Tag Archives: Craig Jutila
Components of Illuminate
Posted on 20. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
So, what are we doing at Illuminate? I’m glad you asked. I don’t want to reveal all the surprises, but I can give you a pretty good idea of what is going to happen.
Originally when we started planning the conference we were going to have Craig talk for three sessions and that was pretty much it. Don’t get me wrong, Craig can easily carry the conference all by himself and people would walk away more than satisfied. However, I dont’ want Illuminate to just be about the speakers. I want people to interact and have opportunities to ask questions, meet others and add to the conversations. I knew the only way we’d be able to do that is to add opportunities for this through breakouts.… Read the rest
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Origins of the Illuminate Conference
Posted on 19. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Yesterday I announced our volunteer conference, Illuminate. However, the idea of this conference isn’t new by any means.
I’ve always struggled with volunteer training. No matter what you do, they often tend to be somewhat “forced.” They’re necessary, but for a long time I’ve felt the need for a revamping of the traditional training meeting. So, about 4 years ago while serving at Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, TX, I came up with a different idea for training our volunteers. We called it Gear Up.
Essentially, it was a conference style training specifically for volunteers. We had an early-bird breakfast, live worship, an opening keynote from our senior pastor, a closing session and two breakouts where volunteers could pick what they wanted to learn about.… Read the rest
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Launching a volunteer conference
Posted on 18. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
I’m very pleased to announce the Illuminate Conference. You’re probably asking, “what is Illuminate, I haven’t seen or heard anything about it?” True, you probably haven’t seen or heard anything about it because my team at Gateway and I just created it a few months ago.
So, why start a conference, aren’t there a lot of great ones out there already?
Good question. Actually, this conference has two very specific audiences. Like many churches, the economy has tightened budgets. It costs me almost $1000 (per person) to go to a national conference after paying for lodging, air, registration and food. One of the first things I was asked to cut from my budget were conferences. That makes sense. On the other hand, haven’t you ever come home from a national conference and though, “I wish my volunteers could have heard that speaker?” As a result of asking those questions, we developed the idea for Illuminate.… Read the rest
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What was your defining moment?
Posted on 26. May, 2009 by Kenny.
We all have them. A moment of enlightenment. An epiphany. Something happens and you’ll never see the world again the same.
What was your defining moment for ministry?
I’ve had two big ones. One of them has a lot to do with Orange and in some ways, I feel like I’m still experiencing that defining moment. The first one though happened in 2003. My pastor had just resigned and a new one was being interviewed. This new pastor sat with me one day and asked me a really simple question that stumped me. He asked, “What’s your process for minisry?” I didn’t even know what the question meant much less how to answer it. I spent several weeks thinking about this question.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Synchronizing Volunteers
Posted on 02. May, 2008 by Kenny.
This session was led by Craig Jutila. Someone said that most of this information is in his book “Daze to Knights.” I knew he had this book, but I didn’t think this was about volunteers. I’ve heard Craig on several occasions and I’ve heard most of this stuff before. However, it is good stuff and I really needed to hear it again. Volunteerism is one of the biggest issues in ministry, so everyone could hear this stuff multiple times.
First things:
- You don’t organize people, you align them
- You build people first and programs second
- You understand that without people, you do not nor can you have a healthy ministry
- Without a mission statement, you will never thrive with your volunteers
- We are all made differently
One of the problems we have is that we often try to make everyone do the same about of work.… Read the rest
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Orange 2008: Rethinking Children’s Ministry
Posted on 30. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
I’ve really been looking forward to this breakout. It was a panel discussion of Children’s Ministry by Sue Miller, Jim Wideman, Craig Jutila and Norv Brown. What an incredible opportunity, huh?
I tell you, each person added so much. I do feel though that if anyone could spend a day with Jim Wideman and Craig Jutila, shut up and just listen, you’d advance many years in ministry in just that one day!!!
Here are some main things that were said that impacted me:
- Things are caught, not taught (Craig in reference to the importance of leaders who model faith to the kids)
- Buy curriculum, you can’t buy leadership (Craig in reference to CP’s who love spending time writing their own curriculum at the expense of developing leaders)
- Work on your Children’s Ministry, not in your Children’s Ministry!
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