Home 2010 (Page 7)

Year: 2010

FREE Online Leadership Training!

Everywhere I go I run into Kidology Members who ask me where they can get affordable Leadership Training and I am surprised how often they are unaware that they have access to FREE online video Leadership Training as part of their Kidology Membership. I created Kidology Online Training specifically because I can’t go to every conference I’m invited to and because I know not every leader can go to conferences. Through these FREE streaming online videos every Premium Member of Kidology can learn what I’ve learned in my fifteen plus years of being a leader and children’s pastor. Then, to add to the learning experience, each training session has an optional add-on download kit that provides a RICH 30+ page PDF that goes even deeper into the material, has bonus material, a downloadable version of the video so you can go mobile with it or full screen and even gives you a PowerPoint so you can then, in turn, train YOUR leaders! When you are done and compile all FIVE PDFs the sum result is the Kidology Handbook Leader’s Edition, your companion to the highly popular Kidology Handbook Teacher’s Edition. But remember – while the download kits have a modest…

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Teaching Kids How to Pray

TWO LISTS: The “Sorry List” and the “Lightening List!” Everyone who listens to my podcast knows I’ve been ministering with Gus, my teaching partner, since Bible College – they may not realize, that one of our routines is included in every lesson of DiscipleTown! (The children’s church curricululm I write for DiscipleLand, which you can use regardless of what Sunday School curricula you use.) Here is a sample from Lesson Two of How to Pray! Yes, now you too can can do a wacky puppet routine – or convert it to a skit – and introduce the topic of your lesson in a humorous, and yet very thought provoking manner, that really gets the point of the forthcoming lesson across. The Lesson is on Repentance and the the Main Point of this lesson is: In prayer, God shows ways we need to change! Note: “Puppet” refers to “Gus” but in the curriculum, you are encouraged to use your own puppet so I leave it generic. (This is my pre-edited version, the final version from the publisher may be slightly different.) Puppet comes out and is very excited about the lesson today because he understands that it is about repentance. Teacher…

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HELP WANTED, but Experience Required

I received the following e-mail recently, and it’s a question and request I get often. I wanted to post my answer to her here so that it might encourage others as well. As I know her struggle is not an uncommon one. Karl, I need your help. I want to be in paid ministry and I have been volunteering and the church I am working with says “we can’t believe you don’t have a job yet…you are perfect for this.” I am frustrated because ministering to kids and helping them discover the wonderful truths of the Bible is my passion. “Here I am! Send me!” If I get back responses from my resume, I hear mostly that I don’t have enough experience. I do have quite a bit of volunteer experience and did my internship with a children’s minister, but the necessity for me to have a full time job now to support my daughter and I makes it difficult for me to put in another 20 hours a week at a church volunteering as a CM. So how do I both support my family AND get more experience? I am seeing walls up everywhere I turn and am curious…

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Who is My Neighbor?

In the continuing saga of Kid-Sizing the Adult Mission Statement, the second lesson is now available! In our quest to unpack “Jesus in My Neighborhod” we’ve already explored Who is Jesus, so next we needed to look at “Who is My Neighbor?” Once again, we started by asking the puppets! This time, I went to the park and decided to ask some puppets at random, who they thought their neighbor was. Here are some of the answers I got when I asked, “Who is your neighbor?” Once again, I got a bunch of wrong answers. At the end, the final guy got really close – telling the story of the Good Samaritan, but then missing the point! Your neighbor isn’t anyone who is a Samaritan, but anyone who is in need! The entire lesson is available on Kidology.org for members. (Includes a download of the above video.) Once I finish all three lessons, I will make everything available, PowerPoints and all. It’s been a fun series to teach.

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Yosemite Summit – A Defining Momment

What is Yosemite Summit? It’s hard to describe. It’s not just another children’s ministry conference. It’s not just a retreat, it’s something incredibly unique and life transforming. It’s an encounter with God – an encounter with creation – an encounter with yourself – and great fellowship with other children’s pastors. If it’s not a children’s pastor’s event – some ask me why I limit it to children’s pastors (or CM professionals). It’s a fair question. It is because I believe that there are unique challenges that we face as men in children’s ministry that only children’s pastors understand and we need each other to face and overcome them. I’ve faced many of them (not always victoriously) and created this event as a way to share what I’ve learned and provide a safe and unique opportunity for men to come together – unplugged from both the demands of ministry and the busy pace of life (and electronics!) to face some things they may have never faced before and come away with a totally new perspective on themselves, their families and their ministries. Yosemite Summit changes men in ways you can’t understand until you’ve been here. And it is only open to…

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