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.

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.

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.

1. Get the monkeys off your back. A monkey is something that hangs on your back day and night and won’t let go. Too many leaders procrastinate and in the process end up carrying around too many monkeys. Deal with problems and don’t let them weigh you down! It’s a lot easier to walk without a dozen monkeys hanging on your neck.

2. Get training. Go to a good conference targeted to children’s leaders. Events like Children’s Pastors Conference, Orange, Kids in Focus, and the new Napkin Conference (I will be at all of these) will help you become the leader God wants you to be. They are a real shot in the arm. Whether you are brand new in ministry, or you have been doing it for years, you can never get enough training.

3. Delegate. Get experienced people to help you. Look for people in your church or on your team that can step it up a notch and give you a hand. Look for areas in your ministry that you are weak and find someone strong in that area to assist you.

4. Renew yourself spiritually. You’re like a sponge. If you give out and give out but never absorb, you will turn dry and crusty like an old sponge. You need to absorb as you give out. Place yourself under the teaching of your pastor. Listen to good Bible teachers online or on the radio. Read books. Spend time alone with God. When you absorb you have a lot more to give away.

5. Get control of your tasks; don’t let your tasks control you. Sometimes you would breathe easier if you simply got organized. Children’s workers aren’t always the most organized people. Clear those glue sticks and goldfish crackers off your desk and start getting organized.

What if…
There was a better way to encourage and assist local children’s ministers at the local level?

What if…
American children’s ministers coordinated together to impact a small nation where 50% of the people…were children?

What if…
A church had a recognizable symbol that indicated to parents that it placed value children’s ministry?

What if…
There was a professional association for children’s ministers that helped bring all of this together?

What if…
It starts today?

I am excited about the new American Children’s Minister’s Association. Not only because I serve on the board, but because of how it’s going to change the face of children’s ministry. The ACMA will not only raise the flag for children’s ministry on a large scale but will elevate the standard of children’s ministry on a local church level. Here are some words that describe what ACMA is all about:

Encouragement
Collaboration
Recognizable symbol
Professional association
High standard
Consistency in churches
Local chapters
Exchange ideas
Global reach
Cool benefits

Enough from me. You need to check out ACMA for yourself and consider joining. For more information visit the website at www.acmaonline.org or call the ACMA office at 859.245.9530.

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Sam Luce answers the question, “How can you use Twitter to enhance your Children’s ministry?”

1. Communicate with volunteers.
I have started the process of using twitter with my volunteers. I created multiple accounts. One is for Small group leaders, another for Logistics (the check in security crowd), a large group one for our producers and communicators, and a preschool one. At a campus level I created one for each campus for updates on a broader scale that would be helpful for parents and volunteers.

2. Communicate with parents.
This year I plan on communicating from camp primarily though twitter updates. Praise requests, fun quotes from kids, kids saying Hi to mom and dad. I hope to use it as something we can build from year to year.

3. Communicate vision, values and best practices.
As more of our volunteers get on twitter I will use it as a reminder of our vision and how they can practically put to action our vision and values through small practical tips. Another thing that is great is the ability to send links that point volunteers to blog posts and videos that will help train them to be more effective in what they do. Again making ministry specific twitter user names is essential to keep people zoned in on only the twitters that pertain to them.

4. Communicate with loads of kids pastors.
As a kids pastor if you are not leveraging Twitter to connect with and learn from other kids pastors you are nuts. Twitter is by far the best place to get instant feedback to know if an idea is good or stupid. To find out what other kids pastors are doing that is working. Also if you are using Fellowship One or 252basics there are many others that are doing the same so twitter can be leveraged in a huge way to collaborate with others doing ministry in with many of the same tools you are.

5. Communicate with Ryan!
Lastly through the power of Twitter you can learn that Ryan (@r_frank) likes hot dogs.  (Editors note: Because we always knew you cared!)

See you in the Twitterverse!

Sam Luce has been the children’s Pastor at Mt. Zion Ministries Church in Utica, NY for 11 years. He is passionate about reaching kids and equipping families. Sam is married to his beautiful wife Sandra they have two boys and their first girl. For more info about Sam (and his brief stint as a Twitter fugitive) go to www.samluce.com.