Do you remember the first thing I said to at the beginning of the week? (How could you forget? I said it over and over, emphasizing a different word each time LOL)
“This week could forever change the path of your entire life.”
Well, I hope it did! I hope that as you listened to my lessons they weren’t “my lessons” but GOD’S and that you heard somethings that will make a difference – because a small difference now – over time – will end up being a huge change over the course of your life – the path of your LIFE WILL BE CHANGED! That’s why I love being a camp speaker, to have that opportunity to be used of God to maybe have that chance to help change the path of your life. Wow, it gives me goose-bumps! That’s for all your words of encouragement, drawings and shrinky-dinks!
We had a GREAT theme this year:
“Walk the Way” – and we studied how Joseph walked the “way” of his God no matter what happened… and it was a good thing, because God was workin’ an awesome and amazing plan for his life that he would have TOTALLY MISSED OUT ON if he at any point had decided to mope and complain and stop following God and trusting God. He kept his chin up with he was mistreated, falsely accused, and forgotten… because He knew that GOD would never mistreat him or forget Him and was working behind the scenes where he couldn’t see!
The same is true for you, remember Jeremiah 29:11?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
but that promise is follow by a condition: (most people forget the next 2 verses)
“Then you will call on me (prayer!) and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
See, that promise of the awesome plan – it’s for those who WALK THE WAY, it’s not automatic for everyone… so I DO HOPE that the path of your life turned toward God this week! It will make a difference for the rest of your life, and just like for Joseph, for many others even after your life – those who will be impacted by your life. (That’s amazing to think about!!)
I had sooooo much fun meeting all of you, and miss you so much! If you want to e-mail me, you can by writing to me at karl [at] toyboxtales.com and I’ll get your e-mail! I know you are wanting to see that video of me on National News dressed as a Jedi, so here it is so you don’t have to hunt for it:
And remember, I didn’t dress up as a Jedi and confess my nerdiness to you for nothing – it was to teach you about the EPIC ELEMENTS of STORY! There are REASONS why all the Great Stories become so popular and make millions of dollars and it isn’t because of special effects, great acting or because so-and-so are in them. Movies with famous people in them flop, movies with awesome special effects flop, and movies with great acting flop. But movies and books with these EPIC ELEMENTS touch us deeply, and people flock to them. WHY? Because they trigger deep needs in us – something we all want. And the crazy thing is, most are made by non-Christians! They so often put their finger on our needs in movies, even better than Christian movie makers do. (But don’t get me going on that!)
Let’s review the EPIC ELEMENTS:
Dangerous Journey (of Significance)
Great Sacrifice (dying to save others)
Ancient Book (or Order or Legend)
Secret Power (or Language)
Fellowship of Friends
And on Saturday morning at the Parent Rally, which some of you may miss, I added a 6th: A Guiding Spirit. Luke Skywalker in Star Wars had the ghostly spirit of Ben (Obi-Won Kenobi) who would appear and guide him. In so many films and movies there is some spirit or ghost or presence that guides the main character – often only they can see or hear this person. We have a Guiding Spirit too! After Jesus left, He promised He would send a Guiding Spirit: His name is the Holy Spirit. (John 14:15-29)
See kids? Everything we long for – that makes it into all these movies, GOD HAS GIVEN US! We don’t want a boring life – God invites us into a Dangerous Journey – a life of adventure and significance of following him, a life of great importance and significant. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us, even when we didn’t care, know or deserve it. We HAVE an ancient book filled with answers, if we would only READ it! And we don’t need “The Force” – we have the Power of Prayer and can tap into God’s Power at any time, entering the Throne Room of the Creator of hte Universe!! And I hope you have a Fellowship of Friends who also know and love Jesus and will help you Walk the Way – if not, you need to work on forming your own small fellowship, you can’t Walk the Way alone.
I will be blogging on each of these in more detail in the weeks ahead – a summary of each of my lessons for my blog readers, so if you are more interested in this – just follow my blog!
Noduh, the Wise One had a great time being here this week and helping you learn the ways of the Lord so “powerful Christian you could become!” Remember,
“If powerful Christian you want to be, listen to wisdom from Noduh, that’s me!”
