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Tag: children’s ministry

Volunteer Training Idea: Tailgate Party!

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

We’re almost half way through September and it has been a very busy time for us!  I’m sure you can relate.  The month of August found us finishing out the summer and prepping for fall – updating our volunteer handbooks, recruiting leaders and planning for our volunteer training.

At the beginning of August, we met as a staff team to brainstorm ideas for our volunteer training.  First, I wanted us to call it something other than ‘training’.  No one wants to come to a ‘training’.  I wanted us to go with a themed ‘training’.  After about 45 minutes of idea swapping/brainstorming, we landed on a tailgate theme.  With that decision, we were off and running, gathering ideas (thank you Pinterest!), purchasing decorations, designing and sending invitations, reserving rooms, drawing diagrams of room set-ups, selecting a menu and all of the other important details that go into pulling off a themed party successfully.

Here’s a little peek into the planning & execution of our tailgate party:

Purpose:  The purpose of the event was to serve as a re-purposed volunteer training that would be infused with food, fun, prizes, inspiration and information to get our volunteers ready and excited about the new ministry year.

Planning:  The event was divided into 5 areas of planning:

  1. Food
  2. Decor
  3. Games & Prizes
  4. Inspiration
  5. Information

Each area of planning was delegated to one of our children’s ministry staff members.  Each person ‘owned’ their area, so it made implementing rather simple.  Here are some specifics and photos from each area:

  • Food:  We selected a tailgate-inspired menu of foot long sub sandwiches (including veggie ones for our vegan/healthy eating friends), potato chips, pretzels (I found football-shaped ones!), popcorn, cookies, lemonade, water, and fresh fruit (for a healthy dessert option).
Sandwiches - lots of sandwiches!
Sandwiches – lots of sandwiches!

 

 

  • Decor:  We wanted the environment to be fun and festive, and I think we achieved that!  We chose to go with a sports theme but we selected bright, vibrant colors to make the room come alive.  The colors chosen are colors used throughout our ministry rooms.
Banner over the food area
Banner over the food area

 

Table centerpieces: sand buckets, pom poms, balls, and foam pennants with the names of each ministry area
Table centerpieces: sand buckets, pom poms, balls, and foam pennants with the names of each ministry area.

 

We didn't forget about the cars - it was a tailgate after all!
We didn’t forget about the cars – it was a tailgate after all! Here, volunteers picked up their raffle tickets before heading inside.

 

We had volunteers pick up and decorate their name tags here.
We had volunteers pick up and decorate their name tags here.

 

Even my car was decked out!
Even my car was decked out!
  • Games & Prizes:  We set up a prize table in a corner of the room – we chose sports-themed prizes (general items as well as items from our local professional football and baseball teams) as well as boxed candies.  We did raffles throughout the evening to give away all of the fun prizes.
  • Inspiration:  In July, our church did a parenting series that focused on passing faith on to the next generation.  During that series, our Family Ministry Pastor preached a sermon that talked a lot about mentoring and the long-term impact of passing faith on to the next generation.  I thought that some of her points were appropriate for our event, so I invited her to come and share a few highlights from that sermon.  It was a perfect tie in!  The intention here was to inspire our volunteer and help them see our vision and the role they played to help us move toward that vision.
  • Information:  Since our event was a training, we needed to make sure that our volunteers received the information that they needed to equip them for the upcoming year.  We had some changes in safety policies and procedures and some tweaks in our curriculum, so we broke up into age-level groups for the last hour of our time together.  We invited our key leaders (or Team Captains) to lead this portion of the evening.  Each area of our ministry (Nursery – Infants; Nursery – Toddlers; Preschool; Younger Elementary; Preteens) went to different areas of the building and received information targeted to them.  During this time, we wanted to focus on practical tips that they would find useful.
Our Nursery handbooks
Our Nursery handbooks

 

Our preschool handbooks
Our preschool handbooks

 

Our elementary, preteen and welcome center handbooks
Our elementary, preteen and welcome center handbooks

 

Overall, I was very pleased with the evening and based on feedback from volunteers, they seemed to be as well.  Here are a few of things they said:

“My congratulations to the detail oriented person(s) who planned and implemented the meeting / party last night.  I used to work at a retirement community, and one of the things I did there was help plan themed parties.  So, I noticed (and enjoyed) all of the details last night, from the centerpieces to the background music! 🙂  Oh, and thanks for the box of M&Ms, too. :)”

“This was awesome!”

