Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol – 2011-10-13
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol – 2011-04-14
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol – 2011-06-16

Welcome back to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry and organize into one easy to use document. A friend once described it as “The Table of Contents of the Children’s Ministry Blogs.” I like that.

There were a lot of Christmas articles this past month. Though many of them were really really good, I did not include most of them in this Blog Patrol as the holiday has already passed. As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

As has become my custom, I have identified what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month with this little graphic next to the title.

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (If you have any category ideas, please let me know):

• Featured Article of the Month
• Kids & the Gospel of Christ
• Kids & Culture
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Special Needs
• Kids & The Bible
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Coloring Pages
• Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

2 pointed parenting questions: Ask yourself to see how well you’re doing.

• This post is short, but if you’re a parent you need to be constantly asking yourself these questions.

Kids & the Gospel of Christ

I’ve moved this section first in the Blog Patrol from here forward for one very important symbolic reason. I believe that Christ and the Gospel of Christ should be first and center in all of our lives and in what we teach kids about. It’s all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll also include general stories about the gospel which I think might be beneficial in teaching kids about Christ. Finally, I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

Blog Series – Sharing the Gospel With Kids

In this series, I began to summarize a presentation given by Jill Nelson on presenting the gospel to kids. I wrote about the first five points last month and will finish the remaining five this month.

• Sharing the Gospel With Kids (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)
• #1: God is the Sovereign Creator of All Things (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)
• #2: God Created People For His Glory (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)
• #3: God is Holy and Righteous (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)
• #4: Man is Sinful (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)
• #5: God Is Just and Right to Punish Sin (10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids)

Tool for Assessing Gospel Community

• Doug Wolter shares this awesome resource from Tim Chester for assessing your church’s or ministry’s gospel community. How does your ministry do?

Kids & The Bible

I’ve moved this section up as well starting this month. We need to get kids refocused on the Bible and doctrine explained at level they can understand. The Bible, and a firm understanding of it, is essential for this. Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the Bible and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Teaching Kids to Use Their Bibles (even before they can read)

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explore several ways to teach kids how to use their Bibles that will work even when they don’t know how to read yet.

Getting Kids Into God’s Word

• Kids Ministry 101 looks at the importance of getting kids into the Word of God.

I Plagiarized the Bible

• Do you know your Bible so well that people might accuse you of plagiarizing it?

Little Bland Tips or Big Cool Truths

• Roger Fields warns against watering down the Bible.

Teaching children the bible–and leaving nothing out

• Michael Dusk reminds us of the importance of giving kids the full counsel of God.

It’s Okay to Ask “Why?”

• Dale Hudson reminds us that we serve a very big God, and it’s ok to ask him why.

10 Can’t Fail Predictions for the New Year

• Tony Kummer puts on his prophet hat and gives us ten predictions for the New Year which absolutely will come true. Read the article and find out why.

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Imaginary Hugs

• Tina Houser gives a personal example of what building relationships with kids is all about.

5 DOs and DONTs of Teaching to Kids

• Jeff McClung offers five tips on teaching kids the Bible.

5 Relational Tools to Make You a Better Teacher

• Glen Woods offers five tips on relationship building to make you a better teacher.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

A Thank You to the Kidmin Community

• I was overwhelmed by the response of the online kidmin community to a personal struggle I was having, and this article was my heartfelt thankyou.

Blog Series – People I Really Like

Jenny Funderburke shares with us some of the people she really likes in children’s ministry.

• People I Really Like: Amy Fenton Lee
• People I Really Like: Spencer Click
• People I Really Like: Roger Fields

Blog Series – Lessons from Santa

Check out this great series from Wendy Douglas on children’s ministry lessons that can be learned from Santa Claus.

• Lessons from Santa – Part 1 of 3
• Lessons from Santa – Part 2 of 3
• Lessons from Santa – Part 3 of 3

Blog Series – Future of Children’s Ministry

Greg Baird, and Kidmin360, started a great series last month in which a variety of leaders from the field of children’s ministry are sharing their thoughts on the future of kidmin. That series finished off this month. Make sure to head on over and read the articles and join in the conversation.

• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Gina McClain
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Sam Luce

Blog Series – I Could Learn From

Larry Shallenberger continues his series listing various people that he could learn from.

• I Could Learn From… The Real Santa Claus
• I Could Learn From…Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Blog Series – The Basics

Justyn Smith offers this series on getting back to the basics.

• The Basics are Back: The Bible
• The Basics are Back: Creative Bible

Blog Series – 40 Way to Show Kids You Care

Check out this series from Jeff McClung that offers 40 different ways you can show kids that you really care.

• 40 Ways to Show Kids That You Care, Pt. 1
• 40 Ways to Show Kids That You Care, Pt. 2
• 40 Ways to Show Kids That You Care, Pt. 3
• 40 Ways to Show Kids That You Care, Pt. 4

5 Things You Can Do This Week to Improve Your CM

• Keith Tussing provides a list of five simple things you can do today to help improve your children’s ministry.

Children’s Church Models

• Jamie Doyle looks at different models for doing children’s church.

Children’s Ministry Now: Are you up speed?

• Lindsey Whitney explores some of the changes they made in their children’s ministry.

Helping Kids Keep Their Faith

• This article explores why it is important to have people in your kids lives who do not have an agenda.

Do We Have a Walmart View of Ministry?

• Bill Gunter asks is the large church / small church divide has created a “wal-mart” view of ministry.

What Defines You?

• Sam Luce reminds us what is really important about who we are and what we do.

5 Things Every Children’s Minister Should Know

• Iin this guest post, Bill Emeott shares five basic things you should know if you work with kids.

When You Feel Like Quitting Children’s Ministry

• Jeff McClung shares some advice on what to do when you feel like throwing in the towel.

Kidmin | Why Be a Small Group Leader

• Dan Scott shares some thoughts on why you should be a small group leader and asks why anyone wouldn’t want to be a small group leader.

December Spark

• Dale Hudson shares 25 phrases you can use to build up kids with your words.

How We View Our Children Determines How We Disciple Them

• Brad Baughm explains why our view of children (biblical or otherwise) has a direct impact on how we disciple them.

Hire Good People

• Inside North Point Kids explains the type of people that they try to hire.

When the Teacher Becomes the Student

• Tammy Jones shared some lessons she learned from her granddaughter.

Kidmin1124 Christmas Video

• Jared Massey linked to this fun little video I put together with some of the contributors to Kidmin1124.

What Happens When We Pray

• Leisa Jenkins asks what really happens when we pray.

2010 – Your Personal Year in Review

• Matt Norman review the importance of looking back and looking forward at the turn of the new year.

3 Things to Get Now for Christmas 2011

• Always thinking ahead, Barbara Graves looks to next Christmas and the things you ought to prepare now while Christmas 2010 is still fresh in your head.

Confirming A Calling

• Brandon Maddux wrote this guest post for Kidmin1124 in which he answers the question of how you know when God has really called you to something.

A Resource Closet for Free

• Tammy Jones tells us how to set up a kidmin resource closet on a low budget.

That was Then. This is Now.

• Roger Fields reflects on the changes in children’s ministry over the last several years.

The 5 People Who Will Frustrate You In Children’s Ministry And How to Love Them

• Jeff McClung doesn’t hold back in this list of five people who will drive you nuts in children’s ministry.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

Telling Stories to Children

• Check out these notes from the book How to Tell Stories to Children, and Some Stories to Tell

How to Be A Better Storyteller

• Tammy Jones offers some advice on how to become a better storyteller.

Storytelling | If Necessary Use Words…

• Dan Scott offers some great tips to remember to make yourself a better storyteller.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – 12 Things Anyone Can Do

Jim Wideman started a series this month on practical things you can do to set yourself apart from others and be a better leader.

• 12 things anyone can do to set themselves apart and lead others better!
• 12 things anyone can do to set themselves apart and lead others better!-part 2
• 12 things anyone can do to set themselves apart and lead others better!-part 3

Bowing or Boasting?

• Dale Hudson explores the importance of bowing rather than boasting in leadership with practical examples and tips.

15 Gut Check Questions For A Leader

• Perry Noble shares a list of 15 tough questions any leader needs to be asking themselves frequently. They may start to seem familiar once you start reading.

11 Ways A Leader Can Serve The People He/She Works With

• Perry Noble offers up some practical advice on servant leadership.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Blog Series – Volunteer Toolbox

Check out the second entry in the Kidmin1124 series offering up the tools which should be in any children’s ministry volunteer’s toolbox.

• Jesus Storybook Bible (Volunteer Toolbox – Resource #2)

Volunteer Love Languages

• Wendy Douglas takes the popular 5 Love Languages idea and explains how it can apply to showing your volunteers appreciation.

Top 5 / reason to involve your FAMILY in your ministry

• Michael Bayne gives five reasons you should have your family serve with you.

By Invitation Only

• Roger Fields explains how to make volunteering in children’s ministry a privilege at your church.

If you volunteer in your church…

• A great thank you from a pastor to volunteers.

Planning a Ministry of Volunteer Support and Encouragement for 2011 – Begin with Prayer!

• Check out this important article on why praying for your volunteers is critical.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Kidmin vs. Fammin

• Joe McAlpine wrote a great article wondering about the shift to family ministry and what it might mean to children’s ministry.

Special Needs

There seems to be more and more out there every month regarding special needs ministry, and we’ve finally caught up here at the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol by adding a new section for those articles.

Interview With CMConnect’s Michael Chanley

• Amy Fenton Lee interview Michael Chanley about growing up with a special needs family member.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

A Glimpse Into God’s View of Divorce

• In this article, I look at God’s view of divorce and lay the foundation for a series dealing with the impact of divorce on kids.

Literacy and Media

• Some interesting statistics about literacy and electronics in our society.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Case Study: Teens Telling Us What They Think

• Find out what teens are saying and what this has to do with the trend towards moralistic therapeutic deism.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

How to Play Bible Baseball

• Scripture Lady explains the game of Bible Baseball. I’ve never played it, but based on my son’s review, it’s a hit! (pun intended – in case you were wondering).

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

Getting Started in Ministry: The Essential Reading List

• Lindsey Whitney offers a short list of books anyone new to children’s ministry should check out.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children Podcasts

Tony Kummer continued his podcast series with well known leaders in the field of children’s ministry.

• Podcast #11: Autism and Your Children’s Ministry

Wayne Stocks Interview

• Jared Massey did this post on an interview I did with Michael Chanley and the upcoming Kidmin1124 Volunteer Radio Show.

Google Reader – Taking Your Blog Reading to the Next Level

• Check out this article I did for Kidmin1124 on why and how to use Google Reader to read blogs.

Coloring Pages

Recently some sites (specifically Ministry-to-Children.com) have been offering free Bible based coloring pages for use at home or in your ministry. I thought they merited their own section, so here it is!

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children Coloring Pages

Ministry-to-Children is quickly becoming THE source for Biblical coloring pages for your church or your own kids.

• Two Very Different Kings: Coloring Page

Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Are Your Kids Under the Influence….of Music?

