I started seminary thinking I would be a pastor. However, three months later, the Lord called me to be a children’s pastor in Cleburne, Texas. We visited the church, and the pastor visited us the next day.

Pastor Lynn completely caught me off guard that evening when he asked, “Clint, will you pray about being our children’s minister?” I thought to myself, “Yeah, right!” That was not what he was thinking—he apparently had heard from the Lord before I did. Three months later, I became their children's pastor.

The first time I baptized a little girl in my church, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew what to say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” But I had never been taught how to take the next step. This little girl’s name was Carry, and she was nine years old.

When I baptized her, I plunged her to the bottom of the baptismal tank. I overheard people in the worship center laughing at me as they watched her legs fly in the air. A few seconds later I pulled her up, gasping for air. Pastor Lynn approached me afterward, laughing, and said, “You only have to take them right below the waterline.”

My primary role at the church was children’s worship. I had never heard of a children’s church for kids. I loved it. I loved the kids. It took a lot of prayer for wisdom and direction, but I led the whole service. One of my problems was that I was a perfectionist. No one could do anything better than me, from setting up chairs to making photocopies to teaching the lesson. It was MY ministry.

When I started in ministry, my passion was discipleship, but I did not know where to begin with kids. I learned how to lead them to Christ in seminary, and I shared the Gospel faithfully. But I did not understand how to take them further in their faith. I knew nothing about God’s call and purpose for their lives. The kids were just spectators in my church.

I was one of those kids who, at age nine, trusted Christ and regularly attended Sunday school. I never really knew more than salvation. I had a knowledge of God’s Word, but I did not know the significance of living it out in a personal relationship with Christ.

The Lord got a hold of me later on in life and completely turned my life upside down when I surrendered to His will. All I could think about from that point was serving Him. Those thoughts became more and more frequent until my wife and I finally surrendered to full-time ministry.

My perception of children’s ministry came from how I grew up in the church as a child. Most of my experience was sitting and listening. This model was the same some 30 years later. This was the model I embraced for the first thirteen years of ministry. Kids were age-graded with more of an education focus. The teacher taught while the kids were expected to listen quietly. The resource focused on learning developmental style rather than discipleship.

My ministry has been deeply affected by my seminary training, conferences, personal research, ministry leaders, and personal experience. Through my training and experience, I was able to take what I learned and change the way I did ministry. I have learned also that there are good ideas, and there are God's ideas.

The most amazing times were when I sought the Lord for His vision and direction—His idea.  This is when He moved me in a completely different direction. It was as if I stepped out of a box. For years I did ministry the same Sunday school, midweek programs, VBS, camp and activities. I had done ministry according to what I was taught or observed.

For the last 22 years, the Lord completely transformed the way I do ministry with kids, not to kids.

• I began to have a deeper understanding of how to teach them how to walk with the Lord daily. As they walked with the Master each day, they began to change and were different.
• I learned that when we involved kids in ministry in the church and community, they excelled and grew very rapidly in their faith and confidence in the Lord.
• I learned that they had spiritual gifts, and these gifts gave them purpose in the body of Christ.
• The Lord showed me that kids don’t have a “baby” Holy Spirit—they have THE Holy Spirit.
• He showed me that when kids were involved in sharing the Gospel, the Holy Spirit showed up powerfully and spoke through them (Acts 1:8).

My greatest joy today is to help fellow kids’ pastors and leaders move to a new level of ministry. It is our passion to see you succeed in your ministry in whatever way you are ministering in your church with children.

You don’t have to drive to a conference or attend seminary to learn steps you can take to develop and embrace a ministry where the church, along with families, can work to disciple and equip young ministers and missionaries.

Our online training is free. We are here to help take you to a new level of ministry. You can click this link and start today. No sign-ups. It is free to the body of Christ. Our passion is to see your ministry embrace God’s plan and purpose for the lives of children.

We are here for you. If you would like to schedule a time to talk, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Blessings,

Dr. Clint May

President, L.I.T. Ministries