Pastors…youth pastors…children’s pastors - mark you calendar for Thursday, August 13th and make plans to join us for “One,” a one day conversation that will cover the importance of youth and children’s ministry, the lessons we’ve learned in the journey, why it is necessary for a healthy relationship to exist between the senior pastor and these areas and quite a few other things as well.
Here’s the deal about this “conversation.” (Let me hit the “whats” and then talk about the “whys!”)
- The “conversation” is limited to the first 100 people that sign up…we’re keeping it small on purpose.
- (Sign ups will open up on Monday, June 1st.)
- It cost $100 per person to attend.
- There MUST be at least two people per church attend…and one of them MUST BE the senior pastor, the other MUST be either from the childrens team or youth team (doesn’t matter whether they are paid or a volunteer.)
- This “conference” will have no music, no production…we will begin with a teaching time for everyone by me…THEN I will do a Q & A with the leaders from our youth and children’s team…THEN we will have lunch (included)...THEN we will have round table discussion that will be broken up with your specific group of interest (youth, children’s, senior pastor), then we will have a final discussion/Q & A with the audience asking myself and our ministry leaders questions.
Now…let me explain the thought pattern as to why we are doing it this way…
First of all…we really wanted to be able to pour into every church and ministry leader that attends, thus the reason for keeping it small.
AND…the reason the senior pastor MUST attend is because I do not want to set a youth or children’s team up to not succeed. There are too many churches today where the senior pastor and the youth and children’s teams seem to be working against one another…not WITH one another.
I am a FIRM believer that a strong youth and children’s ministry is ESSENTIAL for a church to be healthy!
AND…I HATE IT when people say, “the youth/children are the church of tomorrow.” BULL CRAP…they are the church of TODAY!!! One of the reasons the church is losing them in droves is because we think they will be there “tomorrow” for us to reach…but the time is NOW!!!
Senior pastors and youth and children’s teams need to work as “ONE!” We are all on the same team…and it should always be our passion to complete one another instead of competing with one another.
SO…the senior pastor MUST attend…no exceptions will be made. Because…youth and children’s ministry can’t just be a youth and children’s thing…it must be championed by the Senior Pastor.
So…we’ve set aside the day (Thursday, August 13th) for this…and are really looking forward to pouring into ministry leaders.
Once again…sign ups will open up on Monday, June 1st…and once the first 100 spaces are gone…they’re gone. It is first come, first serve.
Senior Pastors…let me challenge you to LEAD THE WAY ON THIS!!! Don’t wait on your team members to come to you and beg you to attend! LEAD!!!
Our youth and children’s teams are absolutely pumped about getting to spend some time with all who are able to attend…and I can’t wait to be in this environment either. I believe God is setting the church up so that the next generation can see Him do things that we only DREAM of!!!