"One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received when it comes to raising up volunteers is to 'train someone to take your job.' That’s exactly what the Apostle Paul did across the Mediterranean world. He duplicated himself in others so they could lead and he could move on to the next person to raise up." That's the advice Josh Dryer has followed. Look at these five basic steps that will help you mentor and recruit volunteers.

A local Kidmin leader’s perspective on switching to Tru Fire: “When Tru Fire was presented to our staff, we were impressed by the mission and focus of the curriculum. On further review and research of the program, our love for it continued to grow. Due to the size of our ministry, kids and volunteers, our concern was making the switch to a completely new style of teaching and involvement.”

The national KidMin17 conference was held April 19-21 at First Assembly in Ft. Wayne, Ind., with over 1,000 kids’ pastors and children’s leaders attending. The following is an overview provided by Danielle Christy, one of the conference attendees.

Six questions that will help you evaluate your leadership training and leadership appreciation: What is something our team should celebrate this week? What is an area within our ministry that needs to be molded and tweaked? What is a responsibility I have or am doing that I need to train and equip someone else to do and begin letting go of? Which child or family within our kids’ ministry can we be there for EXTRA this week? Who was a life saver this week and went above and beyond? What is one reason I still love working in kids’ ministry?

In today’s world there are a lot of things that a children’s ministry leader needs to think about. One of the most basic relates to safety of the children and leaders. You might think “security is not rocket science,” but the following questions will help even the seasoned ministry veteran evaluate their safety policies and procedures.

Many churches preach sermons on loving the orphan, and they have support groups and special meetings to talk about the need in their local area. Yet when a new foster family shows up on a Sunday morning, the kids’ team seems to have no idea how to handle this little one. As members of our churches continue to help in the foster-care system, we will continue to encounter more foster-care children in our ministries on Sundays. So how do we welcome them...