The Eric Trap Book Review

So I was offered the opportunity to read a book and review it written by some wonderful people in Children’s Ministry. The book is called The Eric Trap: 5 things every leader has to get right.

It’s a great read and a book that I am blessed to have. The book takes you thru the story of a fake #kidmin pastor named Eric Newman. Eric has all kinds of issues that he has gotten himself into, from fighting with volunteers, misaligned priorities, and lack of self awareness. It’s a challenging read for a young person in ministry.

I’ve got a son on the way named Cannon and I want him to have the father that he needs. I want my wife to have the husband that she needs and I want my ministry to have the pastor that it needs. Because of these things, the issues talked about in this book are a shot right to my heart. It’s one thing to desire these things, it’s a whole nother ballgame to align your actions with these desires.

This book is a challenge to all people, but I think it applies most to young people to get 5 things right every time in your ministry role. You can either learn from your own mistakes or the mistakes of others.

Such a great book and a easy read. I wonder if Eric truly is fake though, maybe Sam and Kenny talked Jim into telling some best of stories and put them into the book. Or maybe Eric is Sam or Kenny or maybe even Jonathan Cliff.

One thing is for sure. I’ve been challenged not only by the book, but by my wife after talking about the things contained in it. Pray for me as I try to apply some of the principles contained in it’s pages.

I’ll be giving away two copies of the book. I’m giving one away to someone in my ministry. A winner will be picked at random using the widget below a week from today. You have a week to enter.

This book is important for you as a leader. It’s important for you as a member of any organization church related or not. It’s important for you as a follower of Christ.

Here’s how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[I received a copy of this book to review and some copies to give away.]

Struggling to find ways to introduce parents to your ministry? Do you ultimately want more volunteers and wish you could get them to see your ministry? Wish you could sign up people as volunteers for short term projects to help you accomplish your goals? Here is something that you will want to check out.

This resource allows you to setup a calendar and opportunities for people to meet short term needs for people and resources. You might want to check out Volunteer Spot today.

This was a great find by our admin, Melinda Barth, who gets emails from the school system about volunteering in the classroom and providing supplies. I think it has great value for the church and specifically preteen ministry. Here are some ways that you can use it:

1. Calendar of Events

I know that some of you are looking for ways to put out an incredible ministry calendar. This is one way that parents can see what you are doing. A simple way to ask for prayer for a particular series or push that you are making in your ministry.

2. Supplies

Currently we are using a system like this through our Database to ask for supplies for two particular things: Event donations (game supplies, mission projects, etc.) and Volunteer Appreciation (Orange Juice, snacks, cards, etc.)

We setup a date on the calendar and tell our parents what we are asking for i.e. dozen donuts and a gallon of orange juice for 3 services. This is a great opportunity to let parents know that you want their involvement and even if they can’t serve “right now” they can contribute in some way. Parents love this!!

It’s another way to get some budget help without fundraising. For us, this is huge!!

3. Other Opportunities

I’m just dreaming now, but there seems to be a lot of things that this could be used for. Here are a few that come to my mind:

• Supplies or people for your church stage design
• Immediate volunteer needs
• Parent Meetings (food, drinks, volunteers, etc.)
• Materials for games

If I haven’t convinced you, maybe this video will:

Can this help you increase your resources at church?

Preteens love Zombies!! What’s better than a game based on Zombies?? A dodgeball game based on zombies, that’s what!!

I can’t wait to play this game. The past few posts have been about being overwhelmed with budgeting and planning and finding a way to get in a good ministry workout. Today’s post and maybe a few more will be about some of the things that we have coming up at Switch.

So here’s the game:

You gather a group of preteens and dodge balls. Depending on the size of the group you assign a certain number of zombies. (Preteens with dodge balls). The zombies goal is to overrun the human population. So if you have 100 preteens it’s probably a good idea to have around 10 zombies. Figure out a fun way to show that they are a zombie: hand on head, mouth open, one hand in pocket, etc. Just make sure that you define it.

Then the goal of the zombies is to take out the humans. If a human gets hit with a dodgeball they become a zombie, or you can send them to the morgue for a certain period of time til they become a zombie, either way they begin to team up against the humans.

The game is over whenever you determine that it is:

• Everyone becomes a zombie
• There is one last person on earth
• 5 humans are left

I’m going to wait until there is one so I can award them the “LAST PERSON ON EARTH” award. I will then give the last 5 survival kits (canned food, rope, flashlight, and some sort of you made it type certificate.

This game I hope will be a hit and I can’t wait to tell you more about it!!

