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Category: Leadership

How Can We Motivate Our Kids?

Here is an excellent post from the DiscipleLand newsletter: Many kids have lost interest in spiritual matters. They are discouraged about trying to please God. From their perspective, it is not “cool” to be godly. So they focus on their own desires and let the world guide them. The number one challenge in churches today is to overcome mediocrity. Christian kids are satisfied with lukewarm-ness. To counteract this trend, some churches have replaced content-rich children’s ministries with high-energy programs. This may keep kids from being bored and it may eliminate the need to recruit volunteers, but it also severs teacher-learner relationships that foster discipleship. If we routinely motivate kids with flashy events, we are doomed to the “bigger and better” cycle. Each new program must offer more energy, excitement, and “wow” than the previous one. Instead, we must move kids from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. Throughout the Bible, God uses a variety of cause-effect techniques to motivate His people. Some are positive and some are punitive; some are earthly and some are eternal. Some are fascinating and some are frightening. Remind children that every human being will someday meet the Creator face-to-face-and give an account to Him. Every child can…

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Art has no boundaries?

I happened to be in Fort Collins, CO earlier today (and yesterday) and I grabbed my camera when I saw this bumper sticker in front of me on a van… “ART has no boundaries” it said. Is it just me, or does that sticker seem to contradict itself? It is trying to express the freedome available in ART to break the boundaries and be free from restraint and to express whatever in new and liberating ways… all while being crammed into standard bumper sticker dimensions. I just thought it was kinda ironic. I would think “ART has no boundaries” would be splashed across the side of the car, or on an odd shaped sticker, at at least with a crazy fun colorful font… whereas that sticker was loaded with boundaries: the edges of the sticker were crammed, the dark area was tight, and it was placed where all stickers go, on the back of a car. How many times do we try to express a message – in fact, THE Message, and our very form or method of communication contradicts the very thing we are trying to express? Are we ever guilty of reducing Christianity to a bumper sticker that…

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You Must Confront Vision!

I often like to give my blog readers “sneak peeks” of things to come over on Kidology.org, and so here I go again. As I mentioned recently, Kidology Online Training is now live, with the first “Leadership Lab” titled (appropriately) First Things First. Well, the second Leadership Lab will be live in only a few days and is titled, Visionary Leadership. I’ll post more about it when it goes live, but due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the 100th Toybox Tale, “A Day in the Life of a Children’s Pastor,” – made for adults, rather than Kids, I did it again, bringing back one of the most asked-for characters I (kinda) created, NoDuh, the Wise One. In this, the 101st Toybox Tale, you get to listen in on the private session of a children’s pastor with her counselor… NoDuh, the Wise One, as he gently lets her know, that in order to survive in children’s ministry leadership, She Must Confront Vision! You Must Confront Vision! ENJOY! I’ll let you know when the rest of LAB 02 goes live!

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FREE BOOK: UnChristian – CHRISTIANITY has an Image Problem

Just wanted to let you know you can order this free book HERE! The title seems interesting. TIME.com writes, “It used to be, says David Kinnaman, that Christianity was both big and beloved in the U.S. — even among its non-adherents. Back in 1996, a poll taken by Kinnaman’s organization, the Barna Group, found that 83% of Americans identified themselves as Christians, and that fewer than 20% of non-Christians held an unfavorable view of Christianity. But, as Kinnaman puts it in his new book (co-authored with Gabe Lyons) UnChristian, “That was then.” 140/37 got some work to do!

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Kidology Online Training is LIVE!

It’s been the plan since the Kidology website began in 1994 – to provide training for children’s ministry leaders 24/7 anywhere there was access to a computer. We’ve provided training through the thousands of posts in the Zones on the site, conferences like Kid U, Kidology To Go and now Yosemite Summit, and the interactive forum – but now Kidology’s dream is coming true to take training to a whole new level: ONLINE TRAINING that not only trains leaders, but equips them to train others. It is finally here! People used to ask me how I did so much… two full time ministries, writing, speaking, performing, family, etc. Well, for starters… for much of my ministry I was doing too much!! And I was last guy to recognize it… after all, I would say, can you ever be doing too much for God!? (Um, yes!) In the last year, I have learned some life-changing lessons in how to live a healthier, slower paced, balanced life. Family is finally genuinely first. (I say genuinely first because I would have always claimed it was first!) That is why the very first Kidology Online Training Leadership Lab is titled First Things First. If…

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