stuff that will get you distracted as a children’s pastor

Posted by Jamie Doyle on September 19, 2009
Posted in: Leadership. 3 comments
Share this Post

Here are a few things that have gotten folks distracted from doing what God has called them to do in ministry to children and families. If you’re saying these things to yourself or others… time to re-evaluate what you’re doing and re-align your thoughts:

  1. “My pastor never promotes what I do. “
  2. “These parents don’t care about what I do.”
  3. “I don’t have a big enough budget.”
  4. “I don’t get paid enough.”
  5. “That’s what Church B does.”
  6. “I do twice as much as that pastor and get paid less and have a smaller budget.”
  7. “Wish I could decorate that room however I want.”
  8. “I need more kids to come to this.”
  9. “Nobody wants to volunteer.”
  10. “I wish…. (put anything here).”
Can you relate? Don’t let these thoughts consume you. Go back to the vision God put in front of you and get back to work.
Share this Post

stuff that’s helped me over the years – part 2

Posted by Jamie Doyle on September 3, 2009
Posted in: Ideas. Leave a Comment
Share this Post

Here’s part two (2) of this topic – just a few items that might help you in your ministry to kids. I hope it helps someone out there…


Thanks to kidology.org for featuring the post on their blog watch page!

Study those who have perfected the art

I look to children’s ministry leaders who have been there and done it – “it” being what I really want to do or have been called to do. People like Jim Wideman, Dick Gruber, Randy Christensen and Dan Rector have done it all. I also like to look at the unsung heros who have still been there and done “it”. Friends to many to mention.


I also like to study the people who do what I do in both church and non-church related settings. David Ginn, Sammy Smith, Barry Mitchell and others who’s main bread and butter is entertaining and educating kids at School Assemblies. I have written a bit more about David Ginn here.


Go To Creative Idea Places

I go shopping and sometimes never buy anything – but I have a camera on my phone and can take notes. I go to hardware/home improvement stores, toy stores, magic shops, costume shops, arts/crafts stores, surplus shops, flea markets and tourist traps… Oh, I’m sure there are more places that I’ve shopped and gotten good ideas at. Be watchful – you never know where you’ll be when you see an idea for an object lesson, game, skit, illustration or character.


Listen To Your Pastor

He will have the heartbeat of the church in regard to the vision. In staff meetings, take him seriously, take notes, take action. If he’s suggesting something it probably means that that’s the direction he’d like to go. If you don’t understand what he wants, ask him and assure him that you are supportive and want to go the same direction. Make sure you’re listening to his sermons either live (preferably) or via the web or a CD – this will give you great insight into his heart!

Share this Post

stuff that’s helped me over the years

Posted by Jamie Doyle on August 31, 2009
Posted in: Leadership. Leave a Comment
Share this Post

Alright – these next few posts will really be a brain dump of what I hope is useful information for someone. It’s just a few items each post that are useful bits of info that have helped me over the years. If it helps anyone else – then I’m doing what I believe I was called to do…

1. Network with others in ministry
This will be your greatest resource. Get on CMConnect and Kidology. Get on the phone and call churches that have ministries on the same level as yours, churches that are at the next level and churches that are at a level under your church’s. Who knows, perhaps you’ll save $100’s just by learning what to do and what not to do!
2. Be a list maker
list stuff when you think of it – I mean… everything! I have to-do lists, lists of lesson series, lists of leadership topics that I want to cover, lists of silly rules characters can use when we review the rules in kids church, lists of object lesson ideas I’ve gotten from visiting a favorite store, lists of fun ideas for a Sunday school class, I just looked at a list of as many object lessons as I could think of with balloons.
No idea is a bad idea unless it’s an unused or undeveloped idea. (consider sharing those ideas you can’t use now with someone you’re networking with). I have a mentor who has a file cabinets with unused ideas and a big fat hard drive full of ideas he’s never used and doesn’t think he ever will – wish he’d sell it all to me!
3. Make kids, individually, feel like a million dollars
I learned this from one of my earliest mentors. When I was a kid He would walk into a room and look me in the eye, shake my hand and tell me he was so glad that I was in kids church that day – I felt like the most important person in the room for the rest of the day! He did that to every kid – I swear!
Share this Post

The Two Ways Kids Interpret Their World

Posted by Jamie Doyle on August 11, 2009
Posted in: The World of Kids. 2 comments
Share this Post

Kids really see stuff in two ways:

1. This is either FUN

or

2. this is really BORING

Yep – that’s really the mindset of a kid.