• Joy Bowen asks how your kids are influenced by the music that they listen to.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

Tried and True curriculum evaluation questions

• Check out these questions that you should ask about any curriculum

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Why Yelling Doesn’t Work

• As parents, many of us find ourselves yelling at kids. In this article I remind myself, and you, why it doesn’t work.

Do You Have Yelling Parent Syndrome?

• Epic Parent looks at some of the reasons we yell as parents and what we can do to stop.

31 Ways to pray for your children

• Bob Hostetler offers 31 different things you can pray for your kids along with scriptural support.

Don’t Be the Spoiler of Joy in Your Home

• Ron Edmondson asks what impact you have on your family.

JUST THE FACTS MONDAY – “I’M STRESSED, JUST LIKE DAD AND MOM”

• Listen up parents, kid feel your stress! Check out these statistics.

Parenting Tip: Drawing the Line on Tattling

• Staci Inskeep reminds us that is important to reign in tattling sooner rather than later.

2 pointed parenting questions: Ask yourself to see how well you’re doing.

• This post is short, but if you’re a parent you need to be constantly asking yourself these questions.

10 Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

• Justin Taylor reviews the book by the same names and lists ten ways that you will destroy your child’s imagination.

Organizing Your Life One Room at a Time

• Leisa Jenkins will get you kick started on organizing your home and your life in this article.

Are You Too Busy to Have An Organized Home?

• Leisa Jenkins explains why we all have enough time to get organized, and why it is important that we do.

How a Father Shapes the Church-Going Habits of His Children (for the rest of their life!)

• If you are a Dad, this article is a must read. No excuses!

Parenting Tip: Look Out For Boasting

• Staci Inskeep advises parents to stay on the lookout for boasting in their kids.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

Pray for Leaders

• Based on 1 Timothy 2:1-8, this devotional for kids explains why we should pray for our leaders.

The Worst

• This devotional based on Titus 3:3-8 reminds us that none of us deserve the grace of God.

Read the Book!

• This devotional based on 2 Timothy 3:14-17 encourages kids to read their Bibles.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

2 mildly offensive comics about parenting for the day

• There is some frustration involved in parenting. Abraham Piper looks at the lighter side.

In the Meadow, We Can Save a Snowman

• I wonder how many non-snowmen have this same thought?

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (December 2009)
2. Top 10 in 2010–Best Articles from The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (May 2010)

Welcome back to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry and organize into one easy to use document. A friend once described it as “The Table of Contents of the Children’s Ministry Blogs.” I like that.

As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

As has become my custom, I have identified what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month with this little graphic next to the title.

I used to warn you with a graphic when I was linking to posts from Dad in the Middle. Since I am now also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com, that doesn’t seem as pertinent, and I have stopped using it. I guess you’ll have to fend for yourself. 

• Featured Article of the Month
• Kids & the Gospel of Christ
• Kids & Culture
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Special Needs
• Kids & The Bible
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Coloring Pages
• Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

7 children’s pastors I stay away from

• If you are in children’s ministry, you need to read this article. Ryan Frank shares his list of seven children’s pastors that he avoids.

Blog Series – Children and the Gospel

Andy Johnson did a series on children and the gospel message. If you teach children, you should read through these articles carefully!

• Clarity: Children and the Gospel
• Clarity: Asking Jesus into Your Heart (Wrong Way)
• Clarity: Developing Little Demons
• Clarity: Martin Luther Gave His Life to the Lord
• Clarity: Making a Decision for Christ
• Clarity: Repentance and Faith

Kids & the Gospel of Christ

I’ve moved this section first in the Blog Patrol from here forward for one very important symbolic reason. I believe that Christ and the Gospel of Christ should be first and center in all of our lives and in what we teach kids about. It’s all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll also include general stories about the gospel which I think might be beneficial in teaching kids about Christ. Finally, I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

Blog Series – Children and the Gospel

Andy Johnson did a series on children and the gospel message. If you teach children, you should read through these articles carefully!

• Clarity: Children and the Gospel
• Clarity: Asking Jesus into Your Heart (Wrong Way)
• Clarity: Developing Little Demons
• Clarity: Martin Luther Gave His Life to the Lord
• Clarity: Making a Decision for Christ
• Clarity: Repentance and Faith

How We Unintentionally Hinder Kids from Sharing the Gospel

• Sometimes we pass along our own trepidations about sharing the gospel to kids. I tackle that issue in this article originally published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

Allowing Jesus to Work in Your Children’s Ministry

• In this article, originally published on Ministry-to-Children.com, I explain why I want to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work in children ministry.

Is my child ready to ask Jesus to be Lord of their life?

• Jason Douglas shares some ideas on how to tell is your kid is ready to accept the Gospel and make Jesus the Lord of their life.

Salvation Messages

• Check out a couple of different ways of presenting the gospel to kids.

Kids & The Bible

I’ve moved this section up as well starting this month. We need to get kids refocused on the Bible and doctrine explained at level they can understand. The Bible, and a firm understanding of it, is essential for this. Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the BIble and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

On the Importance of Kids Actually Reading the Bible

• Faced with the onslaught of video options for kids to learn about the Bible, in this article I explain why it is still important for kids to engage with God’s Word in written form.

Childish vs. childlike

• Seth Godin compares the concept of childlike to being childish.

Findability

• Jonathan Cliff asks the question, “How do we make God findable?”

Catechisms & Creeds: Instructions for Living

• Check out these great resources on various catechisms.

7 Truths About Fear

• Mark Driscoll shares seven things you need to know about fear.

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Blog Series – Kids Worship

Anthony Prince did a great series on worship in children’s ministry.

• Kids’ Worship: Starting Simple
• Kids’ Worship: Nothing is Better than Something
• Kids’ Worship: The Church of Karaoke
• Kids’ Worship: Where We Are
• Kids’ Worship: Where We’re Going

3 Questions to Help Children Think about Vocation & Calling

• Tony Kummer from Ministry-to-Children.com shares 3 questions you can use with kids when talking about how certain jobs can bring glory to God.

Who Else Needs Encouragement after a Bad Day?

• I wrote this article for Ministry-to-Children after a particularly frustrating Sunday morning about what God taught me through that experience.

Do You Celebrate the Holy Interruptions in Your Ministry?

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I ask how you respond to Holy Interruptions to your plans.

Kidmin | Adapting Stories for Kids

• Dan Scott shares his process for adapting stories for children.

6 Teaching Tips for Children’s Ministry

• Lindsey Whitney shares six tips for teaching kids in children’s ministry.

Bringing Some “Character” To Your Class

• Barbara Graves shares some tips for bringing recurring characters to your children’s ministry.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Blog Series – Ingredients of a Modern Kids Ministry

Justyn Smith covers four components of a modern children’s ministry.

• Compassionate Prayer
• Compelling Vision
• Creative Thinking
• Consistent Communication

Blog Series – Dumb Things

If I’m being honest, one of the things I loved about this series from Jonathan Cliff is that it made me feel better about some of the mistakes I’ve made. Kudos to Jonathan for being willing to share though!

• An Introduction to Dumb Things
• Dumb Things #1
• Dumb Things #2
• Dumb Things #3
• Dumb Things #4

Blog Series – The Future of Kidmin

Greg Baird, and Kidmin360, started a great series this month in which a variety of leaders from the field of children’s ministry are sharing their thoughts on the future of kidmin. Make sure to head on over and read the articles and join in the conversation.

• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Karl Bastian
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Todd McKeever
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Larry Shallenberger
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Dale Hudson
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Matt McKee
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Matt Guevara
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Amy Dolan
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Jonathan Cliff
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Tina Houser
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Tony Kummer
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Henry Zonio
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Mike Johnson
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Justyn Smith
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Gordon & Becki West
• The Future of Children’s Ministry – Rick Chromey

Signs Of A Thriving Childrens Minsitry – Discipling

• Tamara Kraft explains why discipling others is a key to a thriving children’s ministry.

The Heartbeat of Children’s Ministry

• Wendy Douglas writes about the importance of small groups in children’s ministry.

Ministry Frustrations: Is it worth leaving the church?

• Don’t miss this frank and open discussion about some of the frustrations of working in children’s ministry and when those frustrations rise to a level where you should consider leaving a church.

FAQs: Protecting Your Children from Sexual Abuse

• Jared Kennedy shares four steps you can use to help protect your kids from sexual abuse.

FAQs: Children’s Ministry Safety

• Jared Kennedy also shared links to some articles he came across while researching the issue of child safety in children’s ministry.

5 Ways Churches Can Serve Public Schools– Without Breaking the Law

• Keith Tusing, in a guest article for Ministry-to-Children.com, shares five ways we can help public schools without breaking laws.

How to Define “the Win.”

• Rob Marks writes about the importance of defining what a win is for your ministry.

Complacency vs. Passion vs. Obsession

• Jenny Funderburke summarizes some signs that you might be becoming complacent, or losing passion or obsessive when it comes to ministry.

Top 10 Reasons to Serve in Children’s Ministry

• Joy Bowen shares ten reasons why you should serve in children’s ministry.

Warning: Your Life Speaks Louder Your Words

• Kristen Charles, from Ministry-to-Children.com, reminds us that what we do is a whole lot more important than what we say.

Are You A Good Mechanic?

• Bill Gunter compares finding a good children’s ministry to finding a good mechanic.

Thursday Is for Thinkers: Joshua Simpson on The Challenges of a Bi-vocational Pastor

• Joshua Simpson guest posts on Ed Stetzer’s blog about the issues that come with being a bi-vocational pastor.

you are a CHILDREN’S PASTOR!

• Joe McAlpine offers a great reminder for children’s pastors of where their primary focus ought to be.

Giving Back the Rewards

• Wendy Douglas writes about reward systems in children’s ministry. Make sure to check out this article and join in the conversation.

Drinking the Kool Aid

• Joe McAlpine shares some things about children’s ministry where he is, and where he is not, “drinking the cool aid.”

Take Your Friend to Serve Day

• Barbara Graves shares an idea for finding volunteers called “Take Your Friend to Serve Day.” She hasn’t implemented it yet, but I have no doubt that this one is going to be a winner when she pulls it off!

10 Reasons Children’s Pastors are Important

• Jeff McClung shares 10 reasons that children’s pastors are important.

What Does Your Office Say to Kids???

• Keith Tussing explains that what your office says about you can be important to both parents and kids.

Child Discipleship – My Priorities for Children’s Ministry

• Wanda shares her priorities for children’s ministry.

7 children’s pastors I stay away from

• If you are in children’s ministry, you need to read this article. Ryan Frank shares his list of seven children’s pastors that he avoids.

God Broke My Heart

• Wendy Douglas shares how God broke her heart for kids and led her into children’s ministry.

All Healthy Things Reproduce

• Matt Norman asks whether your children’s ministry is reproducing and how to measure that.

Staying Motivated: Keeping a Win File

• Joe McAlpine explains why it is important to keep a file of wins in children’s ministry and what you should keep in it.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

We’re Surrounded by Stories

• Dale Hudson shares the importance of stories and the role we play in those stories.

The Story of Jonah

• Staci Inskeep shares this great video of a little girl telling the story of Jonah.

