Brief Synopsis: In this article, I share a tool which we’ve started using in our children’s ministry to make offering a little more fun.  It’s been a couple of months since I wrote the original article, and I am glad to say the kids are having as much fun as ever with their offering time at church!

Click here to read the entire article!

You can find all the articles I’ve published on Ministry-to-Children.com at this page.

Related posts:

1. 100 Questions For Talking to Kids
2. Does Quality Time Always Have to Be Spiritual Time?
3. An Object Lesson on the Impact of Giving

Sam starts with a great summary of the importance of redemption:

One of the greatest messages we can give to every family we come in contact with is the message of redemption. In kids’ ministry, today, we deal with more broken hearts and broken families than ever before. I believe every family needs to experience the power of redemption.

In a ministry where so many focus on fun and games, I was happy to see Sam bring it back where it really belongs…to the redemptive power of Christ.  That is the power we want to see in the kids we minister to.  In a hurt and broken world, and in the hurt and broken little hearts that we see each weekend, we long for the redemptive power of Christ to work in their lives.

From there, Sam moves to a very practical discussion of why the idea of redemption is critical to our ministries:

Oftentimes, parents stay at arms length away from our ministries because we can set the bar so high they feel they can’t reach it. The message we need to be sending to the parents who attend our churches and to those who have yet to attend is that we are not looking for perfect families because they don’t exist.  Our goal in kids’ ministries needs to be helping families understand that following Christ is a process where we fail and He redeems.

So many in our society strive to present the image of the perfect family.   And, those of us who don’t live up to that image, can easily succumb to guilt and even despair.  In children’s and family ministry, we must help parents to understand that there are no perfect people and no perfect families.  Church must be a safe place for imperfect people.  It must be a place where parents can come for biblical advice on how to run their families without fearing being transparent in their family life.

With all that insight, I actually found the last thing Sam wrote to be the most important of all:

When our kids grow up understanding true forgiveness and real redemption they will never settle for cheap grace.

Our God did not come to Earth and die on a cross for cheap grace, and it cheapens his work in human history when reduce our teaching to his children to that level.  Our job is to help them, not just understand the redemptive power of Christ, but to experience that power.  If we can do that, I am confident that we will have accomplished our purpose.

Questions for further discussion

The stated purpose of this book is to elicit further conversation.  I have included some of my thought above, but like other chapters I have included a listing of additional questions to spark further conversation.  Here are the questions I came up with:

1. Is there anything that you are doing or teaching that you feel cheapens the presentation of the grace of God?
2. What does your church do to attract imperfect families?
3. What systems do you have set up in your ministry to address the broken hearts and broken families of the kids you minister to?
4. What examples of the redemptive power of Christ have you seen in the kids you minister to?
5. How do you explain the idea of redemption to younger children?

By the way, I borrowed the images for this post from the actual e-book which you can download here for free! The stunning artwork was developed by Imago.

You can find a link to this, and all the other articles I’ve done related to this book, on my What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Page.

Related posts:

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Worldview
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Sufficiency Dr. Rob Rienow
3. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads

When Larry Shallenberger announced several months ago that he was planning on doing a book blog tour to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his book, I eagerly signed up.  I don’t know Larry personally, but I do follow his comments on Twitter and read his blog, so I kind of feel like I know him even if he doesn’t follow me on Twitter.   Based on that presumption of relationship, and the generally laid back nature of people in children’s ministry, I will refer to him as Larry throughout this review.

Anyhow, I knew that regardless of what the book was about, Larry’ has a great sense of humor and an easy to read writing style, so I knew reading his book wouldn’t be a complete waste of time.  That said, when I found out the topic of the book was leadership, I got just a little bit leery.  It’s not that I don’t like reading about leadership or being a leader.  I actually do, but the world has plenty of books on leadership, and I have read a bunch of them.  It seems the everybody who has ever been a boss or started a ministry or had people report to them has taken it upon themselves to write a book on leadership.  After a while, they all just seem to say the same thing – do it my way and you’ll be OK, and it ultimately all runs together into a fuzzy blurry haze in my head.  Besides that, I already have a group of people whose writings, podcasts, etc. on topic of leadership I devour.  They include people like Andy Stanley, Jim Wideman, and others who I have grown to trust in this area and have learned a lot from.  With all due respect to Larry, I wasn’t sure what he could offer that hadn’t either already heard or wasn’t getting from some of the other resources I was reviewing.

There’s an old, slightly cliché, saying that “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”  I agree in principal, and Larry’s book turned out to be a prime example of this for me and another reason I try not to let pre-conceived notions totally guide what I choose to read.  Now, I’ve never recommended that someone not read this book, but if it hadn’t been for this blog tour, I’m not sure I ever would have read it either.  Had that happened, I would have missed out.

What was my overall impression?

Larry’s book opened my eyes, and my heart, to ideas and theories that I had never even considered.  It is written in a style that I personally found compelling and engaging with plenty of practical advice thrown in for good measure.   Not only is this book one I learned from on my initial read through, it is one that I am certain to refer back to time and time again.  With those general observations out of the way, let’s a little more detailed look at the book itself.

How is this review different from other reviews?

I know what you’re thinking – even if you won’t admit it.  10 reviews in 10 days by 10 different people, why should I read yours?  You think you have issues?  I found out that my review was going to be number 7 of 10.  I didn’t get to lead off with the epic home run that leave people wanting more.  I don’t get to close with quips of wisdom.  What on earth was I going to write about that would be different than everyone else?  Here’s what I decided – I would write I want.  It’s kind of freeing in a way.   I decided to do with this book what I do with many of my reviews here on Dad in the Middle (especially the good ones) and feature a whole lot more content from the book than my own personal opinion while still offering some insight into what I got out of it.  Hopefully this will give you enough information to discern whether or not you want to read it for yourself.  I hope that you will as the book will give you a ridiculous amount of additional detail not available in this review.

Who is this book written for?

The book is written specifically for those of us in children’s ministry.  Indeed, the subtitle is “Discovering Your Leadership Style in Children’s Ministry.”  That said, the principles throughout this book are just as applicable to any other ministry and to life in general.  As someone with a passion for children’s ministry though, I appreciate that the focus of this book is squarely on children’s ministry and children’s ministry leaders.

What is the basic premise of the book?

The books starts by dispelling what Larry calls “the myth of the perfect leader.”  He notes that we, as a society, spend our time looking for and/or trying to be the perfect leader – the leader who bring everything to the table and is capable of juggling all the balls which leadership invariably throws at us.  Other people compare us to this mythical leader, and more importantly, we compare ourselves to this mythical leader and find ourselves lacking.  I know that, in my own life, this is something that I have been guilty of many time.  Larry explains that there is no such things as the perfect leader.  That’s not the way God made us, and:

When we try to be someone God didn’t wire us to be, we make it very hard for God to use us.

Imagine that!  In trying to lead the ministries God has called us to, we try to be more than God has made us to be and end up doing less than God has enabled us to do.

Larry has quite cleverly and effectively positioned this book on leadership around something those of us in children’s ministry can relate to – an object lesson.   In this case, Larry explores leadership styles as they relate to putting on a play and then examines how those styles relate to children’s ministry.  Now, I’ve never put on a big production in Children’s Ministry, but the analogy itself is so illuminating that I still found it helpful and educational.

What are the different facets of leadership?

Larry follows up shattering the myth of the perfect leader by noting five stars that any children’s ministry leadership team needs to have to be truly effective.  He notes that no one leader can possibly bring all of these stars.  They are:

1. Describing the Promised Land – a destination towards which your ministry is heading – a vision
2. Providing Road Maps – strategic plans and listing of core values
3. Tending to the Tool Box – making sure the right skills and resources are available
4. Keeping the Ministry “Heart-Healthy” – tending to heart of the ministry ensuring positive outlook and optimism
5. Providing Muscle – ability to get things done

The purpose of this book is to examine leadership styles and what we can bring to the table in terms of the five stars of leadership.  In addition to that, it offers advice on how to train ourselves to be better leaders in areas where we are not and understand the other facets of leadership so that you can surround yourself with the right types of people to have a five-star ministry.  Larry points out the following:

We tend to surround ourselves with people who think like we do.

Instead, in order to be effective leaders, we must surround ourselves with people who compliment our strengths and make up for our weaknesses.  There is much to be gained by understanding the leadership styles presented in this book.

Who doesn’t love a test?

