Brian Dembowczyk, Author at Kids Ministry

May 30, 2017

5 Leadership Lessons from the Bible

Joshua: How do leaders handle opposition?

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us. Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them! ” While the whole community threatened to stone them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting. Numbers 14:6-10

God was right. The spies saw that the land God had promised to give them after their departure from Egypt was truly as good as He had said. The land offered them plenty of room and an amazing abundance of food and resources.

But it had another abundance too—plenty of strong people living in it who would not give it up without a fight.

That is why ten of the twelve spies told the people it was a lost cause. Trying to enter the land God had promised would result in death—theirs, not the people living in it. But Joshua and Caleb had reached another conclusion. The people in the land were great, but God is greater. If they trusted God, He would provide for them.

How did the people respond to the dissenting opinion of Joshua and Caleb? They wanted to kill them. Talk about opposition!

Joshua and Caleb didn’t waver from their trust in God, despite the brutal nature of their opposition. In the end, they entered the land when the other ten spies, and all of the people who wanted to kill them were dead. Joshua and Caleb saw God’s provision up close and personal.

As ministry leaders, we will face opposition and even though it most likely won’t be life-threatening, sometimes it may feel like it. So how can we handle opposition in a way that honors God and brings Him glory? Here are five lessons about handling opposition:

Consider the root of the opposition. Sometimes the criticism we hear is not really the root issue we need to consider. A teacher who is critical about moving to a new curriculum may not have a problem with the new materials, but in reality feels unvalued because she helped choose the previous curriculum and was not part of the decision-making process now. In that case, sharing the vision and strengths of the new resource isn’t going to help. Try to get to the root issues of the opposition which at times may require that you simply ask someone what they are.
Seek wisdom and counsel from others. A good leader will consider all criticism, but that can be hard at times, especially when the person being critical is doing so in a negative and adversarial manner. Surround yourself with people you trust and give them permission to speak truth to you in love. When someone is critical or opposing you, go to this team and ask for their feedback and wisdom. There will be times when the critical person is right, even if they are sharing their criticism in the wrong way. You may need help seeing that in the heat of the moment.
Love and pray for those sharing criticism with you. When someone shares criticism in the right way, pray for him and thank God for his feedback and the way he shared it. Thank God that he cared enough to share criticism. When someone shares criticism in the wrong way, pray for him too! Ask God to move in his heart and your heart. Pray for God to help you love that person with grace.
Appeal to the gospel when defending yourself. There will be times when someone opposes you or something in your ministry and you will need to defend yourself and your ministry. Be sure to anchor your defense on the gospel. For example, if someone is critical of the curriculum you use, don’t appeal to your experience in kids ministry or how many educators support it—take that person to the gospel. Explain why that curriculum advances the gospel in and through your kids. Always take your stand on the gospel. The gospel is a hill worth dying on.
Know when to “walk away.” Romans 10 is incredibly helpful when it comes to managing conflict and opposition. In this verse we read that when it is possible we are to live at peace with others. That caveat is critical! It means there will be times when it is not possible because the other person does not want to live in peace. Do all you can to reconcile with the person, but recognize there may be a time when you simply have to “walk away.” That doesn’t mean you can ostracize the person, but it does mean you continue to pray for reconciliation and shower them with love and grace, yet with firmness when necessary.

Next time—John the Baptist: How do leaders handle success?

Brian Dembowczyk is the managing editor for The Gospel Project. He served in local church ministry for over 16 years before coming to LifeWay. Brian earned an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his family live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Kids Ministry, Leadership

April 26, 2017

5 Leadership Lessons from the Bible

By Brian Dembowczyk

Esther: How do leaders handle risk?

“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16

Esther could have died. Let that sink in.

Although Esther was the queen, no one—not even the queen—could approach the king without his permission first. But time was of the essence and who knew when the king would call for Esther again.

Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, had discovered an evil plot to kill all of the Jews and the only hope for God’s people rested in Esther. If she could just go to the king and plead for her people on their behalf, perhaps they would be spared from the coming catastrophe.

But how could she approach the king without being invited? What if he didn’t receive her? She could die.

With Mordecai’s encouragement, Esther decided that it was worth the risk. She called for the Jews to fast and pray for her and then she would go to the king. If she died, she died. The risk was worth it. The fate of her people was more important than her own life.

God was kind to Esther and the risk she took ended up working out for her. The king received her and she ended up saving her people.

