Kids - Childrens Ministry Online

Meet the newest Conley

by Kenny Conley | Jan 6, 2016 | Random | 2

The last 4-5 weeks have been slow on this blog and there is a reason. A six pound nine ounce...

Raising a PK (Pastor’s Kid)

by Kenny Conley | Oct 26, 2015 | Family | 5

It’s sad that kids raised in ministry have a stereotype. They’re called PKs, but you...

On sabbaticals and further life-changing events

by Kenny Conley | Aug 3, 2015 | Family, Random | 2

It’s been a quite summer for the Conley family. I celebrated my first seven years at Gateway...

Communicating to Kids: Packaging

by Kenny Conley | Jun 17, 2015 | Ideas | 2

I’ve been writing about upping the level in which we communicate to kids. I’ve...

Communicating to Kids: Credibility

by Kenny Conley | Jun 16, 2015 | Ideas | 0

This week we’re talking about three essentials when communicating with kids. Specifically...

Communicating to Kids: Humor

by Kenny Conley | Jun 15, 2015 | Ideas | 0

When leading in Children’s Ministry, you’ll find yourself in front of a crowd of kids...

Doing what only I can do

by Kenny Conley | Sep 30, 2014 | Family, Random | 2

I love my job. I spent about 11 years as a Children’s Pastor and nearly seven as a NextGen Pastor....

Thoughts after a lengthy vacation

by Kenny Conley | Aug 4, 2014 | Random | 0

Today, I am back at work. It’s weird as I’ve been on vacation since July 3. I come...

Your kid needs counseling

by Kenny Conley | Jun 3, 2014 | Family | 0

Seriously, your kids need counseling and this isn’t meant as an insult to you as their parent. Yesterday I wrote about how failure as a parent is inevitable. Parents can’t be awesome all the time. Even the best parents miss the mark and cause damage that lasts.

Recently my wife and I have come into contact with several incredible families with messed up kids. These kids aren’t necessarily messed up because of bad parenting, but because people are broken and things happen. Sometimes this is unavoidable. As a result, my wife and I had a brilliant idea. We’re working hard to give our kids great opportunities. I don’t know if we’ll be able to pay all of their college, but we’re going to do all that we can. However, we’ve thought that an incredible investment that we can give our kids upon graduation from High School or maybe College is several thousand dollars for counseling. Counseling to help them fix, cope with and overcome the ways we might have broken them through our parenting.

The Ultimate Bible Resource List

by Kenny Conley | May 12, 2014 | Ideas | 5

Hey Kidmin and NextGen friends. I need a favor. Hopefully in helping me, you’ll help yourself or at least help hundreds of others who need this same resource. So, let’s do a little crowdsourcing project. Are you ready?

I’m sure you get asked this question or similar questions all the time. “What Bible do you recommend for my 7 year old? Do you have a devotional that you recommend for my 10 year old?” You name the age, I get the question and I’m sure you’re the same.

So, I’m trying to put together a short list. The emphasis on “short.” I know that there are hundreds of incredible resources, but I know that it is easy to overwhelm a parent. I want to make it simple which means making it more likely a parent will find it helpful. So, I want to put together a list of Bibles and Bible Resources for 0-18 years of age. When a parent says, “What Bible do you recommend for my 2 year old,” what would you recommend? I know that there are some Bibles that play to the boys or the girls when they get older. What is at the top of your list?

Why children’s ministry should matter in your church

by Kenny Conley | Mar 4, 2014 | Random | 0

Yesterday I had heard that Perry Noble, the pastor of Newspring Church in South Carolina, had started a message series focusing on kids and the next generation. While driving yesterday, I listened to the audio of the message given last Sunday, “The Hunger Games: This is how we change the world (part 1).”

I’ve been following Perry Noble for many years. He’s a senior pastor who’s crazy passionate about reaching people who are far from God, and he’s a little crazy. What I love about him the most is that he’s a senior pastor who really believes in ministry to the next generation. I’m not saying he’s a pastor who says the next generation is important, but doesn’t fund or support the ministry as much as the generational staff feel they need. No, Perry is a champion of kids and student ministry. He invests HEAVILY and he even get’s confrontational about how significant investing in kids and student is.

This message is a home run. What would happen if every church believed in investing in the Next Generation as described in this message? What would happen if every senior leader championed the kids and student programs at their church like it really could change the world? Well, it might actually change the world.

Watch/Listen here: Hunger Games: This Is How We Change the World (Part 1)

I’m not dead

by Kenny Conley | Jul 3, 2013 | Ideas | 0

This may be the longest I’ve gone without writing a post on this blog. No, I wasn’t on sabbatical. That comes later. Actually, for the past three weeks, my staff and I led 150+ kids, students and leaders on serving trips around the country and world. It was a first for Gateway and it was AMAZING. Here’s a quick video from our Kids Go! Team last week. I’ll write more about our serving experiences next week.