A few years back, I had a big event coming up and was drumming up volunteers.  I reached out to a family that had helped in the past and made my pitch.  To my surprise, they were very angry with me and the church! I soon discovered they’d left the church 6 months earlier, and I was the first person to reach out to them. Needless to say, I didn’t get any new volunteers with that phone call. 

But it left me with a question.  How can I make sure this doesn’t happen again?   There are many things you can do. But there is one essential system to help you keep track of all your people, a digital check-in system.

After years of school and internships, I thought I was ready. My future wife and I were excitedly driving to our first ministry assignment as kids’ pastors in Clearwater, Florida. It was mid-May, and we were talking about what the summer was going to look like.

Vacation Bible School was big on our minds. We knew coming in halfway through May, we’d already be behind the 8-ball getting it off the ground. What’s more, we were planning our wedding in early August. By the time we arrived at the church, we’d decided that if our new boss/pastor asked us to do VBS, our answer would be an emphatic no.

It’s my favorite time of year! No, not Fall Festival season. It’s planning season. I’ve written a lot about goals and calendars. But only one post on creating your budget. Since you need all three of those to have a great year, this is the perfect time to sit down and figure out what you’re going to do.

We’re in the middle of the AI revolution. Some say it’s bigger than the printing press.  It seems just about everyone is scrambling to figure out how to use it.  I am a relatively late adopter.  I’ve never used ChatGPT, mainly because I’m being obstinate.  But when I got an invite to the early version of Gemini, I decided to jump in.

t was Saturday night around 8pm.  We’d just finished dinner and were watching TV.  Suddenly, I felt a rumbly in the tumbly and got to see dinner all over again. 

I didn’t know if I had a bug, it was a fluke, or I was just stressed out.  It didn’t really matter in the moment because one thing was for sure: I couldn’t do kids church the next morning. 

So, you just got back from the big conference and you’re brimming with ideas and excitement.  You can’t wait to get home and inform your team about all the changes you’re going to make. 

First of all, I love your excitement.  Second, chill.