Home Archive by category "Kidology" (Page 70)

Category: Kidology

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…

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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…

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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…

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A Children’s Ministry of One

Tower of Babel “How big is your children’s ministry?” I always hate that question. People always assume because I have a big website I am a children’s pastor from some megachurch. I don’t hate the question because my answer has never been a big number. I’ve always enjoyed answering with a small number and enjoyed the look of surprise I see. I’ve been proud to serve in small to mid-sized churches and be able to relate to the “average” children’s pastor.  I hate the question because it equates the size of your church to your value as a pastor. That is why I never ask children’s pastors the size of their ministry. I ask them to tell me stories about the kids in their church. I ask about their challenges and about what exciting new things they are trying. I ask them about what truly matters. Because, as Yoda said, “Size matters not.” Instead, now that I am a father, when people ask me how many kids are in my children’s ministry, I answer, “Just one.” After I see the puzzled look on their face, I say, “and his name is Luke.” We have class time every evening. I call…

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Hittin’ The Oregon Trail

I’m excited to be heading to OREGON this weekend! If you live up in the Great NorthWest* – I hope you can drop by for some great training! Download FULL SIZE PDF Flyer (2.3MB) I’m in for a BUSY weekend! I’m doing a Family Program on Friday Night – one of my favorite presentations, “Lions, and Bears and Fire, OH MY!” It’s an evening of laughter and comedy and story telling that encourages kids and old folks alike to enjoy whatever age they are – and to realize that they are part of HIS–STORY! It was born out of an invitation once to speak at an author’s assembly for Order of the Ancient and I thought, “How can I just talk about my book for an hour – how boring!” (Even though my book is quite exciting, mind you – I wasn’t going to read it!) And I didn’t want the assembly to be a long commercial for my book. So instead, I did what I knew the kids in my ministry loved most – my story telling, and I wove it around the reasons WHY we love stories in the first place and revealed the SECRET FORMULA of a…

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