Monthly Archive for June, 2007

What bugs me about Little League

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on June 26, 2007
in Conflict, Culture and Families
. 25 Comments

I never liked Little League when I was a kid. Coaches Pitch was fun. Little League was dreadful. It wasn’t my coach. It wasn’t my team. It wasn’t even the t-shirt. It was stepping up to bat.

Those of you who know me know that I am not athletic. It’s always been that way. I was always the kid that got put in left field. My problem with Little League was that I was afraid of the ball. That ball seemed to fly 100 MPH and it always seemed to come right at me. Because I was afraid of the ball I would step back from the plate. Because I stepped back from the plate I never hit the ball. That is why I gave up my Little League career in 4th grade.

One thing I have noticed about the kids in the community where I live is that they LOVE Little League. I see it every day during the summer because the baseball fields are adjacent to our church property. People practically idolize it. This is what bugs me about Little League. Red flags are shooting up all over the place and I feel obligated as a shepherd to do something about it.

Each summer when baseball starts it becomes #1 to so many of the families in my church. Parents let their kids miss AWANA, camp, and Vacation Bible School. Why? Because God forbid that Junior miss a practice or a game. Continue reading ‘What bugs me about Little League’

What Have you done for you lately?

Published
by
Jim Wideman
on June 21, 2007
in Leadership and Random
. 5 Comments

I’m in the OC living large and loving life. I do love the attitude, I do love In-n-out burgers & Wahoo’s Fish Tacos. I love the weather & Sprinkles Cupcakes. I don’t love the home prices, or the traffic but I don’t have to because I’m on vacation and I don’t have to put up with it all the time so I think happy thoughts and try to stay in a L.A. state of mind. Monday my family took me shopping for 11 hours and I lived through it because I love them. Tuesday they did it again this time it was only 10.5 hours of shopping, I did it because I love them. Wednesday, I took a vacation from my vacation, my family went shopping without me and I’m doing only what I want to do, why? Because I love me! It’s great to do things for others you love but you need to know when to retreat and pray, be alone and reflect and just be lazy in a productive way. I love California, I think I’ll go to Hunnington Beach and watch the surfers. I know you do tons of stuff for people you love at church, work and home but what have you done for yourself lately. It’s OK to relax. Even conficts get time off for good behavior. It’s OK leader! Jesus sent people ahead and met up with them later why can we? At least think about it.

Poker Chips (my secret weapon)

Published
by
Nevan Hooker
on June 20, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

460523_poker_chips.jpg

Ministry can get crazy…so many things to do, so little time.  I’ve learned a little secret that will make your efficiency in ministry blossom.  Here’s the different chip values.

BLUE CHIPS:  the most important, biggest impact stuff

RED CHIPS: the somewhat important, medium impact stuff

WHITE CHIPS: it’s usually the most fun, yet extremely low impact stuff

As your to-do list grows with weekly responsibilities, events, planning, meetings, rehearsals, team building, ministry, etc. ASSIGN A CHIP VALUE TO EVERY SINGLE THING.  Start giving the majority of your time to only your blue chips.  Even though white chips sometime’s need to get done, don’t give them much time.  Kind of like keeping track of the food you eat or the money you spend…this will really change how you focus your time on your ministry.

After implementing this myself…I realize I used to spend the majority of my time on WHITE CHIPS.  Now I say no, delegate, or spend an extremely small amount of time with them.  BLUE CHIPS are my new thing.

Kentucky Fried Feedback

Published
by
Nevan Hooker
on June 20, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

 Kentucky Fried

 Yes…it’s true.  I’m an official Kentucky Fried Chicken taste-tester.  Once every three months I get to paid to go to the test kitchen at the headquarters and eat chicken and fill out extremely detailed surveys on what I liked and didn’t like about the chicken (or mashed potatoes, macaroni, creamy cheese and broccoli, etc.).  Today was my day…it’s was hot wings this time.  We taste the same product numerous times, but with slight variations.  Some slightly hotter, spicier, more salty, more tender, crispier breading and so on. 

I’m always amazed and the number of people they pay to do taste-tests, and the extreme care that goes into the whole process (I’m guessing millions of dollars).  It’s because they know that if they want to have a successful company it’s imperative that they offer not only food that people like, but food with exact specifications to our liking.  We children’s ministers should take note of KFC’s dedication to finding out what works. 

We have a term at church called being “store blind.”  It means that you are in and around your ministry so much that you fail to see things that might stick out like a sore thumb to others.  Quite often, the fix is simple.  Getting feedback from others is a great way to restore your sight.

The next time you have a camp or VBS…gather some people together and have a debrief.  Find out what worked and what didn’t and implement the changes next year.

Is your ministry needing some revamping?  I challenge you to get a few kids and parents together for an idea sharing lunch or dinner.  Ask them a variety of questions regarding specific areas of your ministry, brainstorm, ask them what works and what doesn’t.  I guarantee it will be the best $50 you’ll spend this year.

KFC has chicken.  We have Christ.  They collect data from thousands of taste-testers to make sure the chicken they offer is actually working (tasting good).  Shouldn’t we do the same thing to make sure that we’re presenting the Gospel in such a way that it’s actually working with the children and families we minister to?

