kids ministry learning styles

Did you ever have that ultra boring college professor that chose to lecture for three hours every week in that same monotone voice? When I look back through my old college notes I may not remember the professor very well but I can tell you how boring the course was based on the drawings and doodles all over my page. No one likes a boring class or lecture The younger the audience, the more difficult it is to make things interesting– I know first hand from multiple years of teaching and kids ministry.

If we get bored with that monotone lecture, why do we sometimes assume that kids will love what we say and hang on our every word? With media and technology, kids have a much shorter attention span than I did as a kid, and gone forever are the days when Beaver Cleaver sat quietly and respectfully, paying close attention.

Kids Ministry Lessons based on Monsters Inc

We recently finished a series of 4 kids ministry lessons based on the movie Monster’s Inc. We ended the series with a family trip to the theater to watch Monster’s University. The kids had so much fun, we decided to make the lessons available to other people to use as well.

Each lesson from Messages from Monsters  includes the timing for a movie clip to show, along with a clip introduction and clip wrap up. This is how we tie the movie into the lesson.  In addition to the movie clip information, each lesson includes:

• lesson prep passage

• daily bible focus

• game idea

• object lesson

• main lesson

• sample schedule

If you are involved in a kids ministry, or are a parent looking for a way to have some spiritual conversations with your kids, this series would be great for you. Our kids had so much fun, and your kids will too.

Follow the link to download one of the lessons and find out how you can get the entire series.

 

As always, I would love for you to participate in the conversation. Feel free to leave a comment!

Talking to kids about tragedy: The Oklahoma Tornado

Once again we are faced with a tragedy at a national level. With so much news coverage and social media, it is hard to protect our kids from the terrible news. Tom and I, along with Wayne Stocks and Linda Ranson Jacobs recorded a cmconnect radio podcast a while back about how to talk to kids about a tragic event.

You can listen to that discussion here

I have also put together a link of some other useful resources that could help have those difficult discussions. Hopefully they can help you or the families that you minister to.

There are links to focus on the family, Linda Jacobs, Brian Dollar, and more, all articles written to help have age appropriate discussions about tragic events with your children.

 

Follow the link to a list of great resources

 

Be sure to post a comment if you have a resource I can link to.

 

Action Bible review and contest from David C Cook

I had a chance to read and review the comic book style Action Bible (and New Testament, Handbook, and Devotional). In my opinion they are great for boys, all the way through pre-teen age.  I also didn’t want to give you just my opinion on the Action Bible series, so I took them to church to ask the boys their thoughts. I share their response and more—-  If you are interested in reading the review, or a chance to win, check out more details here:

Action Bible Review and Giveaway

4 Leadership Lessons from Moses

Exodus 17:8-9 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

 

In these verses we find Moses and the Israelites attacked by the Amalekites.  If you continue reading the story, there are several things that we can learn from Moses and his leadership.

Moses had God with him

Moses took the staff of God with him.  Any time Moses faced a situation, or God wanted to do a miracle, the staff was there. Think back to the plagues, parting the Red Sea, and getting water from a rock. It was not that Moses had a magical staff. The staff was a symbol of God’s Power. Carrying the Staff of God was a reminder that God was with him.

• Leadership Lesson #1: A great leader does nothing without God present 

My notes from #cpc13 session on God’s Truth with @sheilawalsh

As promised, I am taking notes at the Childrens Pastor Conference. As this is my first conference with a iPad, so I am taking my notes with that, and will post them for you. Keep in mind, these are first draft notes, very raw. I hope they make sense, but keep in mind I have not processed anything. I hope to go back through to expand and add my own thoughts at a later time.

God is doing a new thing–Denomination walls are falling.  It does not matter, God is calling us to rise up

Isaiah 43 God wants us to know how much he loves us
We can’t pass on to others what we do not have ourselves
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by what we do not have, when all that really matters is what we do have

Initiative number 1
Imparting Gods truth
But what is that truth?
   1. We have a great God
   2. We have a real enemy
   3. We are not home yet

#1 We have a great God

Have we forgotten that God loves us? We hear it so much we become accustomed to it, do we ever forget it? Or stop believing it?

