I’d like to say that they never worked, but as a kid I was a big fan of Psalty the Singing Songbook and Charity the Church Mouse. I had the records and cassette tapes with the kiddie-dopey illustrations… and I think I loved it. Children’s Pastors take notice… it’s not the 80’s anymore!

Always having been a young Children’s Pastor, I’ve tired my best to create an elementary ministry that related to the kids we were trying to reach. What seemed to work for me as a 5th grader did not work for me. I remember being so frustrated with music options 8-10 years ago. I couldn’t find worship songs that didn’t sound like the music was recorded with toy instruments. We wore out Big House as it was the only song that I wasn’t embarrassed to do with my 4th and 5th graders.

Over the years, I always tried to push the envelope on what music we’d play as kids were hanging out. In the early years of ministry, DC Talk (those kids loved Jesus Freak) and Five Iron Frenzy were winners. The WOW music videos were usually pretty good, but even in recent years I felt the need to even grab some of the edgier that really grabbed those older boys. The boy band and girl groups had nothing on the power chords of a spiky haired rock band. On occasion I’d have a parent complain that the music was a little mature. At least I knew I was pushing the envelope.

Well, I think all of this is true of the images we use as well. Whether it be a logo, a flyer or our web site. Fact is, dopey graphics don’t cut it anymore. A few years ago I created a new logo for my summer camp (called Camp Extreme). It was pretty fun. Then last summer I told the graphic artist that I wanted him to make it edgy. I wanted it ripped and scraped and beat up. The result was the coolest camp graphic we’ve ever had… and the kids loved it. No more dopey camp shirts.

I was pleased to see the camp logo that my friend Sam Luce is using for his summer camp. It’s modern, fun and reflects what is popular right now… holding to the retro look. I love it. That set me out to find what other people were using as their camp graphics. I was impressed by so many.

However, there were a few that seem to be stuck in the 80’s. For the love of reaching kids, stop it. Update yourself. Get a new image. It’s not as hard as you would think. Even if you have no budget for this kind of stuff, I bet there’s a 15 year old in your church that could create something really cool. See what you can do!

The Good Ones:

The Bad Ones:

Lately I’ve been a crazy reading man!

I just updated the ‘Books I’m Reading" and Books I’ve Read" widget on the right. Unfortunately I’ve been reading Bringing Up Boys for over a year now (I need to either just wrap that one up or take it off my list). I’m about three chapters away from finishing "Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul." I’ve got some blogs coming out in the next few weeks addressing this book. It’s been hitting me on so many different levels, both personally and vocationally. In the last two weeks I devoured Patrick Lencioni’s books "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable" and "Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business." I have upcoming posts on both of these books as well. As a staff at Gateway, we’re reading "Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time." It’s a major focus for us, so I’m sure I’ll have many posts interacting with this one. Next week, however; I plant to dive into Covey’s "The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything." After that, I’ll still have two more books that Nancy Ortberg told me to read while at Orange (I just haven’t listed them on the widget yet… I have too many "Books I’m Reading" there already). Last of all, I’ve still got the book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars" that I’ve only read one chapter of. So, I’ve got a lot of reading to do….

So, if you’re interested in reading any of these books, I’ll let you know what I think in the coming weeks. If you’ve read some of them, I’ll look forward to your comments!

Several weeks ago I wrote this post about involving parents in significant moments in their child’s life.

Yesterday I had a really cool moment. I don’t know that it would have happened if I hadn’t been thinking so much about what family ministry really means.

Like I posted yesterday, we baptized a lot of people yesterday. After one of the services, a family was directed to me. They had a little girl who wanted to be baptized. She was six. I got down on one knee and talked with her about baptism. She had already make Jesus her Lord and Savior and her parents had already been talking to her about baptism.

I looked up at the dad. He was holding his younger daughter in his arms. I asked him, “Do you want to baptize her?” He thought I was talking about his little on in his arms. He replied, “No, I think she’s too young.” I shook my head and repeated the question. “Do you” (I pointed at him) “want to baptize her” (I pointed at his six year old)? He looked at me with wide eyes and asked, “Can I?”

WOW! I almost have a tear in my eye just recalling the moment.

So, I escorted him and his daughter into the pool. We stood over near the edge so his wife could be right there next to it all. I helped him and watched him baptize his little girl. I’m sure it will go down as one of the memories he’ll never, never, never forget.

Is that what family ministry looks like?

