Get Them Involved: Don’t Just Talk — Engage! Learning sticks best when kids move, participate, and experience the truth for themselves. Want kids to remember your lesson long after Sunday? Then stop aiming for their ears — and start aiming for their hands, feet, hearts, and imaginations. There’s an old idea — often presented in various charts and pyramids — that says people remember more of what they do than what they simply hear or see. While the exact percentages vary (and aren’t always grounded in research), the underlying truth is rock solid: passive listening leads to forgetfulness, but active participation creates lasting learning. In kids ministry, this truth couldn’t be more important. If your teaching style is mostly “sit still and listen,” you’re not just missing an opportunity — you’re missing the point. Even adding visuals on a screen isn’t enough. Sure, it enhances your message, but what kids really need is to be brought into the experience. I want to get kids out of their seats, involved with their hands, laughing, thinking, solving, moving, and most of all — engaging. Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and…

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God’s not calling us to copy — He’s calling us to create. When it comes to teaching and reaching kids, the best path forward might not be found in what you did last year — but in what’s never been done before. I love the saying — and I repeat it often: “There are three types of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, ‘What just happened?’” Obviously, I’d like to consider myself in that first category. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, he was told, “No one’s asking for that.” He replied, “They will after I make it.” And now? We all carry tablets. When he merged music players with phones, he didn’t just improve the phone — he changed the way the entire world consumes music. That’s what it means to break the mold — to challenge assumptions, rethink the “normal,” and reimagine what’s possible. And this kind of bold innovation is just as powerful in children’s ministry. For years we did Easter egg hunts where we invited the entire community to the church. But one year, we flipped the script. We stuffed 50,000 eggs (like always)…

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