“One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts.” —Psalm 145:4
Dates for 2024 will be announced soon!
Missed our most recent time together? Purchase the Digital Pass to watch videos of the main sessions from the 2023 ETCH NextGen Ministry Conference and access the full audio library of breakouts.
The ETCH NextGen Ministry Conference will help you turn your eyes to what’s NEXT. From unlocking research to discovering new strategies to reconnecting with your calling, ETCH will equip you to reach, disciple, and pass on the faith to the next generation.
Schedule
(subject to change)
1:00 p.m. — Check-in for Precons
(ETCH Market Open)
1:30 p.m. — Precons (2 hours)
3:00 p.m. — Conference Check-in Begins
4:00 p.m. — Breakout 1
5:00 p.m. — DINNER (provided) & Panel
6:30 p.m. — Doors Open for Main Session
7:00 p.m. — Main Session 1
8:00 a.m. — Morning Break / Solutions
Zone & ETCH Market Open
9:00 a.m. — Main Session 2
10:30 a.m. — Breakout 2
11:30 a.m. — LUNCH (provided)
1:00 p.m. — Breakout 3
2:00 p.m. — Breakout 4
3:00 p.m. — BREAK
4:00 p.m. — Main Session 3
5:00 p.m. — Dismiss for Dinner /
Night Out (on your own)
6:30 p.m. — Free Movie Screening
(AMC Thoroughbred, 633 Frazier Dr, Franklin, TN 37067)
8:00 a.m. — Morning Break / Solutions
Zone & ETCH Market Open
9:00 a.m. — Breakout 5
10:00 a.m. — Breakout 6
11:15 a.m. — Main Session 4
12:15 p.m. — DISMISS
Pre-Conference
Pre-cons are offered simultaneously. You will only be able to attend one.
Pre-con #1
New2Ministry
A one-day intensive for brand new preschool, kids, and student ministers who’ve been in their positions two years or less. (Lunch provided)
Check in at 9:30am // Intensive is 10:00am–2:00pm
Pre-con #2
Build Your Dream Team
Brian Preston, Alex Russell, Kate Downing
Unpack a system to grow, train, and retain the very best volunteers possible for preschool, kids, and student ministries. Bring your team to this collaborative session to gather ideas, insights, and resources on how to structure and build a dream team in your church!
Check in at 1:00pm // Pre-con is 1:30–3:30pm
Pre-con #3
Flip the Script: Disrupting Tradition for the Sake of the Next Generation
Chuck Peters, Jana Magruder, Stephanie Salvatore
When it comes to connecting the gospel to our current culture of kids and families, we may be reading from an old script. Research indicates that in each generation, fewer and fewer people are identifying as Christians or attending church. Kids and students are faced with cultural dynamics that challenge a biblical worldview. How do we as the Church respond? This pre-con will dive into new strategies and solutions that challenge us to flip the script on old ministry models for the sake of the next generation. *Each attendee will receive a copy of the book Flip the Script.
Check in at 1:00pm // Pre-con is 1:30–3:30pm
Pre-con #4
Discipleship Pathway for Preschool, Kids, and Student Ministry
Danielle Bell
Make discipleship the goal in every milestone! This session will help you develop an intentional plan to meet families along the entire faith journey from birth to high school graduation. With a focus on developing authentic community, this session will help you discover best practices for discipling and shepherding preschoolers, kids, students, and families.
Check in at 1:00pm // Pre-con is 1:30–3:30pm
Pre-con #5
VBS Think Tank
Rhonda VanCleave & Jeremy Carroll
Have you ever wanted to be a part of creating a Lifeway VBS? Got a great theme idea? This is your chance to speak into the future! Come help us brainstorm what’s next.
Check in at 1:00pm // Pre-con is 1:30–3:30pm
Breakouts
Breakout 1
Monday, October 9, 4:00 p.m.
Research has shown that groups make a measurable and significant difference in the spiritual growth of group members, and that they are indispensable to a healthy, growing church. This session will help you understand why there is power in groups, why people join and leave groups, and why your church must have effective groups for all ages.
