Know what might be the best thing for your ministry right now?
A new resource?
A new program?
A new book?
A new curriculum?
A new conference?
A new idea?
A new volunteer?
A new senior pastor? :0)
This may surprise you, but the best thing for your ministry right now may be to get as far away from it as possible and to get as close to God as possible.
That is what Yosemite Summit is all about. It is about focusing on what matters most to your ministry: your walk with God. Your soul. NOTHING is more important, and nothing will impact your ministry more than your private walk with God. Come join a few other children’s pastors and walk with God for a few days. Let Him speak to you directly…through nature, though worship, through fellowship, through the Word, through the quietness you may only find at a sunrise at Glacier Point or in the midst of a 1,000-foot waterfall.
You will never be the same after meeting God here. Cast off the excuses, and allow God to provide if He is hinting in your spirit that He wants you to get away with Him soon.
ONLY ONE SPOT LEFT FOR YOSEMITE SUMMIT 2013 and there is a $325 SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE SIMPLY FOR THE ASKING!
If you are at CPC Orlando this week – look for me! I often wear a BRIGHT YELLOW pull over with the Kidology Logo to help people spot me! And I never mind people saying, “Hello!” Sometimes people e-mail me later and say, “I saw you, but I didn’t want to bother you.”Nonsense. Bother me! I want to meet you!
HOW TO FIND KARL:
RESOURCE CENTER:
He’ll be hanging out at the DiscipleLand booth during the Resource Center times to answer questions and tell folks all about DiscipleTown!
THE KIDOLOGY GATHERING!
Don’t miss this annual casual and intimate late night gathering that we’ve been doing for years! This year it will be on Tuesday evening, February 19th, during and after the Phil Vischer Show at the Terrace Cafe, which is right in the center of the campus, outside the Resource Center. NOTE: You will need to enter from the back side near the pool as the restaurant will be closed, but will have a room open for us. However, there is a little snack shop that sells drinks and snacks for awhile next to where we will be that you can get some food at.
Come enjoy some relaxed fellowship, fun and conversation about life, ministry and whatever comes up. It is always a great time.
WORKSHOPS:
Karl is teaching a workshop on Wednesday, February 20th
Breakout #5 at 10:00am – Making Your Discipline Problems Disappear
I am also available for one on one coaching sessions if there is something you are wrestling with and just need to talk or get some input or direction about a topic in your ministry. I enjoy sitting down and chatting. Don’t be hesitant to ask to do so. That’s why I come to CPC!
If you are wanting to connect with Karl, and having a hard time – feel free to DM via Twitter at @Kidologist and try to arrange a time/place to connect. Karl loves to meet Kidology folks at CPC! As I said back in 2008, it’s still true today: CPC is the BEST place to network!
CPC San Diego is my 42nd consecutive Children’s Pastor’s Conference. I’ve not missed a single CPC since 1995. I’m calling this CPC “42 in 42″ since I will have been to 42 CPC’s and I’m 42 years old, so my CPC’s will have caught up to my age!
It is always a fun and unpredictable time when those who work with children get together! And the highlights of a Children’s Pastors Conference are often from around a table sharing a meal, rather than a workshop or general session – as wonderful and inspiring as they may, in fact, be for helping with one’s ministry. But I’ve long made by Mission one of “Equipping and Encouraging” because I know that laughter is often as needed as another great idea or resource.
In that spirit, one of the highlights of CPC this year, happened not at the conference at all, but as Tom and John and I, joined by some new friends from the shuttle, Darcie and Rebecca, where hanging out at my favorite restaurant in Downtown Disney, The Earl of Sandwhich. When I suggested this location for our pre-conference meal I explained that it was named after the inventor of the sandwich! Which is explained the cups you get your drinks out of:
The History of the Earl of Sandwich
As a bit of fun, I invited each person at the table to read the cup in their own dramatic fashion, as they would if it were a movie trailer, or as they might for a kids church drama. Then, as it turned out, Josh Baker, one of the children’s pastors at the table, informed us that he actually produces full scale dramatic productions every week at his church. He said he doesn’t do voices, but he could rather, approach the subject matter as he would his weekly topics, as a writer/director. “THEN!” said I, “you must create for us the screen play for the Pastor of Sandwich! What is the children’s pastor’s version of the classic story? How might this simple historical event be seem through the eyes of a children’s pastor? What are we missing? And how might it be presented properly?”
