Vision @ 25%

Can you tell me what is wrong with this sign? It was hung straight, printed correctly, even has nice white space, but something is really wrong. Read the bottom quote very carefully. Did you know that their beans were not 100% organic? Did you know that they are failing at their goal by 75%? Why announce to the world that you are trying but failing? Wouldn't it be just as good not to say anything then to say something @ 25%? Seriously, I don't get it. This company has one of the best marketing firms in the world and they messed up badly. Am I suppose to be happy that 25% of my beans are good and the other 75% are junk? I understand that vision sells and motivates and is the key to many problems but don't sell your vision at 25%. Please if you learn nothing else from this post...Don't hang a sign outside of your nursery and say, "We only change 25% of the babies diapers because that is what we can afford. If you would tithe more than we could change all of their diapers and wouldn't have as much crying."

Love for the Down Under

I received a question from someone who does not live in Australia why I don't blog more about the greatness that is coming out of the Land Down Under. My response is simple. Shame on Me! Now I know that most of my readers are here in the United States and we can get egotistical sometimes about how cutting edge we are, but we can and should learn more by looking around the world. If you are not aware, Hillsong Kids is doing some incredible things. They are leading the way when it comes to music for Children's Ministry for starters. If you have ever had the thought that kids in elementary can't worship to music then you are doing music wrong for one and two you haven't picked up a Hillsong Kid's DVD. Pick one up and watch kids worship right before your eyes. We use quite a few of their songs and our kids' favorite is "One Way", even though "Jesus in my Life" is a very close second. Also, one of their head guys, Dave Wakerley, has an excellent blog. If you are not reading it you should. Here is the link. One last thing... They are having a conference coming up in July. I have not had the chance to go but I am trying my best to clear my schedule for next year. I know that we have great conferences here in the States but I think we should make it a point to get to Hillsong at least once. By they way, they dress cool too.

I wear socks like that when I play indoor soccer. Maybe I should wear them when I lead worship?!

PureNRG, new music group for kids

As you know, music is one of the most important tools that we can use for Children's Ministry. About 5 years ago we were blessed with a group called Jump 5. This little teen bop group resonated with kids like crazy. We have not had another group capture that excitement since. I am glad to announce that we have another one that is sure to do the same thing that Jump 5 did. The group is called PureNRG. They consist of two 11 year old girls and one 14 year old boy. Your kids are going to love them. Their CD hits the shelves May 1st. Their website is www.purenrgonline.com. There are samples of their music but the site is not totally up yet and won't be until May 1st. So go ahead and impress your kids with the knowledge of what is coming. The funniest song is their cover of Footloose. I am sorry but I had to laugh when I heard it. They are a Christian group and Disney has already picked them up. The advance CD is very good.

The Human Side

I got this question from someone calling himself (I hope it is a him) "Tank":

Mckee, Great idea, but how does it work when 2 of the guys you mentioned are suing each other b/c of stolen ideas?

Now this was in response to a post I have called "A Children's Curriculum Idea". First of all, if you want to comment on this site please feel free. That is why I do this blog and I hope that I have some thought, idea or review that warrants a response. I do ask though that you at least let us know who you are. Tank, thanks for the encouragement about the idea and the question but please let me know how I can contact you.

Okay, that is done and now let me get to my point of why I call this post "The Human Side."

Children's Ministry as a business is like any other industry. You have your major players who have been loyal to their company and have been through many years of trials, hardships, and successes. Because of their experience, vision, leadership, and insight many people follow them and look up to them as mentors. Like any other industry many of those major players change over the years. For instance in Children's Ministry... If you take a look at Saddleback, Willow, and North Point, all of the heads of state are no longer in the same role they where in just 2 years ago. Reggie Joiner is doing his own thing with the reThink Group and doing quite well if I might add. Sue Miller has joined Reggie in the reThink Group. Talk about a dynamic team. I did interview with Willow to see if I could take over for her. I didn't make the cut. I got the, "We think you need more experience. You are just to young. This was after interviewing with them for 3 months. Don't worry, I'm not bitter. Craig Jutila is no longer at Saddleback and is taking a break to refocus himself. By the way, I know I have knocked Craig a little on this site, but I will say that I have the utmost respect for his decision and the way he handled it was nothing but class. I still want him on my bus when it comes to ministry. He is truly gifted. Anyway, Children's Ministry has a human side. Like it or not there is a business side. My hope is that we can get past both of these and get to the ministry side of things. The 2 guys that are suing each other need to come together. Both need to ask for forgiveness and then start working together again. Their stuff was much better when they were on speaking terms. I understand that things went down in a really bad way but it is the past. Sins happen and God gives grace. Believe me, I know I need grace from "ministry" things that I have done and in ways that I have treated people. The most important thing that we can do as Children's ministers is not get caught up on this human side. It isn't going to matter who the next head of state is because they are going to be human as well. Things, people, ministries, and industries change but let us learn from their mistakes. Today's kids need us too and believe me when I say that tomorrow's kids expect us too.

