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Category: Online Resources

Boost Your Volunteer Recruitment with the Back to School Checklist

As the fall season approaches, children’s ministry leaders across the country are preparing for a familiar challenge: the return of full classrooms. With kids heading back to school, families are settling back into familiar routines, and churches are seeing a surge in attendance as parents seek to reestablish their children’s spiritual growth alongside their academic education. This seasonal influx is exciting, but it also brings a pressing need for more volunteers.Finding creative and effective ways to recruit new helpers is crucial, especially during this busy time of year. That’s why we’ve developed a tool that can help you meet this challenge head-on: the Back to School Checklist. Introducing the Back to School Checklist Recruiting Tool The Back to School Checklist isn’t just a handy reminder for parents – it’s a powerful recruiting tool for your ministry. It’s designed to creatively engage families and encourage them to get involved in their children’s spiritual education by volunteering in your ministry. Here’s how it works: 1. Distribute the Checklist to Families: As families return to church this fall, give them a Back to School Checklist. It’s more than just a list of school supplies; it’s a guide that includes spiritual resources their children…

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Oh, You Sexy Document!

Sexy Document

Let’s be honest, “Document Management” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of excitement. But in our digital age, where files are constantly emailed back and forth, edited by multiple people, and frequently updated, effective document management is essential. Without it, things can quickly spiral into chaos – and nobody wants that. That’s why the 6th video in my Ministry Management series is Master Your Documents! (No More Chaos!). This video will help you bring order to the madness. We’ve all felt the frustration of searching for the latest version of a file or losing important work due to computer errors. But did you ever notice that the letters in the word LIFE can be rearranged to spell FILE? Sometimes, it feels like managing documents is all we do! Without a solid strategy, managing countless virtual files can be overwhelming. In this training, I’ll cover how to organize your files effectively and keep them on T.A.S.K. (a strategic approach to managing your ideas). I’ll also dive into the S.A.F.E. method, which outlines four key strategies for protecting your valuable documents and ideas. Plus, you’ll learn a unique document naming protocol (Oooo, doesn’t that sound sexy?!) that…

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BLOW UP Your Object Lessons!

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I’ve said it for decades, “You should BLOW UP your object lessons!” But before you try to go buy dynamite and end up with the ATF knocking down your front door, let me explain! First of all, I LOVE OBJECT LESSONS! Did you know, Kidology.org started as an object lesson website back in the Fall of 1994? The same time that Amazon.com started. (Why am I not a billionaire? LOL) We still have hundreds in the Object Lesson Zone. Object Lessons are one of THE most effective ways to teach kids – because while most spiritual concepts are abstract and invisible – words like faith, love and propitiation (Huh?) are challenging to explain to kids who are concrete relational, meaning, if they can’t see, touch, smell, hear, or eat something, it doesn’t exist! Object lessons help link these abstract concepts to concrete physical objects (or experiences) so that children can relate to them. Children’s teachers aren’t the first to use them – Jesus used object lessons all the time, and he was teaching adults! But here is what I mean by “blowing them up.” Often, in an object lesson book there will be an idea of an object that can…

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Just 100 Prophesies of Jesus!

We often tell kids about the many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. But this year I decided to actually show them by compiling just 100 of the over 300 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. It turned out to be a much more daunting project than I originally anticipated, but it paid off. My goal was just to give them two or three of the 100 cards each, but they kept asking for more and more. They are now available on Kidology: 100 Prophesies of Jesus! DESCRIPTION: Boost your faith as you discover one hundred prophesies about the Messiah, written in the bible and fulfilled by Jesus! Guess how many prophesies God made about Jesus and His time here on earth? 25? 50? 100? 200? It’s hard to give an exact number because of how they are written, but scholars have counted about 575 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe the coming Messiah! Some of them repeat the same prophecy, but overall, there are about 300 different prophesies that Jesus fulfilled during His time on earth, from His birth through His ministry, and even in His death and resurrection. God used prophesy to help demonstrate that Jesus was…

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NEW! Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories Podcast

Introducing Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories – A NEW podcast for kids from Pastor Karl Bastian! Kids can’t come to church? No worries! Now Pastor Karl brings his stories to them in his new podcast created just for kids! Pastor Karl loves to tell stories. Sometimes they are a story from the Bible. Sometimes they are a parable that teaches something from the Bible. Often he shares a true story from his own life or tells a story he heard and wants to pass along. He might even invite some of his silly friends on to the show to tell one of their stories. You never know what kind of story it will be, but you can know it will be wholesome, fun, and educational. Pastor Karl’s Bedtime Stories are available on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, or just ask Alexa to play it for you!

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