On the spot, Josh amazed us by creating a scene, describing the set, the characters, the situations, and unfolding a story, changing it as he went, adapting to our collaborative input as we contributed to the story as it unfolded. In the end, we figured out that the Earl of Sandwich, must have been a children’s pastor who was too busy getting ready for Sunday to stop for lunch and made the sandwich from left-overs in the church kitchen.
I challenged Josh to finish the manuscript and submit it to me later. Here is the finished work. Soon to be a major motion picture from Walden Media and DreamWorks Productions and Disney as soon as funding is secured.
See what creativity can be inspired and spurred when children’s pastors get together and share a sandwich? Creative fellowship is the best fellowship!
ENJOY:
THE PASTOR OF SANDWICH
By: Pastor Josh Baker
Capital Baptist Church, Annadale VA
Dedicated to the work of Kidology.org
and the shared fellowship of friends over what else? A sandwich.
Characters:
Pastor: P (dressed in vintage “Dickens era” clothing if available)
Narrator: N
Props: desk, chair, desk lamp, books, pencil or feathered quill (older looking on first five items the better to set the proper time period) paper, trash can, bread, chicken leg, bread knife
[scene opens with P sitting behind a big old desk that is littered with papers, open and closed books, a dimly-lit desk lamp, and an overflowing wastepaper basket near the desk on the floor. P has got his head down looking over his work, head is leaning on left hand, with his fingers spread through his messy, unkempt hair. His right hand nervously taps a well-worn pencil now lacking an eraser.]
Lighting: very dim with just a soft glow, almost candlelight, over the desk.
Music: if available, some instrumental medieval time period or classical Dickens style music could be played softly in the background
(N speaks from a microphone off stage and out of sight)
N: Our scene opens in the English land of Sandwich, Kent, a historic town in southeast England. It was late at night on a Saturday evening in the dead of winter back in the seventeen hundreds…
N: In a scene that would remind one of the classics like Dickens and Scrooge, we find a haggardly looking pastor of children burning the midnight oil seeking inspiration for his message needing to be done for morning worship at his church in Sandwich just a few hours away…
N: Unfortunately, for those of you who write or are thusly employed to provide inspiration to those who seemingly have none, you would know that often when inspiration must be rushed due to deadlines, it is in this time, that inspiration often fails oneself.
N: Thus the night becomes long as one struggles to force a story from one’s brain, all the while praying to God that He would provide where you have found yourself lacking.
N: It was in such a state of mind we find poor Master Montagu, a tireless worker of the church. It is likely that had there not been a hearth and pantry at the church, Montagu would have starved to death many a time over as these late nights were a common practice. But as it was, the church pantry was often found littered with remnants of feasts and celebrations gone by to which Montagu survived his late night writings.
[P exits his desk and goes backstage. He then returns eating a chicken leg and a loaf of bread.]
N: In this time, long before pizza delivery and Chinese take-out, Montagu often relied on appetizer remnants of fruits and vegetables. When he found himself particularly blessed, he would find leftover meat and bread.
P: Tis blessed I am this night! For I have meat and bread! (sitting back down at his desk, he realizes both his hands are full and he can not write)
P: Tis good food, but alas! For I can not work and eat at the same time in such a manner as this! Cursed be I! (pausing to survey the situation deeper and think about what he should do) Wait! Cursed be not I! For I have been blessed with an idea! If I were to take my bread and cut it in two and then place my meat between it, then I could have a free hand in which to write and I also would not get so messy!
[P goes about cutting the bread in two and putting the chicken leg in between and then holding up his creation proudly for all to see.]
P: I do believe I have something here! I believe others will soon be asking to have what I have here in my church of Sandwich- they will be calling to have “the same as Sandwich!”
[P begins to munch on his creation while he puts his head back down to his studies and returns to thinking.]
P (thinking out loud sadly): If only I could be as inspired by God’s Word as I am with this meat and bread tonight! (momentary pause as he thinks) Wait! I do believe I have it!
