I posted on this very helpful Bible study website before, when it was called The Greek Study Bible. However, it has changed names and is full of many improved features. I thought it definitely deserved a repost.

Great Treasures is a colossal effort by a guy named John Simon who has developed a healthy appetite for the Greek Language. Great Treasures, however is so much more than just a Greek tool. It features:

• Side by side translation comparisons
• Ability to place your own notes in connection with a particular text
• Word studies
• Concordance of user-selected words
• Accurate definitions of Greek biblical vocabulary (in English, of course!)

Is this a tool for kids? No. Is it a tool for those who teach kids? YES!

I firmly believe that in order to communicate God’s Word to kids we must go even deeper on our own than the general message we want kids to hear. This resource helps you do that. Let this be a tool to help change you spiritually so that your teachings and messages to kids will be an overflow of what God is doing in your life. Do not neglect this tool! It is incredible!!!!!

Related posts:

1. Keep Your Focus–Day 6
2. Bible Teaching Helps
3. Fire Them Up–I Timothy 4:16

Scripture

Psalm 78:1-8 (English Standard Version)

Tell the Coming Generation

¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
⁴We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.

⁵He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
⁶that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
⁸and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Devotion

For this to start off right, you will need to secure for yourself a track and field “baton” or make a flashy looking one out of a paper towel tube and metallic spray paint. Choose eight people to read and assign them one verse of the passage. As they are done, have them pass the baton on to the next person.

The legacy of the church is a little bit like a relay race in track. One runner is responsible for certain periods of the race and when his distance is up, he passes the baton on to the next runner. Relay teammates encourage one another, strengthen each other and help set the pace for future runners. Each generation in the church is responsible for passing the baton of faith on to the next generation. Edith Shaeffer in her book, What is a Family calls this the “perpetual relay of truth.” This involves two main institutions:

1. The Church: the church must work toward unity and be devoted to healthy biblical teaching so the next generation can come to place their faith in Christ and do even bigger things that the generation before.
2. The Family: according to passages like Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78, parents are the primary spiritual guide of their children. As those who work with children, this mentality must flow through all of our decisions, planning, and interaction.

Psalm 78 details what can happen when Church and Family work together to successfully pass on the baton of faith. Here’s what happens:

• Kids will grow up knowing God’s statutes (vv. 5-6)
• Children will see the importance of passing the faith along (v. 6)
• The coming generation will put their trust and hope in God (v. 7)
• The coming generation will obey God (v. 7)
• All generations will remember the works of God (v. 7)
• Successive generations will not repeat the sins of the past (v.8)

End with this question and allow for discussion: Based on this passage, what can we now do to foster an atmosphere in our ministry where the baton of faith is passed along to the coming generation?

Related posts:

1. Fire Them Up–II Corinthians 5:18-20
2. Fire Them Up–I Thessalonians 2:2-9
3. Fire Them Up–I Corinthians 15:3-4

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 2:2-9 (English Standard Version)

²But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. ³For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, ⁴but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. ⁵For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. ⁶Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. ⁷But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. ⁸So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

Devotion

Start out by giving your volunteers each half of this paper. Provide them with 2-3 minutes to fill it out. You do not necessarily have to get them to call out the answers, but ask them what criteria they used to select certain people. Ask them how they would want those people to make decisions in some of the areas.

The point is that God entrusts us to be a part of His ministry, not because we have some inherent goodness (unlike the way they may have selected people for tasks above), but because He is good, loving, and gracious. It is a joy to be a part of His Kingdom building work with kids. Just like you would expect your caretakers above to elicit decision making with a certain type of wisdom, God desires for us to carry out His work with characteristics which honor him. Let’s take a look at some of those characteristics that Paul and his associates exemplified toward the Thessalonian church.

1. Perseverance (v. 2)–Paul ministered in spite of strong opposition. He did not let the dark spiritual acts of Satan get in his way of what God called him to do. Satan can use all kinds of instruments in the church to distract us and his impact on volunteer attrition rates is insane. We need to push ahead and minister to these sweet children no matter what comes in our way.
2. Be on mission (vv. 3-4)–Do you see your work with children as a mission from God. Every second of your life, God has a purpose for you to impact His Kingdom in some way. God has entrusted you, like Paul, with a sacred task–the task of placing the gospel into people’s lives. In that, your duty is not to please your co-teacher, your pastor, or the children, but to please God with the way you fulfill His mission.
3. Have a humble character (vv 5-7)–Humble people do not seek their own glory, but seek to be praised by God for their faithfulness. Humble volunteers have children and their spiritual nurture as their number one priority.
4. Dedicated (vv. 8-9)–Paul understood that the Christian life was not lived in a vacuum and the act of evangelism was not isolated from relationship. Are Sunday mornings all you commit to or are you actively seeking to pour your life into these kids and families as part of your calling for ministry?

Related posts:

1. Fire Them Up–I Corinthians 15:3-4
2. Fire Them Up–Psalm 78:1-8
3. Fire Them Up–II Corinthians 5:18-20

My buddies over at Equipping Kids, Peter and Brian, are doing a very generous give away for Free CM Stuff this week!

Before I tell you about the give away, let me commend this great business to you. They have a variety of curriculum and materials and they discount everything at least 15%. I have worked with Peter and Brian over the last 3 years and can say they have great hearts, excel in customer service, and truly desire to meet the needs of your ministry.

If you need VBS, Sunday school, discipleship curriculum or Bibles and all kinds of other stuff, be sure to check them out.

They are giving away a package of prizes to 3 lucky contestants.

Three lucky folks will win a package of 5 “God’s Story for Me” Bibles published by Gospel Light. Each pack is a $50 value! All you have to do is enter the words “Thanks Peter and Brian” into the comment box below. You can only enter once for this give away!

