Cherie Duffey is the Children’s Ministry Director at NewSpring Church.  Her breakout session centered around leading preschool and elementary children.

It wasn’t really a note-taking kind of session, but I did write down a few things.  Here are a few of the observations I made as I was surrounded by about 200 crazy children’s ministry volunteers.

·         They use upcoming animated movie releases to connect with kids. 

·         It’s important to know what’s going on in a kid’s world.  Subscribe to blogs and magazines that talk about children’s stuff (i.e. Nickelodeon Magazine)

·         They write their own curriculum based on what they perceive the needs of their children are.

·         Their biggest challenge is to make everything cohesive, to bring everything together.

·         Occasionally, they will do a series that will coincide with what the adults are learning about in “big church”.

·         Their volunteers show up 45 minutes early and they get the VIP treatment when they do.  They use this time to keep everyone informed about what’s happening in the children’s ministry. 

·         Evidently, we are not the only church that has a little “Tasmanian Devil” running around.

·         In the middle of a crazy Sunday, don’t forget that you love children.

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