PLUS!Kidology Has EXCLUSIVE Buy One Get One Free Offer!
DiscipleLand, the publishers of DiscipleTown, are coming out with the most beautiful preschool Bible this Spring – BUT RIGHT NOW – you can get exclusively from Kidology.org a gorgeous Easter Story Book for your children at an amazing BUY ONE SET OF TEN and get a SECOND SET FREE!
This special offer won’t last long – and it is unique to Kidology.org due to my special relationship with DiscipleLand as the author of DiscipleTown.
DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE PDF and then hurry over to the Kidology.org Store while supplies last!
You will get TWENTY 16-Page books for the SAME PRICE as TEN over on Discipland.com! (compare)
You’ll want to give one of these beautiful books to every one of your children on Easter Sunday Morning! VISITORS COME ON EASTER SUNDAY! This bibllically rich book tells the Story of Easter and shares the Gospel Message!
How are you using technology to reach today’s kids?
In his contribution to Greg’s Baird’s series on The Future of Children’s Ministry, Todd McKeever writes about how he has allowed texting during church to give tweens a safe way to ask tough questions. Since the average American teen now texts over 3000 times a day – it’s might be better to join ‘em than to fight ‘em!
Join the discussion on Kidology and share how YOU have tapped into technology to connect with kids or engage kids in your ministry.
BUT FIRST – watch this incredible video, and consider if you need to DISCONNECT from our cell phone a little more.
At the church I am currently attending, Creekside Bible Church, they have a well thought out, though very adult-minded mission statement that is described on their website:
This fall, they decided to relaunch their children’s ministry with a new name, “Kid City” as they have a passion for the city of Denver and want to be a light in the community, among other reasons. I was not in on the brain storming for the new name – so I am speculating. (I am not in any official role at this church, though I have just volunteered to teach kids church this month to help kick off the new name.)
I did, however, volunteer to help the pastor, @joshweidmann develop the new name a little to incorporate the broader Mission of the church so that “Kid City” could take on some more meaning and partner with the church more.
So how do you partner the Children’s Ministry with the Broader Adult Mission of the Church?
Let me start by giving an example from the past. In my previous ministry, we had developed our own children’s ministry Mission Statement, which I must say, I really liked a lot. (As have others aparently, as I’ve seen it often in my travels!) But then, the senior pastor got on the ball one year and developed a church-wide mission statement. OUR church existed to: Equip Believers to Impact the World. It was good. It was short, biblical, memorable, easily communicated and on target. He even went on to hire two pastors, one to focus on the Equipping half, and another to focus on the Impacting half. The entire ministry was divided between whether it fit under Equipping Ministries or Impacting Ministries. And then there was the children’s ministries. We do both. I had a choice. I could continue to do my own thing, an island unto myself. I was not asked to change anything. But I pulled my team together and said, “Our pastor has aligned our church behind a Mission: Equipping Believers to Impact the World.” Where does the children’s ministry fit into this Mission? What do WE believe? Our mission was a little different at that time. It talked about parents as the primary spiritual leaders, and reaching kids, and evangelism – all worded eloquently, of course!
So we changed it to: Equipping Parents and Volunteers to Impact the World Through Reaching and Teaching Children.
Sure, it was a little wordy, and it lost some of the stuff I liked in my old one, but it defined howwe Equipped Believers to Impact the World through the Children’s Ministry. We did it via parents and other volunteers and we did by reaching and reaching children. It showed we were part of the broader mission of the entire church.
Back to my present situation. Here I had a challenge. I’m given two pieces of information I can’t change:
1) A ministry name already determined.
2) A church mission already determined.
How can I link them? I’m kicking off this new name in Kids Church the next three weeks! I don’t want “Kid City” to just be a cool name. I’d like the kids to see themselves as part of the larger mission of the church. But if I tell the kids,
Kids, You are going to Advance the Gospel in Your Culture to Transform Lives by Connecting People to Christ, Community and Calling!
they are going to look at me like I’m an alien! So how do you bring that down to a kid-sized mission?
Here’s the secret – as I’m sure you may need to do the same thing to your “Big Church” mission. Take the Big Words and circle them, and reduce them.
Element from “Big Church Mission” → To Kid City Mission
Gospel → Its about “Jesus”
Christ → Another word for “Jesus”
Culture → “in”
Connecting → going “in”
Calling → Personalize it: “My”
Community → “Neighborhood”
I ended up with “Jesus in My Neighborhood”
So for the next three weeks, I’m going to teach that BIG MISSION:
WEEK #1: Who is Jesus?
WEEK #2: Who is My Neighbor?
WEEK #3: Jesus in My Neighborhood?
You CAN take a BIG OL’ Grown Up Mission Statement and bring it down to a Kid Level!
And the funny part is - “Jesus in My Neighborhood” might just be easier for an adult to understand too. Just something to think about.
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,
I can not even begin to tell you how EXCITED I am to announce that the Great Adventure Cards ARE BACK on Kidology.org!
