Childrens Ministry Online

Nashville Illuminate – Only 60 days away!

Posted on 19. Dec, 2011 by Kenny.

I can hardly believe it, but the greatest event for kidmin volunteers serving in the local church is only 60 days away. It will be here in not time.

So, if you live within 3-5 hours of Nashville, TN, I highly encourage you to check out Illuminate as a viable training option for your staff and volunteers. Technically, the early bird rate expired last Friday, but I’m extending it through this week. Anyone who registers by Christmas can save some money.

I know it’s just a few days before the craziness of Christmas Eve services, last minute shopping and good family time, but I’d highly encourage anyone within driving distance of Nashville to consider registering this week. I’ve actually got a great story that I’ll post later today that should encourage anyone.

Click here to do something great for your staff and volunteers!

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Review: Childrens Ministry Academy

Posted on 02. Aug, 2010 by Kenny.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Children’s Ministry Academy to do an interview about Children’s Ministry. Before that day, I’d never heard of this resource. The concept of an online educational resource isn’t exactly unique, but I really can’t think of anyone else doing it in this capacity. Honestly, I was intrigued. At first glance, I didn’t see this as something I needed, but something I might provide for new key volunteers or a resource I’d recommend to others just getting started in Children’s Ministry.

Here’s what I know. I completed my Masters in Education through an online environment. Although it was a different experience from what CMA offers, I’m a big supporter of leveraging technology to resource and equip people. That’s why I’ve been authoring this blog for the past 3+ years. One of my courses in my graduate work focused specifically on web-based distance education. For a class project, I created (a poorly designed) web site for kids to learn about baptism. Make no mistake, web-based education and training already is (and is growing) a significant method for today’s and tomorrow’s generations. I don’t know of any other options on the web filling this specific niche.

If you’ve been in ministry for a long time, a lot of the information covered in these modules may be more of a review. However, as a student you will have access to CMA’s continuing education material each month which consist of valuable resources and quality interviews of respected leaders in Children’s Ministry. I see the most value in providing this program for new staff or key volunteers/leaders. There are many great books about Children’s Ministry, but few that are comprehensive. Sending a staff member or volunteer through CMA will ensure they have a firm grasp on some of the most important basics of ministry. It’s a lot cheaper than a conference and at the very least, you’ll know what you’re getting. I’d recommend using CMA and supplementing with some of your own stuff (specific to your church and ministry) to make sure your ministry team is all on the same page.

Honestly, I see so much potential in CMA. Like I said before, this is the future in training and equipping and I think CMA is on to something. I believe it is worth your time to check it out and see if it is a fit for your church and ministry.

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#Orange10 Day 1: Catching volunteers up to Speed

Posted on 29. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.

Over the years, I think I’ve attended more Darren Kizer breakouts than any other. He’s a great presenter and shares some great stuff!

Daren began is talk communicating about a crisis his church recently went through, when a former volunteer was arrested for molesting a child. What helped his church make it through and probably saved Daren’s job was the good documentation that was kept. All this tied into his talk as an introduction, as we recruit and train volunteers, it’s so essential to follow our processes, take our time and do things the right way. Don’t take shortcuts and document thoroughly.

Darren shared some great resources, one was a tool called the VSI which was tool that indicates people’s satisfaction about where they are in an organization. According to this VSI, there are four factors that relate to retention. When an employee or volunteer scores high in these four factors, it relates to them being satisfied and happy in their role.

• Organizational Support – Do they have the tools that they need to be successful? Are they fully resourced? Are they frustrated due to a lack of training or resources? Equip, equip, equip!
• Group Integration – Do they feel like they’re a part of a team? Are there others that they can connect with while doing their role? People need community!
• Participatory Efficacy – If people don’t see success or hear stories of success, they’ll wonder why they’re dong what they’re doing. They need to know that they’re making a difference and that their efforts are valuable to the organization and to others.
• Empowerment – Do they have a say in the game? Can they make decisions or take action? Do they feel as if their hands are tied? This is one of the quickest ways to kill a high-impact leader/volunteer.

In addition to this VSI, Darren shared a great book called 12: The Elements of Great Managing. It too asks great questions that you should ask yourself as one of your volunteers to gauge the environment you’re creating as a manager/leader of volunteers.

• Do I know what’s expected of me?
• Do I have materials to do my work right?
• Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best?
• Does someone care about me as a person?
• Do my opinions count?
• In the last 6 months, has someone checked on my progress?

One of the key take-aways for me was this: What I did to recruit a volunteers is different from what I had to do to keep a volunteer. A person usually volunteers because they want to do something good. They stay becasue they they are getting stuff out of their volunteering.

Some resources that Darren shared are as follows:

Better Safe than Sued
Moodle – a free site for setting up training volunteers
Ubvee

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Learning from Jim Wideman

Posted on 05. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.

