Life Lessons at 40: 16 Nuggets of Truth
Of all the decisions I’ve made, I realized that those 16 statements I shared with my students have shaped my life. Most of them I’ve gleaned from other sources, but I’ve found myself saying them over and over. Whether you’re in ministry or serve God somewhere else, I hope you can use them to find your own success.
3 Holiday Practices to Keep Jesus First
A few years ago, I hosted the biggest Easter Egg Hunt my church had seen to date. We had hundreds of kids and thousands of eggs. We saw many kids accept Christ and everyone had fun. It was all a big lead up to the next day, Easter. As I drove home thinking about the wins and losses, it hit me like a kid remembering his semester long project is due tomorrow and he’s done nothing. Easter is tomorrow.
Beyond Bible Bucks: How to Have a Kidmin Store
Reading your Bible, praying, inviting a friend, memorizing the Bible verse. These are all things we ask our kids to do in kidmin, but few will naturally do it without an some kind of incentive. There are a lot of ways to motivate kids to engage in these activities, and one of the more effective ways to do it is with a store.
4 Questions to Handle Church Complaints
The dirty little secret about ministry and leadership in general is that whatever you choose to do someone is going to hate it. They’re going to think it’s the worst decision ever and by extension you are too. It just comes with the territory.
4 Steps to Rediscover Hope and Rebuild Faith After Ministry
Last year, I lost my ministry job. I was at a church hoping to become the next senior pastor, and I didn’t get enough votes. The following day, I resigned. The subsequent 6 months have been some of the hardest months of my life. But now looking back I see it was also a gift. Let me show you what I mean.
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?
3 Things that are Working Since COVID
When the pandemic started, like many of you, I panicked. I had 3 days to figure out how to take my children’s ministry completely online with no equipment, no training, and very little help.
That first service was a train wreck that started 10 minutes late with low quality and a replica of what we’d been doing in person for years.
4 Things I learned from Relaunching Children's Ministry
Churches all over are trying to figure out how to reopen and relaunch their services and specifically their children’s ministry. I’m no different. I’m eternally grateful to the leaders I’ve talked to over the last few months who have successfully (whatever that means these days) opened their children’s ministries.
What I read in 2018
My favorite book this year by far was The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. If you didn't hear about the Enneagram this year, you may be living under a rock, but I can say that it is so much more than a personality assessment.
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