Home Archive by category "Children’s Ministry" (Page 83)

Category: Children’s Ministry

The Power of Encouragement

Before there was Kidology.org – (well, it was members.aol.com/kidologyweb) – Before most people had heard of this guy who called himself “the Kidologist” – there was just this kids pastor name Karl Bastian who threw himself 287% into whatever he did! One of those times was when he got invited to provide the children’s programing (not child care!) for the Okoboji Lakes Bible Conference waaaay back in 1996. I was hired by none other than Scottie May. You may have never heard of her, but she is the Mom of Phil Vicher (Creator of VeggieTales), and he wasn’t a household name in kids pastor’s homes (or American homes for that matter) back then. I think the first VHS tape was just hitting stores! Anyway – Along with my wife and some youth I brought from my church, we were proving children’s programming for TEN DAYS while the parents were in sessions over in the “Big Tent.” We did full scale Kids Church-like lessons, game times, crafts, and so much more. As I always do whether I’m doing Kid’s Church, speaking at camp, or writing curriculum, I provide more than asked and try to make it the best I possibly can…

Continue reading

My Blog Madness iPad2 Challenge!

O.K. – everyone keeps e-mailing, texting, direct Tweeting, calling… everything short of knocking on the door of the Kidology Top Secret Headquarters deep in the mountains of Colorado to ask me, “Who are YOU voting for?” First, my mini-rant – I think some people lost the whole point of this – it was to vote for the blogs you liked the best, not use your influence to rally votes for someone. But since everyone seems to be doing that, I’ll give in and lend whatever little influence I have and tell you who I’m voting for. But when faced with THESE “Final Four” you have four incredible bloggers – two I was very familiar with (Jim and Sam) and two that were newer to me (a great thing about this contest!) So, I’m gonna just be a good sport and go for the guy who beat me in the biggest upset of the second round – Justyn Smith – the guy who I had a 100+ vote lead over who somehow mysterious had a rally that knocked me out in a few mere hours! I don’t know if he had a Saturday evening church service and his third sermon point…

Continue reading

Got Building Plans?

Got some Kingdom Building Plans? I’ve got a bit of a sober warning and challenge for my fellow ministers today – one written in my personal online journal a few years ago that I’m publishing today. I pray some will consider it slowly and with an open heart. It was written by one who learned these lesson not easily! So it is written not preaching down – not side to side, and perhaps at the time it was written, broken looking up. OC writes,“These are days of tremendous enterprises, days when we are trying to work for God, and therein lies the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God.” Out of deep and sincere devotion to God we can make great effort to work for God, to assist Him in building the Kingdom, but our efforts are like a little boy with a toy hammer banging on the side of a sky scrapper. We may feel really powerful and important, but our efforts are silliness compared what God is doing and has already done. And to think that we can DO anything, is so wrong. “The men and women He is going to use in His mighty building…

Continue reading

NO MORE Making Time for Family

I’ve made a decision, and by God’s grace and power, I’m sticking to it. Are you ready? Here it is: Never again am I going to make time for my family! That’s right. I am DONE making time for my family. No more. Never Again. I Quit. I’ve spent over ten years making time for my wife, and then when I became a dad I started making time for my son too. And I was totally wrong to do so! I have learned my lesson, and have made a personal commitment to never ever again make time for either of them. Have I lost my mind? No, quite to the contrary – I have finally found it! While I have always claimed to put family first – my proof was in all the time I “made” for them. The days off, the dates, the dinners, the vacations, the coming home for a meal, the night time feedings and play time on the floor… all the things I took a break from ministry to do. What?!?!? Did you just hear the insanity in that last sentence?! The “break from ministry” I took to “make” time for my family? I’m ashamed to…

Continue reading

Is VBS Dead?

“Is VBS Dead? Or just not worth the bother?” writes Keith Tusing over at CMBuzz.com He continues: VBS – The origins of Vacation Bible School can be traced back to Hopedale, Illinois in 1894.  Hey, that means VBS has actually been around longer than me! Many churches have long been committed to an annual VBS as a part of their summer programming for kids.  Now, a large percentage of churches have discontinued or they are considering discontinuing this summer tradition.  One of the questions that is being tossed around: Is VBS still an effective tool for Children’s Ministry?  Let’s take a look at a couple of facts: A shift in children’s ministry since 1997 has been the 12% decline in the percentage of churches offering Vacation Bible School (or VBS) – from 81% to 69%. The number one reason given for not offering VBS was a lack of available volunteers. – The Barna Group, Ltd, 2009 By contrast V.B.S. continues to have the greatest evangelistic impact in the Southern Baptist Convention with 26% of 2006 baptisms in convention churches coming as a direct result of V.B.S. Today over three million children attend Vacation Bible School annually. So what is all the debate about?  It seems that many…

Continue reading