This has been a whirlwind of a year in my life and in the life of our church.
It’s hard to believe that the year is already gone when I honestly can’t remember half of it. For more on that, and to get a glimpse into the biggest hurdle that gets in the way of my writing, skip on down to number 5.
- What to do with a Brett Favre
This oldie but a goodie from 2009 stays at the top of the list for 2010. This series continues to top the charts and will probably continue to do so as long as Brett Favre is playing in the National Football League. Does Brett Favre go to your church? Is Brett Favre on your ministry team? You may want to take a look at this series before you give an easy answer to those questions. - The Bus Test
Initially, the Bus Test started out as a joke between friends. It’s now a question that we ask before every event, large or small, to make sure that no one person is placing the full responsibility of an event on their shoulders. And, it’s also the most read article on WCCM from 2010. Feel free to share it with you friends or add your take on the test. - Kids’ Worship: Starting Simple
This series was featured by Children’s Ministry Magazine in their email newsletters and on their website (childrensministry.com)… so, it makes sense that the posts from that series dominate this year’s list. And, to be honest, I’m totally okay with that because they’ve created discussion and conversations that reach outside of the average WCCM reader. Specifically, this post talks about how and why we killed singing on Sunday mornings in an effort to re-teach our kids about worship. - Kids’ Worship: Nothing is Better than Something
This post walks through the 3 value statements that led me to killing off singing on Sunday mornings in our Elementary Ministry environments: 1) Relationships matter more than programs 2) Singing is not the same as Worship 3) Nothing is better than something. - Top 10 Reasons I Want You on Staff
Last May, our church’s director of Student Ministry resigned her position. She left to take on a new role as the chaplain of an amazing private school in Los Angeles less than a month later. So… for the last half of the year, I’ve been providing oversight for ministry to kids AND students AND their families. We had nearly 100 applicants for the vacant position, many of whom read this post. We’ve extended an offer to one of the top Youth Pastors in North America. You might be wondering why I’m still doing two full time positions going into 2011 (as she reads this, my wife is nodding her head) – well, we’re waiting on Canada. Immigration is a slow and tricky process… even if you have a job lined up and waiting for you across the border. So, until they arrive, I’m relearning what it means to run an effective student ministry program and learning to have patience and trust God’s plan for our church. Good times! - Kids’ Worship: Where We Are
This post gives a glimpse into where we’re at with kids’ worship at our church and the impact our shift has made on our camp experience as well as the massive VBS that we run in the summer. - Kids’ Worship: The Church of Karaoke
This was the hardest post in this series to write because I felt like I was stepping all over my volunteer’s toes. I sent about a dozen drafts back and forth with leaders who were around during this transition to try to lessen the blow. Even after all of the edits, one thing was clear, I had to keep this in there because THEY felt it too:
“It was like watching bad karaoke… like when you’re at a karaoke bar and you hear your name called, even though you didn’t put your name on this list. You pretend to try to sing along because you feel like you have to… but everyone knows that you’d rather be anywhere else. On Sundays, our kids would rather be anywhere else while music was playing. And it broke my heart.”
- What Matters Now In Children’s Ministry: Free eBook!
This year, we introduced “What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry!” The best thing about this eBook is that it is completely FREE! You can STILL download the eBook here and distribute it to everyone you know. Use it as a conversation starter in your children’s ministries, your church staff and children’s ministry networks you are a part of. - New Website Launch: Kidmin Conference
Here’s the cool thing about the upcoming Kidmin conference: Early-in-ministry-me or small-church-me or ministry-assistant-me would have some massive take-aways and “ah-ha” moments. Kidmin will be a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts – there are enough tracks and workshops to choose from that anyone who has a heart for serving kids and families in the Church will have options that apply to their world. - Ideas in a Collaborative Community
A series from the beginning of the year that, if you’re new to WCCM, you may have missed. The big idea of this series: ideas, within a collaborative community, are best communicated when we toss the concepts of “good ideas” and “bad ideas” out the window.
What a year! Was there a post that you remember that wasn’t in the top 10? Do you have ideas for what topics should be covered in 2011? Do you know someone in Immigration that can get our Canadian here sooner?! Post your thoughts and comments below!
