matt mckee live

There are many activities that I consider ministry opportunities that most people do not. For example I believe that Fantasy Football is an incredible outreach to guys in and outside your church and can be an effective tool for ministry. Another one of these strange activities that I believe can be great for both youth and men is paintball. In fact this coming Saturday, October 18th, we are having a paintball event on our new church property. Our property is 154 acres and use to be a golf course. It has a river as one of its borders and some nice rolling terrain. Needless to say but we have found some great places to play paintball on it.

Now I know that most of you when you think of ministry you don't think of this:



But in fact, it turns out that people, not just guys, love to grab a paintball gun, hide in the woods, and shoot each other. There is just something about the adrenaline that is incredible. There is something about coming together as a team and trying to defeat the other team. There are also many lessons that can be taught from paintball during breaks.

The worst things that happen are you walk away with a bruised ego and arm or leg. The best thing that comes away from it all is that people build community in a whole new way. If you get people to experience life together in a new way and help them build relationships then they will thank you over and over.

So watch out this Saturday. I will be in all camouflage waiting for you to cross my path so that I can light you up. You have been warned.

Did you know that there is a very hot topic going on right now in Children's Ministry? It is about the use of incentive programs at church. Now I know that I am about a week late and maybe a Bible Buck short on this topic (please forgive me) but I thought it is better to be late than never.

Kenny Conley wrote 3 posts about the subject: Post #1, Post #2, and Post #3.
Sam Luce wrote 4 posts including one from Jonathan Cliff and insights from Larry Shallenberger: Post #1, Post #2, Post #3, and Post #4

I told you I was late to the party. What do I think about the whole matter?

Yesterday at church we had our "IN Store" open. We open the store every third weekend of the month. If you miss the third weekend then you miss the store. If you forget to bring your "IN Cash" then you miss out. Sorry. What can you get or do at the "IN Store"? You can buy little trinkets to great prizes for you or give them away in our program called "IN Return".

How does these programs of "IN Cash", "IN Store", and "IN Return" work? Basically you get "IN Cash" for coming, participating, and knowing last week's Bible verse. You save as long as you want and spend it at the "IN Store". Hopefully we are teaching to give back and the kids give to the "IN Return" program. There is nothing really new or cutting edge about the system.

So why do it? Why have a program that some people consider bribery? Why do something that kids recite a Bible verse and forget 30 seconds later because they just wanted the cash? Why spend so much money on trinkets and prizes? Why use this to promote participation? Why do something that could be taken as money changers in the church? Why do a program where kids whine and complain about losing their reward? Why do something that could promote greed?

Why? The same reason I try and make the environment the best it can be in the hallways. The same reason I change my sets every 8 weeks on the stage. The same reason I strive for incredibly creative services. The same reason why I give volunteers gifts for volunteering.

If a child looks forward to coming to church for any reason whatsoever then God is going to do something incredible in his/her life. If it takes Bible Bucks, Cool Cash, or "IN Cash" for a kid to come hear that God loves them even though they don't think their parents do or anybody else in the world loves them then sign me up for an incentive program. If in return they learn about stewardship, giving, grace, Bible verses, bringing friends, love, forgiveness, determination, friendship, and most importantly Jesus then my conscience is OK.

So that is where I come down. How about you?

Last week I was on vacation, and while I was out I had a new staff member start. Well, I should say that she officially started getting paid while I was gone. She has been doing her "job" for almost 3 years now.

I picked up this philosophy along the way that says get the best volunteers in the world and eventually pay them to do what they love to do and you will keep them for a lifetime. Such is the case in this instance.

The new staff member is Sarah Youngblood. Sarah is over qualified, under-paid, and willing to do anything. So what is her new role as a staff member?

I will let her letter that she sent out to all of the parents in the Children's Ministry of Horizon explain because I couldn't say it any better myself.

Parents,

Perhaps we’ve met at SMASH, check-in at Horizon, or passed in the hallways as we dropped off our kids at Sunday School.

Maybe we’ve run into each other at the Madeira Kroger or an Indian Hill football game in Mariemont or Anderson.

