Christine Yount is a leading voice in children’s ministry and someone you need to keep in your virtual circle of advisors. I’m excited to see her blogging and podcasting now. I’ve been listening to her for as long as I can remember and her longevity in children’s ministry leadership is a true mark of someone who is dedicated to a mission, not to a business or just trying to being heard. When Christine Yount speaks, I listen. (That doesn’t mean I always agree - but it does mean she forces me to think and constantly be evaluating. And I love that!)
The 5th installment of Kidology Online Training is now available. This Leadership Lab, titled Define, Refine, and Shine, is priced at only $9.99 for Kidology Members so that everyone can afford this valuable resource. We think it’s that important!
Are you exhausted? Stress robbing you of the joy of ministry? Overloaded with more to do than time and resources allow? Then now is the time to evaluate your life and ministry. Yes, life and ministry. In this Leadership Lab, Karl Bastian will walk you through a thoughtful process that will bring definition, margin, and joy back into these areas.
PLUS! This Lab includes a FREE BONUS REPORT: Slaying the E-Mail Monster. Learn 10 AMAZING SECRETS from a leader who personally manages hundreds of e-mails a day. What’s he’s learned the hard way will put YOU back in charge of your computer again!
YES! When I first announced Yosemite Summit last year I got many e-mails asking me to plan a similar event for women, even a few polite scoldings for making my event “men only.” Obviously, I can’t host a women’s retreat! So I went to one of the most remarkable children’s ministry leaders in the country, Kim Bobb, (who happens not to be a man) and challenged her to create a similar event for women. Unbridled was born!
Unbridled! October 20-22, 2008
Circleville, Ohio
No, it’s not at Yosemite, but it is one fully staffed ranch and horses are included! Unbridled is less than TWO MONTHS AWAY and enrollment is limited! Your host is Kim Bobb, Pastor to Children & Their Family at New Albany First Church of the Nazarene. Her children’s ministry is called Recess Ministries and can be visited at www.recesslive.com Kim is a favorite and regular children’s ministry trainer at Kidology Conferences. Her enthusiasm for life and ministry is contagious. You will have a fantastic time getting away from ministry and getting close to God and some other women who share your passion for ministry and are on the same journey as you. GET ALL THE DETAILS. (Or click on the Women tab on YosemiteSummit.org)
Here are some Time Management Tips from the designer of this blog, Sean Copley from Timbuktoons. (Don’t miss my Podcast interview with Timbuktoon founder Todd Hampson) Sean is a great guy and I know from personal experience, well organized. In their recent newsletter Sean gave away some of this secrets…
CREATIVE PROCRASTINATION
There are not enough hours in each day so you know you will always have to procrastinate on something. The trick is to force yourself to choose to procrastinate on the small things in order to get things done.
Keys:
Don’t clear up the small things first! Resist the temptation- we often underestimate how the small things add up and seemingly never end (especially e-mail)!
Choose to do the most valuable and important first. Place value on the items you need to accomplish each day. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of what you do is the least valuable, while 20% is the most valuable.
Do it tomorrow! Work on the e-mails and phone messages that came in yesterday and file today’s away for tomorrow. The benefit is that when your mailboxes are empty, you are done for the day regardless of what comes in! For example, I created a “Do Today” email box and a “Do Tomorrow” e-mail box and file e-mails accordingly. This helps limit expectations others have of you. It is way too easy to get in a trap of pleasing people immediately. The problem is that our own work piles up until we have to work many hard and late hours to catch up.
Learn to say “no.” Say no to the things that are not of high value to your goals. Look at your tasks as the following: Must, Should, Nice, Delegate, Eliminate.
Identify your constraints. One major cause of procrastination is a feeling of inadequacy and a lack of confidence. What is holding you back from achieving your purpose quickly and well done?
CREATIVE ORGANIZATION
“Creative Organization” might seem like an oxymoron since the stereotypical creative type lives and works in a clutter of chaos (whether on desktop actual or desktop virtual) only coming up for the occasional snack of hummus. But the truth is organization for the creative can be quite freeing and well…creative!
Keys:
Plan everyday in advance. Whether the night before or right before you dive in- planning out your day and working from that list can help you work on your own time versus being reactive to whatever daily interruptions you endure. When things come up- add it to the list and practice your creative procrastination skills! Also it would be good to work from multiple lists (in Basecamp, HighRise or BackPack) such as: Master List, Monthly List, Weekly List and Daily List.
Create imaginary deadlines. Deadlines are evil! Okay, maybe that is overreacting. But they are often used by creatives to procrastinate in a non-productive and non-creative way. How many times have you waited right up until a deadline is looming to finish something? Sure deadlines can motivate you like nothing else…but at what cost? They often cause unnecessary and self-created stress and mistakes. Try to think of work in this scenario often: “I just won a cruise to the Bahamas but I have to leave next week to claim it.” How would that change your pace and priorities?
