A repost: Because of March Madness

I wrote this blog entry four years ago (wow, I'm getting old), but thought I would repost it because of the start of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.  Also, because I am a HUGE Ohio State fan!!
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I realize I may be going out on a limb talking about basketball (given that most of you who volunteer in CM are probably don't care much about sports), but this is worth reading. We are coming into Championship weekend of the NCAA Tournament for 2007 and, in case you did not realize it, my Ohio State Buckeyes are still in it. (By the way....where is Michigan this year?) :) The real reason I am posting about this is not necessarily about baskeball...read this:

When UCLA’s legendary basketball coach John Wooden introduced the fast break to college basketball, his team committed the highest number of turnovers and fouls in memory. But Wooden knew “mistakes were part of learning.” He expected them, and he knew that “every opportunity for failure was equally an opportunity for success.” Wooden’s teams went on to perfect the fast-break offense, and today it is used by nearly every team in the nation. His teams went on to win ten national collegiate championships in twelve years, one of the most remarkable team achievements in all of sports history. ( If It Ain’t Broke, Break It! pgs. 193-194.)

There is much that God can do through you as you allow Him to show you what could happen. I am convinced God has great things in store for you and the Children's Ministry of "The Woods" if we will release it to Him. Mistakes may be made along the way, but God will be in control.

So...do you have any thoughts or insights. I want you guys to be comfortable commenting on here. Remember you can do it anonymously, so do not fear! 

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Go Bux!!!  O-H ...

Faith @ Home

Parents and Church Leaders, this is a GREAT SITE to check out if you are interested in getting for information about how to disciple children in the home.  Mark Holmen was the Senior Pastor at Ventura Missionary Church until he left to pursue full-time missionary work in the Faith @ Home movement.

Again, with details coming shortly, Mark will be coming May 1st and 2nd to present a Faith @ Home workshop.  Saturday the seminar will be for Church leaders (Pastors, Directors, Lay Leaders).  On Sunday evening, from 5-7 PM, Mark and a representative from Focus on the Family will be presenting a workshop for parents of ALL ages who desire to continue, start or ramp up their discipleship of their kids at home.  Children's Ministry and Childcare WILL be provided - they will even get to eat!!!!

Saturday Venue Live

Check out this video of the new Series for Saturday Venue Live Kids - TransFormed.  The program comes from High Voltage Kids Ministry.

Saturday Venue is also looking for a few volunteers to assist in either the Pre-school or Elementary areas.  There are opportunities to work on teaching, singing and leading kids with the Elementary group under my direction.  I will personally train you to develop the skills necessary to become a dynamic kid's presenter.

Let me know if you are interested!!!

Family Ministry - Part 5 (Last One)

As I look at the lay of the land in Children’s Ministry, there are a lot of churches in America today debating whether or not to start some type of Family Ministry program. Well, if I may be as so bold as to put this question to rest: YES YOU SHOULD! Parents are struggling in the face of a culture that tells many of them they have made wrong decisions having kids, going to church, or choosing at all to teach about God. They need to know they are doing some things right.

Parents also need to know that the church will help give them ideas, resources, and a place to connect with other parents. It is my belief that this should all be part of a family ministry program that crosses the silos we typically see in ministry. But if that is not an option, start somewhere. I personally recommend doing some Take-It-Home Events or Key Age events. Check out the Faith at Home books by Mark Holman.

Even more churches have started Family Worship events bringing kids and parents together in a kid friendly worship environment. That is also a good place to start, but should not stop there. Why? I think, and this may hurt a little bit, that it continues to perpetuate the idea that the families need to come to church to connect to God. What happens at home is far more important for faith building then what takes place in the church. The church cannot, and should never have, taken the primary responsibility for the discipleship of children. For more thoughts on this issue, read Family Driven Faith by Dr. Voddie Baucham.

If we want to have kids that do not leave the church after high school, let’s focus our efforts on having kids follow the Great Commandment: to Love God with everything they are!

