If you have not stepped into the world of online registration for your ministries, then JotForm is the site to get you started! Having parents sign up for your camps, VBS or summer events online can really save you a lot of administrative paperwork and headaches. I mean, why should you input all of that computer data? Let the participants do it.

With Jotform’s basic (translated free) edition, you will most likely not push its limitations. With the free version, you obviously get no technical support apart from the forums, but you get 100 submissions per month, 10 MB of uploading, downloading results in various formats and the ability to run secure financial transactions (i.e. PayPal, etc.). Of course if you feel that your needs would exceed the allowances for the free version, you can pay $9/month for the more versatile account. I have been using Survey Monkey for some of these same purposes and paying around $19/month.

Something about JotForm that amazes me is its user-friendliness. All of the form creation is drag and drop. It allows you to email the forms, code them into your website, display real time results of the results on your site (for polls) or link registrants to a web page containing your survey/form.

A tool like this is handy for a variety of functions. You can certainly use it for registrations, but other uses could include:

• Parent/Volunteer feedback survey for various ministry events or programs
• RSVP forms for volunteer banquets or ministry events
• Questionnaire concerning volunteer intentions to renew commitments

Can you think of other uses? Know of any other free tools similar to this one? Let us know by commenting below!

Today’s post comes from a post by Tony Kumner at Ministry To Children.

Tony came across some great free MP3 Bible stories told by a grandmother who wanted to record the Bible for her grandchildren. You can check out Tony’s post here. From his post you can read his take on the MP3′s as well as follow the link to download them.

I’ve listened to a few of them and they are pretty cool. They would be great for car rides. I plan on putting them on a CD and letting my preschool daughters listen to them for quiet times and on trips. There are no copyright issues here, you are free to copy and distribute to parents and kids as you would like.

I wanted to let you know about a very helpful newsletter out there. Occasionally I will recommend free email newsletters to you, however, I only recommend them if they are of high quality and would be worth your time to read. One of those is the Connect with Kids newsletter.

Let me quote their website so you can see a little something about their mission and purpose:

Connect with Kids is a multi-media, education company focused on helping educators and parents teach life skills, prevention, character, health, and wellness.  Our belief is that parents and teachers are the greatest influence in the life of a child.  Our mission is to connect kids with the adults who can help them using the power of real stories on video, television and the Internet.

Essentially, the weekly newsletter links you to short video clips featuring recent research from universities and independent research firms on kid and teen issues in a variety of areas including parent/child relationships, physical care and nutrition, current trends and many more. I have never received any junk emails from them. In the last year that I have subscribed, every email has been a newsletter highlighting current research.

These newsletters can provide rich material you can use to more effectively shape you ministry. You may also find helpful tidbits that can be passed along to parents in your monthly newsletters or emails.

For those who cast aside secular research as an abomination to ministry, let me briefly comment. Though I am extremely committed to the changing Truth of God’s Word, I see secular research as a benefit to our ministry. In the words of Augustine, “All Truth is God’s Truth.” If a secular researcher, or research institution for that matter, discovers something that is validated by the Word of God, then I say “Praise God.” I would never endorse a research conclusion that was not validated by God’s Word. Disagree? Comment below, I welcome some Christ-centered discussion!

Children’s Ministry University Online is a partnership with Valley Forge Christian College. It is an “online, 30-credit degree program in children’s ministries” that is fully accredited through the College.

They also offer several free training resources on their website. To be honest, every training will not be beneficial to the Children’s Ministry veteran, however, I do see them as being a fruitful part of equipping newbies and potential leaders in your ministry. The professionals out there may find one or two that is helpful. The topics you can choose from are:

Beyond Babysitting

Creative Storytelling

Cultivating a Cutting-edge Children’s Church

Help is on the Way! Recruiting and Keeping Substitute Staff

Learning Disabilities & ADD/ADHD

What is a Children’s Sermon?

I can see these being productive to a variety of people. You may want to send your newly appointed Children’s Church leader to watch the one on Children’s Church and Children’s Sermons. If God has put on your heart to minister to special needs children, be sure to check out the disabilities training.

These trainings come in an online presentation format including the speaker and slides. Some are more “training-oriented” and some are more “classroom-oriented” in their presentation. Hope they can be a tool for you!

If you are not caught on to Seeds Family Worship, then you are missing out on something great for your ministry. The music they produce is completely from Scripture and the tunes are modern and catchy. They not only offer a great variety of CD’s, but will also come to your church to help you put on a family worship night. When you purchase one of their CD’s, you actually get two, one to listen to and one to share. This is in an effort to perpetuate their “seeding” mentality concerning the Word of God.

Another way they plant seeds is by making all of the chord charts and words for each song available for a free download on their website. I personally contacted them to ensure that the downloadable chord charts were free for anyone and they assured me that they were. You can even listen to the songs through their site, then get the chord charts to learn them yourself. It’s a great resource for leading worship at your next special event for kids, during AWANA opening ceremonies or for a kids worship service.

Rose Publishing is a company that produces some excellent Bible reference materials. Although their resources are available for a price, they do offer a free “sampling” of some of their materials through a weekly email. By signing up for their email, you can receive free Bible eCharts about every other week. The free charts they make available are pulled from various resources they offer. Some examples include:

• 10 Names of God
• Then and Now Bible Maps
• Christianity and World Religion Comparisons
• Armor of God Diagram

If you know anything about education, you know that graphic organizers (charts, timelines, descriptive illustrations) are exellent ways for people to grasp certain concepts. These emails provide you with a few tools to store in the “Bible Teaching” folder on your computer to pull out for future reference.

Rose sends out about one email per week, so they do not flood your inbox. Each email is obvioulsy a promtion for their material, and every other week, it includes a link to a free eChart. I do not recommend a lot of newsletters to you, only ones that provide a good benefit, so I definitely commend this one to you.

If you are like me, your ministry to children, families and volunteers does not end when you leave the office. There are few jobs in the world where you have to commit your whole life in order to be successful. Ministry is one of them. What this means is that you may have to access things at your office when you are in other places. I do this using a service called LogMeIn.

There are a lot of services out there to remotely access your desktop. Window’s XP includes a remote access component, but it is very finicky and runs through the operationg system rather than through the web. LogMeIn allows you to access other computers through your internet browser.

It is very convenient, but the drawbacks are that you can not transfer files (unless you opt for the paid version) and you have to install the program on each computer involved. The way to get around the file transfer issue if you are in a bind is to email yourself something to a web-based email client and then access that email from the remote computer’s desktop. Aside from that, I have found that LogMeIn is very easy to use and has been a lifesaver in many circumstances over the last 2 years. I even maintain my parent’s computer from it on a monthly basis.

If you would like to see some other options for remotely accessing your computer (i.e. if you are a little more tech-savy and could handle a VNC) check out this post at the tech blog Mashable.