My name is Sarah Youngblood and I’m the new Parent Coordinator for the Children’s Ministry at Horizon Community Church. I’m one of you – I live in the community, send my kids to school here and worship here.

My job is to connect you and your children with the Children’s Ministry. Do you have a question about how your son or daughter is being taught? Maybe you have a question about scripture or your son or daughter is having a rough time adjusting with his or her class.

I want to be accessible to help you, but I don’t pretend to have all the answers. In my new position I’m available to get those answers by taking your cares and concerns to the appropriate person within the church.

At Horizon, the mission is to comfortably connect people to God. As part of that goal, I want to comfortably connect your family with the wonderful things going on within the Children’s Ministry.


I am extremely blessed to have Sarah on staff. Her role is perfect for our community and our church. She will truly take the Children's Ministry at Horizon to places it has not been in the past.

Last week I had the honor of having breakfast with Ron Hummons. Ron has an absolutely incredible story of life change. He has been in prison, homeless, and truly lost. Ron has been through the gutters of life and wants to help people not make some of those same choices that he made. Besides owning a shoe and clothing company he has started a crime prevention program called the Think Campaign. This program is starting with a documentary style DVD and will eventually include a school curriculum. If you want to help on the school curriculum then contact Ron because this is in the early phrases of the program. I am excited about the Think Campaign. I really think it has huge potential that will lead to massive ministry.

Here is the trailer to the Think!! DVD.




The stories that are told are gripping. I can't wait to see the final product. The website just launched a couple of days ago. Stop by http://www.thinkcampaign.org.

Today I was sad, happy, excited, disappointed, and jazzed all at the same time. You see, Andrea Goslee, now a former staff member of mine, said goodbye today. We worked together for 3 years at Horizon Community Church. She was the Music Director for the Children's Department all 3 of those years. She is now the Children's Director at Rivers Crossing Community Church. I can say that I am truly proud of her. While at Horizon she pushed, pulled, and challenged me. She brought a level of excellence to the table that I appreciated very much. Even if I didn't agree with it all of the time.

My Senior Pastor, Chad Hovind, said, "Staff leave for 3 reasons and Andrea left for the only good one." I would have to agree.

It is not easy losing staff but I find that it can be a good thing. It is great to see God give more leadership and responsibility to people. It is great to see God expand His church even if it wasn't apart of my plan at the time. It is great to see people care about a community so much that they can't help but think about how great it would be to minister in that community. It is great to see friends succeed.

Andrea Goslee will be great as a Children's Director. She will take and lead Rivers Crossings in an incredible way. Someday I will probably be going to a Children's Ministry conference and she will be speaking at it and I will say that I knew her when. Watch out for Andrea Goslee, you have been warned.

About 4 months ago my wife, Jessica, came home and told me that she was going to sign up and sell Mary Kay. It is not that we needed the money, even though who couldn't use some extra cash, but she wanted to do something. I said great and didn't know exactly what this meant. Last week I spent most of the week in Dallas, TX at the Mary Kay National Seminar with her. Yes, I went to a Mary Kay event and after attending I am proud to say that my wife sells Mary Kay products. Going into the conference I was not sure about the whole thing. You know, the whole business opportunity thing and the idea that Jessica would be told "No" more than should would be told "Yes". So what changed my mind?

Was it seeing the pink Cadillacs in person? No, but I would drive one if I had too.
Was it seeing ladies win diamond rings? No I am not a big jewelry fan
Was it being surrounded by 10,000 ladies? a big NO there
Was it the amount of money that I saw ladies making? another big NO

So what was it?

First it was the companies priorities. Did you know that Mary Kay is a Christian business that believes in God first, Family second, and Career third? Believe it or not it is very true. Almost everyone who stepped foot on stage and spoke somehow quoted scripture. Some churches have a hard time doing this. Seriously, what businesses do you know of that teach these priorities? This was not a passing thing either but one that was quoted over and over and over. I want my wife to have these priorities, in fact I want myself to have these priorities. That being said I want my 2 boys to grow up and have these as well.

