When I attended the AG Kidmin Conference 2017, I was in between children’s pastor positions. Actually, I hadn’t been a children’s pastor for over three years and was working at a Christian school. Seated in the first general session, I had no idea why I was there and also no idea that just three months later God would move my family so I could be the children’s pastor of a church.

The conference reconfirmed my call as a children’s pastor and encouraged me that if God were to bring me back to a church, I did have the tools and knowledge to pastor the kids He put before me. I received a reminder while sitting in a workshop on "Giftology," which was geared to showing appreciation for your volunteers through gifts. I thought I was fairly good at showing appreciation; but the presenter had taken it up about four notches. He shared how he would put notes in his phone, under a person’s contact information, when he learned something about the person that he could use later (such as a favorite drink at Starbucks). Since the conference, my phone is filled with that type of information. In two months, I’ve already blessed my coordinators with their favorite candy bars, given the worship leader a gift card to his favorite coffee shop for his birthday, and have a plan to bless my senior pastor with his favorite frozen pizza soon.

Another workshop that made a huge impact was the Junior Bible Quiz session. In that workshop, we learned how you can use the JBQ materials for much more than just weekly quiz matches. JBQ can be used as a great small group activity for families, or even as curriculum for your services. The first week I sat in our kids’ church services at our new church, I saw a volunteer who was very passionate about teaching kids about the Bible and helping them memorize Scripture. The next week I realized how many older kids attend the first adult service at our church. We don’t offer a kids’ service during that time frame. Then I remembered what I had learned from that JBQ workshop. In a few weeks that same volunteer will be starting kids’ church, to run concurrently with the first adult service, using the JBQ material as the curriculum.

Even if you’re in between positions, if God lays it on your heart to come to the AG Kidmin Conference 2018, you need to come. God may just have something incredible to teach you in the in-between phases of your ministry!