Archives For preteen ministry

Space for Prayer in Preteen Ministry

February 6, 2013 — 1 Comment

communication conversation bubbles Fotolia 25716163 Subscription XXL e1360129437429 Space for Prayer in Preteen MinistryWe recently started spending time each week thinking through the creative elements for our preteen ministry. (I really want to share more about that process later.) Our worship and planning had basically been an afterthought until now.  Our worship leader is very gifted, and he’s been like a spring rain for me in a dry creative time. After just a few meetings, I already feel like our preteen ministry has become more effective and definitely more creative.

Next week, we’re launching a series on prayer. One thing that came out in the creative planning was that we really wanted to create space for preteens to pray. As we’re talking about what prayer is and how Jesus taught us to pray, it’s important that preteens have space to practice.

Our series artwork has based on a collage of conversation bubbles. Our series point is that prayer is a communication between us and God. As we thought about how to make space for preteens to practice prayer, here are the ideas we’ve come up with:

  • Create a Prayer Time at the end of teaching time for Week 1.
  • During the Prayer Time, each preteen receives a personal size conversation bubble to write or draw their prayers.
  • The “conversation bubbles” will be collected in small group and used to create a large wall mural between Week 1 and Week 2. The “conversation bubbles” will be “collaged” together to form a large conversation bubble on the focal wall of our preteen space.
  • Week 2 will begin with a Prayer Time for preteens and Small Group Leaders. Personal size conversation bubbles will be available to record prayers. They can then be placed on the collage at the focal wall
  • All worship lyrics and Scripture slides will be presented in conversation bubbles on screen to illustrate that these elements are also part of the communication between us and God.

I’m really excited to see preteens using this space for prayer. We want prayer to become an integral part of our preteen ministry, so we plan to keep the theme of conversation bubbles going even after the series.

Here are my questions for you:

1) What is your process for planning the creative elements in your ministry?

2) How do you create space specifically for prayer with your preteens? If you’re a parent of preteens, what has helped them feel comfortable communicating with God through prayer?

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4 Books That Helped Me in Ministry

November 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

books e1352138287136 4 Books That Helped Me in Ministry

7 Practices of Effective Ministry

Strategy. I was handed this book when I was just a part-time intern during college, but I have kept at least two copies in my office ever since. I’m always passing 7 Practices of Effective Ministry on to other ministry leaders! This book is all about strategy—why we do what we do. It has helped me to be intentional in ministry and keep focused on the end goal.

Holy Discontent

Passion. I don’t remember where I picked up this book, but I’ll never forget reading it. Holy Discontent gives some great examples of how God ignites a passion in our hearts that will not go away. It is that issue or cause that keeps you awake at night and calls you into the fight. Hybels labels it our “holy discontent.” The insights of this book have helped me discern God’s call on my life and challenged me to pursue that passion with everything.

Next Generation Leader/Making Vision Stick

Leadership. These two books are made to be read together. Next Generation Leader gives a great blueprint for strong leadership. The tips given in this book are designed to develop a long-lasting leader. Reading this book on leadership with Making Vision Stick really has helped me to survive in ministry and navigate through tough changes.

Let the Nations Be Glad

Perspective. I love John Piper and his zeal for Christ. Let the Nations Be Glad provides a great perspective for any Christian, but especially those in vocational ministry. The book can be summed up from Piper’s quote of the Westminster Confession of Faith: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Even when ministry gets hard and distracting, it is great to know and understand that God created me to glorify and enjoy Him!

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BombBomb.com & Preteen Ministry

October 23, 2012 — 4 Comments

BombBomb Logo Sta BombBomb.com & Preteen Ministry

We’ve started using a new company to help with our communication to parents of preteens. It is so stinkin’ cool that I wanted to share it!

BombBomb.com is an email marketing platform that allows you to juice up your emails with the power of video. You can embed HD video, linked documents, text, etc. into the email template. BombBomb will optimize your video for all platforms: desktop, mobile, tablet, etc. This means your video looks its best on whatever device the recipient uses to view it.

Here is the best part for those of us in ministry:

1) It integrates with several church database systems, including Church Community Builder (CCB), FellowshipOne, AccesACS, and ICON systems.

We were sending out parent emails to almost 400 unique addresses that were already saved in Fellowship One. I did not want to have to enter each of those contacts again, and I didn’t have to with BombBomb. They have a really simple integration that allows you to sync your database groups with the email template. It literally took me 2 minutes to transfer the 400 contacts!

2) BombBomb gives you tracking analytics on EVERYTHING!

Here is a snapshot of the Analytics page:

Screen Shot 2012 10 23 at 10.48.32 AM e1351015166773 BombBomb.com & Preteen Ministry

When you send a traditional email, it’s really hard to know if it’s opened or if the attached documents are ever downloaded. With BombBomb, you can see all of that information. They tell you how many emails were delivered vs. bounced to spam. They tell you how many emails were opened, how many clicks were made on each specific link, how many plays of the embedded video, and how many downloads of attached documents.

In ministry, it’s really hard to gauge success and failures. This data really has helped us to see what’s working and what is not. One thing we quickly realized was that our parents were very likely to watch the video (60%), but few downloaded to attached document (7%). If we want to communicate important info, we now know that it needs to be in the video!

If you’re looking for creative ways to communicate with volunteers or parents, you should definitely check out BombBomb.com. They will create custom email templates for your ministry, and their monthly service fee starts at only $29/month.

Here is how we used BombBomb to communicate our series content with our parents:
(Thanks to Jim Kast-Keat for the “Fifty6 in :56″ idea!)

Fifty6 in :56

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How will texting change preteen ministry?

October 16, 2012 — 5 Comments

Teen Text closeup 500 How will texting change preteen ministry?

Next time you’re sitting in a public place, count the number of people who are using their phones to text. I bet you lose count!

Texting is quickly becoming the #1 form of communication. Good or bad (that’s a topic for another day), it is the truth. This is especially true among preteens. In early 2008, Pew Research Center found that 51% of 12-year olds had cell phones. I can only imagine that this number has increased in the last 4 years.

According to research cited by Common Sense Media, texting is the #2 use for all cell phones behind checking the time! The research also shows that preteens (age 9 to 12) send and average of 1,146 texts per month. That’s more than 37 texts per day!

Texting is changing the way preteens communicate with one another. Should it change the way we communicate with preteens?

Here’s the question that I’ve been mulling over for the last few weeks:

Can text messaging be used constructively in preteen ministry?

I’m interested in hearing from those that have used text messaging in student ministry and/or preteen ministry. I have some concerns about using text messages with 9 to 12 year olds, but I can see value in being able to communicate things like weekly devotions, small group questions, updates about service projects or events, etc.

What do you think? Is text messaging beneficial to preteen ministry or is it a slippery slope that should be avoided?

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