Nick Blevins Family Ministry Podcast: Children | Youth | Students | NextGen

In this episode, I talk with Corey Ray Jones about productivity and effective planning. Corey is the Lead Children's Pastor at Southern Hills Christian Church in Carrollton, Georgia. We walk through what a typical week looks like for him and he shares specific things he does to maximize his time and effectiveness.

Corey Ray Jones

Connect with Corey on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Email: [email protected]

CoreyRayJones.com

Southern Hills Christian Church

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Weekly Staff Report – One of the resources in Jim Wideman's Evaluation Toolbox with principles for effective planning that help you identify key strategies, evaluate the previous week, and prioritize leadership development

High Impact Leader – Check out Carey Nieuwhof's online course designed to help you get time, energy, and priorities working in your favor

KidMinNation.com – KidMin Nation is a year-round Children's Ministry Conference that is all about helping you navigate your ministry into the future

Corey's Week At a Glance

1. Sunday: Serve at morning services and plan for the rest of the week
2. Monday: Attend All Staff, lead Children's Meeting, do lunch, start biggest priority/project for week, work on volunteer appreciation, and prep for Sunday
3. Tuesday: Start another big project, have lunch with a volunteer, finish project, and look at running to-do list
4. Wednesday: Hang out with staff team, finish 1 of the 3 big projects, plan events/curriculum, and serve at Wednesday night church
5. Thursday: Evaluate Wednesday night, prep message for next Wednesday, have lunch with a volunteer or staff, spend time on vision and big picture ministry stuff, clean desk, and print out Weekly Staff Report for coming week
6. Friday: Spend the morning at a coffee shop and do social media, write blogs, and connect with other ministry leaders. Eat lunch with my wife and have date night in the evening.

Corey's Personal Development

1. Spend time with God
2. Spend time with spouse and/or family
3. Take care of physical needs
4. Listen to podcasts in the morning
5. Read blogs during lunch and books in the evening
6. Watch 1-2 webinars weekly
7. Meet with coach or mentor on a monthly basis

Action Items

1. Check out the Weekly Staff Report and identify how you will plan your week
2. Commit to pursue effective planning and evaluate each week for 1 month
3. Get Carey Nieuwhof's High Impact Leader and start working through the course
4. Check out

In this episode, I talk with Jeff Cochran of YMLead. Jeff and I talk about leadership development and the system his team uses to develop ministry leaders. He sharethe different components of their plan and how they move people from one level to the next. These principles apply across the board in Children’s and Student Ministry.

Jeff Cochran

Connect with Jeff on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Email: [email protected]

YMLead.com | YM Lead Twitter | YMLead Instagram

Faith Promise Church

Links Mentioned in This Episode

#Goals – Download your free copy of the eBook here

Training Videos – Check out the teaching the team at Faith Promise uses as they train, onboard, and develop ministry leaders

• Week 1: Intro Video
• Week 2: Volunteer Manual
• Week 3: Apprenticeship 
• Week 4: Counseling Book

New Volunteer Checklist – A sheet for tracking where a volunteer is in the assimilation process

New Volunteer Application – The application prospective volunteers are given

Volunteer Assimilation Manual – Detailed outline of the volunteer assimilation process used at Faith Promise

Volunteer Training Manual – The manual prospective volunteers are given that describes the mission, vision, and values of the ministry, along with roles, responsibilities, and details about all the moving parts of the ministry

Counseling Booklet – How to lead a student to Christ, answer tough questions, and handle crises

Apprentice Training with Answers – What the apprenticeship program looks like and why it's important

Coaches' Checklist – A list of weekly responsibilities and best practices for coaches

Leaders' Checklist – A list of weekly responsibilities and best practices for leaders

Apprenticeship Model

1. I do, you watch, we talk
2. I do, you help, we talk
3. You do, I help, we talk
4. You do, I watch, we talk

Action Items

1. Do

In this episode, I talk with Orange 252 Basics Large Group Director, Daniel Scott. Dan and I talk about the power of story. We look at how it’s used in the Bible and how we can best leverage that when teaching the Bible story to the kids and students in our ministries. Dan also walks through how to train, develop, and evaluate the leaders who are telling God’s story to your kids and students.

Daniel Scott

Connect with Dan on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

DanScottBlog.com

Orange

Last Chance to Share Your Staffing & Volunteer Ratios

This is the last week of the survey I’m running to see what other church's staffing and volunteer ratios look like, and I’d love your input. As motivation, I’m giving away 25 prizes worth almost $2,500.

