This years guest speaker at the Oklahoma A/G District Minister’s Retreat was John Lindell. Pastor Lindell is lead pastor at James River Assembly Of God, a church that has experienced great grow and health. Pastor John shared about rest and leadership. Here are my note from session 3: “Navigating the waters of change”

Navigating the waters of change

The 7 Core Values:

Better questions to Ask:

Steps for change:

John and Debbie Lindell live life full-on with a passionate love for God and a desire to see His purpose unleashed in the lives of people. For the past 17 years they have served together as Lead Pastors of James River Assembly, a dynamic and life-filled church in Ozark, MO that has grown to over 12,000 people in weekly attendance. More than anything, John and Debbie love to see the church flourish and lives transformed by the power of God! They have 2 married sons, David and Brandon, and a daughter, Savannah, who attends Evangel University.

Follow Him @ johnlindell.net

Facebook facebook.com/JohnLindell

Twitter twitter.com/johnlindell

James River jamesriver.org

This years guest speaker at the Oklahoma A/G District Minister’s Retreat was John Lindell. Pastor Lindell is lead pastor at James River Assembly Of God, a church that has experienced great grow and health. Pastor John shared about rest and leadership. Here are my note from session 2: “Assess the sustainability of our pace”

Assess the sustainability of our pace

John and Debbie Lindell live life full-on with a passionate love for God and a desire to see His purpose unleashed in the lives of people. For the past 17 years they have served together as Lead Pastors of James River Assembly, a dynamic and life-filled church in Ozark, MO that has grown to over 12,000 people in weekly attendance. More than anything, John and Debbie love to see the church flourish and lives transformed by the power of God! They have 2 married sons, David and Brandon, and a daughter, Savannah, who attends Evangel University.

Follow Him @  johnlindell.net

Facebook      facebook.com/JohnLindell

Twitter          twitter.com/johnlindell

James River  jamesriver.org

Stephen Posey is the Children’s Pastor at Church On The Move! I first heard about him and his amazing team when a friend of mine, Joe McAlpine called me and told me to watch “Kids On The Move Live”. After this Joe and I called Stephen and asked him if we came out to Tulsa would he have a little time to meet with us and show us his creative process. Stephen response was “You guys drive out to Tulsa, I’m taking you to lunch”.  The cool thing about Stephen not only is he highly creativity and a solid leader, but he’s also willing to help others in ministry. In fact his church has started a free resource sharing called Seeds.

Hello Creative Kids Pastor friends. Stephen Posey here. Terry has asked me to share some ideas on
what I consider to be the most important part of my job as a children’s pastor. So buckle up, because for
the next couple minutes I’m going to get down and dirty in a post I’m entitling “Killer Cup Stacking
Techniques FTW!”.

Okay, so I’m being a bit facetious. But there is a bit of truth in my jest. Since fun is the currency in kids’
economy, it’s easy to get distracted in ministry to kids. Undoubtedly, if our kids aren’t having fun we’re not
doing our jobs. But fun should be a means to an end for us. Fun has a job to do. Fun’s job is to be a tool
we can leverage to teach kids!

My calling as a kids pastor, in it’s simplest form, is to teach kids God’s Word in ways that they never
forget.

It’s simple, yes. But easy? No way. In fact, I would argue that, if it’s done right, this is the hardest thing
we do as kids pastors. Making kids laugh is easy. The wow factor is easy. But actually digging down to
that one, life-changing truth and teaching it to kids in ways they’ll never forget. That’s hard.

So here’s how I approach it. There are a couple of principles that help me frame in this seemingly
daunting task. First of all, Isaiah 28:10 lets me know I don’t have to teach everything I know in every
message I preach.

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.”
Isaiah 28:10

So there it is. I don’t have to teach everything. I can dig in and thoroughly and powerfully teach one
thing. But how do you find that one thing?

Years ago Pastor Willie George (my pastor) began to teach a method of getting right to the heart of a
message. It has helped me immensely. Here it is.

