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Guest Blog by Eric Geiger: Idols

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We live in an idol driven culture. Idolatry came with the entrance of sin. In fact, Martin Luther said, “Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry.” If this is true, and I believe it is, this should forever change how we look at sin. Recently, at Lifeway’s Employee Chapel I had the privilege to talk about four root idols.

Christian leaders Tim Keller, David Powlison, and Dick Keyes have written much more extensively and eloquently on the idols beneath the surface, but here is a snapshot of four root idols that drive our behavior:

  • Power: a longing for influence or recognition
  • Control: a longing to have everything go according to my plan
  • Comfort: a longing for pleasure
  • Approval: a longing to be accepted or desired

Which of these idols resonates with you? Mentally walk through a day as a kids minister. Inevitably, you struggle with these four idols yourself, and you will work with kids and volunteers who struggle with these idols too. It is a universal human experience that we must learn to address and for which we need to seek repentance.

I do not repent of my idolatry by looking at myself in the mirror and telling myself I can displace it with my own energy, might, or goodness. I repent by remembering the Great God who is above all gods. We can repent of our longing for:

  • Power by submitting to His greater power within me [Ephesians 5:18]
  • Control by surrendering to His ultimate control [Ecclesiastes 3:12-14]
  • Comfort by remembering He is the greater comfort [II Corinthians 1:3-4]
  • Approval by rejoicing in His gracious approval [Galatians 3:13; Numbers 6:24-26]

I hope this challenges you personally and in your ministry. I encourage you to teach your kids what it means to struggle with these root idols. They too can learn to practice repentance from idols by focusing on the worthiness of God.

About the Guest Blogger:

Eric Geiger received his doctorate in leadership and church ministry from Southern Seminary. He is also a teaching pastor and a frequent speaker and consultant on church mission and strategy. Eric has authored or co-authored several books including the best selling church leadership book, Simple Church.

Eric is married to Kaye, and they have two daughters: Eden and Evie. During his free time, Eric enjoys dating his wife, playing with his daughters, and shooting basketball.

Youth Development: Scaffolding

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Dr. Crompton started my last collegiate semester by telling me I was the producer of my own education. How much was he being paid for me to teach myself? Of course, what he said was 100% true. Dr. Crompton helped me learn my education was on me. I chose to study, I chose to work hard, I chose to come to class, I chose to learn, or I didn’t.

Dr. Crompton’s posture is what the youth development community calls scaffolding. Educators, for example, will give their students just as much support as he or she needs to equip their students to learn. You teach them the formula, you show them problem solving techniques, and you diagram a sentence with them. Students then may choose to solve the problem or write persuasively.

Just as scaffolding is built around a structure to help construction, so too, youth developers work to support youth in their development. Scaffolding is built, knowing it will not be there forever. Children ministry workers, parents, and the aunts and uncles in our world your goal is to support. The youth we love succeed when we accept our role as their support and not as their producer. Dr. Crompton was right, I needed him to guide me and not to provide me the answer.

As a youth development principle this has to be transferrable to a discussion in your kids ministry. Start with these ideas.

  • Pray for your kids’ growth and spiritual development. Simply said, our God does the growth, you do not. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7)
  • Focus on the process. Instead of saying our kids do not know enough scripture, ask yourself how can I help our kids learn scripture.
  • Foster mentor relationships. Scaffolding works best in one-on-one scenarios. Mentors can understand individual youth and tailor support to the youth’s specific needs.
  • Ask kids what they want. Youth voice is paramount. Scaffolding means you give the kids ownership of their growth, which is impossible without listening.
  • Learn from a scaffolding rockstar. You know someone who great at this. Learn from what they do. Ask this rockstar to help you help your kids.

Special thanks to Dr. Crompton, Odis Luper, Wade Graves, Scotty Voight, Dr. Edwards, Derek Sutt, David and Beth Spindle, and countless others who could fill this page as my scaffolding rockstars.

Valentine’s Day Games

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Hearts, cupid, pink, and purple is not my thing. However, I can get excited about games and celebrating love. Kids need to know we love them. Some of your kids may not receive love at their home, so use this holiday to show you love them and even more so God loves them. Here are some Valentine’s Day games to help you accomplish your mission.

Verse Relay
Cut out gigantic Sweet Hearts and write one word of a verse you are learning on each Sweet Heart. Have all the Sweet Hearts in a big brown bag and one at a time kids will have to run down grab a Sweet Heart with a word and tag the next person in line. Once all the Sweet Hearts are retrieved the teams will have to put the Sweet Hearts in order to win.

Shapes
Separate your kids into teams of 7-10 and tell them shapes to make with their bodies. The group to make the shapes fastest each round will win. Shapes could include: hearts, balloons, cross, circle, bow, etc.

Keep Cupid Up
Take a Ominkin Ball (if you do not have one of these in your kids ministry, you should) and challenge the kids in your group to keep The Omnikin in the air. The Omnikin is Cupid! Each time you hit Cupid in the air you get one point. How many points can you get?

