The following post is an adaptation from a chapter I wrote in the book, “Turbocharged 2.0: 100 Simple Secrets to Successful Preschool Ministry”. To learn more about the book you can check it out here.

In over 10 years as a Children’s Pastor, I have observed some key characteristics in preschoolers that every leader should adopt no matter where they are or what they do in an organization.

1.  Choose Curiosity Over Apathy

My first observation is that preschoolers are naturally curious. Spend longer than 30 seconds with a 4 year old and you soon realize that they question EVERYTHING. They are extremely inquisitive. They want to explore, discover, and learn.

Curious leaders challenge the status quo and explore new ways of doing things. On the flip side, apathy kills your curiosity & takes away your ability to innovate. As a leader, if you feel like apathy has crept in begin to ask, “Why?” and “What if…?” rekindle your curiosity. To lead like a preschooler, you must choose curiosity over apathy.

2.  Choose Adaptation Over Stagnation

Secondly, preschoolers adapt to their surroundings. I watch this happen every week as new kids enter into our preschool ministry. They may be reluctant at first, but it does not take long before they have settled into their new environment. Their fear of the unknown may slow them down but it does not stop them in their tracks. Preschoolers have an uncanny ability to change and adapt.

Your ability to change and adapt will determine your effectiveness as a leader. Idle leaders become stagnant leaders. Many of our fears have to do with change. If we were to be totally honest, most of us are reluctant when we face changes. But fear of change turns our reluctance into resistance. When we resist change, it stops us in our tracks. If you want to lead like a preschooler, you cannot let your fear of change cause you to resist it and become stagnant. Instead choose to embrace change and adapt to it.

3.  Choose Risks Over Retreat

My third observation is that preschoolers are constantly making progress. They are maturing, growing, and developing. Preschoolers do not retreat from challenges but take risks to solve their dilemmas. The words “it can’t be done” are not in the vocabulary of a preschooler. They will use their imagination to make the impossible, possible.

Leaders make progress. Leaders do not back down from a challenge, they creatively figure out ways to overcome them. One of the most common ways we retreat from a challenge is by avoiding failure. Because we do not want to fail, we allow the words “it can’t be done” to become commonplace in our vocabulary. When we think “it can’t be done”, we avoid the necessary risks that would take our organization to the next level. Taking calculated risks is what makes great things possible. Without taking risks, we cannot make improvements. Without improvements, we are not making progress. Without progress, we are in retreat. To lead like a preschooler, we must choose to take the risks over retreat.

What other ways can we learn to lead like a preschooler? Leave your comments below…

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Vision has been defined as “a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be”. The Bible states in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Establishing a vision for your ministry is essential to knowing where you are going and getting everyone on the same page to get there.

Vision Determines Direction

It is nearly impossible to get where you are going without the ability to see where you are going. It’s like navigating your way through a room with a blindfold on. You are constantly bumping into and knocking down things. And if you’re not careful, you will get hurt.
Your vision helps you clarify what you want and how to get there. It opens your eyes to the possibilities. A clear and compelling vision serves as the GPS for your life, organization, and ministry.
Vision also makes your decision making process easier. If you know where you are headed you can then say “no” to things that will not help you get there and “yes” to the things that will. Vision gives you focus to see the end goal and avoid the obstacles that will keep you from reaching it.

Vision Creates Alignment

Not long ago, I was driving down the road and began to notice that my car was pulling to the left. Every time I took my hands off the wheel, my car began to veer toward the centerline. I took my car to the mechanic and he told me that the front end was “out of alignment”. He told me that misalignment could cause major problems if I didn’t get it fixed. Well, I got it fixed and now my car is running smoothly.
The same thing is true of our lives. If we are out of alignment, it can cause major problems. In our organization, vision creates alignment. It becomes a rallying point for all your volunteers. It puts everyone on the same page, working together to accomplish the same goals.

One final note about vision: only YOU can determine the vision of your organization. Please don’t misunderstand that statement. You will need to work with your Senior Pastor and your church staff to make sure your vision is synchronized with the overall vision of the church. What I am saying is that vision is born in the leader when they are dissatisfied with the status quo. Vision begins with you and then leaks throughout your entire organization. You have to do the due diligence and determine what you want to see happen and then design a plan to make it happen.

