Well, It finally happened this morning at 10:00 AM. I was back in my element after an 12 month break. Kids Church! Yeah, I live for children’s church. A Friend of mine invited me to come to his church and fill-in for his children’s church while he filled the main service pulpit. All this week, I did some stuff that I haven’t ventured into for a time, but it felt great. Preparing PowerPoint, writing the lesson, gathering the props, packing all the stuff… and then this morning – the set up , greeting the kids, kicking it off with a big start and a fun service was the end result.

I have been accepting bookings at churches for the next few weeks as a way to make an entry back into the world of children’s ministry. (I will post on my website a speaking schedule page as well so you can keep up with where God has me going). As I said, I love children’s church – it’s my favorite way to pastor kids (after all to pastor means to shepherd – and to shepherd means to feed and care for the flock) so, I fed a group of kids the Word this morning.

It occured to me that, for the first time in 12 years, I am available to minister at other churches on Sundays! For the past 12 years, I have been on staff somewhere and just couldn’t justify being away (even when my pastor said I could have several Sundays a year for outside ministry). The only times that I missed a Sunday for ministry was in the event of a mission’s trip. Yep, this is a shameless plug. If you’re interested in having me at your church for a Sunday, e-mail me and let me know.

In the midst of all of the above, we are also in the process of looking for a great church in which to fill the children’s pastor’s position – We haven’t found it yet, but actively and aggressively looking (yeah, my resume – take a look) – I am, so pumped about that!

I had the rare opportunity to have lunch with Reggie Joyner. If you don’t know who this guy is then check out his website. He was on staff with Andy Stanley at NorthPoint Church in the greater Atlanta area. Reggie is the guy who has started to change the way we as children’s ministers think. I asked him this question: “What do you think the future of the typical children’s ministry will look like?” His response was along these lines:

The future of the the typical children’s ministry will need to change. Ministry to Babies all the way to highschoolers will need to become more integrated and get on the same page. Parents need to become integrated into that same plan so we are all working together.

What a wonderful thought. When was the last time you met with your youth pastor to go over goal and vision together? When was the last time you called a meeting with parents to get them on the same page and get them in on the vision? Have you done this? What has the response been and what can you offer as advice yourself?

Oh yeah, I know I said that I’m not into name dropping but Randy Christensen was there too 🙂

It’s finally happend… the Jamie Doyle Ministries site is up and running again! After about a 10 month change of content to the website (if you viewed the site over the past 10 months you would’ve seen my attempt to promote my services as a family entertainer), children’s ministry resourcing and training is once again the main focus of the site. Please check it out – I will be adding more to the free resources page in the coming days, as well as more information about booking me for your special events. A special thanks to my fabulous wife, Jennifer (that’s her in the family photo), for helping with the content and the design!

This, along with the online bookstore , updating this blog and regular posts and replys on Kidology.org are just the beginings of my re-entry into children’s ministries (more about that subject in a later posting).

I have also added another book to the online bookstore. “Tricky Lessons Made Easy”. This is my e-book/lecture notes for using illusions to illustrate the gospel to children. It’s stuff you can do and you will amaze your audience too! The other books are still there as well. So, please check it out!

In past posts, I have mentioned a guy named, Carl Lindelien (Pastor Carl or “Cowboy” Carl to some). He has been a mentor of mine for many years. He is in the hospital – currently in the ICU and He needs your prayers.

Here is a link to his Caring Bridge Site if you want to know His latest condition.

Here’s a brief bio of Who Carl is and his accomplishments: He started in children’s ministry back when few churches even considered a children’s pastor as a viable ministry. He was my children’s pastor when I was a kid and took me under his wing.

He went on to produce children’s ministry music and write children’s church curriculum.

Would you please keep him in your prayers?

My nugget for the night – Ministry should be an adventure… and it will be if you don’t know what you’re doing. 90% of everything I have ever done in Children’s Ministry are things I have never done before and it has been a blast. You would agree with me in the statement that not everything that you get to do is fun, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Every pastor I have ever worked for has presented me with unique opportunities and challenges (perhaps in later posts I will share with you some of the humorous stories). Every parent, good or bad, has helped me learn what it means to communicate to real adults. Each time I have stood before a group of kids to teach, stretches me to be better at what I do.

What’s over the next hill, around the next corner, on the other side of the field, beyond the forest, in that classroom, in the doorway to the pastor’s office, on the other end of the phone, laying in the hospital bed?

As I said in my last post, I would give some details about my latest project. For the past few years I have been speaking at conferences and seminars, making my resources available. I have been looking for an effective and low maintenance means by which I could make my resources available online. I really didn’t have the time or the money for a storefront and packing and shipping these items out.

But I have found the answer: Down loadable books! I am starting to make my books down loadable at my own online bookstore. What does this mean? It means that you can start to have access to the resources I have written and published over the years, instantly as downloads – you can use a credit or debit card and because I don’t have to publish the books, the are offered at a cheaper price!

Currently I have uploaded my book “Teaching Kids To Give Vol. 1” as the first item for just $8.00 (ususally $10 at conferences).

More will follow… My other “Teaching Kids To Give”, The “Incredible Object Lessons” books, the “Adding Flash To Your Lessons” books, the “Puppet” book and my 13 week Curriculum complete with PowerPoint and take-home bulletins!

Yep, this is a shameless plug for my resources – but I really do hope to get some resources in your hands, and that you will find it a blessing.

Hit this link to my online bookstore. I will let you know when more items become available.

Hey friends – yep, I’m still around. You may even see me on Kidology once in a while, adding my comments to the posts in the network forums. If you haven’t joined yet – please do! Wow… Feruary of 2007 is the last time I posted anything to this blog. So, at least I’m not a year behind. But, man, a lot has happened in the last 10 months. As of Apil of 2007, I am no longer at my church – I am a Children’s Pastor in transition! If you would like to dialogue with me personally about that, I am open to it. Just e-mail me at Jamie@JamieDoyle.com

This has, of course, in no way caused me to lose my passion for reaching children and training leaders. So, I have begun a new project in the midst of this transitional time – But, I will blog about that in the next post. Hope to hear from some of you!

Recently we have been activating a new philosophy in ministry and it’s working… at least for us. We started looking through the eyes of the average churchgoer to see what they see when they look at our ministries – how do they view it and why? We saw that we looked desperate: Our recruitment method was to start calling people on the phone and saying “Hey, If you could help us out – that would be really great… any chance?” we would get reluctant “yeses” but only because they felt sorry for us. I decided to take it up a notch. Our current team began to draft job descriptions of the positions that we needed to fill. We put together sharp sign-up materials with – get this – requirements to be met. We started giving the perception that this ministry is valuable and you should be a part of it.

I thought about investors. If some guy showed up and handed me a sheet of paper and said, “Hey, I’m trying to get people to invest with my firm – here’s a little photo-copy of our information… what do ya say? Can you help me out here?” You or I would laugh out loud and tell the guy to get lost! But if some guy showed up with a portfolio of information that was top notch and said “I would love it if you would look through this packet – you’ll see that we are the top firm in this area. Check the list of requirements and see if you qualify…” the first thing we would do is open it up… find the list of requirements and see if we qualify.

What are you doing to add value to your ministry?