The Power of a Story

• Jared Massey reminds us of the importance and effectiveness of a well told story.

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

Discipline…It’s NOT a Dirty Word

• Keith Tussing writes about the importance of discipline in children’s ministry.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan continued her long running Monday Morning series of way to build a better meeting.

• #25: build a better (all ages) meeting
• #26: build a better (volunteer) meeting
• #27: build a better (cancelled) meeting
• #28: build a better [enjoyable] meeting
• #29: build a better [parent] meeting

Blog Series – I Could Learn From

Larry Shallenberger continues his series listing various people that he could learn from.

• I Could Learn From… Jon Stewart
• I Could Learn From… Rachel Held Evans

Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Anonymity

• Sam Luce concludes a series from last month with the final sign of a miserable job.

Dealing with Difficult People!

• We all face difficult people in our lives. Check out this great article with some practical advice for how to deal with those people.

The Leader as Lifelong Learner

• Daniel Offer writes this guest post for Michael Hyatt’s blog on how leaders can also be learners.

Learning to Let Go

• Lindsey Whitney writes about the importance of learning to let go of control of certain aspects of your ministry in order to allow the ministry to thrive.

The Five Prices A Leader Must Be Willing To Pay

• Perry Noble explores five things that any leader must be willing to pay as a price for leading.

How Teachable Are You?

• Jenny Funderburke explores the importance of remaining teachable.

How We Evaluate Feedback

• Jenny Funderburke offers some insight into how they evaluate the feedback that they get.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Blog Series – The Non-Negotiables

We continued our series on Kidmin1124 this month regarding things that you can not afford to sacrifice in trying to find more time.

• The Non-Negotiables #5: Your Children
• The Non-Negotiables #6: Personal Growth

Blog Series – Getting Your Volunteers Invested

Lindsey Whitney shares some ways to help get your volunteers invested in, and excited about, your ministry.

• Getting Your Volunteers Invested (part one)
• Getting Your Volunteers Invested (part two)

Recruiting the Best Volunteers for Ministry

• JC Thompson begins to lay out some tips for recruiting volunteers beginning with on of the most important things you can do.

Say Thanks to Your Volunteers

• Christine Yount Jones reminds us of 3 P’s of thanking your volunteers.

Children’s Ministry Talk and Kidmin1124

• The guys at Children’s Ministry Talk were kind enough to feature Kidmin1124 on one of their podcasts. Come learn about this great podcast and what advice they had for volunteers and children’s pastors.

Perceptions of Volunteering

• Jenny Funderburke talks about some of the reasons people choose not to volunteer and what we can do about it.

Jessica Lindsey is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• Check out these insights from Jessica Lindsey who was one of the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champions of the Week this month.

Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week Needs YOUR Help

• We had to postpone the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week segment for one week because we did not have any nominations. If you have volunteers, make sure to check out this article and nominate your volunteers for this award.

7 Things Every Volunteer Should Seek Out

• It is way to easy to complain that we are not getting what we need as volunteers. This article is all about what you, as a volunteer, should be seeking out for yourself.

Julie Reising is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• Check out more wisdom from the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week series on Kidmin1124. My favorite thing about this series is the chance it affords us to hear from people in the trenches of kidmin.

Not Just Kids — Part 1 (Volunteers)

• This is a great article that reminds us that it is important to shepherd your volunteers as well as your kids.

Christmas Ideas for Volunteers

• Inside NorthPoint offers some ideas on what you can do for your volunteers for Christmas.

Why aren’t you firing more of your Volunteers?

• Orange Leaders poses this thought provoking question and some important things to remember about volunteers.

Youth Leaders vs. Youth Helpers

• Joy Bowen explores the difference between just having youth helpers and developing youth leaders.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Think Color. Not Orange. Not Black or White.

• This article is a great reminder that good way is not always the only way to do something.

Special Needs

There seems to be more and more out there every month regarding special needs ministry, and we’ve finally caught up here at the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol by adding a new section for those articles.

The Inclusive Church

• Tonya Langdon profiles one of my favorite sites – The Inclusive Church Blog from Amy Fenton Lee. If you are involved with special needs kids, or work in children’s ministry, you need to check out this article and the site.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Who Do We Think We’re Fooling?

• Lindsey Whitney offers some final thoughts on the issue of Halloween alternatives and Christians.

Dear Dad and Mom, Thanks for Shooting Mario

• Trevin Wax thanks his parents for not letting him make video games more important than anything else.

Pop Culture’s View of Faith

• The Resurgence Blog offers a look at how current culture views the issue of faith.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

4 Tips for Turning Supervised Playtime into Ministry

• Glen Woods explores how to used supervised play time as a form of ministry.

Games for Sunday School – Break Through

• Check out this great game from Christianity Cove that teaches kids that they don’t have to bow to peer pressure.

10 Keys to a Great Kids Ministry Games

• In this article, written for Ministry-to-Children.com, I offer some advice on having a great game time.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

THE GOSPEL FOR CHILDREN by JOHN LEUZARDER (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Check out my review of one of the best summaries of the Gospel for kids, and adults, that I have ever come across. I could not recommend this book more highly!

THE BIG GOD STORY by MICHELLE ANTHONY (a Dad in the Middle Review)

• In this review, I tackle a children’s book written by Michelle Anthony that covers the story of the Bible in a kid friendly format.

SPIRITUAL PARENTING by MICHELLE ANTHONY (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Here is my review of one of the better books I’ve read on parenting.

The Complete ESV for Kids – The Seek and Find Bible

• Crossway is coming out with a new ESV Bible for kids called the Seek and Find Bible. I, for one, cannot wait to check it out. I love the current ESV Children’s Bible, and if this one is half as good, ir will be worth adding to your library.

Little Star: Creative New Book Retells the Christmas Story

• Check out my review of this cure new children’s Christmas book.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children.com Podcasts

Tony Kummer continued his podcast series with well known leaders in the field of children’s ministry.

• Podcast #9: VBS Tips from Shannon at Group VBS
• Podcast #10 Social Networking in Children’s Ministry

Blog Series – Take Ten

Sam Luce continued his 10 minute long podcast series this month.

• TakeTen: Rewards in Kids Ministry with Christiaan VandenHeuvel
• TakeTen: Large Group Programing with Stephen Posey

Kidology (The Volunteer Toolbox – Resource #1)

• We started a new series on Kidmin1124 this month highlighting great resources for volunteers. Our very first tool for the Kidmin Volunteer Toolbox was Kidology.org.

Introducing a Brand New Children’s Ministry Resource

• Keith Tussing has a great new site for helping people in children’s ministry find the resources they need.

5 Websites For Your Children’s Ministry

• Jeff McClung shares five great online resources you can use for your children’s ministry.

Sign Up for the Kidmin1124.com Newsletter

• One of the resources we offer at Kidmin1124.com is a free weekly e-mail newsletter. This post on CMConnect explains how to sign up for the newsletter.

Coloring Pages

Recently some sites (specifically Ministry-to-Children.com) have been offering free Bible based coloring pages for use at home or in your ministry. I thought they merited their own section, so here it is!

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children.com Coloring Pages

Ministry-to-Children is quickly becoming THE source for Biblical coloring pages for your church or your own kids.

• Prayer for Our Leaders Coloring Page
• Prayer for Our Leaders Coloring Page
• Another Thanksgiving Coloring Sheet
• Pilgrims Give Thanks to God: Coloring Page
• Christmas Coloring Sheets: Jesus is our Way
• Christmas Coloring Pages: Jesus Gives Hope
• Printable Advent Coloring Pages for Kids
• Christmas Coloring Book: Jesus Brings Peace
• Advent Coloring Pages: Jesus Brings Joy
• Peter Coloring Page (printable cartoon figure)
• Jesus Coloring Page (printable cartoon figure)
• Jesus Overcomes Temptations Coloring Pages
• Nicodemus Coloring Page
• Nativity Coloring Pages: Jesus is Here
• Christmas Tree Coloring Picture Activity
• Prayer Coloring Pages for Kids

Turkey Color Time!

• Check out this Thanksgiving coloring page from the Church House Collection.

Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

STARS, GUITARS AND MEGAPHONE DREAMS (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Yancy released her newest album this past month. You can find my review here. If you want the short version – “Go buy this CD today!”

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

• I threw together this cross/box craft for Awana one night based on John 3:16 and thought I would share it.

Children’s Ministry Monthly Is Now “Help! I’m A Children’s Pastor”

• The podcast formerly known as Children’s Ministry Monthly is now “Help! I’m a Children’s Pastor.” It is still worth checking out!

Christian Music for Children

• Tim Challies shares some great Christian music for kids. I have heard most of these and can tell you he has really hit the nail on the head with this list.

Good Finds! Picture Word Cards from Lifeway (FREE!)

• Amy Fenton Lee links to free picture word cards from Lifeway publishing.

Great Kidmin tool: Group Me

• Sam Luce writes about a resource that lets you create groups of cell phone numbers for sending out group text messages. Sam also offers some suggested use for children’s ministry.

Guest Blogger, Sam Luce: 8 Tech Tools that should be on Every Kids’ Pastor wish list!

• Sam Luce guests posts on the Kids Ministry 101 blog about technological tools every children’s pastor could use.

Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)

As those in children’s ministry, one of the things we should be committed to is growing in our own faith. I come across all kinds of resources to help with that, I will share them here.

The Bible is VERY Consistent

• In response to recent criticisms about alleged inconsistencies in the Bible, the resurgence blog posted this chart representing the 63,779 cross references in the Bible.

NIV(2011) Changes

• Justin Taylor summarizes changes in the new NIV translation released this year.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

Blog Series – Sam Luce Lesson Plans

Sam Luce continues to share his lesson plans based on the books of the Old Testament.

• Free Bible Lesson: JOB

5…4…3…2…1: A Super Bible Memory Verse Activity for Elementary Kids

• Scripture lady shares this fun memory verse activity for kids in elementary school.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Blog Series – How to Have the “Sex Talk”

Epic Parent did a great series of posts this past month on talking to kids about sex.

• Sex & Starbucks: How To Have “The Sex Talk” With Kids in Pre-K to Early Elementary
• Sex & Starbucks: How To Have “The Sex Talk” With Older Elementary Kids
• Sex & Starbucks: How To Have “The Sex Talk” With Jr. High Kids
• Sex & Starbucks: How To Have “The Sex Talk With High School Kids

Surviving and Thriving as a Parent During the Teenage Years

• Reggie Joiner wrote a guest post for Dad in the Middle on dealing with the teenage years.

A Sermon on Divorce and Remarriage

• Kevin DeYoung shares a frank sermon on the Biblical view of divorce.

Fathers, Don’t Provoke Your Children

• Dave Bruskas shares different ways to provoke your children that the Bible would warn against.

Marriage Preaches

• Tim Challies shares a quote from Randy Alcorn explaining how your marriage preaches to other people.

Fifteen Things to Tell your Teenage Daughter Before She Closes Her Eyes

• From Epic Parent, check out 15 things you should say to your daughter before they go to bed.

Face The Demons Of Parenting: 10 Things Every Workaholic Parent Must Do

• Epic Parent offers some advice to parents who work too much.

