Tag Archive - #stumin

Organizational Buy-In: Relationship

April 26, 2010 in Communication, Lead 0

handshake

Time for the real crux of this formula. Remember the formula is here. Today we will talk about the R-Relationship.

Relationship to me is the most important factor in this entire equation, that we’ve talked about over the last few weeks. The depth of relationship that you have with people really increases your influence with them. It’s important to continually invest in people. When you come into a new organization, most people will give you this first piece of advice, “Build relationships, with people” and that’s true. You should continually look to build and deepen relationships with people in your organization. Insert this cliche here “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” and that pretty much sums it up. I know really corny post for such an important part but there are so many resources out there for connecting with people and building relationships.

Author’s Note

Now this formula is not for you to manipulate people. But I hope that you begin to look at the formula and see some areas that you can improve upon.

Totally being honest here

March 31, 2010 in Lead 1

Edit 5133, originally uploaded by jameshodgson100.

I know totally un-manly this morning, but I just need to let you know that spring is here!

If I can just let you into my brain for a bit, I do a little bit of graphic design and am totally self taught. My design is ok, but in no way am I professional designer.

But part of the reason that I love design is because of pictures like the one above this post.

I go nuts over Macro shots of flowers. I am consistently astounded by the creative ingenuity of our Creator. Flowers are a perfect picture of the detail involved in God’s craftmanship. I am consistently floored by the amount of focus put into color, form, and lines in flowers.

I can not get over how amazing they appear. I love spring so much more because of the colors brought out by the seasonal change.

When I look at these flowers and realize that they were good to God and then I think about myself and how in God’s eyes we were created VERY good, it puts a lot of things into perspective for me.

One of my friends is about to have a baby girl and I can imagine when she is born in the next few days, I can only imagine the amount of thought and detail that God put into her design.

Do flowers change your perspective on the value that God gives you? For me they most certainly do.

God’s Word and it’s role in our lives

March 22, 2010 in Random thoughts 1

books-and-ear-buds

I’ve been thinking alot about the innocence of a child and when Jesus says “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3 NIV)

What does that look like as we relate to His word and then pay it back and teach it to kids. Then as I was reading this passage this morning, I reflected on it’s simplicity. I’ll give you the JCSVFTWTCUKJV (JC’s shortened version for those that wish they could understand KJV) spill.

It comes from Joshua 11:6-7, Joshua had a huge victory and all these kings form an army together. As this happens, God seeks out Joshua and two phrases are the key for teaching kids on listening to God’s word and what to do with it.

Then God said

For kids, this is where I see what we have to teach. We want them to get to a point where there hearts are open to hearing God speak. As God pursues kids, we want them to be ever vigilant about hearing what God has to say in each and every situation. God is speaking, we must listen. We need to get them to pursue the Spirit, search out His word, and be silent to hear the still small voice.

So Joshua…

then respond. For kids, that’s really it. When Mom and Dad speak they respond. When their teacher speaks they respond. May not be favorable and we would like them to get there, but they most definitely respond. How can we get them to respond to the word of God?

Both are necessary, we need to hear God as He speaks and also respond to the word of God. Simple message, but how often does this appear in scripture?

God speaks, so _____ responds.

In my life, it goes something like this.

God says J.C. you need me, I respond by committing my life to Him.

God says, J.C. you are going to be in ministry, so I began to search for where and how (still don’t have it totally figured out, but am responding to where He is working)

God says, J.C. you are going to marry this girl, so I proposed and later married my amazing wife.

God says, J.C. I want you to trust me and leave your home and move to where you’ll be living without a job for awhile. So, I did and that’s how this whole Brookwood thing started.

And the reality is for us is that it’s this easy, allow God to speak, hear him and then respond. So teach your kids to search God’s word, listen for His voice and make sure to respond when you hear Him speak.

And make sure that you live it out in front of your kids as well :)

Faceoff Friday: Shoes

March 12, 2010 in Life 1

sandals

So for this week’s Faceoff Friday. I’m thinking of Spring. I love the feel of flip flops between my toes. But some people just can’t stand open-toed shoes. So my question is this?

Open or Closed Toed Shoes?

Milestones: Baptism for Kids

March 11, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 0

picture-2

You guys hear me so much on this blog… I want to highlight some people this week with their thoughts on some of the Milestones that we have. First up is our Elementary Ministry Director, Laurie Sinkele. Laurie was a major reason we decided to go another direction when it comes to baptism for Kids at Brookwood. She’s put together a few of her thoughts on the struggle for baptism with kids and what our process looks like now. You can follow her on twitter as @lsinkele . I hope a ton of you follow her so she will tweet more often. Yes I’m totally asking for a favor :)

If you have any questions for Laurie, drop a comment and I’ll be sure to get her to check in with her thoughts!

We are thrilled that we can walk with parents in sharing Jesus with their kids.  We also recognize working in children’s ministry; we have an important job in leading children to Christ but feel that the biggest influence of the kids we see on Sundays is their parents.   We know for most people their spiritual journey it is not always an event that shaped their faith.   It is a series of events.  So when we look at baptism we try to get families to look at the milestones that lead them to faith instead of one event like baptism.

It is so easy to say, “I’m a Christian” and not live as one.  Sometimes baptism is viewed as they have made it as a Christian when in reality their journey has just begun.  That is one of the reasons it is so important that as a ministry and church we teach our kids and parents that baptism is sharing and growing our faith.  We don’t want them to be confused that baptism is a means to salvation.