I have to admit it.  I love tests.  I really do.  I like personality tests, gifting tests, political affiliation tests, etc., etc., etc.  Give me a series of seemingly random questions and then reduce it to a profile about me, and I love it!  So, when I wandered past Chapter 1 of the book and found Chapter 2, I was ecstatic!  I know you think I’m embellishing my reaction, but I’m really not.  I also imagine you’re thinking, “Really, we’re only on Chapter 2?  I thought this was a review not the actual book!”  I promise, it’ll pick up.

Anyhow, Chapter 2 is “the dramatic leadership assessment test” in which you answer 48 questions with an indication of how often they apply to you.  Fill out the number grid, add up the numbers and this test will rank six different leadership styles as the apply to you (with your highest score being your most prevalent style, and so on).

So, what are the leadership styles?

If I’m being honest, it was this test that really peaked my interest in the book.  Larry’s work went from being some abstract, albeit good, principals about leadership to something very personal – what is my leadership style?  After filling out the test, I couldn’t wait to jump to the chapter describing my most prevalent style, which I did.  I actually read all six in order of decreasing prevalence from my own test results.  The ones which matched my profile were interesting.  It’s always fun to see how well they actually match up to you, and they were spot on in this case.  Much to my surprise however, I learned just as much (maybe more) from reading the bottom three as the top three.  It’s was insightful to learn about people with leadership styles which represent my weaknesses and figure out who and how to incorporate those into my leadership style.  I think this is where Larry has really hit it out the park with his book, and I think this is why this book becomes much more of a reference work for constant review than just a one-time read.

So, Chapters 3 through 8 each describe one of the leadership styles.  Each chapter start with a reference to the ongoing Production object lesson followed by a profile of the leadership style, a biblical case study, a contemporary case study, and specific ideas and practical application about how to lead with each style whether or not it is your strength.  Each chapter ends with a prayer based on the leadership style and some questions for discussion.  Before I list the styles, I should say that the parts of each chapter which I enjoyed the most were the biblical case study and the contemporary case study.  My leadership style (which I’ll discuss later) says I like to go to the Bible to learn about leadership and kids, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed the Biblical case study for each leadership style.  However, I also enjoyed the contemporary case study in which Larry interviewed and shared the perspectives of the likes of Jim Wideman, Karl Bastian (the Kidologist), Craig Jutlia and others.

So, without any further delay, here are the six leadership styles as Larry defines them along with a brief explanation of each:

What were my results?

Well, thanks for asking.  I actually took the test twice.  The differences were only minor, but I spent more time reflecting on each question the second time, so here are the results from that test (including scores for each style out of a potential total of 24):

1. Drama Coach (21)
2. Director (20)
3. Stage Manager (17)
4. Production Assistant (17)
5. Stage Hand (12)
6. Theater Manager (11)

After review the types, I have to say that this assessment was pretty spot on for me.

What else is in the book?

The final chapters of the book include brief summaries of each type of leadership style, an assessment sheet for discerning your own strengths and weaknesses, suggestions for teaching your team about different leadership styles and the epilogue to the production narrative that runs throughout the book.

What didn’t I like?

I always feel compelled to include this section in my reviews or people just don’t believe the disclaimer below.  So, what didn’t I like about this book?  Well, despite looking far and wide, I couldn’t find anything in the book about sarcasm or long winded explanations – both of which are included amongst my leadership gifts.  Other than that, I couldn’t really find anything I didn’t like.

What disclaimer?

This one.  I received a free copy of this book (actually two) from Larry in order to participate in this book blog tour.  While I appreciate the free copy, it did not in any way impact the contents of this review.

So, this all sounds awesome, what do I do next?

If you already own the book, go read it again.  If you don’t, you can purchase it here. .

Shouldn’t you be giving one away?

Now, that’s a good idea!  Larry actually gave me a signed copy to give away.  If you want to enter, do one of the following:

1. Leave a comment below; or
2. Send the following tweet – RT @stocksohio is giving away a free copy of Lead the Way God Made You. Find out how you can win: http://wp.me/pN5Ju-110 #kidmin #cmconnect

Winner will be drawn from all entries before 9:00 AM, Wednesday, July 14, 2010.

Will this review ever end?

Yep.  I’m done now!

Related posts:

1. DON’T HUG A GRUDGE by Donna Perugini (A Dad in the Middle Review)
2. CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS – By Jim Wideman (A Dad in the Middle Review)
3. FAITHWEAVER PARENT CLASS (A Dad in the Middle Review)

God’s Kids Worship® was created by Bob Singleton, a musical award-winning Christian dad as well as Grammy® nominated, and 4 time Dove nominated producer of music for kids. He wanted to make it easy for kids to worship God, and for grown-ups to lead them.

God’s Kids Worship® songs are produced for kids to enjoy singing, and adults to enjoy leading. The songs are sung by kids for kids, match the attention spans of kids, don’t have long introductions or guitar solos, and contain only the best, most singable parts of songs. The award-winning arrangements are all kid-friendly, with an emphasis on energy and fun.

The three CD’s are part of the set of Modern Worship Worship CDs.  The three CDs are:

• I’ll Praise You
• I Believe You
• I’ll Follow You

The CDs are designed to engage kids in and energetic live praise time.  Each CD includes 14 songs including a variety of well known modern worship songs and brand new made-for-kids songs all sung by a group a children.  Now, with a few minor exceptions, when I hear about kids’ worship music sung entirely by kids, I don’t tend to get excited.  Most such music just doesn’t suit my tastes and turns out sounding very cheesy to me.  It is not what I am interested in listening to, and that is not what I want to use in my children’s ministry on Sunday mornings.  These CDs however, are an exception to that rule.  The songs are engaging and fun to listen to and make for a great worship experience.  They are also perfect for parents to listen to with their kids in the car or at home as both are sure to enjoy the music.  In an e-mail exchange with Bob Singleton, he explained to me that he was involved in researching how to get kids to engage in music rather than just listen to it, and the single biggest factor was, “If they hear other kids singing, they will sing along.”  I am grateful that Bob and his team have found a way to accomplish that and still create music which is pleasant to listen to.

Worshipping God through music is a critical part of our relationship with God.  The Bible tells us to:

…be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart [Ephesians 5:18b-19]

These CDs will allow kids to engage in that conversation.  Some of my favorite moments with my kids are within the confines of my truck or van when we  role up the windows, turn up the music and sing and dance with one another.  In children’s ministry, I believe part of what we need to teach kids how to do is to authentically worship their Heavenly Father, and that means a whole lot more then just singing silly songs that they can hear anywhere.  There is nothing wrong with those songs, but worship entails so much more than that, and I think these CDs will help to fill that void.

These CDs include a mixture of well known contemporary Christian songs as well as brand new songs written entirely for kids.  They also include a variety of tempos including everything from slower songs to more upbeat music.  You can get a listing of the specific songs on these three CDs, and listen to excerpts, here: http://www.godskidsworship.com/p-297-gods-kids-worship-modern-cd-3-pack.aspx.  God’s Kids Worship® offers a variety of other products including music which is more traditional in style.

Now, here is the exciting news, God’s Kids Worship® has provided me with a free copy of this three CD set to give away to a reader of this blog.  In order to enter, you may do any, or all, of the following [the more you do, the more times you will be entered]:

1. Tweet the following: “RT @stocksohio is giving away 3 free CDs from God’s Kids Worship.  Find out how you can win: http://wp.me/pN5Ju-10v. #kidmin #freestuff”
2. Leave a brief comment below explaining why you would like to win the CDs or what you would do with them.
3. God’s Kids Worship® is all about equipping volunteers.  I recently started a new blog and twitter account dedicated to volunteers, part-time, and bi-vocational children’s ministers at Kidmin1124.  Subscribe to the Kidmin1124 RSS Feed and/or check out some of the articles.  Leave me a comment below letting me know what you think!
4. Follow @Kidmin1124 on Twitter for another chance to win.  If you do follow @Kidmin1124 for a chance to win, please let me know either by commenting below or tweeting about it with the phrase Kidmin1124 somewhere in the tweet.
5. Join the Kidmin1124 Facebook Page and leave a comment there specifically mentioning God’s Kids Worship®.

There you have it, if you enter all five ways, you multiply your chances of winning!  All entries made by Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 9:00 AM EDT will be put in a figurative hat (more likely a random # generator), and a winner will be selected at that time.  Look for more contests related to God’s Kids Worship® later this summer.