Create a “Bucket List.” No not the kind of list made popular by a recent movie! Have a habit of writing all of your commitments in “buckets” or categories and review your them often. It doesn’t matter what kind of bucket it is…computer, paper, audio, video…whatever works for you. Make it fun! Some buckets might be home, work, a specific big project, etc.
I’m sitting in the auditorium at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit live in Barrington, IL, and just met a fellow MacBook Air user in the atrium blogging, so we swapped blog addresses and I returned to get a good seat. (enjoying free WiFi!) Anyway, I LOVED a post on his blog, and wanted to share it with you here. In the spirit of not lifting it all (Um, Bloggers - that is a no-no) So be sure to visit Patrick Mayfield’s Orginal Post for all 61/2 Myths!
1. Only a few people are creative
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are probably right.”
I’m not sure who said that, but it sums up what I have come to realise about each of us in the matter of being creative.
Ultimately this myth is perpetuated by a negative and self-fulfilling perception of oneself. Our self-perception as ‘uncreative’ people is probably due to an unchallenged internal script from our critical faculties. When we have attempted something creative in the past, the script may have run something like this:
“You see? That’s pathetic! I can’t be creative…”
Many say, “I can’t draw”; then coaches such as Betty Edwards come along and prove that this is simply not true. With careful and sensitive coaching people can break through this limiting self-belief.
While the word “curriculum” may solicit yawns from many people, don’t underestimate the importance of curriculum on your ministry! The foundation of your educational ministry is your curriculum. Everything else hinges from and is built upon the foundation laid by your educational hour teaching material. How high and how deep and how broad your educational ministry will be is greatly determined by curriculum.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE CURRICULUM?
THE WRONG WAY:
Use what you have always used
Let your teachers each pick their own
Look at tons of samples and pickone based on what appeals to you
Depend on curriculum promotions
Use what some other great church uses
THE RIGHT WAY:
Determine what YOU would like to accomplish in your Sunday School educational program.
List your educational goals
List weaknesses with current material.
Make a list of what you are looking for.
THEN look at published materials that match your criteria.
I remember when I started my previous ministry, our curriculum situation was a mess! Here was what we were facing:
Every teacher used what they liked, over five published curriculums were in use, some taught without any published material.
Repetition and Omission of Bible stories was not only likely, but expected.
No idea what was accomplished in the years spent within the Children’s Ministry.
Lots of good ministry going on, but no way to know what was going to happen, or to evaluate results.
So what did we do? I called for a planning meeting and asked our teachers to determine what we wanted for our children. (without looking at a single curriculum sample!) Here is the list of what these godly and experienced teachers determined we wanted:
Gospel Oriented
A comprehensive overview of the entire Bible
Specific Goals and Objectives for Each Age
Progressive, and not Repetitive
Get children into the Word themselves
Emphasis on Scripture memory
High Quality Materials and Helpful Resources
One year cycle (meaning teachers teach the same thing every year)
Missions Focus
Flexibility for teaching styles and holidays
Tools to help parents engage in the process
THEN we hunted to see if any curriculum met ALL of these criteria.
Only one curriculum offered all the things above that our teachers wanted:
NOW IS THE TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR CURRICULUM. We used DiscipleLand long enough to see kids go entirely through the process and could see the results.
They have since added AMAZING on-line tools for kids and parents to further engage in the learning going on at church. You MUST check out DiscipleZone.com
If you haven’t done so already, NOW is the time to re-evaluate what you are using this fall in your educational ministry. Here is a quote we recently had posted in the forum discussion on DiscipleLand:
We ended up dividing our kids 6-9 and 10-12 and used DiscipleLand with the younger and it was amazing! The kids loved it, which is totally cool because it didn’t have any “high techy” stuff, but kept their undivided attention. I loved that during our review this past Wed the kids retained most everything! This is 2 thumbs up! Thank you Karl for introducing us to this. I would not hesitate to tell anyone to give this a try. They will be hooked.
For some VERY HELPFUL TOOLS for evaluating your ministry, be sure to see the evaluations available on the DiscipleLand Equipping Center. Every ministry ought to work through these tools WHETHER OR NOT they use DiscipleLand, or DiscipleLand will fit their ministry structure or needs.
Check out DiscipleLand, you’ll be glad you did! There is a reason more and more churches and switching to DiscipeLand!
The time has finally come! I’m launching a Children’s Ministry Podcast this summer, and as usual, my blog readers get the first peek! So here is very first episode:
Episode 1: What Are Your Red Sneakers?In this very first episode of Children’s Ministry Podcast, Karl and his faithful sidekick Gus ask listeners, “What Are Your Red Sneakers?” Tune in to learn helpful insights and tips to help you and your children’s ministry become more effective.
“Hi Craig, my name is Karl, and I too am a recovering ministry-a-holic.”
In the current issue of K! Magazine, there is an excellent article by my friend, Craig Jutila, former children’s pastor at Saddleback Community Church, where he very honestly and transparently talks about his own personal “crash” from being so addicted to ministry he found himself in an unhealthy place spiritually, emotionally, and relationally with his family. I appreciated his candor. I’ve attempted to be as open here on my blog (and even more so in one on one relationships) about my own “demise” as a children’s pastor nearly two years ago who thought he could do everything and keep his walk with God and family life healthy. Why are the best lessons in life learned so painfully?
