Ryan Frank

Archive for February, 2010

Posted on February 27, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-27

• Second service underway. I'll be preaching in about ten minutes on a picture of grace: Mephibosheth! #fb #
• Meeting with some new children's ministry directors in my church. #fb #
• Lunch with Luci! #fb #
• Working on my blog (http://www.ryanfrank.com) #kidmin #cmconnect #kmag #i_dont_know_why_I_am_using_all_these_hashtags #
• Time to start #24 on the DVR. #
• Getting caught up on email. #
• Preparing for a few upcoming parent meetings at the church! #fb #
• Two more tweets until I hit 2,000. #
• One more tweet until I hit 2,000 tweets. #
• I just hit 2,000 tweets! #
• Doing a week of work in 2 days is crazy! Leaving for Napkin tomorrow! #fb #
• Changes are coming to Children's Ministry Magazine! http://bit.ly/9IgKWN #kidmin #
• In Indianapolis heading to Denver then Vegas! #fb #
• Just ate a Wolfgang Puck pizza. Yummy. #
• Landed in Denver. Another good Frontier flight! #frontier #
• Flight to Vegas delayed. Sitting in Denver. #
• @KarlBastian At airport heading to Napkin Conference in Vegas. I wish we could hang out. Next time. in reply to KarlBastian #
• Back row of the plane baby. #
• In vegas! #
• Early bird bowling with Luci. #
• In the car with Michael Chanley and Allison Evans heading to Napkin. #napconf #fb #
• Listening to @bennyperez on the stage. What a great talk. I'm up in 20 minutes to speak at #napconf. #
• Heading to @bennyperez 's house for lunch with the #napconf speakers. #
• Just had my picture taken with UFC champ Wanderlei Silva (aka "The Axe Murdere") at #napconf. #
• At In and Out Burger with Napkin speakers. Fun fun! #fb #
• Watching the Blue Man Group. #fb #
• Eating breakfast with @jimwideman @michaelchanley and 8 other #kidmin leaders. Talking about ACMA right now. #
• Listening to David Wakerly at #napconf. #
• "I hate being the best person at what I shouldn't be doing" says David Wakerley at #napconf #
• Listening to @AllyEvans share her amazing testimony at #napconf. #
• On the Vegas strip with Beth and Luci! #fb #
• @michaelchanley Good bye #
• On the plane in Vegas heading home. Had a great time at Napkin. #fb #
• I feel like a teen, @r_frank just texted me from 10 feet away, I love geeting to hang with #kidmin friends #napconf (via @jimwideman) #
• Landed in Denver. #
• We've landed in Indy. Luci fell asleep as we were landing! #fb #

Posted on February 22, 2010 - by rfrank

Preaching with the help of a mind map

The past two months I have been afforded the opportunity to preach in “big church” a lot more than normal. Most years, I speak in big church probably four Sundays a year. Recently, our church agreed to provide the preaching/teaching and pastoral support at another church. Consequently, I’ve had to preach more to the adults at my own church. In fact, I’ve preached four of the past five Sundays between both churches. I’m thankful for a strong team of volunteers in my children’s ministry (guys like Evan Doyle, for example) that step up the plate and hit it out of the ballpark in my absence.

All of that to say this: I’ve been forced the past few weeks to sharpen my communication skills. Before I tell you about a communication technique that I’ve been using, let me preface this by saying that preaching must start with an anointed, God-called person who has a message from the Word of God. You can be a dynamite communicator but without the anointing and power of God you won’t have fruit that remains.

Once you have that message from God, I want to share a tip that will help you communicate it with excellence. It’s called mind mapping. (more…)

Posted on February 20, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-20

• Had a great night preaching at New Hope Baptist Church tonight. Met some really nice people. #fb #
• Ordering strawberry banana pancakes from IHOP. Yummy. #fb #
• Talking with our awesome Publication Director, Tina Houser, on the phone. #fb #
• I've been studying the story of Mephibosheth all afternoon. What a story! #fb #
• On the phone with six awesome children's ministry thinkers. This is great! #fb #

Posted on February 16, 2010 - by rfrank

Leadership in two words

How do you define leadership? Google it and you’ll find somewhere near a bazillion definitions. How would you define leadership in just two words? I am anxious to hear what you have say.

