My friend, Sam Luce, is featured on the cover of K! magazine.

If you’re looking for a solid resource to inspire you in kids ministry, K! mag is a great place to start. You can check out the entire mag online (including Sam’s article) here.

Whenever we celebrate baptisms at LifeChurch.tv it’s an exciting event.  We draw a lot of attention to it and intentionally create a celebratory moment for what God is doing.  It’s a great experience.

The most common conversations I have with parents center around this question, “Is my child ready for baptism?”.

A great question that is not easily answered.  My goal as a kids pastor is to equip mom and dad for those little, off-the-cuff conversations they find themselves in on the way home from school one day.  “Mom, when will I be baptized?”

There are a handful of questions I ask a child to determine their readiness for baptism.  For the purpose of equipping, I put these questions on paper and give them to mom and dad so they can be the one leading this conversation with their child… not me.   You can read them here.  Though these questions are helpful in determining a child’s understanding of baptism, I confess this is not a full-proof ‘tool’ for determining readiness.

Why?  Because we can know the right answers to questions and yet not display evidence that it is true in our lives.  I may have all the right responses to the question, but if my actions do not reflect life-change then my words are hollow.

So, how do we equip parents to view these questions through the lens of life-change rather than right responses?

I’ve learned that communication (as it relates to communicating details to the right person at the right time) is NOT a strength of mine.  Nearly every review, assessment, and evaluation communication ranks as one of my weaknesses.

Though I can improve on this, I’ve resolved that this will likely always be my achiles heel.  And I’m okay with that.  My greatest tool for managing this weakness is managing the expectations of others.

I have dozens of conversations throughout the weekend with church attenders.   In many of these conversations I have a solution or course of action for follow up.  This is where I get in trouble.  Within a 45 second conversation I will make a promise to follow up the next week.   The problem is… I commit to an action step but I don’t define for that person what I’m going to do or when I’m going to do it.

The person I just spoke with has the assurance that I will follow through, but here are the issues I’ve come up against:

• They’re expected time frame may look different than mine
• They’re expected outcome may look different than mine

I’ve learned that people come with their own set of expectations and if you don’t meet these expectations they won’t like the resolution… no matter how right the resolution is.  So, I shape their expectations before I leave the conversation.  I make sure they know the following:

• when they can expect me to take action
• what my actions will be
• how the outcome might look
• what they can do to ensure I don’t forget

The final bullet may not be necessary for anyone else.  It works for me.  I make it a joke.  I let them know that if they want to ’seal the deal’ then send me a follow up email just to be on the safe side.  I believe this violates many customer service type mentalities as it communicates that I might forget something as significant as the needs of the person standing before me… and I should have a system in place so I won’t forget… etc, etc.  I’m not arguing that.  And maybe when I grow up I can do that too.  At this point in my life, this works.  And it keeps the poop from hitting the fan.  S’all I’m shoutin’.

Yesterday I talked about strategy.  If you missed, read it here.

Here’s a strategy we’ve put in place for February and the events that pertain:

• Missions – LifeReach (entire month)
• Youth – Big SWITCH (11 & 18)

What is the purpose of each event?

Big SWITCH:  To bring in kids that don’t have a church home.

LifeReach – To engage attenders in acts of service within the community

How can the events benefit each other?

Big SWITCH -  Kids attend initially out of interest.  Retention is determined by relationships.  Relationships occur in small groups.  Small groups naturally spawn from mission events.

LifeReach – Provides an avenue for local mission events where Youth small groups can participate.

This is a win-win scenario.  Youth gains an opportunity for kids to connect with a small group while Missions gains more people participating in a local mission event.

It’s crazy.  Ministry, in general, is crazy in January.  Why?

Holidays are over.  Schedules open up a little.  Renewed commitment to church.  etc etc

Historically, we have a variety of events that hit at the beginning of the year to capitalize on the momentum.  New classes begin, membership opportunities, etc, etc.  My question is… how strategic are you being with your ministry?

