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Please visit my great sponsors.

samluce —  February 1, 2013 — Leave a comment

times-square-parade

I appreciate everyone who stops by my site and adds to the conversation. I want to take a few minutes to encourage you to check out some of the things the people who sponsor this site have to offer.

Let The Children Come – Are one of my site sponsors. They offer lots of different child evangelism tools. Love the idea they have for wordless book idea for preteens girls click on there banner to the right to find out more.

Jonathan Martin Creative – They are an unbelievably talented company our church will literally never look the same because of them. Every week when kids come to Uptown and their breath is taken away. I am so grateful to JMC for the time and energy they put into making our space amazing.

KidzBlitz Curriculum – Is produce by Roger Fields a children’s ministry veteran with a huge passion for ministry and helping kids pastors. His stuff is excellent for large group environments. If you do large group in kids ministry or are just looking to change things up, head over to KidzBlitz and see what they have to offer.

Bible Bucks 2.0 - Winner of the 2010 Children’s ministry expo’s Jawdrop innovation award. Bible Bucks 2.0 is a new way to do rewards at your kids church. It’s a web based reward system that will leave your kids talking.

R04r.com - An innovative iPhone app company that was started by a good friend of mine – The user interface is drop dead simple. If you are looking for a iPhone app or android app contact Matt at R04R tell him Sam sent ya!

LifeWay Kids - The people at LifeWay kids are great. I have had the opportunity to talk to them several times over the past few years. Love their spirits and passion for kids ministry currently they are advertising their VBS stuff on my blog. You definitely need to check out the stuff they are coming out with.

Discipleland - Discipleand produces all varieties of kids ministry curriculum. They even have some lessons for nursery aged kids, and a section to download free resources. Check them out by clicking the banner to the right.

Worlds of Wow – Is a one stop shop to custom theme your church or business. Regan heads the company up and is a stand up guy. They put in our indoor playground in our church and 5 years later the kids love it like the first time they played in it.

God’s Kids Worship – Bob and his team do an amazing job of producing modern worship for kids. If you are looking for christmas songs for you kids or worship songs they have you covered. You’ll be glad you did.

Children Desiring God Conference. – This is one conference I have not been to but would love to go to. I have listened to countless sermons by John Piper and have read many of his books. His life message, challenges me every day “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

The Orange Conference - Love the heart and message of Orange. So appreciate Reggie and his team. If you have never been to the Orange conference put it on list of conferences that you need to attend.  For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

Children’s Pastor’s Conference – Went to CPC for the first time last year was really blown away by the quality of conference Michael Chanley and his team put on. Lots of practical how twos as well as inspirational general sessions. If you haven’t been to CPC in a few years you need to come see what all the changes are about. For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

Children’s Ministry Magazine – Chris Yount Jones and the folks at group have made such an impact in many aspects of Children’s ministry. From VBS, their Magazine, books and resources to help Children’s ministres be more effective. Group really is passionate about helping ministry leaders connect and grow. For more information click on the Children’s Ministry Magazine link and their Faithweaver link on the right.

 

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How to communicate so kids can understand. – CPC 2013 Breakout #1

samluce —  January 17, 2013 — 4 Comments

How to Communicate to kids.

Communicating to to anyone especially kids is more of an art than a science. I remember teaching a lesson to the kids it was a small group of like 30 kids I was going for it I had props I was ready I was engaging a boy in the 3rd grade raised his hand and I called on him he said “This is boring.”

Where you start from is as important as where you go.

To communicate to kids you need the following

1. A love for God’s word – No matter how fun amazing crazy slimy, explosiony our message is if we are not continually pointing kids back to the bible we will have failed. We have to be more intentional than ever to create a biblical world view in the hearts of our kids.

Psalm 119:89-93
89 Your word, LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.
90 Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.
91 Your laws endure to this day,
for all things serve you.
92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have preserved my life

2. A love for Jesus – If you love Jesus it will fundamentally change how and why you do what you do. The core of our teaching has to be the Gospel. – When kids encounter the Gospel it changes them fundamentally.
One of the advantages of serving in kids ministry at the same church for 14 years you are able to see the results of ideas and philosophies you have. One of the things I regret most is not preaching the gospel as clear or as often as I should of. I don’t change hearts Jesus does.

Romans 1:16-17 
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Communicating to kids in large group setting.

