Since we’re talking about timeliness, I figured I’d breach this topic since we’re all thinking it.

So, how do you get your volunteers to show up on time? No really, how do you get your volunteers to show up on time?

Every church I’ve been at I’ve experienced difficulty in this area. We’d have volunteers show up just minutes before the kids… or sometimes several minutes after the kids. It frustrates the staff and key/committed volunteers like crazy. So, how do you get them there on time?

This is an issue that I think has a deeper root. It’s actually something that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about, especially in my role here at Gateway. I don’t think the real question is "how do I get my volunteers to show up on time?" I think the real question is, "why don’t my volunteers truly value their role in the children’s ministry?" Honestly, I believe that we show up on time for the things that we value. Even for me, getting to the movies on time to see the previews is a value. So I’m there on time.

Yes, I think it’s inconsiderate that volunteers show up 10 minutes late when they’ve committed to being there on time. However, I’m not convinced that they are the ones to blame. No, really! I think the solution lies with us. Too many of our volunteers are serving because in their mind they’re doing us a favor. They signed up because we needed help and the fact that they’re even showing up is a huge "blessing" for the children’s ministry (this also points to the ineffective recruiting strategies we use at times as well). I don’t think they show up on time because they don’t value their serving in the children’s ministry enough to show up on time. Whether they say it or not, every volunteer is asking the "what am I going to get out of this?’ question in relationship to serving. Right now, my best answer to that question is "to make a difference in the lives of kids." For many volunteers, that is enough. For others, it’s not enough to make them get their on time. The thing that is challenging me right now (and maybe something for you to think about) is to further develop answers to the "what am I going to get out of this?" question. What if I could honestly answer that question with the following answers:

• You get to make a tangible difference in the lives of kids
• You’ll develop deep and meaningful friendships with other adults on your serving teams
• You’ll be challenged to grow spiritually and given the tools to take the next step in your faith
• You’ll feel like a part of a community you didn’t know existed

I don’t know, but I just think that if I could provide these experiences for my volunteers, they may just value their role enough to show up on time. What do you think?

So, we’ve been talking about timeliness. As I’m hearing from others, it’s an issue everyone faces. On the weekend people show up late. So here is the big question or questions:

Do you have a "too late to check in" policy? If so, how late is too late?

Some of us have to close rooms because they get too full or there aren’t enough volunteers. I’m not talking about that though. I’m talking about closing rooms because service is halfway over. As children’s ministers, we know why we close the rooms:

• Letting kids in half-way through the service is distracting to the other 17 kids in the room.
• Kids coming in half-way through the service won’t get the full experience possible.
• Emergency/Evacuation rosters are already printed and kids coming in this late might not make it on the roster.

I know some of these excuses sound lame, but to those working so hard to make the weekend a quality experience, it’s frustrating to have kids coming in so late. However, there are several reason why we don’t want to "not" check in a kid so late.

• It could be a visitor and we don’t want to turn away a person who’s coming to check things out (I know, it’s not usually the visitors who are late, but do we really want to be the gestapo who determines who we do and do not let in?).
• Do we really want to keep the kids away as it’s not their fault?

Currently at Gateway, we do not turn anyone away. Our program is such that someone could come in late and it’s not going to be that big of a deal. However I’ve been at churches where it was a very big deal. I talked about it with leadership and they were never interested in going there… so we didn’t. Yes, it does bother me that people come late. It’s annoying and I feel bad that the kids are only getting half the experience that they could, but for me I don’t know that it’s worth doing it.

What about you? What is your policy and why do you do what you do?

The other day I wrote a post about timeliness here. Some of the comments added to the post in a way that I thought I’d write a little more. Interestingly enough, I wrote about this issue specifically about 14 months ago. Timeliness. It’s something we all struggle with. Kids are late. Volunteers are late. Parents are late. What do we do?

“I’m going to train my parents to be on time.”

Yeah, I’ve said that. Have you?

Unfortunately, I don’t think its necessarily right to think of it that way. It’s not my job to get parents to sign up for stuff on time. However, we all understand the value of timeliness. If we only get an hour a week with these kids, we want the full hour, right? Or when we’re planning camp, it totally throws us off when 40 registrations come in a few days before we leave for camp. So, it’s not really about “training our parents” but more about setting policies for the purpose of creating ministry excellence. Here are some examples:

Late registration price increases. A lot of times I’ll do this for camps. Initially I did this as motivation for parents to sign up their kids on time. However, I found that it really didn’t help that much. However, late registrations often cost more money. I’ll usually order t-shirts by the time registration closes. I always order extra shirts because you know someone else always signs up and I’d feel horrible if 140 kids got a t-shirt and one didn’t. So I order enough to handle late registrations and the price increase pays for the extra shirt. Sometimes extra supplies are needed at the last minute and we have to pay extra to get it on time, so price increases help with this.

Registration closure. At some times you have to just pull the plug. When I would do a lock-in with a couple hundred kids (and my last few lock-ins traveled a little as well), it was imperative that I had enough help and I knew exactly what kids were in what groups. So, I’d intentionally close registration 3-4 days before the lock-in so I could organize groups and be ready for the big night. Yes, I’d have parents get upset with me. However, most (if not all) of those parents signed their kids up early the next year.

