“I Hate Recruiting” Contest

Posted on: 09/4/12 12:18 PM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s time for me to give away a few copies of my new book about recruiting & keeping volunteers! (WINNERS POSTED AT BOTTOM OF POST)

If you’re involved in church leadership, then you know the power of volunteers. You also are familiar with the daunting task of recruiting volunteers to hang out with kids, to teach Sunday School… to clean up after the junior high banana split night!

We’d all probably love more volunteers… but how do you ask? Besides, what if they say “no.”

I hate rejection.

Sadly, that fear of recruiting (and rejection) often keeps us from asking people to become involved in our ministries.

So let’s have a quick contest. Continue reading ““I Hate Recruiting” Contest”

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Recruiting Help is Still Changing

Posted on: 08/29/12 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Five years ago this fall we released the first edition of The New Breed, claiming that volunteers are different… and the way we recruit and manage them needs to be different. Any youth worker, children’s worker, or volunteer manager of any kind probably has noticed that. Maybe that’s why The New Breed is my top selling book on Amazon right now.

Interestingly enough… things have changed exponentially in 5 years, changes that are affecting all of us and calling for an even greater up-to-date leadership. To be ahead of these changes, we have just released the second edition of The New Breed. Here’s an excerpt:

Today’s volunteer doesn’t need a dayplanner, a watch, a computer, or even a landline…they just need a smartphone.

What is next? Real-time hologram projections of my board members at our board meetings?

I almost hesitate to write about technology, in fear that by the time it goes to print it will already be out of date. You’d be amazed if you saw how much we had to already totally revamp the technology chapter for the second edition of the book. So much has changed in just 5 years. For example: Continue reading “Recruiting Help is Still Changing”

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Reading… for Fun?

Posted on: 08/24/12 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

My wife loves reading. My girls really enjoy reading.

I… I love movies.

When I’m not speaking, training, or writing, I’m at my desk all day reading journals, articles and studies about youth culture, ministry or parenting. Being completely honest… the last thing I want to do at the end of my workday is pick up a book and read for “relaxation.” If I wanna relax I’ll hang out with my kids, go kayaking, or plop down with Lori on the couch and watch something fun.

I know some people like reading for relaxation. I do it on occasion (usually because I have to)… but I just don’t enjoy it. I wish I did.

I know… it’s ironic. I’m an author… and I don’t like reading. Books offer so much more than the articles and journals I frequent. For example: Yesterday I received an email from a Christian group complaining about how our country was founded on Christian principles and it needs to return to those principles. Some guy was quoting Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and putting words in their mouths. I researched a bit and found Continue reading “Reading… for Fun?”

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Done with Number 10

Posted on: 07/11/12 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Put on some Lionel Ritchie… because it’s time to “party, carumba, fiesta…” (Come on… you remember the song!)

Celebrate with me; I just finished my 10th youth ministry book! And in celebration, I’m implementing two huge discounts THIS WEEK ONLY exclusively for my readers:

1. I’m putting all my books ON SALE UP TO 40% OFF!

2. I’m also upgrading all shipping to PRIORITY SHIPPING on ALL U.S. ORDERS! (You just choose the cheap “Media-Mail” and I’ll automatically upgrade it to PRIORITY this week! It won’t show the upgrade… but I will! I promise!)

SHOP NOW!

For those who have been following my blog, you know that the book I’ve been working on was MORE 10-MINUTE TALKS. I’m really excited about this book, because not only is it going to be a lot more of the same talks that youth workers loved from the first 10-MINUTE TALKS… but this one I co-wrote with my dad… who rocks!!!

The book will be coming out early 2013, so I’m told. I’m looking forward to it! Keep on eye on my blog and web sites. As always, I’ll offer an early release and special discount. You can sign up to receive that “RECOMMENDED BOOKS” email HERE.

Side note: for those anal-retentive, meticulous people who counted only 8 youth ministry books in the above picture, and then the one parenting book… you are correct. That’s because I didn’t post the pic of my one e-book, “What’s a Fo-Sheezy” which YS is relaunching in the YS Store soon. So that’s 9, and this new MORE 10-MINUTE TALKS is ten. I also didn’t count my Spanish book, because that’s just a Spanish version of Getting Students to Show Up. Happy? 🙂

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Greg Stier on “Real Conversations”

Posted on: 06/13/12 10:19 AM | by Jonathan McKee

When I think of evangelism, I think of my buddy Greg Stier. Greg is the type of guy who can start a conversation with a cab driver, and the guy will put his trust in Christ before dropping off Greg at the airport. Greg definitely has the gift.

