I Blew It!: The biggest mistakes I've made in kids' ministry... and how you can avoid them

by Brian Dollar, Jim Wideman (Foreword)

Brian Dollar is one of the most respected kids' pastors in the country, but few people know the path he's taken to learn his most important lessons. In this book, he opens his heart and his life to share his biggest failures. Some of the principles are about ministry philosophy, strategy, and communication, but the most important ones”the lessons that will make you laugh and melt your heart”are about the deeper qualities of fear and hope, pride and humility. As you read this book, trust God to change you from the inside out.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2012

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for children's ministry workers!

[Rebecca Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

We recently started using a curriculum called "High Voltage Kids" in our Kidz Church. This curriculum is a high energy, entertaining and fun curriculum, and we're really enjoying our experience with it. Every time I saw the name of the creator, Brian Dollar, I felt like,"I know that name from somewhere." I was convinced it was going to be a mystery forever until I was going through a stack of books that I had bought at this summer's library book sale and realized that one of the books I was excited about (but had yet to read) was a book by Brian Dollar.

Of course, that moved this book to the top of my to-read list after making this discovery.

Most people are willing to share their ministry successes, but Brian takes on the opposite tactic in this book by sharing his ministry failures. There's something to be said for bravery in exposing your worst mistakes, and through that, I found myself quickly relating to Dollar in his vulnerability.

Some of the mistakes, although seemingly major are hysterically funny...like the time he put atomic fireballs in the eggs at a preschool Easter egg hunt. Others are way more spiritually significant, such as ignoring and not caring for his relationship with his senior pastor. Along the way, Dollar passes on great advice on avoiding burnout, caring for yourself spiritually, being willing to acknowledge your own blind spots, and missing the big picture at church.

There is so much to learn and take in that I confess to feeling a little overwhelmed by the book, to the point where I have put a bunch of sticky notes and tabs in the book of things that I want to go back to, quotes I want to pursue at my leisure and ideas that I want to implement in myself as a KidsMin volunteer.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very candid look at various aspects (and potential mistakes) when serving in children's ministry. He offers general issues that are probably applicable to both large and small churches. Each chapter has discussion questions, and it would be a great group study. Recommend!

[Leslie Tuakalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book... encouraging and honest

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transparency has become a really dumb word in evangelical culture. There's a lot of 'plasticy' artificiality many pastors write about. Reading some personal stories of Pastor Brian and his struggles with fears and failures were very compelling, and felt real and vulnerable. This book was a great benefit to me personally, and will quickly benefit my kids ministry as a whole. Brian writes in s very personable way that is easy to understand, and because of that, the book reads really quickly. My only qualm is that it could've been a little shorter than 250 pages and still shrieked the desired effect. Despite my minor issues, it was a great read.

[Sheral Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally related to several things in this book. I would recommend it to anyone starting out in Children's Ministry.