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!”

About two months ago, I watched an episode of the Colbert Report on Hulu, probably the 3rd time I’ve watched the show. Near the end of the show, he interviewed an author (who was also a surgeon) about a book he’d written about checklists. I was intrigued, but quickly forgot about the book. About 3 months ago, my friend Sam Luce told me about the very same book, The Checklist Manifesto. My interest was piqued again. I was in the middle of a reading binge on productivity, so I ordered the book through Amazon.

As soon as I finished the book, I called Sam to discuss. I felt that this book has some significant implications for Kidmin. Our conversation has just begun, but I really feel that this will be one of those books that makes a mark on at least the ministry at my church… if not Kidmin on a greater scale. Time will tell.

This morning I was pleased to see that Sam wrote a post about checklists on his blog. Be sure to read it here. In his post he used a checklist for a check-in volunteer as an example. One of the items on the checklist was “smile.” It seems like a trivial and sub-intelligent item to put on a check-list, but it’s essential. I remember fromt he book where a checklist was created for how to restart an engine of a specific airplane when the engine dies in mid-flight. The first item on the check-list was “fly the plane.” Any person reading that checklist would probably think, “How dumb do you think I am?” However, experience has shown that when an engine dies in mid-flight, the panic and adrenaline associated with trying to get the engine restarted distracts pilots so much that they often forget the most important thing… to keep flying the plane.

Checklists aren’t for idiots or the forgetful. In an environment of complex, high-pressure and fast-paced situations, even the most intelligent people sometimes forget or overlook simple tasks, which is what makes checklist so important. They can even save lives.

So, if you’re in ministry, I highly recommend this book and I’d love your feedback as well. BTW, you can pick up the book right here.

So, we’re looking forward to hanging out for a few hours, enjoying some food together and talking about ministry. If you want to come (consider this your invitation), click here and let us know you’re coming! I heard a rumor that lunch was on Sam… but I’ll have to  confirm that.

Kidmin Meetup Lunch at Firebirds
Wednesday, January 5th at 12:00 Noon
Firebirds of Birmingham
Patton Creek Shopping Center, 191 Main St
Hoover Alabama

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. So, here’s how the day is going to look.

• 8:00 Doors Open and Registration
• 9:00 Conference begins with short worship set by one of Gateway’s worship bands (Austin is known as the live music capital of the world and our bands reflect what our city is known for)
• 9:30 Session 1 with Criag Jutila
• 11:00 Breakout
• 12:15 Lunchout
• 1:30 Session 2 with Craig Jutila
• 3:15 Illuminate ends

Breakout:

• Endurance:  Sam Luce – Creating a healthy rhythm of balancing life and ministry.
• Family Impact:  Jonathan Cliff – Expanding your influence into the home.
• Lingo:  Michael Chanley – Creatively communicating to kids.

Lunchout

• Elementary:  Sam Luce – Interactive breakout experience for elementary volunteers.
• Early Childhood:  Jonathan Cliff – Interactive breakout experience for Early Childhood volunteers.
• Staff:  Michael Chanley – Interactive breakout experience for Children’s Ministry staff

Lunch will be provided by Chipotle, covered by registration which I think is a nice touch if I say so myself.

Doesn’t this make you want to come? Well, you can. If you’re close, just drive in for the day. If you’re further away, we’ve got some great rates on local hotels. I’d let you stay at my house, but I’ve already got Sam, Jonathan and Michael staying in all the extra beds/couches.

For more info on Illuminate, click here to visit the website!

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. We included a new volunteer orientation for the newbies as well as session on discipline, communicating to kids, dealing with frustrated parents and four or five other topics. We had about 100 volunteers show up and it was definitely a success. Those who came really loved it, they learned a lot and most importantly, they felt appreciated.

Since Gear Up, I’ve been wanting to do it again. However, I knew that I wanted to bring in a headline speaker and open it up to other churches as well. So, Illuminate is definitely birthed out of the desire to have creative and innovative ways to inspire and equip our volunteers and while we’re at it, we’ll provide a stellar experience for any church who wants to participate. This probably won’t take shape this year, but I’m very interested in what happens when a bunch of churches in the same city get together and beging getting to know each other.

