So, after a few weeks, here is what I can report:

• kids are excited
• parents are excited
• the church is excited

And here is why I think are numbers have increased and so many people are excited about this...because it is not-traditional.  Traditional Sunday School means classrooms, lectures, lessons, object activities and so forth.  What this alternative is gives children the freedom to run around, exercise and learn something new about a sport.  Not every child is "athletic" but every child can participate and can play.  This provides them that opportunity.  Then, after they have burned off a lot of energy, we teach them a lesson, centered around the sport or activity they just participated in.

Does this require extra work?  You bet.  Cindy our Children's Director is basically creating this curriculum on her own from various resources.  But the reward of seeing all these children running around, having fun...all the while setting them up to hear about Christ maybe for the first time is well worth the extra time.  Because this is drawing new children in.  Because this is something new and different.  Because God is at work.

So what about you?  What can you do differently to reach the countless children in your neighborhoods that aren't quite up for going to "traditional" Sunday School?  TAKE A MINUTE right now and brainstorm some ideas.  Then, start putting the pieces together to begin something new and fresh so that more children and families can hear about Christ...maybe for the 1st time.

If you have an alternate Sunday School that you are doing at your church, post it here so we can all be encouraged by your stories.  Even if you don't have one yet, but have questions, thoughts or comments, post them and hopefully a discussion that has begun here will inspire you and others to think of something outside the box that can further the kingdom.

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• Trying something different this Summer: CAMP CREATE
• the Monday Morning Debrief: Quit Overdoing
• the BLACKBOARD: Honoring & Appreciating our Volunteers
• the Monday Morning Debrief: reflecting on the fruit
• Sports-Centered Sunday Morning Programming

But then, in November, I was asked to take over the Youth Program that was struggling.  I did and I have enjoyed it a lot!  However, I had to once again change the way I functioned as a staffer at New Life.  I was still "managing" the children's ministry but I was no leading and "doing" the Youth Ministry.  In fact, there were many things about doing youth ministry that I had to relearn.

Relearning Youth Ministry was a bit odd to me because I was out of daily leading a youth program for over a year.  I actually felt like Tim Tebow before he was drafted by the Broncos.  ESPN did this great piece on him on how he had to relearn how to throw the football so he could be a better passer in the NFL.

So, now being back on the front lines of youth ministry for 6 months now, here are a few things I had to relearn:

• Identifying, recruiting, training and developing leaders.  Being at a bigger church and not knowing as many people, I have had a harder time identifying potential leaders.  But as I have gotten to know the existing leaders and built even more relationships with the congregation, it has been great sitting down and talking to all the new potential leaders.  Then, developing a development plan for each existing leader has been a blast as well as I get to sit with them and get to know them on a deeper level and help take them to the next level of their leadership.
• Digging into the day to day operations again.  Being a "manager" meant I just had to make sure things were getting doing.  But now being the leader and in charge of doing or delegating all the things.  So I had to relearn how to best run this program.  What works and what doesn't...finding my happy place in ministry again

Those are just 2 quick things I had to relearn and get immersed in again.  So what about you?  Is there something you have to relearn in youth ministry to be more effective?  TAKE A MINUTE right now and share a thought or comment about this so we can all benefit.

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• Chowtime – 5/20
• Trying something different this Summer: CAMP CREATE
• the Monday Morning Debrief: Quit Overdoing
• the BLACKBOARD: Honoring & Appreciating our Volunteers
• the Monday Morning Debrief: reflecting on the fruit

• Joshua Griffin talks about 5 ways you can leave a Church well.
• Jeremy Zach posts about the possibility of Youth Pastors eventually not caring anymore.
• Obama started it, but Ben Kerns talks about gay marriage and the debate it is for the younger believers.
• Grant Diamond shares a message he is doing about going from "duty" to joy.
• Richard Parker over at ym360 discusses some ways that you can walk with students while they are grieving.
• Over at YouthMin.org, they remind youth ministers to check their filters.
• This was posted a bit ago, but a great idea that StuffYouCanUse.org posted about a Dad/Daughters event.