That’s why, when I started writing the script for my Real Conversations training curriculum on DVD, I sent Greg my first draft and asked for his feedback. Greg’s insight is always priceless (literally…he didn’t charge me a thing). 🙂

Now that my DVD curriculum is released, Greg took a peek at the training and had this to say:

“If you are looking for a way to ease your students into the often awkward (but always awesome!) process of peer-to-peer evangelism then I challenge you to get Real Conversations for your teenagers. McKee is always funny, practical and thought provoking when it comes to anything he teaches…and he doesn’t disappoint in this curriculum! I especially enjoyed the demonstration in episode four showing a conversation between two girls at school and how the Christian girl skillfully, naturally and humbly turned the conversation with her friend toward spiritual things.”
Greg Stier, President Dare 2 Share Ministries
Dare2Share.org

I agree with him– the two girls in “Episode Four” of the training are amazing. It’s a very…well…it’s a very “real conversation” that gives young people a glimpse of what authentic faith conversations might look like in real life. (Get the curriculum right now on sale for less than $20, including the DVD and the participant’s/leaders guide. Shameless plug).

If you haven’t heard or read Greg, I encourage you to check him out at GregStier.org

Even though evangelism isn’t my gift, I like hanging out with Greg because his passion for evangelism rubs off on you. Greg is an encouragement to me, always motivating me to talk to others about the Good News!

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10 Ways to Scare Off Pushy Salesmen

Posted on: 06/8/12 6:34 AM | by Jonathan McKee

How come our evangelism techniques sometimes feel like door-to-door “sales” trickery?

I’ve been thinking a lot about evangelism lately, with the release of my new “Real Conversations” evangelism curriculum. In that curriculum I talk about how often our evangelism methodology sometimes can be either too pushy… or too silent.

Jesus was neither.

I probably wouldn’t be sticking my neck out to far when I suggest that our evangelism style should look nothing like a door-to-door salesman who use pushy tactics. Nobody likes a pushy salesman. Do you get these guys coming to your door? Maybe it’s just where I live in the burbs, but we get SOOOOOoooo many of these guys who come to the door trying to sell us something, arguing with you if you say your not interested… so hard to get rid of them. My kids and I have been trying to think of ways to avoid them and get rid of them.

Here’s my Top-10 list of 10 Ways to Scare Off Pushy Door-to-door Salesman. I’ll provide two through 10… and you submit a possible #1. I will vote on the best one and give the winner a free copy of my new Real Conversations curriculum, both a DVD and a Participant’/Leaders Guide.

10 Ways to Scare Off Pushy Door-to-door Salesman.

10. Just stand there sharpening a machete when you open the door.

9. Open the door just wearing a towel… a hand towel!

8. Be hollering at someone in a back room as you open the door, mid sentence. “…and Doctor Morse said as long as I keep taking the antibiotics and don’t go out in public for the next 3 or 4 days, it should be fine.” Finally look at the salesman. “Can I help you?” Start coughing severely without covering your mouth.

7. Silence. Don’t say a word. Just stare (add a subtle lip-quiver if possible).

6. Speak a foreign language to them. (I always speak Elvish.)

5. Open the door frantically holding a leash and a huge dog collar. “Did you find him?!!! Adolf escaped about 10 minutes ago and is roaming the street!”

4. Come to the door with a shotgun and an apple. Tell them you need help “sighting” your shotgun. Ask them to place the apple on their head.

3. Stare at them up and down and then in your best Southern drawl say, “You got a pretty mouth.”

2. Dip the knuckles of your right hand in re-fried beans then open the door and extend your hand to them saying, “Sorry I was so long getting to the door. I was just changing a diaper.”

And it’s up to you to write #1

Use the comments below to submit your best creative way to scare off a pushy door-to-door salesman. I will vote for the winners soon and post it on this blog.

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The Sticky Note Exercise Across the Globe

Posted on: 06/4/12 5:04 PM | by Jonathan McKee

About a month ago a pastor named Les emailed me from Virginia Beach and asked me if I had any suggestions for training a bunch of youth ministers in Columbia. After briefly assessing the situation, I suggested that Les use my “sticky note training” from my book Connect, a training exercise which we provide on our FREE TRAINING TOOLS page on TheSource4YM.com.

Wes had read Connect and was excited that we provided the training for free (we have a video of me doing a part of this training on our site, and we provide a free ppt with a training script as well. It’s an easy training right out of chapters 4 and 14 of my Connect book). A few weeks later, Wes was down in Fusa, Columbia, teaching my “Connect” training in Spanish to a group of young people going into ministry. Here’s a snippet of his email to me after the training:

…You suggested using ideas from your “Connect” book and free training because those principles could easily translate from one culture to another.

Well you were right. I was in Fusa, Colombia last week and had the opportunity to teach at a Bible School there for college aged young men and women going into ministry. Some are going into youth ministry but most will be planting churches. They will be responsible for getting youth ministries up and running in their churches.

