Be sure to send Sara a congrats e-mail!

But with no further ado, here is the entire program in seven parts:

PART 1: Magic White Board Option for Multi-Site Churches

PART 2: Baby Fred and it Stinks to be a Baby

PART 3: Karl and Snowball

PART 4: Gus on Multi-Personality Churches, er Multi-Site

PART 5: Gus Invents WWID (What Would I Do?)

PART 6: The Gus Raps (Kids in the Word & Yo God!)

PART 7: Gus Becomes a Ventriloquist (and the Clean Room Rap)

Hope you enjoy the show! It was a fun evening and the kids seemed to respond really well. This was the first time since High School that I did an entire program with just puppets, but they had a magician last week and I thought it would be too similar to do a magic show, so I decided to do something different. Seems Baby Fred ended up being the most popular, surpassing even Gus in comments afterwards.

Luke was just eager to get going on our 1.8 mile hike to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse which is only accessible by hiking in.

If you squint you can see a little black and white dot in the upper left hand corner of this picture… that was our destination. Would Luke make it, that was the question!

Fortunately, some friends of our who live in Ludington, who we visited with on Tuesday evening, “just happened” to give us a kid-backpack. (God is indeed sovereign, and He likes to prove it over and over!) So when Luke got tired or decided he wanted to walk in directions other than forward, we had a way to make progress without losing too much time.

But we were in no rush, so we stopped often to rest and enjoy the beautiful scenery – a strange combination of sand, water and evergreens. (I’m sparing you all my nature photography!)

Luke definitely takes after his father in having this strong irresistible urge to wander off the well marked path! Keeping him on the trail was a constant struggle! Little explorer that he is! Oh, the fun we will have in the years ahead wandering around like Lewis and Clark!

Just had to post this one – is that one beautiful boy, or what? (note the shirt!)

Once we hid from mom off the side of the road when she wasn’t looking, but she soon found us!

“Does this road ever end?” Luke asks. “We’re not sure,” we answer!

But FINALLY we arrive and enjoy our sack lunch on a bench under the shade of some trees looking out over Lake Michigan. The lighthouse behind us and the roar of crashing waves around us. Luke seemed thrilled to have arrived at our destination and is eager to explore!

Soon he is off to see where all these wooden paths lead to. Treasure? Cookies?

He finds a steel wall with steps leading up to… to what? What could BE on the other side?

It’s water! As far as the eye can see. (Luke absolutely loves water!)

Luke ponders how there could be so much water in one place. (I don’t even try to explain that this is only a lake and that oceans are even bigger.)

He decides he likes this place very much, but he doesn’t like the big steel wall!

So he finds his way around it to the BEACH! And points so I know where he wants to go!

Soon he has found a UBPT. (Universal Boys Play Thing) Also known as “a stick.”

And what do boys DO with sticks, you ask?

Why, THROW THEM, of course! (this was only one of his many victims who were cast into the sea*!)

But then it was time to do what we came here to do – CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE LIGHTHOUSE! Luke made the height requirement by less than an inch so he got to go on an adventure to new heights, literally!

Every twenty steps or so there was a window with a ledge big enough for him to sit on, and he absolutely loved sitting there and taking in the view. There are quite a few of these pictures, though the lighting was tricky for pictures to get both the view inside the fairly dark tower and the outside. I was able to get it by opening up the aperture pretty wide to get the outside in focus and not lose the inside. Until I figured that out, either you got nothing inside (like below) or the outside was washed out and all white. (TMI for most of you I know, but my photo-friends will appreciate it!)

This shot shows when we spotted mom from around 50 steps up in the lighthouse!

Not even half way up yet, and already the view is getting spectacular. (Yes, that’s mom in the pink!)

We waved and waved and suddenly Mom actually SAW US in the little window and took this picture!

We went rather slowly, but I was so proud of Luke. He did the entire thing all by himself! Here he is passing the 100th step. (and this is the only time I wasn’t immediately behind him)

Yes, that’s me and Luke 130 feet up in the air at the top of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse!

