Leadership

I've been trying to digest all that I heard at the conference so I could share some highlights with you all. The past several months, I have been working on my leadership skills and trying to listen to sermons and read different things about it. The conference was another great tool for sharpening those skills. The most helpful session was on delegation and duplicating yourself, two things that don't come easy for me but are crucial to avoid burnout. Brother Jim Wideman, for those of you who don't know, is one of the pioneers in children's ministry. His teachings have been a big part of my life and this session rocked my world. I need to delegate so that I can focus on the things that only I can do. I need to duplicate because multiplication is always better than addition! Even a math moron like me can figure that out!

One very valuable thing, out of many, that I learned from my friend Pastor Kevin Umphress was a great example of the on-going benefit of delegation and duplication. When he was the children's pastor at our former church, Berean Assembly of God, he and I worked closely on a lot of stuff. When he resigned to pastor back in his home state of Oregon, he left a very healthy team. Because he knew how to delegate and duplicate himself, he was personally missed but there were no glaring holes to fill. He had raised up a team and gave them the tools to do their thing whether it was teaching Sunday School or ministering in midweek services or doing an object lesson in kid's church. Everyone came together and the children's ministry didn't skip a beat. That, my friends, is a sign of GREAT leadership. Like Brother Jim says, children's ministry is not rocket science; we just need to love kids, teach the Word and build a team.

And the pics are just for fun. The alligators are an example of some of the art work a designer of kid's sanctuaries had there at the conference.