Last week we gathered all of the KidMin staff from each campus together for a two-day retreat. We learned, listened, planned, created, laughed, and played. It was a great couple of days!

The purpose of this retreat was to help our teams across campuses build relationships and share ideas. We know that collectively we have the potential to accomplish a lot more. We also know that if there are not strong relationships across campuses, there will be friction and frustration.

We can’t eliminate all frustration, but we can build healthy teams that are capable of working through the differences to get the best end result.

Ultimately…we are better together!

Here’s what it looked like:

DAY 1

Session 1: Welcome & Quiet Time

During this session we talked about the power of working together. We introduced the 5-1 concept, and we discussed how our own spiritual health will influence the health of our team.

We gave out the book Enemies of the Heart, and wrote a personal quiet time for everyone to get alone, and do some “heart” work.

Session 2: Strength Finders

Every director met with their team and played a game to learn more about their teammate’s strengths. We give this test to everyone who works on our teams.

Lunch and Learn

We placed our staff in groups of two or three people from other campuses that they might not normally get to talk to. We gave them three questions to discuss, and sent them around town to have lunch together.

Session 3: Fall Kick Off Breakouts

Every fall we “kick off” the new school year with a big event. We mixed up all of our teams and broke into several smaller groups to talk about specific topics related to this event. We discussed things like: break outs for small group leaders, how we should train new worship leaders, what we should give the new volunteers, and what production elements to include.

Session 4: Grief and Kids

We invited a counselor who works primarily with children to talk to our staff about helping kids who are grieving. Grief happens when there is any loss. It could be a move to new city, a new school, a death, a divorce, or the loss of a pet. Great practical advice!

Drive to Gwinnett Church

At 4:30pm we all jumped in our cars and drove 30 miles to our newest campus. This is a building we are sharing with another church. Many of our staff hadn’t seen it yet. It was a great field trip. We ate dinner and toured around the building together.

UpStreet Large Group @ Gwinnett Church

Fun Surprise!

The team that plays together stays together! We had everyone bring workout clothes, and we surprised them with a fun night at Sky Zone. The pictures say it all.

DAY 2

Session 5: Difficult Conversations

One of our staff walked our teams through the importance of having difficult conversations. He gave us a great step-by-step guide for handling these kinds of discussions with integrity and hope for growth. He gave great examples and really challenged our team to lead through difficult conversations well. (I’ll post more on that later!)

Session 6: 100 Ways to Appreciate Volunteers

During this session, we had every table brainstorm as many free or almost free ways to appreciate volunteers. We did this quickly and placed them all on a creative board. It was great and got our brains rolling for the next session. (I’ll post these ideas later this week.)

Session 7: Breakouts

During this session, we broke our team up into small groups and began planning together for the following: Volunteer Appreciation Plan 2012-2013, Volunteer Training Plan 2012-2013, Look & Feel for Summer in Waumba Land & UpStreet, and KidStuf Fall Changes.

Session 8: Family Ministry Covenant & Volunteer Website

We wrapped up the retreat talking about two things:

Family Ministry Covenant: This is the covenant we give to new volunteers who want to serve with us. We did some coaching on how to communicate this during orientations, and took questions concerning how to handle any conversations that might arise from this.

Volunteer Website: We are launching a new website for all of our volunteers this month. We showed everyone the site, answered questions, and heard feedback.

Then we all said “Good Bye”!

We had fun together, got to know each other better, got some planning done, and learned a whole bunch in the process!

I wish you could know this team like I do! They are the best!

We host an event called Family Birthday Celebration where kids share their faith story and get baptized.

It can be challenging to help our kids create a great video. We’ve done this for many years and have learned a few things along the way. Here are the top tips in no particular order from our directors who work with kids and baptism videos.

Top Baptism Video Tips:

From Sara:

I come stocked with kid jokes from a joke book to get them to laugh during cutaway shots…
“How do you cut the sea in half? - With a SEA-saw!”

From Mandee:

1. Set them up for success, and tell them what to talk through and practice at home with mom and/or dad beforehand! We give them a card with questions to think through and be ready to answer! Examples: Name, age, when they asked Jesus in their heart, and whom they were with? Why they want to get baptized? Is there anyone they want to thank?

2. When the arrive get them loosened up and comfortable with you first! Chit chat and talk to them about anything fun other than what they are about to do first! How was school today? Is your teacher nice? What’s your favorite thing at school? Or can you not wait to get out until summer? Etc.

3. Tell them they can mess up and start over as many times as they want until they say it like they want to! No pressure situation is key!

