[Kid Inspiration]

Brilliant post from Michael Hyatt at Working Smart:

As a CEO, I get asked this a lot. And, I’m always a little embarrassed by it. For the most part, I get the question from people who are in their twenties. They want to know “the secret path to the top.”

This past weekend, I received an email from one of my readers. He started, “I have an MBA, but I must have missed the course on Fast-Tracking My Career. If you had to boil it down to one thing, Mr. Hyatt, what would you recommend to a young, aspiring person such as myself?”

I’m not sure I could boil it down to one thing. Life isn’t usually that simple. But if I really, really had to boil it down to one thing, I would say this: responsiveness. read on.

We move fast in ministry. Success is celebrated briefly, failure is quickly forgotten. We started our 7th service tonight. It was new and exciting, but within two weeks, it will be as if we have been doing it forever!

Dave Ferguson (Community Christian Church Chicago) writes (a few weeks ago) on “four rules for fast teams“, adapted from Fast Company (one of my favroutie business blogs).

1. LET THE GROUP MAKE IT’S OWN RULES.
2. SPEAK UP EARLY AND OFTEN.
3. LEARN AS YOU GO.
4. FAST HAS TO BE FUN.  

Read on at daveferguson.org

Ouch!

http://theresurgence.com/mdblog_2006-05-24_death_by_ministry 

Oh Man. You need to read this! And then spend a week in prayer and fasting, then read it again. Then if possible after reading it again, make sure you understand that a life of ministry is a spiritual battle.

eg. (USA) Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.

In Australia alone, there are over 10,000 ex-pastors.

Via The Church Report

This survey was sent to 2,000 church leaders with the goal of ranking the nation’s fastest growing churches and churches with more than 2,000 weekend attendance. The 127 churches nominated for the 50 Most Influential Churches survey were located in 32 states and represented 27 affiliation groups and/or denominations.

It would be fascinating to read about the 50 most influential Children’s Ministries in the world, and if they correlate to the 50 most influential churches…

On that note, what are your top five influences in your ministry to kids?

Leave a comment, I will need to think on it a bit.

Rick Muchow is the worship pastor at Saddleback church – Check out this article on Pastors.com where Rick answers a question about kids praise and worship
Key Paragraph:

The worth of our children is so significant and powerful! They are the next generation of our church, but often we are so busy leading the adults who are asking to be led and funding the church, that we end up with our leftover energy going to the children. We as churches often train our younger ministers by putting them with the children. I wonder how our churches would grow if we asked our best leaders to focus on teaching the children first. It could radically change the church of the future!

I just finished reading the transcript of a discussion with Rick Warren — senior pastor of Saddleback Church in California (for link see previous post).

It is a fascinating read where Rick is responding to a whole bunch of media types… reporters, journalists etc. I just had to comment on a coupld of quotes made by Rick regarding the reason he is a pastor.

…God called me to be a pastor, not a politician. If I believed you could change the world through politics, I’d run for government. But I don’t think you ultimately change people’s hearts through legislation. I think you change people’s hearts through personal transformation.

- Rick Warren

It seems that society, especially in Western nations, now look to the government for the solutions and the answers. And if you want to change the world and make it a better place for mankind, you gotta get in a political party.

Now being a politician is a great calling, but for me I am called to be a pastor. I want to invest my life in service that has greatest impact in the Kingdom of God. I want to serve and influence the politicians, the musicians, the entrepreneurs, the business people not only of today but tomorrow. That’s why I lead children!

I firmly believe it is the most fertile harvest field in the entire world, worthy of my full attention. Worthy of my best efforts, the best resources, and a standard of excellence that demonstrates the love Jesus Christ has for children.

It is not enough to see kids as a training ground for ‘real’ ministry you can’t get more real than a child grasping for the first time the meaning of the cross, or the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have to shepherd everybody. I have a church full of both Republicans and Democrats. And you know what, I love them all. And I don’t care how they vote; I still love them. And that’s my job – I’m not a politician, I’m a pastor.

- Rick Warren

The church is not peripheral to the world, the world is peripheral to the church. Not the building, not the crowd, not the denomination but you and I serving Christ around the world and looking after the widows and the orphans — the marginalized of society.

Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Florida, in May 2005 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle conference on religion, politics and public life. Conference speaker Rick Warren, pastor of the largest church in America, addressed misconceptions many Americans have about mega-churches. He also discussed his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, as well as current trends in the evangelical movement, the work his church is doing for AIDS and poverty relief in Africa, and some of his views on hot-button political and cultural issues.
Click here to read the transcript…

It’s a cool thing to hear Rick’s global perspective.

If you have been reading this blog for a while you may notice that I often quote Perry Noble, senior pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina, when he says cool stuff. It is GREAT to hear a senior pastor talk about children and families like this on his blog.

More Power to ya Perry!

Every time I need to explain something twice to a leader/volunteer/staff member… it says something more about me than the other person…

“I obviously did not explain it well enough the first time”

Now of course its not always me with the issue, maybe people don’t listen to me, maybe they cannot understand my Australianised New Zealand accent, maybe I mumble… hang on, they are issues with me.
But anyhoo…

In a day where we see 1500 marketing messages a day, and spend most of our time listening to iPods clear communication is vital!

