- Part 2

#KIDMIN turns Eight!

Happy Birthday #KIDMIN! Tomorrow, KIDMIN turns eight years old. It’s fun to watch something born, something created out of nothing and become something ubiquitous. That’s been true of kidmin. It was eight years ago that myself and a handful of friends coined the moniker. It took a few years to to gain traction, but now the term kidmin is synonymous with all things children’s ministry. A simple search on google or amazing reveal dozens of books, resources, conferences and programs that contain the term in their name. There’s been a kidmin revolution and it’s beginning wasn’t the result of a marketing...

This Week is NEXT Week

Posted by Kenny Conley | Leadership | 0 |

I look forward to this week all year long. It might be one of my favorite weeks of the year. I’ve learned something very important in the second decade of vocational ministry. Never do ministry alone. There’s too much that we can learn from each other. One of the best investments of our time is to spend a little bit of time with someone else who does what we do. That’s why conferences, seminars and networking groups are so important. For the most part, they’re plentiful in the kidmin world. However, I’m a NextGen Pastor. The first 3-4 years...

Think Outside The Walls of Your Church

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas, Leadership | 0 |

This month, my second e-book with Orange released. My first e-book, Reprioritizing for group can be found here. My new ebook is all about our neighbors. It’s called “Think Outside Your Walls – Making a Shift in the Way We See Our Neighbors.” The premise is pretty simple. Tens of thousands of families drive by your church every day. These are people with hurts, needs and pressing situations. These families need the encouragement and resources we offer, but it’s never occurred to them that the local church might have exactly what they’ve been missing. One of the best things we can...

Pay Yourself First

Posted by Kenny Conley | Leadership | 0 |

It’s still the first week of January and most of us haven’t yet given up on our goals/resolutions yet… right? I have a really interesting thought about doing more for yourself this year. We all have goals that get put off month after month, year after year. They’re they things we really want to do, we just don’t make the time for them. Losing weight Writing a book/resource Launching a blog Saving for retirement I’ve found that we rarely make ourselves a priority. We tend to take care of everyone else first. I’m not talking about being selfish. Just...

How to Read More

Posted by Kenny Conley | Leadership | 0 |

The last couple of years, I’ve certainly upped my reading game. I’ve worked hard to make reading a priority. I read 20 books in 2015 and literally finished my 26th book on December 31st of 2016. Each year, I push myself to read more and each year, I’m my list of books read continues to grow. First of all, let me answer the obvious question. Why make reading a priority? Knowledge. Leaders are readers. A commonality of some of the greatest contributors in this world is that they were voracious readers. Knowledge matters. There’s a lot of ways to learn and...

My 2016 Reading Goal

Posted by Kenny Conley | Leadership | 0 |

Two years ago, I decided to become far more intentional about reading. I began setting goals that really motivated me and I’ve read far more books than in years past. In 2015, I set a goal to read 18 books and ended up reading 20. For 2016, I set a goal to read 30 (maybe a little too ambitious of a jump), but I did end up reading 26. I’m going to use the excuse that I had a baby, started a new job and relocated. Regardless, it was a fantastic year in books and I can’t wait for...

Sayonara Twenty Sixteen

Posted by Kenny Conley | Random | 0 |

It’s interesting how many people are declaring 2016 the worst year in history. There seems to be an overwhelming number of people that are anxious for this dreadful year to be over. By midnight tonight, they’ll get their wish. In July, Slate.com ran an interesting article asking if 2016 really has been the worst. The article then goes on to list many other awful years: 72,000 BC 1348 1492 1836 1837 1877 1876 1943 1968 1919 2003 2016 Just to name a few. Reading the events of these terrible years… 2016 was tame. Interestingly though, most readers ranked 2016 the...

52 Days Until Christmas

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to host Jingle Jam for our for a Family Experience the week before Christmas. I wrote about it here. Just a few weeks ago, we decided to double down on our Christmas experiences here at MISSION Church. Our vision at MISSION is to be an irresistible church for our next door neighbor and the next generation. In years past, we wouldn’t program for elementary aged kids because pulling off a program for elementary on Christmas Eve is challenging. However, not offering something for elementary kids really doesn’t align with our vision. All the...

Checklists: Timing is Everything

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

When it comes to checklists, timing is everything. Knowing when to use the checklist matters almost as much as using it at all. Every checklist needs a pause point (or multiple pause points), a specific time when the checklist is supposed to be run. Sometimes the checklist needs specific instructions on when the checklist is supposed to be run and at other times, pause points are obvious. In the book “The Checklist Manifesto,” the author, an accomplished surgeon, was tasked by the World Health Organization to develop a system to save lives in field surgery centers in developing countries....

What Makes a Good Checklist

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

We’ve written a lot about checklists. We’ve explored why checklists are important, how they work and what their implementation in ministry can actually look like. However, it’s important to look into the anatomy of a checklist. A great deal of research has gone into checklists and every checklist are by no means equals. There are good checklists and there are bad checklists. Let’s take a look at the differences between good and bad checklists. The following items make checklists bad: They are vague They are too hard to use They are too long They are impractical Checklists that try...