Hello Again- Part 2

Wednesday was the first day of my trip that had an agenda. I was scheduled to have lunch with a local young Children's Pastor who I had met online. He was another one of those I had placed on my "Young Guns" to watch list. It was a great lunch which means he had some great questions for me. As we talked he re-confirmed some of the things I had been thinking about and hearing from God about. I really enjoyed getting to know him better and was thankful for the connection. It was a good time.


The rest of the day was spent going to see Andersonville National Historic Site. I love history especially Civil War history. This was the site of the largest Conferate Prison we had. As I took it all in I started asking God to reveal areas of my thinking that has in prisoned me. It was a powerful time of focus plus I got to take some great pictures.


I came on back that evening before dark so I could visit Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon. It was a spooky old place from 1840. I took some cool pictures and also visited the graves of Duane Allman and Barry Oakley from my favorite band "The Allman Brothers" I have always wanted to come here and there was something very healing about checking 2 more items off my "Things I want to see list". I couldn't help think about how God had blessed my life and gave me a better life than I could have ever dreamed of. My choices are a big part of seeing God's plans for me complete. Once again I was reminded about choices I needed to make. It was here God showed me rather than worrying about all the things I needed to say no to,  I needed to choose to say yes to His invitations and ways.


That night I went back to my hotel and played my guitar and worshiped the Lord for the good things He had done for me. It was a very humbling day. 


More to come...

Hello Again

Last week I took my first ever solo vacation and media blackout. It was wonderful. I started my trip with my entire family (except my son-in-law Dustin who had to work, bummer he couldn't go, yea God he has a great job!) My youngest of my 3 nieces got married and I had the wonderful privilege to help with all the festivities. It was a great 3 days of not only spending time with my mother and my immediate family but also I got to reconnect with some wonderful extended family and long time family friends. The highlight for me though was spending Father's Day with my girls and my wonderful grandson.


That afternoon after we delivered my mother back to Birmingham, Yancy, Julie and Sparrow flew off to minister at a camp in Dallas, Cory and Whitney drove back home to Nashvegas to work and I left for 5 days I am calling my Macation. No phone calls, emails, twitter or facebook posts to anyone but family. The purpose of this trip was to rest, relax, hear from God and check a few additional things off my bucket list.


The first stop was Jacksonville, AL home of the Chief Ladiga Trail. Julie and I got to ride our first Rails to Trail route several years ago in Mississippi called the Longleaf Trace. It was the longest trip either of us had ridden at the time 41 miles. When I heard about the Chief I wanted to ride it because it would cause me to accomplish another one of my bucket list items which was to ride my bicycle from one state to another. 


Monday I started my journey at the Jacksonville community center and rode to Piedmont, AL then rode back to Jacksonville then on to Weaver, AL and back to Jacksonville. All in all it was almost 35 miles. During that ride I heard the Lord tell me I needed to stop trying to do so much.  I had already known that I was to not do very many conferences next year but as I rode the Lord showed me several other things beside conferences I needed to do differently. We talked about how Children's Ministry today has changed from where it began and what my part needed to be in the years ahead. He reconfirmed my commitment and calling to the local church. In the early days there were only children's pastors and evangelists. If you were seeing success you helped others by sharing what had worked for you. I appreciate blogs and social media but I feel that many of them have turned into a means for self promotion. I can not and will not judge the motives of others but I do have to judge mine. I am not going to be blogging as much and promoting myself like I have been. I will use my blog to help others through what I am doing in my local church and my walk with God as a husband, father and minister.   My heart has always been and still is the local church and I am to be true to that calling. I want to be a man my grandchildren admire and want to be like more than a children's ministry guru, poobah, or hero. I belief that my fruit should be based on what I do not what I write. It matters more who I am, than what I say.  The rest of the day I rode around taking pictures and looking at guns and knifes then went to bed before it even got dark.