The view was wonderful and the sky was perfectly clear. It was pretty windy but it felt great.

The lighthouse was pretty busy with a steady stream of visitors and yet, when we got up there, we had the whole thing to ourselves for about ten minutes. It really was a gift from the Lord. Luke had absolutely no fear at all. The funny thing was, the only thing that scared him was some orange streamers they had hanging from the two hatches you had to come through on the stairs. They were blowing in the wind and really freaked him out. I had to hold him as we passed the orange streamers. Silly, but sweet too.

Can you spot us up there at the top of the lighthouse? Good thing mom was too scared to come up, she was able to take some fun pictures from the bottom.

Here’s a zoomed in version of Luke at the top of a historic Michigan Lighthouse!

VIDEO: Watch Luke at the top of the Lighthouse

All good things must come to an end. In this case, all good things have another hour long walk before they come to an end!

Not that all of us had to walk the whole way, at least one of us got the royal treatment for most of the trip back. But as I said on the walk, even as my legs and back were aching, if he rests his head on mine, I could walk a thousand miles.

It was a wonderful way to spend our 15th anniversary. Several people have seemed surprised when they found out we took Luke on our anniversary trip – but when you waited as long as we did for a little child to love, he is the highlight of our celebration and the joy of our times together. (and he does take naps)

The Big Sable Point Lighthouse can be seen for 19 miles out into the Lake. I’m so glad that on this 19th of June we celebrate that we know the Big Savior who made a Point of being the Light we can build our House on! When the storms of life hit, we don’t rely on some rusty old retainer wall to hold off the erosion of time that pounds against our lives relentlessly – we can rely on the grace and mercies of God which are new every morning! Praise God!

*for those who e-mail me my typos, the use of the word “sea” here was figurative, not literal. OK?

The video is all pictures of me and my little buckaroo to two of my favorite “Daddy Songs,” perhaps you’ll enjoy them too: Watching You, by Rodney Atkins and Little Buckaroo by Go Fish.

How DO they do it?

[flv]http://media.kidology.org/flash/kblog/cheezit.flv[/flv]

A friend sent me a link to this video on YouTube – so I snagged it* for your enjoyment here!

[flv]http://media.kidology.org/flash/kblog/starwars-3yrold.flv[/flv]

Luke loved sitting here listening to it! I can’t wait until he starts to understand and enjoy Star Wars. (no, he’s not seen it yet!)

*I snag YouTube videos so that I still have them after they disappear, get moved, or are removed from YouTube.

Anyway, I came across this video, and just had to post it here. Before any home schooler is offended, please know it was made by a home school dad and is just for fun! It does a good job of pointing out many of the stereotypes of home school families.

[flv]http://media.kidology.org/flash/kblog/homeschool-families-450×338.flv[/flv]

It is from www.timhawkins.net and there are some other funny videos there as well!  ENJOY!

Setting up the Christmas Tree was a blast! He must have walked around it over a hundred times while dad was doing all the lights and ornaments!

[flv]http://www.kidologist.com/flash/luke/luke-xmas-train-dec07.flv[/flv]

But then the train was the best part, it goes around and around and around. The best part is it is “voice activated” – I say “GO TRAIN GO” and it goes, and “STOP TRAIN STOP” and it magically stops! And now Luke can say “Go” and “Stop” to control the train too. (and no, I’m not giving away my secret to how it is voice controlled!)

Next, Luke discovered that there are presents under the tree, and he brought this one to me to open! He is doing pretty good waiting, though I did see him ripping a corner of one of Mom’s presents!

Luke has also discovered CHRISTMAS COOKIES! Yum! Yum!

[flv]http://www.kidologist.com/flash/luke/luke-at-wendys-dec07.flv[/flv]

He also enjoyed his evening out with Dad (giving Mom a Lukeless evening) where he discovered how yummy a Wendy’s Frosty is!

He has also discovered that he has to wear a LOT more clothes this time of year…

But it’s worth it if he gets to go play outside with Daddy!

