I can’t help but get discouraged at times about our lack of workers in the children’s department. It’s easy to stay optimistic until your faced with a classroom with one teacher and 20 girls… and the teacher needs to go to the restroom. That’s when I can get a little frustrated… and yes… even angry.

Where are the people!?! Where are they for the love of God? They’re all here… they’re just in service right?

Well it must be because I’m doing something wrong. I’m not promoting the need enough… or I’m doing it in the wrong way… and now we look needy. Check the bulletin ad, make a cute or heart-tearing video. Have the pastor make an announcement. It’s all the same… 12 applications and maybe 2 people start working. But in the time it took to process those 12 applications there have been three put in their 2 week notice.

At the end of the day the only thing that has given me peace is that Jesus had the same issue. Luke 10:2 “He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

If the greatest human/God/man that ever walked the earth had worker shortages… then who the heck am I to get frustrated? But let’s look at this verse starting from the back. Who’s field is it? God’s! Who’s job is it to provide the labor? God’s! Who do we ask? God!

Where’s the advice on recruiting?

So I’ll continue to put the need out there in print, video, and verbals… but after it’s all said and done… I’m praying to the Lord of the harvest to send me some laborers. It’s His field.

Plus, the right people, God-called people, they’re worth waiting for.

Check out this post on Nobody’s Listening featuring the Kids Camp games I created, built and ran at this summer’s Southern Missouri Kids Camp.

Kids Camp Games

It’s summer again and for me that means Kids Camp! This year I’m working as staff and am in charge of designing, building, delivering and operating the outside games portion of the camp.

I just finished sketching up the games that I will be building over the next two weeks–with help I hope—and wanted to share them.

If you have any suggestions or camp game ideas… shoot them my way. Our theme this year is Candy… so all of my games were created with that in mind.

See them here on my flickr.

Have you ever started to tell someone about something hilarious that happened to you only to end feeling silly and having to say, “I guess you had to be there”? I’d like to help you never to be in that position again. The trick is to tell the story in a way that puts the listener right there with you… so they feel like they were there. Here are some tips to help make that happen.

Tell the story with confidence.

Assume that your listener is interested in what you have to say. That they aren’t picking apart every sentence. People like to be entertained. They don’t want your story to stink! It’s a waste of their time. They’re on your side. If you will start with that assumption, your storytelling will improve right off the bat. Continue reading →

There will be times where people come to you with the express purpose of talking junk about your Senior Pastor. They’ll make it sound respectful. They’ll talk you up before they dive in. It’ll be hard for you to respond, that’s the way they like it. They may even have a valid point or two… but they’re wrong. Always. They’re wrong because they’re talking to you about it. They should be talking to him/her.

When this happens you must speak up. Don’t just stand there and listen.You may think that listening is harmless, that not saying anything is the same as defending them. They will quote your silence! They’ll say, “He agreed with me, but he couldn’t say anything because he’d get in trouble.” Speak up. Say something to tell them you support your leader.

Don’t expect to fix them… or even to change their mind. Just support your Pastor. You were not called to be liked, you weren’t even called to your church, you were called to support the vision of your Pastor. So unless he’s doing something immoral, align yourself with what God is doing in your church by having his back.

We’ve recently given the Children’s Department a name. I suppose it had one… The Children’s Department… but isn’t that more of a title than a name? It sounds so… departmental. Someone walks into my church and says, “Hey, I’m looking for a kid, do you have any of those?” and someone says back, “Sure! Head down to the children’s department aisle 4”. Blah!

Last Friday at our first CM Summit meeting I announced our new name, The Kids LIFE Department. The word LIFE is an acrostic created by our Senior Pastor which is the mission of our church, to Love, Instruct, Fulfill and Evangelize. The name came with a new logo, created by myself, which you see above.

There are six ministries which comprise the department: Elementary Children’s Church, Pre-School Children’s Church, Junior Bible Quiz, Royal Rangers, Missionettes and Kids LIFE Classes (small groups). It was great getting everyone together to cast vision, kill discouragement and unite us under a new banner.

Have you ever been in a ministry situation where you were doing more damage control with your leaders than you were doing ministry? If you haven’t you will be one day. It’s not a prophecy of doom, just a fact of life. People are flawed, all of us… and when flawed people get together, drama happens.

The important thing as a leader is to keep your eyes focused on what God sees in the situation. It’s not so much being able to see it, but allowing God to constantly adjusting your view while you go through. He will help you see the influences behind why people are the way they are rather than the attitude they have when expressing how they are.

While it’s important to stand your ground… it’s even more important to question your own influences and reasons. If you’ve found yourself on the wrong side of an argument, stop and fix it! It’s not a weak person who admits they were wrong… a weak person never admits any weaknesses at all.

When someone says something that gets our heart racing, and especially when they have made a point, it is so natural to want to lash back a smart reply, blast out a text message or spew a few quick emails. Take your time and think and pray about every step in this drama parade. You are not here to win an argument, you are here to train people to follow the plan of God for your ministry. God is patient with us and we are supposed to display that patience to them.

That being said, don’t procrastinate and don’t use text! Text messages and email do not convey tone. People will always, always, always misunderstand you through text. Call them or meet with them face to face when you are responding. Make sure you do so in a timely manner. Take as much time as necessary but as little as possible. Pray, think, act. Ignored drama does not, no, never go away.