Today I did something I have not done in a long time, I had to drive from one meeting to the next. (I fly most of the time.) With 4 hours in the car I was looking forward to some networking but there is no such thing as networking on October 31st. Every children’s pastor I called was working on their fall festival so all I got was voice mail. I then started calling children’s evangelist and they all answered their phones. Yes they all had services tonight but had not started their set up. So I now have a new reason to dislike October 31st and I hear by name it the worst day of the year to get a children’s pastor on the phone. So as I drive back tomorrow I’ll try again if my children’s pastor friends are not sleeping off a Halloween Hangover!

And yes Ryan you know you were one of them!

In the thirty years I’ve been involved in children’s ministries I’ve noticed there is often a communication problem between church leadership and the children’s ministry. I think the problem exists because we forget that communication is hard work. Take the telephone for instance. We love to use the phone but someone had to do a lot of work for us to take advantage of its usefulness. We forget that for a telephone to work someone had to go in the woods and cut down a tree, drag it out of the woods then they had to cut off the limbs and skin off the bark, then weather treat it and then dig a hole and plant the pole. Then they had to repeat the process a few million times and then connect all the poles with wire. Then they take the connected poles and connect them to your house. That’s a whole lot of work. Communication within your ministry is also hard work. I also think those of us in children’s ministries forget there is one group of children we have to communicate with and three groups of adults we have to work with. We must communicate well with parents. We must communicate well with the workers around us and we must communicate well with the leaders above us.
What areas of communication do you need to work harder on? Remember same actions always brings same results.

The past year I have reconnected with one of my best friend’s from elementary school. I’m planning to speak at his camp this summer. Today on the phone he told me that he is within a week of getting his pilot’s license. We had a good talk about what flying lessons have been like.

He told me that the hardest part has not been learning to fly a plane. He thinks he could teach me to fly (and land) a plane in one day. The hardest part of flying for him has been learning the communication required to fly. I guess the learning curve for aviation communication is steep.

My friend Brad could write a book, “Everything I Know About Children’s Ministry I Learned From Flight School”. The success of your ministry hinges on your ability to communicate. Good communication is critical but can be hard to learn. Your volunteers aren’t mind readers. If they don’t know what’s on your mind, your leadership will be hindered.

Willow Creek has influenced the way people do church for many years. While I have always had a few philosophical differences with Willow Creek, I’ve admired their drive and passion to meet people at every stage of life.

This morning Evan Doyle emailed me an article on Christianity Today’s blog that I found interesting. Bill Hybels has looked back over the past 30 years and wished they would have done some things differently. As you read the article, apply their findings to your children’s ministry.

I’ve used the same graphic shop in town for probably ten years. The owners name is Marv. He’s always hooked me up with screening and embroidery for our ministry. When I began going to Marv ten years ago, he worked out of his garage by himself. Then he built a small pole barn on his property and hired a few employees. A few months ago he opened a beautiful new location with about 15 employees.

Good for Marv? Maybe. Maybe not. I went in the new store to order some vests for our check-in volunteers. The lady behind the counter looked at me like I had asked for the impossible. “Vests? We don’t do vests.” When I convinced her to rummage through the catalogs, she found what I was looking for. When I told her that I wanted our logo screened in full color, she tried to convince me that I didn’t because of the extra screening charges. Again, I had to press her to give me full color. A few weeks later I went into the store to ask them about some signs we needed at the church. After all, they advertise that they do signs. The guy behind the counter (some guy I had never met before) didn’t even try to come up with a solution, he said, “We don’t do that.”

Meanwhile, where’s Marv? He’s not behind the counter like he once was. He’s not even within eye view. I haven’t actually seen Marv in over a year, although he is working every time I visit the store.

What’s my point?

1. Be visible. When Marv grew to the point that no one sees him anymore, his company lost something. Do the parents and kids in your church see you before and after services? Are you accessible?

2. Know what you are doing. Don’t let the customer force you to look in the catalog for a vest. Keep in touch with leadership, with trends, with the Scripture, etc.

3. Go out of your way. The biggest way to create negative conversations about your company is to tell a customer, “We don’t do that.” Instead, find a creative solution. Go the extra mile to help the parents and people in your church, even if it means learning something new yourself.

Yesterday when I was getting my hair cut I told the girl that cuts my hair about the Trunk or Treat coming up at my church. I told her that her 5-year-old son would love it. She said, “I’ll bring him!” I sat in the chair thinking, “Man that was easy!” Then I started thinking about what would happen if every family in my church would personally invite one or two families to Trunk or Treat. It would be powerful.

I believe that the personal invitation is where the future of the church lies. It takes more than fancy marketing, cool billboards, and snazzy television commercials. It takes more than a McDonald’s playground in your church, a Starbucks in the foyer, or a rockin’ worship band.

When’s the last time you received a personal invitation? Not necessarily to a church event. Maybe it was a card party, or a movie night. Invitations can be so personal, yet so powerful. While everyone has demands on their schedule every day, few people receive personal invitations from friends or loved ones. That’s why a personal invitation is a powerful tool.

