The KidMin Networking Why’s

Posted by Jamie Doyle on June 19, 2012
Posted in: Encouragement, Ideas, Networking. Tagged: , , , .
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I like to network with KidMins… Why?
Well, I’m glad you asked.

Relationships Are Thicker Than Puppets

You may run out of money, forget about the lesson ideas you once had, damage equipment or download a virus… But the relationships will still be there. Because of those relationships, you will be encouraged. You will rub shoulders with veterans and the young, “hungry” kidmins alike. You will invest into their ministries, in turn, expanding your influence as well.

We Each Got Stuff The Other One Wants

Sometimes when I need a resource I don’t own, can’t afford or that’s not available anymore, I have a resource library spread all over my town. It’s called “Other Church’s Supply Closets”. So many times I can make a few calls or send an e-mail about that curriculum that’s no longer published or a prop I don’t want to drop $300 to use for one weekend… and more often than not, someone has what I need, sitting in their supply closet at church. (Just be careful that you are not making illegal copies or breaking the law if the original buyer has the right to use the resource in only his or her own church only).

Everything I’ve Ever Needed To Know, I Learned From Other Kidmins

I don’t have all of the answers, and neither do you. But If I can surround myself with people who know stuff that I don’t, I will gain the knowledge of those who have “been there” and “done that”. Even if that Kidmin is younger than me or has been in ministry a shorter time, their environments and experiences will be vastly different than mine… and there are answers in that somewhere.

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SPECIAL 1 DAY KidMIN Sale

Posted by Jamie Doyle on June 14, 2012
Posted in: Uncategorized.
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That’s right, I’m having a ONE day sale starting TODAY – Thursday, June 14, 2012.

THE SALE HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MIDNIGHT – FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012

Here’s the deal.  You’ll get 8 of my ebooks for only $20.00. READ THAT AGAIN!

If you were to buy these separately from my online bookstore, you’d pay over $50.00

Why in the world would I do this? I’m a generous guy I guess… but here’s the deal:  The sale ends at midnight tonight (Mountain Standard Time -USA)

The Titles include:

  • Adding Flash To Your Lessons Vol. 1 & 2
  • Incredible Object Lesons
  • MORE Incredible Object Lessons
  • EVEN MORE Incredible Object Lessons
  • Teaching Kids To Give Vol. 1
  • Teaching Kids To Give Vol. 2
  • KidMin Altar Call Book (My NEWEST BOOK)

So, here’s what you need to do.

  1. Use paypal.com and send $20.00 (USD) to the e-mail address: pastorjamiedoyle@gmail.com
  2. In the “E-mail the Recipient ” section, put ebook deal in the Subject Line
  3. Put your e-mail address in the Message field
  4. When I see your funds have been sent, I’ll send you an e-mail with a link along with a password to download each book. (once you receive the link and password, you’ll have until June 30, 2012  to download the books.  After that, the links will be inactive)

You can go to my online bookstore to read descriptions and even see samples of each book – BUT REMEMBER – this deal is NOT AVAILABLE at my online bookstore.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

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Kenya – A KidMin Trip To Remember!

Posted by Jamie Doyle on April 17, 2012
Posted in: Evangelism, Ministry Update, Missions. Tagged: , , , , .
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For those who were in the know, I spent 10 days in  Kenya (with a few days of travel on each end of the trip). I’ve been on several overseas missions trips… but this one had an impact on my life that I won’t soon forget.

Our ministry team spent several days training children’s ministry leaders from all over Kenya. They came hungry and we did what we could to resource them and encourage them. In turn, they would all go back to their districts and train the children’s ministry leaders at the churches in their districts.

During our time there, we ministered in several schools. One school was over 2000 kids. The other 1500 and the smaller ones with 400. It was heart touching to see so many of those kids give their hearts to God. In one of the primary schools, our ministry team watched as four Muslim girls sat together near the front on the dirty concrete ground. When the salvation invitation was given, three of the Muslim girls sat with their arms crossed. But one of the four looked at her three Muslim friends, looked back toward the front and raised her hand. We watched as she prayed, along with hundreds of other kids, and asked Jesus into her life. She made a bold step… a bold step that has changed her life forever. The Head Master, or as we say, the principal, saw what she did and went and talked to her after the program. He is a strong believer himself. He confirmed that she would be disciplined if her parents were to ever find out.