Dean

Connect the Dots - Part 4

We’ve been on a journey looking at how to connect the dots from Sunday to Sunday to bring about spiritual formation and the discipleship of children. We have discussed the issue IF we should try and connect with kids throughout the week and listed some ideas on how to make that happen.

Let’s be honest, Children’s Directors are NEVER short of work to be done! What we need to then focus on is how we maximize our resources and efforts to bring accomplish discipleship of children. What is the most and/or least effective?

One of the strongest messages of God’s Word is that parents are responsible for the spiritual formation of children. But if we believe that, why do we continue to set-up programs that do not include them? We should be focusing on events that bring kids and parents together. The weekend Christian Education programming will always be there, but what about special events and family ministry ideas?

I think we should also be striving to do everything we can to encourage and equip parents with the tools necessary to help them raise Godly disciples in their children. Parents are berated all day long (often from themselves) how they don’t measure up; we should take every chance we get to encourage and empower them with this clear message:

God chose THEM to raise their children! There is no one else He would rather do it. There is no one else that can do it and He will give them the ability to make it happen.

Those are key areas we should focus on as we seek to partner with parents to keep kids connected to the Vine.

Dean Butterfield

Connect the Dots - Part 3

How can we reach the kids throughout the week? Before we ask that question, perhaps we should again deal with IF we should…

Check out this video:

If left up to only 1 hour a week to instill Godly values and spiritual formation into our kids, it won't happen. If we hope to have kids stay connected to God after they enter and leave high school, parents must take up the mantel of spiritual training their children in the home. As church leaders, we can help reinforce those lessons by being a 2^nd voice for Christ as kids encounter the world around them. “Two voices teaching the same truth.”

So…yes we should, assuming we have the goal of making lifelong disciples of Christ out of our kids! So then, how?

Well, with technology (and even some of the “old-fashioned” methods) there are numerous ways for teachers to connect with their kids and their parents throughout the week. You could:

¨ Send an e-card on birthdays or special holidays to their parent’s email.

¨ Send a postcard to the kids when they missed a week or two.

¨ Send a text message to their cell phone (obviously only some kids have these) with any number of potential messages.

¨ Create a monthly email newsletter that you can send to the parents.

¨ Create a fun kid’s website for kids to go to. There is even a curriculum (www.mygrapple.com) that includes access to a password protected website for kids and the teachers to connect with.

¨ Get on Facebook and connect with their parents. Technically, kids under 16 are not allowed to have Facebook profiles, but some do anyway.

There are many more ways to connect the dots from Sunday to Sunday, but I am running out of room on the internet…

What are some thoughts you have on how to connect with the home throughout the week?

Dean

Summer Fun in Port Huron

In case you are interested, you can check out this brochure from the City's Parks & Recreation Department about what is happening this summer.  Lot of free activities (I know how much we love free!!!) or low cost activities.

Speaking of summer, this year we are doing some special Wednesday night activities starting June 10th.  There will be more information coming in the form of a flyer, but here is a quick run down:

• June 10th   SkatePort2 Skating
  
• June 17th   Sanborn Park Swimming
  
• June 24th   Goodells Park & Splash Pad
  
• July 1st    Glacier Pointe Ice Skating
  
• July 8th   Pioneer Days @ CWMC
  
• July 15th Parade Night (Anchor Children's Ministry will have a float you could be part of if interested.)
  
• July 22nd Vacation Bible School
• July 29th Nothing (Whew!  We actually get a break!)
• August 5th Brown City Family Camp
• August 12th Brown City Family Camp
• August 19th Children's Ministry Equip Night
• August 26th Movie Night @ CWMC
• Sept. 2nd Back to School Bash

WOW!!!!  Will that ever keep you busy, I thought summer was supposed to slow down???  Not in Children's Ministry.

