Ryan Frank

Posts Tagged ‘Leader’

Posted on November 10, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 8

Trend #8: Every-other week is the new every week

More and more kids of divorce are saying good-bye and transitioning between parents. As much as we don’t like this, kids are living divided lives between two homes. In The Switching Hour (Cokesbury Press), I read that 18 to 20 million children live with one parent, with 1 million children each year affected by divorce. Those are staggering numbers.

This has a huge impact on the way the church ministers to kids. In January 2009, I was team-teaching a seminar with children’s ministry champion Jim Wideman. He was talking about every-other week being the new every week in children’s ministry. He said, “If you have something that’s going to take four weeks to teach, you had better plan on eight weeks.”

On a side note, children’s ministry leaders must also ask if they are ministering to the needs of kids of divorce. Church-based programs for divorced adults seem to be flourishing, but churches with programs focusing on the needs of children of divorce are rare. It’s easy to give adults the attention they need, because they are bigger, louder, and speak in a language that other adults understand. Ministries like DivorceCare for Kids (www.dc4k.org) will help your church minister to kids who are transitioning between parents week after week.

Posted on November 8, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 7

Trend #7: Teaching is moving back to the teacher (Imagine that.)

Today’s kids are heavily influenced by screens—cell phone screens, computer screens, TV screens and movie screens. Over the past five years, there has been a big push to use screens when teaching today’s media-saturated kids.

Craig Jutila started creating videos in 1998 for his ministry at Saddleback Church. He told me, “We stumbled upon the media idea from a camp we did back in 1998. We would do a ‘camp news’ section each night. We had an idea to let the TV do the talking by having a child from the audience come up and play a game … entirely run by the TV. There was little set-up in advance for this, but we were amazed that the TV held the kids’ attention the way it did. From that, the idea was born to see if we could have a strong teaching element from the TV not only hold the kids’ attention but help them learn in a fun and creative way.” He went home and started creating video curriculum. By teaching in front of a camera, every child in the church could get the same Bible message in a format that they would relate to. He is recognized as a pioneer for video-driven curriculum in children’s ministry.

In 2003, the market was introduced to Kidmo. I remember seeing Kidmo for the first time at Children’s Pastors’ Conference. The company was marketed as “the reinvention of Sunday School.” At the time of this writing, Kidmo has 110 episodes (weeks) for elementary-age kids and 60 episodes (weeks) for preschoolers.

Thousands of churches have used Kidmo and other similar video curriculums in their children’s ministries. One concern that church leaders have voiced is whether it is healthy to use videos week after week. After all, hasn’t God gifted the local church with teachers? And aren’t teachers the ones who build solid relationships with the kids and their parents?

I am seeing a movement in the last year from media-driven curriculum to “teacher-led” media-driven curriculum. What sets teacher-led media-driven curriculum apart? The curriculum uses media elements (which kids connect with so well) but keeps the central focus on the live teacher, not the screen. Many children’s ministry leaders realize that nothing replaces a teacher opening God’s Word with relevance and teaching.

Companies like High Voltage Kids (www.highvoltage-kids.com) and the Willow Creek Association (www.willowcreek.com) are examples of companies marketing this type of curriculum.

Posted on November 6, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 6

Trend #6: Tweens need an identity of their own in the church

Without making ministry to tweens intentional, this age group can slip through the back door of the church. It’s time to put a deadbolt on that door and keep them actively engaged! This requires rethinking the way we minister to tweens.

Tweens have great power and are getting lots of attention. Unfortunately, most of this attention is from outside the church. The New York Times states, “The reason behind the intense focus on tweens and teens is their phenomenal purchasing power.” According to J12 Ministries, “In 2005, the tween market was a 330 billion dollar industry. The movie, music, gaming, food, and fashion industries no longer target teens because the money comes from the tweens, through the hands of parents.”

Churches are beginning to understand having a successful ministry to this age group begins with giving them an identity of their own. Patrick Snow, author of Leading Preteens (Standard), told me, “The most effective ministry to tweens I’ve seen are the ministries that not only gear their teaching towards the tweens’ learning styles but also give tweens an identity of their own. Most tweens don’t consider themselves children anymore and they respond best to ministries that affirm them in this belief. Creating their own leaders, their own space, their own name (outside of the children’s ministry) helps to do that.”

When sixth graders think that they are doing the “same thing we’ve done since we were in the first grade,” they will disconnect. It seems childish.

Tweens need to have an opportunity to do something. Gregg Johnson says that ministry to tweens “is more culture than curriculum.  When I think of clubs, I believe that the testimony of Jesus at 12 could become a new club/culture for this age group.  In the seven words that Jesus spoke (“I must be about My Father’s business”), I believe we find the needed building blocks to build a culture/club atmosphere.  Here in Anaheim, we will be getting our own building to house J12 (tween) ministries. In that building, we have already made plans for what we are calling the ‘Do’ room, because Jesus’ seven words are not about character development alone, but about calling and activity.  I believe that … we need to be able to link back to the story of Jesus at 12, who had the ‘I must’ spirit to do something (His Father’s business).”

