1. Age Appropriate

First, this book, unlike most preteen resources, seems to hit the age group pretty well. The questions and activities pretty much hit on appropriate for their age.

The audience intended is about 4th grade and I would say that is pretty close.

2. Length

It’s 6 weeks in length and has 6 day devotionals for each week. That’s 36 devotionals. It seems a bit long for most preteens and some of the content seems to be reaching for enough depth late in the weeks. Not a criticism as much as a rethinking of how long studies like this should be.

Also, parents usually buy books like this. I don’t know many preteens that would make it through a 6 week study of anything, even Minecraft.

3. Relevance

Sometimes this is the kicker for me. Will a preteen stick their nose up at this book? Probably, if they just judge it by the cover, which they do. But ultimately, preteens that move past the cover and into the content will more than likely find some good insight and will continue reading.

Conclusion:

I was impressed. I usually laugh when I see preteen, because marketers put a label on it in order to sell more books. But I would honestly give this to preteens and am thinking of designing a small group curriculum around the material in the book.

Way to go Lifeway!! Thanks for providing resources for this tough age group.

*Note: I did NOT receive a copy of this to review, I BOUGHT A COPY with my own money.

After being at Orange Conference for the last two years, one thing sticks out to me. The preteen age group is one that churches are struggling to reach. I personally think it comes down to one issue.

The relationship between Children’s Ministry staff and Youth Ministry staff.

I’ve learned that I’m not normal. I’ve spent time working in both worlds. I started in Children’s Ministry and now I’m in Student Ministry. While working in Children’s I was also a volunteer in the High School ministry.

Student and Children’s staffs don’t see eye to eye. In fact, sometimes they don’t even like to be in the same room.

I think it’s pretty simple why this disconnect exists. 2 things:

These two seem to be common denominators in most staffs involving Student and Children’s Ministry.

Not to mention, most Children’s staff people are older than those working in Student Ministry.

But if you want to improve the relationship between departments and also improve the process for parents of the age group affected by the gap between then you have to improve the relationships between the two departments.

Here are some things that will help you begin to bridge the gap between those two departments.

1. Fight

I cannot tell you how important it is to get these two departments in the same room and just fight through some things.

Here are some questions that you should just throw out there and fight over:

1. What is the correct way to process a volunteer from beginning to end?
2. What does the perfect Sunday morning experience look and feel like?
3. What do you want a kid in your ministry to walk away with?
4. What role do parents play in your ministry?

Imagine both Children’s and Student staff people working through these questions together.

Yes it will be hard and yes feelings will probably get hurt. But the age group between your worlds needs you to figure this out.

2. Process for transitioning

There is such an opportunity to make the transition between worlds beneficial for the kids and parents affected.

Please think critically about how you are communicating to parents and also what you are providing to students transitioning.

2 realities of this transition:
Reality 1: Parents aren’t ready for kids to transition
Reality 2: Kids aren’t really ready to transition for the long term

Challenge parents to step up and make sure your programming is relevant to their age group.

3. Show up at each other’s programs

Take the suspicion out of the equation. Show up to their programs. See what they do and know what they live. Children’s Ministry people don’t receive the type of phone calls that Student Ministry people do from parents hoping they can save (literally) their child.

Likewise, most student ministry people aren’t thinking about allergies, bathroom rules, diaper changes and basic safety questions.

BOTH OF THESE ARE INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT

Show up and share struggles with one another.

I cannot tell you the immense benefit that I have because of my time in Children’s world. It’s been a process working in between both worlds, but it takes confidence, conflict, and conversation to make the gap the best it can possibly be.

How’s the gap between your Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry staffs? Is there more to this equation?

I’ve talked a little about Kristen’s brother, Drew before on my blog, but this past weekend Drew had a scare and was put into the hospital. He was having difficulty breathing and was taken there because he was having difficulty breathing.

Since, his kidneys have failed and they’ve discovered an infection in his lungs. The doctors are optimistic and so are we, but it’s tough on a family that is unbelievably giving and strong in their faith.

Not to mention, Drew is a warrior. While dealing with Cerebral Palsy his entire life, Drew has made me understand that he’s a warrior built for battle.

He’s a beast. His arms and chest are unbelievably strong, farm strong. No fat, just man crush muscle.
He’s a football fan and pretty much any sport but especially the South Carolina Gamecocks
He loves anything with a huge engine.