Also, keep in mind 

• June 22-26 Happy Time Children's Camp  for completed 3rd to 6th Graders.
• July 10 Cruise Night on the front lawn of CWMC
• July 19-22 Vacation Bible School 
• July 23 Family Night on the Black River & 10th   
• July 30 - Aug. 9th Brown City Family Camp

Get ready for a great summer.

Questions for Dean

I was contacted recently by a Children's Ministry volunteer in British Columbia, Canada about "interviewing" me for a Seminary project he his completing.  As I was typing the questions, I thought these would make some good blog posts to give you a climpse of what Colonial Woods is all about as well as the future vision of children's & family ministry hear.  Here are the first 3 questions and answers.  Enjoy!

1.  How long have you been with this church and what is the name of your position?

(found out that some people call themselves different than what is posted on the website)
I have been at Colonial Woods since January, 2007 after relocating from Longmont, Colorado.  My official title is Director of Children's Ministry.  I am working on my licensing currently and will hopefully have that by the end of this year.

2. How would you describe the state of Children’s and Family Ministry (CFM) when you first started at this church, what changes have been made so far, and where do you hope to see it?

I inherited a ministry that had been run primarily by "doers" (the person I replaced retired after about 15 years as the D of CM) as compared to leaders.  There was and still are elements that the D of CM is responsible to make sure everything happens (finding subs was a big issue).  I have been able to slowly turn this tide into showing people that their service to the kids is not "for me" but for the Kingdom out of their commitment to God. 

 

Also, when I came things were very traditional in just about every ministry setting - both services on Sunday, Sunday night, & Wednesday night.  Every room had one teacher and one helper (if they were lucky) teaching a traditional minded curriculum.  What I was able to do was slowly turn this tide and broaden into using some large group/small group stuff (Elevate during 2nd Service Elementary and 2:52 Basics on Wednesday night) as well as started an Elementary large group program on Saturday nights (which was a new service time added after I came).

 

Where I hope to go is to set up a volunteer coordinator or director in various spots to help oversee the growing numbers of kids and volunteers.  I would like to make a "business model" that has coordinators in charge of Sunday Pre-school, Sunday Elementary (1 for each of the 2 services), Sunday PM Pioneer Club (which I already have), a room coordinator for each room (who may also serve double duty as the teacher of one of the services), Wed PM Coordinator, etc.

 

Eventually I hope to move into a role of Family Pastor overseeing CM and youth ministry along with providing opportuniteis for parents to grow in passing their faith to their children at home.

3. You had mentioned a growing family ministry program.  Can you describe what that is and how it came to be?

Family Journey in Faith is our name for this FM that aims at partnering the church and parents together to bring about the spiritual formation of children.  We conduct 9 Take-It Home events throughout the year (Sept - June) where we bring children of a specific age/grade together with their parents and teach on a given topic.  I can send you a grid of what topics we cover for which grades if you would like.  It is  a program that initially started before I came, but that I took over leadership once I came on board (mainly b/c this is a passion area for me).  It is fashioned somewhat after Mark Holman's idea of "Faith-at-Home" from his books (which you can find info about online).

 

Our leadership had Mark Holman come and do a weekend event at our church before I came which was the impetus to starting FJIF.  I oversee a team of 5 other people (6 total with me) in which we share responsibilities to organize, conduct and teach the take-it-home events.

How to Connect the Dots...Part 2

At our last Equip meeting we talked about how to connect the space from Sunday to Sunday by connecting with the kids and families throughout the week.  There was some great insight and discussion brought up that I thought I would share with the rest of the world.  Here are the starting points:

• On average, we have 1 hour each week with the kids to make an eternal impact.
• If that is all the kids receive each week, God becomes ONE thing they DO rather than THE central part of their life.
• A child's faith is AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE developed in the home.

With that understanding, our first question becomes:

"If our desire as children's ministers is to see kids become fully, committed disciples of Christ, and that will ONLY happen if parents are doing things in the home, how can we make in roads into the families?"

