Recently, I commented on a site called Stock Exchange, but that site is more for folks who need some good backgrounds or images to make their own promotional material. I’d like to take a moment to tell you about another site which has a host of pre-made graphics and images that you can use for your ministry. It is called CreativeMYK. It hosts a huge bank of free Christian themed photos and professionally done graphics. You can check out their gallery here.
When you view their gallery, you see the most recent graphics first. They have a good search engine that allows you to search by file type or keyword. Although the file types vary (.ai, .psd, .eps), there are 22 pages full of jpeg images. Those of you not having access to a $600 piece of software like Adobe Illustrator will find this useful! However, you can open most .eps files in a program called The Gimp. There is also a trick to opening .ai files in The Gimp, that only works part of the time. Anyway, check out the gallery and see if there would be a graphic that would help bring some personality to your next Children’s Worship series.
I came up with this list that I’m putting in our church newsletter for the month of June. I thought some of you might want to cut and paste and use it for yours as well. Hope it could be a good tool for you.
Top Ten Signs You Should Volunteer for VBS:
10. Your wife is volunteering and she said you had to work with her.
9. You have a passion for wiping snotty noses.
8. You wonder why your adult Sunday school class never plays “Jump the Creek” or eats marshmallows with pretzels stuck in them for a snack.
7. You have a spare 20 hours during the week of (insert VBS Dates here).
6. (Insert your name) will not stop asking you about serving.
5. You have been a member for 15 years and never served anywhere.
4. You realize that “I’ve done my time with Children” is not a valid excuse anymore.
3. You recognize that primetime ESPN is pretty boring during the summer.
2. You think hand motions are a nice touch to any song.
1. Being hugged by stinky, sweaty children really gets you pumped up about God’s Kingdom.
If you are like me, (frugal and tight), you have a problem paying out money for things like insurance. I have all the right methods of insurance now, but some dark little man inside of me tells me that paying for “risk” is like throwing money away. Now I know that’s not true, but even so, how could I pass up a chance at $50,000 of free life insurance.
Mass Mutual operates this program (called LifeBridge) as part of its philanthropy arm. Essentially, if your household income is between $10K and $40K per year (which is the case for many in Children’s Ministry), you work in some capacity and have children, you are eligible for this program. It is a 10 year term policy (not the kind to buy, but hey, take it if it’s free) and can only be used for your child’s educational expenses (at any educational level).
When I applied 4 years ago, I was below the $40K mark. Although I can not find this in any information, I did ask the representative what would happen if my salary went up (which it did), and he said that it did not matter. They do not monitor your salary. They award you the insurance upon a one time application. From then on, you could become a millionaire and still have it. I think that if your salary lines up with this, it is a great way grab some security for your children. It is also a definite resource to spread to needy families within your church. The program ends in December of this year, so get on it!
There is still one day left to win a free book from the National Center for Biblical Parenting. Simply go to this post, comment on it, and you’ll be entered into the drawing. With only one comment, your odds are looking pretty good!
If you want to be on the cutting edge of Children’s Ministry, then you’ve got to keep up with Kidology. Kidology has a great deal of free resources, but also has 3 levels of memberships to allow you and/or your volunteers to access every bit of content on the site. Kidology was founded by a long-time Children’s Pastor named Karl Bastian.
Although there are paid memberships, you do not have to join to access the free content. Unregistered visitors to the site can access a slew of ideas, a vast resource directory, discussion boards and more. Karl has done a fantastic job getting content on this site and it continues to grow. To say that it is a behemoth resource website would be an understatement. I really can not say much more about it or you would be reading this post instead of accessing the great content at Kidology. You just have to check out this gigantic bank of ideas and resources for yourself. But be cautioned, if you really want to dive into it, set aside about 2-3 hours!
I try to stay on schedule with posting Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but I came across this forum post on Kidology, and just could not resist the urge to pass it on. I actually saw the link to it on the Kidology Facebook Fan Page. I don’t know why I did not think to throw this up on the blog because my wife has been doing this with my two girls for 3 years now! What I’m talking about is free kids movies throughout the summer!
Nancy Keith posted a nice list of free and VERY cheap movie deals with Cinemas around the country. I have not checked all of them, but I looked at the one in my area (Regal) and it is legit. Obviously, given the nature of this blog, I can only with good conscience endorse the no-cost ones! You could advertise this to your families as a summer activity or arrange for kids within your ministry to meet up at the theaters for a ministry fun day. Here’s the list:
I swear by the Children’s Pastor’s Conference. Honestly, I’m not really sure what that means, but it is a really great conference. The International Network of Children’s Ministry puts this conference on twice per year and they do a bang up job. For 2010, they will be in Nashville, TN and San Diego, CA. You need to go to the conference page yourself and check out the video and registration details.