Posted on November 4, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 5

Trend #5: The traditional children’s ministry model is changing

Eleven years ago when I was hired to be the children’s pastor at my church, I was expected to oversee the ministries of the church for birth through sixth grade. A big part of my job was recruiting and training volunteers, teaching children’s church, and overseeing programs like Sunday School and Awana. Today, that job description has changed, and not just for me but thousands of others. It’s changing because the traditional model of children’s ministry is changing.

Children’s pastors are now expected to formulate a plan for helping parents. In the hiring process, children’s pastors had better be prepared to answer the question, “What are you going to do to help the parents of our church grow great kids?”

This change is for the good. We are waking up to the fact that the children’s/youth pastor is not the main spiritual influencer of a child—it’s mom and dad. This means that the children’s pastor must put tools in the hands of parents and help them take the lead. The model of ministry is changing from doing ministry for parents to doing ministry with parents.

I recommend that you read Larry Fowler’s book, Raising a Modern-Day Joseph (David C. Cook). Larry is the executive director of global training for Awana. In this book, he compels the church to rethink the way it does children’s ministry. Larry recognizes this change in what ministry to kids looks like and encourages the church to formulate a plan that includes the senior pastor, the youth pastor, the children’s pastor, and parents.

As a result of this model change, we are seeing more and more experiential ministry events. The idea is that the family should learn and grow together, which is often characterized by family fun nights, movie nights, family camps, and family services. If used properly, these can really help families connect and grow closer together. However, taken to an extreme, there would be no age-level programming. It is also difficult to find extra time outside of the regular service times for these venues.

Posted on November 2, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 4

Trend #4: Limited budgets and busy volunteers require creativity in training

Volunteers are more important than the people they serve. Stop and think about that. Do you agree? It’s not that the kids aren’t important, but it’s volunteers who interact with the children week after week to influence their lives. Consider that Jesus spent more time with his twelve than he did any other group of people.

Volunteers are important and need to be trained. Training would be easy if it wasn’t for budgets and busy schedules. You can’t afford to bring the world’s best trainers to your church; and if you could, good luck getting everyone to show up. This forces you to be creative in your approach to training.

1) Blogs. Some churches have created traditional blogs and video blogs to train their volunteers.

Justyn Smith, children’s pastor at The Church at South Las Vegas, says, “I use a ‘secret’ blog and podcast site that only my volunteers know about. I also allow my leaders/teachers to post their thoughts and encourage others to discuss them so we can all synergize to come up with solutions or better ways of doing things.”

2) Podcasts. A podcast is a broadcast of multimedia information (usually audio) over the internet. It can then be played on a mobile device or personal computer.  Churches are choosing to deliver podcasts on a regular basis so volunteers can listen on their own schedule.

Phillip Harris, children’s pastor at Lawrenceville Church of God, says, “We’ve often shared inspiring and training messages in audio and video formats. Some we’ve made on our own, but we’ve also passed along many that we got from others (like Jim Wideman and reThink). Simple and effective.”

For churches that do not want to create their own podcasts, there are other options. Two such examples are Children’s Ministry Talk and Children’s Ministry Podcast. Children’s Ministry Talk (www.childrensministrytalk.com) is a podcast devoted to providing straight talk for children’s ministry leaders, by children’s ministry leaders, on all things related to children’s ministry. It is hosted by Dick Gruber, Jason Rhode, and other children’s ministry leaders. Children’s Ministry Podcast (www.kidology.org/podcast) is hosted by Karl Bastian and his sidekick puppet, Gus. Together they discuss children’s ministry and provide helpful insights and tips for children’s pastors, leaders, and volunteers.

3) Twitter. Children’s pastors like Sam Luce at Mt. Zion Ministries Church plan to use Twitter to connect with their volunteers. “I am still working out the kinks. I think it is going to be great for my teen/college-age helpers and is much better than email. For my adult volunteers, it may be a tougher sell.”

Posted on October 31, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 3

Trend #3: Church staffers are learning together

Great things happen when a children’s pastor leaves work and ministry behind and jumps on a plane to network and grow. Conferences like Children’s Pastors’ Conference are staying strong and buzzing with energy in a day when the conference industry in general is struggling.

I see a trend developing in church leadership as it relates to conferences. These leaders are choosing one conference that they can all attend together, which accomplishes two things.

First, it makes good financial sense. Attending a conference can be an expensive ordeal with flights, rental cars, meals, hotels, and registrations. Since finance teams are quick to cut the conference budget in a difficult economy, it makes sense for the staff to attend the same conference.

Second, it promotes healthy collaboration in the church leadership. Church leaders like the idea of the senior pastor, discipleship pastor, youth pastor, and children’s pastor learning together and formulating strategies as a team.

Posted on October 29, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 2

Trend #2: Children’s pastors are networking online

Not too long ago, if you wanted to network with other children’s pastors, you had few options. You could get in your Pinto and meet someone for lunch, you could pick up the telephone, or you could save your money and go to a conference.

While these still exist (well, maybe not the Pinto part), the opportunities to network are rapidly increasing—thanks to Al Gore’s invention of the internet. There are many online opportunities for networking.