Grant & Corrine Allen
If you and your spouse both serve in ministry (staff or volunteer) then you know that juggling it all is a challenge! This breakout session will discuss the unique challenges and blessings of being married while serving.
A big vision for a kids ministry is more than simply hoping children grow into godliness. This session will explore what we need to do to encourage all members of the church to get involved in the ongoing work in kids ministry while keeping the cross in mind.
Do you truly equip your preschool teachers or do you just hand them supplies on Sunday morning and hope for the best? Teach your leaders these practical tools to connect with preschoolers and share God’s love in ways they learn best. Your volunteers will come back week after week and year after year if they are equipped with not only resources, but with a working knowledge of how to use them.
Discipleship happens in the context of relationship. What does this look like in children’s ministry? In this breakout, we will discuss, brainstorm, and ideate what relational children’s ministry looks like including equipping volunteers, refreshing the ways services are structured, and going beyond kids to build relationships with the whole family.
What do you do when you have a wide age range of kids in one group? Whether it’s in a large group worship time, Bible study group, Backyard Kids Club, or out on a mission trip, this session will give you tried and true tips to keep kids of different ages engaged at the same time.
Creating Times of Respite
Many families who have children with special needs struggle to find acceptance, often feeling like their children don’t “belong.” One way we share God’s love with them is through times of respite. Respite is any experience for a child with special needs (and their young siblings) that gives their parents much-needed rest. This session will walk through the steps of creating this time of respite through a monthly respite event or by creating a sensory room for one-on-one care opportunities on Sundays or Wednesdays.
This session will unlock surprisingly simple tools you need to cultivate healthy small groups for student ministries (large or small).
Amanda Mejias
Am I the only one that feels this way? Does anyone else struggle with ______? Are your student facing issues like mine? These are a few questions that students and leaders are asking. Let’s work together and find some solutions.
“Tough Stuff”
Children’s thoughts and feelings are always important. In times of confusion and crisis, they matter even more. Learn what to do and not do that encourages children to come to you with their questions, confusions, doubts, and fears about God, themselves, and the culture. Dr. Kathy’s practical and relevant ideas will help you ask questions well and answer theirs so they’ll keep talking to you.
It is time to create a plan for outreach that stretches throughout the year and attracts families to your church so that you can share the gospel. In this session, you’ll learn how to take the programs you currently provide and use them as outreach while also creating other outreach moments to fill the gaps throughout the year. Your volunteers will be inspired as you lead them to “look out” to reach families rather than always “looking in.”
Breakout 2
Tuesday, October 10, 10:30 a.m.
Learn tactical tools on how to notice and locate anxiety, understand triggers and most powerfully, increase connection and awareness on yourself and your people. We will look at the nature of chronic anxiety and how it blocks our awareness of God’s presence, how to “differentiate” while staying connected and how to create a life-giving list of habits to stay emotionally healthy.
This session will examine how small screens and social media have changed the nature of relationships for church leaders seeking to evangelize and disciple.
Brentwood Baptist’s NextGen Team (Evan Kunz, Brad Smith, & Todd Villemont)
Join us as we unpack the DNA of how Brentwood Baptist’s NextGen team collaborates together from birth through “senior sending.”
Does your teaching connect? This breakout will take a deeper look at the characteristics and learning styles of preschoolers, evaluating the authentic connection that comes through real relationships. Through strategies tailored specifically to preschoolers, we will consider how we as leaders can help each preschooler find real connection with their leaders and God who made them.
Is it just our imagination or do today’s preschoolers and kids seem to be developing at a faster rate than previous generations? “Up-aging” is the recent phenomenon of kids growing up sooner and more quickly than their predecessors. Let’s take a look at how up-aging impacts our ministries.
Preteens can often be overlooked when you think of leadership. Learn strategic ways to help the preteens in your church become leaders and take ownership. Preteens are more capable than you may realize; discover ways to help them rise to the challenge and develop skills that will last a lifetime.
Amanda Mejias
Teen girls are growing up in a generation of biblically illiterate households. What does our time with the Lord need to look like? We must model a love for the Word. Our love for the Lord and His Word will directly influence that way the girls love Him and His Word.
