4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)
Volunteers, Service Planning, Kidmin David Reneau Volunteers, Service Planning, Kidmin David Reneau

4 Ways to Equip Your Kidmin Volunteers (Before Sunday)

Picture this.  You’ve been working hard to get ready for Sunday morning.  You laid out the crafts. You loaded the slides. You queued up the songs.  You’re excited for what lies ahead and the change that’s going to happen in kids’ lives.  But then you realize that you’re not alone.  In fact, your volunteers are leading worship, games, and small groups.  You can’t be in two places at once and do it yourself. So how are you supposed to equip your volunteers so they can be prepared before Sunday?

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5 Tips to Include Kids with Special Needs in Your Kidmin
Kidmin, Leadership, Service Planning David Reneau Kidmin, Leadership, Service Planning David Reneau

5 Tips to Include Kids with Special Needs in Your Kidmin

A growing epidemic throughout our society are children with special needs. The latest statics show the number of kids with Autism or other disability are staggering. According to Maternal and Child Health Bureau's National Survey of Children's Health, 19% of children in the United States had special health care needs in 2019–2020.

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Crafting the "Perfect Easter": Planning for Guests and Their Return
Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau

Crafting the "Perfect Easter": Planning for Guests and Their Return

Easter is just a few months away and that means that you’re thinking about and preparing for the Super Bowl of Christendom.  This is a season where we ministers pray, plan, and prepare for the largest attended Sunday, and hopefully the biggest harvest. But what should you do on Easter Sunday?  Should you do an Egg Hunt? Family pictures? A kids musical? An adult musical? Communion? Baptism? Big giveaways? Small giveaways?

The options are endless, and the short answer is yes… and no.

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How to Set Ministry Goals that Lead to Growth
Leadership, Administration, Service Planning David Reneau Leadership, Administration, Service Planning David Reneau

How to Set Ministry Goals that Lead to Growth

At the end of the year, one of my favorite things to do is to look back at the year that was and the year to come.  What were my wins and losses?  What worked? What didn’t?  What curveballs did I knocked out of the park and what ones slipped by?  It usually takes a few hours for me to go through it all, but my overall effectiveness as a leader and minister has increased every year since I started this practice over 10 years ago.

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5 Ideas to Celebrate Dad on Father's Day
Ideas, Events, Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau Ideas, Events, Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau

5 Ideas to Celebrate Dad on Father's Day

Father’s Day is next week, and your church may be thinking of some ways to celebrate dad. In a lot of churches, this day is overlooked. Especially since so much time and resources were spent on Easter and Mother’s Day, this day gets the scraps. However, Father’s Day can be made just as special as these other two days with some intentionality and creativity.

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3 Midweek Service Alternatives
Kidmin, Service Planning David Reneau Kidmin, Service Planning David Reneau

3 Midweek Service Alternatives

I was stuck. We were finally coming back from COVID and starting Wednesday night services back up. We decided to rebrand the night for adults and focus on groups instead of the traditional Wednesday night service.

This was great for adults, but what about kids? Will I have the same kids every week? How long will the groups meet? What should I do on First Wednesday, when I’ll have more kids?

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6 Steps to a Great Family Service
Kidmin, Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau Kidmin, Holidays, Service Planning David Reneau

6 Steps to a Great Family Service

Family services. Love them or hate them, they have their place. I'm an advocate for family services because I believe children’s ministry needs to be more than a ministry held in another room never to be seen or heard from. These services can be a great tool for emphasizing ministry to the next generation, highlight the great things that are happening, and give your volunteers a much needed week off.

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5 Steps to a Better Worship Set
Kidmin, Service Planning, Resources David Reneau Kidmin, Service Planning, Resources David Reneau

5 Steps to a Better Worship Set

I’m not a worship leader, but somehow, I’ve led worship in front of kids and now youth for over 14 years. I can carry a tune, but my rhythm needs help. I can move fairly well, but dancing was never my forte.

When leading in kidmin most of that doesn’t matter, because they’re learning too. Don’t get me wrong, the musical part of your service needs to be done with excellence, but sometimes passion and energy outweighs talent.

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How to Divide Your Small Groups
NextGen, Administration, Service Planning David Reneau NextGen, Administration, Service Planning David Reneau

How to Divide Your Small Groups

If you’ve been doing small groups in your kids service for any length of time, you may be asking what is the best way to split the kids up? Do we do it by grade? Gender? Favorite candy? Random?

The truth is there is no perfect answer and depending on the size of your ministry and how many kids show up per service the answer will be different.

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A Discipline Plan That Works
Kidmin, Service Planning, Leadership David Reneau Kidmin, Service Planning, Leadership David Reneau

A Discipline Plan That Works

When I first became a children’s pastor on my first Sunday, I sat and observed how the volunteers were managing their service. These were college students with little to no training, just a heart for kids and doing the best they could.

Their stories and games were good. Their energy was excellent during worship, but they had one glaring problem.

Discipline.

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