Don’t Forget

Take it the extra mile. Having fun and playing games is good and all, but you want heart transformation. Take the time to debrief one or all the games with your kids. For example when we played Keep Cupid Up we did a really great job. However, at some point we dropped Cupid. In Psalm 136: 1-3 we learn that God’s love never fails or gives up on us. We will mess up all the time, but He never fails to deliver His promises. He loves us.

Stimulating Creativity

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How much creativity are you required to bring to your job everyday? Whatever your job is I would encourage everyone to think outside the box and bring creativity to your life. However, when you decide you need creativity you automatically put yourself in a box. Stimulating creativity is tough. I have felt the tension and I am sure you have as well. Here are some techniques to change your normal workflow. In several of my techniques I use an example of a church evaluating their kids ministry.

1. Gather the right people
Being creative on your own has its place, but often times it is beneficial and simply more fun to collaborate with others. Notice I said the right people. Bring together the right team to help you push through a project or problem. I am thankful to work with super skilled folks at Lifeway Kids, who serve as excellent co-collaborators. Find those people in your life especially at your work and ask them to help you tackle something.

IMG_48492. Generate Ideas
My favorite technique for generating ideas, especially with a group of people is the Post-It method. However you can have people just call out their ideas and you write them down for everyone to see. The whole purpose of this activity is to gather all the ideas. At this point no idea is too crazy and everything can be considered. In my example of the evaluation of the kids ministry area I used green Post Its to write things that were Good to Go and pink Post Its to write things for imProving.

3. Create Borders
Here you are defining both sides of the equation. For example some people create borders by creating pro and con lists. Or maybe you are talking about the culture of your kids ministry and you talk about what is in and what is outside the context of your culture. Borders can assist you in generating ideas and honing in on selecting ideas.

4. Sketching and Model MakingIMG_4850
I love using my white board for work. It helps me think while I draw out relationships. Here are two hypothetical sketches above. Remember sketch means loosely drawn, so it does not take an artist to sketch or make a model, clearly. First I made an improvement timeline. I took the pink stickies and placed them on a loose timeline from January to December. This way I can show when I want to work on these projects in relation to big moments in kids ministry like VBS and camp in the summer. The other one is really a sketch. It can be used in a meeting to discuss what the arrows have to be for us to get our goal of more volunteers. The arrows are the action steps.

IMG_48475. Metaphoric Structure
This is one of my favorites to do with almost anything. Metaphoric structure is where you take something and liken it to something entirely different. Take your kids ministry for example, what if it were a restaurant. Who would be the chef, who are your guests, what is on your menu, and what kind of restaurant do you own? Similarly intriguing what if your kids ministry was an airplane, what about a toy trunk, or a profession. These metaphoric structures help you revisit what is familiar to you in a completely different way. It creates a narrative, which helps you tell the story of your kids ministry as though you don’t know what is about to happen.

Here you find 5 tools for your toolbox. At the end of the day, just get creative. Solving problems is fun. Have fun with your work and play a little. It could be the catalyst your ministry needs.

Appreciating Volunteers

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Discussing appreciating volunteers is like discussing spiritual growth. Yes, I can say I am growing spiritually, but of course there is room for improvement. To be effective in your appreciate of others you need to be a lifetime learner of people and processes. Lance Howerton is one leader I try to follow in his ability to show appreciation to others. One of the first lessons Lance taught me was a quote from Howard Schwartz, owner of Starbucks, “catch someone doing something right.” This resonated with me and has sent me on a journey to learn more about appreciating others. Below are some of the thoughts I have considered.

Here are some thoughts from How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie.

  • “The expression one wears on one’s face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one’s back.” Simply said, just smile. Often times we get involved in elaborate schemes to demonstrate our appreciate of folks, which is perfectly fine. However we should never compromise a friendly demeanor.
  • “Firestone said, ‘I have never found that pay and pay alone would either bring together or hold good people. I think it was the game itself.” Here Carnegie is speaking of giving your volunteers a challenge. You show you value them by raising your expectations and demonstrating your trust in them.
  • “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise” Going overboard with your appreciation does not fit in a box. It doesn’t require gifts or long letters, but it is important to communicate your appreciation with no corners cut.

Lance pointed me to Lee Cockerell’s book, Creating Magic. What amazing about Cockerell’s his book is strategic to grow Disney was to show appreciation to his partners, or in Disney’s language his cast members. Chapter 5 of Creating Magic is about making people your brand. I encourage you to read this book for a fresh and inspiring philosophy on adding value to others.

If you are looking to have specific action steps and need some help with thoughts on how to implement a plan. Check out this blog post on 10 ways to appreciate your volunteers and 3 ways to make your volunteers feel like a million bucks. When reflecting on my leadership journey I always want to evaluate how I show my appreciate to others. I hope you take a moment this day or week to see where you can grow in this area of your leadership.