Childrens Ministry Online

Camp Promo Card

Posted on 22. Feb, 2011 by Kenny.

We’re currently about 5 months away from summer camp. Woo hoo! Our registration goes live this week, so we designed a promo postcard pointing people to the website (which isn’t quite done yet) so they could get all the info and register their kids. Last summer was the first real summer we’ve taken kids to camp and we’re hoping to increase camp attendance by nearly 60-75%.

So, below is the front and back of the postcard we designed. We ordered 1000 5.5 x 8.5 high gloss, two sided cards. So, what do you think?

• We got the art from Orange (we’re using Chase the Light curriculum)
• I used Cartoon Speech Collection from iStockPhoto.com.
• I used True Type Fonts “Unmasked BB” and “Crash Landing BB” from 1001fonts.com

We tried to create an energetic and fun card that was simple and too the point. Because we didn’t have a graphic artist available to complete this task, we used resources available to us… like the art provided by Chase the Light curriculum resource.

I’d love your feedback.

Continue Reading

I am already thinking about promotion Sunday

Posted on 15. Nov, 2010 by Kenny.

A few days I got an email from a friend in TN asking me some questions about how and when we promote. I’m really glad he asked because it reminded me of some questions I wanted to revisit and some frustrations I’ve run into for the past two years. He wanted to know what other churches do, so I figured I’d ask all of you. First, let me explain what we do here at Gateway, why we do it this way and what I’ve been frustrated about.

For the past two summers, we promoted in August, the week kids start their new classes in school. Actually, I’ve promoted the week school started every year I’ve been in ministry except for one I think. I’ve always preferred promoting at the end of the summer for several reasons:

• It gives those Kindergarteners promoting into 1st grade an extra 2-3 months to mature and get ready for the older environment.
• It allows our 5th graders one more summer to participate in Kids Camp as Middle School Camp might be too much for them and if they haven’t promoted yet, there won’t be any confusion on what camp to attend (If I’m being perfectly honest, it’s probably my desire to hang on to the 5th graders just a little bit longer).
• Promotion Sunday is always a highly attended Sunday as families are all back in town, so it’s easy to communicate their promotion since most everyone is there. At the end of the school year, attendance is down and it’s harder to create the same buzz.

Those are my reason for doing it when I do. However I have one reason against and it really frustrates me like crazy!

When a kid finishes the 4th grade, the last day of school in his eyes, he considers himself a 5th grader. I remember being this way as well when I was a kid. So in their minds, they’ve already promoted, but at church they’re being held back. It’s confusing as we have to put up signs telling parents that they’re still in the same grade groups and classes as last year and not to promote because if they do, then once we do a system wide promotion, all the kids will bump up to grades they aren’t supposed to be in.

Bottom line, we’re fighting everyone and in reality, it seems to create more confusion. Personally, I feel that if you have to put up a sign explaining something that isn’t exactly natural, maybe you’re going about it the wrong way.

So, what do you do and why? What are your thoughts about my situation? I’d appreciate your feedback greatly!

Continue Reading

Huge Promotion for Orange 2010!

Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.

Okay, if you’ve been thinking about going to Orange this year, now’s the time to start making up your mind. Actually, this sweet deal might make it for you.

In case you didn’t know, registration prices have already been cut by $40 per person. However, until February 18th, you can save an additional $50 per person up to $200. Once you register (before February 18th) you will get a $50 credit (up to $200 total). Once the conference has ended, you’ll have access to your credit to use for My First Look, 252 Basics, and XP3 curriculum as well as access to Orange Leaders resources. If you’re already paying for these resources, you could save up to $200 by registering before February 18th. If you’re not already using any of these resources, at the very least I’d encourage you to subscribe to Orange Leaders, it’s like a conference on your computer everyday.

So how do you register for Orange and take advantage of this awesome savings?

Click on the big badge on the right that says “register for orange.” Do it!

Continue Reading

Promote Orange: Get a badge for you blog

Posted on 16. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.

This being the fourth year for the Orange Conference, the ReThink group is looking to see more people than ever before. There’s no doubt that the Orange strategy along with ReThink curriculum and resources are making an impact in today’s church. You can help make that impact grow. If you haven’t yet registered, you really should. Regardless though, you can spread the word. Add an “Orange” badge to you website, blog or wherever your home is on the interwebs just like this one to the right. Click here to get your own badge, big or small.

Continue Reading

Crazy Christmas Countdown Review

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Kenny.

Back in the Fall we experienced some lower than normal numbers that have been attributed to the flu that was so widespread. To say that we had lower than normal numbers was an understatement. We had over 300 kids who didn’t attend once in October that were regularly attending in August and September. We had leaders and volunteers call the families of every kid. We also began to promote the holidays with something we called the Crazy Christmas Countdown. Here’s what we did.

We totally decked out the Kids building two weeks before Thanksgiving and started 5 weeks of Christmas celebration. Every week was crazy sock week where kids with the craziest socks were recognized and maybe even won prizes. We had crazy and fun games in both early childhood and elementary that tied into the Crazy Christmas theme. Then as a cause for everyone to get behind, we gathered presents for families in need. We put a tree in our lobby covered with socks and ornaments (just simple laminated circles with Christmas socks on one side and a list of items for the gift bag on the other). By the second service of the first Sunday, the 100 ornaments gone which was very exciting.