What one thing are you looking forward to next ministry year?

First of all. The look and feel and sound of this stuff is amazing. I think they really nailed the age group. Here is an example of FLYTE’s video work:

[tentblogger-youtube fzeMoOG4p2A#!]

Told you. They nail it.

But I think the thing that the curriculum is great at is creating an environment where preteens can ask questions. Asking Questions is so important. Not only that but they blog. I love bloggers and they provide some great content on preteen ministry. Click the link to check out the FLYTE blog

Now let me give you the nitty gritty.

In my context it wouldn’t work in large group, although, I can think of using many of the videos they provide for illustrations. It is a bit long for our programming. But long is better than too short

Great for small group but the same problem, a bit too much content. I know too much is terrible, right? I wish there was just a bit more umph behind a clear small group plan. But they do break it up into video elements, so you don’t have to use all of it at one time.

Love the video – discussion – video idea for preteens.

FLYTE would be awesome for this.

Overall I think FLYTE excelled in producing a curriculum for preteens and I will definitely be using this for a resource. I definitely think that you should try it out. They also tackle some fun issues that preteens are dealing with and are great to use to start a conversation.

Some of the ones that they touch on:

• Emotions
• Church
• Respect
• Purity
• Heaven
• Friendship
• Family

If you want to give FLYTE preteen curriculum a shot clicky the linky.

Here’s a sample as well Sample FLYTE lesson

Gotta Do whatcha Gotta Do

So last weekend, my Jeep’s driver side window wouldn’t roll up. It’s been a few weeks of crazy stuff happening in our lives and our cars haven’t helped. We’ve had plenty of car trouble in the past. We know that it’s only a season, but sometimes these problems just seem to pile up. Not to mention, you are a youth pastor. It’s not like you are in this thing for the money. So I thought I would give you some insight into some things that I use pretty regularly to help with some problems with cars and appliances in your home to save you a few bucks.

I used some of these to fix my power window that wouldn’t roll up as well. Saved me about $200-$300 by DIY instead of taking it to a shop.

Check out these resources:

RepairClinic.com

RepairClinic.com is an incredible resource that my dad turned me on to. It’s a database of all kinds of appliances. Complete with diagrams of the device and commonly seen problems it’s a great site to frequent if your appliances are giving you some issues.

They also point you to where you can find the parts and sometimes have videos showing you how to do certain repairs or fixes.

Great, Great Resource!!!

CarComplaints.com

This site is a funny site to visit when something isn’t wrong with your vehicle!! This site is good because it does two things really well.

1. Encouragement – it’s always good to know that someone else is having problems as well and it’s an encouragement to see some of the problems that people are dealing with and remember that your problems could always be worse.
2. Common Problems are highlighted – You can discover things about your car that are common breakdowns. For instance, we recently bought my wife a 2008 Honda Accord. It’s a good car and has a great resale value. However, there are some problems that we figured out really quickly. One big one is that the rear brakes wear down twice as fast as the front brakes!! Normally the rear brakes last twice as long as the front brakes. Good to know so you can save some money by replacing them with different types of brakes and also go to a place that gives you a lifetime guarantee brake job.

YouTube

1AAuto's Youtube Channel

This might seem like second nature to you, but YouTube has a ton of resources on DIY repairs. Just search for your vehicle and the problem that you are having. Then you will see a bevy of videos to help you find your problem and repair it.

I used a video from 1AAuto’s channel to replace my power window this past weekend. It was much easier than I thought and saved me about $200-$300 by not going to an autoshop.

I hope that you can use some of these resources to help you save a bit of money.

What are some resources that you use to save some cash money?

Picture taken from a Go-Pro

This is a guest post from my co-worker and friend, Chris Brank. Besides being a phenomenal influence on our students, Chris runs a side business that you can check out at chrisbrankfilms.com and his blog at chrisbrank.com

You need a GoPro for Your Ministry.

And here’s four reasons why:

BUT FIRST…what is a GoPro?  Well, it’s very small. It’s waterproof. It’s 1080p at 30 frames per second or 720P with 60 frames per second for slow-motion stuff. There are a million attachments to put it on anything..bikes, surfboards, helmets, cars. People have dropped them out of airplanes and they hit the ground still recording. It has a beautiful, ultra wide fish-eye perspective…in fact, 5 different settings of fish-eye, depending on how wide you want to go!  You can get a screen to go on the back so you can see menus and see what you’re shooting. It’s very awesome.