Here are a few insights our volunteers had:

1. Provide easy ways for parents to know what their child/children learned that service (take home papers, craft projects, etc).
2. Mail a postcard to the kids (KIDS LOVE GETTING MAIL)  or parents during the week to remind them of what they learned.
3. Send an MP3 audio file via email to parents about what was covered and how to continue that learning throughout the week.
4. Meet & Greet your parents when they come to drop off or pick up there kids.  There is no substitute for the personal connection!
5. Continue our Family Journey In Faith ministry to inspire, encourage and equip parents to intentionally disciple their kids in the home.   (If your church does not have a ministry like this, I highly recommend starting one.  Email or comment if you have any questions.)

Those were the highlights.  Do you have other ideas to better the partnership between the home and the church?  Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Dean

Some Resources for Teachers

Howdy all you phenom Children's Ministry Volunteers and Leaders!  Here is a link for you to gather up some Free resources from Children's Ministry Magazine:

http://www.childrensministry.com/memoclip/

It has 10 free resources on things from connecting with parents to Leding the way God Made You.

Peace, Dean

Interested in ramping up your Children's ministry skills?

I ran across this site that has some college level, ready-made children's ministry trainings free and available for any and all to see. They look like a great opportunity to enhance your already amazing CM skills as you seek to make a difference in the lives and families of kids. Check them out HERE.

They have one on Creative Pre-school Story Tellling, Creavtive Children's Sermons, learning about ADHD and Learning Disabilities, and more. They are offered by Children's Ministries University Online thorugh Valley Forge Christian College and looked like they might be valuable for Children's ministry volunteers.

For those who attend CW, let me know if you take the time to listen and watch one; perhaps I can pass along a little gift.

God Bless, Dean

Anchor CM Equip Meeting

Are you interested in knowing what is happening in the lives of our kids? Do you wonder what is the best way we can encourage and teach kids to become disciples of Christ? Then our next Equip meeting is just for you!

It is coming up this Sunday, January 18th at 6 PM @ Colonial Woods. We will be looking into current trends and isseus related to culture, technology, families, kids and of course children's and family ministry.

Of course, as always, we have a great meal that you won't want to miss!

See you then.

Equip Meeting

This coming Sunday evening will be another opportunity for Children's Ministry volunteers to come together and share food, share laughs and learn a little bit about the Power within you. I have chosen the theme of the show "Heroes" on NBC. I love this show!!! It has some amazing parallels in the life of a Christian.

As always, I will provide some food and your kiddos are welcome to attend the Pioneer Club Olympic Night. See you at 6:00 PM in the Fireside rooms.

Dean

What are you doing on April 28th?

I will have the priviledge of traveling to Atlanta, GA to attend a Children's Ministry conference called The Orange Conference. The is the 2nd annual conference put together by a great group of Children's Ministry workers (The reThink Group) and leaders from across the country. My hope is to attend this conference to get new idea and renewed vision for future ministry at Colonial Woods.

If you would like to check out a video from last year's conference, you can do so by clicking HERE. I will also try and come home with some goodies to give away at our future Equip meetings.

Dean

Finishing Well

Our next Equip meeting is scheduled for this coming Sunday night, March 30th at 6:00 PM. We will be discussing the topic of Finishing Well. Basically, every year there are thousands of Christian pastors, leaders and teachers that end up bowing out of ministry for one reason or another. Most of them we never hear about, but some we do (Ted Haggard, Jim Baker, Jerry Fallwell, etc.). In fact, the Bible is riddled with all kinds of examples of people who do not finish well (Solomon, Samson, Judas, etc.).

So what does that have to do with Children's Ministry. Well, you can come to our Equip meeting on March 30th and find out!

...OK, I'll put it here too...

What kind of Children's Ministry volunteer will you be? Will you bow out because you don't have the energy? Have you been staying connected to the Vine (John 15)? Finishing Well is not about what is done at the end of your life, but is about what you are doing NOW! It is about living a Christ-centered life here and now.