And while we are talking about leadership, watch this video. It’s been around for a while but it’s one of my favorites. You’ll see some leaders here – even some unexpected ones.

Once you’ve watched the video, define leadership for me in two words. Let’s see what kind of list we get.

Posted on February 13, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-13

• Good morning friends! #fb #
• Lunch with the church staff. Where should be go? #fb #
• Buying plane tickets for Napkin. http://bit.ly/rKfbt #fb #
• It's 24 night! #
• Playing with Luci before fighting the snow to church. #fb #
• Got a few inches of snow today but everyone says more is coming tonight! I can't wait! #fb #
• Popping another cough drop. #
• "Nobody likes beets, Dwight! Why don't you grow something that everybody does like? You should grow candy." Michael Scott #fb #
• Listing some stuff on ebay. #
• Cleaning my fish tank. #
• Lunch with Evan Doyle discussing his annual performance review. Don't worry, it's good. @kidzmatter2me #fb #
• Great night at church but glad to be home. #fb #
• Getting ready to watch The Office. #office #
• Moving some Sunday School classes to new rooms for Sunday. I have my work cut out for me this morning! #fb #
• Phone conference with our KidzMatter strategic planner. #fb #
• Heading to Ruby Tuesdays for a birthday party. #fb #
• Church board meeting then a KidzMatter video shoot. #fb #
• The Kitchen video shoot in progress. One down. Six to go. #kidmin #

Posted on February 6, 2010 - by rfrank

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-06

• Worshipping and singing "He is Exalted". Stepping up to preach in 10 min. #fb #
• 2nd service is underway. It's been a great morning at LBC! Getting ready to preach again. #fb #
• Eating some of Beth's killer chili. Yummy. #fb #
• Cleaning out my attic right now. Here's what I think about it. http://bit.ly/cC3fNC (via @gina_mcclain) // great thoughts Gina! #
• Writing blog posts for http://www.ryanfrank.com. #fb #
• Watching 24. #24 #fb #
• Happy ground hog day! #fb #
• Catching up on email. #fb #
• Preparing for KidzMatter staff meeting in an hour. I can't wait! #fb #
• RT @rogerfields: To everyone's shock, new study finds abstinence works! http://bit.ly/abstinence-works #kidmin #
• Been reading effective executive, scheduled my week yesterday, and looking forward to a great time budget! (via @hayesandrew) // way to go #
• 6 people in front of me in line at Subway. Should I wait? #
• Spaghetti and meatball night. #fb #
• It's 45 degrees and I'm wearing shorts to the gym (via @jimwideman) // I could have gone without a mental pic of Jim Wideman in gym shorts! #
• It's my writing night for K! Mag. Tina will be proud of me. #fb #
• Watching Idol and writing for K! Magazine at the same time. This might not be easy. #fb #
• Bikini boy all the way. #fb #
• Enjoying the morning off. #fb #
• Rocking out some more K! Magazine content for March/April. I might get my part done tonight! #kmag #fb #
• One thing never changes: things always change. #fb #
• Random question: If someone gave your ministry $50,000 what would you do with it? #fb #
• Previewing a "That The World May Know" DVD for a midweek elective I am teaching tonight. We are doing "Fire on the Mtn" – great series! #fb #
• My stapler doesn't like me today. Thought you should know that. #
• New post on my blog: Adjectives http://tinyurl.com/yesmgbd // Steve Jobs love. (via @kidzmatter2me) // Great post from Evan. #
• u can raise the bar or u can wait for others to raise it, but it's getting raised regardless. Seth Godin (via @lgrace2) #
• We're gonna get a lot of snow this weekend in Indiana! Woo hoo. #
• Sitting in on an #Awana leaders meeting. #
• Getting ready to watch The Office on the DVR from earlier tonight. I hope it's a good one. #office #fb #
• Hostess Suzy Q's are calling my name. I must go. #
• It's snowing! #fb #
• Snow snow snow. #
• From Proctor & Gamble's 99; #44: Be a Good Coach. A boss tells you what to do; a coach helps you learn as you do it. (via @Barbaragraves) #
• Got stuck in the ditch this morning right in front of my house. I hate snow sometimes. #fb #
• Making a homemade Paula Dean sugar cream pie! Come on over in an hour if you're hungry. http://bit.ly/dBubyI #fb #
• Luci has had her bath and is in bed early. #