Click here to see the post and complete the survey

Links Mentioned in This Episode

252 Basics – The curriculum and resources provided by Orange for elementary environments

Storyteller Interview Questions – Specifics on what to ask and how to interview potential communicators

Storyteller Evaluation – Thoughts on how to evaluate your communicators and what questions you should be asking as you watch them interact with the audience

5 Questions for Storytellers to Ask – The five questions storytellers should ask themselves as they prepare teaching the Bible Story

Communicating for a Change (book) – Andy Stanley offers seven keys to irresistible communication and talks about the power of leveraging transitions

Teaching the Bible Story: Tips for Communicators

1. Know your audience
2. Know how other people are communicating to your kids (Ex: Watch Disney Channel). Ask: What can I leverage from what they do well to communicate better?
3. Memorize your script so that you can make eye contact
4. Don't try to memorize word-for-word. Know where you're going and where the arc of the story is headed.
5. Prepare your audience's brain for the next thing and utilize transitions

Teaching the Bible Story: Tips for Training Communicators

1. Bring all of your communicators together
2. Share one useful pointer or best practice
3. Play improv. games and do workshops
4. Teach them about voice, movement, and taking notes
5. Connect them with other communicators and have them share best practices with each other

Action Items

1. Cast the vision that your communicators are a competing narrative against everything else their audience listens to or watches
2. Consider hosting a training where communicators can learn together. Give them Dan'

In this episode, I talk with Dale Hudson. Dale is a well-known children’s ministry leader, author, and pioneer. We talk about Dale’s latest book that he co-authored with Bruce Barry & Justyn Smith entitled If Disney Ran Your Children’s Ministry. Whether you lead children’s ministry, youth ministry, or both, the principles apply across the board.

Dale Hudson

Connect with Dale on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Email: [email protected]

RelevantChildrensMinistry.com

Share Your Staffing & Volunteer Ratios

I’m running a survey of church leaders to see what their staffing and volunteer ratios are like and I’d love your input. I’m also giving away 25 prizes worth almost $2,500 as motivation.

Click here to see the post and complete the survey

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Christ Fellowship Church – A multi-site, multi-ethnic congregation in South Florida that's all about helping people draw closer to God

If Disney Ran Your Children's Ministry (book) – Dale Hudson, Bruce Barry, and Justyn Smith share ten keys from Disney's success that will help you build the ministry you've always dreamed about

“5 Things You're Saying to Guest Families That You Shouldn't Say” (blogpost) – Check out Dale's post for five key phrases you should not be using with guest families

Volunteer Onboarding Process at Christ Fellowship Church

1. Family Ministry staff attend final week of members' class and follow up with people who express interest in serving
2. Potential volunteers fill out applications
3. Conduct personal interviews
4. Run background checks
5. Invite them to a volunteer orientation
6. Hand-off to individual areas for specific training

Action Items

1. Get If Disney Ran Your Children's Ministry and walk through each of the ten key points
2. Be intentional about getting stories and sharing them with your team
3. Begin the practice of a pre-service huddle or circle up. Be intentional about that time and plan the teaching that will occur–some motivational, spiritual, and practical.

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In this episode, I talk with Jeff Reed of Lifeway Kids. We talk about the changing emphasis in children's ministry over the last couple decades and the growing interest in gospel-centered approaches. We also talk about Lifeway's most popular children's curriculum, The Gospel Project.

Jeff Reed

Connect with Jeff on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Email: [email protected]

The Church at Spring Hill

Share Your Staffing & Volunteer Ratios

I'm running a survey of church leaders to see what their staffing and volunteer ratios are like and I'd love your input. I'm also giving away 25 prizes worth almost $2,500 as motivation.

Click here to see the post and complete the survey

Links Mentioned in This Episode

LifeWay Kids – Great #kidmin resources, supplies, music, and more from the LifeWay store

The Gospel Project – Small group and large group curriculum that walks through Scripture chronologically, telling every story in the context of the Good News about Jesus

Included in the Gospel Project:

• 3-year teaching plan
• Preschool and elementary curriculum small group and large group curriculum
• Large group curriculum includes Bible story videos, scripts for live storytelling, worship songs with videos, and graphics
• Gospel Project for Kids Family App
• Parent handouts with activities and questions
• Social media plan
• Free weekly online training for upcoming lesson

Etch Conference – A new conference designed to excite, engage, and inspire Kids, Student, NextGen, and Family Ministry teams. Click here to register for the 2017 conference.

Action Items

1. Spend time evaluating your current curriculum and exploring other options. Look for curriculum that unpacks the Bible in a practical way that kids can understand.
2. Consider structuring your children's environment around small groups where leaders sit in circles with kids.
3. Recruit leaders and ask them to be that second voice in a kid's life while partnering with parents.
4. Develop a training process where you teach your leaders how to practically lead kids in conversation from week to week.
5. Check out the Gospel Project and invest in the different resources it has to offer (curriculum, worship, training videos).

