Before you can accomplish any of your dreams for your ministry, you first must evaluate your ministry to discover where it is now and where it has been before.

I love technology. It gives independence, freedom, and not to mention, more time. Probably, one of the most helpful devices recently popularized is the portable GPS system. It provides directions to just about anywhere in the U.S. I say just about anywhere, because, in spite of its helpfulness, occasionally it can steer you wrong. For instance, I remember when it directed me to the north-side of Oklahoma City when I should have been 45 minutes on the south-side of Oklahoma City but on the same street. Or how about the time when it sent my wife April and me onto a gravel road for 9 miles with a sign near the end that read "Keep Out" on a closed farm gate. I also remember going through Nashville once when it said to exit East on I-40, it really meant to exit West.

The best teachers are teachers that never stop learning. Here are some ideas to enhance your teaching skills so that you might become more effective.

1. A teacher should develop a mastery level of understanding for their subject. Quite often, college students pick their major because of their teacher's inspiration back home.
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Developing a connection with a child is critical to being able to communicate with them and teach him about the Bible. A couple of weeks ago, I walked back into our new member's class for the Ambassadors program. I noticed a boy in the class who had his head down and apparently wanted nothing to do with what was being taught in the class room. This was his first week; his mom, who didn't attend our church, had dropped him off. But he just hadn't connected with anyone yet. There was no leader or boy present who had previously developed a relationship with this boy.

I sat down next to him to try to see if I could get him to open up. He obviously wasn't benefiting from the lesson in the Membership Guide.

Tips to help you improve your general assembly times.

The opening assembly is usually that fifteen to twenty minutes before all students go to their classrooms or tables for the actual lesson of the week. It’s a “pep rally”, it’s a “glad you’re here” time. This should be one of the most exciting times of each week, not the most boring place they have been all week. However, it’s not just a crazy-loud-fun time absent of any spiritual value. It is an informal teaching time as well.

Understand that some teachers (and all churches have some) are a “zero” for an enjoyable and exciting time. If children go directly into a “zero” class, then it could easily be the most boring place they have been all week from start to finish.

Ideas for an Exciting Assembly Time

Lively Song Time. Use the overhead to display words. Use children’s chorus books, cassettes, or words printed in large letters on a colorful marker aboard. Every week you will have children who do not know the words-and that’s not very exciting for them. Remind all of your workers often, this is not the local nursing home we’re running.