  1. Always maintain eye contact – Kids learn with their eyes if you don’t have their eyes you don’t have their hearts and minds and most importantly their imaginations.
  2. Don’t stay in the Safety Zone -  We all have a level we are comfortable with don’t stay there have Highs and lows. One of the best ways to get the attention of you kids is not yelling at them but by getting quiet.
  3. Don’t just give kids facts your information will not be life changing if it conveyed in the context of a story. Jesus did this all the time he called them Parables. Tell kids truth in a story. Tell them stories about you. Kids love personal stories about you especially if you messed up in some way.
  4. Talk to kids like people not babies – Hello boy’s and girls (elmo voice)
  5. Use massive amounts of energy. – You can rarely be to animated. If you feel stupid you are probably right on track.
  6. Help kids focus – Use lights, segments and music
  7. Be relevant – Know what kids like now don’t use examples from when you were a kid.
  8. Use your Bible – Bring it on stage. Kids need you to reinforce that bible is life. It’s not a book of fairy tales.
  9. Distill truth don’t simplify it. – We underestimate what kids can understand Einstein said “If you can’t Distill it you don’t  understand it well enough.”  One huge example for me was faith I used to describe it as “Believing in the unseen” that is a simple definition of faith a distilled version is “Knowing God loves you and because he loves you, you can trust him no matter what.” It’s easy to understand, theologically correct and doesn’t lose the power though oversimplification.
  10. Always elevate Christ – I always try in the application section to elevate Christ that because of what He’s done for us it empower us to live for him.

Communicating to kids in a small group

  1. Listen – Kids want to talk listen to them.
  2. Know you lesson, know you lesson – The better you know what you are doing the more you kids feel respected. The more you can connect with your kids. The more you can listen to the Holy Spirit and make those small adjustments that make all the difference.
  3. Take every question seriously.
  4. Be there for the families of you small group kids. What you teach makes an impact but when you capitalize on those God moments your kids will never forget it.

Communicating to kids one-on-one

  1. Get down to their eye level
  2. Make sure you always great the kids before the parents.
  3. Give kids your full attention when they are talking.

Resources

The Fabulous Reinvention of Sunday School – Aaron Reynolds
Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe edition – Sally Lloyd-Jones
An Hour on Sunday – Nancy Beach
Creating ever cool

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Are youth ministry and kids ministry unbiblical?

samluce —  June 25, 2012 — 22 Comments

One of the members of our church had a conversation with me a this weekend they asked me if kids ministry and youth ministry were biblical. He was asking not out of disagrement but more out curiosity as to what my response would be. This question has started to come up because of the state of the church in the west and the rate in which young people are leaving the church. There are some people who believe that youth and kids ministry have largely contributed to this phenomenon. Jesus never had a puppet explain the tora as a child and neither did he attend a conference as a youth where the Rabbi talked about the hotness of his wife. So because the bible doesn’t talk about teaching kids and youth separately from adults it shouldn’t be done? I say yes and no.

To start off I would say the ultimate responsibility of the spiritual life of every child lies with his or her own parents. Parents are the primary leaders, examples and communicators of biblical truth in the life of their children. Having said that kids need much more than just their parents influence in their lives. I had a mom from another church explain to me that she kept her kids away from youth group at their church because she knew that the youth pastor needed her kids to attend because they were more well behaved than all the other kids that went to youth group. He needed her kids to be a good example of Christlikeness to the other kids that attended. The only thing I could think was, awesome way to model humility, community, and passion for Christ’s church.

Here are the reasons I think Youth Ministry and Kids Ministry matter.

1. Every kid needs a friend – not a sibling not a family member, but a friend outside their family unit who believes the same thing they believe.
2. Every kid needs others voices in their life that are saying the same things their parents are.
3. You can only see and fully understand certain things about God  in the context of biblical community. If you think you can walk out the gospel in the context of just your family you don’t understand the gospel. It has to be worked out in biblical community. The gospel can be learned in a smaller setting but has to be worked out in a broder setting. When I speak of community I don’t mean church attendance alone but church attendance, serving in the church, living in community means you bump up against other people and have to work out the implications of that. Community is not creating a buffer of niceness between you and other members of the community.

Bonhoeffer says this about Community

Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.  No Christian community is more or less than this…

What does this mean?  It means, first, that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ.  It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ.  It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity.

4. Unless your church goes out of it’s way to make church work for 5,6, 7 year olds (which most churches do not) by taking time to publicly explain things to kids. Singing songs that kids understand and enjoy. Then I would argue an age appropriate environment is need to  allow kids and teens to grow understand and teach others.
5. Lastly kids and Youth ministry allow kids to discover, grow and use the talents God has given them.  In most churches you may see kids be “Jr ushers”in big church but for kids to see themselves as a valuable contributing member of the body of Christ is priceless.

