Archive for the 'Communicating' CategoryPage 2 of 2

The BMV and children’s ministry

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on August 10, 2007
in Communicating and Leadership
. 1 Comment

I hate going to the BMV. It’s one of those errands that I always put off until the last day when I am forced to go. Today was that day.

Have you noticed that the BMV is a place that everyone has to visit? Let me share with you the clientele that I saw today. I saw a greasy mechanic and a business man in a suit. There was a teenager taking his driving test and an 80-year-old lady with a cane. There was a really nice guy sitting next to me and there was a jerk that decided to make a scene when he found out that he didn’t bring what he needed with him. You see all kinds at the license branch.

Here’s what caught my attention today (hey I had a 45-minute wait and plenty of time to look around) - a big sign with the BMV mission statement. It read:

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles is dedicated to providing professional and efficient service in the licensing of drivers, the registration and titling of vehicles, the collection and distribution of taxes and the management of records related to these functions.

It’s nothing fancy but it gets the point across. It lets the customers know what’s important to them. It keeps the employees focused.

Do the parents in your church know your mission? What about your volunteers, do they know? You know what your mission is, but you have to let everyone else know. Normally God gives the vision to a leader. The leader’s job is to communicate it to the people.

Breakfast with Cinderella

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on August 5, 2007
in Communicating, Events, Leadership and Random
. 1 Comment

cinderella.jpgWe are in. Beth, Luci and I are having breakfast with Cinderella. We started talking about this dinner date a year ago.

This January we will be in Orlando for Children’s Pastors’ Conference. We’ve decided to go a few days early so we can enjoy the Disney experience as a family before I get busy wearing my conference hat. We wanted to have breakfast with Cinderella last year, but there was a problem. We were too late. How late? One day.

If you want to eat breakfast with Cinderella, you have to make your reservation 180 days out. Exactly 180 days out. And you can’t call anytime during that day. You have to call in the first 15 minutes that the phone lines open or the tables fill up.

I am proud to report that we hit it. We set the alarm clock for 6:30am and when the phone line opened at 7, we were chatting with the happiest place on earth making our reservation.

Do you think this would work in children’s ministry? What if parents were forced to sign-up their kids for VBS exactly 180 days out and had to do it at 7am? Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Or maybe if our ministries were a little more magical, amazing things would happen.

Go big

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on August 4, 2007
in Communicating and Random
. 7 Comments

Yesterday was my birthday. 32 big ones for Ryan. My wife planned some festivities to celebrate the occasion. We went Ruby Tuesday’s with some friends where I enjoyed my favorite hamburger in the world (it’s a close tie with In and Out): the Triple Prime Burger. After dinner we headed back to our house for a movie outside. I clamped a big white sheet to Luci’s swingset, hooked up my video projector and some sound, and poof, we had an instant drive-in theater (minus the teenagers making out on the back row). It was so much fun. A cool summer night, smores on the fire-pit, popcorn, and ice-cold Pepsi.

Big is always cool. What’s not cool about sitting outside and watching a movie on a big sheet under the stars? Why do we get so excited about big things? Remember when you were a kid and you saved enough money to buy a king-size candy bar and a 32 ounce Polar Pop? Now you’re an adult and you get excited about a big house or an iPod that holds a big amount of music. There’s something about big that lures people.

Remember this tomorrow morning when you teach. Take whatever you are doing and make it big. Make it explode. It might just be the next big thing the kids talk about.

The Power of a Smile

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on July 27, 2007
in Communicating, Encouragement and Leadership
. 0 Comments

norman_cousins.jpgA famous guy once acquired a disease that the doctors thought was incurable. Many of his friends and family wrote him off as dead since they were told by the medical specialists that no one had come up with a cure for this particular disease.

How would you respond to finding out that you were soon to die? Instead of falling into depression, anger, or bitterness, the man decided to pray and treat himself with laughter. He remembered the verse of scripture that says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.’ (Proverbs 17:22).

This man decided to make it his business to laugh his troubles away. He hung around people who were joyful and positive. Whenever he got around people who were bitter, critical, and resentful, he would politely excuse himself and leave. Even though he was too weak to work, he spent his time reading stories of happy, triumphant, and jubilant individuals who had turned their personal tragedies into triumphs. He also rented movies that made him laugh.

“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” he reported. “When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

After six months of an intensive effort to set his mind on the happy aspects of life, the doctors began to notice a miraculous cure in his body. The man’s name? Norman Cousins. Norman taught medical school at the University of California, training doctors on the benefits of laughter in medicine. He died in 1990, living much longer than his doctors ever predicted.

So what’s this have to do with children’s ministry leadership? Let’s all remember that we communicate more than just words to one another. We communicate with our lives, our smiles, our actions, and even our presence. This weekend remember the power of a smile. Children need your love and joyful spirit. Remember, God said to “Rejoice always, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thes. 5:16-18).

Practice makes perfect….