Families are facing a culture that often gives us more questions than we might feel like there are answers. Join us as we look at some of these hard questions and tackle how we might be able to partner with families as they help their children and teens seek biblical answers.
Breakout 3
Tuesday, October 10, 1:00 p.m.
The primary source of volunteers for kids and student ministries comes from adult groups. Discover ways to encourage a stronger partnership with the adult ministry, and how to create a culture in which adult groups become sending groups, fueling ministry to your church’s younger members.
Every ministry leader wants to be heard, supported, and appreciated by their peers and their Senior Pastor. Unfortunately, passion and priorities often lead us to fight with one another rather than for one another. Whether you are leading kids, students, or the entire church, this breakout will be a helpful discussion on how you can use your role to better support those around you and fulfill the mission God has given your church.
We all want the children who walk through our doors to feel like they belong, but it doesn’t have to stop there! As ministry leaders, we have the unique opportunity to cultivate community for kids as well as the families who love them and the volunteers who serve them. This breakout will give you practical tools, tips, and tricks for fostering community for families and volunteers so everyone can find real connection and true belonging.
From the minute children are born they start learning about their emotions and ways to express them. They learn to regulate them through relationships and social interactions. Preschoolers learn to express their feelings through important relationships like teachers, friends, parents, and grandparents. This session will help you learn to assist children in expressing their emotions.
Walking a child through a salvation decision is an amazing experience, but how do we know if we’re doing it right? Let’s talk about how to recognize the signs if a child is ready for this step, as well as navigating this exciting time with parents.
Kids ministry can be expensive! This session will give you great ideas your volunteers can use this Sunday to teach children and preschoolers priceless biblical truths without breaking the budget.
Some of your children’s and students’ most troubling attitudes and behavior (e.g., entitlement, pride, anger, depression) may be directly related to their use of technology. That’s because tech warps their ideas about how the world works and these ideas influence their character and actions. They may be addicted to the ideas, but we can do something about it. You’ll find hope in this message!
Fact: Healthy things grow. So how can you take your Youth Ministry to the next level numerically? Is it more leaders? Is it a better system? What if it was just as simple as a new sermon series? In this breakout, youth ministry leaders who are wanting more will discover 10 techniques to catapult themselves into a fresh season of growth.
Tega Faafa
Current culture reveals students are in need of love, acceptance, friendship, affirmation, and mentorship. But youth ministries have all of the tools needed to point students to the One who has all they need. It’s less about what we say and more about how we say it.
This session will unpack the latest trends in Gen Z/Alpha research, so that you may discern the next steps for your students to become disciples. Gather tools you can take home to train your leaders to be better equipped to mentor, train, and teach your students about following Jesus.
Discipleship isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. We need to be intentional about regularly looking for teachable moments at home, in the car, on the ball field, at the grocery store, and at the park (Deut. 6). If Sunday morning discipleship is “macro discipleship,” this model is “micro discipleship,” which works in tandem with other discipleship programs at church to build a foundation of faith for children and families.
Breakout 4
Tuesday, October 10, 2:00 p.m.
Reality—it feels like you don’t have time to develop leaders. Truth—you can’t do everything on your own. Let’s discuss why developing the leaders within your ministry is biblical, essential, and it IS possible!
In kids ministry, we desire to build a foundation that leads to lifelong faithfulness to Scripture. Therefore, we must keep the supremacy, beauty, and practicality of God’s Word at the center of our discussion. In this session, we will look at God’s Word and the importance of it being the center of our ministry.
We all understand children learn through their senses. This session will give a variety of practical ideas that you can implement to engage children throughout the session. We’ll cover fun activities for learning centers, group times, and even a rotational sensory experience room too!
Do you have kids in your ministry whose challenging behaviors frustrate even your most experienced volunteers? Maybe you’ve wondered if this child could have some form of special need. Come learn how to help your volunteers see every child as unique and special, and gain practical tips to increase connection and create safe environments for all kids to grow in their faith.
“Did God really say…?” was the first time God’s truth was questioned and that same old twisted lie has been repackaged over and over ever since. VBS 2024 will take preschoolers, kids, students (yes, students!), and adults on a journey to Breaker Rock Beach to learn how to sift through the lies of culture and stand strong on the unchanging rock of God’s truth. Come get a sneak peek at what’s coming NEXT for the summer of 2024.
