Here is yet another Kidology Coaching Testimony. We are so honored by the difference that Kidology Coaching makes in the lives and ministries of those who take that courageous step to ask for help. While there are many coaching options available today in children’s ministry, we believe there are none like the one on one personalized coaching you get from Kidology’s professionally trained coaches who combine an exclusive curriculum, weekly Skype calls and skillful guidance to help children’s ministries leader’s realize their goals.
Read this testimony and consider if you may want to take the same brace step that Joan did:
Dear Karl,
In November of 2011, I reached a point of desperation in our church’s children’s ministry. We held an outreach party and at 2 PM, the start time of the party, we had 2 children. We had never had a children’s event with less than 30 children. Our children’s ministry was floundering and it had been my vision to build it up through hosting outreach events. By the end of the party a grand total of 18 children had trickled in. I knew, then and there, that if the children’s ministry was ever to come back, I needed outside help. About the same time I had become a member of Kidology.org.
I began listening to your podcasts on Kidology—and there was one about Kidology’s Coaching Program. I had seen this program before on the website, and was interested in it. All I had to do was email and request it. I had been out of children’s ministry for so long that I was scared to death to take this step. I was a 56 year old pastor’s wife, not a 20 something Children’s Pastor. But with the failed party crushing my hopes of revitalizing the ministry, I sent the fateful email. That night I thought, “What have I done? I don’t fit with any of these people. I am too old and too out of it.” So I prayed that the email wouldn’t go through. Well, the email went through.
So began a journey that has brought me into the 21st century of children’s ministry. The first thing my coach did was to help me evaluate our infrastructure. I had no idea what the word even meant. Then he went to work helping me learn how to set goals. He taught me to look at a project and break it down into steps. Then he taught me the crucial ingredient, how to make a goal measurable, date your steps. This forced me to take action and stay on top of the projects. It took over two months to complete my first goal, but it wet my appetite for more. We remodeled our Nursery, one of the children’s SS rooms, brought music back into the children’s programming, held successful outreaches, and added more helpers. We are presently completing a major overhaul of the entire children’s area.
Each week we would meet via Skype and go over the assigned work in the coaching manual. This material gave me a broad foundation to work from. I learned how to write puppet shows and drama to bring a Bible story to life. I was exposed to magic and learned how to use it to illustrate Bible points. My whole concept of visual aids expanded. I even used one of the magic tricks on a mission’s trip to the Dominican Republic and some of team used the object lessons. One of the more empowering parts of the coaching program was learning how to manage my time on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Leadership skills were the most important part of the coaching program to me. I was good at managing, but not at leading. Two keystone pieces I learned about were developing my vision and being more relational. Week after week my coach went over these things with me. At some point the relationship changed from one of being mentored to one of being coached. We would look at goals I was working on or agendas for meetings to help me learn how to lead. It was hands-on training and coaching. When I failed he helped me to learn how to address it and grow from it. You could never get that from a book or even a classroom. Training like this only comes from one-on-one coaching which is custom made for each student.
This is the best program I could have selected. We basically rehabilitated the children’s ministry one program and one room at a time. We refurbished rooms, wrote a grant for new flooring, planned two children’s workshops for local small churches, added a discipling program using Awesome Adventure, chose a new curriculum for Sunday School (DiscipleLand), oversaw many outreaches, and even met for lunch in Franklin, PA. I never could have done this on my own. The ministry has not arrived yet, but it has moved ahead in the right direction. Coaching equipped me in such a way that I could become visionary and bring the church leadership on board for the children. Everything has moved in the children’s ministry because of this encouraging and equipping. I learned to do children’s ministry on a shoestring. Coach Barney calls me Kidfrugal.
Thank you Karl for making this program available through Kidology, and thank you Coach Barney for your endless hours of caring and guiding. It was definitely God’s direction to send that email in 2011 asking to tryout coaching.
Sincerely,
Joan Eppehimer
Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, Jamestown, NY
Kidology Coaching has had a dramatic and life-changing impact on every student who has dared to enter in the program with a committed and focused effort.
Isn’t it time you took that step? If you have any questions about Kidology Coaching, don’t hesitate to ask. It may end up being the best thing you ever did for yourself and your ministry.
