@ Group: Experience Required - Hands-On learning

The opening this session we were given a Candy Land game and a 2 liter bottle. With the instruction of you can't change the bottle in anyway but you have to get the entire game with pieces into the bottle in 25 minutes.

It was an experience that you should try sometime. It is very hard even with lighters, scissors, and other tools.

You learn a lot about yourself and your leadership.
Are you willing to follow?
Are you willing to lead?
Are you willing to fail?
Are you willing to experiment?
Are you willing to not use your idea?


Experiences should be R.E.A.L.

Relational - let your teachings of faith become relational and not just relational with the speaker

Experiential - have the participants experience more than lectures/videos but participate in the lesson

Applicable - if there is not an action for the participant to take away then they won't take action

Learner-based - if I can't understand it then it does me no good


People remember so much more through experience than anything else. The problem is letting people experience things is risky and less consistent. It is also impossible to be perfect but it lets the person take home something that isn't just your teaching but their learning.

@ Group: Safety First - Where are we headed?

What do you currently do to ensure safety?

• Check-in and Check-out
• beepers for nursery
• no adults in children's restrooms
• visitor passes
• evacuation plans
• Code Adam or lock down policies
• background checks
• reference checks
• defibrillator
• cameras in hallways
• security teams with armed guards (officers and volunteers)
• glass doors or open door policies
• nurses/doctors on duty
• 2 people with kids at all times
• accident/incident reports
• CPR certificates
• photo badges
• release forms for pictures taken of kids
• radios for communications
• cleanliness of facility (keeping out clutter in classroom)
• bathrooms in children's rooms
• volunteer training as proactive
• Lead testing
  
• Prayer
  
• There are many more things that have been stated

Are we giving families what they want when it comes to safety?


How many of us take as many precautions on how to teach the Bible and get it in to families lives as we take security?

Brand new source launched today! Check it out!
New Website Alert: http://www.safechurch.com

@ Group: Wired Ministry - Use of Technology to Communicate

Questions:

Why is Wired ministry important?
Perception to the family and kids, it helps us communicate in a new way, it gets us in the home in
a new way, it enhances relationships and not replaces,

What ways do you use technology?
The web (blogs, facebook, twitter, youtube, ect), printing technologies, digital screens, text
messages, e-mail, videos, security, environment pieces, music, satellite campuses

What are the possible issues of being coming to High-Tech?
incorporating it as a relational piece, being a major distraction, security, leaving behind a
generation, becoming more passive, use it to control to much on the basis of consistency,

Where can we go from here?
(you get to add your thoughts here)

@ Group: Family Ministry - What does this look like?

The Opening Questions:

Who was the biggest spiritual influence in your life?
most people are saying Mom, Dad, Grandparent

What changes are you making today to go Green?
organic food, changed light bulbs, driving new vehicles, etc.

How is our culture marketing the importance of going Green?
save money, become famous, your not responsible if you aren't going green, school curriculum,
Earth Day, Arbor Day, fear and guilt tactics, purpose for living, legislation, created a new story,
evoked emotion, worked through the kids, the point was brought home

How is this strategy similar to family ministry?
practical ideas that reinforce that small changes make big difference, purpose for living,
empowered kids, curriculum creation/product creation, create a new story

How are we different and what can we learn from the Green movement?
Green has shown value added principles at every level of involvement and we can do much
better at showing value added principles at every level of family no matter what the family
looks like.


10 things we can do or families can do to revolutionize ministry in the home in 20 years

1. Build intentional relationships with families that aren't involved
2. Community Involvement of the ministers and volunteers
3. Encourage Family Night activities at least once a month
4. Talking points for dinner time
5. Leverage Technology
6. Enjoyable experiences outside of church
7. Communicate the main point at least 3 different ways
8. Create milestones throughout the families life and do them well
9. Take it home events
10. Easy weekly conversation

@ Group: Thoughts from the Plane, The World is Flat

I am officially in Loveland, CO which is just outside of Denver. I got up this morning at 4:00am eastern and arrived in Denver at 7:55am mountain time. While on the plane I got to start reading a book that I have been meaning to read for 2 years. The title of the book is The World is Flat. I am only 137 pages into the 566 pages of the book. Now if you would have asked me up to today if I had read this book I would have told you that I know all of its principals. Which basically means that I have read the Executive Book Summary but not the actual book. So why go back and read the book? One to make my sister-in-law's husband proud of me (not really but I think he will be), and because I enjoyed the summary that much and the book has had that kind of impact on the business world. I also wanted to get in the mindset of learning and thinking and this book makes you do both.