We cannot protect anyone from something that God allows.
Before someone can know God loves them or not, there is the fact that he died and rose again for them.

having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:14, 15 NIV84)

Jesus canceled the record of out sin.

#2 The enemy is not omniscient 

He is a liar, the father of lies.He brings lies to us, but he has no idea if we will fall for his tricks. He will keep trying, but he doesnt know the outcome. That is why we need to know God’s word against his schemes.

Anyone want FREE access to CM+?

If you are a part of children’s ministry at all there is a good chance you are familiar with cmconnect.org. If you are not, I highly suggest you check it out. It is a great place to share ideas, and the networking aspect is awesome.

This past week, Michael Chanley (creator of cmconnect) and team rolled out a great new training tool called CM+.

CMConnect+ provides an enhanced training group designed to network you with of community of leaders.

Members receive the following:

• access to a growing list of archived trainings (current value over $20)
• a 10 to 15 minute exclusive monthly video from a thought leader in Children’s Ministry
• exclusive weekly discussions hosted by INCM
• bi-monthly MP3 uploads from INCM ($96 annual value)

This content is designed to give members access to exclusive content for developing as a leader in Children’s Ministry. You will not only enhance your CMConnect experience, you’ll also improve your ability to lead in our unique calling!

 

So far there are several audio sessions from last years Children’s Pastors Conference (CPC).  I am very excited since I have not yet been able to attend one of these great annual conferences.  I am looking forward to listening and learning from some great leaders through the audio sessions. I also can’t wait to start the content provided for CMConnect+ members to earn a certificate in “The Basics of Children’s Ministry: The Five Initiatives of INCM.”  I have been told that this is just the beginning of the resources to be added to this group.

I have the special opportunity to give away 10 ‘free one month trial memberships’.  Since I am able to share this learning opportunity with you, I would like you to share something with me.  The first 10 people to comment below and share about a favorite learning experience will win a free month access. It could be your favorite teaching technique.  Or maybe your favorite learning memory from when you were in school. Share something and win!

Free Friday: Free (and sale) Apps for iPad/iPhone

Assuming you are one of the millions of people who own an iPhone or iPad, you know how easy it is to browse around the app store. It is not hard to find some way to spend your app store gift cards.
If you aren’t lucky enough to have a spare iTunes card laying around, you can try what I do to stretch your app dollars. I have found several websites that monitor the price of apps, and they will feature apps that go ‘on sale’ or even free.
If you want to go a step further, you can even sign up to receive emails from the sites to receive sale notification. I have enough junk mail, so I just visit the site directly. There are even apps that you can download to browse sale and free apps, but again, I prefer to visit the site directly.
http://www.iosnoops.com/

This is my favorite of the three because of the rating system. When you see an app you are interested in you can click to see a description. If you scroll down toward the bottom you will see “Our Verdict”. I have found the verdict to be pretty accurate.
The following two sites are very similar, but sometimes will feature different apps.
http://appshopper.com/
http://www.bestappsales.com/

As with anything, use your own discretion when purchasing/downloading apps. With hundreds of thousands of apps available, many of them are not of very good quality. Many times I have downloaded an app only to have to delete it after two minutes because it did not do what it was supposed to do.

What kind of apps do you use? Do you know any other sites to find sale or free apps? Leave a comment and let me know.

FamilyTalk ranks #18 on an Amazon best seller list!

You may have seen some earlier posts I wrote about Family Devotion times, or my book- FamilyTalk: a guide to family devotions.  Whether you have seen the posts or not, I have some exciting news to share.

After much reading, learning, and experimenting I finally formatted my book for Amazon.  The link went live on New Years Day, and after a few sales and several reviews from people that already had the print version, FamilyTalk ranked #18 on Amazon’s Best Sellers list for its category.  That means out of over 300 books in the category, it ranked #18 in it’s first day!

Check out FamilyTalk on Kindle!

That may not mean much to you, but that was very exciting for me.  It was not long after that I noticed it was #1 in the Hot New Releases for it’s category.

If you haven’t seen it yet, it is listed at a great price right now on Amazon.  If you have a Kindle, or a Kindle app on an ipad or iphone this would be a great investment for your family.  If you decide to get a copy, don’t forget to leave me a review!  And you are welcome to post your thoughts here too

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 3 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.