Archive for May, 2008
Clarification: Opportunity of a lifetime
Posted on 20. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Last week I read an incredible post from the Access: Elevation blog. It concerned how you communicate available volunteer positions to potential volunteers. Again, it’s one of those “don’t communicate the need, communicate the vision” ideas. However, Larry Brey communicated perfectly how serving is the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s a personal invite to participate in the single most powerful movement and organization in the world. The Church!
Bravo, it’s a great post that many can take and adapt to their volunteer/recruiting process.
However…
There is something I need to clarify. Something that appears to be missing.
Yes, I think it would be incredible if we communicated this message to potential volunteers. Yes, I believe that serving in the church (especially in the kids ministry) 
IS an opportunity of a lifetime. BUT, (listen closely) too often we don’t treat it that way. It’s easy to communicate how important the job is and how great an opportunity it is, but after we fill that spot we sometimes check that one off the list, move on to the next one and neglect the person who just bought what we were selling!
If we truly believe that serving in the church is the opportunity of a lifetime, then we’ll treat every position with total respect. We’ll clearly communicate to our new volunteer. We’ll adequately train our new volunteer. We’ll walk beside them to make sure they’ve “got it.” Anything less and we’ve become nothing more than a used car salesman, resorting to whatever’s necessary to fill a spot.
I know that’s not our heart, but perhaps we “make room” and prepare for the volunteer to fill the spot before we begin recruiting.
Continue Reading
Parent involved baptism
Posted on 19. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Several weeks ago I wrote this post about involving parents in significant moments in their child’s life.
Yesterday I had a really cool moment. I don’t know that it would have happened if I hadn’t been thinking so much about what family ministry really means.
Like I posted yesterday, we baptized a lot of people yesterday. After one of the services, a family was directed to me. They had a little girl who wanted to be baptized. She was six. I got down on one knee and talked with her about baptism. She had already make Jesus her Lord and Savior and her parents had already been talking to her about baptism.
I looked up at the dad. He was holding his younger daughter in his arms. I asked him, “Do you want to baptize her?” He thought I was talking about his little on in his arms. He replied, “No, I think she’s too young.” I shook my head and repeated the question. “Do you” (I pointed at him) “want to baptize her” (I pointed at his six year old)? He looked at me with wide eyes and asked, “Can I?”
WOW! I almost have a tear in my eye just recalling the moment.
So, I escorted him and his daughter into the pool. We stood over near the edge so his wife could be right there next to it all. I helped him and watched him baptize his little girl. I’m sure it will go down as one of the memories he’ll never, never, never forget.
Is that what family ministry looks like?
Continue Reading
Baptismpalooza
Posted on 18. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Today we had some baptisms at Gateway. I think it was the most fun I’ve ever had at a baptism service… and I really love baptizing kids!
Gateway Church doesn’t have a built in baptismal. In Texas, a lot of churches actually build them outside. They’ll build a fountain or other water feature that can be used as a baptismal throughout the year. For some reason, we don’t have one, so once the weather warms up, we bring out a big pool and baptize as many people as we can. Today it was just over 100! Woo Hoo!
This week I met with several families. It’s so important to me to meet with kids before they get baptized. I feel it’s:
- A great opportunity to connect with a family.
- A great opportunity to clearly communicate salvation and baptism to a family
Well, there were about 60-70 people pre-registered to get baptized. The service was set to end about 15 minutes early and after it dismissed, people came out to the pool to get it done. We had enough people in the pool that entire families could be baptized all at once. It was like a synchronized swimming deal. Awesome!
There are two things I really liked about the way Gateway does baptisms:
It had a family and community feel
Rather than have it be a formal moment in a worship service, it was a rowdy, uncut and group event. People were gathering around friends and family members to share in the “experience.” Husbands and wives, families and friends were getting baptized together. For many people it was a shared and relational experience. I love it.
It was “New Testament” -just do it now- style
There were many people who had pre-registered to be baptized. But there were a lot who were jumping in. John Burke, our Senior Pastor, shared an evangelistic message today and people were encouraged to respond and if so, go get baptized. We provided towels, so people were climbing in with all their clothes. I heard about a guy who got baptized at this last year who jumped in with his nice clothes, wallet, watch and shoes. Someone told him that he could take some of those things off. He replied, “Most of the decisions I make every day are motivated by money… today I’m following my heart.”
So, it was baptism Gateway style. We’ve got another baptism scheduled in July. I can’t wait!
Continue Reading
A HUGE favor: Helping someone discover their passion
Posted on 18. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been hearing some interesting stories from some of the men who serve in the Children’s Ministry here at Gateway Church.
One guy told me about how he and his wife responded to a plea for help in the Children’s Ministry. One day the Children’s Pastor turned to him and said, “I think you’d be perfect to operate and voice the Elmer puppet (our preschool character).” Now this guy is incredibly passionate about “being” Elmer and is also overseeing a dad’s group.
Another guy started volunteering in the classroom where his daughter attended. At that point in time, he was an agnostic. Now he’s one of the lead teachers (no, he’s not an agnostic anymore). He wears a cape to work with the kids. Why? Because he’s passionate about being a hero to these kids.
I observed (I haven’t met him yet) another guy who is the host of our Preschool Elmer’s Clubhouse (he’s the emcee). He’s one of the best I’ve seen. I asked about how they found him. I was then told that his wife dragged him into it. She wanted to serve and didn’t want to do it by herself. One day someone handed him the microphone and he hasn’t given it back yet.
There are many more stories just like these, I just haven’t discovered them all yet.
