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Category: Ministry Leadership

Covers topics such as leadership skills, sustainable leadership, women in leadership, leading teams, developing leaders, meetings

Own Your Mistakes

Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

Last week, I received an email from Target’s CEO regarding the store’s recent data breach. The email contained an apology for the incident and steps the company was taking to be proactive in remedying the situation.

No one in a leadership position is perfect.  We all make mistakes.  The real test comes when things go wrong.  Will you own the mistake and take steps to correcting the situation or will you sweep it under the rug, pretending that nothing happened or – gasp – passing the blame onto someone else?

In my opinion, smart leaders:

  • listen intently before speaking
  • take ownership for any wrongdoing
  • ask for forgiveness
  • work to find a solution to make things right
  • listen some more

Doing these things will not only make you a stronger leader but you will gain and keep the trust of those you lead.

What would you add to the list? What else can leaders do to remedy situations gone wrong?

Simply Put: First Things First

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Happy New Year, friends!  I hope your New Year is off to a fabulous start!  My New Year started with a vacation – my first cruise – to the Caribbean.  It was a long overdue vacation and I did not have any problem relaxing…the weather was warm, the food was great, the company was sweet and the views were amazing.  See for yourself:

The view from my room on the cruise ship – Sunset over the Atlantic Ocean

When I returned home, there were lots of things to catch up on – opening mail, unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, email, catching up with my family (who stayed behind while I was away).  “Where should I start?”, I asked myself.

Have you found yourself asking the same question?  Ministry – and life in general – can be filled with long to-do lists.  It can be overwhelming knowing where to start.  Here are a few pointers that have helped me:

Make a to-do list.  Simple, right?  It is a burden lifted when I take a few minutes to simply write down all of the things swirling around in my head.

Prioritize the list.  Take an honest look at what you’ve listed and determine what’s immediate, what can wait, what can be delegated, what can be eliminated.  

Move forward.  Work your list and make your list work for you.  Jump in and start knocking things off of the list.  Don’t procrastinate!

Set time limits.  What can you do in an hour?  What can you do in five minutes?  You might be surprised how much you can knock out when you’re focused and have a time frame to work within.

Eliminate distraction.  No social media.  No email.  Put your cell phone on vibrate.  Set your desk phone to “Do not disturb.”  Go to a quiet place (I love working at the library).  You get the idea.

Cross things off of the list as you work.  Seeing things scratched off the list can be one of your biggest motivators!

How do you keep ‘first things first’?  I’d love to hear what you do!

KidMin Conference 2013 – Days Three & Four Notes

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Days 3 & 4 of the Group KidMin Conference were awesome!

Sunday Morning – Workshop (Secrets to Sustainable Children’s Ministry – Building Teams That Win by Jeff Dunn-Rankin)

To be honest, this session didn’t start off as I had thought.  I kept thinking, “This material is not what is in the description.  I’m in the wrong workshop!”  I kept flipping to the description and looking at the handout, convinced that I was in the wrong room.  After an hour or so, gears switched and the content began to line up with what I was looking for.

Here are the highlights:

Six Steps to a Simple but Difficult Recruiting Process:

1. Make a list of your needs – weekly, special events – every big event have someone co-lead with you so that they can eventually be the point person.

2. Create the pool list – who do we want to see in CM one day – past or present – ask the children who they’d like to be in class with them. (this list should be 4 times bigger than list #1 – get your team to help brainstorm)

3. Rank those on the list – (1) tag as relational, behind the scenes or both and (2) rank dream team [a], next level [b], etc.

4. Match the lists.

5. Make the calls – call ‘heavy-hitters’ first.

6. Follow up – call intentionally when people are at work so that you can leave an exciting message for them to think about.

Saturday Afternoon – Workshop (5 Reasons Why People Won’t Volunteer for You by Craig Jutila)

This workshop intrigued me because I really wanted to know why people won’t volunteer.  The workshop’s disclaimer: “We are not going to find ways to get more volunteers or even how to keep the ones we have.  We are going to look at the 5 reasons why people won’t volunteer and more specifically, why they won’t volunteer for you or for me.  You will learn specific ways to change your thinking about your volunteer leadership.”

Here are the highlights:

Reason #1: You appear unsuccessful.  There is hopeless desperation (begging); nearsighted vision (not thinking long-term); no plan (no vision, mission, values); and over-publicizing (i.e. bulletin announcements week after week – after a while, people stop listening).

