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Parents: What is your disaster plan? FREE WORKSHEET FOR PARENTS.

April 23, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

HurricaneEvacRoute

When the power goes out at home what do you do? What about a tornado headed your way? How do you clean up a flooded basement? For many of us that have faced such disasters, we understand how important it is to have a disaster plan. How you deal with disaster in the moment and the days to follow will determine survival and surely how you will address disaster in the future.

Serious question, “What do you do when disaster strikes at home?”

Your child lets out a horrific scream, so you hurry into the kitchen to see what has happened. You find they have cut their hand very badly while trying to open one of those impossible plastic boxes that contains their favorite toy inside. The cut is deep and there is blood everywhere. How do you react? What do you do? In shock, you turn and run full speed out the front door, slamming the door in your kids face, get in the car and drive away from home… without your child. Wait. No! That’s ridiculous and bad parenting. Parents would never respond to a situation like this, unfortunately many do when other types of disaster hit the home…and I have heard too many stories to count.

You and your spouse discover one of the following things about your teenager:

  • You find a picture of them on social media drinking at a party.
  • You see a text message on your son’s phone from their girlfriend, “I’m pregnant“
  • You found evidence of illegal drugs in the house.
  • You discovered they are looking at pornography.
  • Your child recently ____________________.

Teenagers do stupid things but the same can be true about parents… be honest parents you aren’t perfect either. Perhaps reacting to a flesh wound comes second nature to you or your spouse, but how about when you react to your child’s rebellious choices? How you respond and react to these disasters will highly impact your relationship with them, both now and in the future.

Do you and your spouse have a disaster plan for the family?

Here is a free downloadable/printable worksheet that include some questions and conversation starters parents should consider as they build and evaluate the family disaster plan.

 

Filed Under: Student Ministry Tagged With: children, disaster plan, parenting, parents

Got Curriculum? Communication.

July 8, 2012 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

This is blog posting #2 on Got Curriculum? See #1 here.

Communication is everything when it comes to curriculum. You the youth pastor communicating with your small group leaders –> your small group leaders communicating with the students and parents –> the actual material that needs to be communicated. If there is one thing that absolutely blows my mind about LIVE curriculum is how good of a communication network it offers.

WARNING: You will get out of it as much as you put into it. Let me explain.

  • Parent E-mail – for each individual lesson there is a parent email that you can copy+paste into a distribution list of parent emails to let them not only know what Johnny is learning that week during small group, but gives them questions to engage with their kid. We did this for our small group leaders as an accountability tool, they knew mom and dad would be getting the topic email, this helped them stay on track with the curriculum path.
  • Dashboard – Every small group leader has a one-stop shop for what they need to know before leading their small group for the week. Each leader is assigned a login & password, giving them access to ALL of their lessons for the entire school year with both a leaders guide that can be crafted to their own liking along with a student handout sheet for each week. In this same forum they are able to see new messages posted by me, and have the ability to TEXT their small group!
  • Texting – Ya, I know…texting can be more impersonal than a good phone call or face-to-face conversation, but it’s 2012 and when you need to get the word out quickly so students know where you’re meeting for small group or what they should read before coming, this can be a handy tool. Texting is a communication tool also offered through Simply Youth Ministry. We purchased it to coincide with our curriculum. I will say it’s probably 50/50 when it comes down to leaders using it to contact and connect with their small groups. I also use this feature to connect with parents. For example, I will send out a “text blast” to inform all of our parents about a certain event, “Parents, remember we have a parents meeting to discuss our mission trips for this summer. See you at 3PM.”
  • There’s an app for that – Need I say more? There is a LIVE Curriculum app that is unique to each leader’s login credentials. If you are a sophomore leader, it will show your calendar for the year, all of the sophomore study guides, small group questions and updated messages from the youth pastor.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: app, church, communication, dashboard, leader, LIVE, parents, pastor, Simply, Simply Youth Ministry, small group, texting, Youth Ministry, youth pastor

The Parent Rap

June 6, 2012 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

You parents have a crazy rap going on! Some of you have biological children, some of you have adopted, some of you open your doors as a foster home…I give you mad props for doing youth ministry 24/7, keep up the hard work!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: babies, Childrens Ministry, church, dad, family, mom, parents, rapping, youth minsitry, youth pastor

Hey there, my name is Chris. I wake up every morning thinking youth ministry. If you are in the same boat, then I know you will identify with me, because you also live the life of a youth pastor .

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