Making A List and Checking It Twice

Published
by
Jim Wideman
on June 14, 2007
in Leadership
. 3 Comments

I love lists. Years ago I adopted an idea from a famous fat guy to “make list and check them.” I call this Santa Claus Management. Now most of us depend on “things to do lists” in children’s ministry but to me what really causes me to excell is when I make a “things not to do” list for children’s ministry. I thought we could do this as a group project. I’ll start it off and let’s see how many things you think we should have on our “CM things not to do list!”

1. Don’t try to do it all by yourself. Delegate to the faithful and build a team. It’s the best way I know to build fruit that last!

Your turn…

Children’s Ministry-Children=?

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on June 13, 2007
in Leadership and Volunteers
. 5 Comments

The non-children Children’s Ministry volunteer. You know the type. They volunteer for VBS, Kids Church, Sunday School, Camp, almost everything. Then they stand in the back of the room, talk with other volunteers, and the kids are left alone. No relationships are formed with kids, just with other adults.

I feel like this is one of the greatest atrocities in modern children’s ministry. These people feel an obligation to volunteer, a sort of “duty”, and so they do. And that is honorable. But their downfall is in that they ignore the very people they volunteered to help! Could you imagine if those people volunteered to serve lunch at a homeless shelter, then stood in the back of the room while the people remained hungry? It would never happen! But for some reason people think that kids are “too low for them” and “not worthy of their presence”. These kids are a lot like those homeless people. They are hungry for the word of God, and we’re standing in the back of the room chatting, while they starve to death.

OK, so here is my brave statement of the day: You are better off not volunteering at all, than volunteering then not working. That does two things:

  1. It says to the kids: “I don’t care about you, I’m here for the adults.”
  2. The event director doesn’t have enough help. When they say they need 25 volunteers, they mean working volunteers, not 10 workers and 15 “hang-outers”.

I know no one likes to “fire” volunteers per say, but sometimes it is necessary. If a volunteer can’t get the idea that Children’s Ministry, uh, um, involves real live children, maybe they should be working elsewhere in the church. As leaders, we need to set an example for the other leaders, not join in! Don’t do it just because it’s “cool”. Peer pressure is as much pushed on adults as kids and teens. So make sure that you set an example, then enforce the idea, rather than simply letting it slide.

So what do you think?

Update 10:32 AM-6/14/07: Hey, this is Evan here.  A commenter named Laura made a good point in the comments about the volunteers who do things like snacks and sets.  I responded to her here. I would encourage you to check it out. Thanks!

Children’s Ministry in a digital age

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on June 12, 2007
in Culture and Leadership
. 1 Comment

I just started reading “The Millennium Matrix” by Rex Miller. The book is about the digital age that we live in and how the church can respond. When speaking about today’s kids, he says, “The basis of knowing and understanding is shifting to an interactive, global anytime anywhere multimedia experience with countless eras to explore and test. We are moving from a passive television generation to a sensory experience generation”

Think about it. Kids in this digital age need to explore and test. Thus American Idol – you no longer just watch television, you vote on what you see. Thus Deal or No Deal – if you will call in and text your digital message in you might be the winner.

What does this have to do with the church? Everything! The generation that you and I work with is bombarded with messages. If you think kids are just going to sit and listen to life as it always was I am sorry but it just isn’t happening. Continue reading ‘Children’s Ministry in a digital age’

The Making of a Great Ministry Team Member

Published
by
Nevan Hooker
on June 12, 2007
in Conflict, Culture and Leadership
. 5 Comments

Calling and Community Matrix

The making of a great ministry team leader revolves around Call and Community. So where do you fit on the Matrix? Are you a Prophet, an Employee, a Clique? Click below to read more about what each box means.

Continue reading ‘The Making of a Great Ministry Team Member’

Your gifts are ready.

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on June 10, 2007
in Encouragement and Leadership
. 1 Comment

Evangelist John R. Rice once wrote: I once imagined I was in Heaven. Walking along with the angel Gabriel, I said, “Gabe, what is that big building there?” “You’ll be disappointed,” he answered. “I don’t think you want to see it.” But I insisted, and he showed me floor after floor of beautiful gifts, all wrapped and ready to be sent. “Gabriel, what are all these?” He said, I thought rather sadly, “We wrapped all these things, but you never asked for them.” (Nelson’s p.631)

God has gifts waiting for us, but we have to ask for them. What struggle are you facing this week in your ministry? Need some more volunteers? Could you use a few hundred more bucks in your budget? Got some people-problems that’s you can’t solve? Ask God for help.

The Way We See It Mac Dashboard Widget

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on June 9, 2007
in Blog Updates, News and Technology
. 5 Comments

Have a Macintosh? Have Mac OS X version 10.4? Then this is for you! The Way We See It is proud to announce version 1.0 of our Mac Dashboard widget. It won’t run on Windows yet (working on it!), but for the time being we are only offering a Mac version. It will download the latest posts from The Way We See It, and present them for reading. On the back of the widget (accessible by clicking the small letter i at the bottom-right of the widget), you can adjust article length.

Installation:
1. Download the widget below.
2. Unzip the file by double-clicking.
3. Install the widget in Dashboard by double clicking the wwsi_rss file. In the pop-up window, click “Install”.
4. When the Dashboard loads, click accept to keep the widget on your Dashboard.
5. There is no step 5.

Download
wwsi_rss.zip (604 KB)

Any questions? Leave a comment on this post. Limited support is available. Enjoy!