Craig’s topic was “spiritual renewal” and he admits (as I will) that we can be so good at faking it and knowing all the answers even as we are dying on the inside - but unwilling to admit our need. He quotes an unknown person as saying we don’t change until, “you hurt enough that you have to” or you “learn enough that you want to.” We both admit, it wasn’t the latter for us. We had to reach that point of deep hurt and dispair until we could finally be honest with ourselves that we needed help!
I love that Craig admits going to counseling. Like me, he once thought counseling was for people who had “issues” and that, as Craig says, it would “require acknowledging that I didn’t have it all together and I was different than all the spiritual people I worked around all day, every day.” I think he must have the same counselor as I do - for he too was challenged to be a “human BEING” and not a “human DOING” - something that took me months to get my brain around too.
While I know crisis times are no fun (understatement!) one thing I have learned on my own journey is that God loves ME more than my ministry, my pride, my reputation, or anything I can do for him. I’m glad both Craig and I were able to get out of ministry enough to discover a Walk with Christ apart from ministry. The year I took off from all speaking/ministry was a difficult year - as I was still healing and dealing with the consequences of my crash - but it was also a spiritually wonderful year of discovery and renewal - a time during which I learned things I was completely unable to discover while in “ministry.” And that I fear I would have never discovered had I somehow managed to keep on keeping on - “never quitting” - as the common call is. Sometimes you have to be a Quitter before you can be a genuinely Learner.
A friend of mine recented teased me and said, “All you cm experts - you, Craig, Sue, Reggie, and Jim have left the ministry and gone full time with your side ministries.” (ouch) While Jim Wideman is now back on staff at a church, I think it’s true for the rest in that quote. (And I’m not sure I belong in that list!) It is hard to answer the question, “How can you advise children’s pastors on children’s ministry if you are no longer doing children’s ministry full time?”
Oh, there are the obvious answers - over fifteen years of experience, current volunteer experience, bachelors and masters degree in children’s ministry, experience, education, God-given insights, etc. But the bottom line has to be simply, the Call of God and obedience.
My life mission statement since age nineteen (except for the recent year I set it aside) is:
To reach and teach as many children as possible with the Good News of God’s Love, and in the process to Enlist, Equip and Encourage others to do the same.
However, while that missions statement still drives my focus and passion for ministry - it no longer drives ME. I am driven to walk with Christ and love my family. Period. And when and how God allows or asks, I love equipping and encouraging others on their journey in life and ministry too.
Someday I hope to be back in a local church ministry setting as a children’s pastor - but I no longer “need” that be have identity, purpose or value. I’m content being just me - the forgiven sinner and follower of Jesus, the loving husband, and hopefully the most fun, engaged, and intentional father my son can possibly have!
I am so thankful for those who have walked with me during these difficult past few years - those who put up with me before my blinders were knocked off - and for others on the journey, like Craig, who are honest enough to let me know, I’m not the only completely messed up child of God who’s got only one thing going for him - for some crazy reason, Jesus loves me. (and He loves you too my friend!)
I don’t remember who told me this story, or if I read it in a book, but it came to me at a period of my life when I was suddenly more teachable than ever before having come to the end of “myself” and it made a huge impact.
The story was of a pastor who had just gotten a call to a much larger ministry and wanted to seek out the council of a well known and highly successful pastor of an even larger ministry. He was excited to get a lunch appointment with this pastor and came ready to glean as much wisdom as he could from this one meal they would share. After they had ordered he explained that he was soon going to be going to a larger ministry and wanted as much advice as possible on how to survive and thrive in this new bigger ministry. The seasoned pastor smiled, and calmly responded, “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” The younger pastor wrote down this first bit of advice and then looked up ready to write down the next pearl of wisdom this godly man would have to share… but no words followed. Seeing the look of bewilderment on the younger man’s face, the older man said, “Yes, that’s it. Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” I remember the younger pastor saying that he was kind of irritated and annoyed because he was really hoping to go home with more than just one quote. But years later he discovered just how wise that one piece of advice was, in fact, the KEY to success in life as well as ministry.
This has been a key part of my journey the past two years since I went full time with Kidology and stopped having two full time ministries. There have been seasons in my life where I was in such a hurry DOING for God that I forgot how to BE. Ruthlessly eliminating hurry from my life has become my passionate pursuit. But “hurry” has a way of creeping back in, it is still how I am naturally wired. So this week, as I began to feel the pressure building again, I made this wallpaper to remind myself not to lose any of the progress I have made.
Enjoy this wallpaper:
(Open above image in new window for larger view)
Let me encourage you to make this your wallpaper for a few weeks and ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life!
Then, I was honored when Christine asked if she could interview me for her podcast on the subject. You can listen to the podcast here.
