RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

You've probably heard this before.  

"Everything rises and falls on leadership."

It is so true. 

Do you want to have more leadership influence with the team you lead?

Do you want to see the ministry you lead grow and flourish?

Are you looking for someone who can help you get to the next level as a children's ministry leader?

​Do you want someone who will personally invest in you and your ministry?

​Are you looking for someone who can help you navigate the challenges and struggles you are facing?

​Dale Hudson, one of the leading voices and leaders in children's ministry, can help you grow as a children's ministry leader. Whether it's your first year or fifteenth year in ministry, he can help you and your ministry get to the next level.

​Much, if not, most of ministry wisdom and knowledge cannot be learned in a college classroom. Dale's coaching is grounded not in theory alone, but in proven, hands-on leadership experience. For the past 36 years, he has personally built and led some of the fastest-growing, largest children's ministries in the country.

​ADVANCE Children's Ministry Coaching includes:

• 6 months of coaching. Next available session runs January to June of 2026.

• Monthly group coaching call. Live, one-hour sessions on the important topics listed below. Each session includes teaching and group discussions. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the topics with Dale and the other leaders in the group. Sessions are also recorded so you have access to them later.

Teaching includes...

• Self Leadership

• Leading Staff and Volunteers

• Leading through Changes and Challenges

• Keys to Growing a Ministry

• Creating a Dynamic Children's Ministry Culture in Your Church & Partnering with Parents

• Staying Relevant in Children's Ministry

Personalized growth plan: Personal one-hour phone session with Dale to help you identify areas of growth and development. From this, Dale will help you create a one-year growth plan in those areas. Includes identifying your personality traits, strengths, weaknesses and blind spots. Plan includes developing a personal mission statement, key books to read, guided growth conversations to have with key people in your life, action steps, setting goals and helping measure progress. There is also a one-hour follow-up phone session at the end of the year to access and celebrate your growth.

Copy of 8 of Dale's books: ($114 value)

• If Disney Ran Your Children's Ministry

• Leading Well in Children's Ministry

• The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams

• Fertile Soil...see kids' faith grow and flourish for a lifetime

• 52 Devotions for Children's Ministry Leaders

• Be Our Church Guest

• Legacy...Leave Your Mark On This World  

​How can you be selected to be a part of Advance? Complete the application at this link.

Upon acceptance, Dale will contact you with the next steps.

Spots fill up fast. Apply today. Deadline to register is January 15, 2026.

More questions? Email me at dale@buildingchildrensministry.com.

Hi.  I am Dale Hudson and I'd like to ask you some questions. 

How do you want to be remembered after you are gone?

Do you want the impact you had to continue helping and blessing others in the years and decades to come? 

We all want to leave a legacy of some kind. We want to know that we have made a difference in the short time we have here on earth.  We want to know that our time and efforts helped those who crossed paths with us. I'm sure we share this in common.  We want to be able to put a stamp on the future.  We want to know that our serving investment made a difference in the lives of others.

The older we get, the more we begin to think about this. We begin analyzing our life and seeing if our priorities are reflecting this.

I want to leave a legacy.  I want to invest in and help those who are coming behind me and those who are currently surrounding me to be successful.  We only get to live our life once, so we must be intentional if we want to leave a legacy. There are those who live their life casually and then there are those who strive to leave a legacy. 

Do you want people to talk about you and your work long after you have finished your course?

Do you want the impact you had to continue helping and blessing others in the years and decades to come?

Do you want God to use you to help other people grow and flourish?

Do you want your legacy to resonate for generations to come?

        If that’s you…then I wrote this book for you. Step by step we will discover how to leave a legacy.  You don’t have to be rich or famous to leave a legacy.  In fact, most people who leave a legacy are just ordinary people who make the decision to live their life with purpose.

Yes…you matter.  Yes…who you are matters.  Yes…what you do matters.  Yes…you have the potential to leave a legacy. Are you ready to leave your mark on this world?  Then let’s get started. I want to set you up to be a difference maker.  God is ready to use your life to do something incredible.  Get your copy today and watch what God does in your life. You can order your copy at this link.