Start commenting! This contest runs through next Wednesday July 28th.

Related posts:

1. Don’t Forget About the Wednesday Give Away
2. Celebrating 1 Year with an Extra Give Away!
3. Wednesday Give Away-Buckets-O-Fun Yuck (and free Yuck for everyone!)

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (English Standard Version)

¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Devotion

This opening illustration can be used with odd or even numbers of people. Have pieces of construction paper ripped in half prior to the meeting. If you have an odd number of people, give everyone a half piece and another person a roll of tape. If you have an even number, give two people rolls of tape and the rest a ripped half of paper. Don’t give them any instructions, just tell them they need to figure out what to do next. Hopefully they will figure out that the tape people are supposed to help the torn pieces of paper be rejoined. The point is that the people with the tape had the tools of repair in their possession. II Corinthians 5 really harks on the fact that we are God’s agents of reconciliation between sinful man and God.

Our main task in children’s ministry is to be agents of reconciliation. Children who have not yet been saved are at odds with God. They need to be reconciled to Him. God made a way for that reconciliation to be accomplished through Jesus Christ. We also serve unsaved parents and siblings. They all need to be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5:18-20 provides two insights about this reconciliation with which God calls us to help.

1. Every believer is given the ministry of reconciliation. The evangelist is a special called office (Ephesians 4:11-13), but the call to evangelize is a calling on all believers. Our teaching in children’s ministry, our relational development, our curriculum design, should be structured around this calling.
2. God equips us for this ministry by giving us the “word” of reconciliation. The word of reconciliation is very simple. It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sin. Kids are reconciled when they place faith in Jesus’ ability to forgive them.

God does not need us, but God chooses to use us out of His grace. It is a privilege and honor to serve as His ambassadors. You are not in children’s ministry because you have some inherent gift that God was grateful to have you serve in His kingdom. You are in it because you are an ambassador, a servant of God that He uses to spread the word of reconciliation to many children and families. Take the role seriously and utilize the emotion of “pleading” that Paul encourages in verse 20 to lead kids and families to Christ.

Related posts:

1. Fire Them Up–I Corinthians 15:3-4
2. Fire Them Up–II Timothy 2:10
3. Fire Them Up–Psalm 78:1-8

Simply Youth Ministry, a dynamic student ministry company, has a lot of freebies on their site. Many of them can be used in CM. Have fun!

Related posts:

1. Youth Ministry Resources are Good For You!
2. Children’s Church Ministry Resources
3. Crazy Church Resources

If you want to teach well, teach like Jesus. Today’s leadership nugget is an incredible resource for your teaching. A friend of mine from the Doctor of Education program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary just finished his dissertation which evaluated the various ways Jesus adjusted his teaching to his audience. In educational circles, this is called differentiated instruction.

Dr. Daniel Ray has compiled an exhaustive chart of Jesus’ teaching methodologies cross-referenced with the audience and situation Jesus was in. This is a fabulous tool to have by your side as you plan children’s messages or large group teaching.

Here it is:

Jesus Teaching Method Chart

Interact: How have you used differentiated instruction in your ministry?

Related posts:

1. Leadership Nugget–Preparing a Lesson for Kids
2. October Leadership Nugget
3. Leadership Nugget–Want to make a change?

Today marks the one year anniversary of this outstanding (wouldn’t you agree?!) website! It’s been a great year! Here’s a few stats:

• Just shy of 10,000 visits
• Over 25,000 page views
• Around 100 RSS feeds
• Close to 6,500 unique visitors

The site has really grown in the past year, and I have some creative ideas to push more free resources out in the CM community in the year to come. To celebrate, I have partnered with Eikon Bible Art to provide the biggest give away in the site’s history. Here’s what I have to offer to 4 lucky people:

Grand Prize (1 winner): 10 Pack Bundle of Power Point Downloads ($55 value)

Extra Prizes (3 winners): Art Package including 1 Art DVD, 10 Teaching Posters, 5 Comics

Also, everyone can go now and get the Road to Damascus download free!

Here’s how you enter, you can put your name in the hat twice:

1) Enter the phrase “Happy Birthday Free CM Stuff” in the comment box below

2) Enter the phrase “Happy Birthday Free CM Stuff” on the Facebook wall page. Good luck contest ends next Wednesday evening–winners will be announced Thursday!

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Give Away–God’s Story for Me Bibles
2. Eikon Bible Art Winners!
3. Make some extra dough for your ministry!

Apparently Free CM Stuff is not an original idea!

A youth pastor friend of mine, cued me in to Pastor2Youth. They have a ton of games, links, media, and object lessons that we can steal and use in CM.

Now humble yourself and admit it, it is possible to learn from youth pastors!

Contest ends soon: You have until this afternoon to get your name in the hat for the Sovereign Grace CD’s. Hurry!

Related posts:

1. Sovereign Grace CD Winners
2. Youth Ministry Resources are Good For You!
3. Free Book: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

On Good Friday, I taught my daughters a way to remember the 5 Mighty Miracles of the Cross (Matthew 27:45-54) using their hands. My wife posted the video on our family blog and I’ve inserted the video below. Just in case you can’t quite understand them because you are in awe of their cuteness, I’ve written it here:

1. Darkness covered the whole earth (first finger is the “one” earth)

2. Veil torn in two (two fingers in a “V” to represent the tear)

3. Earthquake (other hand hitting the three fingers)

4. People rising from the dead (four fingers lying flat, then “rising” up)

5. Soldier believed in Jesus (lifting hand to the sky)

I hope you can use this as you teach your kids the mighty miracles of the cross. Feel free to comment excessively about how cute and sweet my precious angels are (they get it all from mama)!

Related posts:

1. Incredible Resource for Teachers!
2. The Most Important Thing
3. Make a Child Smile