[flv]http://www.kidologist.com/flash/luke/luke-at-mall-dec07.flv[/flv]

One time they went to the mall where Dad let him run around a little since he is so good at obeying whenever his Daddy says to come back. (as seen in this video!)

But Luke’s very favorite thing is just being on Daddy’s shoulders dancing to his favorite Christmas album, Alvin and the Chipmonks Christmas Album!

Christmas is so full of so many wonderful things for the hands, eyes and ears… that I feel January will be soooo boring by comparison!

Nothing brings back the Wonder of Christmas like a young child…. Luke makes our Christmas so cheerful and fun. I want every day this month to be slow and full so I can soak in his enjoyment along the way.

I hope you are having a very merry Christmas season too! 

[flv]http://media.kidology.org/flash/kblog/luke-elf-dancin2.flv[/flv]

Click on comments for the secret to how I made this! BUT WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST! 

It was like traveling back in time! Except for all the people wearing weird clothes… referring to myself and the other tourists. I actually thought it would be an interesting idea to have an area where you had to be in period costume to get in, that would be fun. (But then the digital camera would still be a give away!)

I tied Luke to a horse post as I explained to him what it was. Seconds later, a carriage came by and the driver called out that Luke was tied where he was going to be shortly!

Luke watching the horse and carriage.

Mom and Luke in front of one of the fruit wreaths, one of Sara’s favorite things in Williamsburg.

We tried on the hats but decided a picture was less expensive than spending over $40 for two hats. I’ll wait until he is older and can enjoy the dressing up. (I can’t wait actually, it was fun seeing the little boys in hats with guns and swords strapped to their belts.)

Luke’s cousins joined us for Thanksgiving Day, but I had to sentence them to the stocks for being too sweet.

I tried to put Luke in the baby stocks, but he wasn’t too thrilled about the idea!

I enjoyed seeing the recreated buildings and imagining what life must have been like for those who forged this New World for us. But not everything was re-created.

This church has been here for a very long time… here is the sign:

I bet your church hasn’t had continual services since 1715! (wow) I’d like to get a perfect attendance button for that!

The next time we come here, I want to come with an outfit like this. There were a lot of people just walking around in period costumes. It really brought the town to life.

It made it easy to imagine you were there when our country was being born.

Even George Washington showed up and gave a stirring speech. He seemed uneffected by all the strange looking people who had traveled through time to hear him.

There was even a colonial marching band that went down the street:

I would HIGHLY recommend this as a vacation spot, especially for families with kids ages 1st – 4th grade. We will probably wait 3-4 years and then definitely be back so that we can do more with Luke.

Just me having fun with my camera.

May those at BevReviews.com be jealous!

I got to drink HISTORIC TAP WATER at lunch!

The PERFECT THANKSGIVING DINNER! (as with all images, click for a larger image!) Yes, that is turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and corn… and pizza, pretzels, mac & cheese and a rice krispie treat laced with chocolate. Best Thanksgiving Dinner ever!

We ate at the Great Wolf Lodge buffet – Sara enjoyed having no cooking and I enjoyed no clean up! And we may stay here next time, check out the indoor water park:

and this is only ONE view… it is massive!

The only bummer of the trip was saying goodbye to our nephew and niece (and their parents) who we don’t get to see often enough.

The Happy Thankful Family!

I hope you had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING too!

Since I’m alone this evening and missing my little boy (and Sara too!) I took a walk through iPhoto selecting some of my favorite pictures of Luke – and was amazed at how much he has grown up, just since he turned one, and one and a half….

So here is a video update of Luke from after his birthday to this month… all pictures in order of age, so you can see him growing up… all too fast.

Mommy and Lukie: I MISS YOU!

I’ll see you soon!

UPDATE: Here is a picture of Luke a few days later… watching the video of himself, he loves to watch it!

The Fall Colors were simply amazing!

Of course, it’s hard to capture the beauty while driving, but I tried! In fact, I even made a video, which you can watch below, but both the pictures and video hardly capture the brightness of the colors that I was driving past for nearly two hours… this is simply a gorgeous area of America.