I’m not just talking about your ministry (i.e. kids, youth, adult) but how strategic is your church ministry?

Look at it this way.  Your individual ministries are like players on a football team.  Your church mission is the football.  Everyone knows the goal is to get the ball into the end zone.  The question is… how are you going to do that?

You can all run around the field, executing your own plays, fighting for possesion of the ball and ultimately wearing yourselves out.  Or you can put some X’s and O’s on a dry erase board and come up with a way to play together.

I would argue that ministry leaders need to become experts in strategy.  If we can execute an effective strategy then our mission statement becomes more than just words on paper.

Tomorrow I’ll share some strategies we’ve put in place for the month of February.

Nothing bugs me more than the art of  positioning oneself.

It’s annoying.

There is no greater irritation than listening to someone talk about where they would rather be as opposed to where they are… especially when it comes to ministry.  Ministry roles are not rungs on a ladder.  Although I could write for a long time on the value of various ministry roles, I don’t think I need to.

Here’s the deal… If  I’m looking ahead for what God has next, I’m not focused on what He’s placed in front of me.  I can’t lead effectively that way.

Bloom where you’re planted.  Quit looking ahead at where God ‘might’ be leading you and make it happen where He has you today.  Let the next step take you by surprise.

That’s all I’m shoutin’.

I love my team.

I work with a ministry team of 5 that work their tails off to do whatever is necessary to create a kids ministry that is outstanding.  I love hanging out with them.  Love going to coffee.  Love the silly conversations in our area of the office… the laughter… the tears… the wetting of pants.

(I can neither confirm nor deny the actual wetting of pants.  I can only speculate.)

Hanging out with my team is the highlight of my week.

But I hate our team meetings.

I dread them.

We sit in a circle and talk tasks.  We run through an agenda of items.  We force ourselves to talk through challenges, issues, resolutions, etc.

I find they are difficult to lead through b/c I’m not a task-driven person.  Just looking at the list of agenda items makes me want to curl up in a fetal position and suck my thumb.

I understand that tasks are necessary.  I agree that each item on the agenda is important.

But I’d much rather use that precious time to re inspire my team.  Get them on the same page and remind them what our focus is for the week.  We can figure out another way to cover the tasks.

So, I’m revamping the team meeting next week.

There certainly needs to be laughing, guffawing… and some wetting of pants.

The Family:

How do we meet their needs?

My best strategy for helping this family is:

• Open communication – I make sure mom/dad know that open dialogue is welcome and necessary.
• Flexibility – our ministry divides kids (primarily) by age.  However,  many kids with special needs are not developmentally consistent with their physical age. I like to work with mom/dad to find the best option for their child.
• Follow Up – I’ve found that mom/dad are hesitant to move their child up.  Especially if they are doing well in the room they’re in.  However, I’ve learned that often mom/dad need that gentle nudge encouraging them to allow their child to eventually move to a new room with a new age group.  9 times out of 10 mom/dad are surprised at how well their child does.  So I set a reminder on my calendar to follow up with mom/dad anywhere from 6 to 12 months to visit this question.

Here is my philosophy:  If I believe there are no accidents.  If I believe God is the Orchestrator and the Creator of all things, then He crafted this family… one for the other.  This child was crafted (special needs and all) to bring glory and honor to God.  This child was created to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.  Then I want to figure out a way to let the children come to Him and not hinder them. (Matthew 19:14)

Fostering an environment where kids learn about Jesus can be a challenging task.  Introduce a child with special needs to the mix and the task can get a little more complicated. Some churches find themselves without a plan and (therefore) without a solution when this family arrives at their church.

I’ve been in kids ministry for a brief time, but in that time I’ve encountered a variety of special needs kids and their families. The most common things I’ve witnessed are…

• Parents – They need to know their child is welcome, loved and accepted.  Period.
• Volunteers – They need as much support and information as possible.
• Kids – They need consistency (and ditto bullet #1)

Each one is necessary for any family and their child but are vital for a child with special needs.

What is your ministries approach to special needs?