Over the past several years, the Lord has been brewing something in my heart that I just can not contain any longer. About two and a half years ago, I could not go to sleep. There was a burden on my heart that I had to get on paper. I had a burning desire to glorify Christ in all things. I was driven to the Scriptures. I read the Word, I read books on Christology, family ministry, and discipleship…and I wrote.

I hope to have a book published out of this…in fact I’m currently searching for a literary agent and/or publisher. I also want to proliferate these ideas through a new site which is now live at Becoming Saturated. The goal of the site is to further dialogue in the Christian community about the importance of the supremacy of Christ (Col. 1:18) with leaving a legacy. I’m not proposing some revolutionary movement, I just think that in all the family ministry, legacy, orange talk out there, we must always be aware of our focus on the centrality of the Person of Christ and the gospel.

I’m encouraged by the gospel-centeredness that the Christian community is heralding more and more. I want to be a part of that. I want to be a helping part of that as a fellow journey man who is on the road to “becoming saturated” with Jesus. I want to see Jesus more and more in my life as a disciple, husband, father, pastor, and leader. I’m sure you do to.

So that’s the deal. Free CM Stuff will remain a site for now, though I will not be updating it with new content. I’m working with another organization to get the Free CM Stuff content on their site, and I think that will be a great partnership. I’ll update you when that becomes more of a reality.

I’m so thankful for the support of my readers. I hope this site has been a blessing. I hope Becoming Saturated will be a blessing as well. I would certainly love for you to spread the word about my new site. Tweet it, share it with your leaders at church, post it on Facebook, put it in your newsletters…whatever avenue comes to your mind. I would greatly appreciate your promotion.

May the Lord bless you richly through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as you minister to the next generation.

Often my pastor encourages us in the fact that “people are down on what they aren’t up on.” With that encouragement comes the reminder to be redundant in communication. For larger events like camps, VBS, or church wide festivals, you’ll want to hit all 10 of these. For smaller events, I would suggest tapping into the 5 that will most likely bring you the most fruit for that particular event.

1. Email: Email is still wildly popular, but is slowly being supplanted by other forms of social media as the communication method of choice. The effectiveness of this is very dependent upon the culture of communication of your people.
2. Newsletters: Church wide, volunteer, or parent. Get the word out in all of them.
3. Worship Guide/Bulletin: Make sure the average church attender who is prone to not be in the know has an avenue to see your events.
4. Facebook: Invite people to events, swamp them with info about your event through your feed, or write a post about it to share with your friends.
5. Posters: Put 11×17 or larger posters up on visible areas. Doors to kids ministry space, bathroom entrances, stairwells, prominent bulletin boards, plaster them with posters!
6. Word of Mouth: Call people. Ask them if they’ve heard about the event or are coming to it as you see them on Sunday mornings when you chat in the hallway. Recruit several noteworthy volunteers to personally invite 5 children or families to your event.
7. Blog: Does your church have a blog? Put it on there. Do you have your own Children’s Ministry blog? Put it on there!
8. Twitter: There aren’t many of my families plugged in to this yet, but if your church is in a more metropolitan area, this avenue will prove useful for you. Create a hashtag for your event or ask people to retweet your announcement.
9. Handouts: I’ve found that giving a postcard out to parents as they pick up can be a very effective “kick off” announcement leading up to an event.
10. Phone Tree: Yes, people still use phone trees. They are still useful b/c it puts a verbal message into the ears of most people in your ministry.

Joni and Friends is an international ministry aimed at advancing disability ministry and changing the church and communities around the world. They offer programs, resources, training, and missions efforts that involve the church in ministry to people who often seem so different, but who are equally loved by the Lord.

Joni and Friends has a section of their website called “Kids’ Corner” where kids can download activities, research disabilities for school reports, share prayer requests, and even communicate with Joni.

I think this is a great resource for us to point to kids in our ministries so that they see that no matter how a person is born, they are inherently loved by God.

