I’m starting a new monthly series called the “Leadership Nugget.” The purpose of this is to offer my readers an article or thought provoking “nugget” that they can place on walls in their ministry area, in newsletters, as encouragements to volunteers, or as recruiting material. I hope these tools will help your church better understand the priority of children’s ministry!

This month, I’m offering a resource I wrote called “No Other Ministry.” I hope you could post it on a wall outside your office or include it in a newsletter. If you do copy it in a publication, please be sure to credit my name and web address. Thanks and please pray for me. On Thursday and Friday I will embark on a journey of doctoral exams lasting a total of 8 hours. Yes, I have to write for 8 hours (at least I get two days to do it!). Should God grace me with a passing grade, I will be a doctoral candidate and will finish up the rest of my dissertation so that I may graduate (for the last time ever!) in May! You can read more about the Doctor of Education program I am in here.

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Church budgets always seem to be tight no matter what the state of the economy. However, if you can prove to those in your church that you are budget-minded and tenacious at being frugal with church resources, they may just crown you as the King or Queen of Savings! Here are a few tips across the various areas of your ministry that can save you money:

Events

• Get several quotes from equipment providers (buses, inflatables, t-shirts, entertainment). Getting a few quotes takes a couple of extra minutes and you can often save hundreds of dollars. When I came to Grey Stone, I did this and cut the VBS t-shirt budget in half!
• Partner with other ministry areas to slice the costs in half. We did this for a volunteer banquet. The education ministry and children’s ministry did a somewhat joint thank you banquet for our volunteers. We got a better deal on the food (b/c of volume) and we split the entertainer fee.
• For camps or events that require parents to pay for their kids, many of us build a portion of this into our budget to subsidize the one’s who can’t afford it. I have found that a simple announcement in the bulletin explaining the need for scholarships draws a good bit of money. I explain exactly what it would cost to send one kid to that event so they have a concrete figure. I also have several “givers” in my contact list who have been very gracious in the past that I can call on for assistance. Try this one for extra camp spending money for needy children too!

Large Projects

• Sit down for 20 minutes and brainstorm about volunteers who can help you get the project done. We did a $10,000+ renovation project for our elementary worship room for around $5000 b/c of volunteers in our church who did things for free or at cost.
• Do the work yourself. Plan on spending 60-70 hours a week at church over those 2-3 weeks and show the church some hard work ethic!
• Schedule volunteer “work days” to help get the grunt work of large projects done. Schedule them at key times in the project plan and on days and times which working people are easily available.

Curriculum

• Use free curriculum, especially for short run programs, like Wednesday nights in the summer, or for Christmas/Easter lessons. Go here to find out about links to many of these free curriculum resources. Another great resource for this is Open from LifeChurch.
• Partner with a local sister church to alternate the sharing of curriculum. This would cut your budget in half. Even with dated curriculum, a few tweaks would make this very doable.
• Have teachers meet weekly to discuss their resource needs. They may find that someone else has what they were going to ask you to buy the next day!

Consumable Resources

• Three times a year, make a wish list known of items needed for your nursery or resource room. Put this list in your bulletin or newsletter. Want to make it even more successful, have some adult Sunday school classes adopt a particular area of “resource needs” and do a two week drive toward the end of the summer to get ready for the new school year.
• Steal them. Just kidding…I wanted to see if you read this far!
• Cut out the amount you feed children at church and have a rotation of families provide that snack or breakfast.
• Buy wholesale. Get a Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s membership. You really do save a ton on things like cookies, cups, napkins, and plates there.
• Lock the snacks up so the youth don’t eat them!

I not only like to provide free resources on this blog, but also free “nuggets” that you can use to make your ministry more healthy. This month, I’d like to share with you some awards that I give to volunteers each year at our volunteer banquet. I have the volunteers nominate people for these various awards. When I present them, I speak a few words about the individual, and present them with a nice certificate (which you can find here). The awards are:

• Cardiac Award: The volunteer with the biggest heart for kids.
• Legacy Award: A volunteer who has committed a great deal of years, time, emotion, and energy to your ministry.
• Rubber Band Award: The volunteer who shows an attitude of flexibility each and every week.
• Boy Scout Award: The volunteer who shows themselves to be the most prepared every week.
• Lexus Award: The volunteer who shows a commitment to excellence in all that they do.
• Up and Coming Award: Goes to a new volunteer who shows unique promise in doing great things in Children’s Ministry.
• Spirit Award: Awarded to the volunteer who is a wonderful example of godliness to the kids and other volunteers
• Out There Award: Goes to the volunteer with an extra measure of goofiness and ability to relate to children on their level.