1. Find your verse.
2. Isolate the principle.
3. Illustrate.

For some that means taking the verse, and the central truth or walk away point your curriculum provides and digging in deeper. If I’m going to try and convince kids of a life-changing truth, I first have to let it change my life and realize how it has helped me already!

For example, let’s say the key verse is Ephesians 6:1. Now, I know my verse. From that verse I can
draw any number of principles. “Obedience Is Always Right” or “Obeying My Parents Brings a Reward” or
“Things Don’t Go So Well When I Disobey” to name a few.

Now all I have to do is illustrate the principle. This is where the fun comes in! Funny sketches, compelling stories, props, games, songs, and my message illustration itself all point back to my principle. Find your verse, isolate the principle and illustrate.

That’s it! This is our approach to every service. It’s hard work, but it always pays off when we get it right. I hope this helps you in your efforts to teach kids in ways they never forget. And by the way, just by reading this post, you are now 8% faster at cup stacking. You’re welcome.

Contact With Stephen:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenposey
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stephenposey

 

What an incredible start to this conference! The worship was amazing and the media was so creative.

Ed Young tore it up!

Here’s some of the notes I took tonight:

1) You Be You!

You are creative because God created you. You can’t be someone your not.

2) Work for the weekend

Everything should add up to the weekend. Most people show up on the weekend, and you can connect with them there.

3) Have a seat at the table

At the head of the table should be the “dude with the food” (the pastor). The next seat should be the lost. In a healthy church this should represent 1/3 of the crowd. The third seat is baby Christians. Fourth seat should be mature followers of Christ.

4) Sign up for group therapy

Creative in a group setting is best.

5) Get your ask in gear

Ask questions. Investigate! Delegation without investigation is an abomination. Ask the questions “what if” and “what is”.

What ifs are about future dreams and what is questions are about current reality!

6) Hire a “YES” man

The term Yesman is not a bad term. “Y” stands for yielded to God. “E” stands for encouraging. “S” stands for strong. We need a creative team around us who have got our backs and are more than just fans.

7) Get on the stairmaster.

Everytime you ask the right people the right questions to get the right answers, you will ask a lot of the wrong people, too. So you are always climbing. You are always moving.

8.) – Become a creative criminal.

Steal ideas. God gave you eyes; plagiarize.

9) Surf the wave.

Harness your creative ideas by building in rest periods during the day. Rest is also key for the creative.

10) Go through labor and delivery.

you will lose your creativity if your not willing to work for it.

11) Join the comedy club.

Most of our creative ideas come out of laughter. And if laughter doesn’t work we cause conflict

This was an amazing message! For better notes on Ed’s Sermon check out Kent Shaffer’s post http://churchrelevance.com/ed-young-jr-on-11-statements-for-creative-change

Really enjoyed meeting Blake Vasek and Rich Selleck and hanging out with Stephen Posey. Great Night!!!!

Looking forward to hanging out and networking with Kid’s Pastor from around the country! Let me know on Twitter (@kidzpastor), Facebook (Terry Cuthbertson), or on my blog if you want to meet up!

This month has been crazy! There has been a lot of junk happening and so I’ve decided to spend a little time to give God praise. Many of you might have noticed that my blog was hijacked, I tried everything I could to fix it but had no luck. Then God gave me favor with my host company and after 2 weeks of email, they finally were able to fix the problem.

I also want to give God praise for our families health. My youngest and I were exposed to a child who had RSV. Nina and I started praying because it’s so contagious and dangerous to young children. So when I got sick we became increasingly worried about Ayla getting RSV, after 3 days of me being sick Ayla started running fever and coughing. Nina took Ayla to the doctor and found out that we didn’t have RSV just the Flu. They put Ayla on meds and also put Nina on medicine that will prevent her from getting the Flu. The Doctor explained that if Nina had caught the Flu with her being pregnant that she would more than likely have to be hospitalized.  We also made our oldest daughter, Alyssa get the Flu shot since Type A & B flu are going around.  Then to top it all off, my phone got washed in the washing machine. It was soaked! I quickly took it apart, and threw it in a zip-lock bag of rice and prayed. Two days later it’s dry and working. Thank you, God!