If you are interested in other stuff I have available for kids, here are some things to check out. My main website, Kidology.org, really isn’t for kids – its for other grown ups like me who love kids and teach kids, so you won’t find much there for you. BUT, you will like www.toyboxtales.com! There you will find over 100 videos I have made with toys that teach the Bible and are REALLY FUNNY! I made them in my kids church and they are now shown in children’s churches all over America (and in some other places too). While people can buy DVDs, they are totally free to watch online, its like YouTube, you just click on them to play them. The newest ones are called Object Talks are from the curriculum I write for a publisher – talking objects teaching lessons about the Bible – but if you go through the links you will find the Toybox Tales, which are videos of talking toys telling stories. There is HOURS of fun to be had on that site!!
Well, Luke had a great time “hanging out” at camp – thanks to everyone who was so nice to him, helpful, gave him little treats and made him little gifts – you truly made camp special for him. One counselor bought him a sucker and taught him to play Torpedo Ball and was so patient and kind, and as Sara (my wife) and Luke walked back to the cabin, Luke looked up at her and said, “Mommy, I think that guy really really loved me. I could tell.”
That’s what Camp Timber-lee is all about – sharing God’s Love with kids, whether they are campers or just the speaker’s kid. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone at camp for doing a super job, week in and week out, all year around! You Rock!
I’m always a little bummed and sad when another year of my week at Timber-lee comes to an end, I’ve been speaking here almost every year since 1997! Most of the kids’ speakers are my friends I helped recruit – I just love this place.
But campers – it is YOU GUYS AND GALS I miss the most each year. I asked this year if any campers were born in 1997, the year I started speaking here (or after), and a bunch of hands went up! (I about fell over!) And then some kids yelled out, “Will you be here for my kids?” I was floored. All I could say is, “I sure hope so!” (and added on some humor about my cane and false teeth by then!)
Oh, and in conclusion, we can’t forget the BUTTERFLY INCIDENT can we?! Here is the picture I took with my iPhone in the middle of chapel when that butterfly descended upon on my head and I took this picture when he wouldn’t leave!! AND THEN – when he did fly off, he came back!! I’m still working on the spiritual meaning of a butterfly landing on your head, flying away and returning to your head while you are teaching! Too bad Joseph isn’t around to interpret that for us, huh? But it was pretty cool!
I hope to see you again someday. As the saying goes, Christians never say goodbye, they only say,
What happens when God brings two dreams together? A new amazing ministry forms that has the potential to impact hundreds of children’s leaders and volunteers and therefore thousands of children!
YES! THIS IS KIDOLOGY’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT- I’m leaking it a day early on my blog to give you the “back story.” It will “officially” to announced tomorrow in a Kidology Newsletter and at the Children’s Ministry Expo in Lexington, Kentucky – an event I’d love to have been at, but I’m speaking at camp this week!
Pastor Marty Martin
Pastor Marty Martin is a good friend and fellow CP I’ve known for a number of years, in fact, I blogged about my visit to his church a few years ago and and how impressed I was with his ministry there. So when Marty called me recently and shared with me that he felt God calling him to take a break from active children’s ministry and asked me for some advice – I asked him what he wanted to do. He shared with me a “crazy” dream – to travel the country with his wife and five boys in an RV, and yet he still had a desire for some kind of equipping ministry. What
Marty and Karl
Marty didn’t know, was that I had already completely written up and laid before the Lord a dream of a ministry that would go out across our country and get into churches – to provide training and encouragement right where people are. I had even presented the vision to one ministry I thought might be able to take my idea and run with it, but it wasn’t what God was calling that ministry to do, and yet, it wasn’t something Kidology was able to do on its own, or that I was able to do in this time in my life. I was honestly baffled why God would give me a such a complete vision and business plan for a ministry I had no way of fulfilling. So I committed it to quiet prayer and said nothing to anyone. Months went by. And then one day, Marty calls me. His dream plus my vision for a mobile children’s ministry of equipping and encouraging – were a perfect fit! We were both in awe of God’s working in our lives!
Marty continued to pray about it – I took it to my board of directors, and we both got confirmation that God was calling us to partner – so the Martins and Kidology are joining together to bring Encouragment and Kidmin Training to churches across America and Canada. Marty and his family will be enjoying a unique family experience they’ve been dreaming about for years, and enjoying a ministry to churches at the same time! Kidology is delighted to play a role in helping make their dream come true.
And it’s gonna be fun! If you know me, you know I love technology! I’m equipping Marty with a Mac, an iPhone and even a Webcam so he can report live on his journey to those who want to follow via the KidologyToGo.org website, the @KidologyToGo Twitter account, and via Facebook.