When an elementary child shows interest in being baptized we have the parents attend a class called Leading Your Child to Christ.  That class is a prerequisite to First Steps for Kids.  In these classes we cover the basic beliefs of baptism:

  • To follow the example set by Christ. Mark 1:9
  • Christ commanded it.  Matthew 28:19-20
  • Illustrates Jesus’ burial and resurrection.  Colossians 1:12
  • Demonstrates I am a believer.  Acts 18:9
  • It’s an outward symbol of the commitment you make in your heart.

Our Leading Your Child to Christ class is for parents of elementary kids who want to be baptized.  In this class we walk through with parents what a relationship with Jesus looks like.  We want to minimize confusion of a faith journey.  We share with them that baptism is just the beginning of their kids spiritual journey and that it is a profession of faith and not a one- time event that they have arrived at.

We also teach parents to write their story of faith.  This gets them to look at their walk with God and how they can model that to their kids.  We don’t suggest to parents that they breakout a bible study each night with their kids.  We suggest that they model their faith, communicate their faith, and pray for their child.  Not every child’s walk with God will be the same.  Once parents have written their own story they are more equipped to help their child write theirs.

First Steps for Kids is a class that parents and kids attend together.  This is a time when parents can help their child write their story.  Through this class we hope the parents and child understand the meaning of baptism and are better prepared to make a decision whether or not that child is ready for baptism.

These classes will help the parents and children see if that child really understands and is ready for baptism.  We want the kids and parents to understand that salvation is not dependant on baptism.  Our faith is a great journey.   It is exciting to see what God has for us.

Milestones: The Aha moment

March 10, 2010 in Family Ministry, Lead 1

To give a little bit of a crash course in Milestones I’ll provide a little commentary on the situation.

For a lot of Milestones, we seek Parents when they are having an “Oh Crap!” moment. Whether it’s transition, pressure, behavior, etc. Parents are freaked out about something. We generally recognize common times that these moments are happening and try to turn the “Oh Crap!” into an “AHA!”.

Light bulbs generally don’t light themselves. An idea or concept needs to be caught and then put into practice. So every “AHA!” moment you want to achieve will need at least two things from Parents and in some cases kids:

1) Vision that compels peeps to move from “Oh Crap!” to “Aha!”
2) A plan that people can achieve and one that you can keep them accountable to.

So what “Oh Crap!” moments do families have in your ministry context?
How can you move them to “AHA!”?

Faceoff Friday: Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi

February 26, 2010 in Life, Random thoughts 13

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, originally uploaded by Si1very.

Simple explanation. Vote in the comment section below. Give reasons why and we’ll tally over the weekend.

Coca-Cola or Pepsi? And let’s take stable of drinks vs. stable of drinks:

Coca-Cola- Coke, diet coke, coke zero, sprite, barq’s root beer, fanta, fresca, mr. pibb, vault, dasani, vitamin water, minute maid, hi-c, powerade, nestea, etc.

Pepsi-Pepsi, diet pepsi, mt. dew, sierra mist, mug root beer, dole fruit drinks, sobe, tropicana, amp, aquafina, propel, gatorade, starbucks drinks, etc.

Which wins in your opinion?

Monday

February 22, 2010 in Family Ministry, Random thoughts 1

Scream!, originally uploaded by tonyso68.

8)

I need a favor

February 18, 2010 in Family Ministry 0

Puppies are from heaven (5), originally uploaded by piotr m.

I tried to take a picture of my puppy dog face. Let’s just say it was a FAIL!

So my pic is trying to woo you because I/we need a favor. I need to know peeps who do 5th-6th grade ministry at a high level. We want to chat/talk/brainstorm with themWe are transitioning to family ministry and this is a direction we want to go because of the rough transition. We also see an opportunity to connect with parents in one of their awareness moments at this time in their child’s life.

If you know anyone no matter where they are located who this describes let me know by dropping a comment below or @ me @jcisonline on twitter.

We would love a place that is comparable in size and context to Brookwood but give us who you know who’s doing it GREAT and we’ll adapt.

If you need convincing just check out the pic at the top again.

Thanks for your help.

Deadlines

February 18, 2010 in Lead, Resources 0

67/365 – DEADLINE, originally uploaded by Arieseffects.

So I’m a basketball nut. Love it. Tomorrow is the trading deadline in the NBA. In other words, last day for teams to trade their players to other teams before the end of the season.

Last ditch efforts to improve
Big time risk
People with no *ahem* guts
Smart Decisions
Dumb Decisions

All of the above and more are brought on by the deadline. It’s a crucial time and it’s often what makes or breaks teams. Not to mention the fact that some teams are just trying to get under payroll to avoid paying a penalty tax. So they are just calling the year a fail and thinking about the future.

It’s incredibly interesting to me, how many crazy things get floated around during this time as well. Bottom line: leadership lessons to glean.

How do you/we perform during the clutch? Not gonna lie depending on the type of decision I’ll either look like a ridiculously talented specimen of mankind or I’ll fold up like a 34 year old card table.

But it’s the stress, the drama, the missed opportunities, the capitalization of risk, and the overall raising of temperature that get me fired up. In the end a call is made and you have to deal with it. Plain and simple.

So what do I do with crazy deadlines? Music. Generally classic rock with a strong drum solo. Rush would be a staple.

So how do you deal with deadlines is my question? Do you pound Rockstar energy drinks til you smell like guarana? Or is coffee your super boost? Maybe some Wii tennis? What’s in your deadline toolbelt?

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