Unlike public schools in the US, these schools not only allowed us to present a salvation message with an invitation for salvation, but they also helped us promote the outreach event we did in the evenings by inviting the school children to attend.  At those evening outreaches, we saw hundreds of kids attend and hundreds of kids respond to salvation!

I also had the privilege of ministering in one of the local children’s churches on the Sunday before I left the country – it was an amazing time. Many of the children from the school assemblies and the evening outreaches attended and we squeezed over 500 kids into a space made for 300 kids! Again, we saw many come to the Lord.

As I type this, I am also praying for the children and Children’s Ministry Leaders in Kenya – it is a place hungry for effective ministry to children.

OH – I’ll post pictures soon!

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Propelling Your KidMin Team Forward

Posted by Jamie Doyle on March 12, 2012
Posted in: Encouragement, Leadership, Management, Training. Tagged: , , , .
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Having a team of people around you is great! I love the team members that I get to serve with at my church. They are all about ministry to kids and families… I am truly blessed.

But just having a team is not enough. You have to be willing to do some things, not just to keep your team… but to help them move to the next level.  I’ve assembled a list of some of the things you’d better be doing if you want your ministry to grow:

  • Pray for them.
  • Continually speak the vision of the house.
  • Continually interpret the vision of the house so KidMin Leaders can run with it.
  • Actually meet with them as a team on a regular basis.
  • Actually meet with them individually on a regular basis.
  • Find out that one key resource each of your team members needs, and get it for them.
  • Look for resources they’re not asking for, and surprise them with it.
  • Provide training and ministry enhancement opportunities.
  • Read through a book with them.
  • Set up regularly scheduled evaluation meetings for each member.
  • Promote them publicly (Brag them up around EVERYONE).
  • Remove team members who won’t propel forward.
  • Add to the team people who have proven themselves.
  • Show appreciation to each member.
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Making KidMin Teaching Better – Part 3

Posted by Jamie Doyle on January 25, 2012
Posted in: Encouragement. Tagged: , , , , .
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Did you know that God has faith in you?

That may sound kind of out of line with God’s Word – but it’s not. God, having faith in us, is the reason He keeps on giving us opportunities to serve Him. It’s the reason why He called YOU to Children’s Ministries – He knew that: YOU CAN DO THIS! Whether you think you have the know-how, experience, expertise or you feel completely inadequate – God called you… YOU CAN DO THIS!

Now, don’t get me wrong – we will all face days where we don’t know what to do, or days when trial and error leans more toward the error. We will mess-up, make mistakes, tick-off parents and ruin the craft idea… And yet, in the midst of all those errors – God called YOU!

As a matter of fact, when you are succeeding or failing at the opportunity that God has called you to DO – you are in the middle of the “DO” part – Right where God wants you!  Don’t think that because something didn’t go as planned that you have somehow stepped out of God’s Will.  You are right in the middle of the “DO” part that God called you to do.

And that’s no surprise to God.  God doesn’t sit up in heaven and say, “Whoa – I didn’t see that one coming!” He doesn’t suddenly call Gabriel over to his side and ask, “Hey, Gabe, what do you reckon we do about the ‘craft-disaster’ down there?”

The Good Lord doesn’t say or think these things because He knew YOU CAN DO THIS! So, clean up the messes as best as you can, meet with a few angry parents and plan some new crafts and know that “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…” (Philippians 1:6)

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Making KidMin Teaching Better – Part 2

Posted by Jamie Doyle on January 17, 2012
Posted in: Excellence, Ideas, Pastoring Children, Quality, Teaching Tips, The World of Kids. Tagged: , , , , , , .
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Everything a kid tells you is important.

You may not think it’s important, but to that kid, at that moment, it’s the most important thing in their world.

We as adults have, over time, developed a filter called: “THE STUFF IMPORTANT TO ME” filter.  And we react accordingly.  If someone tells you something that is interesting to YOU or in some way creates a commonality – YOU naturally react with genuine interest.  YOU react with attention.  YOU react because YOU actually care.