So how do you accomplish that? Check out this article that I will use in my presentation. Of course, it is not that cut and dry, but these are some great insights in starting today to end up finishing well.

Dean

Equip Meeting

In case you were not aware, or in case you forgot, there is another equip meeting this coming Sunday, February 24th at 6:00 at the Church. We will be talking about issues of filling the spaces of time we all have at various times AND some ways to handle transitions. Check out the opening video here:

If you can make it, you should definitly come - I promise you will enjoy it!

It has been a while!

Well, we made it through the crazy time of the Holidays! It has been over a month since I last posted anything (or even signed in for that matter). But, it is time to get back on track! First up is a reminder of our equip meeting this coming Sunday evening @ 6:00 PM. We will be meeting in the Fireside Room at CWMC.

We will be talking a little about "The Power of a Praying Child," but it also has a lot of carry over into other areas as well. As always, come hungry and expecting great things. Hope to see you there!

Also, since it is a new year - are there particular topics you would like to discuss as part of our blogging experience? Post a comment and let me know!

God Bless, Dean

Come One, Come All!

On November 10th there is an amazing one-day seminar coming to Troy, MI for help you further your passion and abilities in your ministry to kids and families. Children's Ministry Magazine Live will be a great time-out for you to further your investment in the lives of kids as you seek to impact them with the love of Christ.

It will be an all-day Saturday event (we will meet at the church at 7:00 AM if you wish to carpool) will be free of charge to you and include lunch. It will be located at Woodside Bible Church in Troy, MI in case you just want to meet us there. If you would like to attend, please contact Julie Weber in the church office by email or phone (810-984-5571) no later than Monday, October 22nd.

Dean

All Kinds of Events...

In case you were not aware, there are numerous events happening this month that you should be aware of -

• October 14th - Equip Training for ALL Children's Ministry volunteers.
• October 20th - Clothing Giveaway for the people of Port Huron. (We need a few volunteers for the children's programming we are providing.)
• October 27th - Make A Difference Day. Check out for information about it here.
• October 31st - Trunk or Treat.

I blogged about the last three events at the Family Journey in Faith blog for you to check out. Also, I will be going to school once again from October 21st through November 2nd (I will only miss one Sunday, the 28th).

If you have not already done so, make room on your calender for the October 14th Equip, "Who is my Neighbor and What do I do with Them?" We will have fun, food and fellowship. What more could you want?

God Bless, Dean

Birage of Information

OK, here it comes...the mother load of information. OK, that may be a little bit of an over statement, but hopefully it got your attention.

Family Journey In Faith
There will be another Family Journey in Faith event coming on September 30th. In the 1st Service we will be meeting with 2nd Graders and their parents teaching about how to become Mission minded within their family. In the 2nd Service we will be meeting with the 3rd graders and their parents to look at the importance of reading the Bible and doing devotions. Be sure to look for information in the mail and in church announcments about this great event.

Equip
We will be having our next Equip meeting on October 14th at 6-7 PM in the Carpenter Rooms (note this is a change from last year). We will primarily be using this time to re-connect with each other since the summer and also review any needed information about the coming ministry year.

Vacation
Woo-hoo. My family and I will be on vacation from September 14th through 22nd. We will be in town some of the time, but will also be making a trip to AuSable Institute near Mancelon, MI for a cabin getaway. Lori is of course excited about also getting to to to Mackinaw Bridge and Island.

Along the same lines, I have one more time of going away for school to Bethel Seminary coming up from October 21st through November 2nd. This will be the last time to be gone before I graduate next May with my Master's. I CANNOT WAIT!

Distant Horizon
Coming up also in October is the Annual Clothing Giveaway and Trunk-or-Treat. This year we will be combining these events with the national Make A Difference Day. There will be more information coming up about these events in the futre.

His, Dean