The second reason my mind was changed was the level of excellence that I saw everywhere in the organization. Now I know that they had their best foot forward and they were trying their hardest to impress everyone who was there, but again I have been to many companies and churches that even at their best couldn't reach the level I experienced last week. The stage design was incredible, the signs were very, very good, the videos were professional, and the cameras shots were remarkable for being live. Again few places reach this level of excellence even trying their best.

The third reason my mind was changed was the message that I heard from one of the husbands. He was asked, "How do you deal with your wife being so successful?" Now I know that he has had to answer this many times but his answer was incredible and I will steal it in the future. He opened up his Bible and read Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 if you are not familiar is the chapter in the Bible that talks about the characteristics of a Godly woman. After reading this chapter he said as her husband it is his job to help her become more Godly and that her Mary Kay business is helping them both do that. He went on to preach some more. Believe me when I say it was impressive.

Now don't get me wrong, I did hear of woman making over 8 million dollars and going on trips to Rome and everywhere else in the world. I heard ladies talk about their vacation homes all over the place. I heard a lot about how much money could be made with Mary Kay. Then I heard it explained that if you were there for the money that you weren't going to make it in the business. I heard the most successful lady in the company say that if you aren't willing to be a servant than you should just go ahead and leave. They talked more about helping people than making money. I truly couldn't believe it.

I went into this conference very skeptical looking for all the negatives. I came out thanking God that my wife gets to stay home with the boys, do something that she enjoys, and is told that God must be first. So for all you Mary Kay haters out there, I looked for all the negatives and came up short. The only major problem I saw this past week was that I got Estrogen Overload. Other than that, if you or your wife would like to buy some Mary Kay, I am proud to say that you can go to http://www.marykay.com/jessica.mckee/default.aspx.

Yes, believe it or not I saw ministry happen this past week, tons of ministry. Ministry that was targeted to ladies and somehow even hit me.

update: I tried posting through Shozu multiple times and it went to another blog that I have shut down. I will pull them over and try and fix the problem because I really like their UI.

I think it is interesting the differences between the words Advance and Retreat. Here are the definitions of both:

Main Entry:

¹ad·vance

Pronunciation:

\əd-ˈvan(t)s\

Function:

verb

transitive verb1: to accelerate the growth or progress of <advance a cause>2: to bring or move forward <advance a pawn>3: to raise to a higher rank4archaic : to lift up : raise5: to bring forward in time; especially : to make earlier <advance the date of the meeting>6: to bring forward for notice, consideration, or acceptance : propose <advance an idea>7: to supply or furnish in expectation of repayment <advance a loan>8: to raise in rate : increase <advance the rent>


These definitions are brought to you by Webster.com.

If you follow me on Twitter you would have noticed that yesterday I was in a meeting with the management staff of Horizon Community Church. We were in a strategy session that was looking at long term goals for the church. We talked about some really exciting things. For one we are in a building campaign and of course talked about that process and the structure. We also talked about some other things that I can't wait to share with you but you will just have to wait.

On Tuesday I leave for Dallas to spend 5 days with my wife without the kids. This will be the first time for us to get away like this since our oldest, who is 3, was born. You see, Jessica is a Mary Kay consultant and their national convention is going on this week. We are going down there and I think I am going to have a blast. Again if you want to know how I am really doing you can always follow me on Twitter.

Why do I tell you about this things? Very simple. Both can be one or the other; a retreat or an advance. Go ahead and read the definitions one more time. The same goes for ministry opportunities all the time. The problem is I don't know if you know if what you are doing is a retreat or an advance until after the fact. Don't get me wrong, I know what I want both to be but I don't think you are ever sure until the process is complete.

So let me ask you, "In your ministry right now, are you on an advance or on a retreat?"

On June 23rd, 2008 I wrote about the 5 Themes that we are going to implement at Horizon Community Church for Preschool-High School. These 5 Themes are suppose to be a measuring stick for what is being taught to every kid that walks in to our church. The 5 Themes are God, the Bible, the Church, Self Disciplines, and Relationships.