My thoughts/questions so far have been (random but it is how I think):

1. Open-Source Ministry for Preschool, Elementary, Jr. High, and Sr. High.
2. Is it possible to outsource curriculum development to India? Graphics, copy writing, printing.
3. Is for profit to fund not for profit efficient? Would it last without the support of a larger organization?
4. Why is ministry not flatter? How can I help make it flat? How can what I do over the next 3 days propel others to become more flat?
5. How can we utilize each other's strengths so that we can enhance our personal ministries instead of all doing the same work and hurting our ministry to people?
6. Tom Friedman is a very gifted writer. I should learn how to write better.
7. Should I learn how to speak Hindi or Chinese?

There you have it. Before the conference about ministry begins I have to many questions and not enough answers. Of course I do like questions more than I like answers. We will see where this goes from here.

Now back to reading and sending more tweets to Twitter.

Ministry Monday: @ Group Publishing

Okay, so it is not Monday yet but I wanted to give you a heads up on where I will be over the next 3 days. I fly out of DAY at 6:30am (eastern time) and arrive in Denver at 7:34am (mountain time). I am going to be hanging out at Group Publishing with 20 other Children's/Family pastors from around the nation. We are going to be covering or should I say talking about 5 major trends effecting churches today. The 5 trends are:

1. Safety First: Where are we headed?
2. Wired Ministry: Use of Technology to communicate to a Media-Savvy Generation
3. Family Ministry: What does that look like?
4. Experience Required: Hands-on learning for faith discovery
5. Volunteers: Recruiting, equipping, and retaining

I am looking forward to all of them but as you probably guessed already the one I am most interested in is the Wired Ministry trend. The one that I am least excited about is Safety First but who knows.

So what is this conference or as Group would say this conversation? Basically it is a chance to get away and dream, learn, and let iron sharpen iron. Believe it or not I choose this over the Orange Conference. I know, I know, but after reading all of the Children's Pastors and Youth Pastors that were at Orange I feel I was there anyway.

Expect many blog post over the next 3 days and if you want the real inside scoop then follow me on Twitter.

Tech Thursday: A Birthday Gift?

Here is my thought about my next birthday. If I have to turn 30 on May 20th and get ridiculed and made fun of then I should at least tell you what you could get me. So here goes nothing.

There was some very exciting news that came out this past week from a company named Orb Networks. What was the news?

Orb Networks brings you another world's first:
play live TV, Internet TV, and webcams
on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

We've optimized media streaming so it works great over WiFi
and even over AT&T, O2, and Vodafone

Yes you read that right. I could have live TV on my iPhone. Jessica's first question was, "Why do you need live TV?" I said, "Need?" But how cool is it that you can do this?

How does it work?

Here's How

Step 1: On your PC Works on Windows PCs or on Macs running Parallels or Fusion Install the Orb streaming application Create your login and password To watch live TV or a webcam you will need a TV turner card or webcam attached to your PC Need a tuner card? Get the Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 Or get the Diamond XtremeTV PVR 660 Leave your PC on and connected to the Internet so it can stream stuff to your iPhone or iPod touch

Step 2: On your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch You must have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch to get OrbLive (Haven't yet jailbroken your iPhone? We like ZiPhone*) Click on the Installer icon in your iPhone app menu Click the Install icon at the bottom Scroll through the list of categories and click on Multimedia Click on OrbLive Click Install at top right Click Install in the popup that appears When the package has installed, go to your iPhone app menu and click the OrbLive icon Enter the login and password you created when you installed Orb on your PC Enjoy!

So for my 30th birthday I want not only a Diamond XtremeTV PVR 660 but I want someone to set it all up for me as well. Is that to much to ask for someone who is turning old?

