No matter how great an individual player you are, a team can make you or break you. I’ve always loved being a part of a team. I love team sports. I love playing in bands. As a children’s pastor I have worked hard assembling and developing my teams. My least favorite times in ministry have been being on staffs at churches that were all doing their own thing and not functioning as a team.

My favorite definition of a team is Together Everyone Achieves More!
It’s plain that a team can accomplish more than an individual. Yet children’s ministers still insist on doing things themselves rather than build a strong team. I believe every children’s pastor or children’s ministry coordinator should see himself or herself as a coach and desire to build a super team. Here are four things a successful coach should instill in his team and expect from each player. #1-BE OWN THE BALL. A team player must be alert of what’s going on and able to assess the situation for themselves and the team. A team player puts the goals, needs and good of the team first, rather than individual goals, wants, and needs. Each member of the team must value the team. Don’t ever think about quitting the team in hard times. Don’t let setbacks stop you. See problems as challenges and situations for your team to excel. Get after it-work it with all your might to make your team Be it’s best. #2- GIVE A LOT! Let your teammates slam-dunk while you take an assist. Rejoice in the abilities and accomplishments of those around you. An excellent team player chooses to prefer others to excel. Their motto is: “It doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” Never complain, but seek opportunities to motivate others. Don’t be negative. You cannot maintain a winning attitude and be negative. Being positive is a choice! A team player complements others and hand out praise. In ministry we can’t control every event, but we can control our response to it Do your best even if you go unnoticed. Always ask, “What’s best for the team?” Never be too busy to help others. The team that gives a lot accomplishes a lot. #3-OVER COMMUNICATE! Let those above you know what’s going on. No surprises ever. Surprises hurt the team. Let those around you know what’s happening and what they should be doing. The military calls this the need to know. Talk with the team; build a relationship with your teammates. Don’t take things personal. A good communicator is a good listener. Determined to learn from everybody, not just your coaches. This includes learning from your own mistakes. #4-DO YOUR JOB! Do what you know to do. A team player understands their role and does it with all their might. A valuable team player must possess knowledge of the game. They are always a student. It’s imperative to know and follow the game plan. Know your job or position. Always be loyal to your coaches.

The best teams in the world review and evaluate constantly. Not just the accomplishments but also the mistakes. Take blame but never assign any. Never talk bad about teammates at anytime. Never talk bad about the coaches or the front office anytime. Desire to share any victories together. Value your team and you’ll enjoy the value of teamwork first hand.

This week on the blog, we’re all writing about our favorite resource for summer events.  Mine is a little bit of a “different” resource to consider.

This evening I was reading through my devotional book I read every night, Extreme Devotion.  (It’s really great, and you can check it out by clicking its picture to the left.)  Today’s devotion was about a missionary who went to Korea in the 1800s with a Korean Bible in tow.  The missionary was killed before he ever spoke to a single Korean.  However, his Bible is still read today by Christians in the restricted nation of North Korea.  Over 150 years later, his action and subsequent death are still a testimony to Korean Christians.

You know what’s so cool about that?  He had nothing to do with the growth but planting the seed.  It’s kind of like he planted a garden then had to move away, so someone else started tending it.  That’s where the parallel comes in.

Sometimes (no, most of the time) we have trouble letting go of our “gardens”.  You know them: the ministries, events, duties, etc. that you’ve always done.  It might be camp, VBS, summer outreaches, or whatever you may do.  It’s your baby and you don’t want to let it go.  The thing is, sometimes in order for it to really grow, you need to let go of it.

The death of any great ministry can be a leader who won’t let go.  It’s just like a parent who won’t let go of their child once they’re out on their own.  God has put volunteers in your church specifically so you can let go.  I appreciate being able to serve under a children’s pastor like Ryan, who’s willing to let go of these projects when he can.  For instance, a good portion of our VBS planning has been handed off to one of our best volunteers, Carol, for several years now.  There was an opportunity to let go, and he took it.  It’s helped both Ryan and our VBS in the long run having someone with the resources necessary to really invest in the ministry.  He recognized that a volunteer was put in his path to be a great resource for him.