The thing that frustrates me in this whole argument is that we all have this tendency to be dogmatic about the the things that the Bible isn’t dogmatic about. We froth and fuss over the validity of kids and youth ministry but avoid the weightier things like are we living the gospel in our homes and in our churches. Kids don’t walk away from their faith because of youth group they walk away from their faith because they never came to a clear understanding of the gospel. So if you want to be dogmatic about something be dogmatic about gospel clarity.

 

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Retro Post: The Children’s Pastor score card

samluce —  June 7, 2012 — 6 Comments

My friend and fellow blogger Kenny has been doing a great series about the getting a job in children’s ministry and sharing a bit of his journey. I interned as a youth pastor and thought I was hired to be a youth pastor but due to semantics and devine providence I became a children’s pastor through a  less than traditional path. I thought what might have helped me and may help you is a score card to know if your are called to kids ministry. It is pretty simple really the higher you score the more likely you are ment to work with kids. There are a few ministry score cards out there. The most famous being the Metrosexual Worship leader. I thought that children’s ministry deserved one.

The Children’s Pastor Scorecard.

You have bought your body weight in candy at wal-mart = +2 points

You can name more than two makers of glue sticks = +3 points

You find puppets disturbing = -2 points

Part of the interview process you ask if the church has a choir = +1 point

You can juggle = +1 point

You can juggle on a unicycle = +3 points

You wear a scarf with a tee-shirt = -3 points

You know what american apparel is = -1 point

You can recuit volunteers and do prison ministry at the same time = +2 points

You watch cartoons for fun = +1 point

You have a gotee = -2 points

You call church “big church” = +2 points

Two weeks before VBS people avoid you (no seriously they see you and walk on the other side of road) = +3 points

You know any lyrics from any Fergie song = -4 points

You know all the lyrics from the pirates who don’t do anything = + 4 points

You have ever wore a Bob the Tomato tee-shirt in public = +2 points

You use product = -3 points

You have no idea what “product” is = +3 points

You can turn any object around you into a lesson with a biblical basis = +5 points

You have ever seen an episode of the “Jersey Shore” = -3 points

You have ever used a video clip from “Jersey Shore” to set up your bible story = -6 points

You have ever said “Lets say the verse so loud they hear you in Big church” = +1 point

You print money with Jesus’ face on it and don’t think twice about it = +2 points

You want to put your fist through someones face when they say “They are just kids” = +4 points

You blame the youth group for anything that goes wrong at church = +2 points

You own a pair of designer jeans = -2 points

You own a pair of girl’s designer jeans = -10 points

You have more kids music than adult music on your iPod = +1 point

You have stayed at the church cleaning up after a Halloween alternative till 3:30am = +2 points

You think finnis and ferb are Greek gods = -2 points

When you hear the orange you think of fruit = -3 points

You can keep 140 kids entertained for and hour with a piece of felt, a picture of Jesus and a rock = +4 points

When talking to adults in “big church” you refer to them as boys and girls = +3 points

You have ever received a pie in the face = +1 point

You can turn any piece of cloth into an impromptu puppet = +2 points

You work full time at a secular job so that you can do what you are passionate about, teach the next generation that God loves them and has a plan for them = +50 points

You are just being the kids pastor to get experience so you can one day be a youth pastor  = -50 points

You can name all the characters on Yo Gabba Gabba = +3 points

You just said Yo whaty what? = -3 points

You have seen Phil Vischer at a conference and tell him who your favorite talking vegetable is and why = +4 points

You had no idea vegetables could talk = -4 points

You have built something using PVC pipes = +1 point

You dry heave at the sight or mention of “goldfish crackers” = +2 points

You have been known to wear fanny packs on mission trips. = +2 points

You have visited Disney world more than 5 times = +2 points

You tweet the hashtag #kidmin more than Perry Noble tweets about food =  +3 points

You eat coco crispies for breakfast = +1 point

You eat cold pizza for breakfast = -1 point

You have ever worn a pair of sunglasses indoors ever = -4 points

You think ultimate frisbee is awesome = -2 points

You think can remember the last 5 years worth of VBS themes from group but don’t know who won the superbowl = +10 points

You think let people volunteer based on their vibe and think background checks are over the top = -20 points

You have ever had to coax a kid out of the churches indoor playground using food = +3 points

You get an instant migrane when your phone rings before church = +1 point

You own a marshmallow gun, tee-shirt canon or fog machine = +3 points each

You can do at least three different voices on command = +3 points

Have ever dreamed of switching places with the speaker in “big church” and going 20 minutes longer because you had one last good story = +5 points

