Missions - Childrens Ministry Online

The DNA of a serving trip for kids

by Kenny Conley | Jul 10, 2013 | Ideas | 0

I am in no way and expert when it comes to serving trips with kids. I participated on a mission trips as a middle school kid and three during my high school years. I’ve also led 2 trips for elementary aged kids and helped lead 3 trips for middle school and high school students. So, I have enough experience to have some strong opinions, but I’m still learning for sure.

I really think that there are three elements that make the serving trip really successful.

The small group element
The serving element
The adventure element

Why I feel that serving trips are better than camp

by Kenny Conley | Jul 9, 2013 | Ideas | 3

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, right? This is mine. I may not be right, even by a long shot. However, I feel like I’ve done this thing long enough to see the outcomes of both. Hear me out though, I’m not saying that you should only do one or the other, I’m just stating a case for why more effort should be invested in making serving trips for kids a reality.

Yesterday I posted about why we stopped taking kids to summer camp. With 20+ summer camp experiences under my belt, few people are bigger summer camp fans than I am. However, I realized that there’s room for something better than camp.

So, here are my reasons:

Why we stopped going to summer camp

by Kenny Conley | Jul 8, 2013 | Ideas | 2

This year we made what would seem like one of the hardest decisions a ministry team would make. After three years of very successful summer camp experiences for kids, middle school and high school, lets not do them any more. When I proposed this to my team back in the fall and explained why I wanted to kill summer camp, it took very little convincing. I was kind of surprised actually.

Why did we kill summer camp?

Two reasons really.

To better align with our strategy
To make room for something better

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.

The music is from North Point Kid’s newest album Shine. It’s awesome, you can buy it here.

Gateway Branson

by Kenny Conley | Jul 31, 2012 | Ideas | 6

Last week I helped lead a serving trip for High School students to Branson, MO. I know, people keep asking, “Branson, Missouri? On a mission trip?” Yes, it’s not what you would expect, but yes. Let me tell you more about what is happening in Branson, it’s really cool.

So, about three or four years ago, Brian and Amy Stallings, who have lived in Branson for over a decade became aware of the poor and homeless situation in Branson and felt called by God to do something. They started an organization called “Jesus was Homeless” and began feeding those in need. It just started with 30-40 people and has grown significantly. More on that in a second.

Teen Mania in the media

by Kenny Conley | Nov 16, 2011 | Leadership | 3

Apparently Teen Mania Ministries was in the media last week. MSNBC aired a special called Mind over Mania. I missed it but I did catch up on all the commotion around the special. Below is the promo from MSNBC’s site. In...

Unreached people groups kidmin curriculum

by Kenny Conley | Apr 1, 2011 | Ideas | 3

Now that missions week is pretty much over, what about curriculum? “What if I want to teach some of this stuff to my kids? What if I’m still new to this unreached people’s stuff, who am I going to teach...

Why take kids on a mission trip?

by Jenny Funderburke | Apr 1, 2011 | Family, Ideas | 0

On our mission trip to Belize last week, we took 7 kids age 6 to 14.Â Until a few years ago I would have never envisioned this being a reality.Â David and Karen Rhodes, our partner missionaries, expressed that they have gotten...

What you can do now!

by Kenny Conley | Mar 31, 2011 | Ideas | 0

For days now you’ve read my posts that have been building a case for a new way of thinking about missions. Maybe there are some of you who who learned something you didn’t know before. Maybe some of you desire to...

Global Missions – Aim lower!

by Kenny Conley | Mar 31, 2011 | Ideas | 0

Below is a somewhat tongue in cheek Â but very informative video about this idea of reaching the world’s most unreached by focusing on the kids....

The 4-14 Window

by Kenny Conley | Mar 31, 2011 | Ideas | 3

As I wrote yesterday, I first learned of the 10-40 Window almost 20 years ago. However, about 4-5 years ago I began hearing about another window. It was the 4-14 window. Huh? Was this an even more specific area where even less...

Family Mission Projects: Backpack Buddies

by Jenny Funderburke | Mar 30, 2011 | Family, Ideas | 1

One of the most startling realizations Iâ€™ve had over the past few months is the statistic that in our little Alabaster, Alabama (suburb of Birmingham) there are 2,000 kids on free or reduced lunch.Â We have a fantastic group...