So what this summer could you hand off to one of your “resources?”  Look at the things you refuse to let go of, but could really use someone else to tend to them who has the time and know-how.  Use the amazing volunteers God has blessed you with to their fullest!  It is called “summer break” after all.

Tonight was the Christmas cantata at my home church, Liberty Baptist.  Our music pastor, Chas Singer, and our choir did amazingly as always.  As I sat there this evening, listening to the words they sang so beautifully, some things hit me.  I wanted to share some of those with you.

1.  Imagine being Mary and Joseph, lying in the stable looking the living, breathing Son of God right in the face.  Imagine the task of parenting a perfect child for the next 30 years!  (Most parents probably wouldn’t complain.)  He’d be courageous, relentless, and brave.  He’d love a world of sin.  Nothing we could do would keep us from the intimate love he would give.  He overcomes it all.  This is our God.  These are some of the ideas from the song, “This is Our God” that our choir shared tonight.  Remember that you serve a living Savior.  He came as a baby for you.  Even when you’re burned out, you have the knowledge of His unspeakable gift to you to drive you on.  That’s a crazy thought.  Here’s some of the highlights of the lyrics from this song:

Who is this child asleep in the manger?
Tender and mild, this intimate Stranger?
Recklessly, wildly loving a dangerous world
Who is this light invading our darkness…

This is our God, living and breathing
Call Him courageous, relentless, and brave
This is our God, loving and reaching… Continue reading ‘Lessons from the Christmas Cantata’

“Then those ’sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40, MSG)

On November 30, a limousine was parked in front of Princeton Pike Church of God in Hamilton, Ohio.  No one knew why.  A week later, the members of the church learned something about that limousine: 9 celebrities had been inside that limousine.  Not the celebrities we would think of.  Not at all.  But they were celebrities in the eyes of the King.  That limousine had carried 9 homeless men to church that Sunday morning.  It just so happens that the owner of a limo service attends that church.  On November 30, he went out into the streets and found 9 homeless men and brought them to church.  7 of the 9 came to know Christ personally that Sunday morning.  That’s what I call a bus ministry!

To most limo owners, that would seem like craziness.  You don’t normally let dirty, smelly homeless men ride in your limo for free.  But that man saw something more important than their physical state: their spiritual state.  In his mind, they weren’t homeless.  They were sinners in desperate need of a Savior.

Continue reading ‘Sinners in Desperate Need’

I’m teaching our midweek adult auditorium class right now. Tonight was my last lesson in a series called, “6 Reasons You Can Trust the Bible”. In preparation for the lesson, I found the quote below. It really spoke to my heart. May we each desire to have a relationship with God’s Word like Charles Spurgeon did.

“Why, the Book has wrestled with me; the Book has smitten me; the Book has comforted me; the Book has smiled on me; the Book has frowned on me; the Book has clasped my hand; the Book has warmed my heart. The Book weeps with me, and sings with me, it whispers to me, and it preaches to me; it maps my way, and holds up my goings; it is the Young Man’s Best Companion, and is still my morning and evening Chaplain.” Charles Spurgeon

As you’ve probably learned before, I love quotes.   Like, with a passion.  In fact, I like them so much I actually subscribe to the Quote of the Day RSS feed from BrainyQuote.com.  At about 1 this morning, I’m looking around my RSS feeds and see the new quote of the day.  It’s from Pablo Picasso, and it says: “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

Initially, I kind of just brushed the statement off.  Then I really got to thinking about it.  It’s really true, and very applicable to our ministries.  Our world has lots of visionaries.  They’re really smart people who tell us what the world could be like if we did this, or how the world would change if only this happened.  They’re fascinating to listen to, and we’re enthralled just hearing what they have to say.  Leonard Sweet is one of the first visionaries that comes to my mind.  (He has an interview in the November/December issue of K!)  Visionaries are pretty cool people, in my opinion.