I find that often when things get hard, my first response is to question why. My goal this year is to give God praise in all circumstances. I can’t control Flu outbreaks, Computer viruses, and my phone not being water proof, but I can control me.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Is social media a waste of kidmin’s time?

This is not a debate, rant or even a knock against anyone. It’s a question I recently asked myself that has lead to some serious soul searching. The whole reason I got in to social media was that I felt isolated. I was in a place where I didn’t know anyone in kid’s ministry and the few who live near me seemed too busy or too negative. On top of feeling alone I was also going through one of the hardest times of ministry since I had started. One day on Facebook a Children’s Pastor name Chris Bos IM’ed me and we begin to talk about our ministries and life; after a couple of days of talking to him I opened up about what I was going though lately. I talked to him about what I was dealing with at the church and how I felt alone. He open up and shared with me how he had gone through the same situation and how he had gotten through it and how God use this hard time to his glory. Chris lives 15 hours from me and to this day I have not met him face to face, but he has played a huge role in my ministry.  This is proof that God can use social media.  I really enjoy getting to know other kidmins, sharing ideas, and even encouraging others in ministry through Facebook, CMConnect, IM, email, twitter, and Skype. The world is wide open to us to meet and learn from others in kidmin. But lately there has been a negative trend in Kidmin social media.

Twitter fakes:

What could have been a humorous look at the stereotypes of kidmin, turned quickly into personal attacks at anyone and everyone connected to Kids ministry or Family ministry. The comments seemed fueled by jealously, pride, and frustration. One comment that really annoyed me was made by fakekidmin. The comment basically said I started a blog so I can regurgitate what the veterans of kidmin are saying. Well I listen, take notes, and digest what the veterans are teaching so from this comes the abundance of my heart to blog and run my ministry.

What I wish fakekidmin had done was make jokes about the stereotypes and wild circumstances’ that Kids Pastors find themselves living. It would have been funny and encouraging.

CMConnect Debates:

I’m right, you’re wrong! Debate over! Oh but you say God called you to do that? I’m sorry it does match the call God has placed in my life so it won’t work!!! Sorry!

I’m not against debate or expressing your view but at what cost? There are leadership principals that are always true. They are biblical and time tested. When we see leaders who are not practicing these principals, we should teach them. But not every kid’s ministry looks the same. Depending on whom you’re trying to reach, the method maybe different. You may not think its cool but that doesn’t mean its not effective. Why put someone’s calling down? Who does it help?

So Is social media a waste of kidmin’s time?

I believe Social Media can benefit Kid’s pastors and help grow amazing leaders. I believe Social Media can also encourage those who feel alone or like giving up. It’s a place of idea and resource sharing. I think it’s time to check our hearts. Lets use Social Media for edification of the church and not destruction of the personal calling.

Are you new to kidmin? Looking for resources and great leadership? Here are a few places to start:

Infuse Leadership Mentoring Service

http://www.jimwideman.com/infuse.html

CMConnet

http://www.cmconnect.org

CMConnect is the free social network for those called to serve in children’s and family ministry.

Kidology

http://www.kidology.org/

a website where each day over 20,000 children’s ministry leaders and volunteers find help, ideas, training, and resources that enable them to most effectively reach and teach kids.

Children’s Ministry Talk

http://www.childrensministrytalk.com

Children’s Ministry Talk is the podcast devoted to providing straight talk for children’s ministry leaders, by children’s ministry leaders, on all things related to children’s ministry. Hosts Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode answer your questions, discuss current trends and issues, and help share their perspective on contemporary children’s ministry.