Why have a measuring stick? I want our church to have some type of cohesion for a child that is with us from Preschool-High School. I want to make sure there is a progression in there faith and in their experiences. I also believe parents want to know that we have thought through what we are teaching their kids. We don't just throw something against the wall and hope it sticks. Instead we want to make sure that each year that a child or student is with us that they are growing in their learning and understanding of God. If you don't have a measuring stick then how do you know if you are accomplishing anything? So when looking at the series that we are going to do we are making sure that we are not teaching to much on the Church and not enough on the Bible or vice versa.

What prompted these 5 themes? Reggie Joiner has been and is talking about his 3 Dials. What are the 3 Dials? I believe my friend Kenny Conley said it best on his blog and I quote:

The Wonder Dial, the Discovery Dial and the Passion Dial. The Wonder Dial is the understanding of faith, creation and who God is. The Discovery Dial is the understanding of how I personally fit into this knowledge of God, specifically relating to having a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Passion Dial is understanding my relationship with those around me.

So, when an integrated family ministry operates with the knowledge of these dials, the team can work together to turn these dials at the appropriate times within ministry. For instance, the Wonder Dial will be turned most during the preschool years, and only a little beyond that (mainly for outreach opportunities). The Discovery Dial is turned the most in elementary ministry and in student ministry and the Passion Dial will be turned the most in student ministry. Implementing this in an integrated strategy allows everyone in multiple ministries to be on the same page.

How do the 5 Themes coexist with the 3 Dials? I believe the two have the same common end goal of getting Preschool-High School on the same page. I also believe the two have some of the same thoughts in common. In fact I think the two go much better hand in hand than apart from each other. For instance if you are going to teach the 5 Themes every year a child is in your ministry then the focus of those Themes are going to change. This is where the 3 Dials come into play. Knowing when to turn each dial up and down but not forgetting that no matter what that each Theme should be touched upon in a given year is the key. Just because a High School students understands and needs more relational ministry doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a series done each year on how to use the Bible for growth. In fact, knowing where you have been and where you are heading with both the 5 Themes and 3 Dials will only make the application to each student better and better. They may actual not only download what you are teaching but get it to the point where they use what they are learning.

Now I know your question from here, "What about the kid that doesn't come into your ministry until they are in High School or Middle School and has no prior knowledge of any of the 5 Themes or the 3 Dials?" Isn't this why it is even more important that you teach each Theme every year? Yes even in Preschool you teach about Relationships and in High School you teach about about God, Creation, and the basics of faith. It is never a bad idea to reinforce the past while stretching the teacher to teach in a creative compelling way.

Therefore, I think that both the 5 Themes and the 3 Dials have to live together. I think they build upon each other. I think one is not complete without the other.

I have started the process on how each of the 5 Themes may compile on top of each other and how that might be fleshed out. Kenny Conley, Sam Luce, and Jonathan Cliff don't know this yet but they are going to help me. Of course my staff at Horizon is helping out. I would love to get your help on this as well. If you want to help then shoot me an e-mail. If Reggie Joiner is out there reading this than I would love to see what you think too.

Today is out last full of camp. We leave tomorrow morning. The kids are already a little sad about leaving and I don't blame them. Why? I think it is simple. You can't help but make friends at camp. Leaving friends is one of the hardest thing in the world to do. I hate it. I always have but it is one of those necessary things in life. Which by the way, I am very bad at goodbyes. I don't do it well. I have the tenancy to just leave. This is what happens at camp. The tenancy is that tomorrow morning when we leave the kids don't get to say goodbye to everyone and it kind of hurts.

I even feel this way. I have been able make some great new friendships and refresh some old ones. I think there is something about getting away from your normal day and your normal life that makes you build relationships. Not just earthly relationships but spiritual relationships as well. I can tell that the kids that came with us are building a better friendship with God. How cool is that?

So thank you Centri-Kid for giving the kids and the adults the opportunity to get to know each other. It is very nice to meet and see friends.

