kidmin Archives - Page 23 of 51

Stop Recruiting [Volunteers], Start Retaining [Volunteers]

10/21/201410/21/2014 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Last month at Group’s KidMin Conference, I shared a ministry challenge and a ministry joy at the opening General Session. This is what I said:

“I’ve been chosen by God to not recruit volunteers to ‘fill holes’ (which is a pet peeve phrase of mine). I’ve been chosen by God to recruit volunteers to a vision, shepherd them, train them, equip them to serve, connect them with other volunteers and place them in their volunteer sweet spot so that they serve with us for the long haul.”

Recruiting volunteers ranks near the top of the list of challenges for ministry leaders. It really doesn’t matter whether your church is large or small; no church is immune. You rarely hear someone say, “I don’t need anymore volunteers.”

Yesterday I attended a local networking event here in Baltimore for kidmin leaders. The topic: Stop Recruiting, Start Retaining. The speaker was Christine Kreisher, who serves as the Family and Connections Pastor at Glad Tidings Church in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Here are the notes, 4 things to give volunteers so that they stay around for the long haul:

SIGNIFICANCE

“People don’t need another job; they need, and crave, purpose and meaning.” – CK

Leaders: Create a FUN and meaningful experience where volunteers feel that what they do matters.

Volunteers will say: “I love this!” or “I’m making a difference.”

Best Practices:

Connect the vision
Find the fit
Improve the process
Fill their bucket

SUPPORT

“It’s the lack of communication and preparation that kills volunteerism.” – Dr. Darren Kizer

“People matter to God, so they matter to us.” – Nelson Searcy

Leaders: Ensure that every volunteer has the necessary information, resources, & encouragement to fulfill their role in ministry.

Volunteers will say: “I have what I need.” or “I feel valued.”

Best Practices:

Communicate early and often
Huddle up
Train for success
Organize volunteer teams

COMMUNITY

“God created us with a hunger for relationship – for relationship with Him and with our fellow people. At our very core, we are relational beings…The soul cannot prosper without being connected to others..” – Henry Cloud

Leaders: Establish a culture where volunteers feel connected and new friendships can be developed.

Volunteers will say: “I belong here.” or “I’ve got friends here.”

Best Practices:

Friendship-friendly programming
Make it fun
Plan connections
Get it on the calendar
Embrace the mess!

EMPOWERMENT

“The local church should be one of the greatest leadership development agencies on the planet because Jesus was a great leader and developer of leaders. The church does not have a leadership problem…there are plenty of leaders…the church has a leadership development problem.” – Mac Lake

Leaders: Invest your time and resources to empower people to develop as a leader.

Volunteers will say: “I’m trusted and have opportunities to develop into a better leader.”

Best Practices:

Replace yourself
Set them free
Delegate vs dump
Make it helpful

Keep the conversation going! What strategies have you seen that work in retaining volunteers? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

KidMin Conference – Workshop Notes

10/02/201410/02/2014 Kathie Phillips 3 Comments

For the past week, I have posted information about preparing for Group’s KidMin Conference and my experiences as a result of the conference (search the blog for related posts). Today, I thought I’d share notes from the two workshops that I took at the conference.

WORKSHOP #1: “Bringing the Bible to Life” by David Jennings

Workshop Description: Discover more than 50 practical, NEW ideas you can take home and use right away in your ministry. You’ll also learn various “smarts” that aim to help kids experience the Bible in a surprising and personally specific way.

Workshop Content:

Most of our teaching is “word smart”, meaning the teacher does most of the talking.
Usually we teach in the way we learn best. However, kids learn best when they use their preferred way to learn.
Make learning more kid-focused than teacher-focused.

The first activity we did was to complete a “Got Smarts?” quiz to determine our own preferred way of learning. I scored highest in “Self Smart”, meaning I: understand myself; am reflective, meditative and self-motivated; desire time alone; am aware of my own feelings and my own strengths and weaknesses.

Then we moved into talking about 8 multiple intelligences that we discussed in detail.

**Download my notes here.

**Download additional resources here.

WORKSHOP #2: “Teach Kids to Pray” by Mary Sims

Workshop Description: Maximize prayer in fresh and exciting new ways while you teach kids to pray at different ages. Experience multiple prayer styles, from The Lord’s Prayer to using music and art to pray. Take home LOTS of creative strategies to your children’s ministry.

Workshop Content:

Mary shared personal stories of ways she’s incorporated a variety of prayer methods in her ministry. I love personal stories!
She had a good balance of lecture time and interactive time around the tables. One activity we did was to pray in color (my second time at the conference). Another activity included a bowl of ordinary objects (such as bandages, slinkies, plastic rings, etc.) and we told how we would use that object to teach children about prayer. That was pretty cool – I love really practical stuff!

