Tag Archives: Communication
Does your church have a unified voice?
Posted on 02. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
I’m about to celebrate 4 years of serving at Gateway Church and let me tell you, I’m so thankful. It’s been a wonderful journey so far and I’m looking forward to many more years ahead of me. One of the things I love the most is how strategic Gateway is about reaching a specific demographic. Jim Wideman had done some consulting for Gateway years ago and while interviewing, he told me that Gateway was one of the very few churches he’d worked with that very closely reflected the culture they were trying to reach.
One of the ways that Gateway does this is training leadership in the “Voice of Gateway.” Just a few weeks ago we sat through a 30 minute refresher in an all-staff meeting.
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We are stewards of timeless truths
Posted on 24. Jan, 2012 by Kenny.
On more than one occasion, I heard Reggie say this line last week at the Orange Tour.
We are stewards of timeless truths.
What I think is interesting is that I often hear people complain about Orange curriculum Usually I hear people complaining from the point of view that there isn’t enough Bible in it. The funny thing is that I have people on my own staff who at times complain that the curriculum is too church. Honestly, there’s no such thing as a perfect curriculum and that alone isn’t reason enough to go out and start writing your own.
Curriculum was made to be tweaked… especially when they give it to you in editable digital form, right? Whether your curriculum comes from a virtue perspective or a chronological spin through the scriptures, the foundation doesn’t change that scripture is the basis for all things taught.… Read the rest
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How are you using QR codes?
Posted on 25. Apr, 2011 by Kenny.
Only a few months ago I wrote posts about both Microsoft Tags as well as QR Codes. Today I flew from Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA and have seen no less than a dozen QR Codes and one Microsoft Tag. They’re everywhere. Even on Saturday, I posted a video where in the video there is a guy holding a giant QR Code and if you scan it, you’ll get a bonus video.
They’re at restaurants, in magazines, on billboards and everywhere else. Right now I feel like these things are like twitter in the early days. They’re really cool, but I’m not sure if they’re going to stick around or if they’ll die out.
Regardless of their longevity, how are you using them right now?… Read the rest
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I love Kidmin
Posted on 24. Jan, 2011 by Kenny.
I was just thinking about this the other day when looking at what conversations were happening on twitter surrounding #kidmin. We’re coming up on two years since we invented the kidmin hashtag. Although I often get credit from people for inventing the term, I know that it was a group effort. However, I’m so stinking proud of what we came up with. Not only has kidmin been a great way to search twitter for specific conversations, it’s been a great replacement word for Children’s Ministry. Around the same time, others came up with “fammin” and “stumin” as twitter hashtags, but they’ve not caught on quite the same as kidmin. First of all, they’re not used at the same volume as kidmin, Just do a twitter search and you’ll see.… Read the rest
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Don’t have the sex talk with your kids!
Posted on 19. Jan, 2011 by Kenny.
I’m continuing to engage the conversation this week about how we can protect kids from the dangers of pornography and sex outside of God’s plan. One of the topics that seem central to this is the sex talk. The one parents have with their kids. Yesterday I mentioned that many parents may be waiting too late to have the sex talk as kids are already over-exposed to sex by the time parents muster up the guts to have the conversation.
However, a few months ago I came across a site where I read the absolute best advice I’ve ever heard about the sex talk.
The advices to parents was: Don’t have the sex talk with your kids!
You’re probably thinking, “what?… Read the rest
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Updating my weekly parent update
Posted on 24. May, 2010 by Kenny.
I’ve been using Constant Contact for almost two years to communicate news to parents. I’ve been very happy with it as a communication tool. I get all kinds of great feedback from every email like what emails are being read, forwarded and the like. However, I’ve been very slow to adjust to using all that Constant Contact has to offer. For the first several months, I didn’t use any graphics. It was just a boring text email. Then a few months later I added a snappy header and that’s what I’ve been using ever since. However, I’ve been inspired to make some changes and have a semi-final product. I’d be curious as to what you think.
Here’s the template I’ve been using (click on image to see full page):
Here’s the new template (blue version, not sure we’re going to use this one):
Here’s another new template (green version, probably going to go with this one):
I’ll be using this new template this week, so any input you have would be much appreciated.… Read the rest
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Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: Churchy words
Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Far too often, the most confusing terminology we use are the words we’re most familiar with. We’ve been using them so long, we don’t even realize how foreign they may sound to a person not familiar with God, especially kids. The funny thing is that some of these words and terms aren’t really used in modern conversational English, they’re just hand-me-down phrases from the church of generations past. Here are a handful of confusing words and phrases:
- Blood of Jesus
- Lamb of God
- Lord and Savior
- Born again
Don’t get mad at me, I know that some of these words and terms are sacred, most of them even in your Bible. However, when we throw out one of these words, it helps if there is a context.… Read the rest
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Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: Hearing God’s voice
Posted on 17. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Here’s my third post in “calling out” the terminology Children’s Pastors sometimes use when communicating to kids. Just so you know, I’m really not some self-righteous jerk making people feel bad. Every example I’ve written and plan to write, I’ve been guilty of saying at one time or another. Even writing these posts have caused me to even more carefully examine the words I use. We hold a valuable responsibility. We should steward it well.
Here’s another one that bothers me, probably more so because I’ve fumbled this one up with so many kids. It involves explaining how God speaks to us. Now, I don’t want to get into a spiritual debate due to differences in theological viewpoints, that’s not what this is really about.… Read the rest
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Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: Salvation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Wow, that’s a long title. I think it’s a record for me.
So yesterday I started this series by posting about how many kids mix up God with God the Father which may seem like I’m getting picky, but it does create confusion around the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit with God the Father. Today’s closely ties into this concept of “trinity” confusion.
When I was four years old, I asked Jesus into my heart. I really did. The funny thing is that when I was young, I literally pictured my heart having a little door on it and inside was a little bench that Jesus could sit on. I eventually came to understand that Jesus didn’t really live in my heart just like I came to understand that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist.… Read the rest
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Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: God
Posted on 15. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Here’s the first spiritual concept our kids seem to be really confused about. I’m not sure it’s exactly something we’ve taught wrong, but maybe something we’ve not been clear enough about. It deals with the trinity. Don’t worry, I’m not about to get into various methodologies of teaching the trinity. There are plenty of theories and illustrations on how to best teach that and you’re on your own there. However, a huge number of kids seem to regularly interchange “God” with “God the father.” You may feel that I’m splitting hairs here, but I think it’s more significant that a simple mistake.
I was reading a blog last night where a young girl was explaining the relationship between God and Jesus.… Read the rest
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