At Starbucks, their one thing is obvious.  It’s coffee.  Yes, they do pastries, tea, and other things too, but coffee is who they are.  It’s what they excel at.

Each of us need to have our one thing.  The thing we’re great at, our passion, our way of life.  For me, my personal one thing is passionately sharing with children not only what Christians believe, but why we believe it.   Our church’s children’s ministry’s one thing is raising kids to be their best physically, mentally, and spiritually.  KidzMatter’s one thing is to partner with churches to help them to make an eternal impact in the lives of kids.

You would be amazed at how many people don’t know what their one thing is.  They may be able to give you a general answer like “Jesus” or “children’s ministry”, but lots of people have those one things.  You have to personalize it.  You have to make it about the thing you are singly most passionate about.  It’s just like choosing your topic for a paper or speech back in high school.  Children’s ministry is a much too wide topic.  But if you limit it down to something very specific, it creates something much better.

Your one thing doesn’t have to be exclusive.  You can have other passions and things you do well.  But you need to have a main thing, your greatest passion.  It’s what makes you remarkable; it’s what makes you, you.

So think about what your one thing is.  Share it with us in the comments.

P.S.  Sorry I’ve been strangely absent the last month or so!  I’ve been taking some early college classes at a local university, and it’s made life a little bit crazy.  I’m back now, so look forward to hearing more from me soon!

I know. You just read that and went “WHAT?!?!? They are crazy!” Yes, we know. It’s a small one, and you have to climb on it horizontally instead of vertically, but the kids love it. And amazingly, they’re actually not too rough with it. (Yours truly has not yet attempted the wall. I don’t think it would be pretty.) It is a lot of fun for the kids. This last Sunday, all in all, reminded me of a few things:

1. Kids love having fun. What’s coolest about the rock climbing wall is that the kids are enthralled with it. They’re going to find their friends and telling them to come see the new rock climbing wall. The line can get really long. It’s something that’s just so cool for them they have to remark about it to someone else.

2. Kids can be serious! At the same time I see how much kids love fun, I’m reminded of how serious kids can be. On the same Sunday that we premiered the rock climbing wall, we tried communion for the first time with the kids (as Ryan has already talked about). Kids have this amazing capability to recognize what is to be taken seriously, and can act accordingly. All too often we seem to overlook the fact that kids can be serious. We try and make things all about fun, when we’re really neglecting a part of kids they have, albeit maybe not showing it very often.

3. Kids have this crazy capability to love. There are those Sundays that you’re just totally reminded that what you do is not about you, and that you couldn’t even do it all by yourself. This Sunday I had some really cool, albeit short, “moments” with some of the older boys in our Kids Church who tend to cause some trouble. One of them asked me if I was doing a skit today, and I ended up sitting down with him and chatting with him about school and how his week went. Another boy came over after church and said thank you and shook my hand. Trust me, without the grace of God those kids wouldn’t even care who I am. It’s very sobering when you realize that these kids are watching your life.

So those are the things I’ve been reminded about kids this week. Anything you’d like to add? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. OK, I am sharing something with you I have never shared with another living soul outside of my circle of friends. Talking about skits in this post made me think about a skit I did a few weeks ago. Let’s just say that my character, “Wally Wally Washington”, bore a very striking resemblance to another very famous teen star from Montana. I think her first name might be Hannah? Needless to say, having the best of both worlds is a great way to remind the kids that nobody’s perfect. I kind of made a total fool of myself (but I’m used to that). You must never tell another person that I told you this or we will have to find you and punish you. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds.

Yes, every single blogger here uses a Mac.  We’re totally sold.  Why has Apple been able to gain such rabidly fanatical users?  The answer comes in a quote from H.J. Heinz (the ketchup guy) many years ago: “To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.“  That’s why.  Computers and MP3 players weren’t anything new when Apple released their versions of them, but they did them radically well.  They did something so well, that the users that stuck with them were fanatics.

In the past 25 years, personal computers have gone from a few thousand users to over 1 billion users.  There are almost as many computer users as Christians in the world.  Christians took 2000 years, PCs took 25.  Why the difference?  Because PCs were so revolutionary, they spread like wildfire.

What if you could get the kids and parents in your ministry to be just that fanatical?  Aim for it.  Tell your kids that their faith is nothing to be ashamed of, but is to be shared with everyone how absolutely amazing it is.   Push your kids to that level.  You might be surprised to see a sudden explosion of growth.  Kids are the church of today, and can spread God’s love now.  But childhood is so vitally important in faith formation, you may, as a childrens’ pastor, reach more people than you could ever imagine through one small child.

Keep pushing.  Keep proclaiming.  Keep praying.