The most shocking was when I suddenly had a semi driving the wrong direction RIGHT AT ME!!!

YIKES! “You’re Going the Wrong Way!” (name the movie)

Fortunately, I was able to swerve around just in time to see that actually, it was being towed in reverse:

That’s a serious tow truck!

My destination: Jubilee Christian Center for a Kidology To Go on Saturday. This is not my first time here. In fact, I was here last April hangin’ with President Bush who posed with my buddy Todd:

Todd and the President!

When I arrived I remembered that Todd has a wonderfully decorted and themed children’s ministry and made my way to his office…

I made way through the fun hallways to Todd’s office where I caught him in the act..

Playing with his Jesus Action Figure (with posable arms and gliding action)!! See those cool posters on his wall, here are some close ups: (as always on my blog, click any image to view larger)

The theme of his kids ministry is TAKE T.W.O. – from Reel to Real! I plan soon to give more detail on his thematic ministry, and an interview if possible! Like all good kids pastors, his office is full of toys!

And even though it is the youth ministry, I’ll still show you some cool pictures from the youth room:

I think Jesus can teach them a thing or two about being Super!

Will the REAL SUPER HERO please stand up?

Then it was off to lunch with another area CP (children’s pastor) who is part of the Kidology CP Team, Mark Romero, who is the CP at Manassas Assembly of God. Where do children’s pastor go to eat lunch?

K.C’s Restaurant of course. (I’m assuming that stands for Kids Church??)

And then it was off for a quick tour of Mark’s ministry as well:

Great Room Signs!

Amazing Murals!

Mark and Todd giving the Ark some support!

Hmmm? You don’t volunteer in the children’s ministry?

You get a pager with red yarn on it… yup! All parents are expected to serve at least once a month in the nursery/preschool, and if they don’t, the red ribbon lets them and everyone know they are a taker and not a giver. One of the most unique recruiting techniques I’ve heard of in awhile!

In the Kids Church room, the windows are covered with images of children… looks very cool.

And visitors get their picture of the “Fridge*Ship” metal door.

As well as a cool prize box to keep as a “thanks for coming.”

It was fun to get to meet Mark and see his ministry, and to get some relaxing time with Todd, his wife and two adorable kids. The evening ended with a trip to a fun family pizza buffet called CiCi’s where I think I got my coat switched with Todd’s daughter:

His kids are both sweet and a reflection of their parents. In our short time together I heard such kind conversation between them, and even a quick sincere natural apology from the 9 year old brother to his 6 year old sister when he accidently tripped her (which was my fault for saying ‘last one there’s a rotten egg’) that I knew these kids are in a home where Christ is not only loved and honored, but his way of life modeled before them. In my book, I don’t care how big or successful your church ministry is – it is the children’s ministry in your home that matters most, and so I’m happy to report that Todd is a great kids pastor, not because of what I saw in his building, but by what I observed in his kids.

I hope I will be a better dad than I ever was a children’s pastor. I’m more than happy to have a children’s ministry of ONE right now, my little Luke. (who I miss very much, even though I just said goodbye this morning) Mommy and Lukie – I’ll be back soon!

For example, here is a “Tale from the Toys” created by Pastor Jack Henry of Grace Baptist Church in Powder Springs, GA:

ENJOY an ‘Interview with Noah”

Have you made a ToyBox Tale?

Send it to me! I may blog it here and/or post on the fan films area of Toyboxtales.com

We hadn’t seen each other since CPC Dallas in 2003 (I think), so it was awesome to catch up. Jeramy is the childen’s pastor at The Journey, a five year old mobile church. I will be writing a Kidology Report on mobile children’s ministry based upon this visit, so stay tuned! As a sneak peek, here is a flash video of the 20 minutes set up of the Kids Church room speeded up to three minutes. Enjoy:

But first, Texas style breakfast…

But before all the great ministry, Jeramy made me get up an hour earlier than necessary to take me to his favorite donut joint, Round Rock Donuts. Reportedly ranked #2 in the entire USA by an independant British pastry reviewer. (Krispy Kremes didn’t even make the list)

