I apologize if you’ve written a book and it didn’t make the cut. Don’t take it personally! Eight is a small number to choose from.

I have listed these books alphabetically, not by priority. And, in case you’re wondering, the Bible isn’t included. It comes before the eight!

• A Tale of three Kings by Gene Edwards. This is a book that I read every year about David, Saul and Absalom. It reminds me that God uses humble, broken people.

• Already Gone by Ken Ham. This was my number one read in 2009. If you want to know why kids leave the church and what you can do to stop it, you better read this book.

• Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson. Does working in the church ever interfere with your relationship with Christ? I thought so. You need this book.

• Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I remember the first time my friend Nevan Hooker told me about the book. I bought it and the light turned on. You’ll learn how to make your ministry great by being remarkable.

• Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. Do you know your strengths? What about the strengths of your staff? Great leaders learn to identify weaknesses and maximize strengths.

• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. Every leader needs to read this classic more than once. Learn how to organize your tasks, get things done right, and about everything in between.

• Raising a Modern-Day Joseph by Larry Fowler. This is a book that every parent in the church needs to read. They will get help forming a strategy for growing great kids.

• Children’s Ministry Volunteers That Stick by Jim Wideman. Get the help you need recruiting, training and most importantly, keeping volunteers in your ministry. Jim knows his stuff.

I was suppose to stop at eight, but here are a few extras:

• Axiom by Bill Hybels. This is a great book packed with short leadership proverbs that we all need to hear. I’ve shared a lot of this book with our staff at KidzMatter.

• Building Children’s Ministry by Tina Houser. Practical is the word that describes this book. I wish I would have read it when I first started in children’s ministry.

• Think Orange by Reggie Joiner. This new book is a popular one in children’s and family ministry. Reggie gets practical about the relationship the church and family can have together.

Are you ready? Here we go!

Sunday

• We did week one of The Kitchen in my kids church. The kids ate it up! It was the first week in a long time that I ran out of time and didn’t get everything done.
• After church, we met at my house and headed south to Children’s Pastors’ Conference. We had seven KidzMatter staffers at CPC this year. The van was so packed with stuff that Tina, Evan and Lara had to follow four of us in the van.
• We ate dinner at Cock of the Walk in Nashville and then found our rooms at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Monday

• Monday was set up day in the exhibit hall (see picture above – more on my facebook page)
• Monday was also registration day for the conference!
• The resource center opened with a bang Monday afternoon followed by a great general session with awesome worship and comedian Tim Hawkins.

Tuesday

• I started the day by checking out the breakouts. I managed to pop my head in every breakout the first two breakout hours. Needless to say, I was tired after all that walking! There were some awesome breakouts this year.
• I also talked to a good 500 people on Monday. I had several scheduled meetings but a majority of my conversations were informal chats with heroes that faithfully teach kids week after week.
• The night ended with an INCM Board of Directors meeting.

Wednesday

• My parents were at CPC today! They drove down to see what CPC is all about. They’ve heard me talking about it all of these years and were able to experience it for a day themselves! Beth and I enjoyed having them around.
• I taught a workshop in the morning and then spoke to 330 children’s pastors at lunch about excellence in ministry.
• Wednesday afternoon my staff worked hard at the KidzMatter booth in the resource center. They talked to a lot of people and encouraged them in their ministry.
• I spent a good part of the afternoon networking with the resource providers. CPC was “a great show” (using their language). It’s no wonder why there’s a waiting list for resource center every year.
• I had a few meetings in the afternoon with some people like Larry Fowler and Scott Turansky.
• Wednesday night I heard from Austin Gutwein, a 15-year-old hero who has raised over 2 million dollars for orphans in Africa. Wow, what an inspiration!
• Wednesday night I helped the staff tear down the booth and load up the van. Then I started to get nervous about our drive home after hearing about the snow storm coming.

Thursday

• After Tina’s workshop, we headed home! Praise the Lord the roads weren’t too bad. The 5 1/2 hour drive took us 7. I won’t complain!
• When I got home, I managed to get the van into the driveway. But after moving my car in and out of the garage, I managed to get stuck. I was kicking myself in the butt. 30 minutes later (and with the help of my father-in-law across the street) I got un-stuck!

Whew, what a week! This was a great CPC! If you want to look at the twitter chat about the conference, click here. If you were there, let me know how your week went!

After our last meeting I shared with you some of the books mentioned that our editors are reading. I heard from a lot of you that you really appreciated the book recommendations. So, here we go again!

Jim Wideman talked about his own book (a great read!): Children’s Ministry Volunteers That Stick

Sam Luce mentioned a book that I want to buy for myself: The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer

Judy Comstock mentioned this one: Simply Strategic Volunteers

I recommended that everyone read this book: Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic

Time to go shopping!

We have been working with Jason Rhode and Dick Gruber over the past few months about forming a partnership between K! Magazine and their podcast. We are pleased to tell you that Children’s Ministry Talk is going to be the official podcast of K! Magazine in 2010. We will announce more in the near future.

For now, click here to check out today’s podcast episode. Enjoy!

Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading As a Woman in the Church

Leadership above the Line

What Are You Living For?: Investing Your Life in What Matters Most

The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary

The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials)

The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership (J-B Warren Bennis Series)

Bear Bryant Ceo

Generation Change: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Change the World (Invert)

Game Plan for Life: Your Personal Playbook for Success

Strengths Finder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths [With Access Code] [STRENGTHS FINDER 20]

You didn’t know reading this blog was going to cost you money, did you?

1. Build solid connections with leadership. Set a weekly meeting time with your pastor. If you don’t schedule it, it won’t happen.

2. Choose your battles carefully. As the old saying goes, “major on the major and minor on the minor.” I’ve been the children’s pastor at my church for 12 years and I still have to choose my battles carefully.

3. Set a pattern of God first, family second, and ministry third. You have to establish this pattern from week one. Guard your day off. Let your spouse and kids know that they are more important to you than your job.

4. Smooze the church secretary. I know they have a reputation of being hard to deal with, but they know everything about the church and how things work. Church secretaries can be your best friend or your worst enemy – so determine to make her your best friend from the start.

5. Expect some criticism. You won’t be at the church for 30 days before someone tells you how it “use to be done” or “what they have found that works”. Accept the criticism with grace, nod your head and listen, then move ahead with your plans.

6. Take time to assess the church. Some of the best assessment will come when you volunteer to buy the youth pastor lunch. Spend time with the other members of the church staff. Ask who the power people are in the church. Learn who the money people are (normally the senior citizens). Find out where the church is weak and where it is strong. Discover the hot topics.

7. Bring parents on board with your vision and plan. Your #1 job as a children’s pastor is to help mom and dad raise Godly kids so involve them in your plans.

8. Pace yourself. Babies are born one at a time for a reason – your new ideas need to be too. Don’t try to do everything you have dreamed about in the first twelve months.

9. Connect with other children’s pastors. You need to do this locally, at conferences, and online. Get on Twitter and follow great children’s pastors like Sam Luce and Monica Morgan. Don’t try to do it alone.

10. Subscribe to K! Magazine. You don’t expect me to leave this out, do you? It’s one of the best resource out for children’s pastors and it’s less than 20 bucks a year. Ask around – you’ve gotta have it.

Kenny Conley had his video camera at Orange and caught Sam Luce with a K! Magazine. Sam wrote the cover story on the May/June issue of K! Check out what Kenny and Sam had to say by watching this fun video.