The institute for American Church Growth asked over 10,000 church-goers this question: What was responsible for your coming to Christ and this church?

2% – I had a special need
3% – I just walked in
6% – I liked the pastor
1% – I visited here
5% – I liked the Sunday school
1/2% – I attended a gospel meeting
3% – I liked the programs
79% – A friend or relative invited me

So what can we do to equip and motivate the church to extend personal invitations? What about the kids? We haven’t even touched that one. It’s hard to say no to the invite of a child.

Jesus always extended personal invitations. He told us to go into the highways and hedges and compel (or invite) them to come in. Let’s give some serious thought to what we can do to revive the personal invitations in our ministries.

INCM just announced the appointment of Judy Comstock as INCM’s Executive Director effective November, 2007. She has served on the INCM Board of Directors for over 15 years. Judy’s passion for reaching children with the Gospel of Christ is part of her life long calling to children and ministry leadership.

I have worked close with Judy for several years and am excited about the powerful leadership she will bring to this organization.

Read the whole story.

It looks like Apple will begin advertising to the huge number of people who visit YouTube. An 18 year-old named Nick Haley has created a new commercial that Apple will use to market their new iPod Touch. The video Nick created shows off everything the new iPod Touch can do. Watching the clip on YouTube, you’d never know it wasn’t a commercial created by Apple itself. Nick made a good video that must have caught Steve Jobs’ eye.

It’s interesting that Apple is tapping into the YouTube crowd to get the word out. I guess they have figured that they need to advertise to their market where they are at. If their target audience is the crowd of millions that use YouTube, what a better way to spread the word.

It’s interesting the way we try to “market” or reach kids with the Gospel. The ones who do it right take the Gospel where the kids are.

I wonder what would happen if you bought commercial time on Nickelodeon? What about buying some pre-show commercials at the movie theater at the next Pixar movie? What about saving your money (granted it would take a lot) and buying space on the box of Fruity Pebbles Cereal? Too expensive? Take some time to think about what you can do to reach kids in your community where they are.

Apple is using the homemade video of an 18-year-old kid on YouTube to reach their audience. What can you do?

Sometimes you have to say no to some things. I’m learning (the older I get) of the importance of saying no. If I don’t say no, I find myself overcommitted and exhausted.

A few weeks ago I had to tell a few ladies in my church that I couldn’t help them make a video for an upcoming ladies event at my church. I hated so say no, but had to. A few days after that I got an idea for a new product that would be a huge help for children’s pastors who visit KidzMatter.com. I had to say no.

It’s easier now than ever for me to say no. Why? I learned a secret. Are you ready to hear it? Saying no doesn’t mean you’re saying never, it means you’re saying NOT RIGHT NOW. Will I ever be able to help the ladies in my church make a video? Yes, but now is not a good time. Will that new product ever find itself on the shelves of the KidzMatter store? Yes, but not right now.

The two two greatest words in the English language are yes and no. They each have the power to change your destiny. Ask God to give you the wisdom (and the courage) to say no at the right time.

Every children’s minister I know is believing God for more workers and more children to minister to. We want to grow. But just wanting increase doesn’t cause it to come. Seventeen years ago when I moved to Tulsa I learned a principle from my pastor that changed how I looked at ministry forever.

It’s real simple. God gives us what we make room for. God is a good steward. He’s not going to give you something you can’t handle. We would all love to see 100 new workers come up to us next Sunday and want us to plug them in ministry. But the truth is that most of us could not put all 100 to work instantly, without special planning, study and a whole bunch of meetings. In other words we don’t have the workers because we cannot handle them. There is some work that each of us must do first before God brings in the workers.

We see this principle in Jesus’ ministry in John 2:1-9. You know the story how Jesus told the servants to go and fill the six large Jars with water. Each of these Jars held twenty to thirty gallons of water. We’re talking some work here. Can you imagine how heavy those jars must have been? Why did Jesus tell them to do this? He was the Son of God He could have turned air into wine just as easy as water. He didn’t have to involve them in this process did He? Yes, He did. He wanted all of us to know that when we do what we can do it releases Him to do for us what we cannot do.

What do you want to receive? Would you like to see your attendance increase? Let me ask you some questions do you have the rooms to grow? Do you have the workers in place to handle the increase? Do you have a program based on the needs of the kids in your area? Why should God give you more kids to minister to if your not following up and able to care for the ones you already have?

It’s the same with workers? Have you made a list of every place you could use a worker if people were no problem? Do you have a written job description for every position? Bro. Jim when the people show up then I’ll do those things. If you don’t make room for growth and do the work before hand the workers won’t show up.

We make room for things by doing something new. “If you always do what you always done, you’ll always have, what you’ve always had.” Same actions bring same results.

Is there a better way to do what your doing? Make a list of what you need, plan first then go after it. Grow in your abilities to lead. Increase your own leadership level. Set a goal, come up with a plan, and start making room for increase so you can handle what you are aiming for.