Here is a SNEAK PEEK of what you might see via his Webcam when he begins his journey this fall:
For complete details, be sure to check out our brand new website KidologyToGo.org – which of course, just gives the basics right now, and will have more and more info as the details unfold in the weeks ahead! There are details there on how to HOST a Kidology to Go event, how to have information there on on your ministry if you are a Resource Provider, and how to contact Marty Martin if you have any questions.
I am more excited about this new ministry of Kidology than I have been about anything in a long time! While we have literally thousands of visitors to our website each and every day, Kidology to Go is going to enable us to fulfill our mission “on the ground” – in churches, face to face – right where people are. And I am planning on making some surprise guest appearances at some of the events, I can’t wait!
So the BIG NEWS is out! “Kidology to Go” is no longer just the name of our seminars when I travel to speak, or when we sent a Kidology representative – it is now the official name of a two and have year endeavor to send Marty Martin to every state in the Union, across Canada – even to Alaska and Hawaii. (still working on how we are going to get the RV to Hawaii!)
If you would be interested in helping to financially support the Martins monthly on this ministry venture with tax deductible support – we’ll be looking to build a support team, pray about whether God might lead you to play a small role in this way.
I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback in the comments here, on twitter and over on KidologyToGo.org
Kidology is ready “TO GO” where the “Rubber meets the Road!”
Don’t miss the Highlight Video at the end of this post!
(Remember, click any image to view larger!)
The Yosemite Summit 2010 Gang!
This year Yosemite Summit came for me in the midst of a very busy schedule, which is why I haven’t been able to do a report for over a month. In fact, had it not been for Yosemite Summit, I would not have ever slowed down! Which is exactly why Yosemite Summit exists, as I wrote about in Built in Pit Stop. Before Yosemite Summit, there were seasons in my life when I didn’t ever slow down! Yosemite Summit has taught me to slow down, in fact, it has taught me the power of stopping. Actually, Yosemite Summit played a major role in my moving my family to Colorado so I could live a state where the pace is slower and where stopping is easier… though I am still learning to apply it on a monthly basis. If you are a kidmin professional in Colorado, ask me about my Colorado Hiking Club, The Fellowship of the King!
This year’s Summit brought together seven guys from around the country. Two returned from last year, which is always encouraging. We didn’t fill the event, and I’m sure that the economy had an impact as this isn’t an inexpensive endeavor. So right up front I want those reading this who would have liked to come, that I have asked my board of directors to allow Kidology to subsidize this retreat in 2011 at a loss so that it can be more affordable. That’s right – I’m willing to lose money so that this ministry to children’s pastors can be more accessible to the men who need this retreat. So when registration opens in August, you will see a new lower cost for registration. The cost to Kidology is the same – but the cost to attend will be lower!
Yup, we had our first official meal at the Iron Door Saloon!
Every year I learn from the previous years, and this year I had us start out earlier on Sunday so we could have lunch at the historic Iron Door Saloon – a very cool restaurant. This 102 year old Saloon has a lot of fun history and a ceiling covered in one dollar bills! The secret to getting one up there, we learned, was wrapping a bill around a quarter and a thumb tack and throwing really hard. We proved terrible at it! The advantage to our early start was that we were able to get on to Yosemite early – only to be greeted by rain and at the usual “first stop” glimpse of Half Dome, it wasn’t even visible!
Because of the rain, we decided to cancel our planned hike to Inspiration Point, and just do a tour of the Valley from the inside of our van, and just hope for some dryness the next day. I hide my acute disappointment from the guys reminding myself that planning a hike on Sunday was an “extra” – we’d never hiked on Sunday the previous two years, so we weren’t really losing anything, though I had really hoped to this year, and we had worked so hard to get here early. The “planner” in me was so frustrated, but I just kept praying and asking God to help me release trying to control this event, and let Him handle the details.
After touring the Valley (something we usually don’t get to do on Sunday, so that was nice) we continued on to our goal of Tunnel View on the way to the lodge and met with another obstacle! Due to an accident, the Tunnel was closed “until further notice.” This meant the only route to our lodge was cut off! We had nothing to do, but… hike up the trail to Inspiration Point since the trail head just happens to be at Tunnel View. Since the rain was spotty, and we were stuck, we figured we had nothing better to do, and sitting in the van wasn’t what any one wanted to do, so a hiking we went!