Ministry is full of risk—at least if we are doing it right. God continually wants us to step beyond ourselves, our comfort, and our own abilities. He wants us to sacrifice and risk for His kingdom and His glory. That’s hard for many leaders to do! Here are five lessons on how we can take risks as leaders:

Be bold, but not foolish. You can be too cautious and never take risks in ministry or you can go to the other extreme and throw caution to the wind. Neither approach is good for a leader. We want to be bold, but we don’t want to be foolish. Take those steps of faith, but pray and plan as you do. For example, it may be bold for you to change to a new kids curriculum, but it would be foolish to make the change on a Saturday and launch the next day! So be bold and take risks, but don’t take them lightly. Learn from Esther who preceded her risk with asking her people to pray for three days.
Consider the risk/reward ratio. A risk may be foolish if there is little upside and quite a bit of downside. This is known as the risk/reward ratio. If the negative impact of an action far outweighs the potential benefits, you may want to pray through it some more. Esther’s risk was her own life, but her reward was the lives of all of her people. The reward far out-weighed the risk. That is why it was wise of her to take that risk. The risk/reward ratio should not be the most important factor in considering an action, but it should certainly be weighed.
Include your leaders and your leadership. A wise leader is going to have a great team around him or her in the first place, but this is especially important when it comes to taking risks. Don’t take on risks by yourself. You have to bring others into the decision-making process. You will need different perspectives and thoughts. You will need partners bathing the risk in prayer. And you will need others to cast the vision of the risk and guide your ministry through it. Don’t take on risk alone. Take it on as a community.
Trust in God. The beauty of risk is that it pushes us closer to God. Once you determine that a risk is worth taking, don’t waver from trusting in God. Even as you wisely develop plans, you still need to trust in God to work those plans out. When we trust God during a risk we take, we position ourselves to bring Him glory if the risk works out, while simultaneously to bring Him glory if it doesn’t work out from our perspective. A leader and ministry that trusts God completely cannot be shaken.
Go all in. This last lesson is a natural byproduct of the previous one. When we trust God completely, we will go all in. Don’t make the mistake of sticking your big toe into the pool. Dive in! If God is leading you to take a risk, take it! Be wise. Communicate the vision. Pray over the decision. Honor God in what you do leading up to the risk, and then take it. Half-hearted risk-taking communicates what it really is—a failure to trust God and follow His leading.

Next time—Joshua: How do leaders handle opposition?

Kids Ministry, Leadership, Volunteers

March 22, 2017

Leadership Lessons from the Bible: Hannah

By Brian Dembowczyk

Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” 1 Samuel 1:10-11

Hannah simply amazes me. Here was a woman who could not have any children—which was quite a stigma in her day—and it understandably devastated her. To make matters worse, one of her husband’s other wives delighted in mocking her because of her barrenness. (Quick aside: God never permitted polygamy and every time we see it practiced in the Old Testament, it causes trouble.)

Hannah was in such pain because of her inability to have children that she went to the temple and poured out her heart to God with such an intensity that Eli the priest thought she was drunk. But it is the subject of Hannah’s prayer more than her fervency that amazes me.

If God were to give Hannah a son, she would give him back to God. And that is what happened. God gave Hannah Samuel, and she took him to the temple to serve there once he was weaned. Hannah gave God one of her heart’s greatest desires.

Hannah was a godly woman because she was a woman of prayer and Hannah was a woman of prayer because she was a godly woman. Pray fuels intimacy with God and intimacy with God fuels prayer in a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

Our leadership thrives in direct proportion to the health of our relationship with Christ. And as we learn from Hannah, prayer is a vital component of that relationship. Here are five leadership lessons on how we can thrive through prayer:

Pray regularly. The fuel of any relationship is communication, and a relationship with Jesus is no different. Praying regularly is vital. Having a set time to pray each day is a great start, but think of ways that you can pray more throughout your day such as when you are driving, when you are brushing your teeth, and when you are waiting in lines. Prayer can turn these rather mundane times into refreshing times with God.
Read Scripture first. When possible, preface your time of prayer by reading Scripture. Scripture will help you focus your time of prayer properly. Instead of praying through a man-centered lens of what you want from God, spending time in the Bible first will reorient your heart and mind to want to pursue God’s glory in your prayer.
Don’t confine yourself to a formula. There are several outlines designed to ensure you pray in a well-rounded way. While these can be helpful to keep in mind, do not limit yourself by them. Structure can sometimes lead to a wooden, formulaic prayer life and can hinder its authenticity. There will be times when you will simply want to pray thanking God for who He is. There may be other times when you will need to pray just confessing sin to God.
Be transparent with God. Following up to the previous lesson, strive for your prayer to be transparent. Be real with God. It’s not like you can fool Him anyway! If you are upset like Hannah, share that. If you are confused, angry, happy, worried, frustrated, or whatever else, let God know.
Pray for others. Enjoying a vibrant prayer life and deepening your relationship with Christ will greatly grow you as a leader alone. But it is when you also pray meaningfully for your kids, kids leaders, parents, and other church leaders that your leadership will grow to the next level. Develop the habit of asking others how you can pray for them and doing it.

