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Category: Family

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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The MOMstacle Course! Could You Handle a Mom’s Day?

One year for Mother’s Day I wanted to help the kids at my church relate to what a typical day is like for their mom – but in a fun way. So I created The MOMstacle Course! It’s a race featuring the type of things Moms have to do on a regular basis. It includes putting Band-aids on boo-boo’s, walking on Legos, matching socks, and more – and ended with sitting down to enjoy some tea. Here is the Highlight Video from the 2nd Annual MOMstacle Course! Here is the video of the ORIGINAL Course including a deeper explanation: If you do a MOMstacle Course, please post pictures or video in our Facebook Group! I’d love to see them! Because Jesus Loves MOMS, Pastor Karl Bastian aka The Kidologist

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Securing the Perfect Performer for Your Church Event

GUEST BLOGGER: Josh Denhart, from The Amazing Chemistry Show Most churches with Children’s Ministries will sooner or later decide to hold an outreach event for those in their church and community. Most likely they will be looking to bring in someone who will not only entertain their kids, but also, hopefully, clearly present the Gospel message. What do you need to prioritize for your event? Events can draw a crowd! However, the right event can draw a crowd that would normally not attend a traditional event with bounce houses, carnival games, and popcorn.  While it’s fun to see your children bouncing on a bounce house, parents are left as spectators, not participants.  But Science bridges the gap for people of all ages. Live Science Events allow for everyone to be engaged and entertained. Science intrigues people. In addition, there is nothing quite like giant balls of fire, amazing explosions, and emanating foam! If you’re looking to engage and amaze your audience, while still clearly sharing the Gospel message, then you need to have the right combination of performance and presentation. Listen, I have been the pastor who brought in national children’s ministry performers.  I had some good results and some…

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Connecting Digitally with Your Kids

For Father’s Day my son cracked me up when he wrote in my card, “I love you more than the games on my ipad! :)” So touching. But the reality is, my son is growing up in an age where he plays on an ipad as much as he does with physical toys and games. I’m delighted that Lego still captures his imagination as much as Minecraft, and that he’d still rather play outside than on his X-box, but at the same time I have a love-hate relationship with iPad games. There are times I wish he didn’t have one – but I also realize that touch-tablet technology is the world he is growing up in. While he can use the family iMac with ease, it is very likely that by the time he is a teenager, the computers we use will be the technological dinosaurs of a past age. I enjoyed growing up using the very first personal computers and leaping on each advancement as they came out. Even waiting in line for a new Apple OS to be released instead of the free downloads of today. But this ‘Old Dog’ has to recognize that both the reality of…

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Check-in Without Lines?

Imagine computer check-in without computers! Imagine secure check-in without lines. Sound impossible? Not any more. Thanks to the always innovating geniuses at KidCheck, secure check-in is getting even easier. As you can tell by the related links below, I’ve been an avid supporter and promoter of KidCheck for years. I love how they are always innovating to make child security easier and more effective each year. While other systems provide the basics – KidCheck continues to add features and benefits that not only provide a pick-up label, but improve communication between parents, volunteers, and leaders. AND NOW… (wait for it) … They have introduced Express Check-in. That means parents can check-in on their smart phone in the parking lot or while walking it, come to your check-in area, hit “PRINT” and be on their way to dropping off their kiddos without every standing in line or typing into a computer. Learn all about KidCheck Express Check-in Here. As I mentioned on my podcast today, the safety of kids is of the utmost importance to parents. When you have a secure check-in area, you score points with parents who want to have the peace of mind that their child is not…

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