The Walt Disney Company recently announced that one of their most popular shows, Andi Mack, will include a storyline in which one of its main characters discovers he is gay. In the season premiere, a middle school boy named Cyrus finds he has romantic feelings for a male friend named Jonah. Over the next several…
I’m often asked what my top recommendation for parenting books are. I have a few favorites for different reasons. I hope if you are ever in need of a great resource that these recommendations will help: Don’t Miss It: Parent every week like it counts by Reggie Joiner and Kristen Ivy This is a very…
What are you believing for in 2017? I want to encourage all my children’s and family ministry friends to dream big and hope for much. Some of you have thought about throwing the towel in, but I’m believing that this is your year. This is your year of breakthrough, your year to reap what you…
Our pastor has said to our team many times that it’s more important for parents to be the heroes in the lives of our kids—not the kid’s pastor. Most leaders would agree with this statement, however few take steps to make it happen. We all want to be great leaders, to impact kids and create…
“What happens when the leader is wrong in a top-down culture? Everyone goes off a cliff…” (Leaders Eat Last, p. 143) This phrase resonated within me while reading through Leaders Eat Last for a second time. Leadership is such a big deal in any culture. Most reading this are probably children’s leaders or pastors. I…
For years, I’ve always held a very simplistic view of children’s ministry. Outside of reaching the lost I believe it’s the most vital ministry in the church. Kids ministry represents our future. Without raising up the next generation there will be no Christianity. Thus, Deuteronomy 6 and David’s heart in Psalms: O God, you have…
“Good leadership is like exercise. We do not see any improvement to our bodies with day-to-day comparisons. In fact, if we only compare the way our bodies look on a given day to how they looked the previous day, we would think our efforts had been wasted. It’s only when we compare pictures of ourselves…
One of the fun small ways we celebrate and appreciate volunteers is through a borrowed idea from Disney (of course). Pin trading! Most fans of Disney are well aware of their infamous pin trading. They have pin trading posts and some pretty hardcore pin trading fans. If you’re not familiar with pin trading, you basically…
“Disneyland is the star, everything else is the supporting role.”—Walt Disney Sounds kind of like a funny quote, but right when I read this I felt like Jesus said to me that He is the star in the church and everything else is the supporting role. Sometimes I think we get caught up in the…
This past year we did something different for Easter, but it can be used for so much more. We did an Easter Egg Hunt. Wait! I know what you’re thinking: “That’s hardly something new. We do that every year.” It’s not what we did. It’s how we did it. We are a large multi-site church,…