Now, here’s those reasons:

1) It’s super cheap. I got the Motorsports edition on Amazon plus a screen, surf-mount, and tripod adapter for under $350. And you know what’s crazy? In the video I’m about to link to, I shot with a GoPro and a Canon 7D with a L-quality lens…and if you just casually watch, you won’t be able to tell the difference. Just know I didn’t take the 7D underwater!  http://youtu.be/_ghPVix68hY (PS, I colored the 7D footage, but didn’t even have to color the GoPro footage because it already had the saturated vintage feel that I wanted!)

2) It really does have a completely waterproof / shockproof casing. I’ve never been afraid to take that thing anywhere!  Mud, sand, snow, it just rocks it out. Lauren Germann, the Elementary Production Coordinator at Brookwood, just took it to their “So Long Summer” event at a local waterpark. Check out her highlight reel: http://youtu.be/XqUHm_6vTvU

3) It’s crazy easy to use. There are two buttons.  It takes approx. 15 minutes to memorize the instruction manual…then you are good to go!  In fact, during Adventure Week (the VBS at Brookwood Church) I handed to a student (Mary Erny) and she carried it around all week with no prior experience and put together this video in iMovie:  http://youtu.be/oHfbnBlRafs

4) Just look over the previous three reasons again.

Now, one quick thing before I wrap that you need to know: Do not expect good audio quality. Especially with the waterproof case…it protects everything from getting to the camera, including sound!  Without the case, it’s not horrible, but I rarely use the audio.

Get one, and put together some videos with angles that were just impossible before now. Hand it to students, take it on trips, throw together a million highlight videos. And throw IT everywhere!

Want to buy a GoPro for your Ministry? Here is where we say buy it. GoPro HD Helmet HERO Camera(affiliate link)

We have some of our Community Groups on Wednesday night for our 5th and 6th graders. It’s difficult to program for this timeframe for multiple reasons.

• We have tons of adult classes going on, so our pool for volunteers is smaller.
• Preteens have been in school all day, they are ready to rumble (know what I’m sayin)
• It’s 1.25 hours if they follow schedule. Sometimes it ends up being 2 hours for some preteens.

So I’ve been struggling to program for this time. Honestly, on a good night we are getting 15 minutes of conversation with they boys and 20-25 with the girls. So I need at least 40 minutes of time to program for our students.

What we have are iPads, some board games, and recreation materials. The season makes it tough for outdoor activities because of how dark it gets early in the night. Tomorrow we are going to set up tables in the room with a few more board games and pray it works.

Here is what we’ve tried:

• Football (lights and projectors in the room, not such a good idea)
• Ninja
• Duck, Duck Goose (worked suprisingly well)
• iPads every week

So I’ve got some resources that I go to often like YouthLeaderStash that have great game ideas. But I’m looking for some favorites for our preteens.

So I need some help.

You’ve got 40 minutes with 40 riled up preteen boys and girls. What would you do?

Here are a few pics from their site.

Seriously! Every feel alone in ministry? Wish you knew someone nearby to have a coffee and just communicate about struggles, victories, and the crazy student team (o, wait that’s me too :p ) Then you need to join Imakidmin.com and connect with those just like you. Don’t sing it bring it. It’s time to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Invest in those around you.

Have you signed up yet?

What are you waiting for?

PS – if you are in Children’s Ministry at Brookwood you need to do this. Consider it a must do, just sayin.

This curriculum is geared towards 7th-8th grade students and is geared towards the confirmation type of service for students.

Here’s a sample of one of the video lessons:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdwIWDnE90

I think the graphics and content of the 2 video lessons that I saw were pretty awesome. Especially for preteen ministry. I’m thinking my 5th and 6th graders would eat those videos up. They are humorous and are filled with great content aimed towards answering some of the questions that students have about faith.

The activities in the sample seemed to miss the mark a bit. Thumb wars and graffiti wall could be accomplished outside of the material provided and would fit better in a younger context. However, there was a cool activity that could apply to that age group called tower races. It seemed to match well with the content and I know my students would get into that.

Would this work for a Sunday morning in our context? Definitely not. But, if you do a more small group centric midweek program, then this could work effectively in that environment as well.However, if you have a class set aside for Confirmation or basics of faith class, then this is something I would definitely check out for 4th-6th graders.

I feel like the price point is right on as well. DVD with 40 sessions for $50 I think is a great deal.

You can find out more about the re:form confirmation curriculum on the SparkHouse website.

Or check out some sample vids on their youtube page.

Have you checked out re:form? What do you think of their stuff?