As indicated above, I was provided a free set of these CDs for purposes of completing this review.  That did not in any way influence the contents of this review.

Related posts:

1. Jesus Came to Save Sinners (Free Worship Music for Kids)
2. Psalm 55:22 (Seeds Family Worship)
3. Phillipians 4:6-7 (Seeds Family Worship)

The album features five songs including:

1. Jesus Came to Save Sinners
2. God is Good
3. God is in Charge of Everything
4. God Wants to Talk to Us
5. God Made Everything

These songs teach kids about the character and nature of God as well as his plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.  In addition to the music itself, you can download the lyrics and the chords for the songs.

These are top notch songs for Children’s Ministry and would also be great to listen to with your own kids.  I appreciate that The Village Church was willing to share these songs with the rest of us.  While you’re on their site, make sure to download their free “adult” worship album called “Village Worship.”  It is packed full with wonderful worship music as well.

Related posts:

1. GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review)
2. Get 5 Free Copies of the Jesus Storybook Bible
3. 1 Timothy 4:12 (Seeds Family Worship)

The new small group curriculum, which launches this fall in churches around the country, is part of Group’s FaithWeaver^® line of resources, which includes classes for all ages and has been successfully used in more than 25,000 churches nationwide since 1999. While parents are attending their small group, their children attend classes designed for them. Each week, everyone studies and discusses the same Bible point at an age-appropriate level.

“For example,” says [Christine] Yount Jones [executive editor of Children’s Ministry magazine], “one week the children might learn how they can rely on God. At the same time, the parents are taught how to help their children rely on God. Parents learn how to do this in practical ways and share ideas with other parents in their group. Now they can go home and weave faith teaching into their children’s lives throughout the week, focusing on this particular area.”

The curriculum for this fall includes topics like selfishness versus selflessness, showing kindness, seeking wisdom, faithfulness and relying on God.  Each quarter, Group will release a new similarly formatted curriculum with a new set of Bible points.  I am a big fan of much the Group Publishing puts out, and I was excited to review this new curriculum.

The “Bible Point” of the sample lesson I reviewed was “We can rely on God.”  Each lesson includes a FaithWeaver Parent Leader Guide ($9.99) and a FaithWeaver Parent Handbook ($5.29).  The Parent Class is based on the same verses and principles taught throughout the FaithWeaver series.  This puts parents on the same page of their kids thereby equipping them to be a spiritual leader in their own homes.

In addition to the Parent Leader Guide and Parent Handbook, the sample I was provided also included the teacher’s guide and student books for Pre-K & K and Grades 3 & 4 to allow me to review how the different classes work together.

The Parent Lesson is presented in the following sequence:

1. Getting Started
2. Bible Exploration
3. Weaving Faith Into Families

The Leader Guide includes additional background on the Bible lesson for that week to help leaders learn the story and spend some time reflecting with God on the lesson.

The Getting Started portion of the lesson focuses on getting parents in small groups discussing their children.  For example, in this lesson parents are divided based on the age of their kids and asked to discuss times when their kids need to rely on something and in what areas their kids most need to rely on God.  The Leader in these groups serves much more as a facilitator than a teacher.  Their principal role is to get parents talking in their small group and guide them to specific questions in the parent handbook to discuss.

The Bible Exploration section of the group encourages parents, within their small groups, to read the Bible verse and discuss it amongst themselves.  Parents are also asked to consider and discuss how the verses relate to their family.  The “Weaving Faith Into Families” section of the lesson is a “hands-on” activity driven portion of the class.  In the sample I was provided parents were blindfolded and made to rely on their partner to guide them and paired up to participate in some role playing to help them remember a method for encouraging their kids to rely on God.  The parent handbook also includes some background on the week’s lesson, discussion questions, a place for parents to take notes, faith talk starters, and suggestions for prayer starters.

I believe that the strengths of this class include:

• It equips parents to discuss the week’s lesson with their kids.
• It integrates well with the lessons for kids of all ages.
• It is highly driven by conversation and small groups which will help participants to build relationships with other parents.  The benefit of that can last well past the individual lesson.
• It forces parents to actually participate.  This is a great feature for those of us who tend to cower in the corner during small group times.
• The point of the lesson each week is clear.
• It includes a different Bible story each week for parents to discuss.

There are some weaknesses to this curriculum as well (Note: these are based on my review of one sample lesson and may not be representative of the whole curriculum):

• I thought the parent class (at least for the lesson I reviewed) was very light on Bible.  While the point is certainly Biblical, that we should rely on God, I felt like the Bible story itself seemed a little downplayed.
• While I think this curriculum will allow parents to discuss the lesson where there kids, I am not certain that it will allow parents to take their kids deeper into the lesson.

You can get more information about the whole FaithWeaver series at http://sundayschool.group.com/faithweaver.  While there, you can register to receive a free sample of the Parent Leader Guide and you can review it for yourself.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was provided a free sample copy of a sample lesson for purposes of completing this review.  That has not in way impacted the content of this review.

Related posts:

1. CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS – By Jim Wideman (A Dad in the Middle Review)
2. TOGETHERVILLE.COM (A Dad in the Middle Review)
3. LEAD THE WAY GOD MADE YOU by LARRY SHALLENBERGER (a Dad in the Middle Review)

• Jubilee Gang
• Evangelizing Children
  • Probability of someone being born again 35% between 5 and 12
  • Most people come to the Lord between 5 and 12
  • Current generation of kids will only produce 4% as Bible believing Christians
  • Church must do something
• We have to go where they are
• Most people don’t know what a real Christian is.
  • We have to let them know

• Five things that won’t make you a Christian
  • Church
  • Reading Bible
  • Praying
  • Mom & Dad
  • Being a good person
• Need to be straight up with this generation
• “Dream a dream so big that unless God does it it will not happen.”
• Pray and find out what God’s plan is for you
• How can I reach my community for God?
• Let go of anything that holds you back.
  • Tradition
    • Are we achieving our goals?
    • If not, how can we?
  • Religion
    • Religion is man’s way not God’s way
  • Past failures
  • Fear
    • Failure
    • What people think
    • Of what you’ve never done before
    • Fear is opposite of faith
• God is looking for people to rise up and be heroes of this generation.
• Use the cool stuff, but never sacrifice sound Biblical teaching
  • “Do we want a service or a circus?”
  • Can’t continually outdo yourself
  • We’ve gone from ministry based to entertainment based
  • Can have both!
• Three ways to raise bar spiritually while making full use of technology
  • Keeping God’s Word in our services
  • Anointing
    • We must rely on God’s ability and not ours
  • Life changing ministry
    • Are lives being changed, or are they just walking away from a cool experience
    • Do kids know God or just know about him?
• Alter Calls
  • Not the best way of doing, but we don’t want kids to fall through the cracks
  • Some parents will never pray with their kids
  • How do I do it?
    • Almost discourage people from coming forward
    • Qualify them,
      • How many people have been born again?
      • How do you know you’ve been born again?
      • Do you want to be?
    • Encourage kids to keep their eyes closed
    • If understand, and truly want it, stand up
      • Not because your neighbor does
      • Not because it’s cool
    • Don’t come down for any other reason
      • Only if understand and this is what you want for your life
    • Gather around
      • Sits down on floor with them
    • Asks why they came down.
    • Going to say a prater
      • Just because you repeat it means nothing
      • Going to talk to God.  Do you believe that?
      • God is going to change you

Related posts:

1. CM TeleSummit – Technology Tidbits – Jeremy Collins
2. The Child Timothy and His Teachers (Synopsis of Come Ye’ Children – Chapter 8)
3. CM TeleSummit – 10 Attributes of a Children’s Leader – Justyn Smith

• How do you find volunteers
  • My God shall supply all my needs
  • The same God that meets every need – we can expect him to help us with volunteers

