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Multi-Site Systems: Where's My Stuff?!?

One of the biggest challenges in kids ministry can be some of the simplest things.  Like getting enough scissors, paper and glue for an activity.  Ensuring you have the right supplies when you need them.

A volunteer recently told me,

“Gina, I appreciate the coffee and the muffin.  But if you really want to tell me how much you appreciate me… Get me the supplies I need!”

That’s a good word.

Having the supplies you need when you need them is a critical component to kidmin.  Accomplishing this on one campus can be a challenge.  Making it happen on multiple campuses each weekend is another animal entirely.

If you’ve never listened to Andy Stanley’s Catalyst talk on Systems… go now, don’t delay, do not pass ‘Go’, do not collect $200… just get the dvd & watch it.  It will change the way you view your ministry.

Our Distribution Center Layout is critical to maintaining stewardship, order and sanity.  If you know what you have, how much you have and where you have it then your kidmin life is better.  Understand that all of this comes from a highly disorganized person that has learned the value of organization.  As Jim Wideman always says, “I wasn’t born organized.  I was born naked.” 

Our Distribution Center (formerly known as the Resource Room) houses all the supplies necessary for kids ministry and should be the most organized area in the building.  We have two major storage areas.  One is a trailer on the back parking lot where we store seasonal supplies (i.e. Christmas decor), costumes & other set pieces for our large productions.  The Distribution Center is strictly for the resources used on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.  We have a wall of shelving that houses basic supplies (i.e. glue, glue sticks, sequins, glitter, etc, etc) in bins in alphabetical order.  Each bin is labeled with a picture of the item(s) in the container and the name typed in large, bold font.  I choose the simplest, most readable font (i.e. Arial) and save the fun, well-loved kiddie-like fonts for other publications.

Here’s a glimpse of what our bin labels look like.  

Though the Distribution Center at FPC is still in progress, I’m not speaking from a theoretical stance.  This system works.  This is how our DC was set up in LifeKIDS at LifeChurch.tv.  The Distribution Center remained organized (even through crazy weekends) and clean.  We always knew what we had, how much we had and where we had it.

Now, the Distribution Center at our Pellissippi Campus is the largest primarily because this is where curriculum for all campuses (present & future) is compiled and distributed.  At all outlying campuses the Distribution Centers are smaller in scale and a smaller stock of supplies.  As part of a campus launch we’ve defined a list of basic supplies (i.e. crayons, scissors, diapers, wipes, etc) the kidmin Distribution Center should always have on hand.  (But I’ll expand on that in another post.)

There is so much more to this conversation.  However, the basic reality is this… an organized, clean Distribution Center (aka Resource Room) is the foundation to an organized kids ministry.

Nuf’ said.