Another "A Child Shall Lead Them" Story

I see it happen all the time. God uses children to reach a whole family. Here's one I saw recently...

Jewish family in our area has two kids. The kids attend Hebrew school. But the kids are having behavioral issues at home. It's to the point where mom and dad are looking for some help. They drive by our church and decide to stop in and try it. The parents are amazed when they talk with their children after service. Kids are actually excited about coming to church. Their attitudes start changing at home. They ask mom and dad to keep bringing them back. Parents say "yes" because of the positive changes they are seeing. After a few weeks, God grabs mom and dad's heart. This past weekend, mom and dad walk forward at the end of the service and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

A child shall lead them!

Use the Talents You've Been Given

The economy is affecting most church's giving. Perhaps your budget has been cut. Don't fret. I am reminded of the story of the talents in Matthew 25. Be faithful to use the talents God provides and watch Him bring forth fruit. Sometimes He provides 1 talent...sometimes 5 talents...sometimes 10 talents. All He asks is that we work with what He gives us.

Focus on using what He has provided for your ministry instead of complaining about what you don't have. It's not the amount of talents that you've been given...it's what you do with what you have been given...that's what matters to God.

3 Keys to Unity

One of the keys to a growing ministry is unity. God's Spirit will bless a ministry whose staff team is unified. This week I was reading Colossians 3:12-14 and three keys to unity jumped off the page at me. I shared them with our team this morning at our prayer time.

1. Love one another. Unconditionally. (vs. 14)
2. Accept one another. (vs. 12)
3. Forgive one another. (vs. 12)

Protect the unity of your team and church at all costs.

Becoming All Things To All Men...Includes M & M's

Paul said he became all things to all men so that he could win some. This past Saturday that meant becoming an M & M for me. We set up a booth at the City of Palm Beach fall festival and passed out candy and invites to our church. We were able to give out over 500 invites and 67 families filled out a card wanting more info about our church.



Anytime you can get outside the walls of your church and into the community...it's a win. Why pull back on Oct. 31 when you can get out into the marketplace like Jesus did and let your light shine?

Below is a video of me (M & M) and Sheano, as Captain America.

A Lesson from Blockbusted!

Our family loves movies. Nothing like chilling with a movie and a bowl of popcorn after a long day of work. We used to go to Blockbuster to rent our movies...a long time ago.



One day we discovered what millions of other people have discovered...Netflix, Redbox, and on demand cable.





Convenience and cost effectiveness quickly made the decision for us. We haven't been inside a Blockbuster store in years.

The day of downloadable movies, on demand cable, and quick, cheap convenience have eaten Blockbuster's lunch in recent years. They recently had to close 282 stores and I am sure more will be closing soon.

But...yesterday I was at our local supermarket and lo and behold...there was a Blockbuster machine with $1 movie rentals. Someone at Blockbuster knew it was time to change or die. Time to adjust to the culture. Time to change to something that will work instead of going down on the sinking ship of past success.

Lesson learned...our Children's Ministries must be willing to change what is not working...make adjustments as needed to stay relevant to the culture around us. If not...you may find yourself Blockbusted. You may find your ministry losing momentum or declining.

Change is never easy, but it's necessary for continued growth and relevance. Blockbuster has my business back. Why? Because they were willing to change the way they do business and become relevant to my life again. They got out of the "come to our store" model and came to where I was.

Are we willing to do the same for the children and families in our community? Are we willing to ask the hard questions and make the necessary changes...even if it offends someone or pulls us out of our comfort zone? Let's learn a lesson from Blockbuster and look at our ministries with the lens of reality.

Join Me at Children's Pastor's Conference in Nashville

I will be leading three sessions at the Children's Pastor's Conference in Nashville on Jan. 4-7. The sessions are....
1. Multi-Site Church Model...Getting Started
2. Multi-Site Trends
3. Mega Church Round table

You can click here to register. Hope to see you there.

When An Effective Leader Speaks...

• Their words are timely.
• Their words are weighty.
• Their words are listened to.
  

The Power of a Hug!

I serve at a great church that is led by a great leader. Dr. Tom Mullins started our church 25 years ago in his living room with just a handful of people. Today over 20,000 people call CF home and countless lives have been changed. This month we are celebrating 25 years of ministry and honoring Dr. Mullins for his faithfulness and leadership. This past Friday night, the church hosted a dinner in his honor. Many people shared testimonies of what God has done in their lives through Dr. Mullin's ministry.

One of the stories involved the power of a hug. Several years ago, a young man who was involved in the drug and gang lifestyle, came to our church and sat on the back row. His mother had been praying for him and asked him to come. He sat and listened to Dr. Mullins preach. After the service, Dr. Mullins made eye contact with him and the young man knew he was coming to where he was. The young man said Dr. Mullins reached out and hugged him. In that instant, the young man knew someone cared for him and his life was changed. He came to God and a great work began in his life.

He shared his story this past Friday night and then expressed his appreciation to Dr. Mullins in the way he now ministers to others....thru rap. Below is a video clip I shot while he was rapping at the dinner. Below is also a video of the young man now...aka...Raw Servant. He now shares Christ with others thru rap.

A hug...symbolizing God's unconditional love...can change a life. Who needs a hug from you this week?

Mitchel Musso Concert

As mentioned in a previous post, a producer for Disney recently started attending our church. He produced a concert this past week in our city with Mitchel Musso. If you stay current with kids, you will recognize the name. Mitchel is one of the stars on the Hannah Montana show.