Brian Dembowczyk is the team leader for The Gospel Project for Kids. He served in local church ministry for over 16 years before coming to LifeWay. Brian earned an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his family live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Easter, Kids Ministry, Resources, Uncategorized

March 8, 2017

The Big Picture Easter Bundle

By Brian Dembowczyk

Easter not only provides us with the opportunity to share the gospel message with our guests, but with our regular attending kids as well. One of the greatest joys of kids ministries is seeing our kids grow and reach the point where they can respond to the gospel by trusting in Christ. And the great thing about our regular kids is that we don’t have to contain the Easter story to just one Sunday—we can spread it out over several weeks and go even deeper to help move our kids toward saving faith in Christ.

The Gospel Project for Kids team has just released a new Easter Bible study resource called The Big Picture Easter Bundle. If you currently use The Gospel Project in your ministry, you will have an Easter unit included in your Spring 2017 content. However if you do not currently use The Gospel Project, and would like to experience a gospel-centered Easter resource, this may be just what you are looking for. This five-session digital resource can be used in your preschool and grade school classes all five Sundays in April to share the compelling story of the final week of Jesus’ earthly ministry, His crucifixion, resurrection, and appearances to His disciples.

Each session is designed to last one hour and includes downloadable Bible story videos, songs, music videos, leader guides, activity pages, posters, coloring sheets, cards, and more. The Big Picture Easter Bundle includes all of that for preschool and grade school and more for just $74.99. Churches can print as many of the resources as they need for their leaders and kids, making this a one-size-fits-all resource!

The five sessions include:

The Last Supper
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection
The Emmaus Disciples
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples

Each of the sessions will help share the Easter story with your preschoolers and kids, with each one pointing directly to the good news of the gospel through a Christ connection. If you are looking for Easter content to share with your preschoolers and kids, our hope is that The Big Picture Easter Bundle would be a resource that you could use to show your kids God’s love made known to us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

To learn more about The Big Picture Easter Bundle, visit www.gospelproject.com/easter.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

February 13, 2017

Leadership Lessons from the Bible: Paul

By Brian Dembowczyk

How do leaders stay motivated?

To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, so I may become a partner in its benefits. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23

Before he was Paul, leading missionary and theologian of the fledgling church, he was Saul, leading Pharisee and persecutor of the church. Saul was the ideal Jew—the Jew’s Jew—as we read in his “resume” in 2 Corinthians 11.

But then he walked away from all of that one day after Jesus captivated his heart on the Damascus road. From the moment Paul was blinded by a light, his life was put on a much different trajectory. He turned from all the benefits his life in the Jewish inner circles afforded him and instead he spent the rest of his days traveling to advance the gospel. He was arrested, whipped, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked three times. Why did he endure all that? What got him out of bed in the morning knowing there was a good chance he would be rejected, hurt, and possibly even killed that day? It was what the gospel had done in his life and his joy to partake in sharing that same gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

And that’s what we need to remember and hold dear. Ministry is hard! Leadership is challenging! There will be plenty of times when we will want to throw in the towel and do something else—anything else. But the gospel will be the one thing to bring us back to where we need to be. The gospel is what will get us out of bed in the morning.

Here are five leadership lessons for how you can help stay motivated by the gospel and to persevere with joy in your ministry:

Spend time in the Word. The best way to keep the gospel in your heart is to spend time in God’s Word—the story of the gospel. Protect this time and resist the urge to study merely to teach what you learn. Approach the Bible as a starving person would approach a buffet.
Spend time in the world. It is common for people in ministry and church to fall into the “holy bubble” trap. We spend so much time in church and with other believers that we become blind to the world around us and how desperately people need Jesus. Read the paper. Watch the news. Be part of your city. Appreciate the need for gospel transformation in your city.
Connect all you do to the gospel. Everything we do in ministry should advance the gospel. Everything. Knowing the strategic value of what you do—even the mundane tasks—will help you stay committed to them even when they frustrate you and wear you out.
Surround yourself with encouragers. We all need people who genuinely love us and want what’s best for us. Find those people and keep them close. Now this doesn’t mean that you want to put “yes men” all around you. True encouragers love you enough to speak hard things to you—in love. These are the people who will be in our corner through thick and thin pushing us to stay faithful to the gospel.
Journal. We have such short memories about the positive and such long memories about the negative. Help yourself remember God’s goodness and kindness to you and your ministry by journaling—especially about God’s provisions. Then when you enter those darker times of ministry, pull these journals off the shelf to remember how amazingly wonderful God is to you.