Scott Hodge writes about “Leading in Times of Change & Transition” from the Centre for Creative Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership’s Michael Wakefield recently gave some “communications fundamentals” when leading in times of change and transition:

• Communicate relentlessly.  Now is not the time to keep quiet.
• Listen.  Pay attention to what people are saying, thinking & feeling.
• Explain the change.
• Make an appeal.  Draw on a sense of loyalty, courage, morality or other principles that tie the organization’s change strategy to what is important to people.
• Articulate expectations.  Clearly explaining why, how and when things will need to happen will set expectations and create a healthy level of stress and pressure.
• Be visible. Find ways to interact!
• Confront problems and conflict.  Don’t postpone dealing with challenging issues or conflict.  Avoidence will only harm you, your co-workers and your organization.
• Be honest and open.  An effective leader will ask the hard questions and foster an environment of honesty and candid discussion.
• Show respect.  Treat people with genuine concern and sincere consideration.
• Make room for doubts. Don’t dismiss, write-off or label employees too easily or too quickly.
• Don’t dismiss the old.  Help people through transition by acknowledging their history and attachments.
• Be sincere and authentic.  Don’t try to bury or deny your own reactions to ongoing events.
• Trust people to handle the truth.  Tell them what you know and own up to what you don’t know.
• Demonstrate that you can handle the truth.  Stay connected to a broad circle of people and make it clear that you want them to share their concerns and ideas.

Communication… getting what is in your head into someone elses head.

There is a VERY interesting post on Church Marketing Sucks.

When reading e-mails people in the study understood the intent only 56% of the time, compared to 75% understanding when listening to a voice recording of the same message.
Miscommunication in Text

What DO our kids hear when we talk?

I know one child who in our yearly annointing service telling her mum that she was “Japanesed Oiled”…

What the?

What are you hearing when you read this blog?

Communication… or lack of it, probably starts 90% of the issues we have in our ministries.

It’s coming down in a few days.

http://kidinspiration.com/different

This is your last chance to get your hands on “Think Different”. A special report I have made available for Jan 2006 only!

It is also your last chance to enter the competition for a “Super Strong God” DVD.

http://kidinspiration.com/different

Just let me say, you could still win this DVD quite easily, just simply let your ministry friends know about this report.

Why am I taking it down at the end of Jan?
Well, we all need some urgency now and then to get us going. And February is too
late to be planning your year, so hence the time restriction!

So, don’t miss out!

Does your ministry have a vision statement?

http://www.coldwatercafe.com/vision-statements.htm

Here’s a list of a bunch of them.

Perry Noble is the Senior Pastor of New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina.

His blog (at perrynoble.com) gives a GREAT perspective from a senior pastors point of view. It is refreshing to see church leaders blogging and letting it all hang out!

I had been reading for a couple of months when he posted this entry about children at his church!

Fantastic… read it right through!

Key Quote:
“Kid’s ARE worth our attention–our time–our money–our effort. They are NOT the church of tomorrow–they are the church of TODAY! To all who volunteer in our children’s ministry–THANK YOU…you are making a difference…and because of what you are allowing Jesus to do through you I feel that many children will not stray down the path that I took–God is using you to reach them…and this community is a better place for it!”

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church is profiled as one of Americas 25 best leaders. A very complimentary and interesting look at his leadership style. And also great to see church leaders among all the business and government people profiled.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051031/31warren.htm

Seriously – check this out… do it now!

This test from Lead the Way God Made You: Discovering Your Leadership Style in Children’s Ministry by Larry Shallenberger will help you discover your unique leadership strengths. Then use Larry’s book for the second step of the leadership journey—discovering how to best use what God’s given you to bless your ministry, your co-workers, and the kids you serve.

We should and can expect parents to make right decisions about their children — right?

Parents want their kids to grow up strong, healthy and have the knowledge neccasary to lead a productive life — right?

Maybe we assume to much? If you ask any parent the question above, the overwhelming response will be — “of course they want that for their child”.

Parents may have the desire to see that for their children, but lets assume that they don’t know HOW to achieve that. Just like what happened in the recent hurricane Katrina disaster — FEMA and the American Red Cross launched a pilot progam in which 10,500 emergency debit cards at a value of $2000 a piece were issued to evacuees.

The program was killed within a few days of its implementation, though, because of reported abuses: one survivor reportedly bought “over $700 in high heel shoes and purses” at a Memphis department store “while (her) younger children, most of them looked under the age of 3, looked like they haven’t showered in weeks.”

“If they make an inappropriate decision as to what to purchase, the whole issue of victims’ rights comes into play,” said Bill Hildebrandt, CEO of the Mid-South chapter of the American Red Cross, “They have a right, I guess, to be inappropriate.”

Lets always assume, when dealing with parents, that they have the desire but not the knowledge — and work to educating them to approporiate decisions!