Face The Demons Of Parenting: Are You A Workaholic Stay At Home Mom

• Just because you don’t work outside the home doesn’t mean you aren’t a workaholic, Epic Parent offers some advice to workaholic moms.

Who Needs Marriage? TIME Asked the Question — Do You Have an Answer?

• Albert Mohler explores a Time Magazine article on the cultural view of marriage.

Reverse The Laziness Curse In Your Kids

• Epic Parent offers some advice to counter laziness in your kids.

JUST THE FACTS MONDAY – PEW RESEARCH ON MARRIAGE

• Apparently blogging offers some facts from Pew Research on the state of Marriage in our society.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

Hang in there!

• Check out this devotional on perseverance based on Philippians 3:10-14.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

From the book of Davidicus: When you eat of the spoils.

• I love a parent with a sense of humor. Don’t miss this dad’s laws about Halloween Candy.

Not knowing what to do about good friends who are raising punk kids.

• I love Stuff Christians Like. This is a great article about how to deal with friends’ kids.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (November 2009)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (May 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)

Welcome back to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry and organize into one easy to use document. A friend once described it as “The Table of Contents of the Children’s Ministry Blogs.” I like that.

As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

As has become my custom, I have identified what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month with this little graphic next to the title.

I used to warn you with a graphic when I was linking to posts from Dad in the Middle. Since I am now also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com, that doesn’t seem as pertinent, and I have stopped using it. I guess you’ll have to fend for yourself. 

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (If you have any category ideas, please let me know):

• Featured Article of the Month
• Kids & the Gospel of Christ
• Kids & Culture
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Special Needs
• Kids & The Bible
• Games
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Coloring Pages
• Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

SO, I broke with my own rules this month. The Featured article is actually the first in a series of articles I plan to feature next month in The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, but the first entry in the series was powerful and impactful enough that I decided to make it the featured article:

The Future of Children’s Ministry – Karl Bastian

• Karl Bastian offers his prediction and his hope for the future of children’s ministry. You don’t want to miss this article.

Kids & the Gospel of Christ

I’ve moved this section first in the Blog Patrol from here forward for one very important symbolic reason. I believe that Christ and the Gospel of Christ should be first and center in all of our lives and in what we teach kids about. It’s all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll also include general stories about the gospel which I think might be beneficial in teaching kids about Christ. Finally, I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

The Power of the Cross and Children’s Ministry

• In this article, I explore the importance of the cross to Children’s Ministry.

Gospel Relationships: The Home

• Jared Kennedy writes about the transforming power of the Gospel.

A Recommendation For Gospel-Powered Parenting

• From the Desiring God blogs comes this book recommendation regarding Gospel-Centered parenting.

If you lead a small group …

• Check out this link to a series on how to share the gospel.

7 Questions of Jesus That Will Change Your Life

• Ron Edmondson lists seven questions Jesus asked which have the potential to change how you live your life.

25 Statements of Jesus That Will Change Your Life

• Ron Edmondson gives of 25 life changing statements Jesus made during his ministry here on Earth.

Why Worrying is a Failure to Grasp the Gospel

• Trevin Wax explains why worrying is inconsistent with an understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hearing the Gospel Again and Again to Be Overcome

• Jonathan Parnell writes about why we need to hear the Gospel over and over again.

Kids & The Bible

I’ve moved this section up as well starting this month. We need to get kids refocused on the Bible and doctrine explained at level they can understand. The Bible, and a firm understanding of it, is essential for this. Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the BIble and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Would You Get an A?

• How would you do on this test of religious knowledge.

The Apocrypha and Gnosticism: Powerpoint presentation

• Effective Children’s Ministry shares a PowerPoint presentation dealing with the issue of the Apocrypha.

Great Kid Ministry Resource!

• Christiaan VandenHeuvel shares an article about the single greatest resource every children’s minister must have! Don’t miss out on this resource.

Explaining the Trinity to a Seven-Year-Old

• Justin Taylor writes about how he explained the Trinity to his 7 year old.

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Blog Series – Teaching Kids to Tithe

Justyn Smith takes a look at how to teach kids about tithing to the church.

• Teaching Kids to Tithe (1/3)
• Teaching Kids to Tithe (2/3)
• Teaching Kids To Tithe (3/3)

Blog Series – ADHD and Every Child

Church4EveryChild continued their series on kids with ADHD.

• Karen Sunderhaft: Expert Tips on Teaching Kids With ADHD (Part One)
• Karen Sunderhaft: Expert Tips on Teaching Kids With ADHD (Part Two)
• Karen Sunderhaft: Expert Tips on Teaching Kids With ADHD (Part Three)
• What Can Parents Do to Help Kids With ADHD Grow in Faith?
• Could ADHD be a Blessing to Christ Followers?
• What Can Parents Do to Help Kids With ADHD Grow in Faith?
• Barb Dittrich: My ADHD Sundays
• Harmony Hensley: Welcoming Ministry Environments for Kids With ADHD (Part One)
• Harmony Hensley: Welcoming Ministry Environments for Kids With ADHD (Part Two)
• ADHD and Spiritual Development: Tying it All Together

Blog Series – Freakonomics – Incentives

Kenny Conley takes a look at the use of incentives in children’s ministry.

• Freakonomics: Incentives (part 1)
• Freakonomics: Incentives (part 2)

Blog Series – These Kids Are Bored

Jamie Doyle continues his series on why kids in your children’s ministry might be bored.

• These Kids Are Bored… Part 4

7 Questions to Ask Before Teaching the Bible to Kids

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explore 7 questions posed by Francis Chan which you should ask yourself before teaching the Bible.

Dime Store Decor

• If you’re on a tight budget, make sure you check out this article from Wendy Douglas who shares some pictures of what she was able to accomplish in terms of decor on a very limited budget. Thanks to Wendy for sharing these creative ideas.

The Worries of Kids and the Strength of God (The Worry Box)

• Tonya Langdon offers a great idea for dealing with kids’ worries in this article.

What We Do on Sundays: The Why

• Jenny Funderburke shares why she writes her own curriculum.

Praise at the Top of Your Lungs

• Tina Houser warns us as parents not to limit the praise of kids because of own limitations.

What We Do On Sunday Mornings: Large Group

• Jenny Funderburke shares their schedule for a normal Sunday morning.

Children’s Church: Do These 5 Things First

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explore five things I think you ought to do every weekend before your service.

Young people, Digital tools, Leadership

• Check out this link to an article on using technology to teach kids how to lead.

I was completely clueless :-O

• Commander Bill writes about something he did to start building relationships with kids.

Four Characteristics of Authentic Worship

• Joy Bowen provides this list of indicators of authentic worship.

Kidmin | Small Group Coach

• Dan Scott writes about the importance of having Small Group Coaches in your ministry.

What we do on Sundays: Small Group

• Jenny Funderburke explains how their small group time works every Sunday.

How to Reach the World!

• Dale Hudson writes about the importance of reaching the world one child at a time.

Child Discipleship – Who Do You Want A Child To Be When He is 40?

• Where do you want your kids to be when he’s 40. Maybe you should make a list like Wanda.

Child Discipleship – What do kids need today to become…

• Wanda follows up her previous post on where you want your kids to be in 40 years with the question of what they need now to get there.

Engaging Children

• Greg Baird shares ways of engaging with the children in your ministry.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

The Most Important Things You Can Ever Say to a Child

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I discuss the most important things you can ever say to a child.

What Is Children’s Ministry Supposed to Be?

• In this article I ask what Children’s Ministry is really supposed to be all about.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Effectiveness by Dan Scott

• In my continuing review of the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry, I looked at the chapter written by Dan Scott on effectiveness.

Repost: 8 Reasons to Get Involved in Children’s Ministry from Psalm 78

• This was a repost of an article from months ago in which I lay out eight reasons from Psalm 78 why you should consider serving in children’s ministry.

Spontaneous Worship

• I had one of those God moments in church and I couldn’t help but share it.

Carrying Heavy Stuff (Children’s Ministry Moment #11)

• You never know what kids are going to say – thus the Children’s Ministry Moment series.

10 Ways to Know They Are NOT Looking For Somebody Else

• If you think you’re just there for the short term, you might just want to check out this article from Ryan Frank.

Why numbers matter in Kidmin.

• Many people cringe at talking about numbers in their ministry. Sam Luce explains why numbers are important in kidmin.

Kidmin | Budget Planning

• Dan Scott offers some practical advice for budgeting – and it may not be the kind of advice you think.

The Holy Spirit in Children’s Ministry (aka Go With Your Gut)

• Matt Norman shares a time when he listened to Holy Spirit, deviated from his plan, and how God worked through that experience.

USA Today and America’s Four Gods

• Lindsey Whitney shares her thoughts on a USA Today article that finds that Americans generally have four different types of Gods. She also examines the implications of these findings on children’s ministry.

Is Your Ministry Keeping You From Ministering?

• Matt Norman explains why he chose to start buying curriculum rather than writing it himself in order to allow more time for what is really important in children’s ministry.

Putting family first

• Kenny Conley writes about the importance of prioritizing your family over your ministry.

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

3 Tips for Ministering to the Problem Child

• Mimi Bullock offers three great for dealing with that “not so easy” kid.

Discipline with Youth: Preventive Discipline

• Check out these practical tips on discipline issues.

How to Handle Discipline Problems in Kids Church

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-Children.com shares seven things you need to do to help with discipline problems.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan continued her wonderful Monday morning series of blog posts with advice for making a better meeting.

• #22 build a better (do not invite) meeting
• #23: build a better (decision making) meeting
• #24: build a better (include everyone) meeting

Blog Series – I Could Learn From

Larry Shallenberger continues his series investigating people that he could learn from.

• I Could Learn From… Those Guys Who Saved the “Blue Like Jazz” Movie
• I Could Learn From… Bryan Allain
• I Could Learn from… Derek Webb

Blog Series – 6 Disciplines Every Leader Needs

Jeff McClung started a series this month on 6 disciplines every leader should try to develop.

• 6 Disciplines Every Leader Needs, Pt. 1
• 6 Disciplines Every Leader Needs, Pt. 2

Blog Series – Three Signs of a Miserable Job

Sam Luce writes about 3 warnings signs that you may have a miserable job or miserable employees.

• Three Signs of a Miserable Job.
• Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Immeasurement
• Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Irrelevance
• Three Signs of a Miserable Job: Anonymity

Developing a Leadership Vocabulary

• Ron Edmondson offers some advice on developing a leadership vocabulary.

Humble Acceptance vs. Pious Proclamation

• Dale Hudson explores true humility.

Positional Versus Relational Authority

• Ron Edmondson on the importance of recognizing the difference between positional and relational authority.

The Spiritual Act of Sleep

• Pete Wilson writes about something near and dear to my heart and my pillow.

Multitasking is a lie?

• I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! Sorry, was I saying something – the phone rang.

what is your PERSONAL DEVELOPMEMNT PLAN?

• In this article, Michael Bayne shares some thoughts about things you should be doing on a regular basis to grow yourself as a leader.

Not a fan….

• Barbara Graves doesn’t like silence. I thought that’s all you got when you stay up to the wee hours of the night, but apparently not!