I taught for four days on pretty much everything I could think of related to youth ministry. I shared the model you created for the “Connect” book and we did the sticky note exercise.

It was one of the best parts of the week. It worked very well. They had a great time doing the exercises. I thought I’d send you some pictures and let you know your influence has spread to young men and women who will be ministering all over the country of Colombia in the coming years! Pretty cool!

It’s fun getting feedback from people who have used this effective training tool, helping equip youth workers to connect with kids.

For those who have attended my CONNECT training workshop or tried this exercise with your team, you probably have found that the sticky-notes always gravitate toward one side of the chart or the other, revealing a ministry’s strengths and weaknesses. Most often, church ministries are really good at connecting with kids on the right hand side of the chart, but lacking at connecting with young people on the left. Apparently the same was true with this group in Columbia. Les wrote:

I think the thing that connected the most with them was seeing how many students they had on the right side of the chart, “growing” & “in ministry”, than the left side.

Once they looked at it, they realized how little connection they had with the outreach kids.

Asking them how they knew where their kids fit on the chart was a challenge and got them thinking.

I was pleased to hear that the training exercise achieved its purpose.

We have Connect on sale for 25% off on our website right now. Grab it and take advantage of our free training!

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New Book Cover

Posted on: 05/31/12 9:24 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Yeah…some of my Twitter followers probably remembering me Tweeting about this upcoming book. I signed a contract with Zondervan right around the time my eye got infected, then have been pounding the keys a little here and there with someone else’s help…someone who is going to bring an amazing element to this book: my dad!

The book is MORE 10-Minute Talks, a book that people have been asking me for ever since I released 10-Minute Talks a few years ago. If you own that previous book, I encourage you to open up the front cover to the Acknowledgements. You’ll see this:

“My dad deserves more than just an acknowledgement in this book– his name should probably be on the cover with mine.”

Well… it’s official. He’s on the cover of this upcoming one. My dad and I have been working together gathering captivating stories for this book and matching them with corresponding Biblical application and discussion questions. If you liked the first book, you’re gonna really enjoy this one.

I’m really excited to be working with my dad on this one. Those who use his website VolunteerPower.com or have read THE NEW BREED, the book that my dad and I co-authored, are already fans of his. This will be the second book that we’ve officially co-authored together. Really fun!

Here’s the cover! (I think that the plan is for this book to release this fall when I teach my “Speaking to a Generation with a Short Attention Span” workshop at the National Youth Workers Conventions. We just gotta finish writing it in the next 30 days!)

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The Mystery Tweet Contest

Posted on: 05/28/12 10:12 PM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s happening in the next week or so… no one knows when or how. I’m not giving you the details, I’m just revealing the prize!

It’s this simple. Starting right now, I’m sponsoring a “Mystery Tweet Contest” on my Twitter page. I’m not telling you what activity I’m rewarding or when I’m awarding it, but I’m going to be giving the winner of this little contest a copy of my new evangelism DVD Curriculum REAL CONVERSATIONS along with 5 Participant Guides!

It could happen tomorrow… it could happen in a week. I’m not telling. (This is so fun!)

So what should you do for the next week or so?

Sign up to Follow me on my Twitter page if you don’t already
Spread the word by ReTweeting the Tweets that you like

Pay attention… I’ll announce the winner on my Twitter page soon!

Happy Tweeting!

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A Book a Day

Posted on: 05/6/12 3:29 PM | by Jonathan McKee

This week I’ve decided that I’ll give away “a book a day.”

Here’s how it will work. This week I’m going to be doing some last minute youth culture research to update my parenting workshops, then I’m heading down to the FAM Conference in SoCal, hanging with Doug Fields, Jim Burns, and teaching the parenting track. I’ll make sure and Tweet throughout the week during my research, my blogging, my travels, as well as from the conference. Your job is simple:

ReTweet whatever you think is interesting.

If you don’t follow me on Twitter yet, just jump on my Twitter page and hit the Follow button. Then if I Tweet something about what’s new on the iTunes’ Top 10… reTweet. If you like some of the research I Tweet about teenagers and their entertainment media consumption…reTweet. If I Tweet about what Doug Fields is eating for lunch…reTweet!

The more you reTweet, the more chances you have to win the free book of the day. Monday’s book will be Duffy Robbins new book from YS, Building a Youth Ministry That Builds Disciples. The rest of the books will be announced each day on my Twitter page.

I’ll randomly select a winner from the reTweets of each day and Tweet it at the end of the day M-F this week on my Twitter page!

If you don’t have a Twitter account, just pop on Twitter.com and sign up for free, and then pop on my Twitter page Twitter.com/InJonathansHead and hit FOLLOW. It’s that simple.

Happy Tweeting!

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