What resources do you offer to kids in your ministry to engage them in a better understanding of persons with disabilities? What resources do you offer to special needs families?

For this post, I’ll link to a website called I Love Free Software. Check out the 5 suggested sites for developing a logo online for free.

The church insurance company, Guide One, is offering a free 42 page PDF about church safety practices. All you need to do is give them your information and email address (yes…you will probably get some mailers from them) and they send you a link to download the file.

This guide is pretty helpful, covering topics such as facility and employee safety with large sections devoted to safe environments for children, background checking, and considerations during off site trips.

This week I was in need of some inspiration. I wanted a logo design from some folks on our church staff who do that, but I couldn’t translate what I was thinking about the design into words. I came across this outstanding site called Creattica. Creattica is a gallery of great design and inspirational imagery.

Want to see some impressive logo examples? How about a unique business card design? Need a fresh brochure look? Creattica is certain to have something to get you thinking. I know this site is going to make it in my frequent bookmark list!

Little Jesus Freaks is a website for parents that provides reviews on DVD and Blu Ray releases, books, and other parental resources. It also offers recipes, commentary on everyday parenting experiences, and press releases pertinent to resources and announcements that are beneficial to parents.

For those of you wanting information on a little bit more mature level, you can get a ton of reviews and be in the know on the latest Christian film and music through Jesus Freak Hideout. Movie reviews include a parental guide much like Plugged In Online’s content. Jesus Freak Hideout also has ongoing contests for free music and special meetings with artists. You can also check out their free music section.

We all have needs that come up in our ministry. People experience death, crushing sickness arises, babies are born, and jobs are lost. When those dire events take place, it is imperative for the church to surround our brothers and sisters with love and care during this time. In a similar format to Sign Up Genius, CareCalendar allows you to bring together a community of people to meet the needs of others.

CareCalendar is a web based system to organize meals and other help for families during a time of illness or life changing event, such as the birth of a baby or death of a family member. CareCalendar can also be used for long term situations, including homebound and caregiver respite care needs.

Features include:

• Status updates and photos
• Real time updates on needs that remain un-met
• Customizable fields, schedule meals, errands, work, rides, visits, and more
• Email notifications
• Maps and driving directions

United Parents is a software that you download on the computer that your child uses that monitors their web behavior. It allows parents to safely guide their children’s online activity while at the same time respecting their privacy (however, at my house, privacy is not something I’m inclined to grant too often as a parent! If you have to hide it from me, for the most part, it’s probably wrong).

United Parents is a collaborative program, meaning that as you report and analyze various web sites and activity your children are engaging in, they use that information to make their program stronger. My children are not quite old enough for me to worry about this, but it seems like a quality option for parents to monitor their children’s internet use. I’d definitely recommend it to parents in my ministry.

The following is a guest post from Cassi LeTourneau, a mom and author of Treasure the Rain.

If I could visit every single church around the country (maybe even the world) I would. I’d bring a stack of books with dog-eared pages, highlighted paragraphs and notes scribbled in margins. I’d sit across a little table from you, coffee in hand, and we’d walk through the needs of your church and how you might begin to address them. We’d share whatever knowledge we have of special needs, ministry, and God’s call in our lives (please know that my knowledge is fairly limited…but my God is definitely not!). I’d probably remember at the very last second that I wanted to pass along a couple of resources—and I’d quickly write them on the back of a napkin before praying for you, your church, and your community. And then we’d go our separate ways…friends for life because that’s kind of how I work.

That is my heart. To reach families in my own church as well as individuals and families thousands of miles away. I want to see these precious children, their families, church staff, and volunteers as well as entire communities blessed in ways they never would have imagined. If special needs ministry is on your heart—and my guess is that it very much is—start praying. Ask God to open doors.