Four Questions Leaders Should Ask Themselves

• Perry Nobel lays out four questions that every leader ought to ask of themselves.

How to Guide a Team Through Conflict

• Don Millers offers up 8 tips for getting through conflicts on a team.

Growing Your KidMin Team

• Greg Baird explores different types of growth you should see on your children’s ministry team.

7 Steps to Achieve Your Dreams

• Ron Edmondson offers advice on achieving your dreams.

7 Reasons Why Leaders Flame Out

• Check out Perry Nobel’s list of 7 reasons leaders burn out so you can avoid them.

7 Phrases We Should Never Use to Start a Sentence

• Ron Edmondson shares some sentence starters you might want to avoid in talking about yourself.

Seven Distractions We Must Resist

• Perry Nobel alliterates this list of “P” words we should resist and avoid.

Are You Ready to Be a Leader?

• Check out Kevin DeYoung’s leadership audit taken from a J. Oswald Chambers book.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Steve Testerman is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• Our second Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week is Steve Testerman. Steve is a volunteer at First Baptist Cumming Church in Cumming, GA. Find out how Steve answered our Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week questions.

Excellence vs. Perfection

• Theresa Haskins explains the standard she holds teenage volunteers to when they sign up to help her in children’s ministry.

Volunteers Writing Curriculum on a Limited Budget

• Barbara Graves shares a tip on how to come up with engaging curriculum on a budget.

Pam Aikens is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• This weeks Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week is Pam Aikens, and she offers some great words of wisdom based on her experience in children’s ministry.

A Conference Designed for Volunteers

• Kenny Conley and his crew from Gateway have put together a conference designed for volunteers. If you are in the Austin, Texas areas or can get there, I encourage you to check it out.

Kurtis Miller is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• This weeks Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week is Kurtis Miller. You don’t want to miss what he has to say about children’s ministry.

Finding Your Volunteers the Right Piece of the Pie

• Barbara Graves shares the importance of finding the right place for your volunteers.

An Exciting Month for Volunteers and Those Who Love Them

• November on CMConnect has been officially designated volunteers month. Check out the details in this article.

5 Keys to Effective Recruiting

• Greg Baird shares five simple tips to help with volunteer recruitment.

Recruiting 101

• Commander Bill Gunter shares seven tips for recruiting – a popular topic this month!

Growing through Relationships

• Greg Baird expounds on the importance of relationship in recruiting.

Launching a volunteer conference

• Kenny Conley shares about a new conference he and his team have put together for volunteers called the Illuminate Conference.

Kids’ Ministry From the Eyes of a Volunteer

• Jeff Salter offers advice to volunteers from a volunteer.

What Volunteers Really Learn When You Don’t Train Them

• Tony Kummer explores what your volunteers learn when you don’t take the time to train them.

The Saga of Recruiting Volunteers

• Here is an article from family regeneration on recruiting volunteers.

5 Reasons Ministry Volunteers Quit

• Mimi Bullock explores why volunteers quit in this Ministry-to-Children.com article.

The “Need” in Recruiting

• Christiaan VandenHeuvel his strategy for recruiting volunteers.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Shrinking the Change for Families

• Larry Shallenberger asks what the small changes are that we can make to impact the spiritual lives of families.

Special Needs

There seems to be more and more out there every month regarding special needs ministry, and we’ve finally caught up here at the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol by adding a new section for those articles.

Protecting Special Needs Ministry Volunteers

• Amy Fenton Lee shares some things you can do to help protect your special needs ministry volunteers.

CMX 2011 Special Needs Mini-Conference

• I loved CMX last year, and I can’t wait to go again this summer. CMX 2011 will be even better with this special needs mini-conference which Amy Fenton Lee tells us about.

Awana Clubs and Children with Special Needs

• At Kidmin1124, we are super excited to have Tonya Langdon on board as a writer. Tonya specializes in special needs ministry, and her first article she lays out some of the benefits of welcoming special needs kids into your Awana programs.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Play-Doh Heart: The Attack Of Clips, Clicks & Channels

• Chris Sprad shares some advice on protecting your kids from too much media.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

Youth Bible Games – Give the Money

• Check out this game about giving.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children.com Podcast

Tony Kummer continued his podcast this month with some great episodes.

• Podcast #5 Helping Families Worship at Home
• Podcast #6 Leading in Children’s Ministry
• Podcast #7 Over-Churched Kids
• Podcast #8: Matt McKee on Technology, Orange Thinking, and Bad Puppets

Blog Series – Take Ten Podcast

Sam Luce also continued his wonderful podcast this month.

• TakeTen: The Role of Technology in Kidmin
• TakeTen: Why Blog? with Tony Kummer
• TakeTen: Being Bi-Vocational with Jared Massey
• The Bivocational Kids Pastor

Our Very Own Jared has a Podcast

• Jared Massey participated in the Take Ten podcast of the legendary Sam Luce this week. Find out what he had to say in this article.

Coloring Pages

Recently some sites (specifically Ministry-to-Children.com) have been offering free Bible based coloring pages for use at home or in your ministry. I thought they merited their own section, so here it is!

Blog Series – Coloring Pages

Ministry-to-Children.com continued to produce great coloring pages each month. Here are some from last month.

• Nicodemus Seeks Jesus Coloring Page Maze
• Pastor Appreciation Coloring Page
• Doubting Thomas Coloring Page
• Doubting Thomas Sunday School Worksheet
• Spring Coloring Pages “Thank You God”
• Winter Coloring Page “Give God Praise”
• Free Thanksgiving Coloring Pages for Kids
• Daylight Savings Time Coloring Page (free printable)

Harvest Coloring Pages

• Children’s Ministry Blog offers some free harvest coloring pages.

Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Seeds Family Worship – A Review

• Check out my review of the music from Seeds Family Worship.

Free PowerPoint teaching: When I am afraid

• Effective Children’s ministry, your source for kidmin PowerPoint presentations, offers this presentation on what kids should do when they are afraid.

Printable Sermon Note Taking Sheet for Kids

• Check out these printable sermon note taking pages meant specifically for kids.

Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)

As those in children’s ministry, one of the things we should be committed to is growing in our own faith. I come across all kinds of resources to help with that, I will share them here.

“5 Worst & Best Things to Say to the Grieving”

• Donna Perugini shares lists of things you should and shouldn’t say to people who have suffered loss.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

How to Pick the Best Curriculum

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I lay out a framework for evaluating children’s ministry curriculum.

Blog Series – Free Bible Lessons

Sam Luce continues to post free lessons plans for the books of the Old Testament.

• Free Bible Lesson: Ezra
• Free Bible Lesson: Nehemiah
• Free Bible Lesson: Esther

One Size Fits All

• Keeping with a curriculum theme, Bill Gunter writes about one sized fits all curriculum.

“Faith Overcomes Fear” Bible Lesson for Children

• Check out this Bible lesson from Kristin Charles, of Ministry-to-Children.com, on how faith overcomes fear.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

10 Things I Love About Being A Dad

• I sat down to write out some of the things I love about being a Dad. This article was the result.

Teaching Self-Worth to Your Little Ones

• Check out these devotional activities for teaching kids about self-worth.

The Danger of Raising Nice Kids

• Believe it or not, nice is not the aim in parenting our kids. In fact, nice can be dangerous as a goal.

Parent Tip: The Value of Listening

• I love what Staci Inskeep is doing at Cap City Kidz with their parent tips on the blog. This one is all about the power of listening.

Luther on Parenting

• Check out this quote from Martin Luther on the importance of parenting.

Why Do Marriages Go Bad?

• Perry Noble writes about four things that can make a marriage go bad.

Seven Verses To Look At Regarding Your Marriage!

• Perry Nobel points to seven specific verses you should review related to your marriage.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

When God says “Go”

• Check out this devotional for kids about what they should do when God says “Go!”

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

Stuff kidspastors like #106 – Hand prints

• Sam Luce shares five way overused stock photos in kidmin.

Literalists and their ultra-optimism

• I love this cartoon posted by Abraham Piper.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (October 2009)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (May 2010)

Welcome back to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry and organize into one easy to use document. A friend once described it as “The Table of Contents of the Children’s Ministry Blogs.” I like that.

As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

As has become my custom, I have identified what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month with this little graphic next to the title.

I used to warn you with a graphic when I was linking to posts from Dad in the Middle. Since I am now also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com, that doesn’t seem as pertinent, and I have stopped using it. I guess you’ll have to fend for yourself. 

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (If you have any category ideas, please let me know):

• Featured Article of the Month
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Special Needs
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• VBS
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Coloring Pages
• Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Just For Fun
• Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

Blog Series – The Spirit Led Teacher

• The Spirit Lead Teacher
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 2
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 3
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 4
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 5
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 6
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 7

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Blog Series – The Spirit Led Teacher

I loved this series from Jim Wideman on being a Spirit Led Teacher.

• The Spirit Lead Teacher
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 2
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 3
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 4
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 5
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 6
• The Spirit Lead Teacher-Part 7

Blog Series – How to Connect With Kids

In this great series from Greg Baird from Kidmin360, Greg explores a variety of ways and methods for connecting with the kids in your ministry.

• How To CONNECT With Kids
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 2)
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 3)
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 4)
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 5)
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 6)
• How To CONNECT With Kids (Part 7)

Why You Should Use Bible Object Lessons

• Sam Luce, in a guest post for Ministry-to-Children.com, shares 4 reasons why object lessons are important in teaching kids and three practical tips for using them.

5 Tips on Building Rapport in Kids Church

• Nathan Flannery shares five ways to help you connect with the kids in your church.

How to Help Kids in Children’s Ministry feel the LOVE!

• Lindsey Whitney shares some knowledge picked up via Karl Bastian on how to show love to the kids in your ministry.

Moving Away from Application

• Matthew Guevara writes about getting kids to ask the right questions.

Silly Bands Lesson for Children’s Church

• Dale Hudson, in a guest post for Ministry-to-Children.com, shares a great kids’ church lesson using Silly Bands. I’d explain what they are, but if you work in children’s ministry and/or have kids, you already know!

How To Make Giant Silly Bands Decorations

• In this guest post for Ministry-to-Children.com, Dale Hudson shares how you can make giant sized silly bands for your children’s ministry.

Praying for the Presence of God

• Tina Houser writes on the importance of modeling real biblical prayer for kids.

Good Youth Sermon Titles

• This article has three tips for coming up with that perfect name for your next youth sermon.

On Separation Anxiety

• This article offers 5 tips to lessen the strain of separation anxiety.

Simple Connections…Big Impacts

• Dale Hudson offers some great ideas for connecting with kids.

Why Kidmin Needs Serious Games

• Matthew Guevara explores why games are important to children’s ministry.

Along the Way

• Wendy Douglas writes about the importance of listening.

Taking time to prepare

• Lin Pearson shares on the importance of being prepared in children’s ministry.

Kidmin | Small Group Leader Influence

• Dan Scott writes about the importance of small group leaders in making connections with kids.