There were many choices, how would I decide? And then I saw:

The Texas Donut! WOW! It was the biggest donut I’d ever seen. Here it is next to large muffins to give a better idea of the size:

When in Texas, eat like Texans… so I ordered a Texas Donut:

After a few bites, (and a smaller chocolate covered yum yum) we were off to the Kidology To Go host where I continued to work on my donut during seminar breaks:

After the conferen it was off to Jeramy’s house to meet his wife and kids and to enjoy some of Jeramy’s hand-battered Steaks!

and WOW it was a great steak! I always make sure to get a steak when I’m in Texas, and this was one of the best yet! (Jeramy’s secret: Daddy Hinkles)

Dinner, Texas style! Sunday I went to Jeramy’s church (reporting on that later) and then on the way to the airport, we headed into downtown Austin.

Texas Capital. Christmas decorations already??

Jeramy and his kids walking to Austin Children’s Museum.

Me and the kids behind a giant magafying glass.

Hands on experience? I decided to milk this opportunity to learn.

Then we decided to take a bus ride, and the driver nicely let me drive! But it was a bad idea, I quickly lost control of the bus:

It was a great weekend, and I look forward to posting more from the two wonderful children’s ministries I observed, but right now (on the plane!) I am just eager to get home to my beautiful wife and adorable son.

Well, it took longer than I’d hoped, but the Kidology Report on Puppet Ministry is now live, and features I-FEST as evidence that puppet ministry is alive and well. In addition to the MP3 interview with OWS’s new president, Todd Liebenow, I put together a video of several interviews I did while there, appropriately with puppets – both Gus, my main puppet, and a new little guy I bought while there. (already seen in a post about Puppet Team names interviewing a baby!)

It’s nearly 15 minutes long, but it will give you some glimpses into I-FEST as well as show you how I use a puppet to interview people. ENJOY!

Karl’s Puppet Interview Attendees at I-FEST 2007:

Available also as a QuickTime download (113mb): Kidology I-FEST Interviews

One of the benefits of being away was that I had very little Internet or iPhone coverage… though I did have to snag an unsecured network here or there a few times to check in and make sure my staff was still working. (just kidding!)

Technically this was not a vacation (then I do disconnect completely) but this was a writing retreat, and it was wonderful to get some concentrated time writing the second Kidology Leadership Lab… something only hinted at so far on Kidology.org but soon to be released in October 2007! Whaddaya know, I’m actually starting to work AHEAD on projects! If you know me, you should be impressed that I am writing Unit 2 when Unit 1 is in the can but still unreleased! It’s all part of living a slower paced life now. But better than the focused time to write was the time with family in a beautiful natural setting away from the busyness of suburban life!

To give you a taste of our week and some glimpses into God’s creation in Northwest Illinois where General Grant grew up… enjoy this highlight video!

We were staying at Triple Creek Ranch, a Christian retreat center for pastors and missionaries that our family has gone to for over 15 years and where (blush) Sara and I spent a week of our honeymoon. We are sad that the ministry is now selling this Ranch so this was probably our last time there, which made this visit both sad and special. My mom, who is now checked in at the Heavenly Retreat with Jesus, considered Triple Creek Ranch her second home. So it brought back many happy memories of days relaxing with her in this beautiful place.

If anyone wants to donate a few million dollars to Kidology, we’ll buy it and make a retreat for children’s pastors! Well, we can dream, can’t we? The ministry is still going but will only be running their Colorado locations now. So i guess that is where we will head next time for some R and R… Relax and Re-creation!

You watched it, didn’t you? Oh, well.

For more information check out The Kidology Handbook – Teacher’s Edition on Kidology.org. Don’t forget the blog only special mentioned when I announced the new Kidology Handbook here on my blog! (No one has claimed the prizes yet!) Never assume you are too late! Order your advance copy today!

Now it was Luke’s turn to join hundreds of other little tots for Ralph’s World live in concert!