And God was in it! The rain cleared, and we had a spectacular hike that we probably would not have done had the tunnel been open, due to the rain, and the views where spectacular… as were the rainbows:
Yosemite Valley with an El Capitan Sized Rainbow
I have told the guys every year, that each year God does something unique to make each Yosemite Summit special – and already, even before we reached the lodge, He was doing it! We were getting rainbows as tall as El Capitan! And in the waterfall of Brideveil Falls:
Brideviel Falls with Rainbow
It was truly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen – to see such splendor with my own eyes on display, like God was just painting on the canvas of his Earth. As I have said a thousand times… Yosemite is where God shows off, and He was doing it on this day! And here’s the amazing thing. After God gives us this amazing hike to Inspiration Point and the spectacular rainbows on the way down, the Tunnel is open again and there is no sign of any back log. It’s like God closed it so we would do the hike. (Granted, there is a lot more going on in God’s economy than just our little retreat, I’m aware of that, but He worked sovereignly through whatever else was going on, to help make our retreat even better.)
Summiteers Ready for the Mist Trail to Nevada Falls
Due to unseasonably cold weather and snow, this was the first Summit where Glacier Point Road was closed. That meant no upper Yosemite hikes – a bummer, but it also meant some new trails we’ve not tackled before, and I was excited about that. But we started out with the classic favorite of Yosemite, the Mist Trail. However, if you know Yosemite, you know “Mist” is an understatement!
The Guys at the Top of Nevada Falls
This is a hefty hike, but well worth it! But don’t worry wives, we never do anything dangerous or risky!
Scott attempting a short cut
This next picture has a funny story to it. From the top, I thought it was a huge solid boulder. I went out on it, sat down, and planned to do my devotional reading. Due to the view, I asked fellow Summiteer Brent to take my picture, which he did. And then he said, “I’m not leaving until you get off that rock.” I honestly thought to myself, ‘What’s his problem? It’s just a rock, so what if its near the water? Now I can’t read here.” But got off the rock for his (wimpy) peace of mind. It wasn’t until I was going through his photos later and saw this and asked him, “Was this when you said you wouldn’t leave until I got off that rock?” Funny thing, perspective!
Me Standing on Diving Board?
But now I am faced yet again with the challenge of “reporting” on Yosemite Summit? How do I describe this event to those who were not there? How can I give you a taste through words or pictures of something you need to experience to truly understand?
Brent relaxing by Merced River
How does one describe sitting and relaxing by a river – that feeling of all your worries, all your responsibilities, all your to-do and must-have-dones just flowing down stream? One of my favorite moments of Yosemite Summit is on Saturday evening when I say to all the guys “Your Fired.” I get to be Donald Trump for a moment and release them from their ministry. I give them permission for the next several days to no longer be a pastor. They are invited to just be a child of God. A husband. A dad. And nothing more.
Pat leaning on a rock leaning on The Rock
You might be able to imagine what it’s like to not DO your job for a few days… but at Yosemite Summit, you are challenged to not even think about it – to not talk about it – to not even pray about. To completely release it as though you are no longer a children’s pastor. because as far as God is concerned, you aren’t for those days. He just wants YOU.
Scott feeding the wild life
The squirrels are nuts in the public eating areas! We had fun feeding them. You might remember the video from my sabbatical of them climbing up on me as I feed them!
Travis makes a friend
These little guys are fearless! I was having fun getting pictures of the squirrels with the other guys… but I made a tragic mistake in doing so! I left my sole cookie unattended! We pack light for these hikes, so I packed only ONE cookie for the entire day, and I am still holding a grudge against the squirrel that grabbed my ENTIRE GIANT COOKIE and ran off with it!
The EVIL Squirrel that STOLE my Cookie!
But the hike must go on! After the Mist Trail, we still had a forecast of a huge storm heading into Yosemite, so on the next day, we did something new, I gave each of the guys a “Free Day” in the Valley. Some did Mirror Lake (especially those who were new to Yosemite) and I attempted Upper Yosemite Falls, with proved to be the most difficult hike I’ve ever done. Due to the difficulty and stopping so often for photography, I didn’t make it to the top, but I made it to the last spot you can see the falls – after that hikers told me there was little to see for another hour and I knew I wouldn’t make it there, and back down by our meeting time, so I chose a slow descent so I could enjoy it. Pat and Travis, however, made it not only to Upper Yosemite Falls, but beyond to Yosemite Point! So I promised here in the report to declare them the Highest and Fastest Yosemite Summit Hikers in Yosemite Summit History! That is a climb of 2625 feet in one day! Pretty amazing! Everyone seemed to enjoy the freedom of the second day, so I think we will definitely do that again.