However, for as much as I love our visionaries, they don’t do much.  They spend their lives in “what if’s” and “could be’s”, but it’s up to us to actually make it happen.  Go back to the Picasso quote.  Imagine if Picasso had just spent his life talking about what his paintings could look like and what would happen if he painted them.  Needless to say, Picasso certainly wouldn’t have been quite the art celebrity he became.  Picasso found success because he acted on a vision. Continue reading ‘Be an Actionary’

This post is part of a 6 part series.  To read the previous posts, click here.

Guideline 1: Will my family, friendships, or daily God and I time suffer?

This is one of the first things we need to think about when dealing with doing all to the glory of God.  God is not glorified through something if it causes our relationships with others to suffer.

Jesus had a crazy schedule.  Massive crowds followed Him everywhere from morning ’til night.  But somehow He still found time to have a deep relationship with His 12 disciples.  He set an example for us.  Yes, He was very busy doing God’s work.  And that was good.  Yet He never let the rest of His life suffer for it.

We need to do the same.  Make sure that taking on that new responsibility or helping someone with something won’t take the place of your family, friends, and God and I time.  Those are some of the most important things in the entire world, and it is a horror to lose them.

That’s just the first question we need to ask ourselves.  Come back tomorrow for another guideline for doing all to God’s glory.

Tonight I am sitting in our basement watching a movie, catching up on email, working on a new KidzMatter resource, and writing a blog post. Oh, there’s one more thing I’m doing: thinking about tomorrow morning. I love Sundays. Sunday is the only day that I can’t wait for the alarm clock to ring at 6:15.

Tomorrow morning I’ll arrive at the church and do what I love – making sure we have enough nursery workers and that all the teachers show up. Oh wait, that’s the part I don’t like. The part I love is leading kid’s church at the 8:15 and 10:45 services.

Here’s my Saturday night thought. Hundreds of parents will place their trust in me tomorrow. They will work hard to get their kids to kid’s church on time with their little Bibles in hand. Our bus workers spent hours today visiting their bus routes so the buses will be filled with kids who will hear about Jesus. My pastor has trusted me to faithfully teach the principles and precepts of God’s Word to the most impressionable part of the church – our kids.

Since hundreds of parents are counting on me, since my bus workers have worked so hard today, and since my pastor has placed his trust in me – I must do my best. I’ve got to give it my all!

I went into Starbucks this morning to get a Grande Iced Coffee.  While I was waiting, I was looking at the wall art and noticed a theme: the one thing.  It’s repeated over and over all over the walls.

At Starbucks, their one thing is obvious.  It’s coffee.  Yes, they do pastries, tea, and other things too, but coffee is who they are.  It’s what they excel at.

Each of us need to have our one thing.  The thing we’re great at, our passion, our way of life.  For me, my personal one thing is passionately sharing with children not only what Christians believe, but why we believe it.   Our church’s children’s ministry’s one thing is raising kids to be their best physically, mentally, and spiritually.  KidzMatter’s one thing is to partner with churches to help them to make an eternal impact in the lives of kids.

Continue reading ‘The One Thing’

Same action brings same results… I’ve found out these past 53 years on the earth you can’t keep doing things the same way you have always done them and get different results. For the last 12+ years I have been teaching a monthly audio leadership lesson that I call the children’s ministers leadership club or theClub for short. Every workshop, book chapter, magazine article and blog post I do has come from a club lesson. TheClub has been a blessing to me and the lifeblood of income and support for JWM. They have also blessed a lot of leaders. In January I made the Young Guns Program available to CM Leaders under 30 so they could get theClub lessons free. I’ve had a great response. But I feel led to do something crazy over the next 3 months I’m going to give my June, July, and August club lessons away free to anyone of any age who signs up for my newsletter on jimwideman.com. Call me crazy, call me generous, call me a nice middle age gentleman who looks a little like the guy on the chicken bucket. Hurry and sign up before June 15th so you won’t miss a single lesson. I’m excited to see the growth that will happen when you dare to expand how you think about leadership.

Now…”that’s the way I see it!”