The greatest thing you can do for kids this Christmas is to share the Gospel with them. This is the heartbeat of Christmas. 

Here are 3 ways you can effectively share the Gospel with kids this Christmas.

Christmas Lesson

How will you share the Gospel through your lesson?  

I created a special Christmas lesson that shares the Gospel with kids. It's called the The Christmas Gift. It follows the story of a boy named Andrew who discovers the true meaning of Christmas and is given the greatest Christmas gift ever...Jesus. You can get more info. and order the lesson as an instant download at this link.

The Candy Cane Illustration 

Give each child a candy cane and use it to share the Gospel. 

The candy cane was created by a Christian candy maker many years ago.  He made it to help share the Gospel with kids.

White Candy – A symbol of our sinless Savior (2 Corinthians 5:31, 1 John 1:7). His sacrifice for our sins washes them away and makes us clean.

Red Stripes – A reminder that by the shedding of Christ’s blood and His death on the cross we are rescued from our sins and given eternal life. (Ephesians 1:7 & 2:8)

Shepherd’s Staff – The candy cane is in the shape of a shepherd's staff. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and His sheep will hear His voice and follow Him (Psalm 23:1, John 10:11).

Letter J – When the candy cane is turned upside down, it looks like a “J” representing Jesus our Savior (Matthew 1:21, John 3:17).

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Invite the kids to a "Happy Birthday Jesus Party."  Make the party all about Him as the kids celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

Have a happy birthday cake for the kids to eat and take up a special offering for Jesus. Use the money the kids give to help people who are in need or for a special missions project. 

You can get the lesson for this at this link. 

You have to be intentional if you want to see first-time guests return.  

Did you know that the average church only sees about 7% of guests return? 

That's a pretty low percentage, but there are some proven ways you can see more guests return. Let's take a look at 5 ways you can see more guests return. 

The first one is a big one. 

If you want to see more guests return, then you must give them a great first experience. 

You only get one opportunity to make a great first impression. If a guest has a bad first experience, I don't care how many times you email them, text them or even visit them, they are not going to return. You must exceed their expectations on their first experience. 

I've shared before about the time I was having lunch with the pastor of one of the fastest growing and largest churches in the country. I asked him how he followed up with first-time guests and he told me he doesn't follow up. Instead, he puts all of his effort into giving guests a great first experience. As they create what he called "irresistible environments" they see guests return for a second time.  

That strategy was new to me, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  You want to see more first-time guests return? Then raise the quality of your environments. 

Send them a handwritten postcard.  

In the day of digital communication, a handwritten note is golden. A good way to do this is to have your guest service volunteers write the note. They are the people who interact with your guests and this helps the note mean more. Mention something in the note that is specific to that family. An example would be a family who just moved to your area from Pittsburg. Put something in the note that mentions this. 

Offer them a return gift. 

I decided to start offering a t-shirt on their second visit. This has been highly successful in seeing more guests return. We put a note about the return gift on the handwritten postcard. It obviously costs us some money to do this, but we felt it was worth it. When we started offering the t-shirt on the second visit, our return rate went up to 38%. 

Send the parents a text message. 

Did you know that 98% of text messages get read?  94% in the first minute. That's a high, high percentage. On the week after their visit, send your guests a simple text message that thanks them for coming. 

Establish a personal connection. 

I got this idea from another church and it is highly effective.  

Ask a guest parent to meet you for lunch that week.  

Yep. You read that right. Approach a guest parent cold turkey and invite them to meet you for lunch that week. You will be surprised to find out that most will say "yes." Obviously this should be a man meeting a man and a woman meeting a woman. 

Use the lunch to get to know them. Make a good connection and you are almost guaranteed they will be back the next Sunday.  I have seen this work time after time after time. 

Do these five things and I guarantee you that your return rate will go up. 

p.s. Have you gotten a copy of my book "Be Our Church Guest?"  It is full of ideas like this to see more of your guests return. Get your copy today at this link.