Posted on August 11, 2009 - by edoyle

Tuesday Talk: Kenny Conley

Tuesday Talk is a weekly feature on Ryan Frank’s blog. Each week, I interview one children’s ministry expert and ask for their answer to a question. Check back every Tuesday for a new interview.

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Kenny Conley answers the question, “How do you manage children’s ministry in a multi-site church?”

This question is a can of worms. There are as many versions of multi-site as there are denominations, so execution will vary by strategy. However, two words come to mind in regard to multi-site, both as the person leading and those participating.

Collaboration and compromise.

Multi-site offers the unique opportunity for teamwork to impact different audiences. This type of collaboration allows a team to get more done with less people. The positive side of this is that since you have a team helping you get things done programmatically and administratively, it gives you more time to lead your teams and pastor kids and families. The down side is compromise. Although you have a voice collaboratively, compromise is a part of the whole team (multiple sites) heading down a road, maybe one you weren’t in favor of.

I communicate this clearly to new people coming on staff. There’s no room for lone rangers here. For those already on the team, encourage them to find ways to take advantage of the collaborative team and spend more time leading and pastoring and less time behind the laptop.

Kenny Conley is the Next Gen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX.  Kenny brings 11 years of Children’s Ministry experience in leading multi-age ministries (cradle to college) with a multi-site strategy.  He lives in NW Austin with his beautiful wife Sara of ten years (this July) and his ruggedly handsome two year old son Titus (this June). Kenny avidly blogs at www.childrensministryonline.com.