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Thoughts and Feedback on the Kids Church Cookbook

Writing the Kid’s Church Cookbook was one of the biggest undertakings I’ve ever done. It was bigger than the Order of the Ancient novel, since it required design work and layout involvement that was much more intense, and bigger than the Kidology Handbook since not only is it over 100 pages longer, but it involved me filming seven complete training videos in a custom kitchen studio all while it was closed over a Christmas break… it was an insane time. I won’t even bother typing all that involved, crazy story best saved for telling in person. While it took over two years to get the editing done, the filming was all done in just 3-4 days almost non-stop without sleep! This post was inspired by some encouraging words I just got from a Kidology member named Martin Maynard, which I thought I’d share, in case you’ve been considering picking it up: (I edited to shorten and leave some stuff out.) Karl, the reason I am writing is your Kids Church Cookbook is the best training I have ever come across in my years of reading and studying. I appreciate what you are doing through Kidology, what an amazing site.  I…

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Day 24 – Thankful for Jesus

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #24: Thankful for Jesus I saved the best for last. He who is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. He Created me. He Died for me. He Saved me. He Rose for me. He Sought me. He Drew me. He Invited me. He Heard me. He Accepted me. He Sustains me. He Forgives me. He Walks with me. He Reminds me. He Helps me. He Nudges me. He Guides me. He Disciplines me. He Heals me. He Encourages me. He Equips me. He Accepts me. He Abides with me. He Comforts me. He Gets me. He Loves me. He Prays for me. He Knows me. He Waits for me. He Defends me. He is Patient with me. I am nothing without Him. I am Thankful for Him today.

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Day 23 – Thankful for Flight

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #23: Flight A few days ago a friend of mine tweeted, You don’t feel thankful for the things you feel you are entitled to. Where have you lost your thankfulness? While my initial reaction was a little defensive, “I don’t feel ‘entitled’ to anything,” I decided it was a question worthy of reflection.Especially the final question: Where have I lost my thankfulness? Or asked differently, “What do we take for granted?” I’m not sure I take it for granted, but one thing I AM thankful for, and MARVEL at every time I get the opportunity to take advantage of it – is FLIGHT. I think it is something our society takes for granted, since it’s existed now for almost one hundred years as a mode of transportation. I have never outgrown my boyish fascination with flight. I have flown many times and still request the window seat, until recently, now that I have a boy who wants it, but unless Luke is with me and has claimed it,…

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Day 22 – Thankful for Tennis Balls

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #22: Tennis Balls OK, this post isn’t really about tennis balls, it’s about my grammy, but I knew that title might generate some curiosity and therefore some clicks! I am Thankful for My Grammy! (and Tennis Balls… keep reading!) I do not mean to elevate any relative above any other… I am thankful for ALL my relatives, and love them all differently and in different ways. But my Grammy B will always hold an extra special place in my heart. One of those reasons she and I kept secret. It wasn’t until after she passed away, that I finally let the secret out. In fact, at her grave side service, they let the children draw on her casket, and I drew a tennis ball on her casket with the words, “I win.” Relatives looked at me a little confused (and perhaps slightly shocked!) Here is why. One of my “Kidologist Secrets” of relating to kids is to have fun games or “inside jokes” with the kids who I…

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Day 21 – Thankful for My Customers

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #21: My Customers Back in 1994 when very few people knew what the “Internet” was, I got an idea for a website: The KidologyWeb: I was already calling myself “The Kidologist” in my workshops as I sought to equip and encourage children’s workers to approach children’s ministry from the perspective of a child: By 1996 the first “Kidology Handbook” was published: VERY FEW people remember when Kidology.org (before I had that domain!) looked like this: OR when you clicked into it and saw crude pages like this: Only hundreds were lucky enough to BE on the Internet surfin’ kidmin back then! (And only a few bought the “Life Time Memberships” I offered back then when I needed to raise some money to buy some much needed Microsoft FrontPage software, and yes, they are still members!) More remember the next version of the site: Kidology 2.0 (which I called it long for “2.0” was hip) It had the infamous “frames” that if you navigated just right, would give you…

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