FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry

If you like what you're hearing, subscribe to the FourFiveSix podcast by clicking here and you'll get great ideas for your preteen ministry four, five, or six times a week. Today on the podcast, Sean talks with James Powell from the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York about lessons he learned about preteen ministry and ministry leadership in 2020 during COVID-19 and Shelter In Place orders. James' chu...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks about the idea of keeping your preteen leadership involved in your ministry while churches are unable to meet in person. Due to Covid-19 we are unable to meet in person and have moved to an online format of meeting. By continuing to engage and finding meaningful ways for the preteens to serve, we are able to continue our leadership program online. Part of preteen...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Pastor Preston Plentl from The House of Modesto about collaborating online with other churches. Sean and Preston talk about how their relationship started before the unprecedented state our country fell into. Preston had just launched his preteen ministry and decided to film the Deeply Rooted Curriculum lessons to send out to his students. Sean saw this video...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Pastor Chris Santos about Family Game Night: Quarantine Edition event. This was a very easy event to put together, and an event that can be done repeatedly. Using Zoom and the Kahoot App, Sean and Chris facilitated the night which included 3 games for the families. Families earned additional points right off the bat if they came to the meeting matching someho...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Luke Clifton, a Children's Minister out of Martinsville Virginia about an event, "Nailed It". The idea for the "Nailed It" event came from the show. After inviting families to participate and determine what baked goods they wanted to make, it got rid of the issue of allergies, as well as getting the supplies to the families. Since the families decided what th...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Deandra Ziegler about small group nights. Deandra discusses the small groups nights they do 4 x's a year at their church. "All Small Groups" occurs on either a Wednesday or Sunday for the entire hour of that service time. Each small group leader plans their groups event (bible study, combining with another group to do a game, or whatever the leader comes up wi...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Zach Matchett about effectively communicating the gospel with preteens. Effectively communicating the gospel to preteens includes giving more opportunities to work it in to the teaching. How do you make the gospel in a digestible way for preteens to truly understand all the what questions that might come up for them? Zach suggests repetition, specifically in p...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about taking joy in our work. Philippians 4:4 says "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again rejoice." This sounds like a command from God, that we find joy in our work. Jesus even found joy as he was headed to the cross. Finding joy in our work is God's will for us. Sean encourages you, that even if there are difficult things happening in life or at work, t...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks about the strategy of talking about what is whispered. Picture a Peanuts cartoon, the characters are talking during class, but in the background you hear the teacher talking and being ignored. We don't want God's word to ever be ignored. We are not wanting the whispers becoming the main focus for our preteens. Taking what they are talking about and incorporating i...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks with Zach Matchett about preteens and application of your message. Zach discusses the ways he has helped preteens make application of a message they hear, helping them to figure out how that message will affect them going forward. By setting aside time for preteens to talk back to a leader about what they heard, allows them time to process the information. This all...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Ryan Frank regarding MegaCon and the Preteen HQ. R Ryan, the leader of KidMin, speaks about his heart behind the Preteen HQ that was added to MegaCon at the 2019 conference. Have you ever wondered what conference to attend as a preteen ministry leader? Children's conferences just don't seem to have the necessary resources you are looking for. Maybe think abou...

Today on the podcast, Sean continues his talk with Paula Mazza about what to do about mental health in our preteen ministries. Paula discusses some things that can be done now if you suspect some mental health issues in your preteen ministry. One of the easiest things we can do is to talk about it. Helping preteens to know ways to express how they are feeling can help them to get their feelings ou...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks to Paula Mazza about mental health in your preteen ministry. 1 in 6 people in our world are between the ages of 10-19. When it comes to mental health half of all mental illness will start showing symptoms before the age of 15. The average delay in diagnosis is 10 years, which in terms of preteens is the formidable years of their lives. Beginning in 2007 and reporti...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Michayla White, Executive Director of INCM, about eliminating unnecessary expectations. There are expectations that we put on ourselves that God does not put on us. The expectations that we put on ourselves will never be as nice or merciful as those that come from the Father. Take a time and step back and seek what the Lord expects of you. Spend some time in...

Today on the podcast, Sean shares an excerpt of the recent Peer Group meeting about challenging the preteens in your ministry. If we challenge the preteens in our ministry and allow them to do more they will shock us with what they are able to do. Giving preteens the opportunity to be leaders in your ministry can allow them to rise above what expectations we might have for preteens. Don't limit yo...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Zach Matchett about first impressions and last impressions and where to put your focus. A person will determine their impression of a place in the first 6-8 minutes of walking into your space. Making sure that you have great guest services when they first walk in can have a big factor of whether or not that visit might return. Zach's team really focused on ma...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Pastor Chris and Jaime Santos about giving preteens a chance to choose elements that occur in our preteen ministry. The idea of This or That came about during one of Elevate's weekly leadership meetings. They were looking for a way to get the preteens more engaged in announcements. Allowing preteens more involvement in the announcements to ensure they are ret...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Heather Soukup about the Family Photo Christmas Card Prayer Wall. Heather discusses the bulletin board she has above her desk in her office. It is a 4'x6' board and on it she has saved and trimmed down the family photo Christmas cards, leaving the picture and the names. The pictures are either families in the ministry or volunteers in the ministry. Having the...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about being thankful. As Christians we are thankful every day for what God has given us even though we are not deserving. There is a call for us in ministry to be thankful for our volunteers, our Senior Pastors, even the kids and parents in our ministry. Today as you sit down with family and enjoy Thanksgiving remember that we should be thankful every day because o...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about the idea of not doing anything on Sunday. What! Not do anything on Sunday. It means that you have everything prepared before Sunday comes and you don't have anything that is vital to the service that needs to be handled that morning. Sean explains how over the last few weeks he and his team have made a change to have everything that can be done finished befor...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Dayna about the use of snacks during preservice. In Elevate, during the preservice time the kids are offered a snack as they enter after checking in. In Elevate one of the positives of having the café set up is that it offers a social area for the preteens to hang out. In the Elevate café area there are little tables and stools to sit at where they can eat th...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about a concept while working with preteens of knowing what you expect versus what you hope for. When you are talking about things in ministry like inviting friends, baptism or worship. Your tone when asking things of the preteens can really determine if you are demanding something of them or inviting them to join you in doing it. When it comes to behavior it is ok...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Heather Soukup about a Disciple Making Map for birth to 18 years. When Heather's group was first putting this together they met to identify spiritual moments that they want their families to pay attention to as the students grow up. Using a map like this can help a ministry to organize how they will minister to their different age groups. After putting togeth...

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Chip Henderson on the best way of ministering to preteens is by stepping into their world. To really connect with preteens you need to be culturally relevant to them. When you use things that they are aware of in their world, like current video games, in your message or when you are speaking to them they can relate to it better. Knowing what is popular for th...

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about bringing in preteens to sing or play music on occasion for worship. In the past, Elevate would work with a group of preteens who wanted to be involved in the band. We would spend a few months working with them and they would be able to play one or two songs at the end of it. This was a very ineffective way to get the preteens involved in music and worship. La...