Walk With Me

• Wendy Douglas writes about why relationship and discipleship must be an important part of your children’s ministry

Hiding Tennis Balls

• Karl Bastian shares this touching story which is a poignant reminder of what can happen when you show an interest in a child’s life.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Blog Series – Lessons for the Long Haul

Sam Luce did a great series this month on lasting in Children’s Ministry.

• Lessons for the long haul
• Lessons for the long haul: Calling
• Lessons for the long haul: Dealing with Discouragement
• Lessons for the long haul: Motivation
• Lessons for the long haul: Be a self feeder
• Lessons for the long haul: Build a team.
• Lessons for the long haul: Jim Wideman

Blog Series – 10 Things I have learned

Scott Berkley shares ten things he has learned about children’s ministry in ten years.

• 10 Things I have learned
• 10 Things-Less is More
• 10 Things-Attitude is Everything
• 10 Things-Someone will always Feel Cheated
• 10 Things-Everything Rise and Falls
• 10 Things-Read to Succeed
• 10 Things-The Individual
• 10 Things-Teams are Great
• 10 Things I’ve Learned-Never Do Ministry Alone
• 10 Things-Aim at Nothing

Blog Series – Ministry-to-Children.com Podcasts

Tony Kummer from Ministry-to-Children.com started a podcast this past month with some top notched guests. Make sure to check them out and subscribe to the podcast in Itunes.

• Podcast #1: Your Church & Children With Special Needs
• Ministry-to-Children Podcast
• Podcast #2: Children’s Ministry Advice for the Long Haul
• Podcast #3: Relevant Children’s Ministry
• Podcast #4 What Makes for “Good” Children’s Worship Music?

Blog Series – ADHD and Every Child

Church4EveryChild started a new series on ADHD in kids.

• Fall Teaching Series: ADHD and Spiritual Development
• How are Kids and Teens with ADHD Different?
• The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree…ADHD in Families
• What Keeps Kids With ADHD Out of Church? Part One
• What Keeps Kids With ADHD Out of Church? Part Two
• ADHD and Spiritual Disciplines
• Spiritual Challenges for Kids With ADHD
• The Taboo Topic: Medication at Church for Kids With ADHD (Part One)
• The Taboo Topic: Medication at Church for Kids With ADHD (Part Two)
• The Taboo Topic: Medication at Church for Kids With ADHD (Part Three)
• Talking to your child’s physician about medication for church
• Discipleship Strategies For Kids and Teens With ADHD
• Coming This Week: Expert Tips on Teaching Kids With ADHD

Blog Series – Mistakes I Have Made

Commander Bill Gunter allows us to learn from mistakes he has made in ministry. I know Bill, so I’m pretty sure this series is only two articles long because he has only ever made two mistakes!

• Mistakes I Have Made #1
• Mistakes I’ve Made – Part 2

Blog Series – More on Safety in Children’s Ministry

Check out Amy Fenton-Lee’s series on safety in children’s ministry – something that she is, as many of us are, very passionate about.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – The Gap Between Kidmin and Junior High

J.C. Thompson starts a series on the differences between Children’s Ministry and Junior High Ministry.

• The Gap between Kidmin and Jr. High part 1

Blog Series – Everything Speaks

Jason Martin begins a series of 20 things they do at Life Church to speak excellence in their kids’ ministries.

• Everything Speaks Parts 1 -redone
• Everything Speaks Part 2

Blog Series – New Position Landmines

Todd McKeever continues an earlier series on landmines you might encounter in a new ministry position.

• New Position Landmine #4 Expectations go both ways

Are You A Children’s Ministry Cup Or A Colander?

• Barbara Graves asks how you process the kidmin ideas you hear at conferences and find in other resources. Do you hold on to them and do something with them or let them drain away?

16 Tactics for Getting More Kids in Sunday School

• Tony Kummer offers 16 practical tips for getting more kids into your classrooms.

Fall Sunday School Decorations (or Kids Church)

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-children.com offers some ideas on how to decorate your children’s ministry for autumn.

Love & Ministry

• Amy & Kelly Dolan wrote a guest post for Kidmin1124.com last month about the ups and downs of working together in ministry.

Social Media Report Card for Kidmin Publishers

• Tony Kummer, from Ministry-to-Children.com, ranks and evaluates the major players in the curriculum market.

Talking Tweens

• Wendy Douglas talks about her new volunteer position working with tweens.

Promotion Sunday in Virginia

• Theresa Haskins reflects on another promotion Sunday.

Creative by Design

• Matt Norman explains that, no matter how bad you are with crafts, you are still creative because that’s the way God made you!

Using Twitter for #kidmin Check-in: The First Step

• Matt McKee begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting wrote about Barbara Grave’s use of twitter for her children’s ministry check in.

Church Father on Childhood Learning

• What did Irenaeus have to say about kids 1800 years ago that still applies today?

Youth Ministers Wish Senior Pastors Would

• Check out this list of 20 things that youth pastors wish their senior pastors realized.

Encouragement | A bit of truth from Dr. Seuss

• Dan Scott combines two of my favorite things in this article – Children’s Ministry and Dr. Seuss.

CPR: Reviving Family

• Matt Norman wrote about his philosophy for growing a children’s ministry.

Lessons from the Lawn

• ”Commander” Bill Gunter shares some truths about children’s ministry that occurred to him while doing yard work.

What I Learned from Bill’s Lawn

• Based on an earlier article by Commander Bill, I expanded on the analogy between landscaping and children’s ministry.

The Human Side of #kidmin updated

• Matt McKee updates an post he did several years back on the human side of children’s ministry.

Does It Really Matter?

• North Point Kids explains the critical nature of preschool ministry.

10 Things that have changed and not changed in #kidmin in the last 3 years.

• Matt McKee provides an insightful look at what has and hasn’t changed in children’s ministry over the last three years.

Preschool Ministry: More Than Babysitting

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I write about a conversation with my three year old that made me thankful that my church does not view preschool ministry as babysitting.

10 Things I’ve Learned Since Becoming Children’s Director – Number 1

• This is the final entry, much anticipated, in a series we featured several months ago.

The Secret of Advantage of Small Churches

• In her first guest post for Ministry-to-Children.com, Lindsey Whitney writes about some of the often overlooked advantages of being a small church.

Talking Tweens

• Wendy Douglas shares her thoughts on working with Tweenage kids.

Couples who Serve Together….

• Joy Bowen on the positive aspects of volunteering as a couple.

How to Deal with the Despair of too Many Ideas

• Barbara Graves shares some important advice on dealing with the problem of having too many good ideas.

Designing stuff for kids ministry

• Sam Luce laments the facts that, so often children’s ministry, we don’t design things with the proper age in mind.

It’s All About the Attitude

• Check out this little test I came up with on Kidmin1124 to gauge your attitude about working in children’s ministry.

Children’s Ministry: The Role of the Church in Discipling Kids

• Brian Chicoine chimes in on the three primary roles of children’s ministry and misconceptions.

The Church’s Role

• Christine Yount Jones asks what the proper role of the church is in an information age.

How to Breed Spiritual Apathy in Your Kids

• Doug Walter lists five things that will make your child’s faith apathetic and dead.

Problem with Virtues

• Roger Fields offers up his opinion on teaching kids about virtues.

The Order of Things

• In this article, Anthony Prince explains why the order of importance the different aspects of your life hold will ultimately affect your ability to be successful.

[Podcast] Child Safety at Church, Recruiting Volunteers, Dad in the Middle

• I love the podcast Children’s Ministry Talk with Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode. I’m featuring this podcast for obvious reasons 

Catechismal Success

• dot Kids explores some ways to get kids to memorize catechism.

church + leader + parent = vision

• Amy Dolan gives some good advice on how to develop a vision statement for your children’s ministry.

Power of With vs. For

• Justyn Smith on why we should stop doing things FOR the community and start doing things WITH them.

When Public Ministry Intersects With Personal Pain

• What should you do as a leader when personal pain impacts your ministry?

Creating a Welcoming Environment for Children’s Ministry

• Kristin Charles offers 10 pieces of advice on how to set up engaging and inviting atmospheres in your children’s ministry.`

KidMin Multi-Site: How we got started

• Jenny Funderburke shares the story of how her church ventured into multi-site services.

Planning an event: Steps I take

• Sam Luce shares the steps he goes through when he is planning an event in this practical article.

If Jesus Led Children’s Church

• Karl Bastian explores what a children’s ministry run by Jesus might look like.

The Power of Collaboration

• Inside North Point explores the real power that comes from collaboration with some practical advice on how to do that.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

Blog Series – Who’s Writing the Best Story

Jeff Brodie explores the idea of writing a better story in this series.

• Who’s writing the best story? (part 1)
• Who’s writing the best story? (part 2)

Jet Lagged Thoughts on the Story Line Conference

• Larry Shallenberger offers his notes from the Story Line Conference.

Story = Danger?

• David Wakerley wonders whether or not it is appropriate to cut out the more gory parts of the Old Testament when teaching children.

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

Blog Series – These Kids Are Bored

Jamie Doyle continues his series on why kids get bored at church.

• Part 3

Who Needs to Pay Attention?

• Dale Hudson on telling kids to “Pay Attention!”

Discipline Pattern for Children, Teens and Even Yourself

• Steven Borque shares his biblical pattern for disciplining his own kids.

Look for the Look Aways!

• Dale Hudson, who I have now dubbed the King of Practical Advice, does it again in this article where he discusses ways to keep kids from “looking away” during your service.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan continued her Monday series this month on building a better meeting.

• #19 build a better meeting (alone)
• #20: build a better meeting (well read agendas)
• #21: build a better (well-timed) meeting

Blog Series – I Could Learn From

Larry Shallenberger continued his series on people he could learn from. I decided to go ahead and include the posts again this month despite the fact that he names the Philadelphia Eagles head coach as a person he could learn from.

• I Could Learn From… Chris Yount Jones
• I Could Learn From…Andy Reid

Blog Series – When Making Decisions

Justyn Smith offers this series which looks at some things you should consider when making decisions.

• When Making Decisions (1 of 3)
• When Making Decisions–Culture (2 of 3)
• When Making Decisions—Can I? (3 of 3)

Don’t Give Up Quotes

• Tamera Kraft shares some encouraging quotes on perseverance.

Prioritizing the Important

• Carey Nieuwhof urges us all to not let the important fall victim to the urgent.

I would never

• Gina McClain talks about failure in ministry and why an “I would never…” approach is insufficient.

Larry Shallenberger: The Kids Ministry Exit Interview

• Tony Kummer interviewed Larry Shallenberger on his transition out of children’s ministry. Larry will be missed as a voice in kidmin, and this interview is well worth reading.

Why Do Leaders Refuse To Admit They Are Wrong?

• Are you in a position of leadership. You should read this article about assessing why you may not want to admit your mistakes.

Knowing Where You’re Going will Keep You From Making Bad Decisions

• Donald Miller explores the importance of knowing your destination in making decisions about what to do in the present.

You Can’t Share Your Vision

• Barbara Graves explains why you can’t effective tell someone your vision. Here’s a hint – it’s in the word itself.

What’s your reason for wanting leadership?

• Todd McKeever shares some positive and not-so-positive reasons for desiring leadership.