Created by our own board member and children’s pastor Dan Huffman, these amazing Bible trading cards are a wonderful way to get kids to participate at church. They are more than just Bible cards, they are a complete FUN Bible trading game! There are 25 sets of 80 cards with a variety of series, each is a Bible story, and each is a different number of cards, depending on the story. The artwork is very cool. Each card has a question and a Bible reference. The questions were carefully written so that they are hard enough that most kids (and adults!) aren’t going to “just know the answer” but easy enough that by looking up the answer they can find it in that one verse. The kids collect the cards by coming to church, bringing their Bible, a friend, participating, answering questions, etc. and when they complete a series, AND can answer all the questions (from reading their Bibles and working on them with Mom and Dad at home!) they give the series to a leader who quizes them, and then they get a prize. A hole is punched in the corner of the card so that they can keep the cards, and they can’t be used again (or traded with others) to be used again for a prize. I can tell you as a children’s pastor who used these in ministry – it is VERY EFFECTIVE in engaging kids and getting them to work hard at learning and participating. They haven’t been on Kidology.org for several years and we have had requests regularly for them to be back in print – and we are so excited to be able to offer them once again through the birth of a brand new ministry called Tadpole Tales, view all their exciting new resources on Kidology!
I was reading a discussion over on the Kidology.org forums about how to teach to a wide age range and there were some comments suggesting different age ranges to aim for. Some were suggesting “aiming for the middle” or “targeting the older kids” so as not to bore them, whereas others thought it better to teach to the younger ones so as not to lose them.
I’d like to suggest a different approach after having taught over 1,000 children’s church services to first through sixth graders for over fifteen years. It’s a rather simple suggestion: AIM FOR EVERYONE!
The key in a large group with a large age range is to shift your focus constantly. The secret is to be highly visual and to be physically moving and animated to keep the younger ones tracking with you (don’t stand still and never sit, meaning you the teacher) and use humor constantly to keep a connection with your audience.
Think about it: Senior pastors preach to a wide audience range of age and intelligence and education and world view and learning styles and they can do it! They don’t break their audience into groups! How do they do it? It isn’t through the content or aiming for a specific part of the congregation! They don’t decide, “well, I’ll just aim for the intellectuals.” or “I’ll just target the simpletons.” No!
It is through THEM and their delivery. YOU can do the same! When you work on your delivery and becoming a vibrant communicator you can communicate effectively to young and old kids at the same time! When you speak loudly and enthusiastically and creatively you can capture the attention of a group of kids no matter what the age. I’m telling you, you CAN capture the eyes, minds and hearts of kindergarten through sixth grade all in one room! No, it isn’t the ideal educational model, but when it is all you can do, it CAN be done very well. Sometimes it is the only model available to you during the service time. So don’t fret, work on your delivery and style, and be upbeat and confident and animated and funny and sincere and visual and pacing and creative and use big gestures and props and humor and stories and jokes and LOVE what you do, and the kids will be on the edge of their seats, and learning, at any age!
All that to say – I don’t target one age – I target EVERY AGE in the room constantly! I’ll even say, “for you little guys, that means…” if I need to. And I won’t hesitate yo define a word in the original Hebrew for the big kids! But the key is YOU and your delivery – be animated, creative, visual, funny when you can, serious when it matters, walk out among the kids for emphasis and keep it moving.
And do check out DiscipleTown, you will find it packed with creative and fun ideas and a visual PowerPoint to back you up. You can do it!
I’m letting out on of my ’secrets’ in the upcoming release of Part Two of the Kids Church Cook Book and I thought it might make a good blog post. I was writing about a unique way I start children’s church – (perhaps another post later) and then describing something I do when I am doing my welcome…
“Like the late night talk shows, after the welcome activity, I often do what I call my monologue, it is when I come out and just talk to the kids. I tell a humorous story from the week, I greet the kids. I look for visitors. I comment on things they are wearing or brought with them. I may ask a few kids questions about their personal life, “How’s your grandma doing?” (Shows that child I care, and other children that I’m connected to individual lives.) This time is loose, very short, and very personal, but very intentional. It is just me and the kids connecting. They will feel like I am just shooting the breeze, but often I have almost rehearsed the stories I might tell of something funny that happened during the week and have the kids almost falling on the floor laughing, and then amazingly the story ends up relating to our lesson. (coincidence? not!)
The Eye Ball Game
I make it a point to try and look every child in the eyes during my opening greeting time. I call it the “eyeball game” but it is only a game in my mind. No one but me knows it is a game. As I am talking to the kids I am looking out over their faces and making eye to eye contact with each and every child. If a child isn’t looking at me, I will come back to them. If I need to walk out and among them to look into the eyes of every child – then I do that! If I need to gently put my hand on the shoulder of a child to get them to look up, then I do that. If I need to kneel down to see their eyes, I do that. No child is missed. I have no Bible verse to back this up, but I think this is how Jesus ministered. (Of course, He could see into their hearts!) But He wasn’t about delivering messages – he was about connecting with people – eye to eye.
When you look someone in the eye, you connect with their soul. Think about it, when you are in a crowd and listening to a preacher or speaker and make eye contact – even for a moment – there is suddenly power in that moment! Their words suddenly are for YOU and I bet you remember what they were talking about at that moment later! Perhaps you even wonder if they intended to look at you at that very moment; if the words they were saying were somehow intended more for you than for anyone else in the room. Imagine giving children that same feeling when you are welcoming them! You are glad THEY are there! You want to teach THEM! You have a message for THEM from God’s Word. God has something THEY need to hear today. Don’t under estimate the power of the “eyeball game!” Do it during your opening and during your teaching and again during your challenge at the end of your lesson. You can be an average teacher, but if you master the “eye ball game” your effectiveness will sour because you will be connecting with your little audience and they will go home having heard you.”
Just thought it was time I let me secret out – perhaps you’ll try my “game” the next time you teach. It is challenging at first to concentrate on what you are saying and the mental game of looking at every child and keeping track of who you have looked eye to eye at so far, and who you haven’t – but if you practice, you will get good at it, and soon you will do it naturally – and it will greatly improve your effectiveness and your impact.
