Team Chemistry

Last month I had the pleasure of working with Melinda Lanham for the first time in a leadership role. Melinda and her husband have come to be good friends of ours. I had asked Melinda if she would be interested in being our Odyssey of the Arts Coordinator, her job description: Do everything that I do, Make sure the camp is a success, Work well with me. Well that isn't the exact job description but it is practically what the job is. I felt that Melinda would be a good duplicate of me, she's detail oriented, gets things done, and knows how to think on her feet. I knew her heart for the camp and passion for kids.

What I didn't know was if we could work together and still be friends after the dust settled. I'm happy to report that we are in fact still friends and I' would work with Melinda on any project she was a part of, except gardening. So when I got this in my email box it reminded me of my thoughts and fears of working with a close friend and the chemistry that's needed for successful leadership. The whole article can be found here. Here's how I handled the three issues with Melinda.

1. Intentionally ponder how people will change the chemistry of a team....From working with and knowing Melinda I believed that she would be an energizer for me and the other staff. There were several occasions when I saw Melinda encourage and energize the staff.

2. If possible, provide time together with the team and individual before inviting a potential team member to join ....Melinda has been a volunteer in our Children's Ministry for several months, I watched her express humility, courage, and respect while serving others. I have also spent a significant amount of time with her family and have seen her interact with those who are closest to her. One of the most important characteristics I look for in potential leaders or teams members is their willingness to be a servant. If you won't serve, even as a leader, then your effectiveness is significantly hampered.

3. After a person has joined the team for a while (1 to 3 months), talk to team members individually and together to see how things have changed....I ask about everyone, especially those who I think might be leaders or teachers or people that can take on more responsibilities. I don't like unhappy surprises, that's why we always give people "outs" if they don't like where they are serving.

Odyssey Evaluations

I love, hate, get excited and nervous about evaluations.

Like most everyone else in the world I don't really like being told what I'm doing wrong. I also really like being able to make things better. Evaluations, if done right, won't tell you what you are doing wrong as much as what you can improve on. Actually they will also tell you what you are or have done wrong, but most of the time I already know what I did wrong because it blew up in my face or in someone else's face. Most often evaluations tell me what I can do differently, better, or give me a different point of view.

At the end of the Odyssey of the Arts we sent out evaluation forms to all the families that attended and all the Pod Leaders and Ast. Pod Leaders; Pod Leaders and Ast. are small group leaders at the camp. So, when I came back from vacation I found a stack of evaluations that had come in while I was gone. I started browsing through them when one of them caught my eye.

It was from a parent who didn't want to identify themselves or their child, they listed just the gender and the age. On our evaluations we use a combination of short answer questions and some number ranking questions. The number rankings give us some tangible data to compile and the short answers give us some context to that data. On the front of the form this parent gave some opinions on what could be done differently next year which I appreciated. On the back some affirming words were shared about the camp. Then at the bottom we have a section titled "Other Comments". Here's what this parent wrote, "My son didn't think he was learning much about God, but has increased his awareness of how God is interconnected with all areas...Way to go with teaching in a way he was able to comprehend and use immediately!"

When I read this I was floored!! It was evidence that what we struck out to do was accomplished. This is exactly what we set out to do. With this child we hit the bullseye!! If we didn't send out evaluations then I wouldn't have ever heard this comment. I want to say thanks to the parent who wrote this, I don't know who you are but you made my whole month with that comment.

2 Days after Odyssey

Odyssey is done and in the can...so to speak. It was a great year with more than 80 kids coming every night. I can honestly telly you that I am "fried" and will be gone for a little while recuperating. But here's the video that we showed to day during the church service.

Odyssey Day 1

What's your magic number? Today mine is 84, that's how many kids we had at the first night of Odyssey. There are 5-6 more that I expect to attend tomorrow which should push us over the 90 mark, doubling our attendance of last year.

Other magic numbers...

12 -- the number of volunteers we had making sure the registration and electronic check in went well, in fact it almost went flawless. Just an issue with our database, which is completely out of our hands and I'll have to call the tech support tomorrow.

20 -- the number of Pod Leaders and Assistants that are needed. They are the backbone of the relational aspect of the camp.

8 -- the number of people who aren't pod leaders, snack volunteers, or registration workers.

25 -- the number of large pizza's that were consumed.

Numbers aren't everything!!

What a great night. It was amazing watching the kids building relationship with their pod leaders and assistants. "Mad Dog" Sarah did a great job leading the music and Marty was great at leading the "Odyssey Basketball". There were a couple of trying moments but at the end of the night tons more awesome things than less than awesome things. Watch for videos to show up over the next couple of days.

Odyssey is Coming

It's now just over a week away...I can't wait...It's going to be so exciting...Must get back to work...

Odyssey of the Arts -- over 30 days away

I can't wait for Odyssey this year!! I had a chance to share the vision of the Odyssey of the Arts with a few people at the Conspire Conference, sharing the vision really energized me.

Here's a video of last years camp.



Here's last years promo video.

Day 3 Session 6 – Don’t Eat the Glue – Phil Vischer

Day 3 Session 6 – Don’t Eat the Glue – Phil Vischer -- GET THIS SESSION!!

• Jelly Telly – online Christian TV Network
  
• Check out the video from this session.
  
• Phil told his story of what God has been doing in his life and how God has redirected him towards God’s presence. Phil shared about how he searched the Apostles Paul writings for understanding of his (Phil) and his (Paul) life.
  
