caution in talking to children – especially if their parents weren’t present. These conversations happen naturally all the time, at the mall, in a toy store, at the movies, in line at fast food stores. I don’t seek them out, they just happen. Kids talk to ME! But how do naturally and safely invite them to church in a way that is both, wise and practical? If I give them a business card, we both know where that is going to end up. IF it even lasts long enough to FIND a trash can. Most likely it will go through the washing machine! If I give them a website URL it will be lost to short term memory. And then I have to add, “ask your parents first,” which sounds lame, like the website is bad or something. So in my previous ministry I came up with a simple solution. I had thousands of 16 square slide puzzles made…

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Yosemite Summit 2011 Report

(Originally Posted on YosemiteSummit.org) The fact that I am writing my Yosemite Summit 2011 Report at the end of August that took place in May should tell you exactly WHY I do Yosemite Summit in the first place, though I’ve blogged here about that several times already: Built In Pit Stop Someday is Another Word for Never Is This Your Letter? The Best Thing for Your Ministry Others have written as well about why they went to Yosemite Summit. I’ll link those another time perhaps, but you can just click through the archives. But the reality is, my life is BUSY. Don’t get me wrong – I’m doing things I love pursuing my life Mission, but if I didn’t schedule Yosemite Summit, I’d never STOP and GET AWAY and enjoy time with some guys who love God like me and just UNPLUG and enjoy nature and fellowship like you just can’t get in the hectic pace of normal life. I’m never “ready” for Yosemite Summit – it just comes, and I have to just GO. And when I get back, I have to dive in and pick up where I left off and getting this report done and a highlight…

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Kidmin Toolbox

Kidmin Toolkit? Let’s suppose you had to pack for a week of teaching and ministry and all you could pack was a small “Kidmin Toolkit” – what would you pack into YOUR travel kit? A Bible? Naturally. An iPad? Perhaps. A yo-yo? A small puppet? I’d pack a bag of jolly ranchers and a sling shot! Some action figures? Remember, this is ALL you will have for a WEEK of ministry. What will you need? I’m gonna mail the best responses in COMMENTS a prize and then I’ll post what I’d put in MY Kidmin Toolkit – and then I’d encourage you to PACK YOUR OWN Kidmin Toolkit and have it READY TO GO, because you never know when you might just need it! UPDATE: THE $50 PRIZE PACK Very soon… someone in comments, is going to WIN this prize pack I’ve assembled: (Note: It all packs flat to fit in your Kidmin Toolkit!) UPDATE: I was overwhelmed by the response to this blog post. Everyone submitted Great Ideas! However, I could pick but ONE winner, and the Kidmin Toolkit Winner is: Joan Eppehimer SEE ALL THE RESPONSES & COMPILE YOUR OWN KIT! We have compiled ALL THE RESPONSES into…

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