Be Unreasonable!

• Craig Groeschel explains why leaders should be intentionally unreasonable sometimes.

Incredible Thoughts on Humility

• Don Miller with a thoughtful assessment of humility and why it might not be a good thing if everyone tells you you’re humble.

10 Personal Growth Questions

• Perry Nobel serves up 10 questions you should ask yourself about your own personal spiritual growth. He also offers scriptural references to support each question.

7 Ways Extroverts Can Help Introverts

• Ron Edmondson offers some advice to extroverts on how they can help those of us who aren’t quite as outgoing.

With All Your Mind

• Carey Nieuwhof writes about the importance of using your mind when it comes to your emotions.

Four False Ideas That Destroy Leaders

• Perry Noble shares four ideas which leaders hold that can ultimately destroy them.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

• Matt Norman writes about figuring out the right pace for ministry.

Leadership with an exclamation point

• Tina Houser challenges us all to jump in and be the type of leaders who are willing to do anything they ask those they lead to do.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

The Pyramid Approach

• Coach Shef polishes off a series on recruiting with a look at the pyramid approach to finding volunteers.

Managing Unhappy Volunteers

• Greg Baird offers five practical tips for dealing with unhappy volunteers including one that I think we oftentimes forget – “Learn from them.”

Using Youth in your Kids Church Team

• Nathan Flanery offers five positive reasons that you should include teens as volunteers in your children’s ministry.

Keep Volunteers Coming Back

• Lots of people write about recruiting volunteers. Here is an interesting article on how to keep them once you have them.

Speak Your Volunteers’ Love Language

• Christine Yount Jones reminds us that when we show our volunteers appreciation, we need to make sure that we are speaking their language.

Funny Man Dan is the Kidmin1124 Volunteer Champion of the Week

• In a brand new feature on Kidmin1124.com we’ve started to recognize some Children’s Ministry volunteers who go above and beyond in their service of God’s kids. Funny Man Dan Lee-Archer was our very first recipient.

How Can I Get Volunteers From A Small Congregation

• Children’s Ministry Monthly explores ways to help find volunteers in smaller congregations.

3 Ways to Fill Volunteer Gaps in Kids Ministry

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-Children.com shares three ways you can fill in those nagging volunteer gaps in your ministry.

say something [to volunteers]

• Amy Dolan shares why it’s important sometimes just to say something to your volunteers.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Blog Series – Orange Week 2.0 Recap

Check out these daily recaps from all the Orange Week 2.0 Posts

• Orange Week 2.0 – Day #1 Recap
• Orange Week 2.0 – Day #2 Recap – Red Initiatives
• Orange Week 2.0 – Day 3 Recap
• Orange Week 2.0 – Day #4 Recap
• Orange Week 2.0 – Day #5 Recap
• Orange Week 2.0 Recap – Day #6
• Orange Week 2.0 – Day #7 Recap

7 Ways Your Children’s Ministry Can Partner With Parents

• Jeff McClung shares 7 tips for partnering with parents in the spiritual development of their children.

Transitions: Steps that Work

• Gina McClain summarizes six practical steps to successfully integrating as presented by Steve Wright at D6.

Special Needs

There seems to be more and more out there every month regarding special needs ministry, and we’ve finally caught up here at the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol by adding a new section for those articles.

Blog Series – Teaching Children With Autism

In this series written by guest writer Christine Hoover on the Inclusive Blog, she addresses the issue of teaching kids with autism.

• The Intangibles
• The Tangibles

Awana and Special Needs

• Commander Bill explores the basics when it comes to Awana and working with kids with special needs.

Success & Failure with a Special Needs Child

• Commander Bill shares a special needs success story from his Awana program. Don’t miss the comment at the bottom of the article.

Top 10 Posts & Blog Update

• Amy Fenton Lee shares the top ten blog posts from her blog The Inclusive Church. If you are not familiar with Amy’s blog, this would be a great place to start.

Special Buddies Curriculum by Lifeway

• Amy Fenton Lee reviews a special needs curriculum from Lifeway publishers.

Kids & The Bible

Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the BIble and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Parallels between Joseph and Jesus

• Lindsey Whitney compares the stories of Joseph and Jesus.

Theology Matters for Kids

• dot Kids explores teaching kids about theology.

30 Easy Bible Memory Verses for Children

• Tony Kummer shares 30 great starter verses which are great for kids to start on the path of scripture memory.

Kids & Christ

In all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

The Gospel is Offensive

• Jim Kast-Keats explores the offensive nature of the gospel.

WOW.. I encountered God through the prayers of a 3 Year Old!

• Nicki Straza shares an experience she had where a three year old prayed for her. I love these types of stories about kids!

A Fake Jesus Children’s Ministry?

• Nathan Gunter writes about why Jesus needs to be the focus of our children’s ministries and why he often isn’t.

Is your child ready to receive Christ?

• GJ Farmer addresses the question of whether or not a child is ready to receive Christ.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Just Say No (So You Can Say Yes)

• Carey Nieuwhof explains that, as parents, we have to be careful not to over-schedule so that we have time for the important things.

Boys lacking men to inspire them to mature

• Adrian Warnock explains the importance, especially for young men, of having role models in our lives.

Memos From Your Child

• Children’s Ministry Blog gives 20 brief statements kids would like adults to know about them

How To Be Less Productive

• The PreTeen Ministry blog shares several ways you can slow down and avoid the busyness of life.

Wait…is that kid-friendly?

• The Centri Kids Camp blog shares some resources for parents to help determine whether or not something is appropriate for their children to view.

VBS

With VBS getting closer and closer, the number articles related to the topic warrants its own category.

The History of Vacation Bible School

• Lindsey Whitney shares a brief history of Vacation Bible School.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

Bible Character Password: A Super Bible School Activity for Elementary Kids

• The Scripture Lady provides instructions for a great game to help your kids remember some major biblical characters.

9 Classic Game Ideas for Children’s Ministry

• In this article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share 9 classic games which are great for children’s ministry.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

How to Retain More of What You Read

• Michael Hyatt shares some tips for how to help you retain more of what you read. For those of us who read a lot, these tips can be really helpful.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

Exciting New Resource For Kidmin

• Michael Chanley is at it again. Check out this article about his new resource – Imakidmin

Blog Series – People I’ve Met Online

Jonathan Cliff continued his series of people he has met through his online endeavors.

• People I’ve Met Online: Matt McKee
• People I’ve Met Online: Starr Cliff

Top Ten Children’s Ministry Blogs

• CM Buzz shares link to their favorite ten children’s ministry blogs.

25 Podcasts for Your Spiritual Growth

• I shared a list of 25 podcasts that I listen to regularly on Kidmin1124. I’ve added tow or three since then, but the list is still pretty good.

Free Resource Friday: All Pro Dad

• Jared Massey shared a link to a great site for Dads.

Top 100 Children’s Ministry Blogs

• Tony Kummer spent hours and hours putting together an objective listing of the 100 best children’s ministry blogs on the internet. You should check these blogs out.

Coloring Pages

Recently some sites (specifically Ministry-to-Children.com) have been offering free Bible based coloring pages for use at home or in your ministry. I thought they merited their own section, so here it is!

“Do Not Fear” Coloring Pages for Halloween

• Here are some great Halloween themed coloring pages from Ministry-to-Children.com.

Autumn Coloring Page “Let’s Thank God”

• Ministry-to-Children.com posted another coloring page for kids about thanking God for Autumn.

Gospel Coloring Book: How Do I Follow Jesus?

• Check out the next coloring page from Ministry-to-Children.com that explores how we follow Jesus.

Gospel Coloring Pages: What Makes Jesus the Best King?

• Check out the 3rd pages in this series of coloring pages about King Jesus.

Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Bulletin Insert: 10 Reasons To Bring Your Child To Sunday School

• In this article, Tony Kummer provides a very practical bulletin insert you could use at your church listing reasons to bring kids to Sunday School.

I’m Not A Big Fan Of Puppets But….

• Check out this free electronic version of a puppet.

7 Funny Church Jokes: Christian Humor That’s Safe For Church

• Tony Kummer shares seven fun and funny jokes you can safely use in your children’s ministry this coming Sunday.

Printables to Help With Your Child’s Writing

• Crafty Crow offers up a page to help get our kids writing.

Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)

As those in children’s ministry, one of the things we should be committed to is growing in our own faith. I come across all kinds of resources to help with that, I will share them here.

Quickly Find Scripture with this URL Shortener

• John Saddington shared this useful tool for shortening the URLs for scripture references.

Free Stock Video Footage

• Andy Johnson shares a link to a site which provides royalty free stock footage that you can us ein your children’s ministry.

Edit FLV Files with this Free Adobe Air App

• Church Crunch shares this great tool for editing FLV files.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

Blog Series – Sam Luce Lesson Plans

Sam Luce continued to upload lesson plans by book of the Bible this past month.

• Free Bible Lesson: 1 & 2 Chronicles
• Free Bible Lesson: Ezra

Curriculum Process

• North Point Kids shares their very colorful and very organized approach to writing curriculum.

Christmas Parachute Story

• The Children’s Minister Blog shares a Christmas story that you tell using a parachute.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Blog Series – Homework, A Devotional Time

In this series, I looked at ways to turn your child’s homework time into a devotional time.

• Homework, A Devotional Time??
• Homework, A Devotional Time?? – Part 2
• “Homework, A Devotional Time??
  “

Blog Series – 8 ways to empower your child to have the best school year ever!

Jim Wideman continues his series on how to help your kids have a great school year.

• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8

101 Creative Ideas to Keep Kids Busy WITHOUT TV, Technology, Media or…Dare I say it…Video games!

• This list could keep your kids busy for a very very VERY long time, and that’s exactly the point. Pick two or three of these a week and make time to do them with your kids! You won’t regret it.

Hold My Hand Mommy!

• Wendy Douglas draws the parallel between our roles as parents and God’s role in our lives.

12 Practical Strategies for Toddler Temper Tantrums

• Ahhh, the temper tantrum. Been there…Done that. In this article, Kristin Charles share 6 practical tips for preventing them and 6 more tips for dealing with them.

Family Voice

• Carey Nieuwhof writes about that “special” tone of voice we reserve for only our family members.

Say “I Do” to the Name Change

• Mary Kassian writes about why women should still change their last names when they get married – very interesting article and well worth a read.

Parenting Reveals What I Believe About the Gospel

• Doug Walter talks about what many of us as parents already know – God teaches us a lot through our kids. The gospel is no exception.

Do as I Say Not as I Do

• Wendy Douglas writes about the importance of modeling the spiritual behavior we would like to see in our kids.

Learning How To Share Your Faith At Home…When You Have No Time!

• Robert Gentry begins a series on how to share your faith with your kids.

11 Questions We Should Ask About Our Marriage!

• Perry Nobles offers up 11 questions you should ask yourself to evaluate your marriage.

The Problem of “Kingdom” in Our Marriages

• How does the idea of kingdom impact your marriage? Whose kingdom shapes your marriage?

Benefits of Praying with Your Spouse

• Lindsey Whitney shares some of the many benefits of praying with your spouse.

