Kids Ministry Collective

Nobody tells you what you're actually signing up for when you say yes to kids ministry. The confetti, the costumes, and the camp stories look great from the outside — but what happens behind the curtain? In this episode, Tom, Cole, and Vicky get refreshingly honest about their calling, their biggest ministry mistakes, and the lessons that shaped them into the leaders they are today. From Cole's leap from volunteer to multi-site programming director before finishing college, to Tom's life-changing encounter with a six-year-old girl in Detroit who didn't know who God was, to Vicky's unexpected pivot from aspiring special ed teacher to children's pastor — every story is proof that the calling to kids ministry is deeply personal, rarely predictable, and always worth saying yes to. The team also shares their most cringe-worthy "what was I thinking?" moments — including an indoor pyrotechnic object lesson that sent 300 kids running for their lives and a camp tornado watch that turned into a real-time safety scrambl