Here are a few resources, in addition to Free CM Stuff, that you might look into:

Joni and Friends

The Inclusive Church

Ministry to Children

Keep in mind inclusion will look different for each and every congregation. I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all plan for special needs ministry. There are definitely “best practices” that can be gleaned from churches with existing special needs ministries and from resources such as those listed above. For now I will offer the following thoughts to help get you started.

• Communicate Your Ideas. Present your ideas to church leadership in a clear, concise way. Your Pastors, Elders and Children’s Ministry Directors have a lot on their plates. A lot. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t love to see a special needs ministry in place—it just means they may not have the means to see it through personally.

• Research. Provide them with a summary from the research you’ve done. Statistics along with success stories might be a great place to start. Just the Facts! Compile statistics along with examples of what other churches are doing. Remember that where you are headed, others have gone before. And many of those people are committed to seeing special needs ministry impact individuals and families far beyond the walls of their own churches. Check out these special needs statistics from the Inclusive Church Blog to give you a boost.

• Share a story. Don’t have a success story to share? They are out there—I promise—but if you’re like me, I didn’t know where to look and what I had at the time were stories of heartbreak. Stories of families being turned away…church after church informing them their children weren’t welcome. Stories of people being isolated from the one place they should feel most loved and accepted. So those are the stories I shared.

• Be consistent. Become familiar with your Children’s Ministry policies and procedures. If there is not currently a “Safe Kids” policy in place I highly recommend that you work with your Children’s Ministry Director to implement one. It is my opinion that this should be mandatory for all churches/Children’s Ministries (with or without a special needs ministry). Applications, criminal background checks, references and training…these basic safe guards should be non-negotiable when working with children.

• Step out in faith. Don’t think you have to have everything in order before sharing your heart. You may not have all the answers—or know exactly what special needs ministry will look like for your church—but what you can share is your heart! And when you boldly share your vision for inclusion you just might come across someone with a God sized vision of their own; waiting for someone like you to step out in faith and give voice to a need that is all too often overlooked.

• Cast the wider vision. With the blessing of church leadership, share your vision with the entire church body! This can be done in a number of ways. We chose to reserve ten minutes during each of our three weekend service times. We shared a brief video, were interviewed by one of our Pastors and encouraged everyone to visit us at a table in the foyer after service. For a sample on how to do this, check out this post, especially the document at the bottom.

• Recruit. Survey your church members. Look for needs that can potentially be met as well as people who might be experienced in a particular area (i.e. medical professional, special needs educator or someone with ministry/event planning experience). Don’t be afraid to recruit support from the secular world as well. Pediatricians, special education teachers, etc… These dedicated professionals have a heart for children even if they don’t necessarily share your faith. And what an amazing opportunity to model the love of Jesus!

• Manage volunteers and families. Provide a basic intake form for anyone interested in volunteering and for families of special needs children. Here are a few examples to get you going.

• Train. Offer an Orientation/Training day. For us that consisted of:

1. A (free) CPR class offered by a church member who responded to our announcement in service.
2. A brief video introduction to special needs ministry. One great option is “The Father’s House” by Joni and Friends.
3. The opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves and share their heart.
4. The option to attend our mandatory Safe Kids Training that evening (other training dates were available).

If I could leave you with just one thought it would be to remind you that special needs ministry is about relationship. Get to know your volunteers. Get to know your families—I would urge you to spend whatever time you can getting to know these parents and their sweet children.

Remember – parents are your best resource when it comes to caring for their individual child. Be sure to provide them with a thorough intake form where they can share vital information about their child. Listen to their questions and concerns and be completely upfront about what you can and cannot offer.

If you run into bumps in the road—ask someone who’s been there. If they can’t help you—ask someone else. Ask until you find someone who can. Just please—don’t give up!

About the Author: Cassi a wife deeply in love with her husband, a mom incredibly proud of her boys, and a girl forever indebted to Jesus. She started her blog, Treasure the Rain, as a place to share her heart and hopefully a little encouragement “through the rain.”