Children experience grief and loss differently than adults. This conference will help you see grief and loss through the eyes of a child and provide practical ideas for ministering to children and their families.
This session will help you remove the fear around “all things Special Needs” in churches. Some parents and families come with fear or hesitancy because of past “church hurt” and being mistreated; other ministers and church staff come with fear because they “don’t know what they don’t know.” This session will help to set you up for success in doing Special Needs Ministry the way I believe Jesus wants us to.
It’s time we get back to discipling and unleashing our students to infinitely reproduce themselves NOW so that they are even more ready to do it when they have a family LATER. If we are willing to train preteens and students now, we will see the ripples for decades into the future.
This session will help you learn to highlight and broadcast what God is doing in your student ministry that both honors Jesus and helps draw students and families into your ministry.
Leadership comes down to how we practice. There are four unhealthy practices and four healthy practices that could right or wreck your ministry. Let’s identify the good and work to eliminate the bad so you and your youth ministry will thrive.
Ministering to families starts with us. From the best children’s ministry to effective student ministry, it starts with you as a leader. Join us as we work through some specific examples of how you can celebrate and live out effective family ministry practices in your church and home.
Breakout 5
Wednesday, October 11, 9:00 a.m.
We come to the leadership table with different strengths and weaknesses. The good news is that God can use a variety of people and personalities to accomplish His good work. This conference will help you discover and embrace your strengths while also helping you develop a strategy to cover for your weaknesses.
By enhancing church communications and outreach, we can better connect with the younger generation and foster a sense of belonging. Community-building activities can provide safe spaces for the next generation to connect and express themselves, promoting mental health and reducing feelings of isolation. These approaches can also help instill empathy, compassion, and mutual respect among children and teens, which they can carry into adulthood.
This breakout is designed to equip and empower preschool ministry leaders with the knowledge, skills, and passion to create a thriving preschool ministry. Through interactive discussions, attendees will discover 10 attributes that are vital to the life of their ministry. Let’s cultivate vibrant preschool ministries and sow the seeds of faith in the hearts of our precious children!
Think about this … 10 years ago Apple Music didn’t exist, DoorDash didn’t exist, and the name Alexa was just the 32nd most popular name for a baby girl! The rapid changes of the previous decade are strong proof that there is more change coming. Join us as we talk about Gen Z parents, Gen Alpha/Beta kids, and what effective children’s ministry might look like in 2035.
Learn tips and strategies for creating a unique space that preteens can call their own. Whether your church is small or large, creating choices and options for preteens that are different from the younger students will allow you to minister to this unique age group in a more intentional way.
Missions is vital to the church. Missions programs and events are great, but these only scratch the surface of what we can do to incorporate missions into our children’s ministries. Programs and events should be the launching pad for educating children on how to live on mission. Missions isn’t just for missionaries; missions is for Christians—all Christians, all ages.
You may be excited to have a discipleship program, but now disappointed that children and teens aren’t growing as much as you thought they would. The reasons may surprise you. Let’s analyze what may be going on by looking at five connected needs that drive wants, choices, actions, and attitudes. Small changes can make big differences. Dr. Kathy’s practical problem-solving approach will encourage you.
How to recruit the best volunteer leaders, equip them long term, and unleash them well in the NEXT phase of Student Ministry.
Tega Faafa
Helping youth ministry leaders understand how to best speak the language of students in a way that is both challenging and well received is hard. This session will give you tools to help you teach and relate.
Help families learn grow, seek, and worship Jesus together. In this breakout, we will discover how to create experiences where learning begins together as families at church and then continues at home.
Breakout 6
Wednesday, October 11, 10:00 a.m.
Resources and budgets aren’t increasing at the same rate as ministry responsibilities and expectations. While we can’t wave a magic wand and change this reality, we can practice realistic steps to keep your ministry strong, avoid burnout, and move from surviving to succeeding.
Digital media can effectively bridge the communication gap and resonate better with the tech-savvy generation. Through platforms like social media, YouTube, podcasts, etc. we can disseminate positive, inspiring messages to a wider audience. This also encourages next generation participation and engagement in ministry activities, making religion more accessible and appealing to them.
