Fourfivesix.org: Great Ideas For Your Preteen Ministry

Today on the podcast, Sean shares an excerpt of the recent Peer Group meeting about challenging the preteens in your ministry. If we challenge the preteens in our ministry and allow them to do more they will shock us with what they are able to do. Giving preteens the opportunity to be leaders in your ministry can allow them to rise above what expectations we might have for preteens. Don’t limit your preteens because they have more to give than you might realize. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Zach Matchett about first impressions and last impressions and where to put your focus. A person will determine their impression of a place in the first 6-8 minutes of walking into your space. Making sure that you have great guest services when they first walk in can have a big factor of whether or not that visit might return. Zach’s team really focused on making sure they were meeting the needs of the visitors during that first impression but thought about what they were missing out as the preteen was leaving. They began brainstorming about ways that they can make that last impression a positive one. The first plan that they are trying is by having their guest services team remain through the service. On the check in form there is one question that asks a preteen their favorite drink or candy. The team will then get that item for the preteen and give it to the small group leader to give to the student on their way out. Providing intentional individualized care to the pr

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Pastor Chris and Jaime Santos about giving preteens a chance to choose elements that occur in our preteen ministry. The idea of This or That came about during one of Elevate’s weekly leadership meetings. They were looking for a way to get the preteens more engaged in announcements. Allowing preteens more involvement in the announcements to ensure they are retaining the information given to them. This or That gives the preteens a choice about something brought up during the announcements. For example, the Christmas party included hot chocolate and the preteens were given the choice between candy canes or marshmallows in their hot chocolate. By giving the preteens a chance to be involved in the planning of one of the elements brought up during announcements will make them more engaged in the element itself.   Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Heather Soukup about the Family Photo Christmas Card Prayer Wall. Heather discusses the bulletin board she has above her desk in her office. It is a 4’x6’ board and on it she has saved and trimmed down the family photo Christmas cards, leaving the picture and the names. The pictures are either families in the ministry or volunteers in the ministry. Having the pictures is a remembrance of who they are serving and helps to focus on why you are doing the ministry you are doing. It is a great way of having a visual to look at that you can be reminded to pray for that family and their students. If you would like more information from Heather here is her contact information. She can be reached through Facebook by clicking here or via her email: hsoukup@efccl.org. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about being thankful. As Christians we are thankful every day for what God has given us even though we are not deserving. There is a call for us in ministry to be thankful for our volunteers, our Senior Pastors, even the kids and parents in our ministry. Today as you sit down with family and enjoy Thanksgiving remember that we should be thankful every day because of our Heavenly Father. Happy Thanksgiving! “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  Colossians 2:6-7 Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about the idea of not doing anything on Sunday. What! Not do anything on Sunday. It means that you have everything prepared before Sunday comes and you don’t have anything that is vital to the service that needs to be handled that morning. Sean explains how over the last few weeks he and his team have made a change to have everything that can be done finished before Sunday morning. This isn’t always easy and there are times when you are not motivated to get it done because you are not under the gun to get it done. The stress that is removed from Sunday’s has made it all worth forcing yourself to get it finished. Try it out if you aren’t already doing it and see how it affects your Sunday mornings. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Dayna about the use of snacks during preservice. In Elevate, during the preservice time the kids are offered a snack as they enter after checking in. In Elevate one of the positives of having the café set up is that it offers a social area for the preteens to hang out. In the Elevate café area there are little tables and stools to sit at where they can eat their snack or drink their beverage. Another benefit of the café is for those preteens that may not have had breakfast offers them a chance to eat something. If you feel like economically it would be tough to offer a snack, Dayna has some great ideas of inexpensive ways of getting snacks to feed your preteens. Look for on sale deals and get donations when you can. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about a concept while working with preteens of knowing what you expect versus what you hope for. When you are talking about things in ministry like inviting friends, baptism or worship. Your tone when asking things of the preteens can really determine if you are demanding something of them or inviting them to join you in doing it. When it comes to behavior it is ok to be demanding in your tone. When you think about that concept, how are you approaching baptism, communion and even salvation response. If in our tone we are demanding these things there is no real meaning or purpose to the preteens because they are doing as ordered. If preteens are just being compliant then there is no value in worship, baptism, communion or a salvation response. A preteen who is just being compliant is not taking ownership of their faith.   Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Heather Soukup about a Disciple Making Map for birth to 18 years. When Heather’s group was first putting this together they met to identify spiritual moments that they want their families to pay attention to as the students grow up. Using a map like this can help a ministry to organize how they will minister to their different age groups. After putting together various pieces of information from various locations they were able to put together discipling through the stages classes. This information would be able to help a leader put together strategies to answer some of the basic questions that specific age ranges would be asking and how to bring God into that conversation. These were set up in milestones. Heather explains some of the milestones on their list, child dedication, gospel conversations, baptism and communion, bible skills and purity and identity. This helped to set up parent classes and design what curriculum works best based on the various milestones. If yo

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Chip Henderson on the best way of ministering to preteens is by stepping into their world. To really connect with preteens you need to be culturally relevant to them. When you use things that they are aware of in their world, like current video games, in your message or when you are speaking to them they can relate to it better. Knowing what is popular for them and adding it in as an object lesson will help them to be more engaged in what you are telling them. This is something that can also be helpful in small group questions as well. Chip explains the Cup O Noodle reference and how effective for his preteens using that idea in the question made it that much more relevant. Making current video games they are playing live action games can turn an activity into something they will enjoy more than playing the go to of dodgeball or shuffle your buns.   Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to po