Since I left Orange a few days ago, I’ve been traveling from Atlanta to Austin. Now my wife, my 11 month old boy and 70 pound chocolate lab are settled in an Extended Stay in Austin as I’m now up in Dallas, TX. Yesterday was my first official day as the Next Generation Pastor at Gateway Community Church in Austin, TX. I spent the Sunday morning at both the South and North Campuses just checking things out and getting a feel of what is going on. After church, we drove around for several hours looking at neighborhoods (we really don’t want to make our Extended Stay visit extended). Lastly, we wrapped up the day with a leadership community meeting at the church with the Children’s Ministry volunteers.

This morning I took off for a two day gathering in Dallas, Texas. Eleven or so churches are gathering for the Texas Larch Church Forum where other large, like-minded churches will discuss issues, successes and strategies in a variety of ministries and departments. So, it should be a great time to get to know members from my team as well as connect with others in my area of ministry.

I should have some time to catch up on a couple of posts I’ve been meaning to write. I posted like crazy during Orange and I’d like to write some closing thoughts about Orange. Good stuff!

I’m wiped. Really, totally wiped.

It’s 12:45 AM and I’m pooped. I still need to blog two breakouts and another session… but I don’t have it in me. Tomorrow I’m attending the Orange facebook party. Should be fun. Hoping to network and meet some people I couldn’t in the crowd of 4500.

Tomorrow I’m heading out to Jackson, MS (my journey to Austin, TX). So, while I’m taking a break and my wife is driving, I’ll blog the rest of the Orange conference and hopefully post it by the end of the day. You never know what kind of Internet access you’ll get while on the road.

BTW, did I say that Orange was awesome?

Session four was a discussion/interview with Andy Stanley. Not sure if it’s just me, but it seemed like it wasn’t planned… almost like Andy was a fill-in. I only say this because this was the only session that there wasn’t a speaker who delivered a message. In addition, it ended about 30 minutes early.

Don’t get me wrong… it was awesome though. I think anytime you can get Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner to engage in a conversation, we should take notes!

Andy spoke about how they attract people to North Point. Basically he said it boils down to this: “If you create irresistible environments, people will come.”

Andy then went on to talk about the process of discipleship at North Point. Here is how it happens:

• Practical Teaching
• Providential Relationships
• Private Disciplines
• Pivotal Circumstances
• Personal Ministry

Basically they would hit these things over and over again by different methods.

Andy also took some time to talk about the idea of choosing to cheat. He talked about how they created an atmosphere where family was valued. He explained that “there are hundreds of people who can do your job, but you kids only have one dad… and your wife (or husband) only has one spouse.”

Donald Miller spoke to us tonight about leadership. It was a very interesting talk. He had a very interesting, dry humor… the type that people would laugh at several seconds after he made the remark when people figured out what he meant.

He spoke about leadership as someone who did not consider himself a leader… but a follower. So, he unpacked his thoughts on leadership by talking about the people he follows.

He referenced the definition of leadership as being influence… but he didn’t quite agree with that. Jesus influenced many, but he led 12.

He defined a leader as someone who wants to get to know me well enough that I want to take ownership of their vision.

• A leader gets to know people
• A leader invites people into their vision
• A leader is always getting people involved in the process
• Great leaders are following other leaders

He talked about how a leader speaks something into the void… he speaks something into existence.

Sorry I don’t have more notes on this session. Donald was more of a story teller crafting his talk in a very entertaining and intriguing way.

I’ve really been looking forward to this breakout. It was a panel discussion of Children’s Ministry by Sue Miller, Jim Wideman, Craig Jutila and Norv Brown. What an incredible opportunity, huh?

I tell you, each person added so much. I do feel though that if anyone could spend a day with Jim Wideman and Craig Jutila, shut up and just listen, you’d advance many years in ministry in just that one day!!!

Here are some main things that were said that impacted me:

• Things are caught, not taught (Craig in reference to the importance of leaders who model faith to the kids)
• Buy curriculum, you can’t buy leadership (Craig in reference to CP’s who love spending time writing their own curriculum at the expense of developing leaders)
• Work on your Children’s Ministry, not in your Children’s Ministry! Stop subbing! You’re robbing when you do this.
• Build depth to your volunteer teams. Develop your second string.

The panel discussed what was the most difficult thing you encountered in ministry.

Craig spoke very candidly about his departure from Saddleback. He spoke about how he had allowed ministry to become more important than his wife and family. He spoke about how he almost lost them… how he almost crossed lines that he couldn’t take back. If asked if he would do it the same way again he said, “NO WAY.” He said he’d go much slower, be less driven and lead more with compassion.