• He discovered that the truth of scripture leads us to let go of our own desires/life/heart and instead form our lives around God’s desire/heart/life.
  
• We are called to give up our burdens and replace them with God’s burdens.
  
• God’s burdens are heavy, but they bring life, energy, and rest.
  
• Are you carrying God’s burdens, or yours, or your Sr. Pastor, or your parents, or your volunteers, or your kids, or your family, or your dog?
  
• “God used my disaster to act as feed corn to grow what is happening now.”
  
• Our personal burdens that are hanging around our necks are the burdens that prevent us from serving God to our greatest capacity. We need to let God take those burdens and cast them into the abyss. What are your burdens?
  
• We can do things that Nickelodeon and Disney can’t do….WE CAN LOVE THEM!!
  
• Children will come back to those who have loved them not those who have entertained them.
  
• Your job doesn’t start with a job description, a ministry mission, or a love for kids…it starts with the love of God for YOU!
  
  
  
  

Day 3 -- Session 5 "Notes From You're Best Friend" David Staal

Day 3 Session 5 – Notes from Your Best Friend – David Staal

• One word: INSPIRATION. This is what David’s session was all about. Having God speak to your in the silence and relying on God for Him to do the work.
  
• ’07-08 Promiseland theme “What If”, Ephesians 3:20-21 “IMMEASURABLE MORE”
  
• “Goodness came into the world despite me.” -- has God ever done things in your ministry despite you?
  
• “…according to his power that is “WITH IN US” -- is your “with in us” prepared to do what God asks?
  
• 2 Cornerstones to Build Your Ministry On:
  1. Nehemiah 1:4 “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept”. Nehemiah “OWNED A BURDEN” – that burden broke him, leading him to weep, allow yourself to be weighted down and broken down by your burden. There are plenty of burdens to choose from in Children’s Ministry (child safety, parents relations, child salvation, parent salvation, volunteer equipping & encouragement). What is your burden? What burden is God asking you to take up? Owning a burden will make you step up, act, be open and usable by God, and mobilized to share the gospel. Tune in to the burdens that your volunteers have and you will have capacities that you never knew you had.
  2. John 13:34-35, 15: 12, 17 “LOVE ONE ANOTHER” – Jesus mentioned it 5 times in a short time. Don’t let people go through life alone. It’s easy to love those who you get along with, but how are you loving those you don’t get along with? Loving one another draws people into the church. Loving one another is critical to sharing the gospel. Get this concept correct before you try the newest and greatest programs/strategies. Love the people you lead, so that when your leadership comes up less than stellar they will cut you some slack because of the love you have in your heart and for them.
  
• Salvation Sundays include parents to give the salvation message to their kids. Parents had an opportunity to share the salvation message from a card and discussion questions to talk about.
  
  
  
  
  

Conspire Day 2 -- Family Ministry Strategy For a Medium Sized Church

I don't think any title has been more fake than the title of this breakout session, well maybe titling Milli Vanilli as an artist is worst. BUT IT WAS AN AWESOME SESSION!!! I don't even care that they didn't even utter the words "Medium Sized Church".

This Breakout session was lead by Pat Cimo, Dave Huber, & Holly Laurent; the three staff members that make up the Family Ministry of Willow Creek Community Church. As I mentioned above the session wasn't really specific to medium sized churches, but I think most churches that would be in the position to implement the the strategy they talked about would be medium sized churches. The notes were pretty basic and a lot of the discussion came out of hungry audience members who wanted to figure out how to be more successful with Family Ministry.

However here are the notes on the Willow website, just click on "C86 Family Ministry Strategy for a Medium-Size Church".

Here are some of the points that I noted:
Willow's Philosophical Model Journey

1. Supplemental Method: Sending take home sheets with parents in the hope that they will interact with their children. Pitfall -- the papers don't necessarily make it home or get used
2. Program Method: The Family Experience program where the parents and the kids have a shared experience. Pitfall-- it's isolated to the Children's Ministry
3. Structure Method: The ministry's report to one person who works to sync them together. Pitfalls: There is only one voice represented
4. Integration Method: All ministries have shared language, shared mission, and it's all shared at home, with the goal of using what is taught at home in authentic and real-world ways. In this method the Teaching Pastors are telling parents to ask their kids and the kids are being told to ask their parents. Leadership buy in is essential for success and the content and values come from the theology of the church.

Then they went through and put some Willow Flesh on their 3 year journey

• FX -- Was their Family Experience (Program Method) for parents and K-5 grade kids. FX was based around the adult service content that ran every week for a month after the Saturday service (7pm) and between the 1st and 2nd service on Sunday. The Pitfalls: it was another event (event driven ministry), placed at the wrong time of the week (if service went long on Sunday time was cut, so a 30 minute program became a 13 minute program), and people were not using the DVD resources that they sent home with them.
• The Story -- Zondervan bible titled "The Story" was used to go through the Old Testament from Jan-June (a children's version is in production and will be released soon). Resources, including a shortened version of the teaching for the whole family can be found on the willow website here and click on the . This resource can be used by families or churches, they stated that more than 400 homes are utilizing this resource every week. They combined the FX lessons with the Integration Method.
• Celebration of Hope -- Church wide compassion project, including a Feed The Children Event. Created the "Jo Jo's suitcase" resource and handed out to everyone who came to bag food.

All in all it was a good session with a lot of already tried, failed, and improvised examples to share. If the session is offered as a CD resource it would be worth purchasing.