I was nothing short of impressed with the movie which brought a conclusion to the story of Andy and his toys. It’s my favorite Toy Story for sure. I found myself laughing a lot during the movie. However, those laughs turned into tears in the final scene. Yes, I was crying. And I wasn’t the only one. The tears came when Andy, on his way to college, finally said goodbye to his toys and gave them to a young, playful little girl. He learned to let go. Something that a lot of children’s pastors never learn.

Here’s my question for you. What do you need to let go of?

This is one of a series of blog posts titled: 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off the Ground (Without the Hot Air)

I am going to take on a challenge. It’s a new series of blog posts. I am calling it 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off The Ground (Without the Hot Air). I’m always hearing about something fun or new that someone is doing in their church that is working. Some of the most creative people on earth can be found in the children’s ministry of a church. I’ll also share with you random things from current events or maybe a book I am reading that applies to working with kids. I’ll keep my ears to the rail and will post these randomly over the next year. If I write two posts a week, I can get this done in a year. We’ll see how it goes. Some weeks I’m sure I’ll hit more than a few and some weeks I might run dry.

Are you ready to help me with the challenge? If you have any ideas for me or hear of something I need to know about, please email me! My email address is ryan at ryanfrank dot com. Now I better hit the publish button before I talk myself out of this.

Every time I go to a children’s ministry conference, there are always people who want to tell about the new family ministry at their church. Because I’m supportive and I genuinely want to learn, I always listen.

Here is a list of stuff I hear:

We dropped VBS.

We quit Awana.

We aren’t doing Sunday School anymore.

We started a family service.

I’m not the children’s pastor anymore. I am the family pastor.

We’re using a new curriculum.

This has been on my heart for years. I am so glad that finally someone is talking about family ministry.

Is there anything wrong with rethinking the way the church ministers to the family? Not at all. Since mom and dad are the primary spiritual influencers in the lives of their kids, we better take a good hard look at how we do what we do as a church. But here is my question: Why do we have to drop everything and start from scratch? Instead of reinventing every ministry in the church, can’t we look at existing ministries and leverage them to help mom and dad be the spiritual leaders they need to be?

What do you think?

MY TOP 10 LIST
by Vincent Hart

1. Devotional time builds thick skin. Doing God’s work is hard. Doing it alone never works. Telling kids about God’s love without loving God and receiving God’s love in a daily way leaves you vulnerable.

2. All adults are little kids in big people’s bodies. Think about what the motivation is behind something and you’ll be able to respond with grace that’ll restore instead of reacting to someone in unhealthy conflict. Allowing people to be people, and handling occasional childishness with grace will build bridges.

3. Champion the kids. Be their cheerleader. At staff meeting, it isn’t reasonable to expect everyone else to stick up for what’s in the kids’ best interests. That’s your job. Learn to lead up, sideways, and down in order to build a healthy and balanced church that has reasonable expectations and plenty of resources for children’s ministry.

4. Build your team. Never do ministry alone. Jesus didn’t, and neither should you. Replicate yourself in others and you’ll more than double your ministry potential to the community. Every adult you personally recruit to minister to kids doubles the number of kids you can reach.

5. Beware of the change trap. Don’t make changes. Let your team make changes that you cast the vision for. If you’re working toward a common vision, and if the team believes in it to the point that they’ll sell it to others, you won’t fall into the pit of oops-I-changed-it-without-bringing-anyone-else-along. It’s a bummer of a place to dig out of.

6. Do what you say and say what you do. When you lead, be verbose in the communication department. If you tell folks you’re going to paint the parking lot purple at 2 a.m., then you better be at the parking lot at 1:50 a.m. with a bucket of purple paint. If not, then you won’t have as many on the next painting trip and when you try to tell them what’s next, not as many will listen.

7. Cast vision constantly. This isn’t baby-sitting; it’s life change! And God rewards those who get it. If people are constantly reconnected to the purpose of ministry, then they won’t get lost in the details. Tell them over and over and over and over.

8. Invest in cards, calls, and sweat equity. Ministry is all about relationships. People need to feel God’s love. It can’t be faked or ignored. If you love on them, they come and serve.

9. Make time for people. The people are the ministry, not the things, plans, or programs. Don’t ever let the task be more important than people. If you start to hear “I’m sorry to bother you, but…” or “If you aren’t too busy…” from your folks, you’re in a trap.

10. Keep perspective. If you find yourself getting stressed, heading toward burnout, or losing your head because of “all the things you have to do,” then stop. Building the church of Jesus Christ is more about being than doing. Be only what God called you to be and then let God do the rest. It’s Christ’s church; let him build it through you as you enjoy his company.

Thanks for these great reminders Vincent!

1. Personality testing and comparisons for you, your spouse and your pastor or supervisor. Once we start you will be sent a link for you, your spouse and your supervisor to take the Path Element Profile (PEP®) personality assessment by Laurie Beth Jones. Jim will go over the results and comparisons to help you excel in your relationships. This will also help Jim understand your giftings and your uniqueness so he can more effectively coach you during your time in Infuse. (This alone is a $300 value)

2. Powerful interactive conference calls. Once every month Jim hosts a conference call with the members of Infuse. This is a special time where you can hear and receive from Jim’s heart and experience. Because these calls are interactive you’ll be able to ask questions and learn from Jim and the other members of infuse. From time to time Jim will ask some of his children’s ministry friends to join these calls and you’ll be able to learn from other trusted children’s ministry experts and veterans.

3. An intense “get-a-way” retreat at Jim’s house in Murfreesboro, (Nashville) Tennessee. During your session you’ll be invited to Jim’s home for two very full days of intense mentoring and coaching with Jim and the other leaders chosen to take part in Infuse. The dates of this event will be determined by the availability of all those taking place in Infuse and will be announced before the experience begins.