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In this episode, I talk with Anthony Prince of Ministry Architects. We talk about what healthy benchmarks are for staffing, volunteers, and budgets in children's and youth ministry.

Anthony Prince

Connect with Anthony on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Newhope Church

Share Your Staffing & Volunteer Ratios

I'm running a survey of church leaders to see what their staffing and volunteer ratios are like and I'd love your input. I'm also giving away 25 prizes worth almost $2,500 as motivation.

Click here to see the post and complete the survey

Links Mentioned in This Episode

MinistryArchitects.com – A consulting firm that helps churches create systems for sustainability

Sustainable Youth Ministry (book) – Mark DeVries shares the main reasons most youth ministries fail and points leaders to questions and structures that will help them thrive

Staff and Volunteer Ratios

1. 1 full-time staff equivalent for every 75 kids
2. 1 full-time staff equivalent for every 50 students
3. 1 (present) volunteer for every 5 kids and students

Percentage of Kids

1. Kids should make up 15% of your church
2. If you are under 10%, your church is probably dying
3. After 25%, the ministry is unsustainable

Percentage of Students

1. Students should make up 10% of your church
2. If you are under 5%, your church is probably dying
3. After 20%, the ministry is unsustainable

Budget Benchmarks

1. A sustainable budget is based on $1000 per kid/student
2. Budgets include staffing dollars and program dollars

Pay The Rent

1. Numbers: Are you at 10% students and 15% kids?
2. Programs: Do the families in your church know what programs are offered?
3. Enthusiasm: If the people who work in your ministry were asked to describe it, would they use positive or negative terms?

Action Items

1. Have a conversation with your leadership and identify how many families you want to be able to care for.
2. Determine what your current staff, volunteer, and budget ratios are. Begin building your volunteer base, then hire staff, and then make budget requests.
3. Ask: What systems are broken? Pick one and commit to fixing it.
4. Walk through the steps of “paying the rent.”
5. Reach out to Anthony and consider connecting your church with Ministry Architects.

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In this episode, I interview Tom Shefchunas. Tom is the Multi Campus Middle School Director at North Point Ministries in Atlanta, GA. We talk about introducing the role of a volunteer coach and finding the right people to invite into that level of leadership. He also shares how he determines what to measure in ministry and how he leverages statistics to discern how to make his ministry better.

Tom Shefchunas

Connect with Tom on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

North Point Ministries

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Lead Small – Reggie Joiner and Tom Shefchunas talk about the small group model and the five things every small group leader needs to know as they invest in kids or students

Orange Tour – A smaller version of this past year's Orange Conference. The Orange Team travels to cities all over the country, offering main sessions and breakouts for church leaders and volunteers.

Orange Conference – Every year, Orange hosts a conference where church leaders and volunteers come from all over to celebrate, share ideas, and learn how to do ministry better.

Action Items

1. Consider adding the coach role to your ministry
2. Lay out a structure that would be ideal for your ministry. Then begin inviting the right people into that level of leadership.
3. Define “active role” for your ministry
4. Regularly compile a list of kids or students who have stopped attending and encourage leaders to reach out to them
5. Look at statistics that reflect the struggles those in your ministry are facing and ask yourself how you can create an environment where they feel comfortable talking about those struggles

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To make sure you never miss a post, hit the subscribe button in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or Tune In radio. Keep your friends and co-workers up-to-date as well by sharing it with them via email or social media.

Leave a rating and a comment in iTunes to let me know how this podcast is helping you and your ministry. Also, let me know how we can make it better!

Next Episode: Anthony Prince

In the next episode, I interview Anthony Prince. Anthony is the Family Ministries Pastor at Newhope Church in Durham, North Carolina. He also works with an organization called Ministry Architects. We talk about how they work together to help churches determine appropriate staff ratios, volunteer ratios, and budget benchmarks. I'll also be sharing an announcement about a resource coming soon to help you figure out where y

In this episode, I interview Heidi Hensley. Heidi is the Children’s Pastor at Bayside Church in California. We talk about tough topics leaders encounter and how to practically approach difficult conversations and situations all across family ministry.

Heidi Hensley

Connect with Heidi on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

HeidiMHensley.com

Bayside Church

Notes From This Episode

Bayside Church First Time Family Gift – Look for this in the first time family gift resource coming soon on my blog.

Firing a Volunteer: Having the Conversation

These conversations are best to have face-to-face and should take a month at minimum.