Next time—Hannah: How do leaders thrive?

Kids Ministry, Leadership

January 6, 2017

Leadership Lessons from the Bible

By Brian Dembowczyk

Jesus: How do leaders see themselves?

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

God has given us a wonderful gift in allowing us to serve in kids ministry. Each week, we get to point kids to the beauty and power of the gospel. Each week, we get to share about God’s love, grace, and holiness. We also get to talk about forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. What a privilege!

But at the same time, serving in kids ministry is a weighty responsibility. God has entrusted these kids to us and we need to steward their minds and hearts well. While centering our ministry on the gospel is of utmost importance, another big part of honoring God’s calling in kids ministry is to lead well. We want to be leaders who honor God in our conduct and actions and who maximize our ministry resources for God’s glory.

There are countless great leadership books available, but perhaps there is no better book on leadership than the Bible. Read as many leadership books as you can get your hands on, but don’t neglect learning leadership principles from God’s Word.

In this 12-part series, we are going to look at some notable, and a few overlooked, leaders in the Bible to see what godly leadership principles we can discover. We’ll begin with the greatest leader ever—Jesus.

When you think of the leadership of Jesus, it doesn’t take very long for servanthood to come to mind. Jesus offers the purest definition of a servant-leader possible. The Son of God humbled Himself by wrapping Himself in human flesh (Philippians 2) and seeking to serve, rather than be served (Mark 10:45). The Creator stepping into His creation not demanding to be waited on hand and foot, but instead seeking to take on the role of the lowest of servants for His Father’s glory.

What a beautiful and critical reminder for us! No matter what our level of authority in kids ministry is, how many people we supervise, or how fruitful our ministry is, we should always position ourselves as a servant to others—God, our ministry teams, our parents, and our kids. We are there for them; they are not there for us.

So what does Jesus-like servant-leadership look like in kids ministry? Here are five leadership lessons on how we can serve others:

Pray for others. Guard time to pray for your church leaders, ministry leaders, kids, and parents. Send a card every once in awhile letting them know you are praying for them and are grateful for them.
Ask others what you can do for them. Make it a habit to ask others what you can do for them. How can you help them? How can you serve them? What do they need from you?
Respect others. Value every person’s role and his input—even when it is critical. You don’t have to agree with what he shares with you, but you need to love the person enough to listen, consider what is said, and then, in time, respond.
Strive to do every ministry task at least once. You should not do everything as a regular part of your ministry rhythm. Delegation is a critical leadership skill. However, you should try to do every task at least once to experience it and to show that no task is beneath you. Don’t ever ask others to do what you are not willing to do yourself.
Spend time with and love God and your family well. What does this have to do with being a servant-leader? Nothing and everything. It has nothing to do with servant-leadership in practical terms, but it has everything to do with being a healthy, balanced leader. One of the most common mistakes in ministry is to serve others and invest so much time and energy into ministry that you fail to enjoy and develop your relationship with Christ or fail to love your family well. The best leader is the leader who puts God first, his or her family second, and ministry after that. Not just on paper or in lip-service, but in reality. If you aren’t walking with God and loving your family, you will not be a servant-leader in your ministry.

Next time—Paul: How do leaders stay motivated?

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

December 23, 2016

The 12 Days of LifeWay Kids Christmas

By Brian Dembowczyk

On the first day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the second day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the third day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the fourth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the fifth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the sixth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the seventh day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the eighth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Eight Camp Counselors

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the ninth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Nine Glitter Magnets

Eight Camp Counselors

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the tenth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Ten Clean Nurs’ry Toys

Nine Glitter Magnets

Eight Camp Counselors

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the eleventh day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Eleven Helpful Parents

Ten Clean Nurs’ry Toys

Nine Glitter Magnets

Eight Camp Counselors

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time.

