When you hear the words “Volunteer Recruitment” what does it do to you? Do you get chills down your spine? Does the hair stand up on the back of your neck? Do you get sick to your stomach? Out of all the great things we get to do in children’s ministry, recruiting volunteers is the most dreaded part. It doesn’t matter if the ministry is large or small, we all face the same hurdle: Finding enough people to run it successfully.

Having had the opportunity to oversee tons of vacation Bible schools, special programs, weekly ministries, and camps as well as hundreds of children per service, let me urge you to try network recruiting. This is getting your volunteers to recruit other volunteers who’ll recruit others, etc.

When looking for leaders to help recruit for your ministry, make sure these people have good skills in relating to others. Find people who are good at making friends, because most people will start with their friends when they recruit. This will also build relational ties in your children’s ministry teams, so your volunteers will feel connected to one another.

Make volunteer recruitment fun! When something is fun, everyone wants to be involved.

To read the rest of this click on over to Kidology Zones and look for the title of this blog post.

It is mothers day 2012 coming up this weekend. I found a Mark Lowry video that I thought was funny and worth the share.

Enjoy.

Here on Monday I am taking a look back at some of the more popular post that had more readership than other here on the site. If you missed any of these I will link to them again.

Enjoy the reading.

1. Needed communication in children’s ministry Part 2
Here is where I am sharing groups that those of us who lead children’s ministry need to make sure we are covering with great communication.

2. The need for communication in children’s ministry.
What a surprise that this is part one of the earlier post on communicating with the various groups of people that we as children’s pastors communicate with.

3. Value or non-value added ministry efforts
I was challenged to think through what things I do everyday, every week, and every month that are truly adding value to the ministry He has called me to here at my church. The results stung more than I expected them to. Beware, this is a bare all confession.

4. Effective Meetings Can Happen
To turn your meetings into a time that is EFFECTIVE, I share some ideas to create an environment where participants can bring their strengths and ideas to the table to make meetings effective.

5. My daily tools used to stay mobile prt 1 and My daily mobile tools part 2
The title on these pretty much tell you what the post are about. It is funny as I read over these two post that were written not even 3 months ago, how much has changed with my mobile tools already. Technology sure does move quick.

I enjoyed this quick video and as he mentions in the video: “I wish someone would have shared this with me”.. So, that is what I want to do, is share it with you.

Now go and create tons of work to close that gap.

In this video that I ran across in YouTube Mark does a great job of explaining the reason it is important to spend not just quality time but quantity time as well.

After viewing this video, what about making the commitment to start today.

I was offered the great opportunity to read a book and review it. The book is called The Eric Trap: 5 Things Every Leader Has to Get Right.

The Eric Trap, a book written as a collaborative effort by Jim Wideman, Sam Luce & Kenny Conley, is told as a fable, which is the one thing that I was most hesitant about before I began reading this book. I cannot read fiction as it drives me nuts. Before I picked up the book, I was nervous this would happen again. However, within the first 5 minutes of reading the book, I was totally lost in it and traveling down memory lane of my first year or so in children’s ministry.

In the Eric Trap book, the reader goes through a week in the life of Eric Newman, Children’s Pastor at New Hope Community Church. Eric is your typical kids’ pastor (if there is such a thing) and he’s a character I quickly related to. As Eric faces the typical challenges those of us in ministry face each week (disgruntled volunteers, painful meetings, time gaps away from family, etc), it’s easy to see a little bit of ourselves in his thoughts and reactions.

Numerous people have already submitted their reviews of this book, so I asked myself quite simply: “What can I add?” Here are some items that stuck out to me that would have been very beneficial to have known much earlier in my journey. I truly hope these help you and/or create a desire in you to get this book.

Nuggets:
“It’s not your ministry; it’s an extension of the ministries offered by your local church.”

“The end never justify the means. In all that we do, we must build our ministry to children in a way that aligns with and reflects the vision of the house.”

“We must never forget that a parent at the helm of spiritual development will always trump the church at the helm.”

“Your family is the best indication of your success in life and ministry.”

“No change can be sustained without a change of behavior that comes from the heart.”

“Ministry is just like a bank account:it has to make spiritual deposits first.”

This is only a brief look into the items I picked out from a well written and fun, but at times seemed painful, book. Enjoy the book and feel free to come back here to tell me what nuggets stood out to you.

Today in our kids school is “Take your child to work day”. I am so excited for this day as my son has chosen that he wants to go with me (I am a children’s pastor) and my daughter will go with my wife (she is a stay at home mom).

I must admit that I try and stay up the night before to put together this great agenda for my son and I as we will live the life of a children’s pastor together. The night before nothing really comes to me so I figure it is because I am tired and just need to go to sleep, so off to bed I go. The next morning I start again to try and put together this agenda for the two of us for the day and nothing really comes to me still. I see a ton of stuff that needs to be done but nothing that the two of us can do.

What is going on? I ask myself this several times. I try and create work that we can both share but then I realize I need to then take that piece back from who I delegated it in the first place. With frustration building I decide we will just head into the office and I am sure something will come to me. Wrong! Nothing else really comes to me. As I pull up into the church parking lot I see our head maintenance guy and he is going after some supplies so I ask if he would like someone to accompany him? Off goes my son to help him pick u some supplies, and off I run to get alone in prayer to get straightened up.