Blogs I follow:

• Childrens Ministry Online
• Jim Wideman
• Joe McAlpine
• Jonathan Cliff
• Justyn Smith
• Sam Luce
• The Thursday Blog

Part IV – Know Pain

Pain in running seem to go hand in hand.  A lot of runners have given me the advice to pay attention to the pain my body feels.  Some pain in normal, its part of the strengthening of your body as you train.  While other pains is your body’s way of telling you that you are doing something wrong – like you have the wrong shoes on or you have pushed yourself too far.  Pain is a good gauge of where you are at in your training, this is principle is also true in leadership.  Listen to the pains that you are feeling and identify them, some pain comes as you grow as a leader and grow in your ministry position.  Your stretching yourself, pushing farther then you have ever gone before and with that comes some natural pain.  Other pains are your spirits way of giving you a check, maybe somethings not right.  How is your spiritual walks at those moments?  When I start feeling those type of pains in ministry, I often spend time asking God to show me the next steps.  Am I still in focus?

Part III – Run Your Pace

Another important lesson to running a marathon is knowing your pace.  Understanding that you have 26 miles to run, if you run too hard at the beginning you may not have enough strength or energy to finish.  If you run too slow, you may go over your 6 hour time period and be disqualified.  This is why knowing your pace is so, so important.  I am a slow runner right now and often get frustrated as people pass me; especially when they are in their seventies.  There are times that I let those who run ahead of me, get to me and I then change my pace.  This is a concept that also can be looked at in leadership.  God has set before you a race to run and yet the word race can be very deceiving.  Who are we running against?  Are there other people we are trying to beat; maybe leaders or staff members?  It’s easy to look at someone else’s ministry and see how God is blessing them and think to yourself “man that should be me”.  But thinking like this, is to say that a person shouldn’t be blessed because you are being blessed and takes you off the pace you have been set to run.  Tracy Morgan said on Jimmy Falon live the other day, that after his first success in comedy he was ready for his HBO special; but without the 18 years of experience that he now has it would have only been a 5 minute special.  Many of the greatest leaders in the Bible have what I like to call, a behind the mountain period of their life.  These are moments when God is training you to run the pace to win the race that he has set before you.  Moses was kicked out of Egypt and herded sheep behind a mountain.  David was sent out into the fields and was forgotten about by his father, and even after his success with slaying a giant, he found himself hiding in caves.  Part of leadership is understanding that God has a plan for your life; be okay with at which the pace at which you run the race that God has given you.  If you try to out run your pace to be like other leaders or to meet some goal that you have set in your mind; you will only find yourself exhausted.

Part II – Avoid the Ducks

Because I am a slow runner, I have a lot of time to think.  The other day while running through Hafer Park, I ran by the duck pond and saw a sign that took me down memory lane.  As a freshman in high school, me and my friends had no ride to lunch but didn’t want to stay on campus so we often walked down to the local park after buying food from the local gas station.  During one of these excursions we thought it might be fun to take what was left of our bread from our sandwiches and feed the ducks.  All the ducks came running towards us as we started throwing the bread out except for one duck.  One of the girls who was with us felt sorry for this duck, it looked so innocent, cute, and hungry.  So she decided to hand deliver a piece of bread to the duck that hadn’t come to get his bread.  What Becka didn’t know was that this duck was protecting her nest and did not want visitors.  The deck started to make weird noises as she began to get closer and then began flapping its wings.  Becka being determined to give the poor, innocent, hungry duck continue to go towards the duck.  Now the duck begin began making crazy noises and charging at her, to which she started backing up away from the duck as quickly as possible while yelling “Bad Duck, Bad Duck” to the top of her lungs.  The duck at which point caught up with her and bit her on the knee.  From this day forward, Becka hated ducks.  As leaders I think there are times in our lives that we allow ducks to be around us; these are little bad habits that in small amounts almost seem harmless.  Little bad habits like Christian cussing, I’m not talking about the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” but I am talking about language that you would hate a kid in your ministry to go back and repeat to his parents.  These words are intended to make us sound edgy, but often take the place of good vocabulary skills.  Other bad habits that we may have in our lives are:  little lies, complaining about your position in life, etc.  I am not trying to point fingers, I just know that these little ducks while they may look innocent and cute can when you least expect it can jump up and bite you.