“Please do something like this again!”

“Last night was fun, informative and inspiring.…….”

Training your volunteers is necessary but no one said that training has to be boring.  Brainstorm ideas with your team and see what you can come up with – and then share them with me…I’m always looking for new ideas! 🙂

Keep the conversation going!  What creative themes have you used to make volunteer training fun for your volunteers?  Leave a comment below!

What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

Kathie Phillips 1 Comment

This summer, I was very blessed to not only take a vacation but to take a vacation where I did absolutely NO work. Aside from answering 2 work-related emails, I was able to unplug, relax with my family, shop, watch movies and read.  Deciding WHAT to read while on vacation wasn’t an easy task, as I wanted to read something that wasn’t related to Children’s Ministry but would be enjoyable and hold my attention.

Earlier this year, I watched an interview that Oprah Winfrey did with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO.  I was so intrigued by the interview that I ordered her book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead before the interview was over.  When I glanced at the huge pile of books that have gotten a tad dusty because I have been busy with other things, that one stood out to me.  So I grabbed it and placed it in my suitcase.  While on vacation, I read it cover to cover in just a matter of days (it’s been a while since I’ve done that)!

Photo Credit: leanin.org
Photo Credit: leanin.org

Today, I want to share some of my favorite quotes from the book as well as a few thoughts about a project I feel God is calling me to.

  • “We [women] hold ourselves back in ways both big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in.”
  • “Fear is at the root of so many of the barriers that women face.”
  • “Opportunities are rarely offered; they’re seized.”
  • “Taking initiative pays off.  It is hard to visualize someone was a leader if she is always waiting to be told what to do.”
  • “In order to continue to grow and challenge myself, I have to believe in my own abilities.”
  • “Owning one’s success is key to achieving more success.”
  • “Authentic communication is not always easy, but it is the basis for successful relationships at home and real effectiveness at work.”
  • “The ability to listen is as important as the ability to speak.”
  • “Long-term success at work often depends on not trying to meet every demand placed on us.  The best way to make room for both life and career is to make choices deliberately – to set limits and stick to them.”
  • “Instead of perfection, we should aim for sustainable and fulfilling.”

This book was not written from a Christian perspective, but I found it to speak to me in so many ways.  The one chapter that I had to really contemplate was the very first one.  It asked, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”  Let that sink in for a moment.  How would you answer that?

When I put my book, highlighter and pen down and really thought about that question, I had a few thoughts pop into my mind.  I have shared in previous posts how fear almost prevented me from starting this blog for fear of failing.  Stepping out in faith comes easy to me in some areas but it petrifies me in other areas.

For the past year, I have felt God speak to me about birthing a resource for kidmin leaders but I have always pushed it aside because it has never felt like the ‘right time’ or I didn’t have the ‘right resources’ or *gasp* the ‘right knowledge’ to pull it off. But I have once again felt God say, “Do it.  The time is now.”  So, it is my desire to develop my idea a bit and share it with the kidmin world later this fall.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

But for now:  What would you do if you weren’t afraid?  How would you answer that?

Wilderness Escape VBS: Day 5 (To God Be the Glory)

Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Well friends, our VBS ended last Friday.  The end of VBS is always bittersweet but we had a good week.  There were so many ways that I saw God working but I’ll share just a few:

Our volunteers were rock stars!  They were so ready to jump in and serve in various capacities, whether leading games, helping to keep our building safe, leading meaningful discussions, being crafty, serving snacks or making sure that our sound was up and running.  In fact, many of them took time off from work to be with us for the week.  It was great to see our volunteers come together to make the week great!