The highlight for me is always spotting bears! The first year, it was something of a God Thing as I was looking for a bear the entire trip, as you can read about in this post: A Prayer Bearly Answered
Yosemite Brown Bear (technically a black bear)
Last year, we saw a bear, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting, since it was digging through the garbage at Glacier Point, but hey, a bear’s a bear, right? Let’s not get picky!
So this year, I started out praying that again I’d get to see a bear, and I think God just decided to bless my socks off and get it out of the way right away with not one, but TWO! In fact, later, we’d hear of bear sightings and just go, “yeah, yeah,” and drive on by! But before that, I would chase into the woods after them to get picks!
The one above was our first bear (I call him brown, but ALL bears in Yosemite are black bears… yeah, the dangerous type!) The second one, everyone was photographing and you couldn’t get a good shot, so I just decided to be patient. Eventually, he ran off into the woods and I followed. Yeah, I know. He jumped up into a tree. I have photos of all this too. I walked right up to him, talked softly to him, and then got some great pictures. Here is one of them. Then I thanked him and left.
The Black Bear I followed up into a Tree
When I got back to the van, the guys asked me if from now on, I would please at least leave the van keys behind when I did this sort of thing!
Can you spot the bear in this picture?
The bear in this picture I managed to capture! I got pictures of him all over Yosemite! I then brought him home and gave him to my son. Not sure if the Yosemite Rangers would approve, but I wanted my son to have something from Yosmite – we named him Yobear. You can see all the pictures of Yobear in this Facebook Album.
On the Hike that Shall Not be Named
However, it was on the third full day that we began what would be the highlight of the trip for me, for we discovered what I believe is the GEM of Yosemite National Park. We had planned to go to Hech Hechy, but due to the impending storm – we had to choose something else. We considered several alternatives… but I settled on a hike I had read about and researched, one that many hikers claimed was the “best kept secret of Yosemite.” It was a risk to lead my group on something unproven, but since it promised few tourists, and our goal is solitude and worship, I decided it was worth the risk. BOY OH BOY! Did we hit the nature treasure chest! And I plan to help KEEP it the best kept secret of Yosemite!
Therefore, I will not be posting the name of this hike or trail on this website. Don’t get me wrong. I am more than happy to share the name of the hike with anyone who asks me, I just don’t want to post it for random web surfers to save the trail for sincere hikers. But this trail is AMAZING! It is moderately easy to hike – has non-stop cascading waterfalls – beautiful scenery – wandering animals – beautiful landscape as far as the eyes can see – and no one else to share it with! And at the summit (which only two other Summiteers joined me at!) is the most wonderful, beautiful land of the lost of rivers and waterfalls and trees and… oh, boy. It’s indescribable. Let me just show you some pictures.
Part of your journey is through lush forests
Hiking through lush forests where it is so peaceful and never did we see another hiker…
There are these amazing stone stair cases
Then at times we climbed stone stair cases like out of Lord of the Rings overlooking a valley to our left, it was incredible!
The waterfalls just never end
It was just waterfall after waterfall, many you could walk right up to and put your hands right into them!
Water falls you can walk right up to
While the elevation gain was significant, the climb never felt steep, as the trail would wander off into the woods to make the ascent more gradual and moderate unlike the switch backs of the Yosemite Valley which can be brutal and steal from the enjoyment of hiking.
The Waterfall that Shall Not be Named
These waterfalls are more of a system of falls than merely one fall that an entire hike is built around. Just incredible!
Travis Looking Out Over the Scenery
The trail is clear, and yet there are many places to wander off the trail to get a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside.
Wild life greeted us as we hiked
The wild life did not seem concerned at all to see us and simply stood still and looked at us as we took pictures and then walked by.
The power of these falls was amazing
There was an entire system of falls right way, so there was an early reward for hiking, then we had lunch by another system of falls, and then at our destination, there was even more falls, and finally, at the Summit there is rivers to wade it and even more falls when we travel farther in 2011 then we were able to this year. (There was rain and hail coming, and most of our group turned away 100 feet short of the summit and only myself and two guys got to actually see the summit this year. It was a huge surprise we didn’t even know was there! Next year, I am planning extended time up at the summit.)
Chillin' out along the way
The trail was simply beautiful and enjoyable and as I said, moderate and not nearly as difficult as many of the Valley trails.
