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I remember when I first became a kids pastor years ago there were only a couple of options when it came to attending a conference. It was this or that. There are now so many conferences out there that how you pick conferences has to change. I believe that you now need to attend a conference based on what you feel your needs are. Until a couple of years ago I had only attended a few conferences in the course of 12 years of ministry. I was not a conference junkie by any means. I did pick conferences that I felt would help me grow a pastor and leader.

Over the next few days I am going to talk about the conference I will be attending in the fall and highlighting a few of each conferences strong points. This by no means will be a comprehensive list, but rather a point of reference that I hope will help you make the best decision for you and the ministry you lead.

I believe you need to keep a few things in mind before blindly booking a conference package. As you read my posts over the next few days ask yourself these questions.

1. What area do I need to grow in most this coming year?
2. Where is my church at presently and where is it headed?
3. What is the bottom line price of this even with pre-cons included?
4. What value can I add as someone attending?

 

 

We started doing minute to win it games as a way to transition to different parts of our service and build excitement at the same time. We do three rounds of boys vs. girls whichever team wins gets 100 bonus point to our Uptown Store. The kids love it! It adds a great level of predictable unpredictableness.

Bobble head –

1) After the headband/pedometor is on the head, the device is set to zero in steps mode.
2) When the clock starts, , player may begin head and body motion without touching the pedometer to register “steps.”
3) If the pedometer/headband moves, the player may stop motion to prevent it from falling off, re-adjust the headband, then continue.
4) To complete the game, player must record 125 “steps” within the 60-second time limit.

Instead of kids banging their heads we have the put the pedometer on their pocket and jump up and down.

Loner –

1) Set up the pencil on it’s unsharpened end 15′ away from the foul line.
2) Player begins game lying down on their stomach behind the foul line.
3) When the clock starts, player may begin rolling marbles 1 at a time with 1 hand towards the pencil.
4) Player must release the marble behind the line. If a marble released across the line knocks over the pencil, the game is over.
5) To complete the game, player must knock down the pencil with a marble that’s released within the 60-second time limit.

Kidmin tweek – We use a marker and a pingpong ball not a marble and a pencil

Keep it up –

1) When the clock starts, player may release two feathers and begin to blow on them to keep them in the air.
2) If the feather touches any part of the player’s body, or touches the floor, the game is over. Incidental contact on the face is allowed.
3) To complete the game, player must use only his or her breath to keep both feathers from touching the ground for the 60-second time limit.

Kidmin tweek We use three balloons instead

Bite me -

1) Set up the game by cutting each grocery bag to a different height (10″, 8″, 6″, 4″, and 2″) on the floor, right side up.
2) When the clock starts, player may attempt to pick up the tallest bag and may only touch the floor with his or her feet.
3) If player touches the ground with some body part other than the feet while attempting to grab a bag, he or she must reset by standing up before making another attempt.
4) To complete the game, player must have all 5 bags concurrently on the table within the 60-second time limit.

Kidmin tweek – We make the heights of the bag higher than they do on Minute to win it.

Chris Spradlin over at EpicParent.tv wrote a great post about Tattling vs. Telling. I love his take in encouraging our kids not to tattle we need to also let them know when to tell.Read it here.

I have had a few parents ask abou the issue of tattling. I thought I would address it in my Guerrilla guide.

At the Luce house you are tattling if you are telling Mom and Dad about something that you haven’t tried to resolve first. In our quest to be fair and keep the peace with our kids we are not teaching our kids to be problem solvers. What we are teaching them to be are whiners.

What does this look like?

Boy #1 is repeating everything boy #2 is saying. Boy #2 is frustrated and he comes and tells mom and dad that Boy #1 won’t stop copying him. Dad says “Did you tell him to stop” Boy #2 “No” – That in our home is tattling.

Boy #1 is repeating everything boy #2 is saying. Boy #2 is frustrated and he comes and tells mom and dad that Boy #1 won’t stop copying him. Dad says “Did you tell him to stop” Boy #2 “Yes and he still won’t stop” – That in our home is telling. Totally permitted. Teaching kids to speak up does two things. It teachings the kid who is frustrated to learn how to create boundaries. It helps the kid who is being annoying that they need to respect others if they are going to achieve anything in life.

We need to give our kids the tools they will need in life and help them be problem solvers. Stepping in and solving conflict FOR your kids helps no one.

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Of all the teens, young adults and especially those in Bible college I have asked what they want to do in the ministry, almost all say youth pastor. I don’t say this in a bitter way at all, because I was one of those who said the same thing: “I want to be a youth pastor.”

At age 13 I had a dramatic experience and knew that God was calling me to full time ministry. I went to four years of Bible college and took classes to prepare for youth ministry. I did a youth pastor internship for a summer in the church I currently serve as a children’s pastor.

My pastor approached me at bible college and asked me to work full time at the church with the youth. I moved out to Utica right out of Bible college. I arrived in Utica and helped my friend Mike Servello start the youth group. I was here for about a month when one of the pastors sat me down and explained to me that I was now in charge of all the kids‘ ministries.

Honestly I was devastated. I felt I was called to work with youth. I just moved across the country. I prayed and asked God if this is what you want me to do, then you have to give me a passion for it. It didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. I now feel so passionately about kids ministry that, given a choice, I will always choose kids ministry.

To be a children’s pastor you need the following:

1. You need to treasure Christ more than anything – If you don’t you will quit
2. Need to be very administrative. You can’t be a children’s pastor without some level of administrative ability.
3. You must be more kingdom-minded than department-minded.
4. You have to realize that what you do may not be seen by man and be genuinely OK with that.
5. You have to know how to recognize the gifts that people have and know how to implement them.
6. You have to know how to reproduce yourself in others.
7. You need to be able to communicate truth and vision to adults and kids in a simple manner.
8. You need to work well with the youth pastor. I love our youth pastor. He loves God has a wonderful family and is a team player. So appreciate all he does.
9. You need to have ADD…well, that may not be a requirement, but it does help, and most children’s pastors I know have a touch of ADD if they were really honest.

Let me know what I am missing.