In the second half of our two part conversation with Cindi Holman, the WELS National Coordinator for Early Childhood Ministry, we finish our conversation and Cindi shares 7 ideas to help early childhood directors thrive in their roles.
1:36 - Having training and support to be confident and competent in their roles
2:47 - Relationships especially with other ministry leadership
3:20 - Clearly defined tasks and responsibilities
4:09 - Time management and finding balance
5:11 - Professional relationships with other directors
6:23 - Focus on the blessings
7:14 - Taking time for physical, emotional, and spiritual health is God pleasing
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00;00 - 00;48
Dana
Welcome to the Blueprint Schools podcast, where we share stories of how schools and their teams move from surviving to thriving. Today, we dive into the second half of our two part conversation with Cindi Holman, the national wealth coordinator for Early Childhood Ministry. In this quick ten minute episode, we finish our conversation. While part one covered eight aspects of thriving early childhood ministries in part two, Cindi covers seven ways that those serving in early childhood ministry, especially early childhood directors, can thrive.
Two I hope you take inspiration, encouragement from this episode, and I hope you share it with a fellow educator or leader yourself, especially one in early childhood ministry.
00;48 - 01;36
Dana
I have one last question. You've been so generous with your time and your wisdom. Cindi, I'm very, very grateful. But, you know, we just came up with a pretty hefty list of here's what a thriving, early childhood center looks like within a church ministry. And maybe there's an early childhood director listening, going, Oh, boy where do I start? I might feel overwhelmed already.
What wisdom do you have for that person? You know, as you support not just the ministries, but the people working in the ministries and especially the leaders, those early childhood directors. What common things do you see in thriving directors? What are they doing? What are they seeing? How how are their ministries supporting them? Do you have any insights into that?
01;36 -03;06
Cindi
It's such an important question. You know, that isolation we talked about with congregations, and I think that's a real thing with directors. The ones that are thriving are ones, first of all, that feel prepared for the role in which they're serving. Most people who are serving in our early childhood ministries are trained as teachers. So that whole extra layer of leadership is, for many, something they learn on the job.
So those who feel that they have the background to serve in that role, I think those are the ones who feel most confident and competent in their role. So helping our directors know that there's there's help out there at all kinds of different levels to support them in that role. There's small groups that they can connect with. But also, again, my reference, so many things that MLC is doing to try and support them.
The leadership support that we work on in our office for those newly assigned directors, but also for those who have been out for a while. And we have a director's cohort that we're always looking for people that maybe feel not quite as prepared as they could be and we would love to walk alongside them and give them some of those tools. All those relationships.
That's probably the biggest thing relationships within the congregation. All those things that we talked about with the leadership, with the pastors, with the principals, that's probably the most important one. Leadership coming to their director so that they don't have to come to them and having that conversation. What is your day look like? What does your week look like?
03;06 -04;03
Cindi
What does your year look like? There's so much that they can learn from that so that they can create as best as possible with the resources they have a sustainable model for that director. The thriving directors understand these are the the multitude of things that need to be done. These are the ones I am responsible for, and these are the ones that other people are taking care of.
Having that really clearly defined list of tasks and responsibilities can be helpful. A leadership team that says, This is what we've called you to do. Maybe you don't need to be the one who takes care of billing or enrollment forms, you know, we want you to focus on building relationships with families, developing curriculum with the staff. Those other tasks, somebody who doesn't have a background in early childhood could do those things. So those sorts of things can make a huge difference.
04;03 - 04;09
Dana
So would you say the thriving director knows how to say no?
04;09 - 05;39
Cindi
Thriving directors, knows how to manage their time. But that almost sounds like if you're not thriving, you're not good at managing time because you know the endless thing. So it's, it's that balance of yeah, it's somebody who who understands how critical it is that they pay attention to all the areas of the life that God has given them. Responsible and passionate and committed and dedicated to their ministry, but also all of those things for their relationships outside of the ministry, their personal time.
It's really important. And so it's okay for them to say to the leadership or whoever, this is not sustainable and I need some help in finding a way that we can we can do this well. I want to do this for a long time, but the way it's working right now is isn't sustainable. So it's better if it comes from leadership, but if if one has to do it, it's important that they are able to do that. Them being connected to other directors, it's hard for them sometimes to take the time to do that. But just like you said before, having that other those other colleagues who you can say we're struggling with this and maybe get that idea that helps them with whatever task it is that they're struggling with or a situation with a staff member, with a family member that they get another voice. It's really important, but it's hard to take time to do that. All those connections and relationships really critical.
05;40 - 6;22
Dana
Yeah, I think leadership can be lonely sometimes, so it's really important to be intentional about not isolate and taking the time to connect and to recognize that it's great to be in what I call a mentorship sandwich. Like, I always find it very helpful to have someone that is mentoring me and that I can turn around and help mentor other people.