A river that will soon drop to the valley below
You can not see it here in this picture, but getting on to this rock, I was a little nervous, for the big rock was slick, and that river flows just a little ways and then drops a loooooong way to the valley below! We are at the very summit WAY up top of a huge mountain we hiked all day to arrive at. The day was overcast and it would be raining and hailing by the time we were hiking down. It was a bummer not to be able to stay up there longer – but to have discovered such an incredible place was an amazing GIFT from God to me, and to the Guys of Yosemite Summit 2011! As we will be leaving EARLY one morning, hiking up there, making a camp fire, cooking up hot dogs, and spending the day up there, and spending an incredible Day with God on this Summit!
It was on the hike up to this Summit that God spoke to me about some things in some very clear and precise ways, and on the way down that that He and I did some business about some stuff we’ve been wrestling with.
God speaks in unique ways at Yosemite Summit – in ways that He often can’t in any other context. As we were hiking down the mountain on this final day, one of the guys shared with me that he was feeling the heavy weight of the burden of his own sin when it began to rain - at that same moment, the song Healing Rain began to play in his headphones – as though God was telling him – “I am washing away your sins on this very hike” – ironically, as he hiked in the rain he could see sunlight shining down below where the hike had begun and he remembered where he had begun – and he told me later he felt a new energy in his step and when he got to the waterfalls at the end he felt he was healed of the past memories and bad choices. He told me “I believes that the past is forgiven and forgotten by the ONE who opened the heavens with sunshine all the while sending HIS healing rain just for me.”
That is what Yosemite Summit is all about. It is about getting away to hear from God. It isn’t about hiking in the great outdoors. It isn’t about getting great pictures of God’s Creation. It isn’t even about great fellowship – though you get all of those – it is about getting away and hearing from God. I hope you will consider joining me for Yosemite Summit 2011.
I remember when I started my previous ministry, our curriculum situation was a mess! Here was what we were facing:
Every teacher used what they liked, over five published curriculums were in use, some taught without any published material.
Repetition and Omission of Bible stories was not only likely, but expected.
No idea what was accomplished in the years spent within the Children’s Ministry.
Lots of good ministry going on, but no way to know what was going to happen, or to evaluate results.
So what did we do? I called for a planning meeting and asked our teachers to determine what we wanted for our children. (without looking at a single curriculum sample!) Here is the list of what these godly and experienced teachers determined we wanted:
Gospel Oriented
A comprehensive overview of the entire Bible
Specific Goals and Objectives for Each Age
Progressive, and not Repetitive
Get children into the Word themselves
Emphasis on Scripture memory
High Quality Materials and Helpful Resources
One year cycle (meaning teachers teach the same thing every year)
Missions Focus
Flexibility for teaching styles and holidays
Tools to help parents engage in the process
THEN we hunted to see if any curriculum met ALL of these criteria.
Only one curriculum offered all the things above that our teachers wanted:
NOW IS THE TIME TO EVALUATE YOUR CURRICULUM. We used DiscipleLand long enough to see kids go entirely through the process and could see the results.
They have since added AMAZING on-line tools for kids and parents to further engage in the learning going on at church. You MUST check out DiscipleZone.com
If you haven’t done so already, NOW is the time to re-evaluate what you are using this fall in your educational ministry. Here is a quote we had posted in the forum discussion on DiscipleLand:
We ended up dividing our kids 6-9 and 10-12 and used DiscipleLand with the younger and it was amazing! The kids loved it, which is totally cool because it didn’t have any “high techy” stuff, but kept their undivided attention. I loved that during our review this past Wed the kids retained most everything! This is 2 thumbs up! Thank you Karl for introducing us to this. I would not hesitate to tell anyone to give this a try. They will be hooked.
For some VERY HELPFUL TOOLS for evaluating your ministry, be sure to see the evaluations available on the DiscipleLand Equipping Center. Every ministry ought to work through these tools WHETHER OR NOT they use DiscipleLand, or DiscipleLand will fit their ministry structure or needs.
Check out DiscipleLand, you’ll be glad you did! There is a reason more and more churches and switching to DiscipeLand!
If you would like some SAMPLES, check out the Discover DiscipleLand Kit and save over 40% and get a good variety of DiscipleLand materials to hold them in your hands and check them out.
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
~ Stephen R. Covey
Noduh, the Wise One had a great time being here this week and helping you learn the ways of the Lord so “powerful Christian you could become!” Remember, 