Tuesday morning I drove over to Piedmont, AL to put in and ride northeast uphill to Georgia. The ride back was wonderful, you got to love going downhill when your legs are tired. I ended up doing only 29 miles but during the ride I had some wonderful prayer time for my family and ministry but on the way back the Lord showed me my next 8 books, as well as what to do over the next few years of theClub and reconfirmed His call on me to do Infuse.
Before I knew it I was back at my starting place and headed back to Jacksonville to pack up, clean-up and reload the truck to head to Macon, GA. Once I got checked into my hotel and headed to the grocery store and went and took a look around the city. I had wanted to come to Macon for more than a day for years all my other trips had been to fly in and do ministry training and fly out. Once again some more items where about to be checked off my bucket list.


More to come...

Having A Blackout

I am very thankful for the technology that I have to work with but for the next week I am not using any of it. I'm taking a break from all email acounts, twitter, facebook, group me and my blog. I haven't decided if I will stay away from Instagram or not, right now I'm leaving that one open.  I'm excited about this. I've seen others do it and have taken a break from one or two of these before but never all of them.


What are you going to do with the extra time, Jim? I'm going to spend it with God and my family. I'm also going to spend some time marking a few more things off my bucket list.


Here's what you can do for me...
1. Pray for me that I'll hear what I need to hear from God.
2. Pray that when I hear what I need to hear that I will be obedient and do it!
3. Pray for safety,  protection, and strength while I ride my bicycle.
See you in a week! Thanks

I've Been Thinking- Part 2

The third area to evaluate is your priorities. Could you make a list of the top ten priorities for your life and ministry right this moment? If you don’t have priorities you can’t keep them. Proverbs 28:2 says “When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.” It’s one thing to know your priorities, it’s another thing all together to live according to those priorities. 

The Forth area to evaluate is time management. In other words ask yourself; how am I spending my time? Am I spending time daily with the Lord? Is my family suffering while my ministry is flourishing? Am I making time for my personal growth and development? Are you identifying the time robbers in your life? Once you identify the areas that need improvement, you must come up with a plan to implement the needed changes. It’s your time, act like it! 

The fifth area I evaluate on a regular basis is my performance. Am I being a team builder or a one-person show? What am I doing that someone else can do? Have I communicated clearly to all my workers what they are to do? Speaking of communication: am I a clear and skillful communicator? Am I skilled at solving problems? Can I be relied on to complete assignments and keep commitments? If you had to rate your level of leadership on a scale of 1 to 10 what would it be? Are you meeting the needs of the children and families of your church? It’s up to you to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses on a regular basis. If you’ll make personal evaluation a habit in your life you’ll grow as a leader! 

As I think about each of these five areas I also have to ask myself what am I doing that I need to say no to. As I evaluate each area there comes a time for me to say yes to right things I have to also say no to things I have no business doing. Making time to think about better ways to do things, making time to listen and evaluate will make a difference in your leadership. The more you make time to stop and think and evaluate the more you will be able to navigate change both in your life and ministry. 

Go ahead, I double dog dare you…. Do you some thinking, it will change your life and ministry!

I've Been Thinking...

Every #kidmin, #stumin, and #fammin leader wants their ministry to grow. I believe God wants your ministry to grow as well. In order for our ministries to children to grow we must be willing to grow in our leadership abilities. Individual growth always comes before corporate growth.

The number one key to growth as a leader is evaluation. Change will never take place without constant evaluation. If you don’t identify ways that you can grow as a leader you’ll never reach your next level. How to you do this? I’m glad you asked that question. Make time to think about your life and ministry on a regular basis! Jim, I think about this all the time, no you think about what to do not how you are doing. You think about problems more than think about answers. You can’t get to where you are going if you don’t know where you are. Let’s look at five areas we should evaluate on a regular basis.