Now let me bring some definition to the information above…

These two viewpoints of the world are really interpretations of the world around them. For instance: an activity or experience that is exciting, engaging, delicious, funny, intriguing, inclusive or tailored to their wants and needs will be interpreted as “FUN”.

on the other hand… any activity or experience that is uncomfortable, uninteresting, over their heads, too predictable, non-engaging, unfamiliar, not welcoming or negative will most likely be interpreted as “BORING”.

Now here’s what you’ve wanted to hear all day: Children will react differently to each of the two ways that they see the world.

1. If they interpret the world around them as being “FUN”, they will engage, participate and have a positive attitude about that activity or experience. With this experience, you can harness that energy and help guide it into a moment of learning, and experiencing God. This, in my vocabulary is called: “CONTROLLED FUN”. Please take note that, “CONTROLLED FUN” is good.

2. If they interpret the world around them as being “BORING”, they will disengage from the activity, despise the adult who is initiating the “BORING” activity or experience and ultimately, make an attempt to create their own “FUN”. When a child attempts to create their own fun in defiance of the “BORING” activity or simply, quite .possibly a non-existent activity, this, in my vocabulary is called: “UNCONTROLLED FUN”. Please note that “UNCONTROLLED FUN” is NOT good.

How’s your Children’s Ministry doing with all of this?

Share this Post

Children’s Ministry Structure – Part Three

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 28, 2009
Posted in: Leadership, Vision. 1 comment
Share this Post

In a few earlier posts, I’ve written about restructure. We’ve explored some of the steps to take – let’s keep going:

  • Meet with the level of leadership closest to you:
Meet with your first level of leadership closest to you to help them understand their new role. I say new because, you’ve most likely make appropriate changes… right? Remember the job descriptions? Now is the time to help implement those job descriptions into action.
  • Provide Training and Empowerment to that level of leadership:
I really cannot take the time to meet with every leadership position that falls under that first layer of leadership. So I must give that layer the power to take the new structure to that next level of leadership. They will essentially do what I have just done with them. They will help implement the new job descriptions into action with that next layer.
  • Tweak as you go:
Yep… you’ve not now, nor will you ever arrive at a place when you’ve finished structuring your ministry. If you ever get to that point… quit. Seriously, complacency ministry is akin to death (perhaps someone somewhere will quote that one day). Our CM Leadership manuals are not bound in a book or even spiral bound – they are in three-ring binders because that manual will be progressive. It will change and be added to.
I’ll have more next time – keep looking up!
Share this Post

I Get to Lecture – Yee Haw!

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 23, 2009
Posted in: updates. Leave a Comment
Share this Post

I get to do one of my favorite things coming up in August. I get to lecture for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians.

I will be presenting my Inside Out Lecture. It features my signature Gospel Magic routines that I have developed and presented for the past… well…. lot of years!
Plus, after the lecture I will have some of my resources available for purchase.
Here are the details for those of you near the Denver area:
  • Date: Monday – August 10, 2009
  • Location: Saint Michaels and All Angels Church, 1400 South University Boulevard Denver, CO.
  • Check in time is 6:45 PM
  • Each person in attendance will receive my lecture notes on CD ROM

If you can make it… please come and let’s have some fun!