But he’s also a jokester.

He will fake like he’s asleep just so he won’t have to talk to you.
His laugh and smile are infectious.
He gets women to stop shopping by simply asking them to (possibly in a loud and aggravating fashion )
He will let you know if he doesn’t like you. He also knows that you look at him weird and sometimes he will make it even a little more awkward for you to do so.

He’s taught me a lot about life and Dave and Beth have been an incredible example of Christlike love since I met them almost 10 years ago.

Today, I’m asking you to pray. Pray for the infection to get punched in the face. Pray for his kidneys to get a jumpstart and pray that Drew will start laughing again.

1. Tell us a story

Take some time and write us an email to say thank you and give us a specific example. We get plenty of criticism and plenty of pass along thank you’s, but your story will remain in our memory for a long, long time.

• Write an email of a conversation that made a difference
• Get your student to write a card to us encouraging us to continue.
• Buy a card and write a little thank you note.

2. Gift Cards

I love gift cards. A small pick me up for the grind that we are in the middle of every day. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Starbucks
• Amazon (books and pretty much anything else)
• Academy or Dicks Sports (reminds me to have fun)
• Target (games, stationery, and cards)
• Restaurant cards (to take out our spouses)

3. Buy us something that we can do to help your student

Give us some suggestions on how to reach your student. How can we connect with your student and have a meaningful interaction?

• Tickets to a sporting event, the movies, or a play
• A board game that your family plays
• An invitation to an activity that your child is involved in

I try and make appreciation something I do on a regular basis and today is no different.

What are some ways that you like to say thank you to people that influence your children?

You can see everything I’ve got on my list here. I am going to try and get rid of safari and possibly spotify soon. I’ve made the change for a little over a week and it has been pretty glorious.

I had two strategies going in.

1. Reduce the Bored Button Effect

Everyone has something they resort to when they are bored. For me, it was either games on my device or it was browsing social media. For me, this change has been incredible. Now when I’m bored, (besides my occasional Safari browse) I go straight to my FighterVerses app and work on memorizing some scripture. Not only that but I don’t feel the need to pull my phone out as much.

For me this device isn’t much of a distraction at work, but it’s a killer at home. How bad does that suck? So I took the plunge and still have a long way to go on reducing the boredom button in my life. I’ve played on the floor with my kid more than ever though!

• No Facebook
• No Twitter
• No Youtube
• No Games

I still have instagram, but browsing instagram really isn’t my thing. I generally don’t do that often, only to see what my Switch kids are posting and have thought about completely deleting my profile. The pictures of my son going out to my family is a reason why I stay and my Switch students are on this social media site in droves.

Maybe soon. Waiting on this with my breath held hoping to make the switch.

2. Stop thinking about Work

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully shake this one, but this sure has helped me a lot. I no longer have my email on my phone. I no longer have Facebook Pages. I no longer have the things that keep me glued to my work beeping at home.

My brain is constantly processing projects and deadlines, but without my work email coming to my phone I’m more productive at home than ever before.

So are you willing to reduce your apps? I challenge you to try it for a week and see if you miss it.

I’ve been a blogger at Orange the last few years and the blogger’s lounge has always been a blast, but this year and last David and his team from MinisterSearch have made it spectacular. They make us feel like royalty. Besides being a child of the King, I’m not, haha.

MinisterSearch is the most experienced and most successful PASTOR STAFF SEARCH FIRM in the country and David and his team will hook you up. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to connect with the search firm that gets results. MinisterSearch has led close to 400 pastoral staff search for church all over the US and in Canada and their long-term retention rate is more than 90%.

They make the lounge super fun and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and loved. If you are a church looking for a new staffer or a pastor looking for a new place, then please do yourself a favor and click on over to ministersearch.com and let David Lyons and his team walk you through the process!

This breakout was given by Jeanne Stevens. I’ve heard Jeanne at Orange before and came away impressed. I chose this to hear her thoughts and she killed it!

She talked through the 5 C’s of Healthy Teams. Here are a few of the highlights:

• There was a question asked in the session: “What if your church seems ok to sacrifice the many for the one? How do you handle that?” Jeanne responded like a pro and made a statement I won’t soon forget, “[In the church] We get stuck with being nice.” “Don’t sacrifice the many for the one.”
• You cannot manufacture a calling.
• Healthy communication and pace lead to healthy conflict. Health conflict promotes healthy growth.
• When hiring, do you want a thoroughbred or a pony? You have to teach one how to run and get to show off another. (WOW!)
• Authenticity leads to true authority.

