Children's Ministry Seminar Sessions
2020 Sessions
Becoming KIDmissional! - Karl Bastian
Children’s Ministry is cross-cultural ministry! To be an effective minister to today’s children, you must learn to do it from within the context of their culture. A working knowledge of a kid’s world is an inroad to their heart. Learn how to relate to kids and keep up with their ever-changing culture. Discover how to find that tricky balance between being childlike while not being childish.
Creative Teaching: Extra Ordinary Classes - Trevon Buchanan
Do you ever feel like everyone else has more talents and creativity than you? If so then this class is for you. We will focus on teaching scriptures and applications that will stick with your children long after the class is over. Learn how to incorporate your own creative skills into your classes. Through object lessons, art, bible journaling, presentations, and more, your kids can learn lessons and not just hear them.
Creative Teaching: VBS, Puppets and more - Trevon Buchanan
Anyone who works in children’s ministry will be asked to do something(s) that are not class related. VBS, Bible Bowl, LTC, Lads to Leaders and the list goes on. Why limit yourself to boxes and kits? Take your own brand of creativity and make these activities next-level great. Hands-on ideas and suggestions in this class will give you a starting point for your next activity.
Difficult Parent or Powerful Partner? - Gary Lindsay
Do you ever roll your eyes when you get an email from a parent? We will help you make allies out of parents that seem troublesome and share a strategy to build cheerleaders and a parent alliance for your ministry.
Discipline and Trauma - Heidi Hensley
More and more, leaders are becoming frustrated with the challenges of discipline during ministry time. However many leaders are relying on old strategies without factoring in the newness of the world we live in. Trauma is not a word that was often used in this subject, but now more than ever we are facing a trauma induced world with our children. Come learn the most common sources of trauma, how they effect behavior and how to best respond.
Discovering and Developing Spiritual Gifts in Children - Heidi Hensley
We often hear kids leaders say “salvation knows no age”, and while many kids come to salvation very young, we don’t allow them to begin to be part of the functional body until they are older. Rather than wait for kids to “grow up” we will look at how you can help kids understand how God has designed them, how to use their gifts, and how to create opportunities for them to actively serve in kids ministry.
Engaging the Entire Family in Children’s Ministry - Karl Bastian
Regardless of your title, Children’s Ministry IS Family Ministry. You don’t just minister to kids, you impact the entire family. Come learn some strategic techniques for including the entire family in your children’s ministry. Not only will you gain some new volunteers, but you’ll help strengthen families at your church, and that’s the best long-term strategy for children’s ministry!
GAME ON! - Gary Lindsay
Learn the secret ‘RULE BOOK’ that gaming companies use to increase engagement and move information to transformation! Discover how to ‘SET UP’ for optimal learning to ensure memorable ‘GAME PLAY’ so we can ‘WIN’ kids for Jesus! We’ll explore how to create life-changing experiences in your ministry using R.E.A.L. (Relational, Experiential, Applicable, Learner-based) Learning. Up your game and get practical tools to create your own engaging, relevant Bible experiences that involve kids and transform lives.
Session 1: Game On! The Rule Book For R.E.A.L. Learning.
Session 2: REAL Win! —How to use REAL to WIN kids for Jesus!
How to Recruit, Train, and Keep Your Volunteers! - Heidi Hensley
There is an art to maintaining a full vibrant volunteer team, or it it just a very intentional formula? In this session we will look at the full cycle of managing volunteers and discover ways to continually improve the atmosphere and experience of those who serve in your ministry.
Lead the Way God Designed You - Heidi Hensley
While this session is heavily regarding women in ministry, it applies to everyone. We all have built the ideal ministry leader in our minds and attempt to force ourselves into that mold. Rather than taking this approach, come learn how to lead through your strengths as well as discovering where you are most gifted.
Leading with Discernment: Navigating the Tough Stuff - Shannon Rains
Women often find themselves in a tough place as they lead a ministry that many people have invested in for years. Dictating change is unhealthy, so how do we discern healthy engagement that invites all voices to the tables, women and men.
"Learning to Listen" Ministering to the LGBTQ+ Community - Kelsey Herndon & Chris Rosser
How do we welcome everyone to the table of the Lord as Christ has welcomed us, and love our neighbors and our sisters and brothers in Christ who identify as LGBTQ+, along with their children? This class will help you better understand the struggle and discuss some ideas on how to move forward.
Masterful Design - What Video Games Can Teach Us About How to Rethink Kids Ministry - Gary Lindsay
Dive into research from video game designers to rethink how we need to approach ministry to reach today’s kids. In this session Gary will give you four tools to change your ministry from your environment to relationships.
Perseverance Today- Brenda Gordan and Dana Sorrels
How Christ helped us through life’s struggles in our different roles as a child, as a sibling, as a parent, as a minister.
Ready to Use Training for Your Volunteers - Gary Lindsay
You know your volunteers need to be trained to be successful in their roles. Learn how to create training sessions for your leaders and where to find tools that will make your job training leaders more successful! Plus walk away with at least 2 trainings that are ready to use!
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Conversation about Important Reading for Children’s Ministers - Dr. Ron Bruner
Over the last two decades, the number of important books about children and spirituality has blossomed. It is difficult (and expensive!) to own them all, much less read them. In this session, we will have a conversation about the more significant books that children’s ministers ought to use in their ministry and consider other books that cover specific topics.
Special Needs Ministry: Helps for Training Volunteers and Encouraging Families Affected by Special Needs - Deborah Price
Deborah, a mother of a teenage son with autism, will be sharing her personal journey raising a son with autism as well as practical helps for those ministering to children, youth, and families affected by autism. She will share how her church family came alongside them and how to replicate the strategies they used to train volunteers so that their family could remain involved in the life of the church and her son could be a part of that.
Thinking about Children and Prayer - Dr. Ron Bruner
Children experience prayer among the people of God, in the midst of their family, and in their private lives. This conversation will consider different practices of prayer in Churches of Christ and explores ways that we might better equip children to engage in this practice for the sake of expressing joy, voicing gratitude, blessing others, discerning their path, lamenting a broken world, coping with grief, forming their souls, and experiencing God.
Time is Your Most Valuable Ministry Asset! - Karl Bastian
Whether you are full time, part-time or a volunteer leader - TIME is your most valuable ministry asset! You can’t manage time, you can only spend it. The secret is learning how to do things faster, better and more efficiently without sacrificing quality. What you need are ministry hacks - tools and techniques that help you do a better job in less time! From ministry management to media creation to marketing and communication and even recruiting, there are tools that can save you a ton of time.
Karl Bastian has been a kidmin leader for decades. Leading both a church ministry and a non-profit ministry requires quick solutions in order to maintain balance and healthy family life. Let Karl share with you some of the ‘hacks’ he uses in order to keep on top of it all while advancing the ministries he leads.
Session One: Leadership HACKS
Save time by being more organized, creating automated systems and mastering delegation.
Session Two: Technology HACKS
Save time by managing files better, producing FAST media, automating social media and keeping on top of tasks.
Session Three: Teaching HACKS
Save time by preparing lessons faster with no loss of quality, in fact, perhaps better lessons!
Session Four: Recruiting HACKS
Save time by making recruiting creative, fun, effective and consistent.
Training up a Family - Heidi Hensley
Research tells us that there are more and more families coming to church that have parents with little to no faith background. In order to effectively engage these children, we must equip the parents to disciple their children well. This “family ministry” breakout focuses on the fact that Children’s Ministry is actually family ministry when done right.
Welcoming Kids from Hard Places: Creating a Trauma-Informed Children’s Ministry - Josh Kingcade
We want our children’s ministries to be welcoming to kids from all backgrounds, and sometimes we need some tools outside our traditional skill set to do that. This class will introduce you to some principles and resources for welcoming and ministering to kids from hard places. You’ll discover resources on how to connect with them on a deeper level, empower them by meeting their physical and environmental needs, and correct them in healthy ways.
Your Ministry - Through the Eyes of a New Believer - Heidi Hensley
In this session we will remind ourselves to encounter church the way a new family does. Come learn how to constantly be observing the parts of your ministry that often become invisible to leaders, how to measure improvement and how to engage the new believer as they enter your space.