Want to start using some online scrapbooking to maintain your ministry memories? You might want to check out Smilebox. Like many online service start-ups, the basic service is free, but they want you to pay for more premium features. You may use this for archiving camp or retreat photos or giving families a slideshow to check out after an event.
Another one like this that my wife uses is One True Media. You can check out one of her creations here (and see my two sweet, adorable girls!).
Check out Image Chef to get photo frames, moving bumpers (like above), and word mosaics. You can email them or embed them in your site.
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!
I read two posts yesterday that I wanted to be sure to pass along to you.
1. Sam Luce–VBS Give Away. Sam is giving away some Go Fish VBS curriculum. Get your name in the hat, he’ll announce a winner on Friday.
2. Tony Kumner–Ministry To Children–Tony has a great page on his site called 68 Practical Benefits of Kids Ministry. These are some great lists to use in newsletters, budget meetings, or recruiting campaigns.
You may also be interested in:
1. “No Other Ministry” publication (a creative look at CM)
2. “What If” article to parents
If you have an exciting event coming up (Family Worship Night, Kids Outreach, Children’s Music Performance), then you have to get the Pump Up the Crowd countdown from FreeCountdowns.Net. It is visually stunning and has music and words that will get your crowd ready for the action!
Today’s resource: The Gimp. The Gimp is an open source graphics editor.
When you download it, you can be sure you will be overwhelmed. However, I found a nifty tool within The Gimp that allows you to create stunning logos. When you open the program, simply click the “xtns” menu and scroll down to “logos.” From this point you can work through a small “wizard” that will help you create professional looking logos.
I have found that branding particular worship experiences, children’s sermon series, and events is a way to build extra excitement for your ministry. The Gimp is one tool to help you do that. Here are some very quick examples I came up with. You can do a great deal more with them after the initial “wizard.”
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:
Can you think of other uses? Know of any other free tools similar to this one? Let us know by commenting below!
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.
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.
This week, I’m giving away a copy of the book “Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining and Bad Attitudes” from our friends at the National Center for Biblical Parenting. Here’s an excerpt from their website regarding the theme of the book:
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!