To understand the quote, you must realize that by marketing he’s talking about promotion: the ads, flyers, radio spots, etc.

This quote gave me a catalyst to begin thinking about something else.  Recently, Starbucks launched their first TV advertisements here in the US.  But consider what Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks and idol of caffeine addicts everywhere, said just a decade ago:
“By its very nature, national advertising fuels fears about ubiquity.”

Starbucks themselves have said that national ads state ubiquity.  In choosing to run these ads, Starbucks has established themselves as the McDonalds of the coffee industry.  They’ve gone back on their ideals, what made them remarkable.  Starbucks was held up as the poster child that word-of-mouth is better than any TV ad or billboard, especially if you get your words into the right mouths.  They can’t claim that title anymore.  Their rapid growth has caused a decline in quality.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d still choose Starbucks over any other coffee place, and it’s still a very awesome, remarkable coffee shop.  But they’ve fallen below what caused them to be remarkable: being better than everyone else at what they do.  So now they have to pay the “marketing tax” to maintain the hold they have.  They’ve gotten too ubiquitous, and feel comfortable where they are, a dangerous place for any business to be.

A ministry that is remarkable will get people talking, no doubt.  A one time remarkable thing won’t cut it though.  You’ve got to provide a consistent pattern of remarkability, or you’ll get a word-of-mouth blitz, then see a sharp decline.  Find out what works.  What works in LA (Los Angeles) may not work in LA (Louisiana).  What works at the church next door may not work for you.  Don’t become ubiquitous.  Allow yourself to push boundaries, go beyond, and find out your potential.  Do something uncomfortable.  Because the way I see it, remarkable is the only way to keep your ministry alive.

But let’s back up a bit.  Let’s hop into our handy-dandy time machine, and go back about two months.  Dale and Thomas (hereafter D&T) was giving away free $20 gift cards.  Little bells were going off somewhere in my head that I had heard D&T was good popcorn, so I signed up and got my code in a matter of seconds in my email inbox.  So it sat there until two weeks ago I got a genius idea.  Wouldn’t popcorn make a great Christmas gift?  I proceeded to buy the 12-pack sampler, with all twelve of D&T’s current flavors.  I then divvied them up and made gifts out of them, while keeping four bags for my family.

Now, back to last night.  I was craving a snack, so I pulled out the case (yes, case) of popcorn.  One bag of D&T is 12-inches long, and serves 2-4 people.  We decided on the Cinnamon Creme.  I do not know that I could ever go back to regular movie theatre-style popcorn again.  It almost seems like a sin.

D&T has not spread by multi-million dollar TV ads, magazine ads, full-page ads in the New York Times, or all-out web blitzes.  No, they’ve spread simply by word of mouth.  It just so happens, their popcorn happened to hit some very famous mouths.  They’ve included Oprah (as one of her “Favorite Things”), People Magazine, the Today Show, CNN, and many others.  D&T has a product so spectacular, so awesome, you can’t help but “Share Some”, just like I’m doing right now.

What do you do or what can you do in your ministry that will simply make it so that people can’t help but sharing it with their friends?  What game can you play, element can you add, media component can you slip in to make your ministry so totally remarkable that no one can stop telling others?  Do your kids tell their friends?  Do your parents tell their friends?

As Ryan has mentioned here before, the power of a personal invitation is paramount to any number of mail flyers, door hangers, or take-home sheets.  What is really effective in spreading the message of hope we have to offer is someone saying, “My church has this really awesome thing we do in Kids’ Church.  You should ask if you can come this Sunday.”  Getting kids (and even adults) to a point at which they can’t help but sharing it is simply remarkable.  And that’s the way I see it.

So here’s her suggestion: take some chalkboard paint, and paint an entire wall.  There are a ton of things you could do with this. You could do, as she suggests, make a wall calendar and keep all of your ministry events for the month up on it. You could also do birthdays in the church.

Another option is just leaving it blank, and allowing the kids to simply draw whatever they want. Establishing rules would be a great thing (only things that build others up or glorify God). This allows kids to express themselves, while keeping them entertained before class and after class while waiting for their parents.

Don’t think painting your walls would go over so hot with your senior pastor? Just beg! OK, so there is a better solution. You can buy some foam-core board, paint it, and fasten it to your walls. If you just want a small area, just use one piece. If you want to cover your whole wall, use lots of pieces of the board. It’s an easy way to get around having to paint your walls, and still use the same idea.

It’ll take some work, but it could just be the one thing that sets your Children’s Ministry apart. You may even catch yourself doodling on occasion. Just give it a try. You might be surprised to find the talents some of your kids have!

P.S. Need some chalkboard paint? Check out ArtCity.com (I haven’t used them, just who I found first on Google!) for some spray paint. You can also check your local home improvement store.