• Ministry never designed to be done a select few
  • Never intended to do the work of the ministry all by ourselves
  • God’s plan was that we should go out and make disciples
  • God has called us to be kings and priests
  • Paul told Timothy to entrust the things he heard from Paul to next generation to teach the fourth generations
  • Passing of Gospel designed to be done by a team
  • Our goal is to prepare God’s people for works of service so the body of Christ can be built up
  • “People need to be needed really more than I need the help.”
  • Doing people a favor by finding a place for them to serve
    • Deeper discipleship
    • Greater place of commitment
• First thing to do is ask what we’re looking for
  • Start with the end in mind
    • What do we want kids to become as adults?
      • Know Jesus
      • Baptized
      • Prayer Warriors
      • Filled with Holy Spirit
      • Understand gifts of the spirit
      • Have a serving heart
      • Have a giving heart
      • Heart for mission
      • Whatever it is – write it down
      • “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
    • Whatever you wrote, you become that thing
      • Have to have same set of rules for kids
      • Come follow me as I follow the Lord
    • Recruit others who are also examples of these things
• Get on the offensive
  • Be on the lookout for people who love kids
  • Jesus recruited as he was walking along the way
• Let your volunteers create other people
  • Jesus didn’t recruit all of his apostles
  • Keep it before your workers
  • Encourage your team to be about recruiting business
• Be touchable and available and friendly
  • Talk to people
• Go to church
  • Churches with more than one service have an advantage
  • Everyone needs to take in
  • Ministry is like a checkbook
• Identify the giftings you are looking for
  • Make a list of every place you could use a volunteer
    • Faith is calling things that aren’t like they are
    • If people were no problem, where would you have workers?
  • Look for people who are vocationally trained to manage people
• Ways to find workers
  • Look within your organization
    • Who is ready to promote?
    • Volunteer careers
    • Want to be in place where they can be promoted
  • Pray them in
    • Pray for each individual ministry
    • “Things happen when we pray that don’t happen any other way.”
    • Be specific
  • Raise them up
    • From within your own ministry
    • Look for teams that can help
    • High school students
    • “You don’t have to grow up to be used by God.”
    • Children’s equivalent to every adult ministry
  • Qualify all candidates
    • Application
      • You have to at any other job
      • Why not children’s ministry?
    • Check references
    • Background checks
      • Know them that labor among you
      • If whatever company you’re using never had a hit, there might be a problem
    • Interviews
    • Place new volunteers for 30 days with another volunteer
      • Ask questions
      • If not a good fit, move them to another place
• How do you keep volunteers? – 20 steps to develop leaders who will stay put
  • Start them slow and don’t dump
    • start with a small job
    • start watching
    • very small responsibilities
    • policies and procedures manual
    • What do you want me to do? and How do you want me to do it?
  • Immerse them in your vision
    • Vision keeps us in the ministry
    • Use every method available
    • Every time before group of people, talk about the vision
  • Your volunteers need a model
    • People do what they see
    • Show is far more effective than tell
    • Show people parts of the service – every different part
  • Build Trust
    • Do what you say
    • Prove yourself
    • Let people know you’re good for the organization
    • Positional leadership is one of the lowest forms of leadership
  • Be real and transparent
    • Be normal
    • Be approachable
    • “When you wake up in the morning, your breath stink like anyone else’s.”
    • We all have trials and tribulations
    • Let people know what you’ve struggled with
    • Allow people to have a bad day
  • Invest your time in others
    • Time is the new money
    • Jesus was never too busy for Peter’s dumb questions
    • Allow people to ask questions
    • Spend time with them
    • Difference between delegation and duplication
    • Need to spend time with them to allow them to become like you
    • Need to spend quality and quantity time
  • Believe in your folks
    • Boosts their confidence
    • Greatest thing I can do is give someone else a chance to minister
    • Give them freedom to make mistakes and learn from them
  • Encourage them
    • Everyone can use encouragement
    • Catch people doing things right
    • Always looking for ways to bless people and reward them
    • Idea from Ryan Frank – start every day by writing three thank you notes to volunteers
    • Make a big deal of it
  • Coach them
    • A coach is a teacher
      • Teach about teaching
    • Coaches correct
      • Out of love for them
    • Maintain team spirit
    • Point people to the next level
      • Have them list three things they can do to improve
      • Deadline and plan to coach and teach them to make improvement a reality
  • Ask for commitment
    • Greater commitment has sweeter victory
    • Difference between commitment and sacrifice
    • Commitment takes workers to whole new level
    • When asked for greater commitment, got better workers
    • It’s OK to ask for it
  • Set goals for growth
    • Don’t stay stagnant
    • Spiritual
    • Numerical
    • Structure
    • Evaluation is the missing link
  • Communication
    • Communication takes work
    • Look for every possible way to communicate
    • Meetings with just certain workers
    • Leadership meetings
    • Skill development meetings
  • Give them the tools that they need
    • Every job is easier with the right tools
    • Create an environment where learning can take place
    • Curriculum, supplies, gizmos
    • Tools are important
  • Check on folks systematically
    • People only do what’s inspected not what’s expected
    • Can’t spend all your time teaching children
    • Watch people teach
    • Inspect, Evaluation, Brag on them
  • Conduct regular equipping meetings
    • If you give knowledge and wisdom, you give them the power to succeed
    • Teach new ways and methods to communicate the gospel
    • Look for ways to make them better
  • Care enough to confront
    • Confront
      • Bad attitude
      • Not showing up
      • Not doing what we ask
    • Confront in love
    • One Minute Manager
  • Ask for others’ ideas and opinions when appropriate
    • Some of the best ideas come from other people
    • Always look for people that can help you
    • Run things by them
    • Involve others in the solution process
    • Help other people solve their own problems
    • Listen and encourage
  • Promote and entrust
    • Turn over more responsibility to those who have proven faithfulness
    • People can help in the oversight and training
    • Find other people to lighten your load so you can do the things that only you can do
  • Show them that you value and esteem them
    • People want to be appreciated
  • Give them someone else to develop and disciple
    • People love to teach what they’ve learned
    • Depth at all key positions
    • Every teacher should let someone else teach once a month while they’re there to watch and disciple
• Process won’t happen over night
• Need to commit to be leader of leaders
• Concentrate on what you can do for others
  • You gain those you serve
  • When you are the ministry who serves volunteers, families, etc. God will give you the workforce

Related posts:

1. CM TeleSummit – Help! I Need Volunteers – Kevin Ranfield
2. CM TeleSummit – Leading a Core Volunteer Team – David Wakerley and Nathan McLean
3. CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS – By Jim Wideman (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Using technology in children’s ministry – Hi-Tech for the Low-Tech
• Why are you doing that?
  • A lot of us come up with cool new ways of doing things but end up watering down the message
  • Technology should have a purpose
  • Want to target technology to message of Jesus Christ
• Using technology that works for you
  • Technology is a tool, but you have to learn it first before you use it
  • Don’t use if it you’re not comfortable

• Technology should make your life easier not harder
• We have a hard time pulling the plug on technology
  • East to end up always using technology
  • Never unplugged
  • Need to find time to unplug
• Using stuff families are already using
  • Find out what technologies families are using
  • Meet families where they are and use what they use
• Put your kids to work using technology
• The “Tech Nerd” Jeremy’s Top Ten “try it, you’ll like it” of technology
  • You Version
    • Online Bible
    • Add study notes
    • Review other’s notes
    • On IPhone as well
  • Google Apps
  • Facebook
    • Connect with and talk to families you wouldn’t otherwise have the change to
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Wikipedia
  • Xtranormal.com
  • Your website
    • Put current events out there
    • Put information about your church
    • Put information about your children’s ministry
  • Threadsy
    • Facebook, e-mail and twitter all in one

Related posts:

1. CM TeleSummit – How to Create an Engaging Message by Jeremy White
2. CM Telesummit – Child Evangelism – Jerry Moyer
3. CM TeleSummit – Why Family Ministry Is Not an Option – Rob Rienow