Children’s pastors are connecting on cmconnect.org. Created by Michael Chanley, it started as a spark and is taking off like wildfire with over 4,000 members in its first year. You can connect through forum discussions, blogs, specialized groups, and more. It’s like Facebook or MySpace for children’s ministry.

Another social networking site skyrocketing in popularity is Twitter. Every day 10,000 new users discover that it’s an easy way to stay in touch with each other. Unlike its rivals, Facebook and MySpace, Twitter demands a very small amount of time. That appealed to me. It only asks that you answer one question, “What are you doing?” Sounds easy, eh? The tough part is saying it in 140 characters or less. Updates range from “Staff meeting in full swing” to “Eating soup with a fork. Need to make a supply run this week.”

While social networking grows, we must also acknowledge the need for face-to-face interaction with peers in ministry. In his book, Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi says that interacting with others is a key to success. There is nothing that replaces the synergy it creates, which brings me to the next trend.

Posted on October 27, 2009 - by rfrank

Trophies and spiritual milestones

Kids love awards. I remember as a child cherishing the few trophies that I had received in coaches pitch and little league. Those were about the only trophies I ever received for sports – I’ve never been the athletic one in my family. My dad, on the other hand, has more trophies than I can count. His basketball number is retired at Indiana Wesleyan University and he still holds NCCAA records to this day.

Sunday night at church we honored 14 Sparks with Awana awards. You should have seen the glow on each of these kids faces. They were grinning ear to ear as they were publicly recognized for their hard work in Awana. Kids love awards.

Yesterday in staff meeting my pastor was talking about how proud those kids were to be recognized and how excited they were to receive their awards. He asked a good question, “Why do kids have to go to the world to get their awards?” which led to some good discussion points.

Kids love awards. Heck, we all do. I love getting a raise every January. I love the bonus points that I accumulate on my credit card. I love it that after I buy six coffees I get the seventh free at the gas station in town. Back to kids – it’s too bad that, more often then not, to get an award, they have to play sports or be musical. I wonder if we are missing something here.

Kids love motivation and rewards just like the rest of us. I wonder if church leaders and parents would be smart to start recognizing kids more for spiritual milestones and growth. It might raise the spiritual temperature of your ministry – that’s what I’m thinking at least.

Posted on October 27, 2009 - by rfrank

A fresh look: 9 new trends in children’s ministry leadership

For the next two weeks, I am going to be sharing an article I wrote for the November/December issue of K! Magazine. The article is called “A Fresh Look: 9 New Trends in Children’s Ministry Leadership.” I shared these nine trends first with the Board of Directors at Awana a few months ago. I decided to develop it into an article for the magazine. Check back every few days and I will post a new trend. Feel free to share these posts with the leaders of your church, but do not  publish them (in print or electronically) without writtten permission. Here we go:

Children’s ministry is alive and thriving in the church today. It’s an exciting time to be involved in ministry to kids. To be your best, you need to keep up with the current trends in ministry. What follows is a report on the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m not asking you to agree with every point but just hear the way I see it. Ready?

Trend #1: Children’s pastors are doing more with less

On March 3, 2009, Roger Fields, President of KidzBlitz, took a poll and asked the question, “Is the current economic situation impacting your children’s ministry?” Hundreds of churches responded. The results showed:

Not at all (17%)
Slightly (30%)
Somewhat (39%)
Massively (14%)

The analysis is this: over half of the churches we polled are being impacted significantly by the economy! Consequently, children’s ministry leaders are working with less.

Kimber Scott, Children’s Ministry Director at Mountainside Church of Christ, said, “I had to lower my budget for 2009 by $8,000! We’ve started so many new programs that involve prize-giving. So I went to Goodwill and other thrift stores and bought prizes for 10, 25 and 50 cents each. They’re new toys!”

Tonya Pinkerton, Children’s Pastor at Farmland Friends Church said, “Our church just built three new rooms for the kids … A couple weeks ago we had our big grand opening, but nothing on the walls. After seeing the large posters of kids at the GAP store in the mall, our pastor got creative and asked the store employees for the posters they were going to throw away. GAP not only gave us the posters, they gave us all kinds of neat pictures of kids and a container to hold them! We put them up all over our children’s ministry rooms and halls!”

Posted on October 20, 2009 - by rfrank

Discovering my strengths

More and more people recently have been asking me what my top strengths are in reference to Gallup’s StrengthFinder 2.0 assessment tool. I’ve told person after person, “I haven’t taken the test yet.”

Last month at D6, Michael Chanley (creator of www.cmconnect.org) knocked it out of the ballpark with a precon lab about developing the strengths of kids. He talked a lot about Tom Rath’s book.

After the workshop, I jumped on Amazon and bought the book. It was a quick read and convinced me even more to do the test. It took about 30 minutes to take the test online and I found it was pretty accurate. Here are my top five strengths with a quick summary of what each one means:

1. Competition – People strong in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.
2. Futuristic – People strong in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.
3. Strategic – People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
4. Activator – People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
5. Significance – People strong in the Significance theme want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.

I plan to lead our KidzMatter staff through the process of finding their strengths this winter. Then we will work through the Strengths Based Leadership book.