Children’s Ministry Online

Am I on vacation this week? Unfortunately, no. The nine hours I’m talking about is the nine hours I’m not scheduled to be in a meeting. So, I only have nine hours to work on things that don’t involved me being in a meeting. If I take a normal lunch hour, that brings me down to 5 hours. Yuck.

So, I do anticipate bringing a little work home this week as I think I might have a little more than 9 hours of work to do this week.

Why so many meetings? I’ve got almost 12 leadership interviews with potential new small group leaders for our new elementary program. I’ll tell you more about that project soon.

written by Kenny

What John shared during this breakout is some great stuff (John’s the pastor at my church and he’s been sharing this stuff for many weeks now). In some ways it comes across as fluffy stuff we hear in a lot of churches out of the mouths of a lot of pastors. The difference here is that this stuff is really happening and has happened at Gateway. John shares story after story of people coming out of ever imaginable situation and getting reconnected with God. John shares insight on how the church today can connect with a culture that has become very disconnected with God.

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written by Kenny

Wendy Kopp is the CEO and founder of Teach for America. Teach for America is described like a Peace Corps for education. The best and brightest college graduates are recruited to give two years to teach in a failing school.

Wendy describes how even in America, where you are born does determine your educational prospects.

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written by Kenny

Bill George is a professor at Harvard Business School, former CEO at MEDTRONIC and the Author of Authentic Leadership and True North.

Bill begins by saying that we’ve been in a leadership crisis for the past 10 years. Continue reading »

written by Kenny

Gary Haugen is the President and CEO of International Justice Mission.

Social justice is a topic that many are aware of yet we often do little about it. We may even say “well, justice isn’t really my thing.” God may reply, “Then maybe I am not your thing.” Continue reading »

written by Kenny

Bill began by talking about the power of decision in the hands of a leader. He talked specifically about how leaders truly should make decisions within a framework. The framework he used as an example is below: Continue reading »

written by Kenny

Today I had the privilege of attending the Leadership Summit. Not at the Chicago location, but at the satellite location in Austin, TX.

Churches I’ve worked with in the past have not been Willow Creek Association churches, I I haven’t really known that much about Willow. I’ve certainly read a lot about Willow Creek and of the amazing things they’ve done, but really more as a bystander. However, once I came on staff at Gateway I’ve been much more exposed to Willow Creek. Not only is our church a WCA church, but many from our staff were once on staff on Willow. John Burke, our pastor was on staff at Willow when he felt called to plant a church in Austin. So, we use a lot of Willow resources and they’ve been absolutely fantastic. I’m very impressed.

So this was my first Leadership Summit. I only attended the first day because day two was on Friday (my day off) and I really needed a day off. Need I remind you of what’s been going on in my house? I was amazed at the scale of this event. It was never said (at least I didn’t hear) how many were attending this conference, but I heard that there were upwards of 60,000 joining either live or at satellite venues. How amazing is that? In addition to this, they’re boxing this thing up and making it available to gatherings of Christian leaders all over the world. In the same way that One Prayer impacted hundreds of thousands through synchronized worship experiences, Leadership Summit may impact many more through incredible leadership training.

So, here is my very brief overview of my one day Leadership Summit experience at a satellite venue.

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written by Kenny

Just curious if anyone is attending this year? I signed up this afternoon to attend. I won’t actually be in Chicago, but I will be at a video venue here in Austin. Our Senior Pastor, John Burke, will be speaking on Friday. He’s got a new book out (just in time for Leadership Summit) and will be talking about how we’re using it as a tool to do something pretty amazing this fall here at Gateway. I’ll write more about Soul Revolution and our plan to start a revolution next week. So, anyone going to attend?

written by Kenny

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?

written by Kenny

I’ve learned something very interesting since arriving here at Gateway. They’re very intentional and specific about leaders. This is probably why they have two full time staff members dedicated specifically to leadership development.

When I was at previous churches, I always had leaders as well as volunteers. Other ministries had leaders as well as volunteers. However, my leaders didn’t always look like the student ministry leaders… or the adult ministry leaders either. What I called a leader may look totally different from what the student pastor called a leader. However, we would often sit around the table in meetings and talk about our leaders and every probably assumed that we were talking about the same thing. We weren’t. No one had ever set a standard of what a leader looked like.

Here is what leadership looks like at Gateway. We have:

• Volunteers
• Coordinators
• Potential Leaders
• Emerging Leaders
• Leaders

It may sound complicated, but it isn’t. A leader is someone who is spiritually leading others. An emerging leader is someone who is partially through the leadership process (interview and such). They may be leading people spiritually, but not without someone else’s direct oversight. Potential leaders are those who have the stuff of leadership. They just need to go through the interview process. Coordinators are people who are leading people with tasks. No spiritual oversight at all. Volunteers are those helping in ministry.

So, when we talk about leaders here at Gateway, we all know exactly what we’re talking about. Having a leadership development staff is very helpful. They keep a pulse of how we are doing in leadership. Every month I’m have to turn in a report about my leaders. When a leader drops off, I must let them know. When I find more potential leader, I report it. They hold me accountable. Leaders don’t slip through the cracks here without someone noticing it.

written by Kenny