My Favorite Blogger loves Quitters

Seth Godin is my favorite blogger. He is a marketing genius and has many ideas and inspirations that the church can take and better itself. He is one of the few marketing guys who you read and feel that he is being real with you. Seth has a new book coming out this May. It is called "The Dip, a little book that teaches you when to quit and when to stick." You can pre-order it at amazon.com. Seth even has a blog just for this book, which by the way is very smart marketing. In this blog he has asked for quitters who have gone on to be the best in the world at something else. Of course there are famous people who have made the top ten. Now, I know there are some of you out there who have quit your secular job and have gone into ministry. I also know that there are some of you who have done the opposite. There are some days that I wonder if I am following my passion or if I am settling for something that I am good at and enjoy. Other days I couldn't think about doing anything else. I expect this book to challenge me, the blog already has done just that. I hope my honesty hasn't scared you and that you take some time to read this book when it comes out and honestly evaluate yourself and your situation. Now I know that full time ministry is a calling but would you be better for the ministry if you quit working for the church and started working in the secular world? Ministry is still going to happen in both places and so where is your passion? Don't settle working in an area where God hasn't given you a passion. Life is to short and you could be waisting the real ministry God has for you.

Jott Yourself

5 years ago I bought a voice recorder. I was inspired by my boss at the time. He would walk around the church and remind himself of all the things that needed to improve or simply change by speaking into a nice little compact device. He would then have his assistant or himself type out all his notes from the recorder. I saw this as a manager and thought it was a good idea. I tried it for a while and found it very underwhelming but loved the idea. Last week I was introduced to Jott. Jott is a voice recognition web based software that you call with your cell phone and it turns your call into a written e-mail and sends it for you. It attaches the voicemail to the e-mail in case the software does not understand your words. The voice recognition is very nice though so I haven't had to check the voicemail yet. Why is this important? Well, I can Jott myself reminders and have copies of those reminders in my e-mail. I can put groups together and send them all an e-mail by speaking into my cell phone. I can send an e-mail and not be near a computer or have to use my thumbs on my PDA phone. The best part about this service is that it is FREE, at least for now. I am in love with this service. So much so, that I have told everyone in every meeting about it over the last week. I am now what they call a "Citizen Marketer" for Jott. I hope to get Jotts from many of you now. As someone else wrote: Voicemail and E-Mail are now one. Enjoy and go to Jott.

Using Twitter for Ministry

I love to ask the question, "How can this new technology help me minister to kids and parents?" I believe that if we aren't willing to explore then we will be settling for something less and God deserves the best. So as you can read from my post a couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to Twitter.com. Twitter is a new way of mini-blogging that goes to your group of friends instantly through Text Message, Instant Messanger, and through Twitter.com. Twitter simply asks the question "What are you doing?. Believe me when I say that it is huge right now. So how can this new technology be used to minister? I think it could be used by getting Sunday's material in the hands of parents throughout the week. Here is how I am going to use it and how you could use it too:

1. Set up a Twitter account that is for your ministry. Make sure it is not a personal account

2. Let every family know that you are now using Twitter as a ministry tool and invite them to become your friend.

3. On Monday send out a "Tweet" about what the Main Point was on Sunday.

4. On Wednesday send out a Tweet about this week's Bible Verse

5. On Thursday send out a Tweet with the reference of the Bible Story that you used on Sunday.

6. On Friday give them a heads up of what is coming this weekend.

All of this is free for you and depending on how they receive their Tweets is free for them. It gets your message out on days besides Sunday and is far more effective than just a parent piece. The only thing that I would make sure and do is not to send your parents and kids any junk. Make sure it is very intentional with reminders about the lesson and ideas for parents to connect with their kids. This is just one idea. I will let you know how it goes for our church. I know that our parents may not be the most tech savvy but I am going to pick a couple of families to start with this weekend. Do you have any more ideas?