Posted on February 6, 2010 - by rfrank

What I remember about Veggie Tales

I remember the first time I heard about Veggie Tales. It was 1994. I was in college and a children’s ministry director named Jaena told me I need to check them out. She had a story about how her cousin (or friend of a cousin, or friend of a friend of a cousin) was a college roommate with the guy who started making these cartoons on his computer. She introduced me to Bob and Larry for the first time.

I remember the first time I showed a Veggie Tales movie to the kids in my church. They loved it. My adult workers loved it even more. Back then you could show Veggie Tales to a room full of kids and most of them had never heard of it. Good luck doing that anymore.

I remember the first Bob and Larry stuffed toys I bought for my office. My office was a baptism changing room at the time, but gosh was this young children’s pastor excited to have Bob and Larry sitting on my shelf. Why? I was relevant.

I remember when 3 2 1 Penguins hit the market in 2000. Man was I excited to see a new line of videos. I was so bored with Adventures in Odyssey and McGee and Me.

I remember the first time I heard that Big Idea Productions was being sued by Lyrick over distribution issues. This was before K! Magazine and before I had “connections.” I couldn’t pick up the phone and call someone to see what was happening, I had to rely on Google, and Google confirmed the story.

I remember the spring/summer of 2003 when the court found in favor of Lyrick and awarded them $11 million in damages. I remember hearing the news that Big Idea (as it had been known) was dead.

I will always remember hearing Phil Vischer speak at Children’s Pastors’ Conference 2009. Since I’m on the board at INCM, I had the opportunity to meet Phil before the session when he spoke and talked to him for a few minutes back stage. What a great guy. I remember sitting in that room with 2,000+ other children’s pastors with my wife one one side and Evan Doyle on the other side. There, Phil shared his story. He shared the tough lessons he had learned about business – but most importantly – the lessons he had learned about his relationship with God. I bought the DVD of that session and have shared it with so many people.

Is Veggie Tales over? Obviously not. The company has new leadership and they are cranking out new products  like mad. I got something in the mail at the church this week about their new DVD called Pistachio.

Is Phil Vischer done? Nope. He has a new company called Jelly Telly. That’s another blog post of it’s own. I’m real excited about a new DVD series that Phil is creating called What’s in the Bible. It’s designed to walk kids and families through the entire Bible. The 13 DVD-series will release beginning March 1, 2010.

Some of my friends (Todd and Sean at Timbuktoons) have been working with Phil and the team on this project. Timbuktoons is the company that does the animation and video enhancements on our Kitchen videos. I got a sneak peak at What’s in the Bible a few weeks ago when I was meeting with Awana. It’s going to be great stuff that every Christian parent and children’s pastor will want to snatch up.

Enough rambling about Veggie Tales. All this food talk has made me hungry. I better hit the fridge.

Posted on February 4, 2010 - by rfrank

God works in the desert

We all experience pain in our life. The death of a loved one. The loss of a job. The stress of finances. Natural disasters. Terminal illnesses. If you aren’t in the desert right now, you will be before long.

God works through our pain. The children of Israel left Egypt and headed to the land flowing with milk and honey – the Promised Land. Before they could get there, God led them into the desert. The desert is dry, lonely, and requires total dependence on God. It is in the desert that God prepares you for the promised blessing.