P (turning to his paper, he begins to scribble quickly and excitedly with his pencil in one hand and the sandwich in his other):
There once was a group of people, quite large indeed you see, that sought the words and inspiration of a Man, calling to them to follow…and yet they were hungry, distracted from his Words. And so the man called out to his disciples and ask them to seek out bread and meat in which to serve the people, but his disciples said unto him, Master! There are too many of them! We shall surely not feed them all!
Despite their disbelief, they sought out amongst the crowd anyone who could provide a creative solution to their problem. Found among the masses was just one small boy with nothing more then a few pieces of bread and a couple fish, mere leftovers most likely from the home pantry and a feast of the night before.
But what inspiration and solution it would provide to the Master! For the humble offering was combined together and miraculously multiplied and the masses were fed while the Master continued to speak!
Boys and girls, if we humbly seek to take what is available to us that the Lord provides and then use our Lord as the source of inspiration towards its use, it can become a blessing to many!
[P setting his pencil down and looking at his sandwich for a moment and then lifting his eyes to heaven:]
P: Thank you God for taking a humble leftover and an ordinary Pastor and combining the two to show the kids how you can combine what others have left behind and a searching soul to bring about a message of blessing!
Lighting: fades out as the P gets up from his desk, turns off his desk lamp and quietly leaves, eating his sandwich.
If you are at CPC Orlando this week – look for me! I often wear a BRIGHT YELLOW pull over with the Kidology Logo to help people spot me! And I never mind people saying, “Hello!” Sometimes people e-mail me later and say, “I saw you, but I didn’t want to bother you.” Nonsense. Bother me!I want to meet you!
HOW TO FIND KARL:
RESOURCE CENTER:
He’ll be hanging out at the DiscipleLand booth during the Resource Center times to answer questions and tell folks all about DiscipleTown!
THE KIDOLOGY GATHERING!
Don’t miss this annual casual and intimate late night gathering that we’ve been doing for years! This year it will be on Thursday evening, January 17th, during and after the Phil Vischer Show at the Rix’s, which is right across from the Pepper Grill, which is the main eating cafe down by the lake. (The Pepper Grill will be closed.) We will be inside over near the Rix Cafe where you’ll be filling those giant free refill cups, but in the seating area!
Come enjoy some relaxed fellowship, fun and conversation about life, ministry and whatever comes up. It is always a great time.
WORKSHOPS:
Karl is teaching two workshops on Friday, January 18th
Breakout #5 at 9:30am – Making Your Discipline Problems Disappear
Breakout #7 at 2:15pm – Mutiny! The Kids Are Taking Over Kids Church!
If you are wanting to connect with Karl, and having a hard time – feel free to DM via Twitter at @Kidologist and try to arrange a time/place to connect. Karl loves to meet Kidology folks at CPC! As I said back in 2008, it’s still true today: CPC is the BEST place to network!
CPC Orlando is my 41st consecutive Children’s Pastor’s Conference. I’ve not missed a single CPC since 1995. CPC San Diego will be my 42nd, and I’m 42 years old, so my CPC’s will have caught up to my age!
This is a video I shot as the year changed from 2010 to 2011… in answer to the question, “What Matters Most?” for an online video conference I was participating in that year. I thought I’d post it again this year, since the answer hasn’t changed…
Make sure you prioritize the relationships in your life in 2013.
If you live on the East Coast – you need to bookmark engagechildren.org and plan on attending next fall. (In fact, it is worth a drive or flight in, from anywhere.)
This conference is put on by a local network, but it obvious after several years of practice, they know what they are doing. They had nearly 400 attendees there – and a great mix of leaders WITH their volunteer teams. One church I sat with at lunch was a group from a nearby church that brought the whole CM team, and one volunteer wouldn’t even let a five month old baby keep her or her husband away. That tells you something about both their commitment to children’s ministry and the quality of the conference.
Another woman shared with me that she was ready to quit – but after attending this conference, she was encouraged to keep on and never give up, no matter how hard ministry was. They brought in top-notch speakers (like Sue Miller from PromiseLand and Orange) but also local practitioners who could relate to your common kidmin leader and volunteer.