**Download the workshop notes here.

Keep the conversation going! How could you implement these ideas into your ministry? Share below!

KidMin Conference – General Session Takeaways

10/01/201410/01/2014 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Yesterday I posted a few ideas for next steps following this year’s KidMin Conference (you can read that here). Today, I thought I’d share some of my general session takeaways. Be warned…my notes are not lengthy. (1) It was a little dark in the general session room for me to take many notes and (2) I was really taking everything in and tried to just be present, especially after the phenomenal worship times.

FRIDAY EVENING GENERAL SESSION

I was not familiar with Roddy Chong prior to the conference but boy did his story resonate with me. He spoke about being chosen by God and the many doors that God opened for him that he never imagined being opened. He shared about traveling with well-known singers (Shania Twain & Celine Dion). His story resonated with me because I, too, have seen God open many doors for me that I NEVER thought would happen for me. It is really humbling to see God work in unimaginable ways. Roddy also spoke about the need to not be defined by your mistakes. That’s a good lesson for everyone!

The Skit Guys are a KidMin Conference favorite! I always enjoy them! They do a beautiful job of blending comedy and thought-provoking challenges. One question they tossed out was, What are you afraid of? They challenged us with this: God chose you before it all began. If he did that, He has a plan for you. You have nothing to be afraid of.

SATURDAY MORNING GENERAL SESSION

Greg Baird spoke on Saturday morning and he did not disappoint. I follow Greg on social media and also enjoy his blog posts, so I knew I’d enjoy hearing from him. He referenced Ephesians 6:12, which says:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We are not superheroes. We are in a battle. When we are in ministry, the target on us becomes bolder to the enemy.
We cannot surge [SURGE was this year’s theme] ahead if we cannot stay on the battlefield.
What keeps us from surging ahead?
- We simply try to survive (Acts 20:24). It’s not about me – it’s about Jesus.
- We get distracted. Our ministries need to be about Jesus.
- We focus on the wrong danger (things like numbers vs life transformation, families falling apart, etc.).
- When we do these things, we do ministry in our power.
What do we do to combat these things? (Zech. 4:6)
- Instead of trying to survive, trust God.
- Instead of being distracted, immerse yourself in God’s Word.
- Instead of focusing on the wrong danger, focus on your relationship with God.

Greg closed with a quote from Phil Vischer: “Impact does not come when we are pursuing impact – impact comes when we are pursuing God.”

SATURDAY EVENING GENERAL SESSION

Jon Acuff spoke on passages from Isaiah 30.

Give God our expectations. God will never be handcuffed by your failures or unleashed by your successes.
We need to learn how to be present. Sometimes our lives are so loud we miss God’s whispers.

I didn’t attend Sunday morning’s session (I was having breakfast with a friend) or Monday morning’s session (I was headed home). I did attend Sunday evening’s session with DeVon Franklin but I was too busy agreeing with him to write stuff down! Sorry!

Were you at the conference? What were some of your takeaways? Let me know by commenting below!

5 Post-KidMin Conference To-Do’s

09/30/201409/30/2014 Kathie Phillips 6 Comments

I was delighted to attend Group’s KidMin Conference in Columbus, Ohio again this year. This is the only national conference that I attend each year and I absolutely love it! I always find the worship, the teaching, the interactive workshops and the connections made to be re-energizing to my soul.

I was blessed to have my daughter, husband, son, and mom (who's not pictured) join me for this trip. — I was blessed to have my daughter, husband, son, and mom (who’s not pictured) join me for this trip.

Today I want to speak to post-conference to-do’s (I will post notes soon). So many times after a power-packed conference, we leave fired up, ready to take on the world with our new-found tips, resources and ideas. But then life happens…our intentions are good…but we never put a plan into place. I’d like to help you do that, along with offering a few other helpful tips.

Processing KidMin 2014

Take a deep breath and just rest. If you’re like me, you went full-steam ahead in Ohio. Take a day (or two) to unwind and rest your brain and your body if you can. A rested mind is a mind that can think and process more clearly.

Ask God to help you discern what next steps you should take based on what you’ve seen and heard. What were the key points you jotted down? List a few practical next steps you’d like to implement within a practical time frame and pray about any people who could help you take those next steps. Post those next steps in a visible place – keep the vision ahead of you!

Write up a summary of what you learned and present it to your team/volunteers/supervisor. Explain why the conference was beneficial, a few highlights of what you learned and your next steps.

Keep in touch with those you connected with at the conference. Do this regularly by phone, email and/or social media. Don’t lose those connections – we need each other!