Who is Harry Whatif?
Who is Harry Whatif? He looks rather harmless. He’s not very big. He doesn’t try to get attention for himself. So who is he? Harry is part virus, part troll. He lives inside your brain and has only one purpose in his miserable life: to stop you from doing anything productive or rewarding. He is [...]
3 Potent Words
It is interesting to me how Jesus handled the Devil when he tempted Him. The temptations were real, otherwise they would not have been, well, temptations. They did apparently require a strategy. Jesus could have dealt with the Devil many ways He chose one way. He did something that is sometimes considered old school today. [...]
How Big is Your Windshield?
Much of life can be summed up by asking ONE question: Is your windshield BIGGER than your rear view mirror? Are you sure? Too many people–without realizing it–allow their rear view mirror to grow bigger than their windshield. When that happens all the past hurts/disappointments/failures get big and possibilities in front look small. When your [...]
The Uprising
The Uprising is a cool, one day conference hosted by my home church, Quest Community Church in Lexington, KY. This year Erwin McManus is the featured speaker. Come hang out with me in the exhibit hall at the Kidz Blitz booth. The Uprising is very affordable, well worth the time and money. CLICK HERE to [...]
2 Things That Will Crash Your Ministry
And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:18) Ministry is about connecting with people and leading them into a vibrant relationship with Jesus. Simply put, the Christian faith is about Jesus. [...]
Ministry Freeze
My ministerial life has been a journey to discover and acquire everything from God that is real without getting anything that isn’t real. For me to believe/do/teach something, I have two rules: First, I have to see it in the Bible for myself. Second, it has to have the potential of impacting real life. That [...]
Screaming Across the Chasm
Ministry is ultimately about influence. How do you influence people for God? How do you shape an effective ministry? Or to put it more bluntly, how do you get people to listen to you? The great distinctive in modern ministry is the little fact that people don’t believe anything you say anymore. Nothing. They have [...]
The Problem and Promise of Family Ministry
Brian Nelson and Paul Jones wrote a thorough overview of family ministry in the Family Ministry Today blog. The article is worth reading. Here are a couple of solemn warnings from the article. Before you make plans to launch a family ministry in your church, a few words of warning about family ministry are in [...]
Uprising
Join me at Uprising! The Uprising Conference is a super-cool event put on by my home church, Quest Community Church. Pete Hise and Erwin McManus are both amazing leaders who will enlarge your vision for what the church can be. It is a one-day conference with some pre-conference stuff the day before. Kidz Blitz will [...]
The Problem with Goal Setting
Goal setting causes missed opportunities. This is the mistake train companies made years ago. They had goals: build more trains; lay more tracks; increase passengers by x percent. When the Wright boys invented a whole new way of getting from A to B, the train companies still had their heads down, laying more tracks. Consequently, [...]
12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas
1. Grasp the power of a single idea. Always be on the lookout for a better way of doing things. 2. Be a sponge. Observe everything. Look at colors, shapes, ideas, etc. Read interesting books. Never stop learning. Relish the fact that there are always cool ideas to learn. Read something that will kick your [...]
Failure is Essential
If you want to do something remarkable you have to be willing to risk failure. You can talk and plan, talk and plan, talk and plan. Eventually you just have to try. Your idea will probably fail. That’s OK. Make the adjustment and go at it again. Formula? Test fast; fail fast; adjust fast. You [...]
How to Hunt Prairie Chickens
–the fallacy of trying to change the world– Everything I need to know about ministry I learned while hunting prairie chickens. Okay, that is a stretch but…I did learn a significant lesson. We are not called to change society; we are called to convert individuals. Changing society is a worthy endeavor, just not worthy enough. [...]
Matter of Life and Death
Christianity is not about good and evil, but about life and death. Jesus did not come to make us good but to make us alive. The difference between a believer and a non-believer is not that the believer does good things and the non-believer does bad things. The prime difference is that the believer is [...]
Be Something
I was a young, inexperienced lead pastor of a small, rural church in Kentucky. Knowing very little about what it took to grow a healthy church, I read everything (as in EVERYTHING) about church leadership that I could get my hands on. Hungry to know how to spiritually lead a group of people, I developed [...]
Spit in the Dirt
It’s not the art of the performance, it’s the art of the participation (Edwin Schlossberg) Do tell. Why would Jesus spit in the dirt, make mud and then smear it on a blind man’s eyes? Read John 9:6-11. Then, Jesus told the man something He certainly wouldn’t have to tell me, “Go wash it off.” [...]
IMAKIDMIN
SIGN-UP for this COOL/FREE/ORIGINAL KidMin service! Renegade Michael Chanley has just started a cool new web site that allows you to enter your location and see where other kidmin are located. Some may be in your neck of the woods (as we would say in Kentucky). Click here IMAKIDMIN Come on now. Don’t be bashful.
Problem with Virtues
The problem with virtues/values is that they don’t inspire/motivate. Everyone needs strong moral convictions, but it’s just hard to get kids/adults jazzed about: kindness, forgiving others, purity, thankfulness, etc. Don’t agree? Try to find an inspiring figure in the Bible or in history who started a movement based solely on personal values. You will have [...]
Old Testament Gore
Dave Wakerley posted a great discussion on Friday. Should we give our kids all the gory details found in the Bible? Do they really need to know that every man and woman was slaughtered? Some great questions to make us think. What do you think? You can check out all the great comments including mine [...]
Steps for Planning an Event
In his blog, samluce.com, Sam lists the steps he takes for planning an event. As president of Kidz Blitz Ministries this is right up my ally. Thanks Sam! Check out this link.
Koran: To Burn or Not to Burn
What do you think about the pastor who is burning the Koran on 9/11? Rev. Terry Jones at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Jones plans to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States that provoked [...]
My Top 5 Non-Negotiables
Here are the elements I value most in children’s ministry. For me these are the five ingredients I would never compromise. Never. CONNECT PERSONALLY. Make a connection with the kids. Learn their names. Be interested in them. INTRODUCE GOD. Give kids an understanding of God’s love, faithfulness, power, forgiveness, etc. as expressed through the Word [...]
Best Way to Lose Respect
Obsessing about little stuff and neglecting big stuff is the best/fastest way to lose respect from workers/volunteers/staff. People will forgive you for making a mistake (even a stupid mistake). They are less tolerant when they see you flip out over something that doesn’t matter while being oblivious to something that needs your attention. Being able [...]
You Will NEVER Please Everyone
The U. S. Forest Service received these ACTUAL comments from backpackers after wilderness camping trips. Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill. Too many bugs and spiders. Please spray the area to get rid of these pests. Chairlifts are needed so we can get to the wonderful views without having [...]