The fellowship was as great as the training. I was a late addition because I just wanted to come and check out the conference and they graciously added on a few extra workshops for me – and I had a wonderful time equipping and encouraging those who I got to interact with. But I attended workshops as well, and had a BLAST, as you can see quite literally from this YouTube Video:
I just wanted to both encourage my readers to consider attending this conference if it is in your geographical range – and also encourage those who put it on. WAY TO GO! The Kidology Team has done MANY conferences, and I know how much work goes into these. While I had a staff who worked very hard to put on many Kidology University conferences over a ten year period, the Engage Children Conference is put on completely by volunteers, so they deserve a special appreciation for all that they did behind the scenes to bless all those who attended over the weekend. My hat is off to them!
Thanks for investing in those who minister to kids! I know you are exhausted right now, but you impacted the Kingdom in a BIG way this weekend!
As I reflect on the upcoming 6th annualYosemite Summit, I am amazed at all that God has done in my life and in the lives of so many men who have traveled with me to this amazing place over the past five years.
Many have asked me, “How long will you keep doing this?” I usually answer, “at least until next year,” because I don’t ever want to assume to plan ahead of the Lord (James 4:13-15).
But I know this: I need this time away, and I have seen the incredible impact it has had on other men.
Let me just share a few of the things the guys last year shared with me:
The greatest impact was hearing God’s voice and calling me to a personal mountain top experience. This experience allowed God to change my life there at that moment. He drew me close to Him, and there He freed me from the bondage that filled my soul. This spiritual impact has allowed me to continue on a journey daily to be in complete oneness with God.
The biggest “take away” is there are 7 guys that love me for who I am. We all came with different things going on in our lives personally and spiritually. God changed us together and because of that has made each of us stronger and what I would call a “band of Christian brothers” forever.
My highlight was the morning at North Olmstead Point when I heard God’s voice calling me to the top of a mountain. It was a place that God brought me as close to Him as possible and broke me. He drew me to this highest point to share His love with me and then freed me from all the bondage that was weighing me down and quenching my Spirit.
I really needed this Summit. I came home with a greater sense of peace and hope than I’d ever had before. I have a greater sense of who I am as a follower of Christ and what my personal mission is. I realize that the “trail” I’m on is one that God has designed for me and I need to continue to learn and enjoy it. (Even the hard stuff) He opened my eyes to some things right before me that I need to focus on in a better way.
To those considering Yosemite Summit, one guy wrote:
You need this time more than you’ll ever know. Taking time to unplug and get away with a group of guys that God brings together is priceless. Experiencing the beauty of God’s creation, spending time in his Word are times that prepare you for eternity. I believe in Yosemite Summit and it’s opportunity to really re-create someone and allow them a fresh start in life and ministry.
Since I started Yosemite Summit in 2008, men who hiked with me have gone on to create their own Summits, inviting other men to join them on similar retreats. Two of them do a similar retreat in Yosemite, in lodges right near “mine” during the same month. This Summit is reproducing itself.
WHY? Because those who come are changed, and they want others to experience it as well.
YosemiteSummit.org is filled with REPORTS linked at the top of the site from 2008 to 2012 with pictures and a highlight video. If you go through the blog, hitting “Previous Posts” at the bottom, you can travel back through time and read stories of guys whose lives have been changed, why they went, and other encouraging posts.
This is a small “band of brothers” – I only take five guys, and one spot is already taken, so that leaves only four spots left.
Imagine that!
There are many amazing conferences that fill banquet rooms and auditoriums with hundreds, some thousands, of children’s ministry leaders singing, listening, learning, and enjoying wonderful fellowship – there is a place for that.
But imagine spending a week with just five other guys, hiking, sitting under some of the highest granite cliffs in the world, at the foot of the tallest water falls in the world, seeing the sun rise and a vista appear that literally takes your breath away, live animals – we’ve seen a bear every year! (and let me mention GOOD home cooked food, including NY Strip Steak!) and through it all experiencing God through prayer, some manly hymn singing, and awesome fellowship in a trusting setting like you may have never experienced before.
And only four more can come in 2013.
Will you be one of them?