Sue then shared her most difficult thing and silenced the room. You could have heard a pin drop. She shared how difficult it is to be a woman in leadership. She told of the times she questioned why God put her as a leader in a female body. She shared how she felt she had to work twice as hard to get recognized. She told about some of her experiences and I became furious/embarrassed. It was wrong how she was treated. However, she’s not the only one. She asked us all to consider our female leaders and the handicap they face just by being the gender they are. Wow! As much as I hate it, she’s right. Yeah, I have been wrong here as well and for that I am sorry. I don’t ever want to get in the way of God as he wants to do incredible things through the women serving under me.

Man, I was dragging this morning! Not enough though to keep me from the morning session.

Francis Chan was the speaker for this session. Hardcore. That’s about all I can say to describe this guy. He gets it in a way that so many others don’t. I’m not sure that I’m even at a point where I can relate to what he had to say. It by far gave me a lot to think about.

Here’s what I know about him. He’s a pastor of a church in California. At some point he was getting ready to build a new building and became disgusted with how much they were about to spend on a new building. He couldn’t get his mind around spending that much money on a building when there were people around the world who don’t even have any food. Yeah… we’ve all heard this before. What kind of difference could we really make? Well, I heard that they trashed their building plan and decided to build an outdoor amphitheater so they could give all the extra money to the poor. Hmmm.

He said something very startling. Actually, he said one thing that probably offended many people.

He said “If Jesus was in my town and started a church, I have no doubt that I’d have more people in my church.” WOW! Did he just say that? (I’ll explain in a second) He then went on to say that giving the right team, he could grow a Mormon church… or even a Jehovah Witness hall. Francis went on to explain that something was wrong when we are using our gifts and abilities to build our ministry instead of relying on the Holy Spirit.

He explained how what it says in the Bible and what we do in the church are pretty far removed. He talked about how our church today doesn’t look that much like it did in the New Testament. He told a story about a guy who came to his church, got baptized and started growing in Christ. However, several weeks later he dropped out and fell back into his previous gang life. When questioned he said that the church wasn’t what he thought it was supposed to be. He thought it would be a family, people who unconditionally loved him and had his back, day in and day out. He didn’t get that from the church, so he went back to the gang. How messed up is that when a gang is providing for people what the church is supposed to.

Francis explained what is happening at his church. As a church they’ve committed to give away half of the money they bring in. GIVE IT AWAY! Come on… no one does that! There are people in his church that want to help the poor so much, they are living in their car so they don’t have to pay rent and can give that money to the poor instead. Yeah, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that level of extreme. However, it does look more New Testament like than the comfortable life I’ve made for myself.

Here’s the last thing that got me.

In the Old Testament, if you wanted to see God, you went to the Temple. It is where God would manifest. Several passages describe what it was like when God dwelled in the temple. There was a pillar of smoke and fire. That’s the presence of God. In the New Testament, God stopped dwelling in the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, he began dwelling in us as we are the temple of God. It says in John 17 that the world will know Jesus by our love for each other. Collectively, we are the temple of God. However, how visible is God to the world through our unity and love for each other. Honestly, I don’t think we’re very good at this.

Yeah, I’m mulling this stuff over.

The opening session for Orange 2008 was nothing short of amazing. The music was incredible… amazingly incredible. The band Fee (I think it was them) opened with the song “We Shine.” I’ve heard this song before and they did this song at KidStuf on Sunday. I love it. It’s a great song.

Sue Miller spoke for a little bit about how God’s been working in her life through her journey with cancer. She had some powerfully encouraging words to those who volunteer in ministry. Go Sue!

Reggie delivered an incredibly relevant message about what it is going to take to make a difference in this generation… and the generation that we’re leading. He eloquently told the story of the prodigal son. He built his message around comparing the response of the son’s return from the father and from the older brother.

Ultimately, Reggie asked the question: “What if we treated every prodigal like the father treated his returning son?”

He made the following points:

• The loving father is preoccupied with who is missing… the older brother is preoccupied with himself.
• The loving father operates from the context of forgiveness… the older brother operates from the context of shame.
• Loving fathers throw parties… older sons throw fits.
• Loving fathers confront older brother thinking… older brothers criticize loving fathers.
• Loving fathers keep the lights on as long as it takes… older brothers close the door and turn the lights off.

What kind of church are we going to be… one like the loving father or one like the older brother?