I’ve had this thought in my head all weekend. Sometimes in efforts to recruit for the children’s Ministry, we communicate “need.” Yeah, that one isn’t usually good. “They” tell us that we need to recruit by communicating vision. Yes, this is the way to go. However, I think there may be something else to consider. I think we may need to communicate that we’re doing “them” a favor by letting them come volunteer. Yeah, I said that right. For many people, their greatest passion may be loving other peoples’ kids and they don’t know it yet. It may be serving snacks, running computer check-in, operating a puppet, running sound, teaching from the stage or leading a small group. They just may not know until they give it a shot. So, think about that the next time you get to make an announcement from the stage in “big church.”
Continue Reading
You Version… still waiting
Posted on 17. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Several weeks ago I discovered YouVersion. It’s a project being developed by the guys at LifeChurch. It’s actually a really amazing concept. It’s an online, collaborative Bible.
No, this is much different from Bible Gateway. It allows you to tag verses and passages. You can keep a journal and even share thoughts on scriptures that you’d like to make public or keep private. It’s all brilliant!
Today I discovered a new YouVersion trick. I just signed up for the “Yearly Bible” reading plan RSS feed.
However…
YouVersion is still in beta. There are a lot of features that will be added soon that is going to make YouVersion absolutely amazing. I think that once they add the “groups” feature, I’ll be able to use this as a collaborative Bible Study with others. We can study the Bible together, share notes and encourage each other. So, although I haven’t used it much yet, I anticipate using the group portion for study.
Continue Reading
The first promotion I’m really excited about
Posted on 16. May, 2008 by Kenny.
I’ll be honest. I’ve always hated “Promotion Sunday.”
I’ve always hated losing my 5th graders. By the time they’re ready to move on the 6th grade, I just love them too much to want to let go. I’ve invested so much into them. I’ve also hated promotion because inevitably, many of them won’t make the transition. Because the program is so different, some of the kids don’t adjust well to the difference. Sometimes it is even the parents who resist sending their kids to a program that is so different with teenagers that are so much older. So, many of these kids who don’t make the transition end up sneaking back into kids church for a few weeks or months. Eventually, many of them feel like they don’t fit and eventually stop coming. For many, it may be a year or two before they end up showing up in Student Ministry. Some never do.
That is why I hate Promotion Sunday.
However, this time I’m really excited. Well, since I don’t really know any of the kids yet at Gateway, I’m not attached to those 5th graders. But that’s not why I’m excited. I’m excited because for the first time I feel like a strong plan is being put into place to capture “most” of our 5th graders. Our student pastor will be offering middle school programs during all of our weekend services. The Middle School service isn’t going to be so totally different that the 5th graders can’t relate. So, for the 5th grader to make the transition, he/she simply has to walk down the hall to another room. That’s it.
Chad, the student pastor and I have been talking about how if we can make this transition successful, his Middle School program could triple. In addition, if we continue to create tight hand-offs every year, his entire student ministry could be 3 or 4 times larger in just a few year just by kids growing up in the programs. What’s not exciting about that? I’ll continue to post about how this transition is going. We’re planning several “preview events” throughout the summer to make those 5th graders beg for promotion day!!!
Continue Reading
Dysfunction and Death
Posted on 15. May, 2008 by Kenny.
That’s a title that will get attention!
Two weeks ago at Orange, I attended a breakout with Nancy Ortberg about creating healthy conflict. I sat amazed about this new paradigm (I thought we were all supposed to get along). Apparently we’re supposed to duke it out in staff meeting. I like it!
After the breakout I asked Nancy for more information. I wanted to grow in this area. She gave me the names of three books. So that week I went to the bookstore and came home with five (not sure how that happened exactly). So far I’ve read two. Death by Meeting and the Five Dysfunctions of Team. Incredible books. I’ve heard of Death by Meeting and a previous employer recommended the Five Dysfunctions. Both books have encouraged me in many ways, especially as I’m new to my organization. I’ve been leading meeting for years, yet no one every taught me how to lead a meeting. I’ve lead teams for years and several of my teams have had some forms of dysfunction. Now I feel much better equipped to lead both teams and meetings in a slightly different way.
So, if you lead teams and meetings, you’ll love these books. There’s a common bond between them and I’m sure they’ll help you in your situation. Soon I’ll blog about each of these books in detail.
I’m curious though. Is there anyone out there who has read these books and applied them to your work? How has that turned out?
Continue Reading
Is my vision leaky?
Posted on 14. May, 2008 by Kenny.
I’m not exactly sure that “leaky” is a real word. But I think it’s a question we all have to ask ourselves. Actually, there are many questions that have to be established before asking this one.
Continue Reading
Vision Leaks
Posted on 13. May, 2008 by Kenny.
A similar thought as been thrown at me from many different directions this last month. This though involves vision. Steven Furtick in one of his audio blog talked about speaking vision so much your throat is hoarse. At Orange, Craig Jutila spoke about how without vision, people run wild (Craig does a great job helping people develop mission and vision to present to their organizations). Then just yesterday, I was confronted with a powerful example of vision working the way it is supposed to. Vision when it leaks down and saturates the organization.
Continue Reading
Week one… complete!
Posted on 12. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Sorry it’s been kind of quite on the blog lately. As most of you know, I started my new job as Next Generation Pastor at Gateway Community Church last week. It was a great first week. Really, of the first weeks I’ve had with new jobs, it definitely ranks at the very top.
On my first day in the office, I came with a suitcase. Yeah, the first time I’ve done that. We left that day for a Texas Large Church Forum in Dallas, TX. The forum was pretty good, but I had a lot of time to get to know fellow staff members who I’ll be working with. I roomed with the new Student Pastor (he’s a trip) and got some good hangout time with everyone. Even got out one night to see Iron Man with Chad (the student pastor) and both of the people I report to. Fun!
Thursday was my only day in the office last week, and it was a busy one! I’ll write more this week about some great things I’m learning from my new church, from my new job, and from some great books I’m reading right now.
Continue Reading