I am currently at Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY attending a church camp called Centri-Kid. Centri-Kid is a camp that is run by Lifeway Christian Resources or otherwise known as the Southern Baptist Convention. It is for kids who have completed 3rd-6th grade and is an overnight camp. This is our second year as a church to attend this particular camp.

Why Centri-Kid? My philosophy on camp is that I want to be able to build relationships with the kids and not have to worry about anything else. We only brought 12 kids and I am really getting to know each and every one of them. Basically Centri-Kid takes care of all of the programming and let's my volunteers and I the ability to just hang with the kids. This camp also builds into the adults while the kids are in their own Bible Study.

So far the camp has been very good. The program is solid and the kids are having fun. Registration was a breeze. The dorms are fine. The food is actually good. They even gave us free Starbucks today as a thank you and not just your normal cup of joe, but a grande iced carmel-white mocha. The only bad thing that has happened so far is one of the boys fell off the top bunk this morning at 5:30am. He got a nice pop knot on his head but will be fine.

Today we will get to go to a water park for our free time. The kids are really looking forward to this.

Here are some pictures that I have taken so far that I think you might enjoy.


The drop off area. Nice use of flags.



The stage set-up for large group presentations.



Kids doing their quiet time this morning.



One of the campers talking smack and telling Momma jokes.



The Senior Pastor's son doing a got Milk commercial.


There you have it. I really am enjoying myself. If you want more details then you can also follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mattmckee

I love visiting other churches. I wish I could take a week and travel all over the world and visit the best churches out there. I believe you can learn so much from doing this simple exercise. You learn what to do and what not to do. You learn who they are as a church and more importantly you learn who you are as a church. You also get to meet some incredible people who just might inspire you to become a better minister.

Today I took a portion of my team, Tim Selnick and Andrea Goslee, to Montgomery Community Church. Instead of doing our normal staff meeting we went and visited with Kim Vaught. Kim is a firecracker and has a huge heart for kids. She is all about vision and seeing people come to know the love of God. She was kind enough to spend over an hour with my team and I.

Just over 2 years ago Montgomery had Wacky World come in and establish an environment for the Children's area. Before the transformation the church was your typical white/grey walls with little decorations. Now it is a vibrant space that speaks leaps and bounds on how much the church values kids. Here are some pictures I took while I was there:











If you are not visiting other churches then why not? If you are visiting other churches then let me know what you learn. If you are even in Cincinnati, OH then I would love to take you around the city and eventually to my own church once it is built.

Over the last several years churches have begun what they call Video Venues or Satellite Campuses. A video venue or satellite campus is one where there's not a live preacher but the pastor is on a very high quality video that is shown instead on a very large screen that fills a stage. A basic service at one of these churches is very streamlined and has live worship music, maybe some creative element, and then the sermon on video. I was working at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX when they opened up their first campus like this. I remember it being a back and forth on whether or not this was a good idea. The questions of do we build a bigger auditorium that will seat close to 9,000, redo the current auditorium for more seating, or go to video venues were the questions of the day in staff meetings.

Here is why I remember Fellowship Church went to video instead of the other two options:

1. People would not have to drive as far to new venues.
2. You could reach new people in new areas and have more impact on a different community.
3. The cost for building a new auditorium or redoing the current one would be as much if not more than starting 3 new campuses.
4. Ed is a gifted communicator and would be better on video than most would be live.
5. People who were sitting more than 10 rows back were already watching Ed on the large video screens and not looking at him on stage.
6. LifeChurch.tv was being very succussful in starting and maintaining new places of worship. Therefore we could follow a model of success.

Basically it came down to impact, levels of excellence, cost, and success.

Here is the question of the day, the month, the year, and years to come:

Is it working?

Keith Johnson just wrote a blog post about his experience at one of these services. Read the article and look at the comments. I have known Keith since 1999 when he hired me for a summer to work for the Billy Graham Association. Sometimes in his post and in his comments he comes across harsh, judgemental, or critquing. I know that is not his heart or intent (I just got off the phone with him). He could communicate his questions better. His questions are the same as why Fellowship started doing video venues.