Published
by
Jim Wideman
on July 24, 2007
in Communicating, Conflict, Culture, Encouragement, Families and Leadership
. 1 Comment

I attended a seninar the other day and was asked by the instructor to write my name on a piece of paper. Then she told me to change hands and make my signiture idenical with the oposite hand I write with all the time. (No one in the class was able to do thi by the way.) Then she made a wonderful point. She said “How hard would you work to master this task if I told you I’d give you a million dollars if you could do this?” Everyone saw her point. We work on things that we value and desire? What skills do you need to develop in your ministry. What changes do you need to make in yourself to be more effective. You might say “give me $1,000,000.00 and I’ll change it.” Being obedient to Christ, doing whatever we do unto him, and serving children and families are things that you can’t put a price on because they are priceless. So, what do you need to work on?

Tax collectors and sinners

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on June 9, 2007
in Communicating, Conflict and Leadership
. 7 Comments

In the Bible, Jesus was notorious for hanging out with “the wrong crowd”. He could commonly be seen with the drunks,  loose women, and sick that no one else would be seen with. Quite often he was criticized for this. Here’s some examples:

Mark 2:15-17 (ESV): “And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

Luke 4:36-47 (ESV): “One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answering said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ And he answered, ‘Say it, Teacher.’
‘A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.’ And he said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.’”

Seems not much has changed since Bible times. Two types of people no one likes: tax collectors and sinners. But that’s not my point.
Continue reading ‘Tax collectors and sinners’

From a palace in Persia

Published
by
Ryan Frank
on May 30, 2007
in Communicating, Conflict, Leadership and Volunteers
. 0 Comments

Last week my wife and I watched “A Night with the King.” Since I was a child, I have always loved the story of Queen Esther. What an amazing adventure. Young Hadassah, an orphan Jewess, becomes a queen with amazing power.

Most of us know the end of the story. Esther was placed in a leadership role for “such a time as this.” She was God’s tool to save the Jewish people from extermination. In the book, All the Women of the Bible, Edith Deen highlights the leadership strategies that Esther modeled. They are excellent strategies for anyone who leads people.

1. She gained favor with the people.
2. She used sound judgment.
3. She always thought of others first.
4. She offered to sacrifice her position and even her life to save others.
5. She was dedicated and loyal.
6. She exhibited virtuous character.
7. She was fearless.
8. She was prudent.

Esther’s life is a pattern of leadership we can each follow. Is there something in your church that has been bugging you? Is there a volunteer or staff member that has been pushing your button? Is there a mountain you can’t seem to climb? Perhaps one of the characteristics above could help resolve that situation.

Esther changed the world. Which of her leadership strategies will change yours today?

Jim’s big news

Published
by
Jim Wideman
on May 29, 2007
in Blog Updates, Communicating, Conflict, Culture, Encouragement, Events, Families, Leadership, News, Random, Reviews, Technology and Volunteers
. 1 Comment

After 30 years of serving on staff in the local church, 17 of those at the greatest church in the world (Church On The Move) under the greatest pastor in the world (Pastor Willie George) I am going full time with Jim Wideman Ministries. That’s right, you read correctly. My pastor is in agreement with this and I have his blessing. I’ll still base out of Tulsa and my family and I will still attend COTM. I believe this is God’s plan for my life and that I have a mandate from God to help other churches go to their next level of ministry. How am I going to do this? In 3 main ways:

1. Consulting- I’ve had the privilege of being exposed to every area of ministry in a local church in addition to leading one of America’s leading children’s ministries. I’m available for on-site consulting in any area you need help. Whether you want me to come in once or once a month, I want to help you gear up for growth and excellence. Special rates are available for multiple visits. If you need another perspective put me on your staff as a part-time employee.

2. Conferences & Training- I’m available to hold a Children’s Ministry Conference at your church as well as seminars on Time Management, Volunteer Recruiting, Leadership & Parenting.

3. Speaking at churches & conferences- Need a guest to challenge people to get involved, or to teach on the importance of children & the family. I’m available.

Contact me today at brojim@jimwideman.com or give my assistant Sheila a call @ (918) 477-2268 ext. 1. I’m now booking for the rest of 2007 & 2008 and I’d love to help you and your church.

Excited about the future,
Bro. Jim

Ministry wisdom from the man behind the sunshine

Published
by
Evan Doyle
on May 21, 2007
in Communicating, Culture and Leadership
. 0 Comments

And no, in this case I’m not talking about God. I’m talking about the Jimmy Dean commercials with the sunshine character in them. Very funny commercials, yes, but I digress.

Here’s the real reason why I’m mentioning him. Over the course of this blog, you’ll learn that I really like quotes from various people. Correction, I really LOVE quotes. But here’s a quote from Jimmy Dean, the man behind the sunshine (Not made in reference to ministry, but still applicable):
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

Ministry many times may seem ineffective. A few years ago, the “culture winds” were blowing one way, and so you adjusted your sails. But have you adjusted your sails recently, or on a regular basis?