Possibly Related Posts:

• the Monday Morning Debrief: Relearning
• Trying something different this Summer: CAMP CREATE
• the Monday Morning Debrief: Quit Overdoing
• the BLACKBOARD: Honoring & Appreciating our Volunteers
• the Monday Morning Debrief: reflecting on the fruit

Camp Create is an action-packed week of intense fine arts training and Bible study.  The five fine arts included are dance, drama, music, sign-language, and visual art.  Each session touches on the five arts, a Bible study, refreshments, and a rockin' opening session.

It is a week long camp that culminates with a Friday night production for the parents.  Each day will start at 1 and run til 5.  The theme for this year is Safari So Good: The Goodness of ONE.  Verse for the week is Psalm 136:1. "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His steadfast love endures forever."

This why I love that New Life is doing Camp Create:

1. Provides an opportunity to serve. If you are in high school or college and looking for something different and fun to help out with this summer, then this is a great opportunity to invest in children in a unique format while sharing the love of Christ with them.
2. It's not centered around sports.  Let's be honest, the nZone IS sports.  So for New Life and the nZone to be offering this camp for the "fine arts" is a great way to reach out to all different kinds of children who have a lot more interest in things other than sports.
3. It presents us with another opportunity to reach the community.  As I said above, the nZone screams sports.  Camp Create is none of that and it allows New Life to reach even more people so that they can discover of God is.

So, I'm really excited about this opportunity and I think it'll be a great opportunity for our entire community.

If Camp Create sounds interesting to you and you either want to sign up, click here or want to help out, email me.  We would love for you to be involved in some way this year!

If you are not local (Northern Virginia) and have thoughts, comments or experiences about doing events like Camp Create, post them so that we can all benefit.

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• An Alternative to Traditional Sunday School
• the Monday Morning Debrief: Relearning
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The posting goes on to say that there is so much Android compared to just 2 Apple products.  To some people that may seem like a good thing for Android. But this article goes on the point out that in order for you, a developer, to get your Android based app out, you have to test it against some 400 based devices because every device runs a slightly different version of Android.  That is compared to just 2 iOS devices in the iPhone and iPad.  The concluding statement was that they support iOS because it is "A little simpler, if you ask us."

So what?  So how does this relate to ministry at all?

Simple really...Simplify your life.  Simplify your ministry.  Android is all over the place but it is fragmented.  There is so much that the product it is hard for programmers to develop for them because each product is just a little different.  On the other hand, it is easy for programmers to develop of Apple since there are only 2 main devices.

In our lives and ministry we can dilute our time with unnecessary things and programs. We do this thing and that program and we have made ourselves so busy because we believe that the more busy we are the more production we are having.  But the reality is that sometimes we do, do, do and then forget why we actually do certain things.  It had a purpose early on, but maybe now that purpose is no longer relevant or valid.  All these "things" do is clutter our life with more and more unnecessary stuff.

So my encouragement for all of us today is to TAKE A MINUTE and think through what we are doing (both in our personal lives and our ministry).  Is something you need to cut out?  If so, what do you need to eliminate, not to make your life "easier" but to simplify it so you stay focused on the main things in life and ministry?

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Experiences?  Post a comment and let the discussion begin so that we can all benefit from it.

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• the BLACKBOARD: Honoring & Appreciating our Volunteers

Let me explain my question.  Just last week my girls school was honoring their volunteers by providing them a Volunteer Brunch from 8:30 – 11:30 am at the school.  In addition, they gave them all travel mugs with the school name on it.  Now, as nice as the spread was for breakfast, I had to abstain because I was getting ready to have an All-You-Can-Eat Sushi lunch with another youth minister friend.  But I was happy to take the travel mug.

This was a very nice, simple appreciation - brunch and a travel mug.  But how do you think this made made the volunteers feel?  It made me feel appreciated and valued.  It made me want to do this again next year.  And that's the point.  The volunteers were recognized, honored and appreciated and it went a long way to retention for next year.

TAKE A MINUTE right now and brainstorm some thoughts on the BLACKBOARD about what you are doing to honor and appreciate your volunteers.  Is there something new that you have done recently that went over well?  Is there something NOT to do?  Throw out some ideas and thoughts so that we can all benefit.

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How does this apply to ministry?

Do you ever sit back and reflect on the fruit of your labor?  This isn't meant to be in a boastful, prideful way of "look what I've done".  But it is a way to look at say, "look what God has done".

