Order of the Ancient Impacts Families

As my blog readers probably know, I wrote a novel for kids called The Order of the Ancient. You expects kids to love a good novel, but I’m always so extra encouraged when I get notes from parents and adults on how my novel for kids impacted them as adults… which was always an intent in my writing it, and why the language of the books was never ‘dumbed down’ to simply kids vocabulary. Here is an e-mail I got today that not only made my day, but asked some key questions that showed great insight into what is coming in book two: Hi Pastor Karl- This summer our daughter Breenah attended Timber-lee Christian Camp and loved everything you said and did.  We purchased your book and read it as a family.  The spiritual growth in our family as we were reading this book was awesome (especially for Mom and Dad).  As adults this book spoke to our hearts about the way we take our Bibles for granite and our time with God. God used this to change the heart of our family- Thank you!! We would like to know when the next book is coming out? If there is…

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A BRAND NEW Kids Church Curriculum!

I am excited and honored to be the first to tell you about a BRAND NEW curriculum for children’s church! It is called DiscipleTown! While it is part of the comprehensive children’s discipleship strategy from DiscipleLand, it is a highly creative and fliexible children’s church curriculum that will work in ANY church setting.  More details and a chance to pre-order will released NEXT WEEK. Here is a SNEAK PEEK VIDEO leaked on YouTube direct from the author, who you just might recognize, even with the shades on! FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS AND HELP SPREAD THE WORD! If you are still choosing what to teach in September, let me encourage you to plan on DiscipleTown! The first unit will be a four week series on How to Worship, which is a wonderful way to start out the school year – and as a downloadable product, it will be in your hands soon! You can then use whatever else you have planned in October. You are welcome to ask questions in comments, and I will answer the best I can. Complete details will be coming NEXT WEEK!

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Life Online Changing

My life online is changing. I used to blog a lot more than I do now. I love my blog and I do have people bug me to “blog more” – but the reality I connect in other ways, and I do have this other little site where over 20,000 people come each and every day, so when I am starring at my laptop wondering what to blog about, there is a part of me that says, “why blog? you don’t need a blog.” But my blog gives me an outlet for posts that don’t quite fit on Kidology – either they are CM related or are more personal. So in the spirit of both blogging, and why it is harder to blog lately, I’ll reflect on: HOW HAS MY LIFE ONLINE CHANGED? #1 My iPhone has changed online life for me! Dramatically. I do Facebook and Twitter almost exclusively from my iPhone. Seriously, when I’m at my computer, I have WORK to do! I can even do WordPress blogging from my iPhone, but haven’t found the practical need to do som, maybe I should try that more – for personal outings. I really want to blog more – I…

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A Leader and a Friend

I recently was blessed to spend a week with Pastor Todd McKeever, a true champion of children’s ministry, ministering at a kids crusade at his church in Arkansas. I appreciate Todd for a variety of reasons, and not just because he has been a member and supporter of Kidology.org nearly since the beginning both as a member and Champion and CP Team Captain, but because he a great leader. What makes Todd a great leader? He always pushes for excellence. Nothing Todd does is half-baked and nothing frustrates him more than settling for the minimum. He is always asking how it can be done better, look sharper, and be more effective. After our first Sunday at his church his first questions were, “What was your experience? First impressions? What was difficult? What could we do better?” Next I found a survey in my email. Everything Todd touches can’t help but improve, and that is a mark of a leader. He has an  insatiable appetitive for learning and growing. Todd is the personification of “leaders are readers.” His idea of a family outing is a trip to Barnes and Noble to read together. The latest books are open on his desk with bookmarkers sticking…

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When the Kids take over Kids Church

Over on Kidology.org there is a discussion about kids leading kids church, as well as one asking for samples of different children’s church services. So, I decided to kill to forum birds with one stone, er, one post! I’ve led over 1000 children’s church services and all of them have been run by kids. As described in my Kids Church Book (available as a download) I use what I call my K.C. Krew, and they help not only run Kids Church, but plan and prepare as well. In addition to all they do every week, from set up to running sound, acting is skits, doing puppets, taking the offering, leading games, to the take down – at least once a year I would guide them through a process of writing their own lesson.  I’d start with telling them how I come up with topics, how I study the Bible, how I choose the activities and write the various components of the lesson. It is a great opportunity for them to understand what happens even deeper behind the scenes and to be trained to do it themselves. Well, one year, they BLEW ME AWAY! After discussion and prayer, we decided to…

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