Tag Archives: Jim Wideman
My Holy Hangover
Posted on 23. Feb, 2012 by Kenny.

Just so you know, I felt like a dork typing in that title. Whatever. So it’s Thursday and it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. I’ve had a lot of distractions, namely the Nashville Illuminate Conference. Let me just say, I love my Nashville peeps. The event was hands down amazing! The best yet. Everyone from my incredible hosts at Long Hollow to all the people who attended were so wonderful. Although Illuminate was created to be a blessing to those who serve in kidmin, I’m pretty sure that I left the event that day more blessed than anyone else.
Now that my 2011-2012 events are wrapped up, I’m working on launching Illuminate Online and working out dates for 2012-2013. Exciting stuff for sure and I’m already dreaming up huge things for next year!… Read the rest
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New Kidmin book coming in 2012
Posted on 24. Jan, 2012 by Kenny.
I have to say that I’m really excited about a new book coming out in a few months. Really excited!
Yes, I did help write the book. But that’s not why I’m so excited. I’m excited because I believe that it’s a book that is going to impact a lot of people in Kidmin. Shoot, it might impact a lot of people in student ministry and other ministries as well. Why? Because I feel that it approaches the nitty gritty issues that every pastor/minister deals with… the tension they live in on a daily basis and it offers hope. The book is written in a very personal way that most will identify with. A half-dozen people beyond the authors have read the book and almost all have essentially said, “I really related to this book and saw myself in these pages.” Plus, it’s a going to be a fun book to read.… Read the rest
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The Homeless Blogger: Things I’d tell the old me (Part 3)
Posted on 02. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
You ever wish you could go back in time? Of course we all do. All of us have do-overs that we’d love to take. I’m no exception. There are a few things I learned over the years that would have been great to know when I was just starting out 10-15 years ago.
Thanks to Jim Wideman for hosting my last Homeless Blogger post. In this post I tell the old me, “Pay attention to the parents!” We hear this message all the time now through conferences, books and curriculum publishers. However, I remember questioning this stuff 9-10 years ago and not really know what to do with it. I don’t have any real ministry regrets, but sometimes I do wish I had known what I know now when it comes to equipping parents.… Read the rest
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Illuminate Updates
Posted on 01. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything about Illuminate, so I thought I’d catch everyone up. It’s truly been a wild and exciting ride this year.
The Austin event is just 11 days away. I’m expecting about 500 kidmin folks to converge on the Gateway Church campus on November 12th and it’s going to be amazing. I’ve got a stellar line-up of speakers. Check it out:
- Jim Wideman
- Sam Luce
- Michael Chanley
- Gina McClain
- Dan Scott
- Amy Fenton Lee
- Jonathan Cliff
- Matt McKee
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Winner of Kidmin Leadership Books
Posted on 02. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
Last week I posted that I was giving away a handful of books from Jim Wideman and his first Infuse group. In case you missed my post, you can read it here.
The first two people to tweet were:
- Ryan Morrison
- Jared Massey
Congrats guys. Thanks for getting the word out.
Secondly, I said I’d give out the remaining books via a randomized list. Several promoted the book as well as the upcoming Illuminate Conferences in Austin and Birmingham. So, the winners of the additional books are:
- Alex Miranda
- Braden Clark
- Virginia (I don’t know your last name)
Woo hoo. I’ll be in touch with all of you to get your books to you.
Below are the results of the randomized lists.… Read the rest
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Kidmin Leadership Give-Away
Posted on 29. Jun, 2011 by Kenny.
So, Brother Jim sent me a box of books to give away. I’m leaving for Camp on Tuesday, so I want to get them out in the mail to you on Thursday. So, I’ll be scanning the #kidmin hashtag looking for your tweets. The first 2 people to tweet this message gets a copy of the book:
“Check out the newest leadership book for #kidmin! http://goo.gl/THAqF”
For the remaining three books, I’m going to randomly pick a winner. However, to increase your odds you can do two things.
- Post the above quote. For each time you post it today, you’ll get your name in the “hat” (limit of tweeting the above line 3 times).
- Post the quote below up to 3 times to get your name in the “hat” three more times.
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Kidmin Leadership
Posted on 29. Jun, 2011 by Kenny.
I must say, this is a smart kid… and I’m not just saying that because he’s mine. Check out what he’s reading. Yeah, you guessed it. It’s the newest book published by my friend and mentor Jim Wideman. It’s called Kidmin Leadership. Jim’s first Infuse group put this book together and I think it’s worth picking up a copy. Can you find better leadership books out there? Yup. But what’s so unique about this book is that it’s one of the very few books specific to leadership in Kidmin. Also, what I enjoyed even more was about how you picked up an learned concepts the Brother Jim has taught for years through the filter of experience from others who have put it into practice in their own ministries.… Read the rest
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Big Announcement: Illuminate 2011
Posted on 20. Apr, 2011 by Kenny.
Last year my team and I created a new volunteer conference called Illuminate. You can read about what we did here, here and here. Essentially, the idea was to create an incredible experience for our volunteers at Gateway. Many times I’ve walked out of an incredible breakout at a national conference and said, “Wow! I wish all my volunteers had experienced that!” Unfortunately, most churches can’t provide a “national conference” experience for all the volunteers… unless that church brought the national conference to their volunteers. That’s what Illuminate is.
On Saturday, November 12, 2011, Gateway Church in Austin, TX will host Illuminate for the second time. I’m expecting 600-800 kidmin volunteers/staff for this incredible experience. The breakout and speaker lineup is amazing!… Read the rest
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Why should you come to Orange 2011? Reason #3
Posted on 05. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
Jim Wideman’s been at every Orange I’ve been to and last I heard, he’ll be at Orange 2011. I’ve shared more meals with Jim in Atlanta than anywhere else (well, since I joined Infuse, I’ve eaten with him a lot in TN).
So, if you come to Orange 2011, theres a good chance you’ll get to share a meal with Jim. Here’s the secret. Just follow the group of 20 other people following him as he’s going out to grab a bite. Jim has a lot of things he wants to pass along to the next generation of leaders. The only thing getting in the way of him telling you is you not asking him questions. Â Spending a few minutes with Jim, soaking up his wisdom will make your Orange Conference experience more than worthwhile!… Read the rest
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My career path could have looked differently
Posted on 19. May, 2010 by Kenny.
On Monday I wrote a blog post about starting your Kidmin career. Yesterday I followed it up with another post about starting options. These posts got me thinking a lot about my humble beginnings in Children’s Ministry. There is no doubt, if I could have done it over again, I’d do it the same. Why? I believe that God ordained my steps each and every step along the way. I believed I was following God in the steps I took. Looking back, I see that was true. However, would I recommend someone do exactly what I did? I’m not sure, maybe not. Not unless they felt God was opening up that door.
Here’s my story. I did a one year internship after High School with a missions organization.… Read the rest