This is my last post about Brother Jim for a little while. Over the past several days I’ve shared all the amazing thing’s I’ve learned from him, especially this year. I made a few adjustments to my schedule and my budget in order to spend another year in mentoring with him because I don’t think I’m done yet.

So, I’m gong to throw out a suggestion here. This is my blog and I’m certainly entitled to expressing my opinion here, right? Well, here goes.

Not taking advantage of what Bother Jim has to offer could be the greatest mistake you’ll make as a Children’s Pastor. Brother Jim has been serving in the trenches longer than many children’s pastors have been alive. More than anyone else, he knows Children’s Ministry. He knows where it’s been and has a really great understanding of where it’s going. Unlike MANY Children’s Pastors serving as long as he has, he’s stays on the cutting edge of what’s current both socially and ministry wise. Although he’s a good ‘ol boy from Alabama, he can hold his own relationally with anyone from the senior adult to the elementary age kid too the post-modern college student. It’s really quite amazing.

But what you need from Brother Jim more than anything is his wisdom that only comes from years and years of experience. Children’s Pastors are notorious for re-inventing the wheel. I think there are very few people who work as hard and tirelessly as Chidlren’s Pastors, but some of that may be unnecessary. Take advantage of what Jim has to offer. It could be the best thing you do for your ministry.

• Like I said in a previous post, read his books. The other day I linked to a few of his newest books. Below I have links to two of his best selling (and most helpful) books. Get them and read them.
• Join theClub. It’s really not that expensive and you’ll have him speaking into your life every month on the things that are most important.
• Plan a trip to go visit him. He’s offering multiple one-day visits where he’ll teach you about recruiting, time management and structuring for growth. Maybe you can’t afford Infuse, this would be the next best thing.
• Make plans for Infuse. Jim’s not going to launch another Infuse until the fall and from this point on they’re probably just going to be 6 month experiences. However, there’s not better way to get to know him than through Infuse. You’ll have access to him life few others do. He’ll get to know you and challenge you in areas specific to your life and ministry.

Jim doesn’t push a philosophy or agenda. He’s just teaching strong leadership in ministry. Don’t miss out, lean into what Brother Jim has to offer. You’ll be glad you did.

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Volunteer Week – Training Volunteers

Posted on 20. Feb, 2009 by Sara.

A couple years ago, Kenny and I and our colleagues experimented with training volunteers. We did a big expo and recruited nearly 100 new workers in January. At the end of February, we held a seminar-style training on Saturday morning.

Why did we choose seminar-style training? We wanted to give our volunteers the chance to dive a little deeper into topics that really interested or concerned them. Also, we were a multi-site church and we wanted our volunteers to see and feel the energy of the entire team assembled at once. We hoped this might encourage those who felt isolated in their work.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule looked something like this:

8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. – Continental Breakfast and Roundtable Discussions

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – Large Group Assembly

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. – Workshop 1

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Workshop 2

11:45 a.m. – 12:00 a.m. – Closing Assembly

THE DETAILS

For the ROUNDTABLE BREAKFAST we posted signs on the tables based on ministry areas, encouraging volunteers to meet others who worked in their areas. We set index cards on each table with icebreaker discussion questions specific to each area – “How long have you served?”, “What’s the funniest story yet from your experiences?” and “How do you deal with <fill in the blank> scenarios?”

We wanted to accomplish these activities in our LARGE GROUP ASSEMBLY time – teambuilding, encouraging and training. We started with an icebreaker game to encourage the volunteers to interact with each other. Then our worship band led a short worship set and our senior pastor spoke a short encouraging thank you message to our volunteers. We ended with a funny skit demonstrating some of the key training issues we wanted to address.

Our WORKSHOPS were the meat of our seminar. We invited a few guest speakers and asked staff and key leaders to teach various topical sessions. A few of our workshops included the following topics:

• Orientation for New Volunteers
• How to Deal with Angry Parents
• Puppeteer like Jim Henson
• First Impressions – Make Our Ministry a Welcoming Place
• All You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Classroom Control
• Database Training for Check In Volunteers
• Child Development – What Can Kids Do at Every Age? How Does It Apply to Children’s Ministry?
• How to Lead a Child to Christ (This was our most popular session! You’d be surprised how many people are scared to do this!)
• Improve Your Public Speaking Skills to Kids

SUMMARY

I have mixed feelings about this approach. Three to four hours on a Saturday morning was pretty demanding, and only about one-third of our volunteers attended. Also, the schedule was pretty tight. We asked for feedback from attendees, and most people said they felt the workshops needed to be longer. However, most who attended also said the training was very useful and was well worth their time.

We considered doing the seminar a second year, but expanding to invite other churches in our area. I liked that idea, because the time and resources spent on the training would have a wider audience. Churches that might not be able to afford the big national conferences could also have access to local quality training.

What do you think? Would you like to see trainings like this available in your area? Would your teams participate? How would you hurdle the time barrier?

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