Director's Desk - NCMLC Wrap-Up

I hope that you are having a great spring so far. Returning from our National Children’s Ministry Conference in North Little Rock I must say if you missed Little Rock, you missed out!  It was an amazing time of spiritual refreshing, equipping, and encouragement and the presence of God was amazing!

As I reflect on our National Conference I am reminded of the importance of networking.  Networking is vitally important for anyone, anywhere, but especially for us as children’s leaders!  We’re not called to walk this walk along and we believe in connecting you with other children’s leaders, your district office, and us here at CMA.

Our team believes this so much that we made it an intentional focus at our conference and a focus in our office.  Staying connected to other leaders can actually serve as a lifeline to you as a leader because it is all to easy in children’s ministries to become an island, and when you begin feeling like an island, discouragement and burn-out set in.

One reason I often hear leaders talk about is being unable to spend the time investing into a network.  I would say this, “YOU CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO NETWORK!”  Spending time with children’s leaders builds friendships, sharpens you and connects you with other children’s leaders that can provide invaluable resources to you and your ministry.

How do you begin to network? To begin, contact someone in a church close to you and ask them to go to lunch. As you connect deicide to set-up a monthly lunch appointment and once you get in a routine, invite others in your area to lunch with you. Lunch doesn’t have to be an all day event, set aside one hour a month and watch what God will do!  It’s amazing how connected you can become in just one hour each month. The sky’s the limit from there.  

Design your network times intentionally to build relationships, encourage open sharing, sharpening one another, and resourcing one another. If you meet those goals, you will be successful. I would challenge you not to wait for someone to call you, take the initiative and be the person to start making the calls!  Become the networker in your area!

Brandon Diehl in our office is our Leadership Development Coordinator. One of his jobs is encouraging networking on a local level. If you would like to connect with him and get some more ideas on networking please email him at BDiehl@ag.org.

May you be strengthened and encouraged as you keep reaching children, equipping people, and facilitating children’s ministries in your church. Don’t forget that you have a group of people in Springfield cheering you on and standing beside you!

God Bless,
Jason