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about bringing in preteens to sing or play music on occasion for worship. In the past, Elevate would work with a group of preteens who wanted to be involved in the band. We would spend a few months working with them and they would be able to play one or two songs at the end of it. This was a very ineffective way to get the preteens involved in music and worship. Lately, we have tried something different. We invite guest preteens to join the worship team on a weekly basis. We will invite one preteen who is learning to play an instrument come join the regular worship team during one song. The preteens are given that one song on Wednesday to practice the chords and be ready to play on Sunday. This has given the kids a chance to play more often. When you only have one preteen at a time they are able to follow the more skilled musicians on your worship team. Recently though, we decided to have all of them play together on one song this past Sunday. If you don’t currently have a wor

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Jaime Santos about the use of a volunteer interview card. If you have a big volunteer team, sometimes you won’t even know the strengths of those volunteers. Additionally, they may have a spot in the ministry where they are feeling called too and we don’t even know. By really getting to know the strengths of the volunteers you are able to utilize them more and they buy in more to the ministry. The survey can be very simple with just a couple questions. Asking their strengths, if they play an instrument, along with their love language you will help you to better place the volunteer in your ministry. It is a tool for us to get to know our volunteers better so we know how to minister to them. Here is a link to the form we made Elevate Kingdom Rep Questionnaire. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into?

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about the use of electives in between services. In Elevate we have two services, and we have about 20-30 kids that will stay for both services. This gives us about 45 minutes in between the services where chaos can occur unless we are specific about our planning. What we decided to do was to have electives that are run by our 9 am leaders. 3-4 leaders each week will stay and have a different activity. The kids will decide what activity they want to participate in and they stay with that leader in that activity for the next 20 minutes. This allows the 11 am leaders to arrive and get set for pre-service time. Another key take away from this is the by in from the leaders running the activities. They are owning their ministry every week. Additionally, it solves the chaos issue that was occurring by keeping the preteens occupied during that in between time. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podca

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Christine Bailey about peacock feathers and rubies. Through the use of peacock feathers Christine was able to visually explain to the preteens in her ministry that each person is unique and different. In addition, she showed the preteens her ring which had a ruby in the center. She tells the story of how she took it to two different jewelers, one that said it was fake and another that polished it up and told her that it was real. Through both these visual items she was able to explain to the preteens that their flaws and imperfections are what make them unique and special. Those flaws and imperfections is what God uses in your life to do amazing things for him. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Patrick Snow about using games to supplement your teaching. Preteens can be tough to teach too because their attention can only last so long. By bringing in something they can have in their hands, allowing them to connect to that truth can extend that time frame. Games are perfect for that. Superstart has centered a lot of their teaching this year around a card and dice game. Preteens lives are filled with so many pressures that they can get stressed out really quickly. When you can hold on to the promises that God has for your life then you can be changed by them. The game allows preteens to see those promises and learn that that they give you hope. It is great when a game can supplement the lesson and actually become the small group time. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about a leader meeting that is focused on expectations. Last year Elevate implemented a meeting schedule with their volunteers once a month. This meeting takes place on a Sunday after church and involves lunch brought by different leaders each time. The first meeting of this year involved taking the leaders step by step through a service explaining their roles. Sean explains that these our guidelines of what we would like our leaders to do but would hope that they go beyond what we ask of them. Sean feels that leaders sometimes feel that they need permission to do things and therefore wont step out and do something and instead will just stand there. These meetings can be something as simple as giving the leaders basic information about their roles to something more in depth like mandatory reporting guidelines. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great com

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Pastor Chris about the concept of a songwriter knows the song best. What does that even mean you’re wondering. As a leader you know the plan better than anyone because you were the one that made the plan. The idea that a volunteer is asked to do something and they miss their cue. It can be frustrating to those who are on the mic a lot. Sean and Chris discuss the idea of 3-services: the one we have, the one we plan, and the one we wish we had. Think of yourselves as the songwriter and become improvisers and don’t get hung up on how the volunteers actually do it, be more flexible. Don’t get frustrated because it isn’t going how you envisioned, but realize it is going the way God envisioned it.  Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Deanna Ickes about the memorization game she created at her church. After making the change of bringing back the 6th graders to childrens ministry and lowering the Awana program to K-3rd, they needed something for the 4th-6th grade students. Deanna took the concept of the memorization wheel that Sean created and made a Super Mario Memorization game. Deanna’s memorization tool ties a very well known thing like Super Mario and makes the memorization more like a game. She explains the concept and how their game works. If you are interested in the products Deanna used click here for the Mario clings she used and click here for the star pins that she used. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean discusses a lesson recently done in Elevate involving pressing the red button. This lesson was all about letting the preteens take ownership of their faith. It encouraged them to be the ones praying instead of us just teaching them about prayer, or what happens when we pray. Sean gives a detailed overview of the night. The biggest question for the night was what will happen to you, we don’t know. You have to press the red button yourself rather than rely on others to pray and then report to you what happened. It is time to move from hearing and seeing what happens when others do something and step out and do it yourself. It is up to you to live out this Christian life not up to me. Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.