Finally it hits me as I am in prayer – I am living close to my 20% of only what I can do which will produce 80% of our results here in the children’s ministry and have developed people to take the other 80%. That is a fantastic realization. So now when my son gets back I am going to live out part of my 20% personally that only I can do and that is to be a dad to my son. We may spend some time today networking with other local children’s pastors so I can show off what a great son I have been blessed with.

My days are getting better as I do get closer to living just my 20%. If you will ask yourself what is it that is just your 20% of what is expected of you to do and make a list of what it is, then move towards that. You will also see a jump in productivity.

Here are some very sad stats that effect so many kids and their families. If you are leading a ministry to kids and their families can you justify any longer not having a Policy and Procedure manual that will also cover some of these harder type topics?

Potential topics could include:
- Proper touch, hugs, sitting on laps etc.
- Rules on ratios and no one alone with kids
- Bathroom breaks and how they are handled
- Transportation and it should be handled
- Home visitations or guidelines for going to kids school events
- Social networking, emailing, writing cards etc to kids

Here you go, check these scary stats out and then see if you think of other vital policies to come up with to protect your church, the families in your ministries and your volunteers.

- One in five U.S. teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the web. Solicitations were defined as requests to engage in sexual activities or sexual talk, or to give personal sexual information. (Crimes Against Children Research Center)

- 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. (eMarketer)

- Only approximately 25% of children who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent or adult. (Crimes Against Children Research Center)

- One in 33 youth received an aggressive sexual solicitation in the past year. This means a predator asked a young person to meet somewhere, called a young person on the phone, and/or sent the young person correspondence, money, or gifts through the U.S. Postal Service. (Your Internet Safety Survey)

- “There are 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and an estimated 100,000 of them are missing. They’re supposed to be registered, but we don’t know where they are and we don’t know where they are living. (Ernie Allen, President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

- 1 in 5 violent offenders serving time in a state prison reported having victimized a child. (BJS Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991.)

- Convicted rapists report that two-thirds of their victims were under 18 and 58% of those said their victims were age 12 or under. (SexOffender.com)

- 90% of the rapes of children under 12 years old, the offender knew the victim. (SexOffender.com)

I wrote yesterday about the importance of a strong finish at the close of your day will facilitate a confident, clear mindset for a successful next day. In there I talked about my “mind dumping” habit, turning items into S.M.A.R.T.E.R. actionable items, and for me, this is where I also settle what the first thing I will take on in the morning. The item that falls in my top 20% of what only I can do but will result in 80% of a return for me. If you want you can read the first post on a productive day starts the night before.

Now it is the next day and time to put into effect the prep from the night before. When you first wake up, don’t jump out of bed. Set your alarm a few minutes before you really need to get up. Spend the first few minutes of your waking day – while still in bed – reviewing these questions:

1. What am I excited about today? The greater the positive impact that your planned actions and goals will have on your life, the more motivated you are to get them accomplished.

2. What is my biggest priority (this is that 20/80 question),

3. What will I do about it (S.M.A.R.T.E.R.)?

4. How will I know today was a success? (This last question is critical! It’s impossible to hit a mark we’ve never set.

Now go ahead and jump out of bed spend your time filling up your well. What do I mean by that? Grab a cup of coffee, spend time reading something inspiring, read your Bible, talk with God. Don’t jump straight into your inbox or calendar until you have filled your well and accomplished your pre-determined night before Pareto task.

While many spend their days in uncertainty, trying to determine the right course of action in their work and life, having a simple ritual like the one I have laid out here allows us to reach a place of clarity about our expectations, our hopes, and our tactical plans.

How do you start your day? Do you get up and fumble for the coffee? Walk around wondering what all you have to do for the day? Read a little here and a little there? Play on your phone but call it work?

I get several emails and children’s pastors asking me all the time, “How do you get so much done?” Today I will put into writing what I have shared with so many of you and my Kidology Coaching students. Maybe others will find it helpful for themselves as well.

I find for myself that the way I start my day determines the level of productivity I will experience for that day. This learned fact for myself is the drive behind my “night before prep”. At the close of each day right before I go to bed I spend time mind dumping (I write down every thought that comes to mind and sort through it all later. Sorting it later helps me to not have to slow down and stop the flow of thoughts that fill the pages of my moleskine).

Once this mind dumping is done I will then look over the calendar for the next day to see what is on my agenda. I will begin to set up a few items if needed, like, if I have some phone calls to make I will gather their numbers and little memos for myself on what I want to accomplish during the calls. If I have meetings to attend I will zip quick little emails out reminding those who are scheduled to be in attendance any agenda items they need to be ready to go over during our time together. After this prep time, I will then go through one more mind dumping time to catch all lingering thoughts that may have crept in. There is a scheduled day that I have each week to go through all of these mind dumping thoughts and do something with them. They will either go under a tab titled “silly”, “potential”, or they convert into S.M.A.R.T.E.R actionable items.

Strong finishes at the close of your day will facilitate a confident, clear mindset for a successful next day. Check back to see how I start my days for a successful productive day after this night before prep.