Hearing stories of meaningful conversations happening at VBS, in the car or at home were so inspiring.  Children were asking good questions and really grappling with what they saw and heard.

Seeing children worship was great!  They were not only singing, they were worshiping.  I know that God was pleased.

Here are a few pictures from Day 5:

Our thank-you gift to our fabulous family leaders (A Pinterest-inspired idea)
Our thank-you gift to our fabulous family leaders (A Pinterest-inspired idea)
Our family leaders made VBS s'more fun!
Our family leaders made VBS s’more fun!

 

All week, our children were asked to bring in food for a local food pantry we support. Humphrey the Camel liked what we collected. :)
All week, our children were asked to bring in food for a local food pantry we support. Humphrey the Camel liked what we collected. 🙂

Day 5 also included taking down much of our decor so that we could prepare for our Friday night celebration service and picnic.  This was the first year that we held our closing worship service on Friday night – we usually hold it on the Sunday following in lieu of our ‘normal’ worship services – but because of our church’s core values is connecting, we wanted a way to connect families to each other as well as to their child’s leaders.

The service lasted approximately 40 minutes and highlighted many of the songs the children learned in addition to a special visit from ‘Moses’.  Our picnic (complete with inflatables, games, prizes and food) was a great ending to the day.  Seeing families connect was a beautiful thing.

All in all, when I think back to the week, the two words that come to mind are grace and beauty.  I described grace earlier in the week (you can read that here) but here’s how it was beautiful.

Seeing inter-generational ministry happening is one way that our VBS is unique.  Seeing teens serve with older members of our congregation is one of the strengths of our program.  Because of this, our VBS is something that seems to rally our entire church like no other event.

Seeing our staff come together and support our VBS makes me grateful to serve alongside my colleagues.  Every department in our church made a contribution to our VBS.  It truly is an all-church, all-staff endeavor.

Seeing the giftedness within our congregation makes me thankful that God makes us all different.  Some have a knack to make things pretty; some are extremely organized; some are fun-loving; some are deeply passionate about seeing children learn about God in a Bible-based environment and want us to keep the main thing the main thing.  VBS is truly a collaboration of gifts and talents.

Seeing the Holy Spirit move in the hearts of our children reminds me that despite all of our efforts, it is the Holy Spirit who prompts children to be receptive to the message of the Gospel.  We want children who don’t know Jesus to accept His free gift of salvation and we want children who know Him to know and love Him more.

I am truly thankful to my fabulous team who worked so hard and tirelessly to make it a fabulous week.  Once we all recover, we’ll celebrate! 🙂  To God be the Glory!

“I will bless the Lord who guides me.”

Psalm 16:7

Wilderness Escape VBS: Day 4 (Cheering on the Team)

Kathie Phillips

In my experience with VBS, Day 4 (Thursday) is usually the hardest day, but with God’s help and supernatural strength, we made it! (Read about Day 1 here, Day 2 here, and Day 3 here.)

By Thursday, I usually feel like I’ve been hit by a ton of bricks.  I know that many of our volunteers feel the same way. so we usually try to be very intentional in keeping momentum going with volunteers who might be growing weary.  Here’s what we did today to fuel and re-energize the team:

We asked volunteers to arrive 30 minutes earlier so that they could enjoy a light breakfast (bagels, coffee and juice) with us. We then made a few important announcements before leading the troop in a pep rally.  I recruited one of our more energetic leaders to lead us in an energizing chant, complete with noisemakers!  It was awesome!

We also began assembling gifts for volunteers.  Our craft team leader assembled these gifts for her team:

Contents of these small tokens of appreciation: toilet tissue tube wrapped with paper, a tea light candle, a mint and chocolate kisses.
Contents of these small tokens of appreciation: toilet tissue tube wrapped with paper, a tea light candle, a mint and chocolate kisses.

 

The finished product and a note
The finished product and a note

 

We are all exhausted but we’re hearing stories of life-change and it makes it all worth it!

Verse for the day:

” ‘For I am with you and will save you,’ says the Lord.”

Jeremiah 30:11

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