• Been around children’s ministry her entire life.
• Praise and Worship
• What is the purpose of worship leaders?
  • Worship is communication
    • Communication with God
    • As leaders, worship time is also communication to kids or families
    • Everything we do communicates something to our audience
• “Leading Worship is more about your leadership ability than your musical ability.”
  • Mean more than standing on stage with a microphone and singing songs
• “Leading worship is a lot like being an aerobics instructor.”
  • Coach
  • Helps people not to give up
  • Example in the action that is going on
  • Also a source of encouragement
• “Define what you want to teach kids about worship in every class.”
  • Sometimes we use music just to fill time.
  • Shouldn’t be main motive for using music
  • Teaching kids to worship is missing from many ministries
    • Praising God is part of our Christian walk
    • Need to teach kids what it means to be a worshipper and how they can become a worshipper.
  • Need to define what we want kids to learn about worship during their years in our ministry
  • Helps us to know what to aim for
  • Important that we cast this vision
• What can we teach kids about worship for every age (just an example)
  • Preschool – We sing to Jesus because its a way to show Jesus that we love him
    • Preschoolers understand love
  • Elementary – We can teach our kids that God is good and praising him is what we were created to do
  • Pre-teen – Give kids a foundation of why we worship and the importance of it so as they move up they aren’t influenced and swayed by others not to participate, but they are the one encouraging others to praise.
    • We want them to become examples of worship
    • Takes defining and investing
• Have to give kids bite size pieces of worship they can handle
  • Preschool
    • Love action songs
    • Move, jump, clap
    • Don’t always do well with slow songs, but can if you position it well
    • Songs that repeat.
      • Kids repeat after the leader
      • Not about them just learning the entire song
  • Elementary
    • Love high-energy stuff
    • Opportunity to get loud
    • Encourage them to sing loudly
    • Unashamed to lift hands in worship
      • Encourage them to lift hand and close eyes
      • Perfect example of faith like a child
    • Encourage them because they are naturally interested in it
  • Pre-teen
    • Love to Rock out
    • Starting to really care about “cool factor”
    • Still at a teachable point in their lives
      • That’s why it’s important to start teaching them early and build upon it
• How to plan a worship set
  • Know who your audience is
  • Know the vision of your children’s ministry Pastor or Director
    • How many songs are needed?
    • What do they want the kids in their ministry to learn about worship?
  • Find music that is musically relevant to culture
    • Preschool – Playhouse Disney, Noggin
      • Super fun, energetic, wiggle around
      • Praise God
    • Elementary – Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers
    • Pre-Teen
      • Music tastes change quickly
      • Not listening to “kiddie” music
    • Make sure you provide music that sounds similar in type
  • Pick songs with easy to sing choruses
  • Simple lyrically
    • Avoid Chrisitaneese (Blood of Jesus, etc.)
    • Once kids get older, more option
    • Deal with subjects your kids can identify with at their age
  • Songs that speak their language
    • If in doubt, play it for others (including kids)
    • Get other people’s feedback
    • Sometimes you don’t know until you try it
      • Don’t force the issue
      • If it doesn’t catch on after a few times, don’t be afraid to stop using it
      • Don’t worry if it doesn’t catch on first time
  • Keep in time attention span
    • Pre-school – 1 1/2 – 2 minutes
    • Elementary – 3-4 minutes
      • Don’t do more than 2 or 3 songs at a time
    • Two songs works great
  • Create dynamics in your set
    • Take them on a journey
      • Tie into the theme of the week
      • Journey can be tempo of songs (fast then slow then fast – like a roller coaster)
    • Dynamics can help with participation
  • Allow for familiar
    • When introduce new song
      • 2 weeks in a row
      • Then take a week off
      • Bring it back next week
      • Next month, maybe only two times
      • At that point everyone should have experienced it.
    • Always surround a new song with something familiar
      • Known songs on either side
      • Start with unknown then do something everyone knows
      • Not going to do a bunch of songs all at once
  • Look at song dynamics
    • If had a lot of energy, great time to transition to slow song
    • From slow song, transition back to upbeat songs
  • Make it unique every week
    • Same thing good with preschoolers
    • After that, mixing it up is good
      • Order of songs
      • Number of fast and slow
  • Don’t need huge number of songs
    • Be aware of when kids are getting tired of songs
    • When should it go away forever?
    • When should it be put on hiatus for a while
• What we do on stage is important to leading well
  • 15% content and words, 30% tone and emotion, and 55% what they see
• Top 12 tips for leading worship for kids (in no particular order):
  • Prepare
    • Plan what you are going to say
    • Plan transitions
    • Avoid dead time
    • Know your songs – “There is freedom in preparation.”
    • Don’t wait until last day to plan.
    • “Anointing doesn’t make up for a lack of preparation.”
    • Kids can tell the difference
  • Speak Clearly
    • Talk slower than you normally do
    • Repeat what you say
    • Have emotion and passion as you speak
    • Be energetic – You can control and lead just by your enthusiasm and volume.
  • Model the behavior you want from your audience.
    • It’s OK to be over the top because you’re onstage
    • Wear bright colors
  • Be Bold
    • If you act wimpy, your audience will think you’re wimpy
  • Be Consistent
    • Lead with same characteristics and leadership techniques
  • Don’t hide behind a microphone stand
    • Psychological barrier between you and audience
    • OK to use, just don’t do it all the time
    • Helps you to open up and connect with them
    • Don’t leave random items on the stage
      • Clean neat stage
      • Looks nicer
  • Make eye contact
    • Look at them and connect with them
    • Move around
  • Give vocal instruction
    • Ask them for participation
    • Tell them what to do, when to do it, how to do it
  • Be creative in your song choices
    • If you are bored, your kids will be bored too
    • Introduce new material
      • Tell them it’s new
      • May want to do it twice
    • Find different arrangements of songs
  • Teach kids to worship
    • Psalms 8:1-2
    • Amazing opportunity to help them become the worshippers God created them to be.
    • “There is power in kids worshipping.”
    • Encourage them in worship
    • Teach them why we worship God
  • Constantly evaluate
    • Good teacher has sense when their audience is getting and when they are not
    • If not, find a better way
    • Find best way possible to communicate truth so their audience will get it
  • Problem Solve
    • Mistakes will happen
    • Think through past mistakes
    • Participation level of class
      • Why wait until next week if you can fix it now!
    • Talk to other workers and staff about worship
    • Talk to kids themselves about worship
• Soundtracks
  • Don’t let intros, etc. determine what you’re going to say
  • Take a look at the whole worship set and connect the dots
  • Make the most of the time you’ve been given
• Pray
  • For direction
  • For the right people
  • Be specific
• Read the Word of God
  • The more you put in, the more will come out
• Be a worshiper on stage and off

Related posts:

1. Jesus Came to Save Sinners (Free Worship Music for Kids)
2. GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review)
3. 1 Timothy 4:12 (Seeds Family Worship)

• Talk from D6 conference
• VisionaryParenting.com
• Rainer – What percentage of people who say they’re Christian and can explain the basics of the gospel? 
  • Before 1946: 65%
  • Between 1946-1964: 35%
  • Between 1965-1976 15%
  • Between 1976-1994: 4%
• Evangelism and discipleship in crisis, and it’s a generational crisis
• Not a crisis of the church, but a crisis of the home
• Up until 1900, no confusion in church about who’s job it was to pass faith on to kids
• Starting in late 1890’s new experiment – age segregated, church building based evangelism and discipleship to kids
  • Failed experiment
  • New in context of Christian history
  • Since 1900, no generation with more faith than their parents
• Conclusions
  • Key work we have to do is theological
  • Three theological foundations
    • The biblical purpose of parenting and grand-parenting is to impress the hearts of children with a love for God.
      • Authentic real community happens in families
      • God’s discipleships groups – called families
    • The biblical purpose of parenting and grand-parenting is to impress the hearts of children with a love for God.
    • God has designed the family as an essential engine of world evangelization through the power of multi-generational faithfulness
      • Families continue to raise up multi-generational followers of God
  • Taught up to 1900’s as Theology of Families
• If can’t prove it theologically, then it’s just another new idea
• Next section of talk is biblical support for three theological foundations.  For more info and support, see http://visionaryparenting.com/documents/the%20family%20and%20gods%20plan%20for%20the%20world.doc

Related posts:

1. Collaborate: Family + Church (A Synopsis of Chapters 28 – 35)
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Sufficiency Dr. Rob Rienow
3. CM TeleSummit – Technology Tidbits – Jeremy Collins

Jeremy White – How to Create an Engaging Message

• Based on his work on observation
• All about stories
• Everybody has something they’re good at
• Adults being ministered to
• Why use?
  • Help us understand spiritual truth?
  • Jesus used them
  • Stories are easier for people to remember
• Content and presentation are equally important
• “Doesn’t matter how great your content is if you’re doing it in a dull manner.”
• Prepare each week like it’s a map – take listeners on an adventure through a story
  • First, grab their attention – usually uses a video to intro topic
  • Then tells a story (about himself or something else) that he can really get into. 6-8 minutes – something you can get passionate about
    • Kids can play video games forever. If your content is engaging, they can pay attention
    • If they aren’t paying attention, you need to look at yourself to see why they aren’t engaged
  • Then goes to scripture to see what it has to say about the topic
• Bible always need to be the main source of our content
• Types of stories
  • Personal
  • Biblical
  • Made up stories
• Things you can do to ensure you have an engaging conversation
  • Eye contact
    • Make it with everyone in the room.
    • Look directly into their eyes.
  • Change levels.
    • Vocal levels
    • Physically
  • Walk around the room
  • Set the stage
    • Use lots of adjectives
    • Describe people and settings
  • Don’t be predictable
    • Find stories they haven’t heard
    • When you repeat stories, you’re missing an opportunity
  • Don’t just read a story
  • Practice your story
• Planning
  • Brainstorm ideas
  • What are things I want kids to come away knowing this week?
  • Figure out main point
  • Research what other people have written
    • Adult sermons are a great source
  • Lay message out.
  • How can I relate this to the kids? How do I make it relevant to them?
• All parts of the message must be bathed in prayer