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My three children are fascinated with animals. They love to learn interesting facts about animals. Recently we checked out a book about baby animals that was full of amazing facts about all kinds of creatures. One of the discoveries that I found most interesting had to do with baby ducks and how they imprint.

When baby ducks hatch, they imprint on the first living creature they see that is larger than itself. Whether it’s another duck, a dog, a cow, or a person, baby ducks thinks it is their mother and they believe that they are its baby. And you thought this kind of thing only happened on “Tom and Jerry” cartoons? But it is true, God created baby ducks to imprint on another creature so that it is always the first thing the duckling thinks about and the most important being in the duckling’s world. Ducklings look to them for protection, provision, and to teach them how to live.

#1 THING WE DO

As I read this, I thought that this should be the #1 thing we do in Children’s Ministry. Our role is help kids imprint on their Heavenly Father. In Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Moses tells us to impress, or imprint, our children with a love for God.

Love the Lord Your God. As we lead children to imprint upon God, we are teaching them to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. This teaches them the basis to know who God is and what God is like.

God Takes First Place. They will see God as the most important being in the world and He will be the first thing they think about. When kids imprint on God they begin to look to Him for protection, provision, and to teach them how to live.

#1 WAY WE DO IT

I believe Moses clearly lays out a plan to imprint children in our ministries with a love for God. He tells us to “impress them upon our children.” The Hebrew word here is shanan, which means “to instill by persistent instruction.” The idea is that in everything we do, we guide our children to love God and put Him first through persistent reinforcement.

Reinforcement And Retention. A recent study found that when we expose kids to a concept once in 30 days there is a 10% retention level. For example, if you’re only teaching a Biblical truth once in 30 days, your kids are only remembering 10% of what you teach them. On the other hand, the study found that if we review that material six times within a 30-day period kids will likely retain 90% of what we teach them.

Stick To The Theme. A few years ago we started teaching the same theme for an entire month but approaching it using different Bible stories, songs, and activities each week. As you can imagine the practice of persistent reinforcement radically changed the way we do children’s ministry. We no longer concentrated on totally new material every week and then moving on to something different. Now once we teach a lesson we come back again a week later from a different angle, and back again another week, and back again another week for the entire month. The end result has been amazing! Our kids are remembering who God is and what God is like. They are learning to love God and give Him first place in their lives.

The challenge is to begin to practice persistent reinforcement in your ministry. According to Moses, our goal is not to impress children with a new Bible story each week, but rather it is to imprint them with a love for God.

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Good leaders are strong and courageous. In Braveheart, William Wallace says, “People don’t follow titles, they follow courage.” Strength and courage inspires people to sacrifice their time, resources, and even their lives to follow their leader.

This principle was true for Joshua. He just became the new leader of Israel. It was his time to step up and lead. God tells Joshua, ”Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people…”. God’s command is to “be strong and courageous”. This wasn’t the time to sit back and let life happen. Not the time to be weak and indecisive. It was time for Joshua to realize God’s future for His people. It was time to take new territory, defeat enemies, & enter the promised land.

This principle was true for Joshua, William Wallace, and it’s true for us. We need strength and courage to face challenges & take risks. It is required for us to challenge the status quo. Strength and courage enables us to press through discouragement, fight through stress, overcome doubt, & face our fears. It means that we must make decisions and stick to them. Strength and courage are required for us to be good leaders and make a difference in this life.

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In Numbers 13, the Israelites sent spies into the promised land. God promised the land. He told the people it was good. A land flowing with milk and honey. He told them it was their land. When the spies returned they reported that everything was true…the land was good, it was flowing with milk and honey. All they had to do was follow God’s dream for them and take possession of the land. Then one little word changed everything. “But”. “But” was the response of the spies. “But the people were powerful & the cities are fortified.”

“But” – it’s a small word that had a BIG impact on our lives.

“But” precedes all our excuses for not pursing our dreams. How many times have you heard…

• But we’ve never done it that way before.
• But the people we lead won’t go for it.
• But the risk is too big.
• But what happens if we fail.
• But it won’t be popular.
• But (insert your own excuse).

“But” is anchored in fear and doubt. Fear and doubt are the enemies of God’s dreams. They stifle what God wants to accomplish in you. “But” keeps us from leading. It keeps us from pursuing that new venture, taking the leadership risks that could unleash what God has birthed in us. “But” keeps us from our dreams, stops us from reaching our goals, stifles our creativity, and blinds us to new and innovative solutions.

