Home Archive by category "Leadership" (Page 44)

Category: Leadership

Little Bro Goes Major League!

see full article As family and most friends know, my little bro got all grown up and married recently, and now right out of college at MSU, is off to Toronto (in the northern nation…. what’s it called?) and is covering the Blue Jays for MLB.com. Jordan has been an advid baseball player and writer since as soon as I taught him to throw. (Yes, I taught him everything he knew about baseball up to around age 7, after that, he’s always known more than me, and surpassed his baseball mentor quickly in skill.) One thing we both share is a love for writing – I write about and for children’s ministry, he writes about baseball. Well, after writing for the Lansing State Journal during college (for fun search for jordan bastian on LSJ, and get 61 pages of results!), his major league coverage has begun! full article Please pray for my brother – its a tough job, he has to go to every baseball game, get there early, meet pro players, write about them, watch the game, plus he has several deadlines throughout the game (Jordan puts your schedule in comments!) and then after the game has to do…

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Back to um, what’s it called? oh, yeah, work!

Well, this is it. The eve before my sabbatical is over. Tomorrow morning I head back to work, that is, if I can remember where I work. (hahaha) Wow, what an awesome trip this was! We got to travel to Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, (through a bunch of states on the train), Washington, Oregon, California and of course, Illinois. Got to go back to Yosemite (my favorite place on earth) plus Cedar Point (second favorite, funnest place on earth) plus along the way visited over ten churches meeting with the children’s pastor from most of them. (not to mention the Star Wars Convention, that was pretty cool too) I was back in church on Sunday, but didn’t have to do anything, just enjoyed being there. It was great to see all the kids again, and nice to be fought over again. :) After church it was back to Culver’s, the unofficial after church hang out. These pictures from Sunday lunch say better than words why I am so glad to be back, and why I love my job so much….. Still some more Sabbatical Posts coming – but thanks for following us along the way. POST A COMMENT and tell me…

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A Jedi with a Shepherds Heart…

The hills as you drive to beautiful Corvalis, Oregon are filled with sheep lazily grazing on wide open green pastures. Counting the sheep would have been a pointless effort, as there were too many and constantly moving. Just a few hours from the coast of Oregon, it is a beautiful place to live and minister, and the sight of sheep on the way in was fitting, as we were on our way to meet a young father and pastor with a true shepherd’s heart. Strong in the Force this Children’s Pastor is… Henry and his Padawan Learner… After church at Kings Circle (See Kings Circle Gallery) we headed out to lunch at my favorite restaurant that is now sadly missing in Chicago… The best former Chicago restaurant in Chicago. Allow me to rant: The busiest restaurant at our local mall in Chicago went ‘out of business’ due only to upper management mistakes. Soon all the other Baja Fresh’s in Chicagoland started to disappear, and rumor is that they are pulling out of the MidWest. Dumb. Why would a popular busy highly profitable restaurant close? I’d like to say to Baja Fresh’s Leadership: “I find your lack of vision disturbing.” A…

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Let’s Be Frank…

As promised, here is the summary of my visit with Ryan Frank… Let’s be Frank… Let me be Frank with you…. Ryan Frank began his ministry at Liberty Baptist Church the same year I came to my present church, 1998. However, for Ryan, it was the church he grew up in. While marrying the pastor’s beautiful daughter may have helped in the job interview, sine then he has shown himself to be both a creative and resourceful children’s pastor. This was not my first time to his church. Ryan has been a long time contributor to Kidology.org and has been a trainer at Kidology events. Though I wasn’t able to visit on a Sunday during this visit, I did get several opportunities to sit down and ‘talk shop’ with Ryan. I asked him to share some of the lessons he has learned from being faithful to one ministry for seven years. I told him to feel free to be ‘Frank’ with me… DEVELOP A LEADERSHIP TEAM Ryan said one of the critical things he has learned is the importance of Team Building. An effective children’s ministry leader has got to surround himself with qualified and dedicated people. He emphasized the…

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The "Marks" of Leadership

The ‘Marks’ of Leadership My Visit with Pastor Kim Bobb Grove City Church of the Nazarene Grove City, OH Spotlight on KidsMatter! Kimborah Bobb grew up in the church where she now leads the children’s ministry full time. She earned a degree in marketing from Olivet Nazarene University and then returned to Grove City in search of a marketing/promotions job. But God had other plans. She ended up turning down a marketing job opportunity because she just felt God telling her that He had something different. The next thing she knew she was answering the phone and Mark Hale, the children’s pastor at her church, was on the other end and he was saying that God had brought her to mind as a possible candidate for an opening for Assistant Children’s Pastor. She took the job and two years later ended up being his replacement when he moved on to become a senior pastor elsewhere. She is now one of two full time children’s pastors (preschool and grade school) in addition to one part time children’s pastor (20 hours) and twenty part time staffers (10 hours) between preschool and grade school for Sunday morning/evening and Wednesday evening programs. It is…

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