Related posts:

1. CM TeleSummit – Technology Tidbits – Jeremy Collins
2. CM TeleSummit – Praise and Worship That Rocks – Yancy
3. The Children’s Ministry Telesummit (A Conference You Can Go to in Your Bathrobe)

Here is what we are all about.  Kidmin1124 brings together a group of volunteers, part-time and bi-vocational children’s ministers who share a passion for children’s ministry.  We learn a lot from the great blogs that are out there, but there seems to be a void in blogs written from the perspective of those who are not full-time ministers.  We hope to fill that void.  In addition to our passion for kids, we all share a passion for equipping and sharpening others who serve in children’s ministry.

Our sincere hope is that God will use this new venture to be a blessing to the Kidmin community in general.  While it will be written primarily from the perspective of volunteers and part-time or bi-vocational children’s ministers, we hope that it will also grow into a useful blog for those in full-time ministry as well.

So, now for the million dollar question – why Kidmin1124?  What’s up with the name?  As described on the About Page:

The name of this site is based on Proverbs 11:24 which reads:

“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.”

As volunteers and bi-vocational ministers, we give freely to God’s children, and we find that we are blessed abundantly through that work.  Even those who are in a full-time vocational position recognize that the personal time devoted and sacrifice in children’s ministry can far exceeds that in other ministries.  That is what this site is all about.  We aspire to give back to those who give so freely to God’s kids.

We currently have four authors signed up to contribute regularly to the blog and hope those numbers will grow soon.  You can read more about the authors on the Author Page.  We have additional writers who plan to contribute from time to time, and we have others who considering joining the site.  We are always looking for more authors as we hope to offer a diverse group of views.  If you are a volunteer, bi-vocational, or part time children’s minister with a passion for children’s ministry, and you would like to contribute to Kidmin1124, please send me an email at wayne@kidmin1124.com.  If you are in full-time ministry to children and would like to contribute to the site on issues you feel are relevant to the site, we would welcome that as well.  You can reach me at the address above.  I would personally like to thank our authors for volunteering there time to this new site.  We are all busy, and I personally appreciate their willingness to give away even more of their time to bless others in children’s ministry.

In addition to the Kidmin1124 blog, you can follow Kidmin1124 on twitter at http://twitter.com/kidmin1124. You also join our brand new Facebook page here: Kidmin1124.  We hope that you will share this new resource with the workers in children’s ministry as well as other fellow workers in ministry to God’s children.  With your help, we hope to make the site known as many children’s ministry workers as possible.  Whether or not it becomes a blessing to them will depend on them and God.

Related posts:

1. Volunteer and Bivocational Children’s Ministry
2. What are you doing with your drive time?
3. GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review)

He begins the article with a brief want through history.  Despite the influence that one person can have, Dave reminds us that even people like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. did not accomplish their ultimate objectives on their own.  We live in a day and age, influenced by electronic media and the potential for public exposure, where the ability to be heard and potential influence of an individual far exceeds any other point in history.  That said, true change happens when people unite and come together behind a cause.  Whether it is a cause or a revival, it requires cooperation and working together.  It requires far more than an “I.”  It requires an “US.”  David explains what this means:

Our children need to realize that their individual voices have the potential to be louder than ever before… but volume has never guaranteed influence. When enough voices unite together, a moment happens, a tipping point occurs and a movement emerges. The conversation turns from a lone voice in the wilderness to a crowd in the town square.

In terms of Christianity and children’s ministry, David explains that we can not expect culture to redeem.

A Super Bowl ad is not going redeem a culture that desperately needs God. It will take a generation whose faith is not only personal but grounded in community. Their prayers should be filled with “WE” and “OUR” not just “I” and “MINE”.

I think as Christians we work hard to redeem culture at the expense of point people to Christ who is the only one who can redeem their souls.  As children’s ministers, I think David is right on target when he points to prayer as the means towards this end.  We must teach kids how to pray, and we must teach them to pray selflessly rather than selfishly.

For the record, I would just like to point out that I spelled David’s last name correctly in this article despite spell check’s desperate pleas to change it. I think WE finally got it right!

Questions for further discussion

The stated purpose of this book is to spark further conversation.  I have included some of my thought above, but like other chapters I have included a listing of additional questions to spark further conversation.  Here are the questions I came up with:

1. How do you teach kids about community?
2. What opportunities does your children’s ministry give kids to participate in community?
3. What can you do to encourage kids to think in terms of WE and US rather than ME and I?
4. What cultural influences do you face that teach kids to focus on themselves?
5. How does the concept of US relate to a child’s relationship with God?

By the way, I borrowed the images for this post from the actual e-book which you can download here for free! The stunning artwork was developed by Imago.

You can find a link to this, and all the other articles I’ve done related to this book, on my What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Page.

Related posts:

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Kingdom by Anthony Prince
3. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Confidence by Amy Dolan

About the Book

The quip on the back of the book describes its purpose quite clearly:

Jim Wideman has put together a practical resource to help us slow down and ensure that we are establishing the types of connections with our kids that will allow us to disciple them and help them to establish a Biblical worldview.

About the Author

Jim Wideman is a fixture in the Children’s Ministry community as the author of numerous book, a frequent conference speaker, a mentor and a prolific blogger.  I’ve made no secret that I am a huge fan of his work.  He offers sounds advice in an engaging way, and I was excited to get my hands on this book.

Brother Jim starts this book with a history of how he came to be in children’s ministry in the first place.  Years ago, he was working in children’s ministry when he was asked to cover the children’s ministry.  He began to pray that God would raise someone up with a vision for the children’s ministry, and much to his surprise, the person God raised up was him.  He explains:

“Over the years I’ve tried to quit so many times that it’s not even funny. But I can’t – I just can’t rid of that vision.  Ministering to children is the driving force of my life.”

And, thank goodness for that.  For decades now, he had spoken into the lives of children and those of us who work with children, and this book is no exception.  One of the other things that resonates with me about Jim Wideman is that he is also a father, and by all accounts a very good one.  He has two grown girls and unashamedly explains that is he reaches every child in the world but not his own, he will be a failure.  As a father of four, this resonates with me.

Brief Review of the Book

Teaching Our Kids to Be Problem Solvers

The first chapter in this book starts by defining the two types of people in this world.  There are people who see a problem and wait for someone to solve it – the followers.  The second group of people are leaders, and this is the type of person we should strive for our children to be.  The book starts with an explanation of what a leader is.  Jim offers a great concise definition:

“A leader is a person who comes face-to-face with any type of challenge or problem and solves it.  He or she looks to God’s Word for directions and approaches the situation by faith.  As a result, this person can handle anything.”

He then proceeds to offers some of the signs to look for in a leader/problem solver:

• Choosing your problem
• Having the right attitude
• Training through adversity
• Looking for Biblical examples

As parents, we should strive to teach our kids how to be problem solvers.

Rooting Our Children in the Things of God

From there, he moves into the things we can do as parents to make sure our kids “are established in the things of God.”  By doing so, we will give them the tools to make decisions and develop a biblical worldview.  As much as I would like to share the details of each of these steps, for purposes of this review, I will just list them.  I encourage you to get the book and delve further into each step.  With that said, here are the 12 steps Brother Jim offers to root our children in the things of God:

1. Make Jesus the king of your household
2. Love your spouse the way you want your kids to love their spouse
3. Spend time with your kids
4. Be consistent in discipline
5. Allow your children to be different as God has created them
6. Encourage your kids to develop their unique giftings
7. Become a student of your child’s world
8. Admit your mistakes and correct it when you’re wrong
9. Talk to your kids about everything
10. Make your home somewhere that your kids’ friends are welcome
11. Don’t teach your children to be rebellious by rebelling against authority yourself
12. Don’t exasperate your children

What makes this book great is more than just this list.  For each items in the list, Jim offers detailed and practical advice on how to accomplish it.