When leaders know how to recruit, equip, and empower volunteers to lead kids and student ministries it can change and drive an entire church.
You can’t do it all yourself. This session will give you some great ideas to enlist, encourage, and empower volunteers to become thriving leaders in kids ministry.
If someone walked up to your classroom door, would they know that Bible teaching happens here? Join us today to talk about changing the perception! It’s not just babysitting … we are teaching biblical truth intentionally and consistently to preschoolers in a manner that affects their conversation and changes the way they play! In this session, we’ll talk about communicating vision to the leaders and church at large as we change that perception together!
In order to learn, children must learn to manage their behaviors, to know when compliance is a good quality, to know how to be flexible, practice interacting with others, have self-determination, know how to verbalize feelings, and express themselves to the people around them. Learn how to help children be ready to learn.
Often we need a game to play that will help teach the material we are learning or stretch the teaching time when parents are running late. This conference will put that list in your back pocket and make you a hero as you share it with other teachers. Be ready to play!
This session will cover essentials such as policies and procedures around safety and security, de-escalating challenging behaviors, designing sensory spaces and interactive classrooms, visual schedules, token boards, reward systems, and other things pertaining to activities, curriculum, schedules, re-directing problem behavior, reinforcing positive behavior, and establishing safety protocols.
The difference between students knowing what they believe and owning what they believe is when they begin to share what they believe. This breakout will cover the following: How to break free from a quiet “student ministry faith” and turn up the faith volume; real life examples and stories of students sharing; best practice for success; building culture and momentum regarding evangelism; and tips and tricks for planning your first “Share Day.”
Teaching is not just about what you want to say, but how your audience learns best. This session will help you consider the learning styles, backgrounds, techniques, and environments of teens in order to foster them to become lifelong learners and disciples.
Breakout 1
Monday, October 9, 4:00 p.m.
Research has shown that groups make a measurable and significant difference in the spiritual growth of group members, and that they are indispensable to a healthy, growing church. This session will help you understand why there is power in groups, why people join and leave groups, and why your church must have effective groups for all ages.
Grant & Corrine Allen
If you and your spouse both serve in ministry (staff or volunteer) then you know that juggling it all is a challenge! This breakout session will discuss the unique challenges and blessings of being married while serving.
A big vision for a kids ministry is more than simply hoping children grow into godliness. This session will explore what we need to do to encourage all members of the church to get involved in the ongoing work in kids ministry while keeping the cross in mind.
Do you truly equip your preschool teachers or do you just hand them supplies on Sunday morning and hope for the best? Teach your leaders these practical tools to connect with preschoolers and share God’s love in ways they learn best. Your volunteers will come back week after week and year after year if they are equipped with not only resources, but with a working knowledge of how to use them.
Discipleship happens in the context of relationship. What does this look like in children’s ministry? In this breakout, we will discuss, brainstorm, and ideate what relational children’s ministry looks like including equipping volunteers, refreshing the ways services are structured, and going beyond kids to build relationships with the whole family.
What do you do when you have a wide age range of kids in one group? Whether it’s in a large group worship time, Bible study group, Backyard Kids Club, or out on a mission trip, this session will give you tried and true tips to keep kids of different ages engaged at the same time.
Creating Times of Respite
Many families who have children with special needs struggle to find acceptance, often feeling like their children don’t “belong.” One way we share God’s love with them is through times of respite. Respite is any experience for a child with special needs (and their young siblings) that gives their parents much-needed rest. This session will walk through the steps of creating this time of respite through a monthly respite event or by creating a sensory room for one-on-one care opportunities on Sundays or Wednesdays.
This session will unlock surprisingly simple tools you need to cultivate healthy small groups for student ministries (large or small).
Amanda Mejias
Am I the only one that feels this way? Does anyone else struggle with ______? Are your student facing issues like mine? These are a few questions that students and leaders are asking. Let’s work together and find some solutions.