4. Keep parents out! Kids always seem to be more comfortable in telling their story when they don’t feel like everyone is watching in on them, and they have to remember it EXACTLY like they practiced. Also, in the end, it’s more fun for it to be a surprise for mom and dad on the special day!

From Chad:

Send home cards, and have kids practice at home before they come. After kids check in, have them go in a separate room with a staff member who is good with kids, and have them practice and get comfortable with you.
We let them say it about two times. When they get in front of the camera, they nail it for the most part. We had 10 great videos. It was a lot less work on Steve, the kids were not as nervous, and we had heard their story a couple times so we could help them even better.

From Emily:

Make sure you have steps in place - like a way to present the gospel, an interview to make sure children have made a decision to trust Christ, and that they can articulate that decision in a video.

PREPARE kids beforehand by giving them guidelines to follow as they put together what they want to say. Ask them to write out what they want to say and actually practice saying it so that when they come in, they’re confident in what they want to communicate.

As the kids enter the room, introduce the children to the person behind the camera and any other staff that are in the room. Make jokes about the size of the microphone or let them check out the camera and monitor (keeping time in mind) - and anything else you can do to put the kids at ease and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera.

Ask kids to bring in pictures of their family and small group to hold up as they tell their story and thank the people who’ve led them to Jesus.

Film B-Roll of the kids laughing, holding up pictures, walking in and out of the shot, etc so that you have lots of options when you edit the video. This will not only make the final product more fun to watch, it will also help with transitions and allow kids to say each part of their testimony one section at a time, rather than having to memorize something from beginning to end.

Make sure a staff member is in the room to listen as the kids are being filmed. Sometimes kids will get their words mixed up and say things that are incorrect or confusing. For instance, instead of saying “I want to be baptized to show everyone that I have Jesus in my heart”, they might get tripped up and say, “I want to be baptized because I want to accept Jesus in my heart.” If there is a trip up in their testimony, ask questions of the child to make sure they understand what they’ve communicated and how to clean it up to make it clear. Always remember that on the day of the service, you will have family and friends in the audience that do not have a relationship with Jesus, and you want the message of the gospel to be as clear as possible.

From Gina:

1. Take a few minutes to allow the kids to feel comfortable with YOU. Ask them fun personal questions about school, sports, etc.

2. Take some time to make them laugh - tell a good joke

3. Tell them there’s not a right or wrong thing to say - you just want to hear THEIR story.

4. Remind them they can do it as many times as they like to say everything they want to say

5. Allow them to say their story in segments - this way they don’t have to repeat everything

6. Praise them for doing such a GREAT job! Remind them EVERYONE is going to love to hear what they have to say.

What tips do you have for shooting video with kids?

Last Easter we created this video to share the powerful Easter story with our elementary kids in UpStreet. You could have heard a pin drop as our kids watched. We followed this video with great discussion and learning activities in small group.

If you are looking for something special to use for Easter Sunday, this could be the perfect fit. Feel free to grab the link to the video and download the curriculum.

Praying you have a WONDERFUL Easter Sunday as you share the most important message ever told.

Happy Easter!

Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video Link: http://vimeo.com/25671466

Curriculum Files:

easter-week-4-sg-2-5

easter-week-4-sg-k-1

easter-lgroup

Activity Pages:

graffitti

jellybeanpoem

Here’s what happened:

• Launched the Big Idea of Honor
• Watched KidStuf Live
• Hosted visiting churches for Sunday’s at North Point
• Observed the crowded hallways between services
• Listened in as a large group team debriefed
• Talked through a tough situation
• Cleaned up when a child threw up in the hallway (or our amazing facilities crew did!)
• Photographed our team dressing up for the Disney event
• Welcomed our amazing volunteers to a Disney training event

Here’s a few pictures!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was a GREAT month.

Title Package for Large Group:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Every month we send home this Parent Card which includes an overview of what we’re teaching for the month.

Here are a few videos we used through out the month as part of the storytelling segment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What did you teach your kids in February?

It’s been a while since a great story has totally sucked me in this way.

The over arching theme of these books is not for young kids, but there is much to be learned from the style of the storytelling.

We are in the midst of writing the spring content for our kids. Working through bottom lines, choosing Bible stories, and finding creative angles. Wanting to present the most amazing stories ever lived in an unforgettable way.

We are teaching our kids the most important stories they will ever hear. Many of them are jaw-dropping, action packed, and emotional. I wonder if they simply listen or if they are swept away by the wonder of it all.

A few challenges from the Hunger Games:

Bring the characters to life. They should feel pain, love their little sisters, be skilled hunters, sneak outside the fences, and miss their fathers.

