New Year's Eve!

I'm in the office today working on a Jan. staff retreat for our children's directors. It's quiet around the office this week. Several staff are on vacation.

I can't wait until tonight. I've got a date with my wife. Our oldest son, Josh, is in Vegas visiting friends. Our youngest son, Caleb, is spending the night at a friend's house. So I have a special night planned for Pamela and I to celebrate New Year's eve together.

First, we are going to dinner at Legal Sea Foods at City Place.



City Place is a cool area in downtown Palm Beach. We have a campus that meets there in a performing arts theatre.



After dinner, we are going to see Valkyrie. Not a huge Tom Cruise fan, but the reviews have been good, so we'll check it out. Any movie about someone trying to eliminate Hitler has to be good.



Then we are going to welcome in the New Year by relaxing on the beach right down the street from Donald Trump's house.



Well, better get back to work...lots to do between now and 5 o'clock.

Happy New Year!

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Puppets Anyone?

I believe puppets are a great tool to share the Gospel with kids. In our new children's building the preschoolers will be attending chapel in an indoor park that has a giant two-story tree/treehouse. The treehouse will be called Zach's treehouse (short for Zacchaeus...short...no pun intended). The preschooler's chapel will be a Playhouse Disney type experience with puppets coming out of the tree/treehouse and interacting with live actors, video, music, etc. Preschoolers connect well with puppets and I believe pairing that with live actor interaction, music, video, etc. will be a highly effective way to grab their attention and share God's truth.

I occasionally use puppets for 1st-3rd graders. Puppets for this age should be more advanced (check out www.axtellpuppets.com) and use lots of humor. Your scripts should target the third grade boy in the group.

4-5th grade...we never use puppets. Puppets stop for us at 3rd grade. Today's 4-5th graders in my opinion don't connect with puppets due to the "coolness" factor.

Do you use puppets? Any tips or ideas?

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What Really Matters

Dr. John Maxwell is a teaching pastor at our church. He is doing a three week series entitled "What Really Matters." Great teaching for the new year. If you'd like to watch you can go to our website at www.gochristfellowship.com. May 2009 be your best year ever!

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Making a Difference...One Kid At A Time!

Our theme for a recent leadership training for our team was "Making a Difference...One Kid At A Time!" Below is a video we put together to encourage them. It shows how they are making a difference...one kid at a time!


Find more videos like this on cmconnect.org

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Happy Birthday Pamela!

Last Friday my wife, Pamela, celebrated her 40th birthday
(39 and holding per the cake).
I arranged a surprise party for her.
Below are some pics from the party!
Pamela is the love of my life.
She has been by my side for over 19 years.
She grows more beautiful with each passing year.
I gave her a set of diamond earrings for her birthday.

Happy birthday...I love you!

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We Ain't Got Nobody!

Recently I was in a check-out line at a large department store. The cashier was scanning my purchases…and then it happened. One of the items was missing the sku number and she couldn’t ring it up. Don’t you hate it when that happens!I really needed the item, so I asked if she could page someone to get one that had a sku number on it. She sighed, looked around, and then said something I will never forget. She said “We ain’t got nobody!” Translated that means, “Too bad…I am not going to make an effort to help you.” I am often amazed at the lack of customer service effort some people put forth. I guess they forget that the customer is why they are there.But before we go pointing the finger at someone else, we should take a hard look at the ministries we lead. Each week families walk in our doors that need our help.What kind of help do they need? Below is a good starting point. Lifeway recently conducted an on-line survey to find out the top ten issues facing families today. Here are the results…

1. Anti-Christian Culture: The stripping away of Christian heritage and traditional values.

2. Divorce: The ongoing wave of broken marriages and families both within the church and without.

3. Busyness: The participation in numerous activities crowding out quality family fellowship.

4. Lack of a Father Figure: The absence of a father in the home or lack of strong participation in the family.

5. Lack of Discipline: The death of respectful behavior as a norm in our schools, churches, and families.

6. Financial Pressures: The chronic misuse of debt and/or mismanagement of financial resources.

7. Lack of Communication: The increasing abbreviation or near elimination of meaningful family memberinteraction.

8. Negative Media Influences: The growing influx of destructive images and messages into the home.

9. Balance of Work and Family: The rising pressure to invest more of one’s energy in work at the expense offamily.

10. Materialism: The placing in high regard of ownership and consumption as a family priority.

These are the kind of issues that the families we minister to are facing…and they are coming to us for answers. It’s as if they are standing in front of us waiting for our response. Will our response be “we ain’t got nobody” to help you?Back to my department store experience. Here I am standing in line...wondering what to do… a long line of people behind me giving me the “look.” I really needed the item that didn’t have the sku on it. About that time a manager walked by. I asked for his help. His response was different. He immediately accessed the situation and told the cashier to ring up the item at well below the original price. His leadership had stepped in and made the difference.My prayer is that we will be like that manager. We will see families that are facing the above issues and we will step in to bring answers and hope. Instead of saying “we ain’t got nobody” let’s say “we are here for you and God’s Word has the answers to the issues you are facing.”