“Tough Stuff”
Children’s thoughts and feelings are always important. In times of confusion and crisis, they matter even more. Learn what to do and not do that encourages children to come to you with their questions, confusions, doubts, and fears about God, themselves, and the culture. Dr. Kathy’s practical and relevant ideas will help you ask questions well and answer theirs so they’ll keep talking to you.
It is time to create a plan for outreach that stretches throughout the year and attracts families to your church so that you can share the gospel. In this session, you’ll learn how to take the programs you currently provide and use them as outreach while also creating other outreach moments to fill the gaps throughout the year. Your volunteers will be inspired as you lead them to “look out” to reach families rather than always “looking in.”
Breakout 2
Tuesday, October 10, 10:30 a.m.
Learn tactical tools on how to notice and locate anxiety, understand triggers and most powerfully, increase connection and awareness on yourself and your people. We will look at the nature of chronic anxiety and how it blocks our awareness of God’s presence, how to “differentiate” while staying connected and how to create a life-giving list of habits to stay emotionally healthy.
This session will examine how small screens and social media have changed the nature of relationships for church leaders seeking to evangelize and disciple.
Brentwood Baptist’s NextGen Team (Evan Kunz, Brad Smith, & Todd Villemont)
Join us as we unpack the DNA of how Brentwood Baptist’s NextGen team collaborates together from birth through “senior sending.”
Does your teaching connect? This breakout will take a deeper look at the characteristics and learning styles of preschoolers, evaluating the authentic connection that comes through real relationships. Through strategies tailored specifically to preschoolers, we will consider how we as leaders can help each preschooler find real connection with their leaders and God who made them.
Is it just our imagination or do today’s preschoolers and kids seem to be developing at a faster rate than previous generations? “Up-aging” is the recent phenomenon of kids growing up sooner and more quickly than their predecessors. Let’s take a look at how up-aging impacts our ministries.
Preteens can often be overlooked when you think of leadership. Learn strategic ways to help the preteens in your church become leaders and take ownership. Preteens are more capable than you may realize; discover ways to help them rise to the challenge and develop skills that will last a lifetime.
Amanda Mejias
Teen girls are growing up in a generation of biblically illiterate households. What does our time with the Lord need to look like? We must model a love for the Word. Our love for the Lord and His Word will directly influence that way the girls love Him and His Word.
Families are facing a culture that often gives us more questions than we might feel like there are answers. Join us as we look at some of these hard questions and tackle how we might be able to partner with families as they help their children and teens seek biblical answers.
Breakout 3
Tuesday, October 10, 1:00 p.m.
The primary source of volunteers for kids and student ministries comes from adult groups. Discover ways to encourage a stronger partnership with the adult ministry, and how to create a culture in which adult groups become sending groups, fueling ministry to your church’s younger members.
Every ministry leader wants to be heard, supported, and appreciated by their peers and their Senior Pastor. Unfortunately, passion and priorities often lead us to fight with one another rather than for one another. Whether you are leading kids, students, or the entire church, this breakout will be a helpful discussion on how you can use your role to better support those around you and fulfill the mission God has given your church.
We all want the children who walk through our doors to feel like they belong, but it doesn’t have to stop there! As ministry leaders, we have the unique opportunity to cultivate community for kids as well as the families who love them and the volunteers who serve them. This breakout will give you practical tools, tips, and tricks for fostering community for families and volunteers so everyone can find real connection and true belonging.
From the minute children are born they start learning about their emotions and ways to express them. They learn to regulate them through relationships and social interactions. Preschoolers learn to express their feelings through important relationships like teachers, friends, parents, and grandparents. This session will help you learn to assist children in expressing their emotions.
Walking a child through a salvation decision is an amazing experience, but how do we know if we’re doing it right? Let’s talk about how to recognize the signs if a child is ready for this step, as well as navigating this exciting time with parents.
Kids ministry can be expensive! This session will give you great ideas your volunteers can use this Sunday to teach children and preschoolers priceless biblical truths without breaking the budget.
Some of your children’s and students’ most troubling attitudes and behavior (e.g., entitlement, pride, anger, depression) may be directly related to their use of technology. That’s because tech warps their ideas about how the world works and these ideas influence their character and actions. They may be addicted to the ideas, but we can do something about it. You’ll find hope in this message!
