Ryan Frank

Archive for January, 2010

Posted on January 30, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-30

• 5 minutes until I preach "3 proofs of discipleship" in first service. I miss the kids this am! #fb #
• 2nd service is a rap. I even let out 15 min early (brownie points!!) #fb #
• Lunch at our house with some great #kidmin leaders. Talking about a new program. #fb #
• Singing "No Other Name" in church. Great song! #fb #
• Putting finishing touches on a big children's ministry makeover plan to present in staff meeting this morning. #fb #
• I just learned that 2 adults came to know Christ as Savior after the morning services yesterday! Praise the Lord! #fb #
• The snow is falling hard and fast here in Sweetser, Indiana! #fb #
• Just responded to 55 emails in 90 minutes. That might be a record for me. My inbox is looking close to caught up now! #fb #
• K! Magazine editors meeting in 55 minutes. Can't wait! #kidmin #kmag #fb #
• @jimwideman is telling me about the new building at his church. It sounds like great things are happening down there in Nashvegas! #
• I love talking to children's ministry leaders and friends! #fb #
• Hey Liberty Baptist family. It looks like you'll get to hear from me again this Sunday morning in big church! I hope to see you there! #fb #
• Watching Idol on the DVR. #fb #
• Just gave $500 from our SS class to a Haiti project led by @jamesmacdonald. You should check it out. http://churcheshelpingchurches.com #fb #
• Eating breakfast with Kenny Cole, a cool children's pastor down the road. #fb #
• Last minute prep for church tonight! Can't wait. #fb #
• Getting tired of the cold!! #fb #
• It's 1 degree in WI! Perfect weather for a warm bowl of @Culvers George's Chili. Guess who George is (via @culvers) // Mr Culver's dog? #
• Thinking about video projectors. #
• Hanging with Luci #
• Last minute prep for my message tomorrow in church on "The One Job You Can't Finish!" Do you know what it is? #fb #
• Just snatched up some American Eagle cackys for half off. I'm happy. #fb #
• @cmwalters yes culvers is the bomb. We have one in our town now. Woo hoo! #
• Training changes outcomes Hebrews 12:10-11 #kidmin (via @jimwideman) #
• @kidzmatter2me has me thinking about brewing some Christmas blend coffee. #starbucks #

Posted on January 27, 2010 - by rfrank

Have you seen Kidscreen?

This morning I was reading the ScriptureShorts.com newsletter and learned about Kidscreen.  www.kidscreen.com is a great resource on what’s new and what’s coming in the world of preschool and children’s media. They study kid culture with a magnifying glass and report on hot products, technology, and media impacting kids. You can subscribe to their tweets, their daily newsletter and their magazine to keep in the know for children’s ministry.

They also host an annual kids entertainment event called the Kidscreen Summit that represents 1400+ attendees, more than 725 companies and 300+ buyers and investors.

This is definitely a place to keep on your radar.

Posted on January 26, 2010 - by rfrank

Kaleidoscopes and Kid’s Ministry

The kaleidoscope is perhaps the most well known of all optical toys. It was invented by Sir David Brewster (a Scottish scientist) in 1816. He named his invention after some Greek words that mean “the beautiful form watcher”. Brewster’s kaleidoscope was a tube containing loose pieces of colored glass and other pretty objects, reflected by mirrors or glass lenses set at angles, that created patterns when viewed through the end of the tube.

You can learn a lot from a kaleidoscope – even about children’s ministry. Here are five lessons I’ll share with you.

Change things up.
What’s a kaleidoscope if you look in it and never twist the tube and change it up? Your ministry needs to change. In the last 15 years, I have changed the way I do Kid’s Church about 15 times.  Never be resistant to change. You need it.

No two kids are the same.
A kaleidoscope is nothing more than a tube containing loose colored little objects. These different pieces are blended together to create something beautiful. Similarly, no two kids are the same. Everyone looks different, acts different, and learns different. This is one of your greatest tasks – blending a group of kids together and creating an environment where they can all learn and grow.

Children’s ministry is blending.
The coolest part of a kaleidoscope is seeing all those colored pieces blend together. Think of everything you have to blend in children’s ministry. There’s learning styles, behavioral needs, personality differences, social and economic backgrounds, just to name a few. This is cool though because this is how God works – He is in the blending business. God said that one day “every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation” will stand before the Lord (Rev. 5:9).