On the twelfth day of Christmas LifeWay Kids sent to me:

Twelve VBS Crafts

Eleven Helpful Parents

Ten Clean Nurs’ry Toys

Nine Glitter Magnets

Eight Camp Counselors

Seven Tykes Behaving

Six Crates of Goldfish

Five Transformed Kids

Four Toddler Hugs

Three Safe Snacks

Two Words of Thanks

and a Teacher that’s Always on Time

MERRY CHRISTMAS from LifeWay Kids!

Evangelism, Kids Ministry, Leadership, Sunday School

November 11, 2016

5 Keys to Teaching Kids the Gospel

By Brian Dembowczyk

Have you ever felt overwhelmed about teaching kids because there is so much in the Bible to teach, and it’s all important?

I have felt that way at times, but what I have found helpful is to remember the big picture of what I am teaching—the gospel. Our goal is not to teach stories or doctrines in isolation. Our goal is to teach our kids the gospel—the unified story of Jesus that runs throughout the Bible. So let’s look at five keys to teaching kids the gospel based on Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (HCSB)

Know the Gospel (v. 4)

God begins with an important theological statement about Himself—God is One. God is unique, there is none like Him. As we begin thinking about how to teach kids, God invites us first to ponder who He is. Why? Because we cannot pass along that which we don’t have ourselves.

We need to make sure that we are spending time with God, considering who He is and His ways. A big part of this is camping out on the gospel and diving more deeply into its riches to understand the beauty and splendor of Christ. Remember that our best teaching always comes from the overflow!

Love the Gospel (v. 5-6)

There is a natural progression from verse 4 to verses 5 and 6. Spending meaningful time with God will stir our affections and increase our love for God and the gospel.

Don’t miss what we are to love in verse 6—God’s words. We don’t usually think about loving God’s commands, but it makes sense. When we know God and love Him, we understand that all He does is for His glory and our good. We love God’s commands because we know and trust His heart behind them.

Notice, the first three verses all center on us, not our kids. That’s critical. The best way to prepare ourselves to teach our kids is to give God space to work in our own hearts and lives.

Share the Gospel (v. 7)

We are to teach the gospel repeatedly—looking for new ways to help our kids understand its beauty and power on a deeper and more profound level. The original Hebrew in that verse carries the meaning of “piercing the heart,” which is a great visual for us. We want what we teach to get deep down into our kids’ hearts. That is why we have to be sure to teach the gospel—only the gospel satisfies the heart.

This also reminds us of our need to teach the “why” of the gospel, not just the “what.” Teaching is not just transferring facts. Facts tend to get into the mind and not go much farther. The gospel needs to get into the heart as well. And that is why we need to teach God’s heart—the “why” of the gospel.

Live out the Gospel (v. 7-8)

We usually think of teaching in a more formal sense, but that just scratches the surface. Notice when we are to talk about the gospel with our kids. When we sit, walk, lie down, and stand—in other words, all the time. The idea is not that we always teach formally, but that we weave the gospel into our daily rhythm of life. This is powerful! We want our kids to see that the gospel makes a difference in how we think, feel, and live.

Be Marked by the Gospel (v. 9)

When you think of writing God’s words on your doorposts and gates, picture a house address. An address defines your house—it is how a delivery person or guest can differentiate your house from other houses. That is what the gospel should do for us. It should define us and set us apart from others around us. And if we are living out this passage to this point, being marked by the gospel will naturally occur as we live out the gospel and show our kids and the world, the sweet fragrance of Christ.

Kids Ministry, Leadership, Ministry

October 17, 2016

4 Keys to Lead Your Ministry Like a Tortoise, not a Hare

By Brian Dembowczyk

In the final part of this series examining the seven key findings from Good to Great by Jim Collins we focus on the principle of the flywheel. But before we get to what the flywheel is, we need to refresh ourselves on the familiar fable of the tortoise and the hare. You know the one where the fast hare races a slow-moving tortoise but loses when he stops to take a nap. “Slow and steady wins the race” is often the main take-away from that story and it is a good way to think of the principle of the flywheel.

When Collins examined the companies that made the move from good to great he found that fast dramatic change or immediate major overhauls failed to move companies from good to great. Basically, there was never a miracle moment. The move to great was always slow and gradual.

And that is where the flywheel comes in. Imagine a large, heavy flywheel—a horizontal disc—that you want to move as fast as it can go. When you first begin to push the flywheel, it is so heavy that it takes great effort to even budge it. But you keep after it and it begins to move, oh, so slowly. As you keep pushing, you find that it begins to move a little faster and easier, and then, you reach the breakthrough point where the disc’s momentum keeps it moving. Now, it takes very little effort to make the flywheel move faster.