Fact: Healthy things grow. So how can you take your Youth Ministry to the next level numerically? Is it more leaders? Is it a better system? What if it was just as simple as a new sermon series? In this breakout, youth ministry leaders who are wanting more will discover 10 techniques to catapult themselves into a fresh season of growth.
Tega Faafa
Current culture reveals students are in need of love, acceptance, friendship, affirmation, and mentorship. But youth ministries have all of the tools needed to point students to the One who has all they need. It’s less about what we say and more about how we say it.
This session will unpack the latest trends in Gen Z/Alpha research, so that you may discern the next steps for your students to become disciples. Gather tools you can take home to train your leaders to be better equipped to mentor, train, and teach your students about following Jesus.
Discipleship isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. We need to be intentional about regularly looking for teachable moments at home, in the car, on the ball field, at the grocery store, and at the park (Deut. 6). If Sunday morning discipleship is “macro discipleship,” this model is “micro discipleship,” which works in tandem with other discipleship programs at church to build a foundation of faith for children and families.
Breakout 4
Tuesday, October 10, 2:00 p.m.
Reality—it feels like you don’t have time to develop leaders. Truth—you can’t do everything on your own. Let’s discuss why developing the leaders within your ministry is biblical, essential, and it IS possible!
In kids ministry, we desire to build a foundation that leads to lifelong faithfulness to Scripture. Therefore, we must keep the supremacy, beauty, and practicality of God’s Word at the center of our discussion. In this session, we will look at God’s Word and the importance of it being the center of our ministry.
We all understand children learn through their senses. This session will give a variety of practical ideas that you can implement to engage children throughout the session. We’ll cover fun activities for learning centers, group times, and even a rotational sensory experience room too!
Do you have kids in your ministry whose challenging behaviors frustrate even your most experienced volunteers? Maybe you’ve wondered if this child could have some form of special need. Come learn how to help your volunteers see every child as unique and special, and gain practical tips to increase connection and create safe environments for all kids to grow in their faith.
“Did God really say…?” was the first time God’s truth was questioned and that same old twisted lie has been repackaged over and over ever since. VBS 2024 will take preschoolers, kids, students (yes, students!), and adults on a journey to Breaker Rock Beach to learn how to sift through the lies of culture and stand strong on the unchanging rock of God’s truth. Come get a sneak peek at what’s coming NEXT for the summer of 2024.
Children experience grief and loss differently than adults. This conference will help you see grief and loss through the eyes of a child and provide practical ideas for ministering to children and their families.
This session will help you remove the fear around “all things Special Needs” in churches. Some parents and families come with fear or hesitancy because of past “church hurt” and being mistreated; other ministers and church staff come with fear because they “don’t know what they don’t know.” This session will help to set you up for success in doing Special Needs Ministry the way I believe Jesus wants us to.
It’s time we get back to discipling and unleashing our students to infinitely reproduce themselves NOW so that they are even more ready to do it when they have a family LATER. If we are willing to train preteens and students now, we will see the ripples for decades into the future.
This session will help you learn to highlight and broadcast what God is doing in your student ministry that both honors Jesus and helps draw students and families into your ministry.
Leadership comes down to how we practice. There are four unhealthy practices and four healthy practices that could right or wreck your ministry. Let’s identify the good and work to eliminate the bad so you and your youth ministry will thrive.
Ministering to families starts with us. From the best children’s ministry to effective student ministry, it starts with you as a leader. Join us as we work through some specific examples of how you can celebrate and live out effective family ministry practices in your church and home.
Breakout 5
Wednesday, October 11, 9:00 a.m.
We come to the leadership table with different strengths and weaknesses. The good news is that God can use a variety of people and personalities to accomplish His good work. This conference will help you discover and embrace your strengths while also helping you develop a strategy to cover for your weaknesses.
By enhancing church communications and outreach, we can better connect with the younger generation and foster a sense of belonging. Community-building activities can provide safe spaces for the next generation to connect and express themselves, promoting mental health and reducing feelings of isolation. These approaches can also help instill empathy, compassion, and mutual respect among children and teens, which they can carry into adulthood.