1. Can and is it being impactful?
2. Is the level of excellence greater than a live speaker?
3. Is the cost of watching a video overcoming the building of community?
4. Is it being successful and how do you measure that success?

These questions are not those of critique but of evaluation. These questions are very viable and need to be answered. For many churches they have answered these questions. Take NewSpring Church in South Carolina for example. They are just starting their video venues and must have answered a resounding, "Yes" to the questions above. Why else would you start something if you didn't believe in it.

Here is the problem. This is still a new thing. We don't know the long term answers to the questions. We don't know if video venues cause weird attadance patterns or a lack of passion for attendance. We don't know if video venues cause tithing issues. We don't even know if a gifted communicator on video is more impactful than a gifted communicator live. We don't know if there is longevity in these campuses. We also don't know how this effects the rest of the family.

What we do know is that people are going to these campuses currently. Just look at LifeChurch.tv again. We know that they are hearing the truth about God. Anytime Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church preaches you here the truth about God and they have video venues. We know that they must like a gifted communicator on video more than a sub-par communicator live or they wouldn't be there.

What I hope doesn't happen is this same trend in Children's Ministry. I hope that we are not streamlining Children's Ministry so much that all they get is live worship music and a video. Whether you think adults can handle the difference or not, I think it is much harder for kids. We should not put more emphisis on production to make sure every kid gets the same experience over all the campuses by video. This statement is coming from a guy who loves production at very high qualities. We should instead make sure every kid has the same experience through building relationships. Kids don't get enough relational learning outside of church. They do get enough video and entertainment. Small groups or relationship building is going to be more and more important. I would much rather see a "good" live performance of a drama, Bible story, and games than an incredible, out of this world, great produced video for kids. Please keep as many live elements as possible for kids. It builds their imigination, their understanding, and I believe is just more effective.

I am currently working on a scope and sequence (not real high on that term but it is the best I have) for birth-high school. Yes I know, it is a task and a half. You think I am crazy and you want to know why I am doing this thing because I am not a publishing company. Well, let me just say that I think we need to be more strategic and intentional in our approach of leading kids and students.

Right now I can't say that we are doing a great job at being either strategic or intentional in the ministries that I over see in this area of cohesion for kids. Don't get me wrong, I think that we are doing very well in our series that we do for each group but it is not a cohesive unit by any means. As the Pastor of Students and Children it is my job to get us there.

You may or may not know but Reggie Joiner and the people over at the ReThink Group are doing this as well. Reggie has his 3 dials of Wonder, Discovery, and Passion that he talks about when examining this topic. Those are very good and the way that he presents them is great. The only problem is when I tell parents that I am going to teach their kid about Wonder, Discovery, and Passion then they look at me funny. Believe me, I have tried this and the looks are great. I guess I didn't do as well as Reggie at presenting the concepts.

What did I do in return? I have come up with 5 themes that we are going to focus on from birth-high school. Now don't get me wrong, these are not earth shattering by any means but it does give us a stick to measure with and to communicate to parents.

When a parent comes to me now and asked what we are going to teach their child from birth-high school I will say, "There are 5 key themes or areas that your child will learn while in our program. We will make sure your child is taught about:

God (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit)
The Church
The Bible
Self Disciplines
and Relationships

I told you that it wasn't earth shattering.

This gives us a foundation of what we are going to teach. It also helps us plan the teaching series or look for curriculum. I can now honestly look at each series and say that we are to heavy on the relationship piece and not enough on the Bible or the Holy Spirit or whatever happens to be the case. It is a start but not even close to being finished. More will come in the future about what our scope and sequence really looks like. It will be broken down for each area to give us a nice picture of where a kid should be in 5th grade, 8th grade, and 12th grade. Like I said before this is a task and a half.

By the way, why is it so hard to find this topic of an over arching theme for birth-high school? Is Reggie really one of the few people out there doing this? There has to be more. If you know of any could you leave a comment and let the rest of us know about it.

Did you know that I have a Posse'? That's right, I'm cool enough to have a gang of Children's Pastors that I hang out with. Hang out with might be a stretch. I mean we communicate all of the time. We pray for each other like crazy. We let each other know what's really going on in our ministries. We encourage each other and push each other. I can't think of a better group of guys to prod me along.

