Courtney Lien, Reading

Aaron Holt is the Head Youth Pastor: he focuses on the Varsity program primarily and campus visitations
Courtney is Varsity Youth Pastor: she focuses more on the Junior High and does a lot with creative programming, trips and event coordination, counseling…etc.

When they hired Courtney, they hired her as a youth secretary. Her best friend was more of a youth administration assistant and left the church. She was glad she took the position when it was available, and it was a good thing she did because not long after she was hired on, it became very difficult to get any position in the church after that point.

Pastor Aaron brought Courtney before the Senior Pastor and motioned for her position to become an official youth pastor position.

She became licensed in the Spring of her Senior year at VFCC.

Fridays are difficult to hold for afterschool programs for kids because you're essentially competing with school sporting events, after school programs affiliated with schools… etc.

Visitor Process: toward the beginning of the service, they invite the guests into the café where they have milkshakes, the meet & greet team will take time to get to know a little about the guests. (this takes place in the beginning during the first or second song of worship as well as announcements)

Q & A Text Messaging Questions: the congregation members will text questions about the message or to related topics in the message or regarding worship or anything else about the service, with the intentions of response from the pastor via text messaging. (interesting, but I think this can give kids reason to stay distracted from paying attention to the service--people will use this as an excuse to use their phones to play games, text friends…etc.)

Wednesdays: have classes that the kids make a choice to go to. If the person happens to be new, they will typically visit a starter class (which are essential basics to Christian Faith)

There are a lot of people that are biblically illiterate and this needs to be recognized. There are people in our congregation that are completely oblivious to many topics, bible stories, characters…etc of the Bible that are going over their heads. They end up walking out of church not feeling they understood what we were preaching or teaching because we're not taking time to share the who, what, when, where, why about scripture.

What's the biggest problem you face with teens in the ministry at your church?
Kids come to church with a lot of baggage. A major issue is simply trying to understand where to start or how to approach these kids.
If they mention rape or abuse to you (and they're a minor) they are obligated to report it and the services to whom you report to will follow through with proper investigation.

I thought a lot of the creative ideas they use to keep the leadership involved and feeling that they play a vital role in their part of the ministry was rather interesting. Something as simple as assigning unique chess pieces to the members can highlight important qualities unique to those people as they play their role on the team. I'm encouraged by an example like this to keep things interesting and creative for the opportunities that await me in the upcoming positions of ministry that I will play a part of.

Passing the Torch: A ceremony for those kids who are graduating from high school. The kids are to write a letter to the upcoming class for what they see specifically in this student--pointing out good qualities in this person, maybe making light hearted jokes about this person's personality or history.

Todd Bube of Glad Tidings A.G.

The church was expanding and instead of being moved to a typically expected promotion, Todd felt the Lord directing him to decline the offer and rather choose to remain in children's ministry.

What you do in your adult program in your church is important, but not as important as it seems to have a good children's program. Families will tend to show up to church because their kids want them to go.

6:00-6:30 CHECK-IN/Pre Show
6:30 Large Group Event
○ Audience Activator/ Songs/ Announcements
6:45 Small Group Rotation
○ Story Time
○ Games/Snack
○ Life Application
○ Craft? (Some larger groups could be difficult to do this)

Essentially Todd walked through various different ministries their church offers, particularly catering toward children.

He covered many of the angles of how to deal with difficult children, as well as difficult parents.

As I studied Todd's passion for what he does in his church, I couldn't help but fall in love with his passion, his fire for the ministry he is so committed to! Some of the programs he talked about that he does with the kids are incredible. It shows that he's been committed to his calling to this position.

It appears that Todd's experience and leadership skills are in prime condition. To be able to run the level of intensity some of these programs are require good management skills.

What I saw in the programs that Todd runs with the children's ministry are important as they are amazing! However, I feel that the energy and enthusiasm he uses to direct the children's programs in his church can shift from his direction to someone or some other people that work under his leadership. I felt that Todd's innovation and passion for his ministry are needed in other programs of the church. I think that if Todd took time to write a book about how to drive children's ministry into the upper channels of success, I feel he would deliver a tremendous gift to the world.

I'd like to see Todd a little more rounded with his passion to different parts of ministry to see how he might carry over what works in children's ministry to youth, young adult and adult ministries.