But when someone tells you something that you have no interest in, you may try to react as though you care – because you don’t really want to offend the person trying to tell you something.  But you’re not really listening, are you?

When that child walks up to you and shows you his loose tooth… this is a big deal – no wait! It’s a BIG DEAL!  When she tells you that it was her birthday yesterday… it’s a BIG DEAL!  When a kids tells you that his family is taking him on vacation to “Happy World”, it’s a BIG DEAL!  When she explains that her dog is lost… it’s a BIG DEAL!  When they point to their new shoes… it’s a BIG DEAL!  You all know what I’m talking about. It happens all weekend long… and that’s a good thing!

But, how many times have you had one of these experiences only to usher that child to his seat and tell him politely that he can tell you later? After all, it’s time to start class, right.

To a child, you may be the most important person in their world at that moment that needs to know this information.  Your reaction will determine their significance at that very moment in THEIR WORLD. And if you’re the one who made them feel significant at that moment, you have earned their attention from that moment on.  Try it – I promise, it works!

Turn on your listening ears the next time you’re with kids and Be blessed

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Making KidMin Teaching Better – Part 1

Posted by Jamie Doyle on January 11, 2012
Posted in: Excellence, Pastoring Children, Teaching Tips, visual teaching. Tagged: , , , , .
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If you’re like me (and I know I am), you put a lot of emphasis on teaching kids the Word of God every week – and in some cases, several times or venues a week. For me, I have 4 Kids’ Church large groups on a weekend (one on Saturday Night, 2 on our main campus and I travel between those 2 services to teach/preach at our second campus most weeks) Add to that a Sunday School hour, Wednesday night large groups (of which I’m involved) and Wednesday night small groups.  We also have a myriad of classes and services for toddlers and preschoolers and even some teaching time for infants that our wonderful staff on directors and volunteers oversee and participate in.

THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF TEACHING GOING ON!

That’s why I’ve started a simple “training by e-mail” campaign for our lead teaching staff.  Each week I will send out an e-mail to our teaching staff with an encouragement and a tip that just might help them reach new heights.  I would like to share those e-mails with you in blog-format each week… if you follow me on twitter, you saw that I did a series of around 15 tips for teaching in kidmin a few weeks ago – these coming blog posts are those tweets elaborated. So, here we go:

Let me encourage you this week as you plan for the upcoming Wednesday or Weekend and give you a pointer that I just know will give you the confidence and in some cases the “know-how”… and if there’s anything I’ve learned in the last few years: INFORMATION is POWERFUL when you APPLY IT.

THIS WEEKS TIP:

Start preparing early in the week for the upcoming lesson or class time. In other words, if your ministry time was over the weekend, crack open that lesson book or materials on Monday… if your ministry time was on Wednesday; then make Thursday your day to start studying.  You don’t have to plan your entire lesson on that day, but at least:

  • Read over the lesson
  • Know and memorize the key verse
  • Look up and read any supporting verses
  • And know the main point of the lesson.

Why should you do this? I’m glad you asked!
…When you start early in the week, it gives the Holy Spirit time to be your helper… instead of (gulp) having to work in spite of you.  Think about it: all week long as you pray over the materials you’ve read, the Lord will reveal unique teaching ideas, stories you’ve heard or events in your life that you could work into your lesson.  As the day of ministry gets closer and you are planning what that class time should look like, instead of saying, “Lord, what am I going to teach?” …you’ll be able to say “Lord, how do I fit all of these ideas into the lesson?”

Try it – I promise it will work. And as always, if you ever need a teaching idea, I’m just an e-mail away and I’m happy to brainstorm with you! I’d better let you go – some of you need to start studying!

Be blessed,
Jamie

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Baptism For Kids

Posted by Jamie Doyle on November 2, 2011
Posted in: Pastoring Children. Tagged: , , , .
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I am so totally pumped about baptizing kids at our church tonight!

I will have the privileged of baptizing over 20 kids (possibly more if we have some walk-ins who have completed their baptism packets). Best of all, I will get to baptize my daughter tonight!