So how has the world of Children's Ministry become flat? I have actually never met any of them in person. Jonathan Cliff, aka Little Pastor, lives in Lubbock, TX. He just had a rough 10 year anniversary because his kids aren't feeling well. Kenny Conley is in Austin, TX. He just became the Family Pastor of a church there and is dealing with a lot of leadership growth in his life. Sam Luce is in Utica, NY and has been the Children's Pastor of his church for 10 years. He is extremely passionate about ministry, Macs, and media. All three of these guys are leaders beyond belief. Their visions are incredible.

How do I know all this stuff? How do we communicate? How did we become friends?
It is quite simple. We all blog (Jonathan's blog, Kenny's blog, Sam's blog). We all Twitter (Johanthan's feed, Kenny's feed, Sam's feed). We even use the old school e-mail. We all have the common interest in seeing people get God's love. Someday we are all going to be at the same conference and be able to make fun of each other in person but until that day I am extremely excited that God has brought us together for this season in this way. You could call us all nerds or geeks. You could call us a nice team assembled all over the country. You could call us crazy.

By the way there is one more guy who all 4 of us look to that is also making the world of Children's Ministry flatter. His name is Pudge Huckaby. I have had the priveledge of meeting Pudge at his church in South Carolina. He to has incredible insight and passion for kids and the ministry to kids. I don't know if I would call him apart of the Posse', but I think he will be soon. His blog is here and his twitter feed is here.

This Posse' is not closed. We are not exclusive except for the fact that you have to be really good at what you do. You have to be passionate about ministry, people, and God's love. You have to be somewhat of a tech geek, if not we might bore you. You have to be willing to share your thoughts and to be pushed. Other than that let us know who you are. We would love to have you as apart of the conversation.

Doing anything together is much better than doing something by yourself.

Do you know the 4 Minute Rule? If you don't you should. Fairly or unfairly you, your ministry, your events, and even your success is judged, measured, and defined by the 4 Minute Rule. Am I talking about the amount of time that you teach a point and move on to something else? No. Am I talking about the amount of time you can spend on Facebook before being invited to another application or group? No, that would be the 2 minute rule. So, what is the is the 4 Minute Rule and why is it so important?

The 4 Minute Rule is simple and if used effectively will increase your ministry leaps and bounds. If the 4 Minute Rule is used poorly then it will create headaches of migraine proportions. The 4 Minute Rule says that you have 4 Minutes with each set of parents or guardians of each kid. The 2 Minutes that they drop them off and the 2 Minutes that they pick them up and that is it. Most parents don't know anything more about you, your ministry, or your responsibility than those crucial 4 Minutes. I mean think about it. Parents really don't know what happens while they are gone. Sometimes that is a good thing but most of the time that is not the goal but it remains to be the truth. Seriously though, how would they know what happened? They ask their child and the child mutters something about candy, not winning, and that someone was smelling really bad. Parents look at the parent page long enough to see that you taught their child something and are happy that they didn't have to teach that lesson. Parents though in those 4 Minutes judge everything by all 5 senses. How does your space smell? How does your ministry look? How friendly are your volunteers? How much do you care about my child? Can I trust you with my child? Does it look like you know what you are doing? How does your space and ministry make them feel?

Now you see how important the 4 Minute Rule is to you and your ministry. You really only have a brief amount of time to impress and communicate to families. This is why environment is so important. This is why smiling faces at the room is so important. This is why the check in process is one of the most important things that you will do in the eyes of the family. Remember you only have the 2 minutes that parents drop off and the 2 minutes that parents pick up. If it takes more than those 2 minutes then families are not going to be happy and if it takes a lot less time than that then they don't feel like you care about their child. Nobody likes to wait in line to drop off their kids. Nobody likes it when you can't find their kid's bag or toy when they come pick up their child. Believe me when I say that I know that your ministry, job, livelihood is so much more than those 4 Minutes but I don't know when it comes to ministering to the family if you can find a more crucial 4 Minutes.