You’ll probably notice that the conference is a bit expensive. You have my word that you get what you pay for. The food is fantastic, every speaker is powerful and motivating and the workshops (especially the ones I lead) are fantastic! I have been to a great deal of conferences, both large and small, and INCM does the best job I have ever seen. They really have their stuff together.
Back to expensive. When you pay for the registration, travel, hotel and extra food, you can easily put out $1200 for the conference. Many at the small church level can not afford to send a volunteer or part time staffer to an event like this so INCM offersscholarships. You will have to apply when the application comes out in the summer. They give special consideration to people who are in college or seminary studying for a career in Children’s Ministry.
Other ways to save for the conference include:
PRAY for special provision-the best way to free!
Asking relatives or close friends to help sponsor you
Seeing if any church members have hotel or air rewards they would donate
Renting a car or staying in a hotel room with another local Children’s Pastor
So how have you saved money at CPC or any other conference? Post your comments and let us know how to be frugal conference attenders!
Even though I point my loyal readers (that’s you!) to a ton of free resources for Children’s Ministry, I thought I’d offer up some tangible give aways as well. That’s why I have started the “Wednesday Give Away.” You will find that on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, I will be giving away a product that can help your ministry. It could be a book, software, curriculum, CD’s or anything else I can scrounge up from a resource provider.
Honor is more than just behavior change. Honor comes from the heart. It affects the way people think, the way they act, and the way they treat others around them. Honor motivates parents to treat children differently. It gives children more constructive ways to interact with their parents. It helps siblings develop tolerance and patience. Honor builds incredibly strong bonds that, in turn, benefit all members of the family. This book shows you in practical ways how honor can transform your family.Families can thrive today. But success is more than just having two cars, a nice house, a dog, and 2.5 children. It has to do with character development and how equipped family members are to relate to others outside the family. It involves creating homes where children and adults are able to make mistakes and learn from them, growing spiritually, emotionally, and relationally with each other. Even families that have broken apart or who have suffered significant wounds can develop the qualities necessary to be successful. Single-parent families, blended families, and reconstructed families are all finding real solutions through honor.This book offers a hands-on approach with specific ideas and strategies to change the way your family relates. As you implement these ideas, you will see amazing results and your family will grow closer together.
Here’s what you need to do to win it. Simply leave a comment on this post describing a family that is in your church who you think could benefit from this book. Briefly describe in a paragraph or two why they need it. I’ll give you until next Wednesday (May 27th) to submit a comment. I’ll choose the most riveting comment as the winner and have Dr. Scott Turanski mail you the book to give to the family you mentioned. So let ‘em rip!
I have recently come across a valuable website by an Indiana Children’s Pastor named Tony Kummer. Tony, like myself, has a passion for equipping others, networking and sharing resources. You’ll find his website to be a mixture of children’s ministry leadership blogging, idea sharing and lesson plan hosting.
You could spend a great deal of time on his site, but I wanted to higlight the lessons for a moment. As a man pursuing a Doctor of Education, I can recognize Tony’s educational thoughtfulness that eminates from his lessons. Much curriculum is written with little forethought to the educational goals it should produce in children, but Tony’s lesson plans reveal that he has invested a great deal of planning. This planning shows up in his recognition that learning objectives and review are paramount to a lesson’s success. Great job Tony! Keep working to equip the body of Christ!
So you are on Facebook, you have a blog for your own children’s ministry, you twitter and kids in your ministry text you. Why do you need one more tech resource to keep track of? Well, you definitely need CM Connect because it puts the chidren’s ministry community all on one site.
CM Connect was started by Michael Chanley, the Children’s Minister at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. Michael has a passion for connecting people and developing community so he launched this website as well as several others. Parent Unity is a similar site that gives parents a place to learn from, encorage and grow with one another. SM Connect is a place where Student Pastors can build community and network and PM Connect is a place for pastors, missionaries and evangelists to share ideas and strenghten relationships.
There are currently over 4000 members of the CM Connect community. There are a myriad of ways to connect with others through “friending,” joining groups (click here for the Free CM Stuff group), and participating in discussions about Children’s Ministry topics. It is definitely a must for Children’s Ministry leaders!
If you are already a member of CM Connect, I invite you to respond to this post to let the readers know how you find the community beneficial!
I’d love for you to “friend” me, look forward to meeting you (I’m also on Facebook if you’d like to join up with me there)!
Free CM Stuff highlights top notch no cost resources for Children's Ministry leaders and offers a site for CM leaders to share resources they have developed themselves.
