Home Archive by category "Children’s Ministry" (Page 14)

Category: Children’s Ministry

Oh, You Sexy Document!

Sexy Document

Let’s be honest, “Document Management” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of excitement. But in our digital age, where files are constantly emailed back and forth, edited by multiple people, and frequently updated, effective document management is essential. Without it, things can quickly spiral into chaos – and nobody wants that. That’s why the 6th video in my Ministry Management series is Master Your Documents! (No More Chaos!). This video will help you bring order to the madness. We’ve all felt the frustration of searching for the latest version of a file or losing important work due to computer errors. But did you ever notice that the letters in the word LIFE can be rearranged to spell FILE? Sometimes, it feels like managing documents is all we do! Without a solid strategy, managing countless virtual files can be overwhelming. In this training, I’ll cover how to organize your files effectively and keep them on T.A.S.K. (a strategic approach to managing your ideas). I’ll also dive into the S.A.F.E. method, which outlines four key strategies for protecting your valuable documents and ideas. Plus, you’ll learn a unique document naming protocol (Oooo, doesn’t that sound sexy?!) that…

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BLOW UP Your Object Lessons!

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I’ve said it for decades, “You should BLOW UP your object lessons!” But before you try to go buy dynamite and end up with the ATF knocking down your front door, let me explain! First of all, I LOVE OBJECT LESSONS! Did you know, Kidology.org started as an object lesson website back in the Fall of 1994? The same time that Amazon.com started. (Why am I not a billionaire? LOL) We still have hundreds in the Object Lesson Zone. Object Lessons are one of THE most effective ways to teach kids – because while most spiritual concepts are abstract and invisible – words like faith, love and propitiation (Huh?) are challenging to explain to kids who are concrete relational, meaning, if they can’t see, touch, smell, hear, or eat something, it doesn’t exist! Object lessons help link these abstract concepts to concrete physical objects (or experiences) so that children can relate to them. Children’s teachers aren’t the first to use them – Jesus used object lessons all the time, and he was teaching adults! But here is what I mean by “blowing them up.” Often, in an object lesson book there will be an idea of an object that can…

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BACK to SCHOOL Kidmin Resources!

It’s BACK to SCHOOL Time! BACK TO SCHOOL!!! Well, the kids are headed back to school. Unless you home school, your home will quiet down once again. Peace will settle in, well, for a few hours anyway. School is a BIG part of a kid’s world! Keep in touch with your students by learning about their schools! Know what schools your students go to! Call your kids and ask about how school is, especially if they went to a new school. They may need your encouragement. One little girl came home this week and said, “I hate school. I hate my teacher. I never want to go back again!” What an opportunity for encouragement! (and prayer) Find out if you can visit your students at school. Most schools will allow lunchtime visitors. Slip a note into their locker after your visit, or if you can’t visit. Give a note to parents for them to slip into their kid’s lunch! Get involved in the schools in your community. Perhaps you could put together an anti-drug or positive self image program for classrooms or assemblies! I’ve had schools willing to send home church flyers with their paperwork after serving them with some…

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New KarlBastian.info Page

I’ve been reviewing my various domains over the past year and letting a bunch of them expire. Back when there was only .com, .org and .net it made sense to snag all three when you bought a domain. Some you bought for fun – like IamtotallyunpreparedforSundaySchool.com which we did for a conference lanyard years ago at CPC that is still live. Now that there are a zillion extensions, it makes less sense to hang on to other extensions as they no longer prevent brand competition as someone can simply snag up .biz, .info, or a host of others. One of the odd extensions I pocked up early on when they started adding new ones was karlbastian.info. I’m lucky enough to have a fairly unique name – not too many imposters out there. I was about to cancel the renewal (it just forwarded to my blog) when I got an idea! Why not make KarlBastian.info literally info about Karl Bastian? I have been accused of being a little confusing with all my various websites for ministry, church, kids, even droning… so what if I had a HUB where you could find them all, IN ONE PAGE? Not a new website –…

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A Pen-Pal in the Philippines

It was a Sunday night in high school. And even though I was sitting in the back pew with my buddies, it was a day that would change my life forever. We had chosen these seats, the farthest possible away from the action because there was a guest speaker from out of town. A missionary who had asked if he could come preach in Chicago because they happened to be in town, even though most of his supporters were out West. My dad had offered his pulpit. I knew the missionary sermon all too well. Matthew 28… Great Commission… pictures of the mission field… challenge to pray, give, or go. I probably could have stepped in if he’d gotten a sore throat and needed me to. But then, I saw it – the picture of his family – and heard him talking about his daughter, Sara. I had just returned from a mission trip to Honduras the week before and perked up. (She was cute.) As her dad talked about some of the dangers they had faced as a family – including hiding her in a hidden compartment when soldiers came through the neighborhood – my buddies and I all…

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