4. Unlimited mentoring by Jim and access via his personal infuse group on cmconnect.org. Each member of infuse will have access to a special online forum and discussions where they can ask questions about children’s ministry and leadership directly to Jim throughout the session. This is like having your own personal children’s ministry veteran on your team. You’ll also be able to post questions and your assignments right on the page.

5. Small group one-on-one support and encouragement. Each person taking part in infuse will be teamed with several other children’s pastors assigned by Jim for the sake of developing a close “friend and care group.” These groups are for the purpose of accountability, prayer support and creating ongoing “iron sharpening iron” relationships and growth.

6. Extra time with Jim at ministry events. While in Infuse you’ll be able to meet up with Jim at any regional seminar or ACMA event where Jim is speaking. You’ll also be able to share a meal with him for the purpose of mentoring and personal coaching. (Registration is your responcibility but Jim will make time to spend with you at the event.) Check Jim’s schedule page for a list of events

7. An optional second year will be made available for those who want to continue. Jim believes that the benefits of this type of experience will be so dynamic that the members of Infuse will not want to stop having this type of Elijah-Elisha resource at their disposal.

Five of the twenty spaces have already been filled for September. Click here for more details and to download an application.

Ask God to make His vision clear for reaching children and families through Vacation Bible School. Once God has given you a vision, write it down as a starting place. Your vision gives energy to your objectives and strategy.

God said in Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” Notice what the prophet Habakkuk was told to do.

First, he was told to write the vision. You might have a vision for VBS, but have you written it down? It’s important that you write your vision on paper and keep it in front of you.

Second, Habakkuk was told to make it plain upon tables. In other words, make your vision simple enough that everyone can understand it. Any volunteer should be able to read your vision for VBS and get it.

Third, Habakkuk was told to write it down so that people could run with it. The last thing you want to do when God gives you a vision is to sit on it. He wants you to run with your vision and make it happen.

One of the greatest ways you can reach children in your church and community each summer is with Vacation Bible School. It’s the biggest thing we do at my church and it’s the highlight of my summer.

I learned early in ministry that it’s not enough to say, “I want to reach kids.” It’s not enough for a church to say, “We want to reach kids.” Those are simply words unless there is action. In order to take action, you have to have a plan.

Here are six tips to help you make VBS the biggest thing all summer.

First, choose to take the lead.

As a vocational children’s pastor, part of what I do is assess our current ministries. If they aren’t fulfilling the intended purpose, they get scrapped. If there is something new that we can do to better facilitate our purpose, it’s time for change.

Recently I was evaluating our summer ministries, specifically, Vacation Bible School. We do VBS each summer to fulfill the Great Commission (reach kids with the Gospel and make disciples) and to engage our community. I looked at other summer programming options—there are lots of new programs we could start to help us reach these goals. When I stopped to ask which new program would be best, it dawned on me: I already have a program that does what I’m after. Why should we start several new programs to do the work Vacation Bible School was designed to do? I left that evaluation session with a renewed passion to make Vacation Bible School the biggest thing of the summer.

If you have decided to use VBS in your church, purpose to step up to the plate and take it from good to great. Decide that you are going to take seriously this business of reaching children for the Lord Jesus Christ. Be the leader.

We love flying Frontier. We are loyal customers. It isn’t the rates that hooked us – it’s the customer service. Yesterday we experienced this again on the way home. Below is the email that I just sent customer relations at Frontier.

Yesterday my wife and I were served above and beyond the call of duty by one of your captains, Arvin Deherrera. We accidentally left our daughter’s eye glasses on her stroller. We realized it after the stroller had been stowed under the plane. When arriving in Denver, we asked for the crew to look for the glasses. We were told that they were nowhere to be found. Captain Deherrera took initiative and volunteered to go outside under the plane and check for himself. He found them on the ground under a wheel and brought the glasses to us. We extended our thanks to him but wanted to let you know as well. This was above and beyond.

We have been very happy with the customer service on Frontier and plan to continue giving you first preference when looking for flights.

Be committed to going above and beyond in your leadership – even when it’s not convenient. You’ll find yourself leaving a trail of satisfied and loyal followers behind you.

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.

I first heard about using mind mapping while preaching from Ed Young. Mind mapping is simply a way of organizing your notes so that you can memorize them. The idea is that your brain works in a clockwise fashion and so your notes are laid out accordingly. With the help of some color coding and images you’ll be amazed how it will help you communicate your message.

What I have been doing is writing my messages in Pages (for you Mac-illiterate people out there it’s like Word, but better). Once I have completed my message, I transfer it to a template that I created in Pages. I try to get it where the main points or stories start each section of the mind map. Sometimes I even include images to help trigger my memory when preaching. The final copy of my notes (the mind map) is one 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, front and back. You can download my latest mind map at the end of this post.

Although people have been creating maps using an image-centered radial graphic organization technique for centuries (that was a mouth-full), Tony Buzan has made a claim to the origin of the Mind Map. He argues that “traditional” outlines require that you scan the information from left to right and top to bottom, while the brain’s natural preference is to scan the entire page in a non-linear fashion.

There are several books out there about mind mapping. Michael Gelb’s book Mind Mapping: How to Liberate Your Natural Genius, is a popular one. There are also websites that will help you understand what mind mapping is all about and how it can enhance your business, your education, and about every other area of life.

Yesterday I preached a message titled “A Picture of Grace”. It was the story of Mephibosheth. Here are some links to help you see how I used mind mapping in my study:

Click here to download my original manuscript.

Click here to download the mind map that I used to memorize the sermon. Text highlighted in pink are Scriptures that I read, text in green are main points, text in yellow are points that appeared on the screen.

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.