Here are pictures of my notes from this session:

Are you having any struggles with your leadership team?

Here are a few of my main takeaways from the session.

• There is a stark difference between a ministry geared towards insiders and geared towards outsiders.
• If you develop a ministry geared toward outsiders you could help the insiders develop an outward worldview.
• Why would you use feedback from insiders to reach outsiders?

In order to reach outsiders you have to strategically think through all elements from your program from top to bottom.

Here are pictures from my notebook filled with goodness:

Do you struggle with designing a service geared towards outsiders?

In case you didn’t know. I’m at a conference. It’s called the Orange Conference. Over the next few days, I will be blogging primarily about what is going on at the Conference. I’ve already posted a little bit about the Orange Conference and you can view my stream about Orange.

They are also debuting a new app showing you a timer of a date when your kid will graduate. It’s pretty amazing. It helps you keep focused on making the most of your time.

“Teach us to number our days, so that we will gain a heart of wisdom” Psalm 90:12

I dare you to download the Legacy Countdown app and put your kid(s) birthday in it.

It’s an eye opener for sure. Here’s Cannon’s number:

WOW

I cannot believe how real this makes my time to spend with him. I plan to buy a bunch of marbles to help me see it along with this app. I hope that you will think about the amount of time you have left with your child and make the most of it.

Be looking out for more Orange Conference goodness by clicking here.

If you are at Orange and wanna talk preteen ministry send me this tweet:

@jcisonline I wanna talk about preteen ministry #oc13

I hope to meet you and talk to you this week!

]]> http://jcisonline.com/focus/feed/ 0 http://jcisonline.com/focus/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JCisOnline/~3/YAHw36Zx8IQ/ http://jcisonline.com/oc13-magic/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:46:24 +0000 J.C. Thompson http://jcisonline.com/?p=3841

We made it here last night and had some dinner with old friends and made some new ones! I’m pumped as always for the conference, but I’m super pumped about the conversations that result from the Conference.

I love Orange because even if you aren’t here you can experience a ton of the conference by reading some bloggers and hearing their voice. This year they are more interactive than ever by providing us with some sweet Hashtag and experiential ideas for some fun stuff to do with your team.

Here’s a shot of the handout they gave to us:

Very fun and interactive element to not only promote the conference but to also have fun! Not to mention you will be hearing perspectives from breakouts, main sessions, worship, resources, and more. To stay up to date on all that’s happening. Be sure to check out these blogs as they update you on their conference experiences!

Here’s who you can expect to tell you all about their experience and the latest from OC13:

• Amy Fenton Lee, The Inclusive Church (Special Needs)
• Anthony Price, WestCoastCM (Children’s Ministry)
• Ben Read, YouthMin (Youth Ministry)
• David Lyons, MinisterSearch (Helping Churches Find Leaders)
• Elle Campbell, Stuff You Can Use (Youth Ministry and Resources)
• Jared Massey, Small Town Kidmin
• JC Thompson (Preteen Ministry)
• Jeremy Lee, UthMin (Middle School Ministry)
• Joe McAlpine (NextGen Leadership)
• Jonathan Cliff (Children’s, Student, and Family Ministry, Leadership, Parenting)
• Kenny Conley (Children’s Ministry)
• Matt McKee (Technology Leadership)
• Matt Norman (Children’s Ministry)
• Michael Bayne (Student and Family Ministry)
• Nick Blevins (Family Ministry and Leadership)
• Ryan Reed (Mission, Church, Culture, Student Ministry)
• Justin Wise (Leadership and Social Media)
• Terrace Crawford (Student Ministry)
• Tom Pounder, Ministry Blackboard (Student and Family Ministry)
• Tom Shefchunas, Coach Shef (Middle School Ministry)
• Tonya Langdon, KidMin1124 and SpecialNeedKidz (Special Needs, Mental Illness, Behavioral, Developmental)
• Wendy Douglas (Children’s Ministry, Moms Ministry, Parenting)

You can also follow everyone along on Twitter by searching #OC13 and #thinkorange.

What are you looking forward to at #OC13?