You may also be interested in:

1. No Other Ministry Promotion Poster
2. Volunteer Performance Evaluation

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One of the priorities in my prayer and planning day earlier this month was to develop a communication time line. I started thinking that I not only need to communicate about events that happen from year to year, but I need to communicate other pertinent reminders throughout the year. I thought this time line might be helpful for you. It is in an editable format so you can adjust to fit your ministry needs.

What would you add to it? Send me some comments to make it better!

One of the biggest blunders that we make in ministry is offending the masses with a poorly implemented change. I’ve learned through personal experience and the study of a few good books (the business sector calls change “innovation”), that change can be done in ministry in an effective way. Since almost quitting 4 years ago because my volunteers rejected our background check mandate, I have sought out how to initiate effective change and I think I have a good resource for those of you on the same journey.

The link below will lead you to a worksheet that will help guide you through effective change in your ministry. Before you speak a word of change to someone in your ministry, work through this guide first. I think it can be a big help to making your “innovation” a success!

Initiating Effective Change Worksheet

This month’s Leadership Nugget is a handy worksheet I use every single week to help me design children’s sermons. I fully believe that verse by verse exposition of God’s Word is the best way to proclaim God’s Word to kids. What I don’t mean is that I bore kids with a 35 minute exegetical message using a lot of Hebrew and Greek words. What I do mean is that I teach them the Word in an organized way that is seasoned with interactive and cutting edge methods. The worksheet below is the blueprint that gets me to a final product. I hope it’s helpful for you!

Preparing a Lesson for Kids

Also, be sure to get your name in the hat for the 2 Brent Weber DVD’s. I’ll draw names on Wednesday.

If you want to teach well, teach like Jesus. Today’s leadership nugget is an incredible resource for your teaching. A friend of mine from the Doctor of Education program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary just finished his dissertation which evaluated the various ways Jesus adjusted his teaching to his audience. In educational circles, this is called differentiated instruction.

Dr. Daniel Ray has compiled an exhaustive chart of Jesus’ teaching methodologies cross-referenced with the audience and situation Jesus was in. This is a fabulous tool to have by your side as you plan children’s messages or large group teaching.

Here it is:

Jesus Teaching Method Chart

Interact: How have you used differentiated instruction in your ministry?

I love VBS (that’s Vacation Bible School for the scarf with t-shirt wearing crowd of Children’s Ministers!). I love it because when it is done well and creatively, children learn foundational truths about Jesus, kids get saved, parents get plugged into church, and momentum is built to further the overall vision and work of one’s children’s ministry. My VBS is in 2 weeks and I’m extremely excited for what God has in store this year! Below are some creative ideas you can incorporate into your VBS to make it the best one ever!

Fun for Kids

• Mascot Hunt: Figure out a good mascot for your VBS and try to find a stuffed animal that looks like it. Hide the animal each day and challenge the kids to find it as they are walking around. If they find it, reward their class with a bag of candy and a special flag they can carry around the next day. This is so popular at my church, I have to do two, one for Pre-K and one for elementary.
• Surprise Character: Have someone dress up as a character who matches the theme. Have them bust into the classrooms during teaching time, interrupting the teacher and getting the whole lesson for the day wrong. Alert the teachers ahead of time so they can interact with the character and “set them straight” on the meaning of the lesson.
• Incentives: Offer an incentive for non-church kids to attend or for your own church kids to invite their friends. Last year, I gave away a Wii. It was our largest VBS in church history. This year, I’m giving a $5 gift card to Toys R Us to any non-church kid who attends at least 4 nights of VBS. I’m already WAY above the average mark for this point in our registration process and many of them are guests.
• Involve Kids in Follow Up: Have children in your ministry take the contact info for a guest that was in their class. Instruct them on how to follow up via a phone call or note in the mail. Have them to invite the kids back to church the next week and start a friendship with them.

Fun for Parents

• Send them home in style: If you have a car pick up line (which I recommend to reduce the amount of people who come into your building), then I recommend that you greet parents with a smile, open the door for kids, help them get their seat belt on, and say something positive about the kids. This can really have a huge impact on the ride home.
• Parenting Skills: Offer a parenting skills class during your VBS time. Have some snacks, foster community, and/or bring in a well known presenter to help them grow as a parent (Frankly, I’d love to do it!). You may start this off one year by just doing a one or two night thing. That way you could advertise it well during drop off and pick up prior to it occurring.