Kids want to move.
Your kaleidoscope works best when you put it up to your eye and begin to move those small objects around. Sure, you can look through the kaleidoscope without moving the tube and it’s going to be pretty, but it pales compared to what some movement will bring. Your kids want to get up and move. They want to do something. This is why you can ask for a volunteer and every hand will go up even before they know what they have to do. Let them move.

Everything is beautiful when you look through the light.
That kaleidoscope sure isn’t worth looking at in a dark room. You have to look at it through the light. Did you know that every one of those kids in your ministry are beautiful when you look at them through the Light (capital L). They are special people, created in the image of God Himself, and He has a plan for their life.

So, what did I forget? Are there some other ministry lessons you can learn from a kaleidoscope? Tell me what you think!

Posted on January 23, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-23

• Eating some killer pasta. #fb #
• Coffee and my MacBook Pro. Two of my good friends in the morning. #fb #
• Church staff meeting. #fb #
• God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people… (Heb 6:10) #fb #
• @jessemax I can hook you up. Direct message me your email address. Thx. in reply to jessemax #
• ACMA conference call cancelled so I'm working on the March/April issue of K! Magazine.#fb #
• Trying to decide what to preach this Sunday night in big church. #fb #
• The cheese stands alone, the cheese stands alone, hi-ho the cherry-o, the cheese stands alone. #fb #
• Enjoying my day off with the fam! #fb #
• Early Bird Rate for CPC San Diego 10 is extended! Register by Feb 5 & get discounted rate. http://www.incm.org/cpc_dates.html (via @INCM) #
• Sermon prep for this weekend. #fb #
• Watching #idol on my DVR from Monday night. #
• Busting a gut at the dude whose pants split on Idol. Wow! #fb #
• Just wrapped up a meeting with Evan Doyle. He's a great guy! #kidzmatter2me #fb #
• Having fun watching cars slide like crazy in the church parking lot. #fb #
• On a conference call with the creative guys at Timbuktoons. #fb #
• I just got an email that God is following me on Twitter. Boy, do I feel special. #fb #
• It's another icy morning in Indiana. #
• Have you heard about the father/daughter event I'm doing with my dad? http://www.kingsandprincesses.com #kidmin #fammin #fathers (via @jimwideman) #
• Pastor, can you join us in taking a special offering for ChurchesHelpingChurches.com for Haiti? http://bit.ly/6nZoDU (via @jamesmacdonald) #
• The 2 for $20 deal at Chilis is where it's at tonight. #fb #
• Setting up for church tomorrow! #fb #
• I'm showing a video of @jamesmacdonald filmed in Haiti this week in SS and we plan to do something. Are you? http://bit.ly/7tZhfw #kidmin #

Posted on January 20, 2010 - by rfrank

6 models of family ministry – part 6

Model 6: Experience It Together Model

Philosophy:
1. The emphasis is on learning and growing together.
2. It is characterized by family fun nights, movie nights, family camps, family services, etc.

Pros:
1. If use properly, these can really help families connect.
2. Works best with parents of children, not teens.

Cons:
1. Taken to an extreme, there would be no age-level programming.
2. Kids are establishing independence and don’t always want mom and dad around.
3. It often requires extra time outside of the regular service times.

Posted on January 18, 2010 - by rfrank

6 models of family ministry – part 5

Model 5: Each Department For Itself Model

Philosophy:
1. Each department adds family ministry components into already-planned programming.
2. Each ministry determines how to approach outreach and training for families, as long as a basic goal of family ministry is acknowledged.
3. Each age-group department, and possibly other departments as well, plans activities and programs for families independent of each other.
4. You just challenge departments to think family and everyone gets in their corner and starts offering programming for parents and families.

Pros:
1. The departmental approach is where most churches land.
2. It is usually the cheapest.
3. Because so many people are involved, it breed creativity.

Cons:
1. Creates silos – where each ministry does what it does without regard to a step-by-step process toward an end objective.
2. Calendars quickly get clogged with multiple programs for the family and members of the family will be pulled in numerous directions by different departments.
3. Dollars disappear into divergent programs that divide the family instead of bringing it together.
4. Programming is usually characterized as being random and haphazard instead of strategic and intentional.

Posted on January 18, 2010 - by rfrank

Helping Kids Cope with Disaster

My friend Kurt Jarvis emailed me a great article today and told me I could post it on my blog. I think this will help you as you help kids cope with disaster in light of Haiti. I hope you find this helpful.

