Archive by Author
Don’t raise well rounded, well educated and happy kids
Posted on 03. May, 2012 by Kenny.
I’ve been working alongside parents now for fifteen years, but I’ve only done this from the perspective of actually being a parent for the last five. Having kids of your own certainly changes your perspective. We all have hopes and dreams for what our kids will grow up to be. Every time we host a child dedication class, we ask the question, “What does parenting success look like to you?” We also ask another question that hits the same issue from a different angle asking, “If you could pass only one thing to your child by the time they become an adult, what would that thing be?” I know that we put parents on the spot with these questions, but I’m amazed how often parents give answers like, “I want my son to be happy” or “I wan’t my kids to be successful” or even, “I want my child to have respect for all people.” I’m not going to say that these are wrong things, but if these is the greatest hope this generation of parents have for their kids… well there’s no wonder we’re seeing moral and spiritual decay. My goal is that by the end of the baptism class, I’ve either convinced them or at least built a case for wanting an authentic relationship with Jesus for their kids.
I absolutely loved Craig Groeschel’s talk at Orange this year. He essentially communicated many of the philosophical and strategy positions behind Orange, but from his own personal perspective and experience. His shocking statement was that we should not aim to raise well rounded, highly educated and happy children. That’s what our culture communicates as a need, but this doesn’t line up with the scriptures.
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I’m not so comfortable with the mess
Posted on 02. May, 2012 by Kenny.
One of my top 3 ministry gifts is administration. I love systems, processes and project plans. I love to set goals, strive to make them happen and help others move the ball forward. I actually enjoy coming into an area of chaos and bring order and structure so that growth can actually happen. These are my gifts and I work very hard to make this happen. I probably work too hard in fact. I spend a significant amount of time offsite because I don’t like being interrupted so much. I just need some peace and quite while I get stuff done. Although I think that my philosophy and approach is good, I’m confident that God wants to mess up my neat and structured little world.
As much as I prefer schedules and order, the real work of ministry doesn’t always happen that way. It happens at inconvenient times and beacons us to get personally involved, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. It’s funny how I’ve been experiencing this a little more lately.
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Four years and counting
Posted on 02. May, 2012 by Kenny.
Yesterday I celebrated my fourth year of coming on staff at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. I vividly remember driving from the Orange Conference in Atlanta with my little family and my car fully packed halfway across the country. Not only was excited about moving to a new city and taking on a new job that was fresh and exciting, but I was amazed how God seemingly directed events on a major scale to move me into a job that was exactly what I needed and exactly the right time. 12 months earlier, I’m not sure how I would have felt about this kind of role, but as God had been shaping my heart for a different strategy for ministry in recent months, God provided an opportunity to do what he was preparing me for. I have a pretty cool story of how God called me to each church/ministry I’ve been a part of and Gateway was no exception. I know that God called me to this church.
The past four years have been very rewarding, but not without challenges.
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Creating a healthy staff culture
Posted on 30. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
Most of us could probably tell some great stories of horrible church staff situations. I’ve been a part of several, some of which were highly political where few trusted each other and I’ve been a part of church staff where things even got hostile. I’m not quite sure that the perfect church staff culture exists out there, but I’ve been a part of some good ones too.
While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great and timely reminder. He spoke at length about creating a staff culture where mutual submission is present. Yes, God may have called key leadership and senior staff to do something significant and the primarily purpose for additional staff is to serve that vision (I truly do believe that), but this doesn’t mean that senior staff doesn’t and shouldn’t serve the staff that works for them. This type of mutual submission creates a healthy culture where people want to work.
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ORANGE 2012: Game Changer
Posted on 26. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
I’m at the 2012 Orange Conference and so far, it’s been pretty amazing, but Orange is always like that.
I’ve actually been able to attend more breakouts than last year… and I’ve actually been paying closer attention in the general sessions as compared to last year. I hope to publish my notes from some of the sessions/breakouts later tonight. I also had the opportunity to lead a preconference breakout on yesterday, and include some notes from that as well.
Stay tuned…
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The Eric Trap Blog Tour: Day 10
Posted on 25. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
Day ten, the end of the second week of the Orange Trap blog tour. It was a great week.
On this day, Jay Martin, Or jaymart as I know him wrote a great post about the book. He included a clip from the famous movie, “Spartacus.” I have to admit, I’ve never seen this movie, but he includes the clip of the famous part of the movie where multiple people stand and say, “I am Spartacus.” Jay described that when he read the book, he immediately identified with Eric Newman and after hearing so many other people declare “I am Eric Newman,” it made him think of this clip.
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The Eric Trap Blog Tour: Day 9
Posted on 25. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
I’m writing this several days late. I had a super busy weekend and I’m now at Orange… but I didn’t want to miss pointing out more of the great reviews. So, look for the updates catching everyone up.
Matt Norman who actively blogs over at Kidmin1124.com wrote a great post. Matt simply posted a brief summary of each chapter which is helpful as by just reading his summary’s you’ll see how this book is just right for you. I did love his opening line thought:
“the week caught up with Eric as he buried his face in his hands and wept.” With this one sentence I knew that his book was for me.
I think many people can relate to that experience.
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Orange Conference Breakouts: A Little Help
Posted on 19. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
So, next week is the Orange Conference. I can’t tell you how excited I am to get there. Things have been so busy and crazy, I’m just excited to get away. However, I do need a little help.
My boss, the Executive Pastor at Gateway is coming with me to Orange (Which I’m super stoked about) this year. He came to the Orange Tour in Dallas and has read Think Orange, so he gets the whole Orange strategy. This is the first time I’ve brought someone who isn’t on my kidmin or student ministry team, so I’m not sure what breakouts he should attend.
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The Eric Trap Blog Tour: Day 8
Posted on 19. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
Yesterday was a big day for The Eric Trap blog tour. We took four virtual stops and people had some great stuff to say! So, let’s get started.
The first stop is over at the Compel Blog, which is the kidmin encouragement/resource blog for the Church of God of Prophecy denomination. Jason Vernon, the blog’s author is the senior pastor at RTP Community Church (which I wrote about a few weeks ago). He’s a great guy and I’m so glad to get the perspective of a senior pastor for this book. What spoke to him most was the chapter on delegation. Craig Gyergyo who wrote that chapter did an incredible job approaching delegation in a very unique way. Many of us do a great job delegating tasks, but we don’t delegate authority, which is huge. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Read Jason’s review here.
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The Eric Trap Blog Tour: Day 7
Posted on 18. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
So, yesterday was a slower blog tour day with just one stop. There were two other initially planned stops, but we’re going to circle back around to those stops in a few days. However, I got a real kick out of the featured review for the day.
Tom Roepke, who says he is not Eric Newman, does indeed work for New Hope Community Church, the same church where Eric Newman works… except Tom is in Ohio I think and Eric’s New Hope is in Houston. Pretty funny though. Tom Created a video review to go with his post where he showed the infamous hallway with his altercation with Jim Swanson. Don’t know what I’m talking about… well, you need to read the book.
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