Fun for Volunteers

• Late Week Break: Have a variety of drinks and special snacks available on day 3 or 4 of your week for volunteers. Stand by the cooler and personally thank each one who gets a drink.
• Perpetuate the Memories: Set up a Facebook page or blog where VBS leaders can share memorable experiences after VBS is over. Use these quotes in recruitment the next year.
• Make Them Feel Good: Be sure to recognize them in a creative way if you do some sort of kick off or celebration night. Have them run out through a kid “tunnel.” Do a creative video highlighting the lead teachers. Pick a “Leader of the Day” to recognize outstanding work.

What creative idea do you have for VBS?

Admit it. You have a volunteer or two in your ministry who is just not working out. You are thinking you may need to fire this volunteer. Perhaps their personality does not match the ministry. Perhaps they have some spiritual issues to work on. Perhaps they smell. Or perhaps they have issues with authority. Regardless, if someone is not a good fit, you are only bringing your ministry down by letting them stay involved.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, talks about getting the right people on the bus. You have to get the right people in the right positions in your ministry. The right people will help you further your vision, the wrong people will stifle it. Roger Fields really challenged me a few months ago when he told me that if I really believed in what I was doing, if I really believed that it meant something, then I would take steps to remove those who got in the way of the ministry. Unfortunately, I’ve had to fire a few volunteers (and paid staff in my secular work) and wanted to share a few things I’ve learned along the way.

Before you even think about firing someone, you need to ask yourself these questions. If you can’t answer them with the volunteer’s best interests in mind, then you need to take some steps to give the volunteer a fair shake.

• Did the volunteer have adequate guidance to do their position (i.e. job description, proper training, right supplies)?
• Did you pray over this person for several weeks to a month first?
• Did you extend grace first, overlooking smaller offenses?
• Did you approach this person with necessary feedback when they did something out of line?
• How did this person respond to your feedback?

Finally, if after adequately answering the questions above, you feel that firing is the best thing for everyone, think through these tips before handing them the pink slip:

1. Arrange your thoughts–Make sure you plan out what you are going to say and provide appropriate examples which guided your decision. Discuss this with other leaders who can help you shape how you need to say things.
2. Get some support–Be sure your supervisor knows and supports exactly what you are doing.
3. Be positive–I often overlook this one. Everyone has something you can praise. However, don’t go overboard. Don’t give them mixed signals. Praise them for something, but explain that the areas they are failing in are too damaging to the vision of the ministry.
4. Set up a quick meeting–Don’t give them a week to try to figure out what you are meeting about. I have found it best to try to set up a time within 3-5 hours of first calling them to let them know you need to meet. A long amount of time between communicating about the meeting and actually having the meeting can breed much gossip and dissension. However, don’t just pull them aside in the hallway on a Sunday morning. Be thoughtful about when to meet.
5. Have someone with you–Be sure you have a witness who can document what you say. Another staff member is appropriate or an unbiased friend of the volunteer who can back you up.
6. Be steadfast–Don’t take the attitude that this is a discussion. Allow questions and feedback, but if you go into a meeting like this, then your mind should already be made up.
7. Establish clear goals–Give them a few articles that may help them. Point them to some proven books. Give them 3-4 clear and measurable objectives to work on and let them know you are here to help them on their journey.
8. Be even keeled–Many volunteers are going to get mad. If they are doing poorly enough to get fired, they are most likely not going to expect to get fired. They may yell, they may bring it back on your faults, they may shoot a smoke screen. Regardless, do not let them get to you and keep the attitude of Christ.
9. Set a time line–Put the ball in their court to come back to you in a period of time to get their job back. Let them know you will be praying for them and will have an open door to them during this time. One year is a generally good time for someone to step back and allow the Lord to change them. Major spiritual or leadership growth does not just happen in a matter of weeks. Some volunteers, however, may not be fit for the ministry and if so, you may not want to give these folks a time line. That’s up to your discretion.
10. Write a report–Do not wait too long on this one. Write up what was said in a straight forward fashion and submit this documentation to your supervisor. Be unbiased and unemotional. Just report the facts.
11. Follow up–If you really care, you’ll touch base with this person to find out how the Lord is working in their life. A simple letter or hallway conversation every couple of months will suffice.

How about you? What would you add to the process?