FREE Online Training

Looking for FREE Online Training? Looking for help to be better equipped as a teacher in your Sunday School or other children’s ministry venues? Did you know that DiscipleLand.com offers FREE Online Training Webinars? My good friend and a very wise and experienced children’s ministry guru, Dick Crider, who has decades of teaching experience both as a professional and as a father and grandfather, provides LIVE online training seminars via DiscipleLand that you can sign up for and attend FREE of charge. HOWEVER – attendance is LIMITED so it is important to sign up in advance for the online workshops that interest you. For a complete list of the ONLINE SEMINARS or other training opportunities available from “Professor Crider,” visit DiscipleLand’s Training Events Page for complete details.

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Karl on the Radio in Ottawa

I was just on the radio in the Capital of Canada this morning on CHRI Christian Radio in Ottawa. You can listen to the interview here: tinyurl.com/karlonCHRI The occasion is that next week, I’ll be heading up there to the frozen lands of Canada to serve as the keynote speaker for the VAULT Children’s Ministry Conference. www.KidsMinistry.ca I’m really looking forward to this conference! I’ll have an opportunity to speak at a breakfast for pastors with their children’s pastors on the secret to longevity in ministry, and I’ll be doing a Family Fun Night Magic with a Message show. At the conference I’ll be speaking on: YOU, the Missing Piece in a Child’s Spiritual Puzzle Making Your Discipline Problems Disappear The Stories of Ministry During the first session, I will reveal my “secret” relational ministry tricks for connecting with kids – those tips that draw kids in and then double the impact of my teaching. The second session will introduce a completely different approach to discipline that at first surprises people. By the end they’re praying not for less discipline problems but for more (seriously!) so that they will have more kids they can truly impact. You’ve just gotta be…

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What’s Your Excuse?

Barbara Baker and Karl Bastian The highlight of my CPC this year was getting to see Barbara Baker again. I always keep an eye out for her. She is one of my favorite CPC “Regulars”. During the conference, INCM asked some of the speakers and bloggers to make some time to be interviewed for the INCM website throughout the year.  However, I told INCM’s Executive Director Michael Chanley they should interview Barb! She is living proof that you are never too old to be creatively reaching and teaching kids! We crossed paths for years until I finally stopped to meet her. (It seemed like I only saw her going the other way on  escalators!) When I first talked to her, she surprised me by asking for advice on how to incorporate a remote Internet audience of children she would be broadcasting her VBS to in the summer. I taught her how to use Ustream.tv to share her VBS over the Internet and she went home and did it! Now that’s one cutting edge lady! Now she tells me, at age 67, that she has just gotten an Amazon Kindle and is learning how to use it! She’s been struggling with…

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Yosemite Summit 2011 Report

(Originally Posted on YosemiteSummit.org) The fact that I am writing my Yosemite Summit 2011 Report at the end of August that took place in May should tell you exactly WHY I do Yosemite Summit in the first place, though I’ve blogged here about that several times already: Built In Pit Stop Someday is Another Word for Never Is This Your Letter? The Best Thing for Your Ministry Others have written as well about why they went to Yosemite Summit. I’ll link those another time perhaps, but you can just click through the archives. But the reality is, my life is BUSY. Don’t get me wrong – I’m doing things I love pursuing my life Mission, but if I didn’t schedule Yosemite Summit, I’d never STOP and GET AWAY and enjoy time with some guys who love God like me and just UNPLUG and enjoy nature and fellowship like you just can’t get in the hectic pace of normal life. I’m never “ready” for Yosemite Summit – it just comes, and I have to just GO. And when I get back, I have to dive in and pick up where I left off and getting this report done and a highlight…

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