All gifts were due two Sundays before Christmas which was just a few days before the Christmas party for refugees and families in need where the gifts would be distributed. That Sunday, the Kids lobby was filled with gift bags. It was pretty awesome.

By all appearances, the Crazy Christmas Countdown seemed successful. Although I think the leaders and volunteers had more fun with the socks, lots of kids were excited to wear their crazy socks. We provided more than enough gifts for the families in need, so that was great too. What was most important was that the trend of growth returned. I don’t really know if it was due to our efforts of Crazy Christmas Countdown, (actually I’m not really sure how we could measure it) but where October had been a month of decrease compared to the previous year, November and December jumped back to the 10-17% growth range over the previous year.

I’m still giving what we do for outreach a lot of thought. Not only do I want to help the community, but I want to transform the character of kids as well. But overall, I think we’ll do something like Crazy Christmas Countdown again. Anything that builds momentum during a time where attendance tends to sag is a great thing.

Continue Reading

Flu Followup

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Kenny.

Several weeks ago I wrote this post asking if others have taken a bigger than normal attendance hit in October. The overwhelming response was “YES!” Of the dozen of people I heard from, all but one or two saw a decrease. Several indicated that October was not usually a down month and for those who usually saw a decrease in October, this year’s decrease was significant.

So, we’ve hit our problem head on. People get sick and there isn’t usually a lot you can do about it. They’ll get better and they’ll come back. However, at Gateway we’re reaching a demographic of people who might easily get into a habit of not coming due to sickness and have trouble getting back into that rhythm of coming once all is well again. It’s just the people we’re targeting. So here’s what we’ve done.

1. Phone call and email blitz. In Fellowship One, I ran this report. It essentially told me who my regular kids were and which ones were missing in October. It told me what the last service/room/date they attended. I had Fellowship One modify the form to give me cell numbers and email addresses of both moms and dads. We then sent this information on to our small group leaders and room leaders to call all the families that have been missing. The good news is that their absences has been for reason we expected… sickness.

2. Create some holiday momentum. Our Children’s Ministry has always been a selling point for our families. Generally the kids really love Kids Quest. We felt we just needed to remind the families and kids and do something a little special to get them interested in coming back soon. So we announced something we’re calling “Crazy Countdown to Christmas.” Essentially it’s some crazy Christmas fun wrapped around some fun Christmas styled games, five weeks of “crazy sock contests” and a great angle tree-like outreach to families in need in our community.

3. Promotion. Now that we have identified who is missing and why they’re missing and something new and fun to promote, we’re exhausting all our avenues of communication to get the word out. Kids don’t want to miss Kids Quest this holiday season. First we designed this postcard. I’ve got about 2000 cards to distribute to every child who attends the next few weeks. In addition, I’ve mailed this postcard to any child who has attended Gateway two or more times in the past 6 months. I really would have liked to sent this to every kid, but I didn’t have the budget for that. In addition, we have an email blitz this week, sending an email to the parents of every child who’s attended Gateway this last year letting them know about our Crazy Christmas Countdown.

So, we’ll see what happens. This campaign really isn’t very outward focused. it’s more of an effort to reconnect with those who have disconnected due to the flu. Again, there isn’t much we can do about the flu. If families are sick, we really don’t want them back (yet). However, this might help us recapture those who’ve gotten out of the habit.

The question I’m asking myself is, “how do we measure success?” We know that in October we were down 6% from last year where normally we are up 12-15%. Again, so many people are still battling the flu, we may not know the degree of success. Our attendance could go back up on it’s own even without these efforts. However, we’ll take a look at the numbers and see if we can determine anything that stands out.

Continue Reading

What’s your promotion strategy?

Posted on 26. Jul, 2009 by Kenny.

Promotion Sunday is almost upon us. When do you promote? How do you promote? How do you communicate promotions to your parents?

John Saddington works at North Point, but he wrote about his experience as a dad. Click here to see the card he got in the mail.

They get a an A+ on communication.

What are you doing that is different but effective?

Continue Reading

What promotion looks like for me this year

Posted on 24. Jun, 2008 by Kenny.

We’ve got a very big promotion coming up at Gateway Church. Very Big. Actually it’s so big that we’re going to host four parent meetings to explain all that is happening. To be honest, we don’t really need the parent meetings, but its another opportunity for me to speak vision to our parents, so we’re going to anyway.

• Currently we have four nursery rooms that are almost at capacity every weekend.
• Our preschool is overflowing. We have 20-25 kids in our Clubhouse (large group teaching area) and over 40 four and five year olds in our Cottage room.
• We have Kindergarten-5th grade split between two rooms.
• We offer Middle School only during our 12:30 service.

Our 9:30 and 11:00 services see similar sized crowds, but our 12:30 service has a fraction of the participants.

So, on August 24th, were making some big changes.

• We’re bringing in two portable buildings (yeah, they’re trailers) which will give us 4 more rooms.
• The kids in the clubhouse will move out to the portables
• The 40 kids in the cottage (who would be promoting kindergarten) will move to the portables.
• We’re launching a significant small group component to our 1st-5th grade rooms.
• We’ll be offering middle school during all the services (we’re giving them the cottage room)

It’s big changes for us, but we’re really excited. We’ve got a lot of fresh faces to recruit. It isn’t really any more kids (well, maybe some), it’s just more rooms and opportunities to serve. I’ll be keeping this blog up to date on our promotion efforts.

Continue Reading