Home Archive by category "Holidays" (Page 2)

Category: Holidays

What is Easter About Anyway?

By popular demand, I have created an ALL NEW ToyBox Tale for Easter! It features Happy Meal toys Mr. Peabody and Sherman greeting Jesus just as He exits the tomb along with a fun lesson introduction as I explore all the silly Easter “stuff” you see in stores around this time that have nothing to do with the meaning of Easter, despite the fun they are. It’s a fun video that is just under 15 minutes. It was a lot of fun to make! So What Is Easter Anyway? is a 14-minute ToyBox Tale style retelling of the Easter story through the use of action figures and other Easter-themed toys. Great for use in transitional ministry situations or as an introduction to teaching about this important holiday. The video — provided in both MOV and MP4 video formats (720 x 480) — explores the various things associated with the holiday, from eggs to rabbits and beyond. Utilizing the time travel storytelling narrative of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, kids will discover Jesus just as he was coming out of the tomb! I went goes shopping for Easter stuff to see if he could discover the meaning of this pastel holiday. After…

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One Man Christmas Story

I was invited to be a special guest again at Cherry Hill Community Church, where they have a wonderful children’s ministry. Whenever you are given the opportunity to teach at Christmas time, it presents a unique challenge. You are, of course, teaching the greatest story in HIS-Story – but it is also a very familar one. So how do you tell it in a new and creative way that will still engage children who can easily “check out” when they start to hear the familiar parts of the story. I searched my computer for countless ways I have addressed Christmas in over twenty years as a children’s pastor – and then walked into my vast kidmin prop warehouse and started seeing things that could be used to tell the story! At the same time, as I prayed about it, I was wanted to elevate the story above the mere facts of the traditional story to WHY did God sent Jesus? The story is truly epic and transcends the birth of Christ from the origins of time all the way to Christ’s Resurrection all the way to today! Then it hit me! Why don’t I tell the ENTIRE STORY OF CHRISTMAS…

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Should You Explain the Secular History of Easter?

Over on the Kidology Forums, someone asked: I need a simple lesson plan explaining the origin of Easter eggs and bunnies. I don’t think much explanation is necessary. Since the eggs and bunnies have nothing to do with our Christian celebration, I think the simplest explanation is that they related to springtime when we are happy that winter is over. Spring also represents that new life will be coming forth from eggs, and nothing seems to represent new life as cutely as a bunny. However, as Christians, we think nothing represents new life better than JESUS, who proved he can not only bring new life, but he can even raise up the dead to new life! I completely ignore the history of pagan celebrations with children. They are irrelevant and confusing to kids, and they are really just ancient history that has no bearing on today’s culture anyway. That isn’t why the eggs and bunnies are here today, so it’s a bit of a straw man. I would guess most of my non-Christian friends would take a slight offense at (or just laugh off) me accusing them of decorating with eggs and bunnies because of some ancient secular celebration that…

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Send Your Kids on a Resurrection HUNT!

Tweet, Facebook and E-mail this URL to all your friends and family: www.kidology.org/hunt Easter is a pretty big holiday, and while it doesn’t get the attention that Christmas gets, it’s a pretty important event! In fact, all of Christianity rests on this historic event! And yet, often kids don’t know all the important details of this story as well as they do Christmas. So I sat down with my wife a few months ago and we brain-stormed, “What would be a fun game to help kids learn the details of the Resurrection Story in an exciting way?” We came up with a game based on the classic CLUE game and we think you and your kids are going to LOVE IT! We hired the top artist in children’s ministry, Todd Hampson, who has worked on What’s in the Bible, JellyTelly, Order of the Ancient, Yancy (not Nancy) videos and more – and then got our very own webmaster Steve Tanner, who is a CLUE game connoisseur – and came up with a game that is both fun and educational. Next, I asked a new friend I met at CPC in Orlando, Stanley Mearse, to team up with me on writing…

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What to get your husband for Christmas

Ladies… if you really want to impress your husband for Christmas this year. Don’t get him a tie. Get him something, anything, from Scottevest.com I’m serious. And no, I’m not getting paid for this blog post, and get no benefit from it. I’m honestly just doing all the ladies out there a HUGE favor. Your man loves his gadgets. But he doesn’t want to look like a nerd or dork carrying them around. He loves his iPad, but he doesn’t know how to carry it around without looking like he is taking work with him. He doesn’t want to be one of those guys… You know the type, with the batman utility belt filled with gadgets (like the step dad in Night at the Museum) And he’s not going to wear some STUPID tech belt like I saw on my last flight in Sky Mall Magazine: Are you kidding me? RIGHT. But with a Jacket, Trench Coat, Sport Coat, Vest, Hoodie, Shirt or even boxers from Scottevest – your huck of love will be able to hide his tech gear and look like a normal sharply dressed man you won’t be embarrassed to be seen with. (Until he pulls out…

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