Reason #2: You are asking for renters instead of buyers.  Some volunteers rent and other volunteers buy into your ministry vision.

Reason #3: You are taking too much of their time.  What you are offering is not valuable enough.

Reason #4: You appear disorganized.

Reason #5: You inherited an estate (meaning they have had a negative experience someone else and are less likely to volunteer again.)

Common Complaints about Negative Volunteer Experiences

  • Lack of recognition so encourage them.
  • Lack of proper training so equip them.
  • Absence of team motivation so energize them.
  • Volunteer assignments are too limiting so empower them.
  • Mismatched skill and interest with task assignments so evaluate them.

Sunday Night General Session – Dave Stone

Dave Stone is the Senior Pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY.  He spoke about Celebrating Family.  Here are some highlights:

3 Gifts Every Child Needs

1. Celebrate family by giving value to one another.

When there is no concern for the church of tomorrow, there is often very little power in the church of today.

2. Celebrate family by extending grace to one another.

We show grace because we need grace.

God is more concerned with your direction than your perfection.

3. Celebrate family by showing love for one another.

We can get wrapped up doing things instead of loving people.

We can get busy doing the work of the Lord and forget the Lord of the work.

Activity for Christ doesn’t replace intimacy with Christ.

Satan knows you by name but calls you by your sin.  Jesus knows your sin but calls you by name.

Monday Morning General Session – Danielle Bell

The conference concluded with my friend, Danielle Bell, speaking on Celebrate Jesus.  Here are a few highlights:

  • Do I get that ministry is not about me?
  • Instead of studying God’s Word to teach it, study it to live it.
  • How am I getting in the way of what God wants to do.  “He must increase, I must decrease.”

Danielle blogged on this over at her blog, dWell.  You can read her notes here.

Were you at the conference?  What struck you on Days 3 & 4?  What were you biggest takeaways from the conference?

KidMin Conference 2013 – Day Two Notes

Kathie Phillips 4 Comments

Day 2 of the Group KidMin Conference did not disappoint!

Saturday Morning – General Session

The session’s keynote was delivered by Larry Acosta, founder of the Urban Youth Workers Institute (UYWI) and co-founder of KIDWORKS.

Larry energized the group by tossing candy into the audience.  He tossed Hershey Kisses from kids who are thankful for our ministry but are unable to articulate it.  He tossed Pay Day bars to unpaid leaders.  He tossed LifeSavers because of our impact.  He tossed Starburst because we’re the hands and feet of Jesus.

He also inspired us to think   Here are a few highlights:

*Who impacted your life and helped you get where you are today?

*There are stories behind the faces of every child in your ministry.

*What you do matters in the kingdom.  All the tears of joy and frustration, the early mornings and late nights – it all matters!

*Stretch your vision to include what God has planned for the kids under your influence.

*The Gospel still changes lives.

*Keep writing the future – it matters!

*Look beyond their skin color, clothes, their ability to sit still and pay attention.  What’s the story behind the kids?  Be relational beyond the classroom.  The relational investment you make changes everything.

*Speak life, vision and hope in children’s lives.  Tell them what you see – don’t assume they’re hearing it at home.

*Believe in, bless and affirm kids like crazy!

Saturday Morning – Workshop (Building a Volunteer Team: Enlisting Your Team by Dale Hudson)

This year, I felt that I really needed additional training in the volunteer department, so most of my workshops revolved around this topic.  I was excited to take Dale Hudson’s workshop because I read his blog (Relevant Children’s Ministry) and his ideas are fantastic.  You can read and download my typed notes here:  Enlisting a Volunteer Team Workshop Notes

Update:  One of the activities we completed was to design a recruiting poster with the people at our table.  Dale blogged about this and included photos of each poster. (My group’s is the 11th one down from the top.)  Check out his blog here.

Saturday Afternoon – Workshop (Building a Volunteer Team:  Equipping Your Team by Dale Hudson)

I was so excited about Dale’s four-part workshop that I actually sat in on this workshop by accident.  But I did get something out of it.  You can read and download my typed notes here:  Equipping a Volunteer Team Workshop Notes

Saturday Night General Session – Craig and Mary Jutila

Craig and Mary talked about how their marriage struggled – and was later re-strengthened – as a result of being Craig’s ministry workaholic tendencies.  I was too engaged to take notes but it was awesome and really helped me to put into perspective the need for me to be intentional about a work-family balance.

Day 2 was awesome!

Were you at the conference?  What struck you on Day 2?

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