My new friend hooked me up with around 50 tickets, which I was able to pass out to some kids in our church. Here is a video clip I took at the concert. Our kids had a blast!

How Do You Budget?

It's that time of year for me...planning next year's budget. I am working with our campus directors to finalize their budgets for the five campuses. In addition, I am responsible for the core budget which are funds for initiatives that are used across all campuses.

We are called to be wise stewards. How do we wisely invest the money we have been entrusted with to make the biggest impact? Here is the approach I take...

1. Start with your vision. What is your children's ministry called to do?
2. Create steps that will help you get to that vision. (this includes processes, programming, events, etc.)
3. Prioritize your steps. Narrow it down to a few things that you can do well.
4. Budget to those steps.

I am reminded of the story of the servants who were given talents in the Bible. Some invested wisely and brought forth good fruit while some squandered what they had been given. I want to be a servant of God that uses the finances He provides to bring forth fruit.

Children's Ministry...It's Not Just Ministry to Children

This picture was taken this past weekend. Our exec. pastor was walking by the volunteer suite and took it. It's Sheano, our awesome 1-3rd grade coordinator, ministering to one of his volunteers. It's no accident that his ministry is overflowing with great adult volunteers.

You see...children's ministry is not just ministry to children. It's also ministry to the adults who minister to the children. An effective children's ministry leader is just as passionate about ministering to adults as they are children.

I once attended a seminar with a man who is amazing on stage with children. After the presentation, I wanted to find out more ideas about how he built volunteer teams. He shared with me that basically he ran a one man show. Because of this, his local church ministry had plateaued. You can be great on stage with children, but if you can't build and lead a team, then you will plateau and be limited long term.

I believe one of the best things you can do as a new or young children's pastor is to grow your skills and leadership abilities with adults. Show me a great children's ministry and I will show you a children's ministry that is effective at leading and ministering to adults.

Staff Questions

I am meeting with the children's directors from our campuses this week 1-on-1. Here are the questions I am going to ask them.

1. Self - How are you doing personally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.?
2. Stats - Give me a general overview of your campus - how are things going?
3. Stirring - What is God stirring in your heart - what is something you want to see come to fruition?
4. Struggling - What are some challenges or struggles you are facing?

I give them these questions ahead of time so they have time to think them through.

Bruce Barry Has TV Show Coming

My friend Bruce Barry has a tv show coming to Family Net beginning in November. I first met Bruce 11 years ago when I was searching for someone to design a children's building. God had big plans for Bruce and he has made an impact in churches across the country. Here's a video about his journey and another video about his upcoming television show.

Bruce rocks!

News Coverage of Children's Building Opening

The local news came and covered the opening of our new children's building. It aired Monday night during the evening news. Here is the article in print format on their website.

New village for children's church |West Palm Beach News, South Florida Breaking News, Forecast, Video from WPTV

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New Children's Building Pics

Here are some pics of our new children's building that just opened. Buildings don't reach people...but they can sure get people inside the door so you can reach them through relationships. We are up 56% over this time last year.

Do You Have a Plan?

Tonight I was at the Wellington Greens Mall. I had picked up some shirts and shorts to surprise my son Caleb with. I was walking back to Dillards where I had entered the mall, when suddenly a lady came running out of a store screaming. She was frantic. She began to scream "Gabriella...Gabriella!!!" A couple of employees gathered around her and it quickly became obvious that she had lost her daughter. Everyone seemed frozen with panic as she ran back and forth screaming out her daughter's name.

A lady standing nearby shouted out that they needed to lock down all exits. After a couple of agonizing minutes that seemed like an eternity, the little two year old girl was found in the back of the store.

It reminded me of the extreme importance of having a clear plan of action when a child is missing. Do you have a plan for your ministry? Do your staff and team know what it is? It can mean the difference between tragedy and recovery.

God Sends People!

Catch God's vision for your church's children's ministry and He will send people to fulfill His vision.

• This past weekend we opened our new children's building. (I'll post pics later this week) 260 new people signed up to join our children's team at the opening! And it wasn't a high-pressure, guilt ridden plea from the stage. We simply placed a table in each new room with a person standing beside it to answer questions. God sent these new people because we know He has a big vision to reach lots of new children and families in the days ahead.
• A man recently started attending our church. He came by our children's guest services table a few weeks ago and noticed we do drama and video. As I talked with him, he shared with me what he does for a living. He is a producer for Disney and Universal. Casts shows like Cory in the House, Hannah Montana, etc. He is feeling a call to come alongside us and help with programming, video production, etc. He is meeting with our team next week.

Catch God's vision. If it is His...He will send the people to make it fly!

Busy?

In a mega church you keep telling yourself it is going to slow down. It doesn't. There will always be something else coming. If you're not careful, the pace can turn your ministry into drudgery. Don't let that happen...guard your heart...set boundaries...Jesus didn't heal everyone.

Don't let the grind of ministry steal away the joy of ministry!

Finishing Strong!

Ministry is not a sprint...it's a marathon. I want to finish strong. I was challenged this past week by John Maxwell's father to do just that. He spoke with John at our weekend services. He is 87 and still on fire for God. You can see a great example of someone finishing strong by watching this message. Scroll over to the last of the message to see what it means to finish strong! May God help us to stay faithful in the race!

Pay It Forward!

John Maxwell taught this weekend. He taught on "Pay It Forward" (living for others).
3 questions to ask yourself if you want to pay it forward.
1. What is my spiritual gift? (What can I do well?)
2. What is my passion? (What do I love to do?)
3. What is my opportunity? (What can I do today?)