I am excited today to let you, our readers, know about some very exciting changes at Kidmin1124.  Beginning immediately, Matt Norman will be taking over as chief editor here on Kidmin1124.  Matt will introduce himself more fully in a coming post and share his ideas and vision for Kidmin1124 moving forward.  If we’re lucky, he may even include a more recent picture of himself in that post.

Today marks both a very exciting and very sad day for me in the history of Kidmin1124.  I am excited to hand the reigns of Kidmin1124 off to Matt, and I trust that God will lead him and this ministry in the right direction.  For me personally, that is very exciting.  Without going into all of the details, I believe this transition is a “God thing,” and I am excited to see what that means for the future of Kidmin1124. 

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I’ve been writing about the Top 5 Essentials for our Volunteers . . . #5 – provide resources, #4 – provide training and #3 – thank and encourage your volunteers. Last week I said, “When someone volunteers to give of themselves and their time to serve in your children’s ministry, they are giving something truly precious. When you thank and encourage them you are showing you understand the value of what they offer, you sincerely appreciate what they offer and most importantly, you sincerely appreciate them!” and then I gave a couple things to keep in mind and nine ideas for thanking your volunteers! Today I’m going to look at #2 – give your volunteers a listening ear!

We all have busy lives with stress, sometimes we just need someone who will listen. If we are too busy to stop and listen to the concerns and cares of our volunteers, then we are too busy. Be sure your volunteers know they can come to you if they need a listening ear and then listen and pray with them. One word of caution; be certain when you give a listening ear, you are not a party to gossip. If a volunteer begins to gossip, stop them. Encourage them to go to the person they are talking about to try and work things out. Do NOT allow giving a listening ear to become a vehicle for gossip. But, if your volunteer is not gossiping and just needs someone to listen, be that person.

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Every year, my friend Tony Kummer from Ministry-to-Children.com runs a blog madness competition for children’s ministry bloggers that coincides with March Madness.  You can find the competition HERE! We are honored that Kidmin1124 was seeded so highly in this competition.

Each of the last two years, I have campaigned shamelessly and relentlessly for my blog(s).  In the end, it’s a lot a fun as I know many of the bloggers in the competition personally, and we have a good time competing on a friendly level.  Each year, my shameless self-promotion has landed my blogs in the sweet sixteen.  This year, I have neither the time nor the inclination to promote my personal blogs.  If you want to vote for them, that would be great, but I do not plan to promote them this year like in previous years:

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We meet people both online and in person that just make us want to spend more time with them.

You know…those people.

Those people that just have something about them that you just want to be near them in hope that it rubs off a little. Those people that when they talk about their passions it is contagious. Those people that when you read something they have written or have a conversation with them and you know that you have to be around them and hear more.

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For the past couple of articles, I’ve been writing about the Top 5 Essentials for our Volunteers . . . #5 – provide resources and #4 – provide training. Last week I said, “Whatever you do, commit to providing training for your volunteers this year because it is essential. If we want our volunteers to be successful in their ministry, we need to provide the tools they need and training is an essential tool!” Today I’m going to look at #3 – thank and encourage your volunteers!

Your church and my church have each been gifted with volunteers who faithfully serve in the various areas of our ministries. While these people certainly do not serve for our thanks, it absolutely is appropriate to take the time to thank them! I have always enjoyed the ministry of appreciation – what could possibly be more fun than taking the time to thank and encourage those who serve as volunteers in our churches? There are many ways to thank your volunteers, but the first thing to keep in mind is it is absolutely essential to begin with something which isn’t very time consuming and build from there. Once you begin any ministry of encouragement to your volunteers you want to be able to maintain and continue that ministry. If you jump in and take on more than you can keep up with you may end up discouraging your volunteers.

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A few years ago, a Children’s Ministry conference came to our home town. We knew it would be a great opportunity for our key staff to learn and to have a team-building day. Over the two-day conference, we would attend different breakout sessions, and then debrief over meals (or ice cream!)

As usual for conferences, we were overwhelmed with a plethora of ideas. We were excited to implement a few ideas immediately. But at the last breakout session I and a co-worker attended, the facilitator said something that rubbed us the wrong way. She said, “You need to manipulate your pastor into thinking your ideas are his ideas, so that you can get what you want.”

Why This Is Wrong?

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Last week I said, “There certainly are a lot of things we need to give our volunteers, but for the next few weeks, I’m going to share my top five essentials for us to give our volunteers.” Then I posted about the #5 essential thing for us to give our volunteers . . . give them resources! Today I want to take a few moments to consider the #4 essential thing for us to give our volunteers, training!

I know, I can practically hear you groaning as you think about volunteer training. I understand it can be very difficult to get volunteers to show up at training opportunities, everyone is certainly busy, but training is essential if we are going to be effective in our ministry.

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Last night’s Kidmin1124 radio show was another success.  We discussed dealing with difficult people and our questions ranged from dealing with kids, volunteers, and parents.  I’m once again embedding the audio at the end of this post in case you missed the show. 

As we talked about dealing with difficult people, I just can’t get out of my head how my God has constantly been patient in dealing with me.  I’m reminded of 2 Peter 3:9 which says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  What if we applied this to the way we deal with others.  If the drive to see people come to repentence overrode our desire to see them punished.  I especially think this would change how we deal with difficult kids in our ministries.

I firmly believe that grace is one of the greatest tools we have in children’s ministry.  Grace doesn’t excuse bad behavior:  it forgives it.  I don’t think grace says, “Oh, it’s no big deal.”  Grace, at least in my life, is the constant reminder that it is a big deal, but I’m a bigger deal.  God cares more about me than He does my sin, so much so that He sent His son to die for me.  God has been patient with me, even when I constantly fail Him.  How much more so should I be patient and show grace to a child? I’m committed to giving the kids in my ministry at least as many chances as God has given me, which means I should run out during about year 1,948,893,543 of eternity (assuming I’m perfect from here on out).

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“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,  while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

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