When global tragedy happens it is not uncommon for Christians to wonder why God allows such things to occur. Children often have the same question. The Bible, God’s Word, can help give us understanding of these situations.

In Luke 13:1-5 we read an account where this very issue of tragedy is discussed. This account is of a time when Pilate had murdered many from Galilee and had used their blood in pagan sacrifices. Jesus answered the questions asked by many if this was God’s punishment by posing a question Himself. He asked those around him “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? … Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?””

Here are two examples of tragedies, one that was the direct action of a person (Pilate). The other tragedy might have been from a natural disaster such as an earthquake or negligence by those who constructed the tower. In both incidences people died. Jesus clarified that it was wrong to think that these people died because they were worse sinners than others. Jesus also said that when these things happen it should be a wake up call to everyone to consider their own relationship with God.

If we think global disasters are God’s judgment on people we are going against the very words of Jesus. Earthquakes happen because this is the way the earth was created; they are part of nature and what makes life. Scripture does not support that they are events triggered by God against certain nations or people. It is part of nature, part of life and part of death. Jesus calmed the storm when he was in the boat with His disciples but Jesus did not end storms forever. Storms, earthquakes and tsunamis are all part of nature. (more…)

Posted on January 16, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-16

• It's a cold Sunday morning!! #
• @r_frank, sitting down to read my K! magazine – sooooo good, thanks to all of (via @MerissaRam) // thanks Merissa! Blessings! #
• 24…Working my way through Season 7…great show http://myloc.me/2LlnX (via @PamWGrammie) // I agree! #
• The church house is full (on a Sunday night)! #fb #
• Writing blog posts for the next 2 weeks. http://bit.ly/90wB6Y #fb #
• The Internet is down at the church this morning. #fb #
• Getting the jitters about our Kitchen video shoot this afternoon! #fb #
• God has blessed me with a beautiful wife and a sweet daughter (and one on the way) – God is so good!! #fb #
• 90 second book review! http://bit.ly/5KCYgC #kidmin #cmconnect #
• I'm the man of the hour. I fixed the Internet at church. Everyone loves me now. #fb #
• My life as a hero was short lived. The Internet is down again. Grr. #fb #
• Working on an exciting new partnership I hope to tell everyone about soon. #fb #
• Day off! #fb #
• Eating at @culvers with the family. We all signed up for the eClub. I wonder what the free prize is. #
• There are a lot of hicks on American Idol tonight. #idol #fb #
• It's been one of those days where I've been pushing hard. Looking forward to church tonight! #fb #
• Do you have this month's free download? http://bit.ly/6JkBnA #fb #
• Going to bed early. Good night world. #fb #
• Preparing for a meeting with Chad Wojtkow from Awana #fb #
• Playing Scrabble with Beth #fb #
• @suecorbran Thanks for the encouraging words about K! mag! in reply to suecorbran #
• At the license branch on Saturday. Need I say more? #fb #
• I went into the grocery for 2 things and left with a cart full. How does that always happen? #fb #

Posted on January 16, 2010 - by rfrank

6 models of family ministry – part 4

Model 4: Let’s Create A Position Model

Philosophy:
1. A new staff position (usually called a “family minister”) is added.
2. This family minister works independently of other ministries.
3. The family minister does programming for families and parents, while the student ministry focuses on students and the children’s ministry focuses on children.

Pros:
1. It is the easiest if you have margin to plan programs for the family or if the church has money to throw into a staff position.
2. It’s what most churches are doing in an attempt to start doing family ministry.

Cons:
1. The overriding disadvantage is that these programs can create competing systems and your children and student staff will continue to function independently.
2. Those who have the direct connection with children never really take ownership of a strategy for their parents.
3. Kind of connected but not integral to planning and strategy.

Posted on January 15, 2010 - by rfrank

Top children’s ministry websites

The other day I was reading the Jan/Feb issue of Children’s Ministry Magazine, and on page 44 they listed the top children’s ministry websites. I found this too be interesting (especially since KidzMatter made the list). Here’s what was reported in CMM:

A recent ranking of the most-visited children’s ministry websites found these sites at the top:

1. ministry-to-children.com
2. childrensministry.com
3. kidology.org
4. kidzmatter.com
5. cmconnect.org

Source: compete.com