Pretty sensational title huh? It kind of sounds like there is some kind of formula I'm advocating. I just wanted to share with you how things went this past weekend in middle school. In Florida the church I led with student ministry averaged 225 in middle school and about 180 in high school over the two years I served there. It was fun to share that ministry with a team of awesome volunteers. In those days we had five middle school services for a church of about 8,000.
Arriving at Gateway it was interesting to note that there was only one middle school service with about 25-30 kids attending. It was parked at the worst time as well with 12:30. One of the very first things I asked Charles my executive director about was how we could maximize more services when I came here five months ago. In my first year plan I targeted that as an objective. We hosted some preview services during the summer to build momentum with and this past weekend we kicked it off. At the 9:30 we had 30, the 11:00 had 31, and there was 34 at our 12:30. This simple move of being there at every service hour gave us 60 extra kids for a total of 95.
I know as we go through the Fall we can see this grow even more. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you decide to offer middle school services at every hour.
1. Apart from Jesus you can do nothing. - So pray, get away, get ready spiritually.
2. OVER communicate. - Your team has ever done anything like this so they will wonder, "why?" When you first say we're adding extra services very few leaders in the room understand what you're saying. The closer you get to the launch date the more they all of a sudden realize you're serious.
3. Explain the benefits. - This minimizes unnecessary scrutiny and division.
4. Recruit. - You're going to need serious help... I'm still needing more workers.
5. Strategize the system. - How will you take care of all the new kids? Contact? Steps?
6. Keep people focused and divide them among the services with prior commitment.
7. Push your team with praise and recognition. - Props to out team, Jon Evans, (middle school director) and the Martinez family (middle school worship leader.)
Without a good tema of volunteers and leaders there is no way we could make this happen. Now we have the opportunity to increase influence and reach out to these kids and their friends. Prior to this these extra kids were going to the main services with mom and dad because 12:30 was not an option. Now, we have created a venue for them to connect and move out into the streets with. It's risky, hard work, and unorthodox but it makes perfect sense and helps tremendously. If you have the opportunity to create space and options step through it and go for it. Here are a few pics of one of the small group breakouts during our new service hour at 9:30 am.
Arriving at Gateway it was interesting to note that there was only one middle school service with about 25-30 kids attending. It was parked at the worst time as well with 12:30. One of the very first things I asked Charles my executive director about was how we could maximize more services when I came here five months ago. In my first year plan I targeted that as an objective. We hosted some preview services during the summer to build momentum with and this past weekend we kicked it off. At the 9:30 we had 30, the 11:00 had 31, and there was 34 at our 12:30. This simple move of being there at every service hour gave us 60 extra kids for a total of 95.
I know as we go through the Fall we can see this grow even more. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you decide to offer middle school services at every hour.
1. Apart from Jesus you can do nothing. - So pray, get away, get ready spiritually.
2. OVER communicate. - Your team has ever done anything like this so they will wonder, "why?" When you first say we're adding extra services very few leaders in the room understand what you're saying. The closer you get to the launch date the more they all of a sudden realize you're serious.
3. Explain the benefits. - This minimizes unnecessary scrutiny and division.
4. Recruit. - You're going to need serious help... I'm still needing more workers.
5. Strategize the system. - How will you take care of all the new kids? Contact? Steps?
6. Keep people focused and divide them among the services with prior commitment.
7. Push your team with praise and recognition. - Props to out team, Jon Evans, (middle school director) and the Martinez family (middle school worship leader.)
Without a good tema of volunteers and leaders there is no way we could make this happen. Now we have the opportunity to increase influence and reach out to these kids and their friends. Prior to this these extra kids were going to the main services with mom and dad because 12:30 was not an option. Now, we have created a venue for them to connect and move out into the streets with. It's risky, hard work, and unorthodox but it makes perfect sense and helps tremendously. If you have the opportunity to create space and options step through it and go for it. Here are a few pics of one of the small group breakouts during our new service hour at 9:30 am.
1 comments:
Hey, what are your breakouts during your service? How is your service lined up? Order?
Thanks
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