Luke seemed a little overwhelmed at first. He kept looking around at allll the kids and people and lights, and finally noticed the band on the stage. It was so cute, there will little kids everywhere dancing in the aisles. The ushers quickly gave up trying to keep the aisles clear.

We had never heard of Ralph’s World, but the music was fun. It was all about lemonade, and sand boxes, and water, and chocolate cake. We were surprised to see all the adults sining along as well – one dad in front of me was singing along to a song about how his baseball dreams never came true because of his zero batting average all through grade school. Definitely a song I could sing from the heart!

Toward the end we went for a walk and discovered that many of the front rows were empty since the bigger kids were all up crowding the edge of the stage… so we got to enjoy the last song from up close… enjoy this video of Luke jammin’

I think it would be cool to do some Bible Stories for Kids Church in this style? Anyone ever seen that done?

ENJOY, and BE INSPIRED!

Sam’s Video:

Tim’s Video:

Do you have a great children’s ministry video? I’d love to see it and share it for others to be inspired!

It’s Party Time!

Notice one and a half cakes with one and a half candles!

Though help was needed blowing out the candles. The party was so exciting, here is Luke yawning as his candles are blown out!

The best part of the party for Luke, of course, was not the dollar store presents, it was getting to EAT CAKE, as you can see in this video:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE!

Had some employee kids hangin’ out in the office today. (No, I don’t employ children, I mean children of an employee!) The Kidology Headquarters is filled with a LOT of toys and props, but playing with Speed Stacks is often the favorite pass time of kids doomed to hang out while mom works. Their favorite thing is building giant towers to… uh, knock over, and build again.

But this time I got into it when they couldn’t reach the top of their tower, and I couldn’t stand to have seven extra cups unused, so I made a single tower and placed it on top.

Here are the proud architects of this Tower of Stacks. Unfortunately, for the cups, they didn’t get to stay stacked for long, as you’ll see in this video:

Luckily for me, clean up time is just as fun!

It was so cool to see these groups of young people having a great time at an event that is training them for ministry!

These guys are obviously having fun!

And how can you miss this group?

Even in a classroom they stand out!

Here is the back of their shirts with their name.

So many of them had a biblical source for their name too.

This dude is just too cool! And has “glory fingers”

And the HUG Puppets stand for:

I’ve heard of teams called “Uplifted Hands” and saw one that said “Talk to the Hand”

These shirts aren’t from a team, they were for sale, and I was going to buy one and forgot! DOH!

What would name a puppet team? Does your team have a name? Leave a comment here, or if you are a Kidology member, comment in the discussion there!

Here is the puppet I bought interviewing a seven week old baby! ENJOY!

As I write this I am at One Way Street’s iFest Conference. (International Festival of Puppetry & Ventriloquism) I’m here for just two days of the week long conference to report on this event for Kidology. I will be publishing a full report on Kidology.org soon in the Kidology Reports Zone, but here are a few teaser pictures and an EXCITING VIDEO at the end!

iFest is a great place to meet other people who love puppets!

And BUY cool new puppets!
(I will be posting my favorites!)

And bring your puppet team (these teens are from Texas!)

And eat great food!
(Chicken Sandwhich and fries, TWO pieces of pizza and TWO cups of Dew…. Oh Yeah, I love this conference!)

The highlight of the evening was getting to see the Black Light Competition in the evening. (There will be highlights via video in the Kidology Report on iFest)

But then I got a big surprise! I was invited to compete in the Sport Stacking competition in the dark by Norm Hewitt, and won the first stack meet with four contestants, and then later, there was a second “semi-final” with four more, who all turned out to be kids. The average scores were 20-30 seconds and I average 12 and under, so I was getting nervous. As much as I like to compete with Speed Stacks, and prefer to win (come on, its ok to admit that!) I was not looking forward to beating a little kid in the “Finals” in front of some 600 plus people. I had images of being booed off the stage and having puppets thrown at me if I beat a kid on stage… but letting him win too obviously wouldn’t give him dignity either… so what to do?

Watch the video and see what happened:

NOW AVAILABLE IN FLASH: