KidMin Leadership Archives - Page 21 of 42

{From the Archives} Summer Lovin’: Recruiting Volunteers

06/18/201406/18/2014 Kathie Phillips

The following post was originally published in June 2013 and is part of a series of summer-related posts.

Today, we’ll look at recruiting volunteers.

For the past few weeks we have been busy making the transition to Summer Sunday school. Our ministry gives school-year volunteers the summer off to rest and recharge. Because of this, we heavily rely on parents, middle and high school students, college students and others in our church to step in and serve.

Some of our recruiting strategies this summer have included:

Online sign ups. Last summer we used Sign Up Genius to keep track of our volunteers. This was an easy, convenient way for folks to sign up to serve. We are using it again this summer. I like that Sign Up Genius sends reminder emails to those who sign up through its program. That is a huge help.
We also used bulletin ads, upfront announcements, email and e-newsletters to the entire church body. Some say that these are not effective recruiting strategies but I feel that they can get the word out to people who would otherwise not be aware of our needs.

Despite all of our best efforts, I found it increasingly frustrating that we were not seeing the type of results that we needed to ensure enough coverage each weekend. I went to bed one evening last week with this on my mind and was awakened early the next morning with a God-given thought (at 5am!).

While we were asking people indirectly, we had not directly asked. Duh! So…I wanted to try that. I wasn’t sure the idea would work but I thought, “We don’t have anything to lose.” Here’s what we did:

We set up two tables in strategic areas in our children’s areas, so strategic that parents could not get to their destination without passing one of them. We decorated the tables with summer-themed items such as beach balls, pails and shovels, cups and crazy straws, citronella candles, balloons in fun colors and life-sized popsicles (my daughter made those). These items sat on top of fun flip-flop tablecloths. Because food definitely draws people in, we placed donut holes on the table, too. The purpose of the decor was to draw attention to the tables so that parents could stop over, check us out, and sign up.

The last thing we added were sign-ups sheets, pens and signage. I asked several ladies on my team to stand at each table to answer any questions and assist in the sign-ups. This added a personal element to our strategy.

The results…we had 50 – yes 50! – sign-ups that day! God blew my mind yet once again.

Here’s what I learned through all of this:

Pray that God will provide. Pray that He will show you creative ways to bring people into your ministry.
Use various methods of recruiting. One solo method will likely not bring the desired results.
Bring a personal element to your recruiting strategies. If you’re using an electronic method, tell stories of how volunteers might be impacted. What might they experience? If you’re using an on-site sign-up, have someone there to greet and ask questions. It’s hard to walk past a smiling, friendly face.
Bring others into the process to pray and brainstorm. Do not carry the burden of recruiting by yourself.
Take a risk. The idea that you have may not work – but then again, it just might! Go for it!

What are some of your best recruiting strategies? Let me know in the space below.

Student Leader Mania!

06/11/201406/11/2014 Kathie Phillips

For the past several weeks, it’s been all about the students who serve in our ministry.

We started the month of June with a special appreciation event for our student leaders (elementary – high school aged leaders). We’ve never done an appreciation event just for students but we thought it would be fun to do something just for them. Not only was it fun, it was rather simple to plan:

The number of students who serve in our Children’s Ministry has skyrocketed recently and we wanted to celebrate them!
We decided to celebrate them on a Sunday morning, between services, since most of them would already be on campus.
All good celebrations (especially for children and teens) involve food! The question – what would the students like? Our staff team decided on Rita’s Italian Ice. Since I live with two teens (who also serve in our ministry), I asked them, “What if we served Rita’s to all of our student leaders one Sunday morning?” Their enthused reaction let me know that we had a winner!
My team and I made sure our list of student leaders was up-to-date so that they (or their parents) could be emailed an invitation (we used evite for this). We also printed paper invitations to hand out to them.

We wanted the party room to have some fun decorations, so we had children in our ministry make them. They traced their hands on poster board, decorate them and cut them out. The handprints were then glued onto larger pieces of poster board thank you cards that were displayed around the room.
We also wanted the atmosphere to be festive, so we played music from TobyMac and Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration”. Before we knew it, the students (and I!) were dancing around the room. It was so fun!!
We invited others to celebrate our wonderful student leaders. Adult leaders and our pastors were invited to come and say ‘thanks for serving’. Our Senior Pastor’s encouraging words were treasured by the students in attendance. We are so thankful for the support of our Senior Leadership.

This event was so well-received that we’ll add in a few similar events to next year’s ministry calendar.

The following week (this past Sunday), we held a special training for all our student leaders and those who wanted to become student leaders. Normally, our volunteer training events incorporate students, but this was the first time that we provided a training specifically for students. Like the event mentioned above, it was fairly easy to plan and implement.

Because the number of students who serve in our Children’s Ministry has skyrocketed, we felt the need to train and equip them for service.
We decided to celebrate them on a Sunday after our last service, since most of them would already be on campus.
We used our up-to-date student leader list to invite the students. We also printed paper invitations to hand out to them.

We wanted to use our time wisely, so we outlined the major points that we wanted to accomplish for the day: fellowship (we used a fun icebreaker); food (we decided on pizza, popcorn, chips, chocolate chip cookies and soda); and information (things like our application process, safety reminders, our expectations of them, ways we could serve them better and ways they could use their gifts or talents in our ministry). We also emphasized how thankful we are for them and how important they are to our ministry.

I thoroughly enjoyed being with the students and am so thankful that we have the privilege of serving with them.

If you would like to see our training agenda and handouts we provided, email me at kidminspiration@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to send them to you.

How do you train and celebrate your ministry’s student leaders? Share your ideas in the comment section below!

Win a 2014 Group KidMin Pre-Conference Training Registration!

06/04/201406/04/2014 Kathie Phillips

I LOVE Group’s KidMin Conference! I have had the privilege of attending in 2011 and 2013 and Lord-willing, I hope to attend this fall.

I love it for so many reasons, but here are just a few:

I feel at home here. There’s something about being surrounded by fellow kidmin’ers! While the conference is attended by thousands, the atmosphere feels small and welcoming. I felt this way both years that I attended but especially in 2011 when I attended alone for the first time.
There is a wide variety of workshop options. When I attend a conference, I tend to concentrate on areas that I need growth or training in as well as one or two ‘random’ ones just for fun. Workshop options are so varied that you won’t have any difficulty finding ones that suit you.
Recordings of workshops are made available during and after the conference. Because there are so many great options to choose from, you will likely have a hard time narrowing down your options. I love that the workshops are recorded, so if I can’t make it to one, I can swing by the table and purchase reasonably priced CDs of other sessions. Not only can I use them for my leadership development but I can pass them along to others in my ministry. It’s a win-win!
Keynote speakers and workshop leaders are very accessible. Don’t be surprised if you’re walking through the resource area or enjoying a meal in a restaurant when you spot a keynote speaker or workshop leader. I admit – I have been starstruck when a kidmin ‘celebrity’ is sitting at the table next to me – or gasp – when I enjoy a meal with them! They are so gracious and down-to-earth.
Speaking of the resource area – you’ll stumble across some great finds! I love strolling through the resource area to check out new materials available to kidmin leaders. I also love the occasional freebies. 🙂 Items are often discounted for the conference AND you can have items shipped to your church or home.
There is a balance of learning and downtime. This past year, I was able to enjoy meeting friends for meals or coffee in between the general sessions and workshops. Being able to connect with friends and other leaders is such a great way to refuel my spirit.

Do you love Group’s KidMin Conference as much as I do? Are you on the fence about whether this conference would be right for you? Visit their website to learn more and register today!

If you’re looking for intensive training around one topic before the conference begins, consider the Pre-Conference training option. It’s a full-day of training (9am-4pm) the day the conference begins. I did this last year and it was great!

My friends at Group are offering a chance for YOU to win one free Pre-Conference Training registration! Just send out a tweet using the hashtag ‪#‎goingtokidmin14‬ telling Group what you are most looking forward to at ‪#‎KidMin14‬. The deadline is June 15th! Happy Tweeting!

Mother’s Day

05/13/201405/13/2014 Kathie Phillips

This past Mother’s Day was special for so many reasons. Here are a few highlights:

The morning began with a handmade photo collage given to me by my daughter, Kennedy. The collage was a mix of pictures of her as a baby and as a teen; many of the pictures were of the two of us. It is one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever received. My son, Daniel, gave me a Starbucks gift card. He really knows how to speak my language (hint, hint).

Once we arrived at church, we did last-minute prep for the busy morning ahead. Because there were six (6) children being baptized, we presented each child with a handmade prayer shawl (I’ll share the back story on this in another post – it’s a really cool story!) In addition, we had our elementary children join us in the Worship Center during the baptisms. Not only did they witness the baptisms, they were able to accept the charge given by our Senior Pastor to be a good example to the children being baptized and doing their best to help them know and follow Jesus. It was such a special thing to have the children join us for this special milestone event.

I should also mention that our Senior Pastor’s sermon talked about the importance of Children’s Ministry in our church and following through on the commitment during baptisms and dedications to help parents raise their children to know and love God. It was a very compelling sermon, encouraging people to get involved and serve in Children’s Ministry. While Pastor John was speaking, photos scrolled through on the screens of our volunteers and ministry in action. It all tied in together so beautifully. We were even blessed to meet people moved by the Pastor’s words who signed up to serve in our ministry!

Also, we had a mini recruiting campaign that asked for a few good men to sign up to serve in our ministry as a Mother’s Day gift to the moms. Well, we wanted to give a small token of appreciation to the men who signed up. Here’s a pic of what we offered them:

We filled a plastic tumbler with individually-wrapped Lifesavers candies and then tied on a gift tag with curling ribbon. A simple gift that all of the men appreciated – some even cracked it open before leaving the building!

After such a wonderful day at church, our family gathered together and enjoyed good food, fun (including games with a cash prize!) and fellowship – and a few gifts.

Overall, it was a great Mother’s Day from beginning to end. I’m so thankful.

How did you spend your Mother’s Day?