So, I’m playing soccer again. Right now a bunch of us play on Sunday nights and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m not sure how it happened, but I’m the “old guy”. Not only, are we having fun on the field, but a group of us decided to join an indoor soccer league. Now,…
“You must first meet and then exceed the expectations of your customers if you are going to build a reputation for quality service” –Disney Institute Have you ever asked yourself, or even better—parents what their expectations are for children’s ministry? We often hear of people saying to exceed expectations, but how can you exceed them…
Back to the wonderful world of blogging. The last two weeks looked like this for me… Our team had to move one of our campuses in just four days. Not from high school to high school, but from high school to permanent location. This included build out, painting, décor, cleaning, etc. You name it—we did…
Another great question (click here for the first question) I ask myself regularly is “Why do I teach ‘it’ this way?” I wish more children and youth ministries asked that question. Again, the answer is probably “I don’t know” or “We’ve always done it this way”. I just can’t get myself to believe that those…
Have you ever sat back and asked yourself why you teach what you teach? Hopefully you have, but if you haven’t don’t feel bad. You’re probably like many other children, youth, family pastors out there working hard trying to provide the best teaching you can but haven’t found the time to sit back and ask…
You have to start somewhere, right? Reality is that most people do not jump at the opportunity to serve in children’s ministry. If that were the case, you’d stop attending the “how to recruit volunteers” workshop at the next conference. Like most children’s leaders, though, you won’t because it’s likely an ongoing challenge. What if…
When leading a ministry that needs to be turned around you must be ready for attacks. Let’s face it, I wish it were as easy as Joshua’s transition. I wish you could stand in front of your volunteers, staff and team and shout, “Pastor John, my servant is dead!” and move on with the plan…
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. –Winston Churchill It’s hard to lead trying to appease everyone. In the end you can’t. Leaders often appease because they do not like confrontation. Over my many visits and talks with children’s leaders, I’m finding that this could be one of…
One of the cool things about being in children’s ministry is that you get to work with children AND teenagers. As a former youth pastor, I’m always encouraging children’s leaders to find and invest in teenagers. Don’t invest in them because of what you get from them. Invest in them because of the possibilities and…
It’s important to identify the circumstances that got your ministry to where it is. Why is it in need of a turnaround? Whether you’re currently leading your ministry that needs a turnaround or you’ve just joined a ministry for turnaround, you won’t know what needs to be fixed until you have had that honest discussion…