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Hate the Wait!

Do you hate to wait in line? I do! I know I should slow down some and "enjoy" waiting patiently in line sometimes...but it's hard. I think most people hate waiting in line. We've been watching our check in lines...our check out lines...the last few weeks at church to see how long people are having to wait. I can see the "I'm trying to be patient" look on parents faces when the line is long. We've made some adjustments in the last two weeks to cut down line time. Here are a few things we have done...

1. At kiosk check in, we have greeters that point people toward open kiosks. This helps keep the line from backing up.

2. In our preschool environment, we have people in the hallway with a radio during check out. They go down the line and radio the name of the second family back so when they get to the door their child is waiting. This little step has really helped shorten the wait time.

3. In our 1-3rd grade environment, we just opened an additional exit door. That one step cut the wait time in half.

4. We encourage just one parent to come pick up their child. This makes the lines shorter and not as crowded.

After church today my wife and I went to get groceries. The check out line was way backed up. Not my favorite thing to do...stand in line while football games are starting.

The last thing I want to happen is for a new family to come and be frustrated because of wait time. They might just think it's too crowded and decide not to come back.

What do you do to keep people from hating the wait?

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What Title Do You Give People Who Serve?

In the past few years, I have tried to move away from calling people who serve "volunteers." When I referred to them as "volunteers" it seemed to create a mindset that they were not as important as staff. When asked an important question by a guest, they would say "you better ask __________ (staff member)...I'm just a volunteer."

I have started calling people who serve "team members." They are not "just" a volunteer. They are ministry partners who are the reason ministry happens. I have found that this helps create more ownership, empowerment, and confidence for them as they serve. They are just as vital to the ministry as any staff member.

What do you call the people who serve with you? Love to hear some ideas.

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There's A Reason!

I have found that many times when kids act up it is because of deeper issues going on in their life or home.
Here's an example. ___________is a 2nd grader. Last night I was called to the room he was in. He was crying and trying to get out of the room. I took him out of the room and he immediatley clung to my side. I could sense he was afraid. He sobbed to the point where he was shaking. I knew something had to be going on. When mom came I pulled her aside to find out what was wrong. She broke down in tears as she shared what was going on in ________'s life. His father has never been a part of his life and as a result he is very insecure and has seperation anxiety. This little boy is desperately looking for someone to care and value him.

Next Wednesday I and two other children's staff members are going to pick him up after school. We're heading to McDonalds for food and fun. We're going to spend time just showing him we care and value him. The tears dried up and a smile came on his face last night when I told him. Mom thanked us for caring and I saw hope come into her eyes.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a kid who is acting out what is going on inside his/her heart is to find out the reason and love them unconditionally. A caring hug can often accomplish much more than a harsh look.
So before we're so quick to reprimand...let's remember...there's a reason.

p.s. Update - the time we spent with him at McDonalds made a big difference. He comes into the room now each week with a big smile on his face.

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1-On-1 Staff Meetings!

Every Wed. our entire children's ministry staff team meets together. But every other month I take one week to meet with each staff member one on one instead of having a group meeting. This allows us to connect on a more personal basis. Here's some of the things I ask them.

1. How is their life outside of ministry?
2. What are some wins they have had in their ministry?
3. What are some ministry challenges they are facing?
4. How can I better serve them?
5. What are some tools I can provide them with so they can be more effective?
6. What is their vision for the coming months?

I end the meeting by encouraging them and letting them know how much I appreciate them. I remind them they are making a big difference.

I am honored to serve with the people on our team. They are my close friends...we've got each other's backs...we enjoy doing life together...we're a family!

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Books We Are Reading!

We are always reading books together as a children's staff. We read a minimum of 1-2 chapters each week and then discuss it in staff meeting. Here are the two books we are currently reading...

-Creating Ever Cool...A Marketer's Guide to a Child's Heart
-Doing Church As A Team

Reading and discussing books together is a great way to grow as a team.

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Formula For Improving Your Serve!

Each week we walk thru the three steps below in our staff meetings. One of our staff members works for Disney as well and brought these to us. These are questions that Disney asks it's team. Each week we try to improve at least one thing about our ministry. Just think, if you do that every week you will be 52 times better this time next year!

Disney uses a model known as START, STOP, CONTINUE when reviewing rides, attractions, shows, and even special events or yearly themed parties. The idea is that they take certain aspects of what they are reviewing and apply the SSC model to it. It helps to clearly identify what changes, if any, need to be made. Here is a breakdown of how the model works...

START - what new idea could be used to make the show or event even better.

STOP - what is not working and needs to be replaced or completely discontinued in order to appeal better to guests.

CONTINUE - things that are working out great or have been big hits with guests (would eventually fall into the STOP model after a certain amount of time or be replaced by a new idea from the START model).

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