Tag Archives: Jim Wideman
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. You’ll probably read through the book pretty quickly because it’s short and because it will draw you in.
This book, “The Eric Trap: Five things every leader has to get right” was written by Jim Wideman, Sam Luce, me and an incredible group of kid’s pastors that journeyed together through Jim Wideman’s Infuse for two years. The book will be available for the first time at the Orange Conference where there will be a book signing. Fun, huh? There will be a limited number of books available for bloggers, probably in March. If you’re interested in getting a copy to review on your blog, click here to request a copy.
Click here to read why Jim Wideman is so excited about this new book. Lastly, I leave you with a review from Jonathan Cliff.
“The “Eric Trap” takes Children’s Pastors on a dark, serious, and scary journey into the world of working in a church and balancing your priorities. It was eerie how much the story mirrored my own story in so many ways. I believe the “Eric Trap” can be a game changer for those willing to shine the light into the dark places of their own pastoral lives. It’s on the other side of change that the insights gained from this book pay off in a rich way!”
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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. Click here for the full post.
A special thanks to Spencer Click for hosting this post. In this post, I’d tell myself that leading a ministry of 400 kids is really no different from leading a ministry of 40 kids. Seriously, I’m being honest. The first church I led gave me the opportunity to lead 40 kids. My second church gave me the opportunity to lead 300-400 kids. The third church I led was smaller, only 150 kids. However, I learned something. I lead the church of 150 more like I led when I had 400. What about the church of 40? No, I’ll never lead like that again. Check out the whole post here.
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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
- There are a lot of details that still need to come together for our Austin event
- The website went down for 10 days last week, so pray that we wont’ have any more issues around registration
- I have a baby due on the 27th of November. I’m grateful for her to come at any time, but if she can wait until after Nov. 12th, that would be fantastic!
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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. I only hit randomize once, I promise! For those of you who didn’t win… or didn’t play, I do encourage you to go out and pick up a copy. You can buy it here.
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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.
“Join @jimwideman at the @Illumin8Conf #kidmin Conference in Austin and Birmingham. Price goes up on Fri. Register today! http://goo.gl/8XnN2″
Hopefully I’ll announce some winners on Thursday and get the books out before I go to camp.
Thanks!
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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. A very cool concept.
So, pick up a copy of the book right here. You’ll be glad you did!
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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!
But wait… there’s more!
Last year when doing Illuminate in Austin, I had a thought. Illuminate is a huge blessing for kidmin volunteers in Central Texas. Why limit it to just Central Texas? Once all the content and program is developed, doing it again in a new location isn’t really that much work, right?
So on Saturday, August 27, 2011, Westwood Church in Birmingham, AL will host the first Illuminate Conference outside the great state of Texas. How exciting is that? We’ll pack in the same great stuff that made Illuminate successful in Texas, but serve it up Southern Style.
But wait… there’s even more!
Last year I recorded every session and breakout of Illuminate. I intend to record every session and breakout from Birmingham and Austin in 2011 as well. So, what am I going to do with all this great video content? You guessed it. Illuminate is going online. I don’t have specific dates and details yet, but plans are underway and concrete dates will be set this summer. I truly believe in what is happening with Illuminate. I don’t know of any other experience of this magnitude focused at equipping volunteers. Not everyone can get to Austin or Birmingham… but this video content can help anyone, regardless of where they’re coming from.
This year for Illuminate, I’ve gathered some of the greatest minds in Kidmin: Jim Wideman, Sam Luce, Jonathan Cliff, Gina McClain, Dan Scott, Matt McKee, Amy Fenton Lee, Michael Chanley and more to be announced. That’s a Kidmin Powerhouse!
So, whether you live in Texas or Alabama (or within a couple ours of the locations) or whether you have a computer with high speed internet, plan to connect with Illuminate this Fall. It could be exactly what you’re volunteers need most. Stay tuned for more details soon.
Don’t hesitate. Click here to visit the illuminateconference.tv
Click here to follow Illuminate on twitter
Click here to visit Illuminate on facebook
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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!
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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. That year was dedicated to refining my call in ministry. I knew God had called me to Children’s Ministry, but in that year, God gave me specific marching orders. I left that internship with a five year plan that had been bathed in prayer and inspired by God. Part of that plan was to be a Children’s Pastor while getting my degree in college. I really hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to become a Children’s Pastor as a 19 year old in a town that wasn’t home, but I felt that it was the plan God gave me. I was attending Church on the Move at the time, which I LOVED! I wanted to get more involved there, bud I didn’t have a car at the time and it was a good 20-25 minute drive from campus. It wasn’t really a viable option, so I just started serving in a Children’s Ministry outreach to inner-city kids through my school’s community outreach program. After a few weeks, I was leading that ministry. Four months later, I was directing all of “Friendship/Adoption” ministries at my school. By January (6 months after getting to school, I found out about a small church that was looking for a Children’s Pastor through my director within Community Outreach. A few weeks later, I was a 19 year old Children’s Pastor to 10 kids. God gave me marching orders and as I moved in the direction he set for me and the doors he opened along the way, things fell into place.
However, if I didn’t have that clear of a plan, but I felt God was calling me to ministry and I had a chance to talk to the 2010 version of Children’s Ministry, I think I’d give myself different advice. I’d say, go to Church on the Move. Become the best volunteer they’ve ever had. you’ve got four years to learn from Jim Wideman, Willie George and some of the best ministry leaders in the world. Figure something out with the car situation. Make it work. Certainly there is someone on campus who goes to the early service and certainly there is someone on campus who goes to the late service. Arrange your rides and stay there all day. Milk that opportunity for all its worth. You’ll be glad you did. It will set you on a path well beyond any other opportunity.
It’s interesting to think of where I’d be now if I’d done things differently. I don’t have any regrets. The experiences I’ve had the relationships I’ve made over the years have shaped me significantly. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. However, I might push someone else toward a direction knowing what I know now.
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Jim Wideman’s Good Friday sale
Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Last week I got this email from Jim Wideman. I thought I’d pass it along to you. Yesterday I shared how everyone needs a coach. Jim’s my coach and he could be your coach as well.
On Friday, April 2nd JWM is going to put on a sale like you have never seen before. I know that budgets have been cut and many of you have been hurt by the economic crisis in our country so I want to help. Back last year I cut the price of theClub in half for people over 30 and started giving it away free for those under 30.
For 1 day I’m going to cut the price of most of my resources including my 1 day Coaching/Seminars called “Day Trips”. I’m also going to give away a free 6 months of infuse to someone who registers for a “Day Trip” on Good Friday! There are 4 different topics so if you register for all 4 you’ll have 4 chances to win a free 6 months of infuse. It’s the desire of my heart to make a difference in the next generation of Children’s Ministry leaders. I hope you will take advantage of these savings on opportunities to grow as I attempt to make Good Friday a really good Friday for Children’s Pastors everywhere!
Thanks for all that you do for kids!
So, head on over to Jim Wideman’s site and at the very least, sign up for a Day Trip. If you can, check out a semester of Infuse.
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