If you’re interested in attending Illuminate, click here!

* Dont’ get me wrong though. Illuminate is not just my brainchild. My incredible team hear at Gateway have been behind this and and have been developing Illuminate from day one.

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. Although I and a few members of my team might hit a national conference, our biggest focus is to bring the national conference to our volunteers.

Last spring we booked Craig Jutila to come and speak to our volunteers. We played around with the idea of having him speak specifically to our leaders one night and then have him speak to all our volunteers the next day and we’d open it up to other churches as well. We’ve footed the bill to bring in Craig, but we’d charge a pretty low rate to other churches to help us cover the costs. We figured that if we got enough people to come, this could become totally self-sustainable and we would be able to bring in a handful of Kidmin’s best every year.

So, just a few weeks ago we decided to broaden the experience by booking Michael Chanley (Creator of CM Connect), Sam Luce (the most famous Kidmin blogger in NY) and Jonathan Cliff (the most outspoken blogger against puppets I know). I’m so excited, I can hardly believe all this is happening and in a few weeks, I get to hang out with some of my favorite people in ministry.

I’ll be blogging about Illuminate all week, describing how we plan to pull it off. If you live close to central Texas, you really just plan to join us. Even if it’s a bit of a drive, we’ve got some great rates on hotels! Here’s more information:

Illuminate Conference
Saturday, Novmeber 6th
9:00 AM – 3:15 PM
Two General Sessions with Craig Jutila
Two Breakout Sessions geared to volunteer specific needs
A Chipotle lunch
An experience your team wont soon forget

All this for just $25 a person. Pretty amazing, huh?

I am not a Trekkie. I do not own any Star Trek paraphernalia, movies or costumes. Of the TV shows that have been running for literally decades, I’ve seen only a dozen or so episodes, most of them back when I was a teenager. However, I have seen all the movies, I think. There may be one in there that I missed.

However, because I do like the Sci-Fi genre and becasue I’ve I can recall a few random Star Trek facts that I’ve picked up and remembered from watching the movies, Sam Luce thinks I’m a Trekkie. Whatever. So Sam, I dedicate this post to you, perhaps it will give you more things to pick on.

However, just so everyone knows, Sam Luce too is a closet fan of Sci-Fi. He enjoyed the X-Files television series and secretly enjoys dressing up as a Wookie for Halloween.

So my friend Sam Luce wrote a very interesting blog post today about his situation in the Blog Madness final four. He posted a beautiful illustration of David and Goliath and compared himself to David and Rob, Amy and I to big ugly giants. Seriously, is that really fair? I mean, Sam has been blogging now for almost three years, he’s and editor for K Magazine and a recently published author with Michael Chanley’s new book, Collaborate. So, I’m not entirely sure it’s fair to compare himself to little ‘ol David. Sam’s totally big stuff.

Secondly, is it really right to equate our blogging battle to the biblical account of David versus Goliath. Our situation seems a little subjective and I’m not sure I want to play the role of the giant. Yes, I have been described as giant-like, huge and humongous, but that’s besides the point (I tend to hang around small, short or skinny people). So, I figured if we’re going the biblical route, I’m choosing 2 Kings 2:23-24 as my situational illustration.

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

I’ll leave the interpretation to you…

Click here to vote for Kenny Conley.

Click here to vote for someone else.

So, Sam was a gracious accountability partner. Maybe it was a dumb thing for me to ask him to do it, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it. Every now and again, he’d give me the evil eye when I was reaching for an extra cookie after dinner. There were a few meals that did not fare well for my plan, but I just tried to eat as much as Sam ate. I figured that if I ate what a skinny man eats, I’d probably lose some weight.

So, I’ve got some bad news and some good news. I came home late Monday night and my biggest loser weigh in was the following day. For my official weigh in I was one pound heavier than the week before. I was actually quite pleased as I expected worse. I had a bit of a cold all week and just didn’t feel up to running on the treadmill once. The good news, by Tuesday I weighed in a pound lower than the previous day and on Wednesday morning, I was another pound lower. I’m on track to have lost 4 pounds this week, taking me to a record low for this competition.

I know there are probably very few people who care, but since I brought it up before I left, I figured I’d be true to my word and share how I did.