Archive for September, 2010

Location-based networking

Posted on 27. Sep, 2010 by .

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Today all the buzz is location-aware tools and software. Where you are and who you’re around is what counts. Whether you’re playing foursquare, gowalla or using facebook’s new “check-in” feature, you’ve seen the benefits of this trend. Maybe you’ve just been playing the game and haven’t actually noticed the benefits, but you’ve seen the potential (kinda like when you first started using twitter). Well, it’s no different with ministry. Where you are and who you’re around is so hugely important. I think one of the biggest misses for ministry leaders is when they do ministry for years and never truly connect into the larger ministry community around them. Sure you can drive down the street and knock on every church door you see, or you can use the tools available to you online.… Read the rest

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Are You A Kidmin?

Posted on 23. Sep, 2010 by .

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So, I got a tweet the other night from my friend Michael Chanley to check out something he’s been working on. If you haven’t already heard about it or have been to it yet, it’s called ImaKidmin.com.You should definitely check it out.

When I first saw this I said to myself, “come on Michael, this has already been done.” I remember a site several years ago called something like the 1 million pixel project. It was a college student trying to raise money to pay for tuition. He created a website where people could purchase pixels for $1 each. It was a creative idea that was picked up by the news and guess what, he sold 1 million pixels.

But I was wrong, this is what ImaKidmin.com is.… Read the rest

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Digital, Physical or both?

Posted on 23. Sep, 2010 by .

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So I have a question for you that I really need an answer to. Really, I need best practices. When it comes to your volunteer applications, how do you store them? Digitally, physically or both?

We use Fellowhship One and so we scan applications and attach them to a volunteers profile via requirements. Since we also run our background checks through F1, that report shows up in F1 as well. It’s nice an convenient to have it all right there in F1. However, we’re still keeping a physical copy of the actual application. My question is this: do I still need a physical copy anymore? I mean, I’m already relying of F1 to store the only copy of my background check and I know that my data is backed up, so if F1 crashed, my data is still going to be there.… Read the rest

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Scheduling software

Posted on 21. Sep, 2010 by .

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I have a question to ask of the community here. I’m looking for a good ministry scheduling program. Something that allows you to set up recurring serving schedules for volunteers, that allows you to mark people as “going to be out” and allow other volunteers or subs to sub in without it affecting normally scheduled schedule. Anyone know of anything?

Two suggestions I’m not looking for is Planning Center or IDMe. Planning Center is awesome, but it’s more geared around one service and is ideal for worship services where they same group of musicians or such are there for all the services. I need something that can possibly schedule around the same service, but different volunteers at each service. IDMe actually is the best I’ve seen for ministry scheduling, but the only problem with it is that it isn’t web-based (at least it wasn’t a few years ago).… Read the rest

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Volunteer Recruiting Efforts

Posted on 21. Sep, 2010 by .

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Yesterday I posted my big vision for Kidmin volunteers at Gateway. I think the vision for this came when I realized that we’ve been hovering at the same number of volunteers for the past six months. I wouldn’t say I was shocked, surprised or any other specific emotion. I just didn’t know. It seems that we do a great job of maintaining. We have approximately the same number of people volunteer as volunteers step out for whatever reason.

This simply means we need to be more intentional over the next 12 months in order to see significant growth. I figured that we’ll do two things.

  1. I’d like to have two big volunteer expos or volunteer drives where we make a big deal out of it and can recruit in big church, capturing a lot of those who don’t have kids or those who haven’t connected anywhere yet.

    2. … Read the rest

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My big vision for volunteers

Posted on 20. Sep, 2010 by .

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Let me tell you about the vision I’ve had. I actually just started communicating it about 5-6 weeks ago. In recognizing where we need to go as a ministry, I knew that we need significantly more help. As far as room coverage and functionality is concerned, we’re pretty good. However, to have a truly small span of care, we’ve got many positions to fill.

When I’m with or talking to Jim Wideman, I’m always challenged. He talks about develop his first, second and third string of volunteers and backups for his backups. Jim Wideman is an incredible leader and gifted in this area, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a similar experience in our ministry.

So, about a month ago I began telling my staff that my goal was to double our volunteer base in the next 12 months.… Read the rest

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Catching up!

Posted on 20. Sep, 2010 by .

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Okay, I’m a little behind on my email. I have three inboxes. One for work, one for personal and one for childrensministryonline.com. As far as priority goes, chidlrensministryonline.com is at the bottom of the stack. I’ve been amazed though how busy my CMO inbox has gotten. It’s a blessing really, I love the networking and interaction.

I’m saying all this though to let you know that I’m catching up this week and next. I have 37 unread emails in my CMO inbox right now, some of them from back when this crazy summer started. I’ll be responding to all my email, so if you’ve been waiting to hear back from me, I’m coming, I promise!

Thank you so much for this community though, I’m better for it and hope you are too!… Read the rest

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-20

Posted on 20. Sep, 2010 by .

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  • Heading to mcdonalds to write. Too dark and comfortable at home… I'll fall asleep! #

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BRB. I promise.

Posted on 18. Sep, 2010 by .

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You may have noticed a major lack of content here on the blog. Well, I took a week of vacation which was sandwiched by an out of town conference/retreat and a full-on volunteer expo. So, the dust is beginning to settle and I’ll be getting back into a regular blogging routine this week. You missed me, right? :)

So, what is it that’s had me so busy?

Leadership Networks Innovation Lab

My NextGen team and I were invited to spend a day in Dallas with Leadership Network to begin a year long Innovation Lab with five other great churches pushing the limits of what Family Ministry looks like today. It was probably one of the most powerful retreat/conference/breakout experiences I have ever had.… Read the rest

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-09-06

Posted on 06. Sep, 2010 by .

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