Only two spies actually made it to the promised land. Two spies didn’t let the “but’s” keep them from God’s dream. Only two spies reached their full potential. Maybe we’re not reaching our potential because we have allowed a small word to fill us with fear and doubt.

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How do you balance a life of quiet contemplation, study, and prayer with a life of activity, service, and productivity with the crowd? Are they mutually exclusive? Many think you can’t balance the sacred and the secular. The truth is that busyness can distract us from contemplation & contemplation can insulate us from reality. So how we do live with an eternal focus & also manage the temporal demands that flood us daily?

Gregory the Great said, “activity precedes contemplation, but contemplation must be expressed in service to one’s neighbor”. In other words, we must move from distraction to spirit AND back from spirit to practical service of others.

The contemplative life & the active life are NOT mutually exclusive.

The Contemplative Life (Prayer/Study) EQUIPS us for the Active Life (Service/Productivity)

The Active Life (Service/Productivity) GROUNDS us for the Contemplative Life (Prayer/Study)

A balance between the crowd & the quiet is necessary to live the life Jesus calls us to live. Much of Jesus’ recorded life was spent with the crowd…serving others, healing the sick, teaching his disciples. He was able do this because He would frequently step away from the crowd, from the busyness and withdraw for prayer and contemplation.

I wish I were better at living this balance. The times that I do, I have a greater awareness that God is speaking to me in my daily experiences.

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There’s nothing like spending a sick day at home to force me to think about what I’m doing with my time. Being stuck on the sofa and watching time tick away, I quickly realized that there are only 168 hours in my week…and I’ve just lost an entire day! 

Basically, I’ve come to realization that I will NOT get done all that I set out to do this week. At first thought, this really ticked me off. I don’t have time to be sick. There’s so much to do, so much I want to do and being sick only hinders my accomplishments. So I’ve had to ask myself, “how do I redeem my time”?

The following principles help me to make the most of my week and allow me to see significant change over time:

1. There is a cumulative value in investing small amounts of time in one endeavor over time.

Less can actually mean more. Small investments of time will pay huge dividends over time. Think about it…it’s the consistent investments in your marriage, family, work, and exercise that will pay huge dividends as time goes by. On the contrary, a one time investment has no value. Trying to exercise for 4 hours to “catch-up” doesn’t do you any good. Neglecting your marriage and family week in and week out and then trying to make up for it on vacation is an act in futility. Remember, it’s the regular routine that make the difference. 

2. Neglect has a cumulative effect as well

It’s that lack of small, routine investments over time that causes marriages, families, and personal health to breakdown. This is why married couples wake up one day and realize that no longer know the person they are living with. It didn’t happen over night…it happened because they have neglected their marriage in small ways over time.

3. There are rarely any immediate consequences for neglecting single installments of a regular routine.

Missing one day of exercise or one date night with my spouse doesn’t really have an effect. I don’t feel disconnected from God by skipping my time in prayer for one day. There are no immediate consequences. The problem is that I find it easier to neglect my routine the next day as well. 

4. There is no cumulative value to the urgent things we allow to interfere with things that are important.

So often, I allow the urgent to get in the way of the important. As a pastor, there is always something “urgent” that is calling for my attention. So much so, that there are days that I get home and when my wife asks we what I did that day my only answer is, “I don’t know”. The problems is that there is little value in all the “I don’t know’s”. When I let the “urgent” overtake the “important”…I finish the day with nothing to show for it. When I neglect the “important”, I have regret.

5. In the critical arenas of life you cannot make up for lost time

I cannot make up for missed opportunities. When I miss what’s “important”, I cannot make it up tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring more “urgent” things to take the place of the “important”. When I neglect time with my family or skip exercising or “forget” to pray…the opportunity is lost forever. It can’t be make up. That is why I have to start each day fresh and with a renewed focus on what’s truly important. 

I must remember that God has numbered my days. He wants us to make the most out of each day.

Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Redeem the time by establishing regular routines. Redeem the time by making small investments in what’s important. Redeem the time by realizing that it’s not what I’m doing “now” but what I’ve been doing year in and year out…this is what makes the difference!

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