Register ASAP – before the waiting list begins again.
The 1st CM Leaders Conference, hosted by INCM, is coming to a close. It was a fantastic time of challenge, inspiration and fellowship for leaders in children’s ministry.
I highly recommend it to leaders for their own enrichment – in addition to CPC, and INCM is offering a bundle on registration that makes the cost of this conference close to a meal out with a colleague if you attend both next year, so you have no reason to miss it.
I especially enjoyed meeting folks from Kidology that I’ve never crossed paths with before and getting to ‘break bread’ with my ‘kidmin peeps’ at meal times.
The conversations were fun but at times intentionally focused on issues we were facing in our ministries.
Opportunities to encourage or equip one on one were memorable. The comradore on Twitter via the hashtag #CMLeaders was at times hysterical.
I appreciated that there was both speakers who were well known and experienced, but some who may be less known, but equally qualified and with much to share and great challenges and insights, even if conference speaking isn’t a career for them. The blend was well thought through.
There were some helpful resource providers, but due to the smaller crowd, they had more time to visit and chat than at the larger CPC venue.
Having the time to work with people and answer their questions was a real treat.
I may post later some of the challenges and quotes from the speakers – but for now, I’m just processing them at a personal level. For now I just wanted to give INCM’s launch of the CM Leaders Conference an enthusiastic Two Thumbs Up and encourage you to join me next year! I’ll be starting my CM Leaders streak. (It’ll never catch up to my 40 CPCs streak!)
See ya at the next INCM Conference.
- Posted while mobile via iPhone, editing to come!
EVEN IF YOU AREN’T IN AWANA! If you are in kids ministry, and if you are in Colorado, let me encourage you to JOIN ME at one of the Colorado Awana Ministry Conferences that I’ll be ministering at this fall!
While there are some workshops specifically for Awana Clubs, most of the training (and all the classes I am teaching) are general Kidmin Training that will apply to ANYONE in children’s ministry!
I am speaking and doing workshops of two of the Awana Ministry Conferences coming up in the Colorado/Utah Region:
AUGUST 17-18, 2012 in Colorado Springs
and
SEPTEMBER 21-22, 2012 in Denver (Wheat Ridge)
MY WORKSHOPS:
Friday Evening:
Making Your Class Rock (extended session training)
Saturday:
Workshop 1 – Teaching Lessons That Last
What makes a lesson memorable? Learn how kids minds and memories work – and how you can teach lessons that last not only through the week, but into their adult life and genuinely impact eternity! Kids love to learn – but they learn best through experience! Create lessons that impact kids beyond just the brain. Get them excited about their faith and walk with God.
Workshop 2 – Object Lesson Explosion!
This is a fun, interactive, objects-in-hand, hands-on workshop. Give ANY object to the Kidologist, and he will instantly create a biblical object lesson from that object – and then show you how to do it too! Discover why teaching with objects is so effective and why Jesus used object lessons when He taught! You will learn how to start with an object and form a spiritual lesson from it, or how to start with a topic and determine what object or visual will
Workshop 3 – Kidology 101: Effective Relational Ministry to Kids
Kidology is the study of kids and their world. To be an effective minister to today’s children, one must learn to do it from within the context of their culture. A working knowledge of a kid’s world is an inroad to their heart. Learn how to relate to kids and keep up with their ever-changing culture.
Workshop 5 – Bringing Stories to Life
There is a reason Jesus used stories. Life IS a story. History is “HIS Story.” Learn the secrets of how to be an amazing story teller and how to have your kids on the edge of their seats when you tell stories!
Closing Keynote Session: YOU, The Missing Piece in a Child’s Spiritual Journey
You can get complete details at www.Awana4Kids.org – you don’t need to come both days, you can choose just Friday evening (I’m the only trainer) or just Saturday (Lots of workshops to choose from, myself and many others) or come for both!
VISIT THE WEBSITE and click on the options to the left under CONFERENCE for INFO, REGISTRATION and WORKSHOP LIST for downloads with all the details.
I am already looking forward to and praying about who will join me next year! Remember, Yosemite Summit is now open to any men in ministry, not just children’s pastors.
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
~ Stephen R. Covey