This breakout is designed to equip and empower preschool ministry leaders with the knowledge, skills, and passion to create a thriving preschool ministry. Through interactive discussions, attendees will discover 10 attributes that are vital to the life of their ministry. Let’s cultivate vibrant preschool ministries and sow the seeds of faith in the hearts of our precious children!
Think about this … 10 years ago Apple Music didn’t exist, DoorDash didn’t exist, and the name Alexa was just the 32nd most popular name for a baby girl! The rapid changes of the previous decade are strong proof that there is more change coming. Join us as we talk about Gen Z parents, Gen Alpha/Beta kids, and what effective children’s ministry might look like in 2035.
Learn tips and strategies for creating a unique space that preteens can call their own. Whether your church is small or large, creating choices and options for preteens that are different from the younger students will allow you to minister to this unique age group in a more intentional way.
Missions is vital to the church. Missions programs and events are great, but these only scratch the surface of what we can do to incorporate missions into our children’s ministries. Programs and events should be the launching pad for educating children on how to live on mission. Missions isn’t just for missionaries; missions is for Christians—all Christians, all ages.
You may be excited to have a discipleship program, but now disappointed that children and teens aren’t growing as much as you thought they would. The reasons may surprise you. Let’s analyze what may be going on by looking at five connected needs that drive wants, choices, actions, and attitudes. Small changes can make big differences. Dr. Kathy’s practical problem-solving approach will encourage you.
How to recruit the best volunteer leaders, equip them long term, and unleash them well in the NEXT phase of Student Ministry.
Tega Faafa
Helping youth ministry leaders understand how to best speak the language of students in a way that is both challenging and well received is hard. This session will give you tools to help you teach and relate.
Help families learn grow, seek, and worship Jesus together. In this breakout, we will discover how to create experiences where learning begins together as families at church and then continues at home.
Breakout 6
Wednesday, October 11, 10:00 a.m.
Resources and budgets aren’t increasing at the same rate as ministry responsibilities and expectations. While we can’t wave a magic wand and change this reality, we can practice realistic steps to keep your ministry strong, avoid burnout, and move from surviving to succeeding.
Digital media can effectively bridge the communication gap and resonate better with the tech-savvy generation. Through platforms like social media, YouTube, podcasts, etc. we can disseminate positive, inspiring messages to a wider audience. This also encourages next generation participation and engagement in ministry activities, making religion more accessible and appealing to them.
When leaders know how to recruit, equip, and empower volunteers to lead kids and student ministries it can change and drive an entire church.
You can’t do it all yourself. This session will give you some great ideas to enlist, encourage, and empower volunteers to become thriving leaders in kids ministry.
If someone walked up to your classroom door, would they know that Bible teaching happens here? Join us today to talk about changing the perception! It’s not just babysitting … we are teaching biblical truth intentionally and consistently to preschoolers in a manner that affects their conversation and changes the way they play! In this session, we’ll talk about communicating vision to the leaders and church at large as we change that perception together!
In order to learn, children must learn to manage their behaviors, to know when compliance is a good quality, to know how to be flexible, practice interacting with others, have self-determination, know how to verbalize feelings, and express themselves to the people around them. Learn how to help children be ready to learn.
Often we need a game to play that will help teach the material we are learning or stretch the teaching time when parents are running late. This conference will put that list in your back pocket and make you a hero as you share it with other teachers. Be ready to play!
This session will cover essentials such as policies and procedures around safety and security, de-escalating challenging behaviors, designing sensory spaces and interactive classrooms, visual schedules, token boards, reward systems, and other things pertaining to activities, curriculum, schedules, re-directing problem behavior, reinforcing positive behavior, and establishing safety protocols.
The difference between students knowing what they believe and owning what they believe is when they begin to share what they believe. This breakout will cover the following: How to break free from a quiet “student ministry faith” and turn up the faith volume; real life examples and stories of students sharing; best practice for success; building culture and momentum regarding evangelism; and tips and tricks for planning your first “Share Day.”
Teaching is not just about what you want to say, but how your audience learns best. This session will help you consider the learning styles, backgrounds, techniques, and environments of teens in order to foster them to become lifelong learners and disciples.
