- Part 3

Small Groups for Kids

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas, Leadership, Volunteers | 0 |

I’m very passionate about small groups for kids. It’s probably become my number one ministry priority. Almost everything I do (almost every program or ministry initiative) points to the small group experience. For ten years, small groups have been my answer to ministry challenges. How do we help kids connect on the weekend? How do we recognize birthdays and special days for a kid on the weekend? How do we talk about money and collect the offering on the weekend? How do we unpack a salvation message and take steps toward baptism? How do we group kids at camp?...

Was Jesus Really a Carpenter?

Posted by Kenny Conley | Random | 0 |

Heresy, right? Seriously, I’m not trying to crush everything you’ve come to know and love about the Bible. First I tell you that Joseph and Mary weren’t turned away from an “inn” and then I tell you that Jesus wasn’t born in a stable. Now I’m going to tell you that he wasn’t a carpenter. These are the kinds of truths/facts that you wouldn’t come across unless you were really looking for it, or unless you read the 5th Gospel. Who knew that a trip to the Holy Land would reveal so much about what 1st century was really like. Okay,...

More about Jesus’ Birth

Posted by Kenny Conley | Random | 0 |

Yesterday I wrote about the birth of Jesus Christ. There was a cultural and historical context that doesn’t support the way most westerners see this significant event. From this point forward, when I think of Christmas, I won’t be thinking of quite stables on a chilly December night because there wasn’t room in the local inn. It’s not significantly different, but it’s meaningful to know how things actually played out. That post was already too long and I had a few more things to day, thus the title of this post. When spending the day in Bethlehem, I learned a...

Jesus Wasn’t Born the Way You Think He Was

Posted by Kenny Conley | Random | 0 |

About midway through our trip to Israel, we visited Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. We actually stayed in a hotel on Manger Square for three nights, so we had a little more time in this little town than the average tourist. Of all the holy sites we visited in Israel, I think that that the Church of the Nativity was my favorite. First of all, our guide was amazing. Secondly, I learned more about the birth of Jesus from a historical/cultural perspective than I ever knew. I left Bethlehem with a completely different view of the birth of...

Israel: The 5th Gospel

Posted by Kenny Conley | Random | 2 |

A few weeks ago, I had the experience of a lifetime. Sara (my wife) and I spent a couple of weeks in Israel and it was AMAZING. Even now, weeks after returning, we’re still processing all that we experienced. I’ve only talked the ears off a few people – so far. One of the most profound experiences for me was the understanding and appreciation that comes with being in the Holy Land. Four over 40 years, I imagined places and scenarios as I read them in the Bible. Obviously, I’ve seen films and pictures of Israel, so my imagination...

Plug ‘n’ Play Ministry

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

Last week we took 140 kids to summer camp. It was an amazing five days and my highlight was what happened on night three. Something amazing happened in the hearts of dozens of kids – but it almost didn’t happen. Our group made up half of the kids attending this camp in Northern Arizona. The camp provided the band, the activities, the speaker and the curriculum. It’s an amazing experience to have no other responsibility than just be with your kids, letting the camp take care of everything else. However, after the first day – we noticed a small problem....

How to Camp: A Case Study

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

In the How to Camp series, I wrote about how to streamline the camp preparation process. I talked about budgeting, registration forms, and incentivized registration. For the past three years, I honed this process at my church in Austin, TX and saw significant success. The marker for success was this: 50-60% of registrations submitted on opening day (4 months before camp) 14% of registrations submitted in the final month of registration Registration closed SIX weeks before camp began Camp came in UNDER budget The big question I had was, “Will this work somewhere else?” The immediate response I get...

Multiple Google/Gmail Accounts? Try Shift!

Posted by Kenny Conley | Geek | 1 |

I have four email accounts. All four are google/Gmail accounts and I utilize all four on a daily basis. I have managed to only use one calendar (I import all my calendars to my work google account). I do utilize google docs for each of the accounts as well. This means that at any given time, I have 5-10 tabs open dedicated to my google/Gmail accounts (four email tabs, one or two drive tabs, one calendar tab and usually several open docs. For someone who always has a lot of tabs open, this doesn’t help. That’s why SHIFT has been...

Leadership Podcast with Jim Wideman

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas, Leadership | 0 |

I’m happy to say that I’ve had Jim Wideman as a mentor and friend in my life for nearly ten years. He’s been a hero of mine for much longer than a decade, so it’s really fun to have access to him like I do now. Last month, he and I were in Atlanta together for NEXT, an informal gathering of NextGen and Family Ministry Pastors that I help organize. While at NEXT, Jim had me on his podcast. First of all, I have to say the the recording environment might have been my favorite. The last time I was...

How to Camp: Budget Simplification

Posted by Kenny Conley | Ideas | 0 |

Sometimes the expenses associated with camp can be absolutely overwhelming. You’ve got money going in and money going out and it’s not so easy keeping track. What makes matters worse is that most churches have a line item in their budget for camp. A lump sum of money. But that’s it. The problem is that your line item for camp isn’t enough. Camp needs it’s own budget so you know if you’re over, under or right on track. I hope to simplify this for you a little. First of all, you need to decide if camp is designated as...