In ministry it can be so easy to look at all you aren't doing and all you should be doing and forget about all that God has done.  This summer I will have performed 5 weddings.  Of those 5, 4 are from former students who I have connected with.  To be asked to perform weddings for former students is such an honor for me.  In many ways it shows me that God allowed me to make an impact in their lives for the kingdom of Heaven.  What a great honor.

So right now, TAKE A MINUTE and just reflect on the fruits of your labor.  What has God done in your ministry?  My mentor once told me that he tells volunteer leaders when they leave ministry that if they impacted just 1 life, they have made a difference.  In the same way, I tell you, no matter how many or how few people you have impacted, if you have impacted just 1 person, you have made a difference.

Thoughts, comments, questions, suggestions? Post something so that we can all learn from each other and benefit.

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Each week there will be a different sport that the kids will learn about, practice, and then play a game using the skills they learned. For instance the next for weeks for us looks like:

May 6: Kickball
May 13: Lacrosse
May 20: Flag Football
May 27: Soccer

During each week, the coach(es) leading the sport will provide the plan for the sport part of the service. The KidZone leaders will assist the coaches with the sports and will lead the Huddle Up portion if the coach wants this.

Below is a “sample” timeline of a typical session. These times are subject to change as needed by the coaches leading the sport:

• 11:50-12:00 - Welcome (coaches will introduce themselves). Warm Up and Stretch: Kids will be led in warm up and stretching exercises.
• 12:00–12:10 - Skill Session 1: Kids will be taught skills for the day’s sport
• 12:10–12:20 - Skill Session 2: Kids will be taught another skill for the day’s sport.
• 12:25–12:50 - Sport Time: Play a game or something using the skill learned earlier
• 12:50–1:05 - Huddle Up: Devotion and lesson time.

So this is what we are trying. Something new and different. What do you think? TAKE A MINUTE and...

1. post your thoughts. What do you think of this new style of programming for Sunday morning?
2. Also, if you are a Children's Minister or Volunteer, take some time to brainstorm new ideas for you and your children's ministry. What can you do and how can you try something that is fresh that could possibly draw more children and families to your ministry.

Possibly Related Posts:

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• the Monday Morning Debrief: Relearning
• Trying something different this Summer: CAMP CREATE
• the Monday Morning Debrief: Quit Overdoing
• the BLACKBOARD: Honoring & Appreciating our Volunteers

Here are my notes from the Main Session Speakers:

• Main Session Message by Doug Fields
• Main Session Message by Kara Powell
• Main Session Message by Andy Stanley
• Main Session Message by Craig Groeschel
• Main Session Message by Reggie Joiner

• Notes on Navigating the 5th/6th Grade Transition
• Notes on Leading an Inclusion Initiative 
• Notes on How to Creatively tell Stories to Preschoolers
• Notes on How to Prioritize Social Media in your Ministry
• Notes on How to Intentionally Connect to your Community through Sports

If you weren't able to go to Orange this year, I hope these notes help you out and hopefully you can learn something new as I did.

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3 Sunlamps that blind you:

1. Numbers and focusing on your numbers can cause you to lose focus
2. The pace of life can be hard.  In fact, being with people for fun and refreshment was rare when he was in youth ministry.  He was always with others for "ministry".
3. Comparing yourself to others and their programs can overtake you and damage you.  It . matter how good you are, there are always going to be people who don't like you

In most ministry settings, those sunlamps are being focused on by a lot of leaders.  You are the majority but don't know it because no one admits it.

1. How do you turn the lamp off?
2. How do you get back to living again?

1. He's learned that bigger isn't better.  Better is better.  Bigger is overrated.
2. Hurry is the enemy of depth.  Slow down!
3. He replaced comparison with effectiveness.  God created Doug Fields to be Doug Fields.  He needed to stop comparing and start abiding.

He just needed God to work on him.

Are you paying attention deeply for the things Jesus cares about and wants you to be doing?  You have to turn off the articifical lights that are blinding you and focus on God.

Quit being impressed by the busy-ness of others.  Busy-ness leads to brokeness.  Work hard but don't find your identity in your task.

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• Chowtime – 5/20
• Trying something different this Summer: CAMP CREATE
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