Tag Archive - #kidmin

the eric trap – my thots

April 17, 2012 in books & reviews, leadership, student ministry, thoughts with Comments Off



Jim Wideman-Sam Luce-Kenny Conley are each individually amazingly smart dudes in the Kingdom.  So when they work together they are  truly “uber-brilliant”.  Recently they have joined forces to pen a new short work on leadership for those in the children’s ministry realm.  (Although, i’m convinced that the wisdom of their effort, along with the practical input of their colleagues – Kristin Englund, Sherri Epperson, Craig Gyergyo, Deana Hayes, and Matt McDaniels- is an invaluable tool for anyone in any ministry).

This is day 7 of the “eric trap” blog tour and i’ve offered up a few thots here on my video review.  I’ll admit the fact that fictional children’s ministry Eric Newman works at New Hope Community Church made me taken an even closer look….and there was more than a couple of times where i wondered if Jim-Sam-Kenny had read my journals.  Seriously in more than 6 years as a pastor, vocationally and an additional 30 years as a volunteer in children’s/student  ministry i’ve encountered every aspect of Eric’s tough week chronicled in the book.

I don’t want to spoil the book for you, but when you finish you’ll be wondering what next steps Eric will be taking…and it all comes down to this…

We win or lose by the way we choose.

~Jim Wideman

For the reader the biggest and most practical take away and consideration is the encouragement from the author’s and their team to take your journal and turn the conversation to your own circumstance and begin to process how you are leading.   The task we are called to in ministry is not easy because its about coming along side others who are equally broken and disconnected and offering them a place where together we get to live out our faith by serving God.  Its hard work.  Its supposed to be.

I need to say again, The Eric Trap isn’t just for those in children’s ministry.  The collective wisdom is something i think every leader needs to process through.  And if you’re a volunteer or a parent this book will give you a better appreciation for what should be the expectations in the local church.  It’s an easy read and is worth the investment of time and money.   Its available here.

disclosure:  i did receive a free e-reader copy of this book for this review.

God to the Rescue

April 3, 2011 in books & reviews, student ministry with 2 Comments

normally i’m rambling about student ministry stuff.  but today just a quick shout out to some amazing children’s ministry leaders… Sam Luce, Jonathan Cliff, Gina McClain and Dan Scott. Their collaborative efforts developed a great curriculum, God to the Rescue for use during the current season of Easter.  We’ve been using the equally amazing curriculum from open.lifechurch.tv for the past couple of years.

watching ranger reggie in XK

it was fun today to watch how our elementary age children reacted to the change of pace.  traditionally we’ve always broken the kids up by gender to do the small group  activities.  this series breaks  them up K-2nd and 3rd-5th.  the reaction was really encouraging.  the materials take a little prep work from our volunteers, but its clear its worth the change up.  so change is good.  heard many good comments from the older children especially.    although it was clear the boys were a little more challenged to figure out the steps to making a P, B & J sandwich…a simple task, so they thought.  the analogy was to the instructions that God gives us through his Word.  For the boys it was  “take two slices of bread…”

following the directions to make a P,B & J!

but the girls helped them realize they that you had to undo the twistee-tie on the bag first.  sometimes its really useful to get out of the ordinary.  we’ll be back to lifechurch after Easter, but am grateful for this series to stretch everyone abit.

 

 

the “root” of ‘tween ministry – #kidmin

July 19, 2010 in family, leadership, student ministry, thoughts, travel with 2 Comments

last week i spent a couple of great days in lexington, ky with some kid’s ministry folks at the first ever children’s ministry expo. the expo was the brain-child of ken dovey and roger fields at kidz blitz .   i went partly because i wanted to see what things are coming up the ladder towards student ministry.  while there i had a chance to spend some time with alan root. i’ve known alan for about 10 years…and think he’s one smart guy when it comes to understanding where today’s “tweeners” are.  take some time and check out this breakout he did the first day…tween ministry with 10 Heads & 20 Feet.  those of us in student ministry need to understand more clearly where the hearts of our incoming middle schoolers are in the life of the church and what we need to be inviting them into.  after you’ve watched it, please leave a comment would love to start a conversation…and mark your calendar for next year’s cmx, july 7&8, 2011 in lexington, ky.