My Recommendation

I have already hinted at it.  OK. OK.  I’ve already come right out and said it.  If you are a parent, or someone who works with kids, you should read this book.  If you are in a position in children’s ministry to recommend a book to the parents of kids in your ministry, this would be a great one.  Jim Wideman is a great resource when it comes to the things of children’s ministry, and this book proves that he is equally adept at providing advice to parents on raising their kids.  Buy this book.  Read it.  Read it again.  Make lists of the suggestions in this book, and find a way to implement them in your own life.  If you do, you will be a better parent, a better person and a better follower of Christ.

Related posts:

1. LEAD THE WAY GOD MADE YOU by LARRY SHALLENBERGER (a Dad in the Middle Review)
2. FAITHWEAVER PARENT CLASS (A Dad in the Middle Review)
3. GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review)

Kenny’s basic premise is that in order to succeed in children’s ministry we must focus, not on the here and now, but on the end.  What are our goals?  What is it that we want our children’s ministries to accomplish?  In Kenny’s words we, “must be laser-focused on the end.” He argues that for years we have focused on and relied upon curriculum to result in life-long followers of Christ with little success.  He explains:

“In the end, we want the children who populate our children’s ministries to be fully devoted followers of Christ, able to feed themselves and spiritually multiply. Although we often get too busy and overwhelmed with the here and now, this end is our greatest desire. If this end result is what matters most, then everything we do must be evaluated in light of the end.”

Instead, he argues that we must realize that our ministry is so much more than just curriculum or a series of programs.  No matter what we do, we must keep the end in mind and ask the following questions:

“Does this activity help us reach our desired end? Does this curriculum help us develop life-long Christ followers? Does our staff structure efficiently help us achieve this end? Does everyone involved know the end and are they bought in to making this happen?”

We must not lose sight of the ultimate goal.  We must focus on the end, and in Kenny’s words, “go after it with reckless abandon.”  Think of telling a story.  If you start a story with no clear conception of the end, you may build wonderful characters.  You might describe glorious scenery.  You may even include some attractive action scenes.  However, the story itself will inevitably devolve into a meandering and oft times meaningless collection of tidbits of information strung together with no clear picture of where they were going.  On the other hand, when you tell a story with a clear idea of the end, you can fashion every bit of the story to point towards and move the story along towards the ultimate conclusion.

Questions for further discussion

The stated purpose of this book is to spark further conversation.  I have included some of my thought above, but like other chapters I have included a listing of additional questions to spark further conversation.  Here are the questions I came up with:

1. What is the “end” of your children’s ministry?  How do you define it?
2. Do all of your events, programs and undertakings move your ministry toward the stated end?
3. How do you choose a curriculum which will lead you towards your end?
4. Keeping the end in mind, is there anything in your current ministry that should be eliminated?
5. How do you convey your vision of the end to your volunteers and other church members?
6. What steps do you see on the path towards the end?

By the way, I borrowed the images for this post from the actual a-book which you can download here for free! The stunning artwork was developed by Imago.

You can find a link to this, and all the other articles I’ve done related to this book, on my What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Page.

Related posts:

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Confidence by Amy Dolan
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Ingenuity by Henry Zonio
3. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Redemption by Sam Luce

Introduction

In the February installment of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010), I featured an article from the blog of Donna Perugini.  That lead a brief exchange via e-mail in which she mentioned that she had written several children’s books.  She was kind enough to send me a free copy of one of her books titled “Don’t Hug a Grudge” for me to review for Dad in the Middle.

About the Author

Before jumping into the book, I like to know a little bit about the author.  Ms. Perugini’s blog indicates that she taught children the Word of God over 30 years.  Her blog indicates that her approach to teaching the Bible included “cutting it into bite-sized pieces and making it fun and entertaining.” In addition to Don’t Hug A Grudge, she has authored three other children’s books.  They include:

• Do Angels Go Camping
• The Flight of Orville Wright Caterpillar
• The Adventure of Amelia Airheart Butterfly in Bye! Bye!

In addition to being a writer Ms. Perugini is a wife, mother to three children and grandmother to four children.  She teaches a women’s bible study at her church and enjoys pottery and sculpting.

About the Book

This book, originally published in 1987, teaches children how to recognize a grudge and the harmful effects of holding on to that grudge rather than forgiving.  The reading level for this book per Amazon is ages 4-8 thought the message would be beneficial to all ages.  In fact, is one of our e-mails, Donna indicated that her intended target for this book is ages 8 to adult and that many adult bible study groups have used the book for their material.

For those of you who are familiar with the Veggietales series, the concept of this book reminds me of Larry Boy and the Fib from Outerspace though it was written well before that video.  In the Larry Boy video what starts as a small fib grows into a massive monster when not dealt with.  In this book, a little grudge grows into bitterness and resentment.  The books artfully explains how a grudge works its way into your life, takes hold and grows.  After a while, as the book points out, a grudge turns into resentment which begins to take over your life.  Finally, if not dealt with, that resentment grows to bitterness which impacts our relationships with others and our relationship with God.  Throughout, the book is clear the holding a grudge, bitterness and resentment are all sins and encourages the reader to be “washed by the Word.”  These pages offers scriptures reflecting God’s view of grudges, bitterness and resentment.

Things I Liked

There is much to like about this book.  The illustrations are wonderfully done and compliment the text well.  The representation of the grudge, resentment and bitterness as monsters is genius.  The little grudge appears first as a “baby” monster which is down-right cuddly at first then begins to take on a more sinister look as it is nursed.  To me, bitterness has the look of a young elementary age monster complete with a ball cap.  The image of resentment riding on our back hanging on as we carry it is a powerful picture of what resentment does in our lives.  Finally, Bitterness appears as an older more mature monster.  The images of the children throughout the story are also exceptionally well done.

This book pulls no punches.  This book is clear that “God hates Grudges, Resentment and Bitterness.” I like a book for kids that does labels sins for what they are and doesn’t try to sugar-coat it for it for kids.  God hates sin, and I think it is important for kids to understand that.  Without a proper understanding of sin, and their own sin, kids will never get to the place where they see their need for a Savior.  The verses included in the book are also a wonderful resource.  I think this book sets a great pattern for children to learn early and then apply throughout their lives.  That pattern is:

1. Identify the issue or action in question (in this case the holding of a grudge).
2. Consider the implications of that issue or action (in this case the metamorphosis of the grudge into bitterness and then resentment).
3. Go to the Bible for guidance (be “washed by the word”).
4. Implement what the Bible suggests (in this case forgiveness).

In doing so, this book lays a foundation that kids can use to confront any problem they may be facing.

Things I Thought Could Be Better

There were just a couple of things about the book which I wished may have been a little different – one substantive and one stylistic.  On a substantive layer, I appreciate that the book does not underestimate kids or talk down to them.  However, I felt that it lacked a good explanation of what a grudge really is.  It explains how they grow and how they work, but it never really defines what it is for kids who may not know.  Stylistically, this book is multi-lingual and every word is reflected in both English and Spanish.  While I appreciate the effort to make the book accessible to more people by making it multi-lingual, having the story reflected in both English and Spanish causes many of the pages to appear very cluttered.  I also found some of the text difficult to follow the first time I read the book because of all the characters on the page.

What My Kids Thought

With any book for kids, I like to run it by my kids and get their reactions.  My two year old son loves the book.  He particularly likes the illustrations.  My seven year old daughter liked the book and really like the pictures, though she did say that she still didn’t understand what a grudge was when the book was done.  My almost nine-year-old son (he prefers that language to eight year old) enjoyed the book and appreciated the lesson.  He also liked the scriptures included in the text.

My Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this book for parents and those who work with children.  Despite portions of the book seeming cluttered because of the multi-lingual format, the message is important for kids, and the presentation is strongly grounded in the Word of God.  The book pulls no punches when it comes to calling sin what it is, but it also provides kids with a better way through forgiveness.

More Information About the Book and the Author

If you are interested in obtaining this books, check out the author website at www.DonnaPerugini.com.

Ms. Perugini has also created a line of ceramics with the characters from her other books.  For more information, check out www.DonnaKPerugini.com.

For further information on Donna Perugini check out the following:

Blog:                 DonnaPerugini.blogspot.com
Twitter:           @DonnaPerugini
Facebook:      Facebook Fan Page

As her blog, Ms. Perugini has included some fun resources related to her books including coloring pages related to each book at http://donnaperugini.blogspot.com/p/coloring-pages.html.

