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Category: Awana

A Mother’s Legacy

Happy Birthday, Mom. My mom passed away in 1996 – but her presence and influence has never left me. I am so thankful for a mother who saw past my craziness and energy and hyper-activity and saw only God-given potential. I can remember countless times when she would hold my head between her hands and though exhausted (exasperated even!) she would say to me, “Karl, if you can ever figure out how to focus all this creative energy for God – watch out world.” Even when my creative energy was getting me in trouble, she was instilling in me HOPE that God wired me the way He did for a PURPOSE – that I wasn’t a screw-up – that He made me for a reason! That I would someday help people, even if while I was young it meant getting in trouble for being misunderstood. Today my puppets do the things that once got me in trouble. People buy DVDs of toys doing things that I once got taken away in church. Through Kidology.org and the other things I do, I have so many creative outlets now to equip and encourage other kid ministers and impacts kids, she no way…

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A Gauntlet in Kidmin?

The Gauntlet was one of the best scenes in the classic movie staring Sean Connery as Kind Arthur – but it wasn’t until this week that I saw a Gauntlet used in kidmin! Was this some kind of new disciplinary device? Did the kids forget to bring their Bibles? What could this be? Actually, it was just a fun way to honor the kids who had completed a section in their Awana Handbooks – and judging by the smiles and laughter, they loved it. Is handing out candy or giving stickers not getting the results you’d like? Perhaps it is time to add a Gauntlet to your children’s ministry! Regardless of whether you start handing out swim tubes to leaders – I commend their creativity in doing some NEW and DIFFERENT to recognize kids and motivate them to participate. What creative thing are YOU doing to engage kids in your ministry?  

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A Fun Game with Stacking Cups

I try to use Sport Stacking cups any chance I get because they always engage and excite kids, and they can be a great learning tool too. Tonight I was tasked with teaching on teamwork and how we all must work together using our different gifts and talents. So, as I often do when I need to teach is I mine the incredible content found in DiscipleTown units and looked that the How to Discover Gifts and Talents, and found a great game! In the lesson it suggested numbered Styrofoam cups (since that is available to anyone) but I prefer to use Speed Stacks cups. I made two sets of ten cups using ten different colors. (Yeah, I own a lot of stacking cups, including many discontinued colors.) Then I made slips of papers with the colors names on them. To choose volunteers I simply passed out the slips one at a time to ten volunteers. The Rules: They needed to make a pyramid, BUT they could only touch the cup of the color they were assigned. Teamwork and communication were needed! Round One: Simple pyramid, one on two on three on four cups. Any order, but each child could…

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Awana Get Some Apps!

Someone asked me on Twitter today if Awana had some apps to help parents connect with their kids at home and reinforce what they are learning in club… so I thought I’d post about the awesome Awana Apps you can download from the Apple App Store, most are FREE! The NEWEST is the Cubbie App! Encourage parents of your youngest clubbers to download this so they can help their little ones learn the Bible verses to music! You can even choose the translation you’d like your Cubbie to learn with. (KJV, NKJV,NIV,ESV) In addition to the free content, there is additional in-app purchases available as well. (extra verses) The Sparkie App continues to be updated and improved! This interactive story book kids can read on their own as well as with their parents. In addition to being able to choose to read or have the book read to them, there are fun interactive elements to the story that make it fun to tap around the screen and see what might happen! You can order hard cover Sparkie books within the app too! If you are a Game Leader, then these apps will interest you! The Games App says it is…

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Visiting Awana HQ for the Inside Scoop

As a grown-up clubber, frequent blogger about Awana, and as the man who introduced Sport Stacking to Awana Game Time and a children’s pastor who has seen the impact of this ministry – I am always looking for opportunities to drop into the Awana HQ in Streamwood, Illinois. I’ve been hearing some exciting news coming out of Awana – and noticed their brand new website, so after speaking at camp for a week in Wisconsin, I headed down to Awana to sit down with Michael Scarbrough, who is the Director of Children’s Ministry at Awana to get the inside scoop on the relaunch of Awana going on right now! LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE! I also snagged me an official Awana sport coat (off a freebie table) so that I can sport it at the next Awana Conference. I think this coat gives back-stage access or at least snacks in the employee room. Forget GQ magazine, I think I could be on the cover of AHQ magazine! Got a great Awana story? Have questions about the club? Want to share some feedback for Awana leadership? Visit the podcast discussion forum and let’s talk Awana!  

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