A Children's Curriculum Idea

I had an idea almost 3 years ago about a curriculum for Children's Ministry that still has not come true. My thought was, "Why don't the major players of Children's Curriculum come together and make one resource that is out of this world?" I mean think about it. It is not like we are talking about competing businesses or even platforms with different agendas and different goals. It can't be that we are worried about the government saying that this couldn't happen because of the fear of a monopoly. I even pitched this idea to Keith Johnson who was working at Group Publishing at the time. Keith was the Children's Director for Billy Graham and I worked under him back in 1999. I thought now that he was working for a publishing house that was successful in almost all denominations throughout the country that they could bring the major players together and let each work on what they were passionate and successful at. For example, can you imagine a Children's Curriculum that had Fellowship Church working on technology and training volunteers on a weekly basis, Willowcreek working on dramas, North Point working on involving and resourcing families, Saddleback working on videos, and Kidmo working on energy and hype? All could bring their budgets, teams, and leadership to the table and then Group could publish it. So why haven't they? Don't they all have the same mission? Is it a technology issue? Is it a lack of vision? Tell me that it is not a pride deal... Tell me that it is not a money deal...Tell me that it is not a personal deal... Aren't we talking about the future of the church? Aren't we talking about kids bringing their parents to church? Aren't we talking about giving every church a tool that they wouldn't have to worry about being excellent so that they could focus more of their time on building relationships? What is the excuse? We have the idea now. I don't even need the credit or work on the project, but if someone needs to step up and coordinate it then let me do it. Isn't this just getting the right people on the bus and then getting them in the right seat. To me it is a no brain idea that would help the local church better serve its kids and their families. So let's do it. Let us come together like no other industry has in the past and do something incredible for the kingdom of God and for the lives of millions of children everywhere. If you hear me yelling it is because this should be done. So here is who I invite to be on the bus: Mike Johnson, Sue Miller, Reggie Joiner, Craig Jutila, Johnny Rogers, and Thom Schultz. Let's sit down and figure this out.

Staying Current

I had the following questions on my blog recently:

What resources do you use to find out about the various curriculum? How about knowing what is cutting edge out there?

These 2 questions are excellent questions. By the way, I do believe in the theory that if you ask the right people the right questions then and only then will you get the right answers. Now I don't consider myself the ultimate expert of what is cutting edge in Children's Ministry but I do try and stay as current as possible. How do I do that? Well, here is the process.

1. Look to large churches with successful programs.
-- I consider there to be 4 highly successful churches in America when it comes to Children's Ministry. These 4 are Fellowship Church, North Point, Willow Creek, and Saddleback. Why these 4? All four thrive in their community but go beyond that and have created resources that help everyone else be successful. Fellowship has Elevate, North Point has created their own company called The Rethink Group, Willow Creek has Promiseland, and Saddleback has Empowering Kids or Purpose Driven Kids, whichever one Craig is promoting at the time. These resources are great because the church is already using and tweaking them for their success. They are also great because they have staffs that can do what myself or any other Children's Minister can't do alone.

2. Look at Disney, Nickelodeon, and any theme park you can find.

3. Look at Curriculum companies next.
-- I consider Group Publishing to be the best curriculum company for Children's Ministry. There are others but all of them seem to watch the larger churches first and then see what they can come up with sell to churches. Right now, if you are doing VBS then curriculum companies are the only way to go. They put mega bucks behind there product and do things that even larger churches have trouble doing for VBS.

4. Go to conferences that aren't just product pushers
-- For example there is a new one coming up put on by the Rethink Group called Orange. It should be very good. Reggie Joiner is great about not pushing his stuff to much but having incredible stuff that you want to buy. The Children's Ministry International Conferences feel more like pushers then real purpose. It almost feels like you just sold a used car. Group's regional one day conferences are nice to take your team too and get training. Willow's is nice if you need a pump me up. Saddleback's is great if you are looking for philosophy, alliteration, and a nice time in California.

5. Search Children's Ministry Websites
-- Just for fun I put "Children's Ministry" into Google and 1,570,000 entries came back in 0.12 seconds. As you can probably tell, most are a waste of time. I am not a big fan of most children's ministry sites, including Kidology.org. It seems like it takes longer to take their ideas or products and change them to fit then it does just to create my own stuff.

There are my Children's Ministry insights for you. I do of course have 47 blogs that I try to keep up with on a daily basis. Most are not Children's Ministry related but it does help to see what other industries are doing to see how they can be applied. I hope this has helped.

Do you Twitter?

There is a new rage that is being blogged about all over the internet. It is called Twitter. Read the buzz here. Here is what Twitter says it is...

What is Twitter?

Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. For some friends you might want instant mobile updates—for others, you can just check the web. Invite your friends to Twitter and decide how connected you want you to be.

It simply asks the question. What are you doing?

I think this could be a very useful tool for ministry but I want to see if you think so. What ways could you use Twitter? Is it a waste of time? Is it possibly the next MySpace.com or YouTube.com?

I have a twitter account and if you want to be my friend you are more than welcome. My e-mail is remixkids@gmail.com.

Right now I am blogging on www.mckeelive.com.