Tag Archives: Staff
Creating a healthy staff culture
Posted on 30. Apr, 2012 by Kenny.
Most of us could probably tell some great stories of horrible church staff situations. I’ve been a part of several, some of which were highly political where few trusted each other and I’ve been a part of church staff where things even got hostile. I’m not quite sure that the perfect church staff culture exists out there, but I’ve been a part of some good ones too.
While at The Orange Conference last week, Andy Stanley spoke specifically to to the issue of staff culture. Many of the points I’ve heard before in one of his leadership podcasts, but it was a great and timely reminder. He spoke at length about creating a staff culture where mutual submission is present. Yes, God may have called key leadership and senior staff to do something significant and the primarily purpose for additional staff is to serve that vision (I truly do believe that), but this doesn’t mean that senior staff doesn’t and shouldn’t serve the staff that works for them. This type of mutual submission creates a healthy culture where people want to work.
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Does your youth pastor hate you?
Posted on 02. Nov, 2011 by Kenny.
Sorry about the title, but I wanted to get your attention. It may have been a little extreme, but it does tie in… kind of.
I’m writing an article about the relationship between children’s pastors and student pastors. Interesting subject, huh? I’m pretty much done with the article, but I’d love to gather some data around one element I wrote about. So, would you answer the single question below describing the relationship between your student ministry and children’s ministry. First, let me define the relationships:
Dysfunction Junction: You totally don’t get along. There is virtually no relationship. Communication is non-existent, dismissive or even hostile.
Mutual Existence: The relationship between your two ministries is healthy. There is a respect for each other, maybe even friendship.… Read the rest
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Christmas prayer stations
Posted on 14. Dec, 2010 by Kenny.
At Gateway we have a monthly gathering where the staff comes together to pray. We creatively call this time, “all pray.” Ha!
So, today I was in charge of all pray and since our Christmas production begins next week, the focus really needed to be about all our efforts in regard to the production. When I was assigned this all pray a few months ago, I had an idea and we implemented it today. My staff came together and helped me get everything done and everything turned out great.
So, the theme centered around the subjects of Christmas carols and choruses. There is so much depth to many of the songs we sing at Christmas. We, we set up seven prayer stations around our auditorium building.… Read the rest
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Ministry and Org Charts
Posted on 18. Oct, 2010 by Kenny.
This week I plan to write a little about how Kidmin is organized. Ultimately, I’ll speak from my own personal experience as well as my thoughts and opinions. However, during this week, I would love to see and hear how you organize your ministry. I’ve found that sometimes looking at another ministry’s organizational chart gives me ideas for they way I see my team.
I think I’ll start by describing the standard organization which I call the departmental organization. It seems to be the default organization for most Children’s Ministries and if you have more than 1-2 staff on your team, you are probably organized this way. What am I talking about? Let me explain.
If there are two to three people on a Kidmin staff, usually one of them is the Pastor/Director and the other one is Early Childhood Director.… Read the rest
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The perfect Children’s Pastor?
Posted on 12. May, 2010 by Kenny.
Okay, don’t give me grief on the title, I know there isn’t a perfect Children’s Pastor and the perfect Children’s Pastor for one church could be a horrible Children’s Pastor for another. It’s not that cut and dry… but go with me here for a minute.
Children’s Pastors come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to fit churches of all shapes and sizes, but what do you think are the characteristics of the “perfect” Chidlren’s Pastor. And when I say the “perfect” Children’s Pastor, I’m referring to the kind of Children’s Pastor who is the solution to some of the problems discussed in my post from yesterday (and comments). You may or may not agree with me, but Kidmin has bad PR in the church today which I believe is part of the reason there is such a shortage of great Children’s Pastors.… Read the rest
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Team Orange
Posted on 06. May, 2009 by Kenny.
Last week it was my privilege to take my staff to Orange. Perhaps you saw them.
Last year I attended Orange just a few days before coming on staff at Gateway. It was very hard to not want to just jump in and making 101 changes right away. Instead, I changed the few things that I could and waited for the right time. In September I had a few of my staff watch “The Essence of Orange.” Leading up to Orange, we were all discussing how this would work in our church. Now that Orange is over, we’re talking less about “if” and “how” and more about “when.”
I’m very proud of my team. We’ve undergone many changes this year. The team has changed a lot in the last 12 months.… Read the rest
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Can my staff meet your staff?
Posted on 23. Apr, 2009 by Kenny.
Last year I went to Orange alone. I wasn’t on staff anwhere (I started at Gateway the Monday after the conference). Going to Orange I knew about five or six people. It was a lot of fun, but I really wish I could have met more people. It helps to arrange some of that before you go.
This year I know of at least 30-40 people that I’m planning ot meet. I imagine that I’ll likely connect with dozens more. It’s going to be so cool.
I’ve seen the benefit of collaboration in my life and ministry this last year. I’m encouraging my staff to make some new connections with people in thier areas. They’re planning to meet people, but I thought I’d give them a head start as well.… Read the rest
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Where do you find children’s ministry prospects? (Seeking CM Employment Part 4)
Posted on 10. Oct, 2007 by Kenny.
Well, every time I’ve had to hire and fill a full-time children’s ministry position, God has opened up the door and provided just the right person… and usually in just the right time. The two children’s pastors I hired last year were already attending our church. The elementary coordinator I just hired I actually found on a website. So, let me share with you where I looked and what tools I used. I’ll wrap up this post with a personal opinion and kick it back to you for your thoughts.… Read the rest
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Asking the right questions (Seeking CM Employment Part 3)
Posted on 09. Oct, 2007 by Kenny.
When I was interviewing for the church that brought me down to Texas, they sent me a list of questions to answer. It was an incredible survey that did two things. For one, it asked me the right questions to better communicate who I was and what my vision/mission/strategy was for Children’s Ministry. On the other side, it gave those asking the questions a good thorough look into who I was.… Read the rest
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Making your resume count (Seeking CM Employment Part 2)
Posted on 24. Sep, 2007 by Kenny.
Here’s my second installment of my series on getting a job in Children’s Ministry. As I said before, I just hired an Elementary Director and have just gone through the process of posting the job, reviewing resumes, interviewing, making an offer and all the things in-between. It was about 3 years ago that I went through this process as well, so it this part is still fresh on my mind as well.
In this post I’m going to talk about the resume. For most job applicants, this is what will determine what will stop the process immediately or get you to the next level, which for me was an email or a phone conversation. … Read the rest
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