Related posts:

1. CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS – By Jim Wideman (A Dad in the Middle Review)
2. LEAD THE WAY GOD MADE YOU by LARRY SHALLENBERGER (a Dad in the Middle Review)
3. FAITHWEAVER PARENT CLASS (A Dad in the Middle Review)

1. June 13 is promotion weekend. This weekend at New Life Church Gahanna, I get a whole new set of Kindergartners in my K-1 room, and I can’t wait.  We celebrated our new 2nd graders moving up last weekend, and we get a whole new crop to sow this weekend.  It’s always a fun time of the year!

2. June 14 is a significant day in the kidmin world.  That the day the free e-book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry? is available in hard copy form.

3. June 16 is my son Joshua’s 17th birthday.  So it ain’t so Joe!  Can I really be the father of a 17 year old?  If nothing else, it has taught me a lot about prayer, and that is all I have to say about that!

4. June 18 is a big day.  That’s the Day Toy Story 3 comes out in theaters.  My kids will be out of town, so I may just have to go see it by myself!  You might be in children’s ministry if…

5. Week of June 21.  This is the week I am expecting to receive some materials from God’s Kids Worship.  I have researched this resource before, and I was ecstatic to be asked to review some of their materials and write about it on the blog.4. June 20 is Father’s Day.  My family will actually be out of town this weekend, but my wife reminds me that quiet time for an entire weekend is the best Father’s Day they could give me.  I’m not so sure about that.   We did get to celebrate Father day on June 6th instead though, and that was fun.

6. June 21 & 22 is the CM Tele Summit. I wrote about it here.  They have a top-notched lineup of speakers, and the conference is available for free.  I’m excited about listening to a number of the presentations without even having to leave the house!

7. July 2nd is my youngest son Nathan’s 3rd birthday.  My youngest is already three, and he is a riot!  That said, we are experiencing some of the “lasts.”  Some are great – like the “last” of diapers.  Some are a little bit sad – like the “last” of the crib.

8. July 4th is one of my favorite holidays.  Every year, we celebrate with my best friends at their annual Fourth of July BBQ and at Church with Food, Fun and Fireworks.  I am looking forward to both.

9. July 15 and 16 is the CM Expo in Lexington, NC.  I’ve written about that here on the blog as well.  I can’t wait to see some of the exhibitors and participate in the Scoops and Sit-In’s.  That said, I am most excited about meeting people who will be there like Jim Wideman, Tony Kummer, Yancy, Michael Chanley, Roger Fields, Amy Fenton Lee, Tamera Kraft, Bob Singleton and Wendy Douglas amongst others.  I am also excited because my wife and I are turning this into a four day weekend away from the house and should have some good quality time by ourselves.

10. Week of July 19.  I don’t know for certain, but based on past experiences, this is the week I will be receiving the July/August Issue K! Magazine.  That is a always a highlight, and I’m sure this one will be no exception.

11. July 25 is the weekend my seven year old daughter Lyndsey is getting baptized. Very little in life surpasses the feeling of watching our children walk in the path God has laid out for them.  Words can not adequately describe the feeling.

12. August 2 through 6 is VBS week at our church. I can’t wait!  Whether I run games again this year or serve in some other capacity, I can’t wait to spend five straight nights with the kids.

13. An as yet undisclosed (and undetermined) week in August. I haven’t decided which week for sure yet, but sometime during August I will do the 2nd annual “Go Dark” week in which I give up everything electronic for one week.  I learned a lot last year, and I hope to repeat that again this year.

14. August 26 is my 38th birthday.  It seems like I feel a year older each time it roles around, oh well!

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday to Me!
2. When the Angels Rejoice
3. It’s Time Again – Announcing The 2nd Annual “Go Dark” Challenge

Aside from making me hungry with his references to recipes, short order cooks, and mouth-watering masterpieces, Henry taps into something critical for finding continued success in children’s ministry.  Henry cuts right to the motives of why we do what we do:

Why is it that you attend conferences, read books, network with others, and buy curriculum? Is it simply to gather and trade recipes for ministry? Or is it to gather inspiration, taste something different and discover ingredients you’ve never tried before?

No two children’s ministries are exactly the same, and what works for one may not work for another.  What failed in one ministry could be exactly the thing that helps another to soar.  That said, those things that work for a particular children’s ministry can, and should, inspire us to change and improve our own ministries.  We network, collaborate and attend conferences to learn about the successes of others people so that we can grow from, not necessarily copy, those experiences.  Likewise we share our failures so that we can evaluate whether or not we should avoid certain approaches or resources in our own ministries.  Through it all though, the point is not to find the “quick-fix” or avoid the “sure-fail” idea but the inspiration we garner from it.  Indeed, merely copying the efforts of others is not ingenuity.  Henry explains:

True creativity, innovation and reformation in children’s ministry will only come when we dare to step beyond the tried and true recipes and are willing to experiment with new strategies and practices.

It is time to quit playing it safe and step out on a limb.  Only through risk can we attain the reward, and the reward in children’s ministry is eternal. 

Questions for further discussion

The stated purpose of this book is to spark further conversation.  I have included some of my thought above, but like other chapters I have included a listing of additional questions to spark further conversation.  Here are the questions I came up with:

1. What new ideas for your ministry have you had that fear of failure or change has kept you from implementing?
2. In what ways has your ministry embraced ingenuity?
3. What have learned from past attempts at ingenuity?
4. Where do you find your inspiration for new ideas for your ministry?
5. Are there any areas of your ministry where you do things a certain way because “that’s the way it’s always been done?”

By the way, I borrowed the images for this post from the actual e-book which you can download here for free!  The stunning artwork was developed by Imago.

You can find a link to this, and all the other articles I’ve done related to this book, on my What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Page.

Related posts:

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Redemption by Sam Luce
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry (My Official Review)
3. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads

He begins his chapter by asking two questions.  The first is:

Will we use the Bible as an all-sufficient guide for our ministry strategy?

He answers this question with a resounding yes which leads to the next question.

If we were to lock ourselves in a room with the Bible and ask, “God, what have you said in your Word about how children are to be discipled?” what would we find?

He explains that the church’s first and primary job should be in equipping parents to pass on their faith at home to their children.  He also notes that:

The second answer the Scripture gives is that we are to include children in the regular corporate worship gathering of the church (Deut 16:9-14; Jos. 8:34-35; Ezra 10:1; Joel 2:15-16; Acts 20:7-12).

Dr. Rienow makes a convincing Biblical argument for the inclusion of children alongside parents in corporate worship.  He concludes his argument with the following observation:

Children’s ministry may be a great spiritual vitamin, but it cannot replace the spiritual meals of family worship in the home and children worshipping with their parents in the weekly worship service.

…and the following challenge:

The question is: Do we believe Scripture is a sufficient guide for our ministry strategy…or not?

I have tremendous respect for Dr. Rienow and thoroughly enjoy what I’ve read of his work.  However, the one observation I would make is that these verses and scripture reflect the fact that children were part of the normal spiritual life of their parents.  While I believe these verses are applicable to children worshipping alongside their parents, I do not believe they are restricted to worship.  What they call for is children to be intricately involved in all aspects of the family’s spiritual life.  I think the bottom line if that parents should worship, and read, and learn, and discuss spiritual things both with, and in the presence of, their children.  I think parents should sing worship with their kids.  Whether that is in church on Sunday or driving home from school is irrelevant so long as they are worshipping God.

Questions for further discussion

The stated purpose of this book is to spark further conversation.  I have included some of my thought above, but like other chapters I have included a listing of additional questions to spark further conversation.  Here are the questions I came up with:

1. How do you worship God with your kids?
2. What do you do as a church to encourage parents to worship with their kids?
3. Does the Bible mandate that children be included in weekly corporate worship services?
4. Does family worship mean that you have to ditch a separate worship time for parents and kids?
5. What are the benefits and costs of having separate and combined services for parents and kids?
6. Has your church done an integrated family service?  What were the positive and negative aspects of that?
7. What is your interpretation of the biblical guidance on how children are to be discipled?

By the way, I borrowed the images for this post from the actual e-book which you can download here for free! The stunning artwork was developed by Imago.

You can find a link to this, and all the other articles I’ve done related to this book, on my What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry Page.

Related posts:

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads
2. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Kingdom by Anthony Prince
3. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Redemption by Sam Luce