Wow I can not believe that 2009 is already over. I was going back through the archives looking at the last time I posted a Backstage Pass and it was back on December 20th. So much has seemed to happen since then and more importantly for this topic, more lessons have been learned than I have taken the time to blog about.
Today I will try and get down some of the quick behind the scenes/back stage type lessons and ideas, new and old that I have been reminded of or discovered new for myself.
* Kids Love to text. Yesterday we had a texting service where we had all the kids (98% of all of our 4-6th graders have phones) brought them and used them to text us questions during the service. We would answer all of them that we could. Well we were delightfully surprised to the amount of great questions they sent us. We were able to get a peek into their minds and lives that no amount of money could have paid for. Because it was done through texting they felt a comfort of asking true, transparent questions. It was one of my most favorite services over the last few years.
* One little idea can lead to some really bigger ideas and more developed. That is what the texting service is doing for us. We have some great minds now thinking through how to make this bigger and better. We saw more visitors yesterday than in a long time. The main difference, we WANTED them to bring their phones and text during service. This is what I refer to as “Godly Naughtiness”.
* People want to be challenged and live up to something greater than themselves.
* Use people where they already love being and they will not feel it is a task.
* When people are given an opportunity to succeed they will take it. So offer many opportunities to success.
Well today I am sitting here in the lobby of the mechanic’s shop getting an oil change and having our cars front end looked at because every time we go to put the breaks on the front end begins to shake a little. So I am using this time as my time to write my Backstage review of this weekend in Take TWO. How many of us know that it is important to regularly take our ministries in for a regular check up? This is what I use Backstage for. It is in a way my regular check up and sometime a realignment.
So let’s begin.
* Room set up is vital not only for controlling the room of kids and helping them to focus and not get distracted, but also to help the look for when parents drop their kids off. We are now redoing the room set ups for our preschools and nurseries because we have been growing so much in those areas that they rooms look (and are) extremely crowded. This often times with our current room set up makes the room dynamics appear completely different and possibly scary for some new parents. We love our new families we do not want them to feel this way at all.
* We are incredibly blessed to have the wonderful team chemistry throughout all of Take TWO. Doing anything as a team is always better than doing anything alone in ministry.
* If you challenge kids they will rise up to meet those challenges. Last night we had some kids holding the door open for people as they left church. I asked them why they were doing this and they reminded me that I often challenge the kids to find ways to serve people and this was one way they knew they could serve. Way to go kids. What are you challenging your kids to do?
* I still have not found a great way to put directional signs up for the Kids ministries.
* The younger families that we are getting in visiting us are wanting to get plugged into helping much sooner than their parents wanted to get plugged in. But ministry descriptions are having to be re-worked to handle smaller, much smaller bite size pieces. Plus the more that can be done throughout the week when their time opens up is always better.
* We are re-doing our nursery coordinator roles due to a system problem. We have had the same results with the same system so to get new results we are designing a new system.
Well I may be a little late but I am here. Time for me to do a little review from this past weekend lessons for me that are either new or serve as a refresher. But as I share this with you let’s keep it between us. LOL.
* Changing “things” but keeping the “same culture” communication often times comes from outside as they are encouraging you to change things. Changing “culture” communication needs to come from you to help others pull the pieces together to see what you see. The fan fare does not usually come with this.
* The “big tent” type ministry of the past (as much as it may have filled a felt need) looked one way then. Maybe it included the children’s pastor being the main attraction, and maybe all 3 rings working independently of the others. The “big tent” ministry for today looks different. It is like the comparison of the Circus at the fair (past) vs. Cirque Du Soleil (today).
* The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
* Kids have a huge desire to know God.
* Whenever I get lapse on working my schedule, every time, it back fires on me and I am unprepared then.
* Ministry truly is best when done with all your team members. Whenever anyone is missing, regardless of where they fit in, you miss them greatly.
Here I am again looking, and sharing what takes place backstage of Take TWO kids ministries or in my head from things that I see and hear as I review this past Sunday. There were a few things that I learned or that I saw of lessons already learned but please come along with me as I unfold them briefly.
* No matter how hard one area may try, if it is just that area making system changes they will not last a long time. The systems of the whole will win out every time.
* We have great hearted people who truly enjoy hanging out with one another.
* God will always amaze me!! This past Sunday due to a numerous amount of things I was not able to have all the bells and whistles prepped the way I would want them to be. But this past weekend God showed up in such a powerful way in The Studio (our 4-6th grade service) that it caught the attention of everyone of my adult volunteers. God is truly awesome!!
* I enjoy doing ministry with my wife and when she has to be home with my sick daughter (who had caught that H1N1, but as of today’s writing she is doing much better) it changes a little for me.
* It is our responsibility to always be the voice of our volunteers when decisions are being made because they are not always able to be there.
* It is always my responsibility to watch over my team so that burn out does not damage any of them. There is never an excuse of not being able to find help for them, because if they burn out and leave, you always seem to find someone or a way to fill that gap. It is better to get to provide that help while you still have that dedicated person in the ministry than to have to do it afterward.
* Measure twice and cut once applies to ministry as much as it does for when I was in shop class back in 7th grade. Take time to decide but once the whole team decides commit and move forward. Stopping or making corrections after decision times can actually effect the momentum and confidence of your team.
What about you, any lessons to take home after the weekend?
For those who have been following the lessons or reinforcements of ideas and lessons already realized previously titled “recaps”, you will notice I am changing the titles to strengthen the already movie, video type feel children’s ministry that we have going. So now after that long explanation let’s give you a behind the scenes look into the lessons this Sunday.
* It is important to stand back and look over the results of what you are doing. I just recently did an evaluation on myself to see what is strong and what is weak. Great thing to do if you are ready to handle the truth from yourself.
* Great to have wonderful teams, faithful and loves kids. But it is extremely important to make sure that you help them to become reproducers of themselves as well. I have been so busy learn culture, developing people, building influence and the such that I lost track that those I have been investing in are not all reproducing that love for Take TWO into their circles of influence. I have been the main recruiter, and not those on the team recruiting their friends.
* Good to remember, when I recruit many see it as me asking them to “work for me”, when the team recruits it appears that they are asking their friends to “work with/alongside of them”. Big difference, I just need to help the team to take this responsibility.
* Brittany did a fantastic job preaching the word for me today in The Studio. Way to go Brit!!
* I think I am learning the culture of fellowship here, and how to work with it and not against it.
* It is great to have a church that believes in having fun together.
* I miss my 24-inch iMac in my office already. I moved it to The Studio so it would allow team members I recruit to stop in and work on our services when they can do it. I have gone back to using my macbook pro as my everything computer. I still miss it though.
Now that is my backstage look for you into Take TWO Kids.