Programming great stuff early. Sam mentioned this in my post. He creates the kinds of things kids really don’t want to miss at the beginning of the service. Honestly, if I don’t get to a theatre in time for the previews, I feel like I’m missed half of the experience. I do everything I can to be there on time! Certainly the local theatre doesn’t care what time you come as long as you pay, but what are things you can plan for the first 10 minutes of your program that the kids absolutely don’t want to miss?

I think that if we create these experiences and put these policies in place… and then stick to our guns, we’ll see a difference. There will be less stress and we’ll get more time with the kids.

Okay, I think that was a good start. I’ll hit room closures tomorrow followed by getting volunteers to be on time the next day.

Okay. I know of three full time job positions available right now that are hiring immediately. Like, the positions needed to be filled YESTERDAY. Let me tell you a little about the positions:

Elementary Director: This is a full time position at a church here in Austin, TX. It’s a cutting-edge church reaching the lost and disconnected in this very "cool" city. A large percentage (I want to say over half, but I can’t confirm) of attendees have come to Christ in this church. Church attendance at this campus (multi-site) is over 3000 with an average of 500-600 kids. The Elementary ministry is moving toward a large group/small group model and needs an experienced leader to take the ministry to the next level.

Children’s Pastor: This is a full time position at the same church mentioned above. This position is for a Children’s Pastor over one of the video campuses. The campus (launched in January) runs close to 450 attendees. A strong leader who is flexible, creative and a great team player is needed to grow the ministry of this campus both numerically and in quality.

Children’ Pastor: This is a full time position for a brand new church plant in San Antonio, TX. This plant realizes that the Children’s Ministry is one of the most important ministries in a church reaching young families, so they’re "setting up" the future CP with a great opportunity. The church is being planted in on of the fastest growing areas of San Antonio, which is largely unchurched. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.

What these churches need:

If you or someone you know is interested, please forward questions/resumes to me at kenny@childrensministryonline.com. Both of these churches are non-traditional churches reaching the post-modern/Gen-X population which is very different from most traditional and many contemporary ministries. It’s messy and raw, but totally fulfilling. If you’re lame, please don’t send a resume. If you don’t have experience leading Children’s Ministry leading 100-200+ kids, you may not have the proper experience. If you’re a Children’s Pastor, Elementary Director or heck, even a Middle School Pastor (who just doesn’t yet realize how cool children’s ministry is yet) who is looking for something new and different, then shoot me your resume. Even if you are currently in a position and you simply want to explore what these opportunities might look like, just send me an email (there’s not anything wrong with that at all, so don’t feel guilty about it).

One more thing

Those of you who are perfectly happy and in the place that you know God has set you in, please do me a huge, HUGE favor. Will you send me some names of people who you think might be a good fit for this position? I ask people all the time if they know anyone who is looking and I get the "No, most the people I know are serving somewhere." To be honest, I’m not interested in those who are looking (well, I am if you know someone). I’m looking for some high quality people and more than likely they are already on staff somewhere. I want to contact them. I had a defining moment in my career as a CP where I was recruited away from the church I was at. I was not happy and it was a total "God" thing. I’ve also been contacted about positions while at another church and I’ve politely said "I’m not interested." But I was glad to be asked. So, will you give me some leads on people I can contact about joining two very exciting ministries here in Texas? I would be very appreciative.

I can’t believe it’s been a year!

Today marks one year of blogging for me. What a wild ride. My only regret is that I didn’t take such long “breaks” in blogging when life got complicated. I’ve enjoyed all the new friendships and relationships I’ve made through this effort. Here’s some of the stats:

• 119 Posts
• 119 Coments
• 2428 Unique Visitors
• 10,368 Pageviews
• Most popular post
• Visitors from 56 countries
• Visitors from 48 states (where are you Vermont and Montana?

What fun it’s been! Looking forward to another great year!

In all of the things I’ve discussed the past 5 days, there was one element that brings it all together. It’s about submitting to the leadership God placed above you. I agree that generally speaking, children’s ministry budgets are under funded. I do believe that children’s pastors should present the need, present a vision and ask for what is appropriate. However, what leadership decides as a ministry budget needs to be accepted. Again, it comes back to loaves and fishes.

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There are times when there just isn’t enough money to do what you need to do. I’m going to make several suggestions, several things I’ve done at various churches I’ve been a part of. However, there is one major thing to consider that I will write about tomorrow. So, enjoy the ideas and dream about what options you have but let it be tempered by the information I’ll present tomorrow.

However, there may be times where you have to be creative and come up with new ways to fund your projects. These may be simple fundraiser’s to special partnerships with the business community. Here are some of the things I’ve done:

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You have your budget. It’s your responsibility to stay on track and steward it well. However there are times when it’s okay to over spend. Huh? Yep, here’s when it’s okay.

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Fishes and loaves. It’s all about the fishes and loaves. Yon can only spend what you have available. From here you have to trust God to maximize your resources.

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I thought I’d share some examples. I could talk all about budgeting and how I’ve done it, but let’s face it… you want to see some examples.

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