Archive for 'Middle School'
Orange Leaders Forum (Part 2)
Posted on 26. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.
Reggie spent a few minutes talking about why students are dropping out of church.
We haven’t given them a better story as they aren’t as intrigued by our story. They’re more intrigued by the world’s story.
As a church, our power is that we can give them a better story. When they engage in this story, it’s less likely that they’ll walk away from their faith.
Reggie came back to this later in the day as he was talking about the three Dials:
- The Wonder Dial: Faith
- The Discover Dial: How truth affects my life
- The Passion Dial: How I serve
Too often in Student ministry, the wonder and discover dials are maxed but not the passion dial. This is a serious mistake.… Read the rest
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Chad Swanzy: Creativity is his middle name.
Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.
I thought I’d introduce someone to you in case you didn’t already know him. Chad Swanzy is the Student Ministry Pastor here at Gateway. He came on staff about six weeks before me last year and I really enjoy working with him. Unfortunately for me I haven’t gotten to work as closely with him this last year as I would have liked (that’s changing this year though). One of the things I admire about Chad is his creative genius.
Perhaps it’s his need to be resourceful that sparks creativity, always maximizing resources on a shoe string budget. However, he connects very well to the students he leads and he connects through every medium possible. He’s constantly building sets, creating environments, designing totally insane games or filming promotion videos.… Read the rest
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Obama goes to camp!
Posted on 19. Feb, 2009 by Kenny.
Our student pastor just posted this video on his facebook account. So Awesome!
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Promotion Sunday
Posted on 26. Aug, 2008 by Kenny.
This last Sunday was the infamous “Promotion Sunday.” Of all the “Promotion Sundays” I’ve had in the past, this one actually saw the least promotions. We’re in the process of getting portable space added to our facility (like how I termed that… it was a really sophisticated way of saying we’re getting trailers… ha!) Last year the Kindergartners were a part of elementary and this year they’ll stay with preschool… so kindergarten didn’t actually promote.
The only two things I really had my eye on was the implementation of small groups in elementary and the promotion of our 5th graders into middle school. We had two big wins!
First of all I’ll talk about the small groups. One of the first things on my plate from the moments I began at Gateway ( We even talked about it extensively during my interviews) was to launch small groups in elementary.… Read the rest
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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.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Rethinking Family Ministry
Posted on 02. May, 2008 by Kenny.
Like the Rethinking Children’s Ministry, this breakout was more of a round table discussion. On the stage was Mike Clear from Discovery Church in California, Daren Kaiser from Scranton, PA, Dave Fox from Indiana and Reggie Joiner. Each of these men serve as the Family Pastor at their churches (except Reggie of course).
Reggie began by explaining some of the different models of family ministry. One model is the departmental approach. This is where each department (student and children’s ministry) does it’s best to connect with parents. Another model is the supplemental approach. This is where a family pastor is hired to add programs to supplement parents ministry. This pastor more or less informs the other staff members (children’s pastor and student pastor) what he/she is doing.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Family Ministry Around the Table
Posted on 28. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
This was the first pre-conference breakout I attended. It was led by Dave Fox, the Family Ministries director at “The Bridge Church” in Decatur, IN and Darren Kizer, the Family Ministry Director at Parker Hill Community Church in Scranton, PA.
The heading for this breakout were guided by these statements:
“We will be focusing on an integrated strategy for family ministry. In this strategy, leaders and parents are leading with the same end in mind.”
Darren started things off by bringing out a bottle of Diet Coke and a Mento. Yeah, we know what that does. He explained that the the Mento represents the influence of the church in 10 years. the Diet Coke represents the influence of the family in 1 year.… Read the rest
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