A ministry called Faith Inkubators has a unique game site called FaithInk Games. They are pretty cool and a great resource to have on ministry computers or to share with parents.
Archive for 'Parents and Family'
I know that many of you may be considering your options for a guest speaker over the coming year. With many of you not coming to my actual site and checking the blog from a reader, I wanted to make sure you knew about my secondary calling as an event speaker or worship leader. I am passionate about kids and families drawing closer to the Lord. I’m even more passionate about my Jesus and His gospel. Perhaps you are considering a speaker for:
- Upward Awards Night
- Awana Awards Night (Scripture memorization is a deep passion of mine)
- VBS Kick Off or Celebration
- Summer Camp
- Kids or Family Retreat
- Volunteer Banquet
- Kids Ministry Sunday
Coincidentally, I’m not available to speak on:
- Pet Grooming
- Fireworks Safety
- Small Engine Repair
- How to Get Your Youth Pastor to Understand That Children’s Ministry Really Is the Most Important Ministry in the Church
- Rogaine: To Foam or Not To Foam
- Any Topic with the Letter “Q”
Or perhaps you want a powerful and entertaining message delivered at half of what you would normally pay someone who does this on a full time basis. I don’t juggle fiery samurai swords, can’t spin 14 basketballs on my fingers, and don’t know how to make an ornery child disappear under a sheet. I have been told, however, that the Lord has given me a unique ability to present His Word in creative, powerful, and entertaining ways. I intertwine games, interactive object lessons, passionate speaking, music, audience response, and expository preaching into all of my messages. I’ve done a number of these events over the years and can provide a good deal of references (except the church that almost burnt down…).
If you are interested, check out my Consulting section for contact details. I’m flexible and fair regarding fees and travel; I work with what your church is able to do and have no set charges. May the Lord bless your ministry, and I hope my calling can benefit a few churches out there!
One of the priorities in my prayer and planning day earlier this month was to develop a communication time line. I started thinking that I not only need to communicate about events that happen from year to year, but I need to communicate other pertinent reminders throughout the year. I thought this time line might be helpful for you. It is in an editable format so you can adjust to fit your ministry needs.
What would you add to it? Send me some comments to make it better!
This blog post is going to be a little different. I have found a website with various “game show controls” for games like Deal or No Deal, Wheel of Fortune, Press Your Luck, Family Feud, and others. These are downloadable applications which you can customize to fit your needs. You could use them for review games in a kids class, for fun games at a retreat or camp, or with your volunteers at an appreciation event.
I’m not giving the link yet, though. In order to get the link posted, I have to see 10 comments about the picture above. Just jot a quick comment about what you sarcastically like the best about that pic. I’ll get the ball rolling:
“I like the energy, however, I’m wondering if I am pushing the limits by showing adult “midriff” on a Children’s Ministry site!”
Give me 10 comments, I’ll give you the link!
Congrats, you did it, here’s the link:
Recently I have commented on several tools for communicating to others in rough circumstances. One was called Make a Child Smile and the other PrisonerAlert. Both of these are great opportunities for the kids and families in our churches to share love and encouragement along with the gospel message. Another one of those opportunities is called Let’s Say Thanks. It is mostly supported by Xerox, but you can see the list of partner companies here. The front page is a little difficult to operate, but it becomes easier if you choose the “View All Designs” link on the left side of the page. When I did it, I choose “other” as a message and wrote my own message thanking them for their hard work and sacrifice. I also wove the gospel message into it. It’s just another creative way that our kids and families can share the gospel with people all over the world!
No this is not a personal ad. I’m completely happy with my wife Michaella! I’m letting you know about a great tool that our technological families may want to have. It’s called Cozi and is an online family organization system. Here’s a quote from the website:
Use Cozi to manage your busy family life with a shared online calendar, shopping lists, to do lists and more. Plus, capture favorite holiday memories—all in one spot. Cozi is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection, and any mobile phone.
I’ve been wanting to try it out, especially since I could sync my family calender with Outlook, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’ll probably need to wait until we replace our 9 year old computer! Have you dealt with the application? Let me know by commenting below!
Upon reading Sam Luce’s blog today, I was made aware of a really cool effort at bringing families together for worship during the Christmas Season. You can read the blog post here. I have already signed my family up and we’ll be participating. This looks like a great resource to share with the families of your church! It is sponsored by Dayspring and is called the Happy Birthday Jesus Project.
Congratulations also to Derek Fielder who won the Alan Nelson KidLead book!
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Let me place a disclaimer on this post. I try to personally use everything that I post about, however, I came across this site and have to admit that I have not downloaded the software. I only know what the Kidzui site tells me. Nonetheless, this looks like a great tool for us to offer our parents. Just be sure to try it yourself before you offer it to them!
**Kind of cool that Todd McKeever at Take 2.0 blogged about this on the same day! We didn’t coordinate, I promise!
You may also be interested in:
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I think Alan Nelson may be on to something and us Children’s Ministry leaders must listen! Alan was a pastor and leadership guru for many years and has recently discovered that developing children as leaders is really the best way to develop leaders. His organization, KidLead, is devoted to this cause and his principles are outlined in his book, KidLead: Growing Great Leaders.
I have begun reading the book that Alan kindly sent me and I really like where he is going so far. He has had recommendations of the book by the likes of Craig Jutila, John Kotter, and Les Parrot.
Alan is giving one of his books away to a lucky Free CM Stuff reader. Simply leave a comment in this post with your name (be sure to fill in the email part) and I will do a random drawing next Wednesday to determine the winner. Alan will send the winner a signed copy of his book. Good luck!
You may also be interested in:
- A book by my friend Jon Slone called Riggleberry Bloke.
- Connect with Kids–Research Based Newsletter
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Eyejot is super cool. You log into their site, record a video from a webcamera, and email it out. I have used it for some personal messages, but I had some ideas about how to use it in ministry:
- Send an Eyejot to every parent in your ministry on Thursday, helping them to connect with their child about the material you will be teaching on Sunday.
- Have groups of children Eyejot messages to missionaries your ministry or church has adopted.
- Send Eyejots to kids (via parent email most likely) when you know they are sick or have been out for a while.
- Eyejot your volunteers with critical news or announcements. This way they see your expressions and emotions and don’t misinterpret email communication.
- Send Eyejot updates to parents when taking kids to camp over the summer.
- Use Eyejot to remind volunteers or parents of upcoming meetings.
- Send an Eyejot to a volunteer, kid, or parent just to let them know you were thinking about them or praying for them.
What about you? Have you used this tool for ministry? What creative ways can you think of to use Eyejot?