If you don't believe that these 4 Minutes are crucial then let them go by the wayside and see what happens. You will get more complaints and families leaving because they remember the first and last things that they experience and that experience was not good.

Live by the 4 Minute rule or spend the rest of your time making up for those 4 bad Minutes.

I know that Tuesday are normally cut down to 2 minutes for your convenience but I just can't help myself this time. Below is a link to the sermon I did this past Sunday. It is about 30 minutes total.

http://www.horizoncc.com/horizonfiles/mp3/060108_n.mp3

I hope that you enjoy it and if you don't then you can let me know that as well. I look forward to the comments and thoughts.

By the way, I love to preach. The more I do it the more I enjoy it.

For some reason the following e-mail cracked me up. The business that is putting this together is either really smart or are grasping for straws. Seriously you have to read this and I quote:

I am pleased to announce that Horizon Community Church has been selected for the 2008 Best of Cincinnati Award in the Places of Worship category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA).

In recognition of your achievement, a 2008 Best of Cincinnati Award plaque has been designed for display at your place of business. You may arrange to have your award sent directly to Horizon Community Church by following the simple steps on the 2008 Best of Cincinnati Award order form. Simply copy and paste this link into your browser to access the order form: https://www.uslba.net/Award.aspx?b=100585318&bc=1307609134

The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Also, a copy of the press release publicizing the selection of Horizon Community Church is posted on the USLBA website. USLBA hereby grants Horizon Community Church a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display this press release in any media formats and through any media channels.

Sincerely,

Ashley Carter
Selection Committee Chair
U.S. Local Business Association

p.s. If the links are not working in this email please copy and paste the following URLs into your browser:
Award Order Form: https://www.uslba.net/Award.aspx?b=100585318&bc=1307609134
Press Release: https://www.uslba.net/PressRelease.aspx?b=100585318&bc=1307609134


Now don't get me wrong. I love my church and if you are ever in Cincinnati then you should stop by and worship with us. We do have great worship.

Did you know that there is a new way to know that you are successful? There is believe me. How do you know? When someone is faking to be you on the net, that's how.

Fake Steve Jobs was a story and a half. Of course there is a bunch of fakes on Twitter. There is FakeSharpton, FakeYouTube, and FakeObama plus many, many more.

But those are not the ones that I made me chuckle. The one that makes me laugh the most is the FakeEdYoung on Twitter. How did I find FakeEdYoung? I am preaching this weekend on how to get over your Identity Crisis and wanted to see what would happen if I searched for "Fake" people on Twitter. Buried on page 10 I found FakeEdYoung. Seriously, this person has nothing better to do with their time then to be a fake preacher. Don't get me wrong, I like Ed a whole lot. I worked under him for 5 years. I still listen to his sermons. I look to him for what is happening next in the church. Still I don't see how this is helping this person or him. Talk about an Identity Crisis. If you can't be yourself and have to be someone else then you are having a really bad day. So to whoever is FakeEdYoung, I hope that you find yourself in the midst of your searching and pretending. I also hope that you don't work at Fellowship Church and Ed finds out. That would be a very bad day.

Now I didn't find any FakeMattMcKee out there but when I do I will know that I have finally become successful. Have you been faked? Of all of my readers I bet you that the one that will be faked first will be either Terry Storch or Tony Mogan. Let's see who does it first. . .

It is almost 11:00pm. I am getting ready to lay down and go to sleep and this is the first time today that I have really thought about blogging, twittering, or even being on Facebook. Today I was passionate and not about my passions. I was passionate about not being plugged in. It felt good and weird and uncomfortable yet relaxing all at the same time.

Psalm 37:7 says, " Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Sometimes I think about being still as being unplugged. I noticed that I gave more attention to things that I normally don't. I also realized that I don't really have to be plugged in but I really enjoy it when I am.

Are you passionate about your rest? When you have a day off, do you passionate persue nothing and enjoy it? It is fine to be passionate, just make sure that your passion goes both directions or you will get tired really quick. Tired people don't minister very well. Don't let yourself become too tired.