If children have interest, then education happens!

Recently I watched presentation from the  TED conference.

While I have always been convinced that relational learning accelerates the rate at which kids retain and explore, I was excited to watch this.

If you have nineteen minutes click here and be prepared to be excited what can happen in regards to learning.

My real question is:
How can this help us look at Christian education with children differently? I'd love to hear what you think...

There's an APP for that...

So often in ministry I feel like things move at the speed of light. There are many leadership tools that people have shared with me and that I appreciate. However, I have to say sometimes something comes along and makes life easier on a number of levels. For me that is an APP on my iPhone called Dragon Dictation.

Dragon Dictation is an speech-recognition app that allows users to instantly dictate text, emails, tweets, etc on their iPhone or iPad, up to five times faster than typing on a keyboard.

It has become a handy dandy tool in my arsenal. What's better... it's FREE!

Another app that has become important to me is Dropbox. 

Dropbox is a desktop and mobile app which enables users to quickly and easily sync and share files between multiple computers and mobile devices. All you need is an Internet connection. No manuals. No fuss. It’s fast, simple, and secure.

Dropbox (for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc) has many educational applications, and can be used by students, teachers, and administrators alike. New users get 2GB free storage, which can be increased via paid subscription, or by promoting Dropbox.

Do you have an awesome app you can't live without? 

Share it here.

Executing Creativity

I love hanging out with my daughter, Rebekah. She has one of the most creative minds and thinks up some interesting inventions. Sometimes her ideas are very intricate and quite involved. I remember recently when she came home and told us that she was going to create a space suit out of plastic soda bottles. Executing her plan was a little harder than the picture she had in her mind.  She reminds me of many of the ministry teams that I have been a part of. Some have had incredible creativity in the dreaming and brainstorming phase of ministry. The challenge that I have seen with many creative ministry teams is execution. Yep, how do you put the strategy or mission statement into action? How do you bring change when we know that people need it, but won’t necessarily want to embrace it? How do we get our plan from paper into action?

Sometimes you think you have to have a sophisticated plan in order for the results to be successful.  However, what sometimes looks like a simple or simplistic plan on paper can have greater impact because it is executed well.

Here are four things I have gleaned from others that have worked in my ministry when I have been trying to ensure the strategy will be executed well.

1. Allow your team to be part of the decision making – after all they are the people that are going to be executing the plan. The biggest win on our team has been when everyone on the team has been required to be part of the process and buy in of the direction we are moving in. In his book Five dysfunctions of a team, Patrick Lencioni gives a great illustration of how leaders get others involved. Even Solomon speaks of the significance of teams:  “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.

2. Execute the plan. – Set a timeline for implementing different parts of the strategy you have set in place and make sure that each piece of your strategy is attainable. In other words put your plan into bite sized pieces that can be shared between your team. In the last year, the ministry that I am part of has undergone tremendous change. The one thing that has helped us to move forward and come out on the other side has been our willingness to look for the tangible action items, give them a name and a deadline. Have someone on your team map out deadlines on a calendar and hold everyone on the team accountable (including you). This has helped our team to be able to make huge strides and to celebrate great successes. Some of the best ideas in our ministry have come from people in our team who in times past would not have been invited to brainstorming meetings.

3. Repeat the things you do well – instead of feeling like you need to create something fresh and new every year, keep doing the things that are effective. I’m not saying you shouldn’t evaluate processes and ministry tools, but all too often paid staff are the only ones in ministry that want change because we are bored with something, not because it has lost its impact or effectiveness.

4. Celebrate small milestones – too often in ministry we forget to reflect and take pride in small victories because we are looking for big ones. One of the small milestones for our team, [well okay it is a big one] is that our whole team can communicate what our mission is and how we execute that everyday in our ministry. Our volunteers and parents hear weekly and monthly what we are about, and can articulate what they are about. Plan to do something everytime a person in your team checks off an action item on your list, even if it is writing two words on a post-it note.

As you look toward the summer and think about the ministry year ahead, remember to keep things simple. Don’t fall into the trap of overcomplicating things. Oh, and remember to celebrate the moments, yes those small sweet ones that God gives you with your team, your family and the other people in your life. Now go and look at your mission statement and execute something!

Getting Parents On Your Side...

Yesterday we did an open house for the parents of our preschool ministry. 
I think I underestimate the ability of parents who want to come alongside our ministry. Often we think that we want to come alongside parents, but instead we ask them to come alongside us in the fight for their children's relationship with Jesus. Boy, we need to change!
I am amazed at how parents are open to us as we choose to come alongside them as they parent and do life with their family. 
We chose to do our open house during our service times and invited parents to come to our large group time. Afterward, we kept them in our space and shared what we hope for their child's  spiritual development. We offered some resources and encouragement.
As a dad, I get excited when people take interest in my children. I realize that not all parents grew up learning about Jesus or how to walk with Christ into adulthood. We are eager to learn what strategies are working for other people.
This week, think about how you might come alongside families that you are in the game with. If you have 40 hours a year with their kids, and they have around 3000 hours, how can you equip parents to fight for their kids hearts?

Special Needs kids and the gospel?

Recently saw the Facebook post from a young adult that had a brother with down syndrome.  She posted some pictures that are really accentuating the value of her brother on his 18th birthday and how that even with down syndrome he was valued, valuable and could make a difference in this world.   http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150341805178388.343953.511403387&type=3


It made me start thinking about our children's ministry and an interaction with one of our families who has a child with special needs. Their family engages them in every activity the family does, yesterday we were bowling with them at a birthday party. It grieved me, because I realized we don't engage their son as deeply with the gospel each week he is at church. We just focus on keeping him safe.


Do you have a special needs ministry at your church. What does that mean for you? Does it mean that you provide a safe place for special needs kids to be so that the rest of the family can be engaged in ministry? Or is your special needs ministry one that engages children with special needs with the Gospel and allows them to understand that  God made them,  God loves them and that Jesus wants to be their friend forever?


Here's my challenge this week: Take a look at your ministry and see how you can be more effective in kids with special needs with the gospel.

Children in Ministry

If I want my children involved in ministry both inside and outside the walls of the Church, how might be the best way to get them involved?