Area number one: Your relationship with Christ. A great question I ask my self is this… Has there ever been a time in my life that I was more in love with Jesus than I am right now? My walk with God is not about what I do, it’s all about what Jesus did for me. For a guy that believes we are not saved by works I evaluate my relationship with Christ with performance based criteria. The truth is I have to remind my self to evaluate my walk by how I surrender rather than what I do. Am I listening to the Word and choosing it in every area of my life? Am I worshipping Him for who He is not for what He does for me? Am I modeling his nature and character in my choices and taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ.

Area two: How’s your attitude? Here are some questions I ask myself on a regular basis. Do I have the heart of a servant? Have I made my Pastor look good this week? Have I made my Pastor’s life easier this week? Am I an asset or a liability to my Pastor? Am I a team player? What is my attitude about others around me? Am I grumbling and complaining? Am I enjoying the trip? Do I have a heart after God? Am I thinking about me and my wants too much?

(More to come...)

More Things People Are Saying About Infuse...

“I would do infuse every year if I could, and there would still be more to learn and people to meet. I made some great friends, and that is what I benefit most from today. If you can’t do the whole Infuse experience, try the one month version. You can get just as much as the full version if you put in the effort to ask questions and build relationships. Bro Jim makes leadership tools so accessible to anyone that has a desire to learn and you will love this opportunity!”

Mycal Rosales

Children's Pastor

The Church at South Las Vegas

"When I think of infuse I picture a person in the doctor's office, hooked up to an IV.  The person might be in serious trouble, or simply a bit dehydrated.  Whatever the case, he or she needs a boost.  This is exactly what Infuse is - a boost.  There are people in ministry who are barely holding on, and others who just need a shot in the arm to take it to the next level.  Whatever the case, the input that the infuse experience provides, when applied, is the catalyst to unlocking  potential and bringing life and ministry into focus.  It is hard to put a price tag on that type of infusion."

Jon Warneke

New Life Christian Center

"Before I attended Infuse, I felt like I was "stuck" in my ministry. There were days when I wasn't sure what to focus on or what was most important. Infuse and Jim Wideman helped me to take my leadership to the next level."

Susan Hughes
Volunteer Coordinator/PCC Kids Director
Powhatan Community Church

This August I'm accepting 25 people to be a part of a month long coaching and mentoring experience. I'm calling this opportunity "INFUSE-LITE" For lest than what a 3 day event will cost you you get a month of coaching from me and my team of coaches. You get the same personality assessments for you, your spouse and your pastor or supervisor.

You'll also receive a matrix that shows you how to understand and communicate with both your spouse and your leader. You'll also receive a matrix on how to communicate with me, the other coaches as well as each member of infuse.

During the month of August you'll be able to ask questions and participate in assignments and discussions on a special online forum on cmconnect.org. During our month of coaching there will be a special 2 hr conference call. Then on August 30 & 31 you'll get to participate in a special 2 day retreat. Want more? Stay over the weekend and shadow me over the weekend at my church.

After attending INFUSE-LITE if you sign up for INFUSE 7 (September 1, 2013- February 28, 2014 you'll receive an additional $200 discount.

I've spent a lot of years attending, speaking and hosting conferences they are great for networking and to hear about tips, resources and what others do.

INFUSE is more than a conference it's about developing a relationship with others who will be a part of your life forever. An iron sharpening iron relationship. You'll still hear about stuff, but you'll also learn by seeing first hand. You'll be able to ask questions until you fully understand how to walk out what you want to learn. You'll have the accountability you need to walkout what you desire to know. My coaches and I will do more than speak into your life to help you we'll walk beside you and pull out of you what you want to be.

You have 1 month left to get in your application.July 1st will be the official cutoff or until we reach 25 participants. For all the details and to download an application look here. If you still have questions ask them here or send me an email. Infuse 6 for September 2012-March 2013 is full so this is your last chance to be infused until 2013.

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I don't know everything but everything I know I'm willing to teach you. Let's walk together in INFUSE.