Share this Post

Children’s Ministry Structure – Part Two

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 20, 2009
Posted in: Leadership, Vision. 1 comment
Share this Post

You’ve begun the daunting task of restructuring a Children’s Ministry. Let me point out a few observations before we take any more steps in this process:

This is hard work:
There are a lot of little details that need to be done in order to do this right. I am so blessed to have my wife as my administrative assistant to help handle all of these details. Let’s remember an important principle: Anything that’s worth anything will take time and hard work.
This is a process:
You won’t get all of this done in a day – or even a week. If you do, please call me and I might hire you. This will take time… a lot of time… a lot of YOUR time. So, b impatient enough that you want to get it done – but have patients enough to know that you have to take each step separately and in some cases delicately.
This has to be deliberate:
Re-structuring won’t just happen (come to think of it, no ministry administration ever “just happens”). Be deliberate about having a plan to get the process started. Be deliberate in communicating to your people that you are doing this whole thing. Be deliberate in working your plan. Be deliberate about pushing the process and keeping it going. Can I be any more deliberate about being deliberate?
OK – back to work… you can do this!
Share this Post

Hey – Thanks Kidology!

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 18, 2009
Posted in: Products and Resources by Others, updates. 3 comments
Share this Post

I wanted to say a special thanks you to kidology.org for re-posting my advertisement from this blog about our new CD – “the BIG spin”

I appreciate all that kidology.org has done over the years. If you are not a member, please get the membership – it’s really, my online file-cabinet/bookshelf/church supply closet of all things children’s ministry resources! The stuff there is submietted by CM leaders from all over the world and from every type of church setting. Go for it!
Share this Post

NEW CD – the BIG spin

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 16, 2009
Posted in: Products and Resources by Jamie Doyle. Leave a Comment
Share this Post


Alright – it’s about time!

For a number of years friends in the ministry have been asking where we get our background music. We use a variety from a variety of sources… but, my favorite background music is the stuff we make ourselves.
For the last few years, I’ve been using Apple’s program GarageBand to create music for games, character entrances/exits, performances, multi-media presentations… really whatever we needed it for.
I’ve taken all the background tracks we’ve created over the last few years and put them all together on one CD. 22 royalty-free music tracks for you to use. Tracks 1-11 are samples and 12-22 are repeated as extended tracks. You can listen to the first track here.
Just go to the online bookstore and order it! And don’t forget you can buy my other books as instant downloads too… I’m just sayin’.
Share this Post

Children’s Ministry Structure – Part One

Posted by Jamie Doyle on July 16, 2009
Posted in: Leadership, Vision. 1 comment
Share this Post

I have been lacking in my blog posts as of lately – but I thought I would blog about the very thing I am dealing with right now… after all, that’s what a blog is intended for – right?

Structure – What’s Yours Look Like
As I have been speaking with friends in the ministry about the fun and challenges faced at a new church opportunity, I have made the mistake of mentioning that my wife and I are working to add structure to a ministry that has none. The mistake is in the phrase ‘this ministry has none’. Really when it comes down to it – Every Children’s Ministry has structure. Even when everything looks like it doesn’t work or is falling apart – it’s not due to a “no structure ministry”… it’s due to a flaw in the structure or a poor structure. Your ministry has a structure – and you either know what it is and it’s intentional… or you continue to build it and it’s unintentional… or, it’s unknown.
Here a are a few steps for you and your ministry team to take to help you re-structure your ministry.
  • Define your current structure:

Create a flowchart of all of your departments or sub-ministries that report to you. BE HONEST about how things really flow. Have you ever wondered why everyone in your ministry from the guy running sound, to the registration worker to the preschool teacher comes running to you… every Sunday morning… all at the same time… so you can solve their problems. It’s a flaw in your structure. You should be able to see this in your flow chart.

  • Define what you want your structure to look like:
Re-work your flowchart. I mean dream about what leaders you would need to restructure your current ministry alongside of those who already serve. Decide who should really report to who – and who should report to you.
  • Start to create job descriptions for each box on your flowchart – including your own:
You are going to need to get with the current leadership that already fill some of those boxes and get from them, their understanding of the role they play on your leadership team. Take this information and begin to design the job description for this position based on what needs to get done and the purpose of the position.
In the next post, I will share the next steps. Now… GO… and begin on your journey towards better structure in your Children’s Ministry!
Share this Post