There you have it. New technology and to much information.

Sign Wednesday: Free Money

This past Saturday I went to the grocery store. I just needed to pick up some stuff for a sermon illustration that I was doing on Sunday. When I came out of the store I saw this sign:



The sign says "Free Money". The bag he is holding has money inside. This kid was not joking. He was giving away Free Money. So what did I do? I gave him more money to give away. I couldn't help myself. I believe that it is better to give than to receive. This guy who wouldn't tell me his name because he was doing this as a class project was trying to figure this concept out. Is it better to give?

Now I stayed and watched for about 5 minutes. The reaction of people passing by was priceless. Most people stopped and ask is it true that he was giving away free money. Some asked how much they could take. Others didn't want to believe him and just walked right by giving him incredibly bad looks for a guy giving away free money. What I was surprised about the most is that no one took all the money at once. I think this was a very interesting experiment. I may even have to try it some day. I think you should try it too and let me know how it went.

I give the guy an "F" for his sign but an "A+" for the idea and boldness to do it. Sometimes it isn't always about the sign. Yes I just wrote that.

Ministry Monday: Sunday Highlights

Do you ever have those days where you are running from one thing to another? I had that day yesterday. I got to lead communion for the adult worship service, do announcements, and set up the guest speaker. After I got off the stage I rushed over to Junior High and preached.

Why do I like being busy? I think it makes me feel more important. I really know that if I am not busy it doesn't make me any less important but there is something about people counting on me that I really like. Speaking of really liking something. . . I really like to preach. Even if it is only a 4-5 min. snippet that sets up communion I just feel comfortable. I also like the challenge of speaking to adults and then turning right around and speaking to teens. The mental hurdles really challenge me. I know this isn't normal but it is me.

After saying all of that I don't believe those were the highlights of yesterday. That is what happened but nothing spectacular. The highlights were:

• Having 2 different people come up to me after the service and tell me that I should start my own church (strange but true. I don't know if that was a compliment or not.)
• Having a junior high kid tell me that he was challenged by my honesty
• Having a parent trust my judgment about sending her kid to camp
• Having 18 kids stay after church to practice leading worship for elementary
• Having a business guy tell me that he is going to join our Bible study and he has never read the Bible
  

As much as I like being on stage and having the spot light on me I truly enjoy people being touched more. I love seeing kids serve. I love seeing junior high kids challenged. I love seeing business guys get out of their comfort zone. These are the ways that I really enjoy seeing God move.

What were your highlights yesterday? What ways do you like to see God move?

Kentucky Derby

I am a Kentucky boy born and raised. I have been to the Kentucky Derby and enjoy going to go see the horses run every year. I did not go this year but hope to make it back very soon. You don't have to bet to enjoy a great day at the track. There is just something beautiful about horses. I heard a sports talk radio host call the Kentucky Derby a rich man's NASCAR. I found that very funny. Anyway, by now you know that Big Brown won the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Congratulations to an incredible horse. This truly is one of the best horses I have seen in a long time. Believe me when I say that horses should not be able to run away from the pack like he did. I hope he wins the Triple Crown. It is about time that a horse did.

But that is not the point of this post. I have a huge question to NBC or anyone else who gets to show the race. Why in the world do you not show the other 7 or 8 races of the day? Did you know that there are a bunch of other races on the day that the Kentucky Derby is run? Why in the world do you think that people sit there all day and drink Mint Juleps? I mean you don't have to give it as much pomp and circumstance as the Derby but it would be nice instead of seeing Bob Costas for 2 hours getting his hair blown out of sorts. In fact some how the airing of the Derby doesn't show any other horses at all. It makes the Derby experience look really boring. It is not boring at all. 150,000 people don't show up for 2 minutes and alcohol.

I mean think about it. It would be like showing up to the nicest restaurant pay $90 a plate for the chef to choose what you are going to eat that night and all you are given is a shot of turnip soup. That is what watching the Kentucky Derby on TV is like. So please, if you can, please change it. Let us see the other races. Let us see the beauty of the other horses.