Every week we teach our kids the stories from the Bible full of some of the most rich characters you will ever meet. Make them alive again in the imagination of the kids.

Create an adventure. They should sneak through the woods and lie in wait. They should break the law and scavenge for food for the whole village. They should wear magnificent costumes and battle for their life and the lives of those they love.

Want to make sure your kids never forget the stories you teach? Engage them in an epic adventure. Don’t just describe the details. Don’t just tell the facts of the story. Drive them right into the middle of the action and adventure and drop them off.

Build Tension. You should want them to win and yet be against the battle. You know they are a child and yet want to see them fight like a warrior. You should want them to be safe and yet hope they risk everything.

When there is a conflict then there is emotion. When there is emotion, then you engage. When you engage…you remember. You learn.

For those of you who write curriculum, create video, and communicate the Bible stories, what can you do to make the Bible come to life for our kids?

How can you make sure it’s the BEST book they ever read?

This summer we produced a new song called Unlock the Power. We’ve been using it with our kids for the past three months and they love it.

So we thought we would share!

Take a listen: unlock-the-power-final-mix

Here are the details:

The original music was produced for worship on UpStreet, the elementary environment of North Point Ministries. Each North Point Music Accompaniment track is fully downloadable in an MP3 format from your North Point store account. It includes a digital version of the song that can be used for performances both with and without background vocals. It also includes a lyric sheet.

*We also included a LIVE Lyric video!

This song connects well when teaching kids the following concepts:
God is the one true God
God is powerful
Courage
Standing up to the enemy
Looking to God as a source of strength
I can do all things through Christ
Confidence in God
God is our ultimate Superhero

FInd it at the North Point Store!

This year we launched a NEW strategy to connect with our parents.

We dabbled in the world of social media with our parents last year and this year we decided to jump in and give it our full attention.

We want to partner with our parents. We BELIEVE that they are the greatest influencers and leaders of their kids. It’s our goal to be their greatest fan and biggest supporter.

We want to make it easy for parents to talk to their kids about God’s Big Ideas all week long at home. So, we decided to make a concerted effort to place everything they need to know right in the palm of their hands. We also believe that most parents want to work  in simple connections to spiritual things at natural times of the day. They want it to be comfortable. And we believe those small connections multiplied day after day in a child’s life will add up to something big.

We currently have 5 campuses. It’s also our desire to make our relationship with families feel personalized to their campus. We want them to easily find events and information that they need as it relates to their campus and as it relates to what their child is learning.

Here’s what we did:

1. Created a twitter account for each campus.

We created: @gwinnettkids, @brownsbridgekid, @buckheadkids, @northpointkids, and @watermarkekids

Goal: To interact with parents and connect them to the information that they need. We also want to make it easy for us to solve problems or answer questions.

2. Created a facebook page for each campus.

We created: Gwinnett ParentStuf, Browns Bridge ParentStuf, Buckhead ParentStuf, North Point ParentStuf, and Watermarke ParentStuf

Goal: This is a landing page that will push parents to our enviornment specific pages - Waumba Land, UpStreet, KidStuf. This allows our campus pastors to personalize any announcements by directing parents to facebook.

3. Created landing pages for existing facebook pages. (Waumba Land, UpStreet, KidStuf)

Goal: To create a friendlier welcome and to give parents easy access to all 3 pages from one location.

4. Created ParentStuf Blog. (www.parentstuf.org)

Goal: To create a place to inspire and equip parents to talk to their kids (or play with their kids…or pray with their kids) about God’s Big Ideas.

5. Created ParentStuf App. (for iphone, ipad, droid)

Goal: To put simple ideas into the hands of parents and make it as user friendly as possible. We want to connect parents to this information in a simple, helpful format.

We are launching the ParentStuf App this Sunday and the blog has been live for several weeks. It’s too early for me to give you an idea of success, but I promise to follow up and let you know how it’s going.

This was a really big project that required the hard work of a team of creative geniuses. It was such a pleasure to work with Matt McKee and the entire R04R team. I can’t recommend them enough.

Here’s a little more information about R04R! Our mission is simple - to see as much faith based content on mobile platforms as possible. We currently develop iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and HTML5 apps for non-profits and those that serve non-profits. We also believe that mobile apps and social networking can’t be separated. We want to help support your cause by getting the message, vision, and mission onto the one device that people carry with them where ever they go, their phone.

We’ve created a 30 minute presentation for this class called We Believe. You can find out more about this material here.

Check out this new video that we will use in the 10B4 segment in the main services to invite our parents to JumpStart. 10B4 is a video package that communicates announcements and welcomes the congregation 10 minutes before the service starts.

Click here to view the embedded video.