Yeah, so and like to know that we equally need both of those things. I need help and I, I also help. I need training and I also train. I think it's really a good place to be in that that middle spot, the sandwich.
06;22 - 06;54
Cindi
Yeah. And I think to some of the thriving directors, you know, they. They are able to really focus also on the opportunities before them and then this incredible ministry in which they get to serve and that they don't lose sight of the blessings in the midst of the challenges. Some days that's easier than others. Some days it's not so easy. The incredible stories of families and children and those faith filled stories that are just encouraging. And, you know, they build them up. Being able to stay focused on those.
06;54 - 07;14
Dana
Beautiful. I heard, I wrote down seven things that that really preparation for leadership relationships, clear descriptions, time management, paying attention to your own physical mental, mental, spiritual health connected to other directors and counting blessings. That's a wonderful list.
07;14 - 08;13
Cindi
And is I feel like those are God pleasing things, right? Yeah. I think that anybody who serves the church, if you're in a called position, a hired position, you're a lay person. There is that sometimes servant mentality to a fault and recognizing that it is God pleasing. He wants us to be faithful to our ministries and those opportunities, but he also wants us to be faithful to taking care of the other relationships around us.
And he also wants us to be faithful to taking care of what he has given us in ourselves. You know, our physical needs, our emotional needs, our spiritual needs. All of those work really well together. But that last list is probably the most critical that I'm working on my relationship with the Lord, I’m working on taking care of my physical health to the best that I can in my emotional health. Because then I can do all those other things. And it's not selfish to do those things not at all. It's God pleasing.
08;13 - 08;45
Dana
I know. It's so God pleasing. And it can also bring so much more joy if you're feeling on the burnt out end of things. When I think very personally of myself, I saw other people doing in a way a different way and I thought, I have to do that. That's the right way. I really respect that person. That's what it looks like.
And I can still say I respect that person. But for me it looks this way, or I could do it a different way and still be serving joyfully, faithfully, and can look this way.
08;46 - 10;01
Cindi
I can tell you I am so grateful for the countless individuals who are serving our early childhood ministries, whether in a leadership role. Well, they're all in a leadership role to some degree, but the direct leadership role of a role of a director, those serving in the classroom, you know, those faith filled Christian professionals who fill their days with the joys and challenges of young children.
And they go back at it every single day and every year. I'm just so grateful for them. And they're always on my in my prayers that the Lord will encourage them and keep them motivated in what they're doing and give them what they need to serve well. And like you have said several times, to find joy in what they get to do each day, the impact that they have.
Oftentimes the faith of a child through the work of the Holy Spirit of course, that's that's a pretty special thing. It's such a privilege to be able to be that person in that moment. A child who at the beginning of the year says, Who's this Jesus you're talking about that you never heard about him, to being the child at the end of the year who is singing those words,
“These words are written that we may believe. Alleluia.” Yeah, it's pretty incredible.
10;01 - 10;23
Dana
Yeah. And then they become little missionaries themselves. Oh, you know that. That's what you see very often happening. I’m getting choked up here. But I don't know. Jesus. And now I'm telling my little brother or sister or my neighborhood friend about Jesus, and they do so joyfully, just like Jesus said.
10;23 - 11;01
Cindi
Or the young family who's never had an opportunity to sit down as a couple and talk about their savior. Yeah, but because they they've gotten to know people who take care of their child every day that I think we might be comfortable sitting down with this guy, at least talking a little bit about it. It's a remarkable thing.
And that God lets us sometimes he gives us the privilege of seeing the blessings. Not always. Some of them we won't know until we're in heaven. But sometimes he gives us that little glimpse that says, Hey, I want you to see it's working. My word doesn't return to me void and I want you to give a little glimpse for them, but also for you that hopefully keep you motivated in what you're doing. It's incredible.
11;01 - 11;37
Dana
Oh, so well said Cindi. First, thank you. Like you said to all of those people who are in our early childhood ministries, all of those people, thank you so much for what you do. I hope you found encouragement. And number two, thank you, Cindi, for sharing so much of your time today. Your wisdom, your experience, your joy and your encouragement.
I think this will be such a blessing to listen to if you find yourself in one of those ministries. So thank you so much for all that you did today. And all that you do every day. You were such a blessing to so many people. I'm so grateful.
11;37 - 12;04
Cindi
You're very kind. I it's a rare day. I don't walk in this building and say, I can't believe I get to do this. You know.
One of the passages that has stuck with me in the past few years, this really stood out for me is that passage. It says he who can do immeasurably more. There's confidence in that passage. We often pray too small, but even if we're praying too small, it's his ministry and he can do immeasurably more. And I can't wait to see what that is.
12;04 - 12;08
Dana
Well said. What a wonderful way to end. Thank you, Cindi.
12;08 - 12;35
Dana
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