1. Identify that someone has an issue
2. Have a conversation with them
3. Monitor the situation and see if anything improves
4. Train them and invest in them
5. Move seats on the bus–see if another position would fit their gift set better
6. Talk with them and reassess the situation. Ask: Should I connect you to another ministry? At this point, it is reassessing to dismiss.
7. Give it two more weeks, and then have another conversation. Either affirm that things have improved or ask them to step down.

Controversial Topics: Having the Conversation

Consider having a code of conduct that anyone serving in a ministry signs. This code of conduct can essentially say that volunteers understand they are held to a higher standard, and that they will not pursue certain lifestyles while serving.

1. Say that you need to take some time and have other conversations
2. Know what your church believes and their doctrine
3. Know how to articulate the beliefs of your church
4. Prepare yourself for conversations by talking with other church leadership
5. Have a script in your head when you go back to the person, and always leave room for grace to work

Action Items

1. Think through your new family follow-up process. Remember to consider the adult follow-up system already in place in your church.
2. Have the conversation to make things right.

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To make sure you never miss a post, hit the subscribe button in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or Tune In radio. Keep your friends and co-workers up-to-date as well by sharing it with them via email or social media.

Leave a rating and a comment in iTunes to let me know how this podcast is helping you and your ministry. Also, let me know how we can make it better!

Next Episode: Tom Shefchunas

In the next episode, I interview Tom Shefchunas. Tom is the Multi Campus Middle School Director at North Point Ministries

In the this episode, I interview Kenny Conley about the role of the NextGen/Family Pastor. Kenny clarifies what a NextGen/Family Pastor does and we talk about how he brought his children and student staff together as one, unified team.

Kenny Conley

Connect with Kenny on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

ChildrensMinistryOnline.com

MISSION Church

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Orange – Orange is an organization that believes maximum impact happens when the church and parents partner together to help the next generation know God

Lead Small (book) – Reggie Joiner and Tom Shefchunas talk about the small group model and the five things every small group leader needs to know as they invest in kids or students

ReThink Your Staffing Strategy – Kenny Conley talks about what it looks like to staff based on leadership and vision instead of specific ministry experience

Action ItemsIf You Do Not Have a Next Gen Model:

1. Have a conversation with your church leadership and the different family ministers in your church about what a unified strategy and team would look like
2. Explore the option of having your ministries work together and how that would impact the vision and strategy of your church
3. Meet with other family pastors and children or student pastors to learn from them

If You Do Have a Next Gen Model:

1. Consider changing your staffing to make it more based on strengths and gifts instead of specific age groups
2. Check out ChildrensMinistryOnline.com
3. Have conversations about branding your church as a Next Gen church and branding your environments individually

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To make sure you never miss a post, hit the subscribe button in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or Tune In radio. Keep your friends and co-workers up-to-date as well by sharing it with them via email or social media.

Leave a rating and a comment in iTunes to let me know how this podcast is helping you and your ministry. Also, let me know how we can make it better!

Next Episode: Heidi Hensley

In the next episode, I interview Heidi Hensley. Heidi is the Children's Pastor at Bayside Church in California. We talk all about tough topics for leaders, and how to practically approach difficult conversations and situations all across family ministry.

In this episode, I interview Terrace Crawford, a veteran of youth ministry with tons of wisdom to offer. We talk about the importance of helping students serve and unpack what that can look like in our churches.

Terrace Crawford

Connect with Terrace on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

TerraceCrawford.com

This Week in Youth Ministry Podcast

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Going Social: A Practical Guide on Social Media for Church Leaders (book) – Terrace's book offers insight on meeting people where they are and gives step-by-step instructions on how to launch and leverage various platforms of social media

Experience Mission – A great organization that helps students serve in the community

Action Items

1. Be intentional about taking care of yourself
2. Get Going Social and have some conversations about how your church or ministry can leverage social media to grow community
3. Identify clear roles and needs and then provide clear paths for students to serve
4. Connect with other ministries and advocate for students serving
5. Consider setting up time parameters and seasons for serving positions
6. Partner with organizations to help students serve in the community

Subscribe | Share | Rate | Comment

To make sure you never miss a post, hit the subscribe button in iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or Tune In radio. Keep your friends and co-workers up-to-date as well by sharing it with them via email or social media.

Leave a rating and a comment in iTunes to let me know how this podcast is helping you and your ministry. Also, let me know how we can make it better!

Next Episode: Kenny Conley

In the next episode, I interview Kenny Conley. Kenny and I talk about the role of the NextGen/Family Pastor. We talk about how he brought his children and student staff together as one, unified team. Kenny walks through how that took place and he clarifies what a NextGen/Family Pastor does.