Look what God said about Israel’s desert experience. “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 8:2

Are you experiencing the desert in your life? Is pain’s presence real in your life? Remember, God has a plan while you are in the desert. The important question is not “why” you are in the desert, but how will you respond in the desert?

You can respond two ways. One, trust that God is in control and that He will guide you into what’s best (even though you may not know what that is). Second, you can take your life in your own hands.

May God bless you as you trust Him – even in the desert.

Posted on February 4, 2010 - by rfrank

Roger Fields, curriculum and the new purple gorilla

God has blessed me with some great friends. It seems like most of them live in other states and I only get to see them once or twice a year. One of those friends is Roger Fields.

Roger is one of the most creative guys I know and he is a loyal friend. He also knows what he’s talking about. Roger is one of those guys that when he talks – I listen. He sent an email yesterday to his eBlitz subscribers (you should sign up) and it got me thinking. I thought I would share his thoughts with you.

Curriculum is a Disease.

That’s right! I said it. Not only does the word “curriculum” sound dry, stale and academic, it sounds like a disease! Pronouced “kuRIKyoolum,” say it out loud slowly and tell me it does not sound like a disease. The only word it rhymes with is “diverticulum” which is a herniation through the muscular wall of a tubular organ such as the colon. That’s right. There’s a link between curriculum and hernias. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Can’t you hear it now? “My aunt Thelma has pancreatic curriculum.” “Bobby got acute curriculum and had it for 13 weeks. It hit him on a Sunday morning at 11:00 when he glazed over and stiffened up in his metal chair while staring at the white board.” Any day now the World Health Organization will declare an outbreak of curriculum a pandemic sweeping through Sunday Schools across America. This virus must be stopped now before if bores children into a comatose state and shuts down blood flow to the heart.

Research shows that children exposed to dry curriculum through their elementary years develop hardness of the heart. They acquire a resistance to the Spirit of God and a blockage in their inner ears.

We need another word. There is nothing wrong with using materials to help teach kids. I am a curriculum publisher. But the WORD “curriculum” has got to go. It encourages the flawed idea that we can subject kids to an academic lesson and expect them to get excited about God. The bug is not so much the curriculum itself but the curriculum mentality that is the ailment. Until we can come up with a better word that sounds more alive, there is, however, a four-step remedy for the curriculum malady. Think of it as curriculum bypass surgery.

1. Use curriculum that uplifts the amazing character of God and what He has done for us. Remember it is ultimately about what God has done for us not about what we do for Him.
2. Encourage your teachers to read over the “lesson” at the start of the week to give the Holy Spirit time to make it real and practical in their lives before Sunday rolls around.
3. Get kids involved with what you are teaching. Guard against creating a spectator environment where kids merely sit up straight and listen.
4. Don’t be afraid to change direction at a moment’s noticed based on how God leads.

Together we can stop this dreadful disease from sweeping though our churches and choking the spiritual life out of kids.

Roger Fields

P.S. Have you seen the Bo Zerk, the new purple gorilla, in Kidz Blitz Live? Go to http://www.kidzblitz.com/go.htm

Posted on February 3, 2010 - by rfrank

Standard Publishing VBS program voted “Best VBS”

Yesterday it was announced that Standard Publishing’s 2010 VBS, Hero HeadQuarters, Where Kids Join Forces with God!, was been voted “Best VBS” by Your Church Magazine (published by Christianity Today).

Each year Your Church Magazine conducts an independent study with many VBS programs and evaluates those programs based on music, content, crafts and more.

“The strong theme of unsung Bible heroes and the message to kids of being an everyday hero is exciting to churches who are using Hero HeadQuarters this year,” states Larry Carpenter, president of Standard Publishing.

Standard Publishing is the original publisher of VBS material, having produced VBS programs since 1922. Standard Publishing’s material was true-to-the Bible then and still is true-to-the Bible to this day.

The independent survey conducted by Your Church magazine can be found at www.yourchurchmagazine.com.

To learn more about Hero HeadQuarters, visit www.vacationbibleschool.com.