Golden-Gate-Bridge12, originally uploaded by Hari Adivarekar.

I know this is a question that I have heard a few times now. I’ve told you some of the issues that we face in our context. Some of them are unique to us.

Our transition from main building for Children to Student Building for Middle School and High School is very challenging in many ways such as check-in, check-out, safety, security, etc.

But there are also some issues that I feel are very similar in most contexts:

• Programming shifts from Children to Students: tracks to bands in most cases.
• Small Group Purpose Changes. Small Group key on Sundays for kids, but for students that purpose is shifted in another direction (in home groups or another day for small groups)
• Changes in the Kids specifically. Desire for more freedom and choice. Need for independence but still belonging to a group.

So over the next few weeks, I hope to let you know some of the things we’ve put into place to help Parents and Kids be able to walk the bridge between Children’s Ministry and Student Ministry. And most importantly why I personally feel that Preteen Ministry is the absolute best way to build the bridge between the two ministries.

But for now,

What are your preteen ministry questions?

Ever since I was Back to the Future I’ve wanted shoes that lace themselves up. You are not going to believe the video that I found. Check out these shoes and know that these are in the works. How crazy is that?

You can check out the Kickstarter Project Page here for the Power Laces

So I’m in the market for a new set of notebooks. I’m finally on my last blue Moleskine and need a new notebook. You guys know that I’m a junkie when it comes to this stuff. So I’m thinking about sticking with Moleskine, unless someone has a notebook to try and persuade me to change my ways.

So please….

Point me to my new notebook

Julio Samayoa is our Recreation Director/Middle School Pastor. And he’s unbelievable at so many things. This video showcases his pretending to be the Old Spice Guy skills. Oh yeah he’s also Spanish!

(Chloe’s very own Prince Charming), originally uploaded by Tracie Taylor Photography.

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Prince Charming movement that Disney created? Or are you opposed to the Prince? My wife and I disagree a little bit on this issue. Where do you stand?

Drop a comment

Um yes please! How incredibly awesome is this? You can pick this thing up at Brookstone! Seriously my mind is blown.

O yeah and here is a dogfight between two of them.

I wonder if I can figure out a way to use this in our preteen ministry? Hmmm, my mind is churning.

Mark Driscoll wrote an article for the Washington Post and I think that it’s spot on. This has to be one of the “BIG THINGS” in Family Ministry. How can we as a church partner with Parents to move boys from teenagery to manhood. Honestly I think that in our web-centric society this problem will become worse rather than better very soon.

This quote I believe might be the key to helping the church figure this transition out:

Men are supposed to be producers, not just consumers. You’re defined by the legacy, the life, and the fruit that come out of you, not by what you take in. But most guys are just consumers.

I’m in this postition too. I am a guy that gets stuff done. However, I’m also 24 and moving from my home where my mother who worked her butt off in the home and raised us very well, took care of a lot of stuff for me. A lot of stuff she asked me to do and I refused. Can you say cleaning your room? One of the hardest transitions for me into marriage has been producing not just at my job, where it comes naturally, but moreso in the home. I can not just be a consumer at home.

So I think this problem is a big one. Parents the goal should be to get your kids ready to leave, and there will be problems, even the best families have issues. But how can we partner with you to help boys transition to being men?

Family Ministry Peeps, how can we help this problem?

Preteen Ministry peeps, what is our role in this issue?

So we started Switch yesterday at Brookwood. There were a ton of  kids, about 40% more than we were expecting in fact! Here are a few of my thoughts on opening day:

• iPads were a smash hit. Even the Parents were like, wow. Especially the dads, more on that later.
• We started with a Doug Fields series called Made. It was a hit, really worked on one of the areas that I will concentrate on and that is the issue of identity.
• Check-in was crazy and that is sort of new territory for me. Production went rather well but that is my area of “expertise”(haha) but realized just how much I have to learn.
• Families are transitioning in so many ways, that I didn’t even consider.
• Our church really, really needed this and that was apparent to me on Sunday.
• The kids had a blast and a lot of Parents voiced to me just how much their kids enjoyed it. Very thankful.
• Really will be working hard to recruit some strong male leaders. Thanks to my marketing degree, I have no shame in recruiting. Seriously, no shame at all. One of my favorite things.

Just a few thoughts from the first week. Here are some other funny ones.

I’m not really a numbers guys. I love data analyzation but gathering and collecting is not fun. So I totally didn’t take a head count of two of the three services, man am I a rookie or what? I will probably never talk about total attendance because as my friend Jonathan Cliff wisely pointed out when I met him at Orange in 2009, “It creates a barrier that restricts the conversation.” Unless some of my mentors voice to me otherwise numbers won’t be something that I talk about.

We ran out of cards that we printed about our check in process. Our Creative Services team printed more than I asked for and we still ran out. God really blew my expectations out of the water.

I was really rusty on stage. I hadn’t spoken in about 6 weeks and it showed. I felt uncomfortable in some content and adding detail and vibrance in some of my stories. Flow was pretty good though.

Anyway, enough about Switch.

When is your kickoff/promotion and what are you doing special this year?

It was a blast and I can’t wait to see what this year has in store.

This new commercial immediately screamed new parental responsibilities for parents that have Preteens or tweens. The commercial involves a student trying to break away from his mom and begin his first day of school. Mom trying to protect her son and make sure he’s prepared lets him go. He gets to his locker and realizes he forgot the combination to his locker. Luckily his mom wrote his combo on a rice krispies treat package.

I immediately saw 10-12 year old boys everywhere with some sort of a similar scenario playing out in their life. I know simple, but again. Giving that child a little more freedom but still helping guide them in life is one of the major themes in Preteen Ministry. Doesn’t seem like an easy thing to know your child well enough, that you know your son is going to forget his locker combination. But I think that relationship that mom has with son, she knows exactly what he needs and she allows him to exercise a little bit of freedom.

So Parents of Preteens and Preteen Ministry workers, remember to help parents and kids learn some responsibility by the way you communicate, the processes you build, and the relationships that you develop.

Now did the commercial say all that? No, maybe I’m just excited about Switch and the opportunities to speak about this transition that both kids and parents are navigating

I bought a Nikon D3000 like 2 or 3 months ago and love it. But now this comes out and films 1080p video. Argh! I can’t tell you how frustrated I was with this news.The new Nikon D3001 looks killer! And it’s priced rather well for a camera of it’s type at $699

Here’s the Wired article on the new camera