That is the principle of the flywheel. Moving from good to great requires very hard work early on, but steady persistence—like the tortoise—builds the momentum that leads to lasting breakthrough.

Here are four keys to leading your ministry like a tortoise, not a hare, and achieving lasting momentum to carry you to meaningful ministry wins.

Don’t panic. Panic creates hares, not tortoises. It’s easy to see other kids ministries that are bigger or seem to be more active, or see flatlined or declining attendance in your ministry or church, panic, and feel the need to reach for a quick fix—a miracle moment. But when we panic, we don’t trust God and give Him space to work. Instead, remain calm, trust God, and continue to move forward in tortoise-like relentlessness.
Work hard … on the right things. The principle of the flywheel requires that you work hard—really hard—to get the wheel moving. But it assumes one other critical detail—that you work hard on the right things. If you have spent time evaluating your ministry and developing lead goals and lag goals, you should have a pretty solid idea of where your hard work will pay off the most. Be wise with your time and energy, and that of your team as well. Pour your effort into what matters most.
Be patient. And then be patient some more. Our lightning fast culture makes it harder than ever to be patient. Couple that with the burden we feel about reaching kids, their families, and our community for Christ and it is even harder. But we have to be patient. Sure, we need to feel the urgency of our mission, but our patient, prolonged work is what will reach kids and their families the best in the end. Take your time. Work hard. Keep the wheel moving. Celebrate the smaller victories.

Protect your momentum. Every bit of momentum you create is a win because of your team’s faithful hard work. Protect it! Don’t slow down or stop. Also, look out for others who might jeopardize your flywheel’s momentum. Watch mostly for people who are impatient and want to be hares more than tortoises and people who don’t share your ministry’s vision.

Kids Ministry, Leadership, Technology

September 16, 2016

5 Uses for Technology in Your Kids Ministry

By Brian Dembowczyk

In the sixth part of this series examining the seven key findings from Good to Great by Jim Collins we focus on technology. Technology is not just continuing its blistering pace of being more deeply and thoroughly immersed in every facet of our lives, it’s accelerating.

Here’s a sobering thought: The first iPhone was released less than a decade ago. It’s difficult to remember life before smartphones, isn’t it? But it was just 10 years ago! Just 10 years ago, we were still using paper maps, remembering phone numbers, and calling restaurants and stores for information instead of checking their websites from our phones.

So we would expect technology to be crucial for good businesses to become great, right? Well, that’s not quite what Collins and his team discovered. Tech was important, but nowhere near central. Good-to-great companies used tech to accelerate momentum, not to create it. In other words, good-to-great companies didn’t think about tech as being the key to their success, but they also were quick to consider how tech could aid them in what they did best—their hedgehog.

And that is a great take-away for our kids ministries. How can we incorporate technology into our ministries to help us pursue our ministry sweet spot? How can tech save us time, energy, and money and increase the effectiveness of what we have been called to do?

Here are several ways you might be able to use tech to accelerate your ministry:

Training: In the last blog post in this series, we discussed how to create a culture of learning and provided several tech-related delivery platforms. Consider how you can encourage leaders and parents to use tablets to view training content.
Check-In: Keeping kids secure is paramount in kids ministry. And that can certainly be done through various low-tech solutions, but if you are able, consider how you can use tech to make this process as secure and efficient as possible. Also, don’t miss opportunities to incorporate tech to communicate with parents during the check-in and check-out times. Consider playing videos or slideshows detailing upcoming events, what is being taught that day, and ministry highlights.
Classrooms: Videos and music are often used in kids curricula and the dropping cost of televisions and other equipment makes it possible even for smaller churches to use these resources to help teach kids. If installing televisions in each room is out of reach because of cost or you are in a portable context, consider laptops as an alternative.
Ministry Data: A database is great for so much more than tracking contact information and attendance. Many databases will also generate automatic reports based on parameters you set up, such as when a kid has missed two weeks in a row. Some will go a step further and even generate automatic emails or letters to be printed. Imagine using tech to automatically contact your teachers letting them know their kids who have missed and reminding them to give each absent kid a call without you needing to do anything.
Apps: Each LifeWay Kids Bible study includes an app designed for parents to use in the home. This is one way kids ministries can partner with parents and equip them to disciple their kids. There are also a number of great Bible and devotional apps, and developing your own ministry app is an affordable option as well.

Next up: Slowly generating ministry momentum that lasts.

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