I believe baptism is an important step int the life of a new believer – even kids:

  1. It is commanded by Jesus in the scriptures.
  2. It helps to seal that relationship with Christ – thereby building the faith of the person being baptized.
  3. It’s an outward picture that helps to build the faith of the congregation watching.
  4. It may be the link to their consistent church attendance.
  5. It helps the leadership and attenders know that there are good things happening in the Kingdom of God.

Have more reasons?

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If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Doing Well If It’s Worth Doing At All

Posted by Jamie Doyle on October 27, 2011
Posted in: Excellence, Leadership, Quality, Vision. Tagged: , , , , .
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A very wise man in ministry recently told me this in regard to a conference we were both at.

How does this relate to what you do in KidMin:

  • Do you show up with half a lesson ready? Then, start prepping earlier in the week… or better yet – earlier in the month.
  • Do you show up with a “it’s just a few kids” attitude?  Then, see each child as an individual, spiritual being who has a destiny that you get to help shape.
  • Do you have old posters hanging in classrooms that have nothing to do with that unit of curriculum anymore? Then, throw them out and put the new ones up.
  • Do you have cluttered classrooms and environments? Then, have a clean-up day and get your teachers involved.
  • Do you have major repairs that are needed that would be obvious to a first-time visitor? If you don’t know, get a neighbor to walk thru your building and give you some feedback.
  • Do you have outdated curriculum rendering your storage/resource closets irrelevant because someone said, we should save this… just in case?  “Just in case” has come and gone my friend – buy a box of Hefty’s and get to work.
  • Do you use certain teaching methods that you like more then the kids actually like? Then stop and have some help evaluating how you teach kids – this is not about you.
  • Do you deliberately hold off on moving forward on the dream and vision God has given you for KidMin because of a lack of money? Then do the leg-work and communicate the vision so you give God and avenue to get you the resources to move forward.

Please do whatever you can to make these changes (and others)…
Because if KidMin is worth doing, it’s worth doing well if it’s worth doing at all.

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Broaden Your Ability & Minister to More Kids

Posted by Jamie Doyle on October 13, 2011
Posted in: Excellence, Leadership, Training. Tagged: , , , .
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I cannot begin to describe to you the feeling I get when I can help influence someone else. And then I got to thinking that we all have the ability to influence others in our ministries. We can actually make an impact on someone else’s ministry to children! You may never know all of the amazing lives that have been changed because you, encouraged, invested or resourced another KidMin Leader.  Here are a few initiatives to consider:

  • Encourage someone to pursue their ideas – help them with ideas that will get them to at least start taking steps toward their dream.
  • Take someone out to lunch and get them talking – sometimes when people are able to externalize their internal ideas, it charges them up to actually go and do it!
  • Invest tangible resources. Learn to pick up on clues of what someone else really needs to start a project, a new program or ministry within the current structure. Do you have the resource(s) that would equip that ministry that you could part with?
  • Invest Finances – when it’s appropriate… In other words: when it’s a reputable ministry that has already done some respectable things and there is a way to give to that person, ministry or organization… invest.  I shouldn’t have to give you a reason.
  • Listen to that newbie in KidMin or the KidMin at the smaller church.  There may be a great idea they are already implementing at their own church that you could/should be using.  Ask their permission to use their ideas.  There’s no better feeling when the “perceived veteran” wants to use your ideas.
  • Give gifts. Remember, it’s not just the gift but how it’s presented. Some people will see those mementos and be reminded that someone out there is pulling for them.
  • Make a phone call just to check up on someone and find out what you can do to help them or at least pray with them.  I have had an unstructured, unadvertised mentoring/coaching program for years by just doing that.  Want me to coach mentor you? Then e-mail me so we can trade phone numbers or skype names.
  • Network others together for their sake as well as yours.  Some of the newbies may not be as connected as you in your community. Get a few of you together for coffee or lunch and watch the relational stuff happen.

By making these small deposits into someone else, you broaden your ability to make an impact on more people.  One day you will share in the reward of the people you’ve made an investment in.  Remember, the Word says that the share or reward of the man who stays with the supplies is to be the same as the man who leaves to go to battle.

Be Blessed!

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