Do you need a huge budget, elaborate children's building, or expensive program to have a great children's ministry?

No.

In this episode of The Great Commission Toolkit, I'm back with my dad, Pastor Jon Williams, continuing our conversation about Celebrate Kids Sunday at Bluestone Baptist Church.

This time, we're talking about what happens when the kids and families actually arrive, and how a church can intentionally build a strong children's ministry with the people and resources God has already given them.

We talk about:

👥 Training children's workers before putting them into ministry

🎓 Giving new workers opportunities to learn alongside experienced teachers

💰 Building an effective children's ministry without a massive budget

🙌 Creating a ministry kids genuinely want to come back to

👋 How Bluestone welcomes first-time families

🎁 Simple visitor gifts and a welcome team

⏰ When they dismiss children for children's church

📖 Making God's Word the priority of children's church

🎮 Using games, songs, prizes, and object lessons

🌱 Using object lessons to develop new teachers

📝 Planning out the children's service before it starts

⏱️ Giving every part of children's church a specific amount of time

🙏 Intentionally leaving time for the invitation and counseling

One of my favorite thoughts from this conversation is simple:

You don't have to wait until you have more money, a better building, or a bigger ministry to start improving your children's ministry.

Use what God has already given you.

Train your people. Give new workers opportunities to grow. Plan intentionally. Have fun. Teach the Bible. And keep working to make your children's ministry better.

At Bluestone, multiple teams rotate through children's church, but they work from the same basic philosophy and structure while still bringing their own personalities and strengths.

You don't have to copy the biggest church in town.

Be faithful with what God has given you and ask: How can we make what we're already doing better?

🎙️ The Great Commission Toolkit | Excellerate Ministries

This is part of our continuing series on Celebrate Kids Sunday. In the next episode, we'll dig deeper into follow-up and what the church did to encourage visiting families to return.

Donate to our ministry: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4894299

Follow us on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/excellerateministries

Send in Question to chase@excellerateministries.com

Have questions for Dad, Pastor Jon? Email him here: bluestonepastor@gmail.com

#ChildrensMinistry #KidsMinistry #SmallChurch #ChurchGrowth #SundaySchool #JuniorChurch #VBS #MinistryTraining #GreatCommissionToolkit

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How do you get families you've reached through VBS, kids' programs, and community events to actually visit your church on Sunday?

In Part 2 of our conversation about Celebrate Kids Sunday, I'm back with my dad, pastor of Bluestone Baptist Church, to break down the practical promotion and outreach that went into their biggest Sunday of the year.

This wasn't built around a massive advertising budget.

Instead, they used relationships and contacts they had already developed through VBS, Summer Kids Club, community events, and other outreach opportunities—and intentionally invited those families to take another step.

In this episode, we talk about:

📝 Using registration forms to identify families who want more information about your church

📱 Building an outreach contact list instead of losing contacts after an event

👨‍👩‍👧 Moving families from a children's event to Sunday morning

📲 How texting was used to reconnect with previous contacts

📣 Facebook promotion on a small budget

📄 Using flyers and encouraging church members to invite

🙏 Making prayer a major part of event preparation

⚽ Why a VBS parents' night can be incredibly valuable

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Getting parents and grandparents involved in children's events

🎯 Keeping the ultimate goal of salvation and discipleship in view

One of the ideas I love from this conversation is incredibly simple:

When someone attends one of your events, don't lose the relationship when the event ends.

Give families an opportunity to request more information. Keep appropriate contact information. Continue building the relationship. Pray for them. And intentionally create opportunities to invite them back.

By God's grace, Celebrate Kids Sunday brought around 10–12 visiting families, and the relationships behind many of those visits had been developing through previous outreach.

You don't necessarily need a massive budget to reach families in your community.

Start with the people God has already allowed you to reach.

🎙️ The Great Commission Toolkit | Excellerate Ministries

This is Part 2 of our conversation about Celebrate Kids Sunday. In the next episode, we'll get even more practical about what happened when families actually arrived—how they were welcomed, how information was collected for follow-up, and how the children's ministry was structured.

Donate to our ministry: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4894299

Follow us on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/excellerateministries

Send in Question to chase@excellerateministries.com

Have questions for Dad, Pastor Jon? Email him here: bluestonepastor@gmail.com

#ChurchOutreach #ChurchGrowth #ChildrensMinistry #KidsMinistry #VBS #ChurchMarketing #Evangelism #GreatCommissionToolkit

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What happens AFTER your big church event?

Churches can spend weeks planning a VBS, kids' day, community outreach, or special Sunday. But sometimes we put so much effort into getting people there that we don't have a plan for getting them back.

In this episode of The Great Commission Toolkit, I'm joined by my dad and pastor to talk about Celebrate Kids Sunday at Bluestone Baptist Church.

The goal wasn't simply to have a big attendance day. The church wanted to connect with families they had reached through VBS Soccer Camp and Summer Kids Club. Then give those families a reason to return.

By God's grace, Celebrate Kids Sunday became the church's biggest Sunday of the year, and several visiting families continued coming back in the weeks that followed.

We talk about:

🙏 The spiritual preparation and prayer behind the day

🎯 Why they started with a clear goal

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Reaching the entire family through children's ministry

📱 How they used texting to personally connect with families

🍖 Using a simple meal to keep families on the property

🎉 Bounce houses, snow cones, gifts, and school supplies

🙌 Getting church members and children's workers involved

📖 Starting a sermon series on the special Sunday

📅 Giving visitors a reason to come back the next week

🔄 Planning follow-up BEFORE the event ever happens

📈 What happened in the weeks following Celebrate Kids Sunday

One of the biggest lessons from this conversation is simple:

Don't just plan the event. Plan what happens after the event.

The goal isn't simply to fill the building for one Sunday. We want to reach people with the gospel, connect families to the local church, and ultimately see disciples made.

If you're planning a VBS, kids' day, Friend Day, community outreach, or another special event, I hope this conversation gives you some practical ideas, and challenges you to think beyond the big day.

🎙️ The Great Commission Toolkit | Excellerate Ministries

This is only Part 1! In the next episode, we'll get even more practical about promotion, follow-up, and what went into making Celebrate Kids Sunday happen.

If this episode helps you, share it with another children's ministry worker and leave us a review!

Want a Kids Ministry Training Booklet? Contact us here: chase@excellerateministries.com

Gospel Resources:

Dad Joke Tracts: https://excellerateministries.com/dad-joke-tract

Counselor Cue Cards: https://excellerateministries.com/counselors-cue-cards/

The Bible Way to Heaven Booklet: https://excellerateministries.com/gospel-booklet/

Donate to our ministry: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4894299

Follow us on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/excellerateministries

#ChurchGrowth #ChildrensMinistry #ChurchOutreach #KidsMinistry #VBS #ChurchLeadership #Evangelism #GreatCommission #GreatCommissionToolkit

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