Can turn a snack into a craft and explain the resurrection of christ to a 2 year old  all in 10 minutes. = +3 points

When the guest speaker asks when he is suppose to finish and you yell something other than “right now” = -5 points

You have used the letter Z instead of the letter S in the past 2 years = +4 points

You thing it’s weird that youth pastors are so fixated on the letter X. = +4 points

If you have ever felt the pressure that your kids have to be perfect because you are a “kid professional” = +5 points

If you remember Kidology’s logo before it was a lightbulb = +1 point

If you don’t know what Kidology is because you think you might have skipped that class in school = -3 points

If you have ever told a bible story to a group of kids with a Starbucks in your hand = -2 points

If stuck on an deserted island even though you lack the skills to survive more than 3 days within 1 hour you have 2 crafts, 3 object lessons and 4 bible stories using just 1 coconut. = +5 points

If you have ever taken a job because the pastor hired you to work with “youth” and you thought he ment teens so you move 3,ooo miles to find out when he means teens he says “young people” = +100 points

Add up your score.

0-25 You are not a kids pastor you are a youth pastor who received this link from your kids pastor.

25-50 You are a summer intern who is working with kids because you think it will help you score points with the ladies. Well your cover is blown. You have two choices grow a gotee and work with “young people” or buy a pair of women’s designer jeans and a scarf and start leading worship.

50-100 You are starting to learn the ropes you still tell people that you are a youth pastor. You haven’t fully embarrassed the christian sub-sub culture that is children’s ministry. You have one foot in kids ministry and one in youth ministry. You could go either way.

100+ – You are a die hard veteran, you live and breath all things kidmin. When you cut you bleed marshmallow. You can name every character on ever veggie tales movie. You are crazy enough to  think that the future of the church is located in the basement of the church. That the future of the church depends on the church learning to equip, train, lead and inspire a generation of kids.

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The Eric Trap

samluce —  March 30, 2012 — 2 Comments

Very excited that our Book is done after  2 years of hard work and dreaming up the idea for a different kind of collaborative book project. I love that The Eric Trap is a story about a kids pastor written by kids pastors. Being a leadership fable the story pulls you in and the principles reinforce the things you read in the fable.

Even though this book was written by kids pastors the principles in this book apply to kids pastors but really to anyone on staff at a church. It was lots of fun to write lots of work but really proud of our group. Writing a book with a group of people is no small feat. Kenny and I wrote the story of Eric Brother Jim and the rest of our infuse team wrote the principles everyone did such a good job.

The book officially goes on sale at the Orange Conference. We’ll be doing a book signing. Everyone will be able to get it after Orange. However, we do have some books we’re giving away for bloggers to review and give away. If you are interested in getting a copy to review on your blog/Amazon… please click here.

Excited to share Eric’s story with the world and very excited to find out what happens with Eric next.

Here is what some people have to say about The Eric Trap. 

Every leader in your organization (staff or volunteer) who has even a remote desire to control things can benefit from The Eric Trap – please don’t limit this book’s audience to people who serve in children’s ministry.  This book provides us with a dead accurate description of the dynamics of ministry, coupled with practical, insightful principles that can guide any leader out of the leadership traps we place ourselves in.  Jim, Sam, Kenny and their team write with clarity, power and insight that make this book hard to put down.  I think this book is great.  The topics talked about here are not just Kidmin issues, but also Student ministry issues and even Senior Pastor issues. (it’s why most churches don’t grow past 100 people).  This is a leadership book! Well done!
Senior Pastor
Connexus Community Church

“The “Eric Trap” takes ministry leaders on a dark, serious, and scary journey into the world of working in a church and balancing your priorities.  It was eerie how much the story mirrored my own story in so many ways.  I believe the “Eric Trap” can be a game changer for those willing to shine the light into the dark places of their own pastoral lives.  It’s on the other side of change that the insights gained from this book pay off in a rich way!”

Next Generations Ministry Pastor,
Trinity Church,
From the very first introduction of the book with the story of Eric I was engaged. Without a doubt leaders will identify with different aspects of Eric’s story and the “Eric Traps” we have all either faced or experienced in ministry. If you are a children’s, student’s and/or family ministry leader I would encourage you to get this book. This book will bring clarity by helping leaders see what is important and showing that when you make a deposit in others God will build you & the ministry you serve in.
Jim Wideman, Sam Luce, Kenny Conley and the entire team do an amazing job to identify how you as a leader can rise higher and help you avoid the pitfalls that challenge leaders in ministry. I highly recommend “The Eric Trap” !
Pastor and Director of Ministries
Lakewood Church

 

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