Marriages are Built or Destroyed Moment by Moment

• Check out this article on how to redeem your marriage.

Divorce — The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience

• Albert Mohler explores why the issue of divorce is not as prominent as it might be among Christian activists.

Law and Marriage, Sex, and Children

• Justin Taylor shares portions of an article from National Review about what marriage is really for.

Would you pass the TEST??

• Can you stop yourself from jumping in a helping your child when they are struggling? What will that mean to their future development?

Parenting Tip: Ending the Discipline Time Positively

• Cap City Kidz shares another practical parenting tip regarding how discipline time should conclude.

Your Family Dashboard

• Doug Wolter wonders what your family dashboard looks like today.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

This is how most of us will be “remembered.”

• Abraham Piper shares a poem which summarized how most of us will be remembered once we’re gone.

Winning Strategy: How to Win at Rock, Paper, Scissors

• John Saddington provides a scientific look at how to win at Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Be an Optimist Prime

• Check out this fun little cartoon from David Wakerly.

There is no I in Team

• David Wakerley (with two e’s) shares this creative look at the old saying.

If You Printed the Internet… [Infographics]

• Here’s a great infographic from Church Crunch on what it would take to read the entire internet. You better get started quick!

10 Funny King James Bible Reviews on Amazon.com

• Church Crunch shares 10 reviews of the KJV found on Amazon. These made me laugh out loud.

Guys, is your woman as hot as Solomon’s? Doubt it.

• Abraham Piper shared a great literal interpretation of the woman from the Song of Solomon.

Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

This section includes a listing of my posts on Dad in the Middle alerting readers to new articles which I have published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

The Art of Prayer (By My 2 Year Old)

• In this article I shared what I learned from prayer from my 2 year old.

10 Tips on Biblical Fatherhood

• Thanks to my pastor for this one. Check out ten tips for Biblical Fatherhood based on a verse you might not associate with parenting.

How to Get Kids Excited About the Bible

• Check out this list of ways to get kids excited about reading their Bibles.

Cullen’s ABC’s Online Preschool Program – A Review

• I had never heard of an online preschool before this, but Cullen’s is top notch.

What are the Top Ten Internet Tools for Children’s Ministry?

• I compiled a simple list of ten great internet resources for people who work in children’s ministry.

The Importance of Momentum in Your Children’s Ministry

• Inspired by an article from Gina McClain, this article looks at the importance of understanding momentum in children’s ministry work.

Why the Worship Music You Use With Kids is Critical!

• Worship music should not be an afterthought.

God’s Kids Communication Network VBS – A Review

• Check out my review on this VBS kit from the Seventh Day Adventists.

My Kids Tell You What They Want Their Leaders to Know

• I asked my kids what they want their leaders to know, and they told me.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (September 2009)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (May 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (December 2010)

Welcome back to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry and organize into one easy to use document. A friend once described it as “The Table of Contents of the Children’s Ministry Blogs.” I like that.

As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

As has become my custom, I have identified what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month with this little graphic next to the title.

I used to warn you with a graphic when I was linking to posts from Dad in the Middle. Since I am now also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com, that doesn’t seem as pertinent, and I have stopped using it. I guess you’ll have to fend for yourself. 

• Featured Article of the Month
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• VBS
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Coloring Pages
• Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun
• Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

Why the Bible is a Tough Book for Americans

• Don Miller explores the “Why” and the “What” of our lives and how it impacts our ability to accept the Bible.

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

What Is So Enticing About Sin?

• I linked to one of the most popular series ever on Dad in the Middle in this article.

Blog Series – The A-Z of Children’s Ministry

David Wakerley challenged himself to post the complete A to Z of children’s ministry this month, and we all get to endeavor from this challenge.

• The A-Z of Children’s Ministry
• B is for Bible
• C is for Culture
• D is for Delegate
• E is for Encouragement
• F is for Fun
• G is for Growth
• H is for House
• I is for Inclusive
• J is for Journey
• K is for Kidology
• L is for Longevity
• M is for Mystery
• N is for New
• O is for Obedience
• P is for Paradigm
• Q is for Question
• R is for Respect
• S is for Sabbath
• T is for Teaching
• U is for Unexpected
• V is for Visual
• W is for Welcome
• X is for Xenagogue
• Y is for Yahweh
• Z is for Zeta
• The A-Z Recap

Blog Series – These Kids Are Bored

Jamie Doyle explores some of the reasons kids might be bored in your church service.

• These kids are bored… it’s not their fault!
• These Kids are Bored… Part 1
• These Kids are Bored… Part 2

Why I Don’t Want to Be Too Good at Kidmin

• I wrote this article for Ministry-to-Children about how I never want to let my preparation and plan stand in the way of God’s will when it comes to working with kids.

Kids Evangelizing Kids (and How We Can Stay Out of the Way)

• I wrote this article for Ministry-to-Children.com based on a conversation I had with Henry Zonio regarding how we may inadvertently impose our trepidation for sharing the gospel on kids.

Let’s Talk Tweens!

• Wendy Douglas talks about the fun and challenge of working with Tweens.

What’s Really Important?

• Tammy Jones reminds us what is really important when it comes to children’s ministry. Here’s a hint – it is not big rooms and fancy props.

The Most Important Thing

• Greg Baird from Kidmin360 shares the most important things you can do for a kid.

Managing Small Groups in Kids’ Ministry

• Lifeway offers practical advice on using small groups with kids.

My Top 5 Non-Negotiables

• Roger Fields shares his top five non-negotiable items when it comes to working with kids.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Blog Series – New Position Landmines

Todd McKeever has a new job, and in this series he explores some of the potential land mines when you walk into a new position.

• New Position Landmines #1 Personal
• New Position Landmine #2 Relationships
• New Position Landmine #3 The Ministry itself

Blog Series – People I’ve Met Online

Jonathan Cliff started a series about some great people he’s met online.

• People I’ve Met Online
• People I’ve Met Online: Sam Luce
• People I’ve Met Online: Gina McClain
• People I’ve Met Online: Keith Geeding
• People I’ve Met Online: Kenny Conley

Blog Series – The Social Church Database

Kenny Conley explores social church database.

• The social church database: a new concept
• The social church database: who is doing it?
• The social church database: what to watch out for

Blog Series – Interview with Amy Fenton Lee

Check out this two part interview that Another Piece of the Puzzle did with Inclusive Church Blog founder Amy Fenton Lee

• Interview Part 1 with “Another Piece of the Puzzle”
• Interview Part 2 with “Another Piece of the Puzzle”

Five Reasons to Quit Children’s Ministry

• Greg Baird shares five signs that children’s ministry might not be for you.

Dear Pastor: We Really Need To Talk!

• Tony Kummer writes on open letter to senior pastors from children’s pastors on the importance of supervision.

ADD/ADHD

• Amy Fenton Lee asks (and answers), “How do ADD/ADHD kids fit into the special needs community and children’s ministry? How can we equip our volunteers?”

5 Articles to Encourage Your Children’s Ministry

• Tony Kummer digs through the archives of Ministry-to-Children.com to share five of the sites most encouraging articles.

Get your ideas organized

• Matthew Guevara writes about mind mapping.

Complainers Get More Attention

• Anna Light wonders why it is that people who complain get the most attention. I wonder if this is true in your children’s ministry and/or in your family.

For the Love of Children

• Check out these two poems from Ulrich Schaffer from the book titled “For the Love of Children.”

Challenged by Frozen Lasagna

• God works in mysterious ways as demonstrated by this great story from Barbara Graves.

10 Characteristics of Growing Churches

• Perry Noble shares some common characteristics of growing churches. Many of these are applicable to children’s ministry as well.

Top Ten Most Stressful Life Events

• The Orange parents blog lists the top ten most stressful events a person can encounter in their lives. Let us remember that kids are not immune to stress either.

What are you doing with your spare time?

• Matthew Guevara challenges us over where we are investing our free time.

The Iceberg

• How an iceberg relates to your talents and character and what you can to keep it from sinking your ship.

Safety in Children’s Ministry

• Amy Fenton Lee writes about the importance of safety in children’s ministry – especially when it pertains to special needs kids.

Missions Monday

• Wendy Douglas introduced a new feature on her blog to highlight some missions minded ministries.

10 Common Mistakes Children’s Pastors Make

• Tamera Kraft shares a practical list of ten things Children’s Pastors do that they probably shouldn’t.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Doing Ministry from Home

• Jenny Funderburke shares her personal journey and struggles with doing ministry from home.

Be Willing to Delete

• Christine Yount Jones reminds us all that in writing, and in ministry, we have to be willing to delete to come up with a good final product.

Will Your Church Care for the Special Needs Child?

• Amy Brown, from Ministry-to-Children.com writes about the importance of church investing in kids with special needs.

Preschooler Checklist for Spiritual Growth

• Do you ever wonder what you should be teaching your preschooler about God? This handy checklist will provide you with some guidance.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

Blog Series – Review of Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith

In this four part series, I did an in depth synopsis and review of the latest book from Ivy Beckwith called “Formational Children’s Ministry.”

• PART 1 of 4 – FORMATIONAL CHILDRENS MINISTRY by IVY BECKWITH (A Dad in the Middle Review)
• PART 2 of 4 – FORMATIONAL CHILDRENS MINISTRY by IVY BECKWITH (A Dad in the Middle Review)
• PART 3 of 4 – FORMATIONAL CHILDRENS MINISTRY by IVY BECKWITH (A Dad in the Middle Review)
• PART 4 of 4 – FORMATIONAL CHILDRENS MINISTRY by IVY BECKWITH (A Dad in the Middle Review)

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

Blog Series – How To Deal With Difficult Kids

J.C. Thompson continued his series this month on how to deal with difficult kids.

• How to deal with difficult kids: The Joker

Trusting God with our Children

• CM Buzz shares their discipline system.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Dark Week Recap

• I turned off the electronics for another week this summer. This article recaps my experience.

Blog Series – The Non-Negotiables

I continued my series this month on Kidmin1124.com discussing those things we can’t afford to give up in order to make more time.

• The Non-Negotiables #3: Church
• The Non-Negotiables #4: Your Spouse

Blog Series – What I Learned About Resting

Jim Wideman shares what he learned from his vacation about the importance of rest.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan continues her sometimes sporadic but always helpful and insightful Monday Morning series on making a better meeting.

• #16: build a better (fall) meeting
• #17: build a better (on time) meeting
• #18: build a better meeting (one-on-one)

Four Paths

• Carey Nieuwhof examines the four potential paths of a leader.

Steps to Clearer Communication

• Deb Springer examines the importance of clear communication and paying attention to the words that you choose to use.

Am I Teachable?

• Wendy Douglas explores the importance of making sure that you are always learning.

Everyone Needs to Unplug Every Now and Then

• I wrote about my plans for Go Dark week this past August in this post and explained why it’s important to unplug every now and then.

Curve Balls Equal Opportunity

• Gina McClain proves, once again, that your response to challenges is dictated in large part by your attitude towards unexpected “problems.”

How Could That Possibly Help?

• Funny Man Dan writes about an interesting social phenomenon.

A Few Thoughts That I’ve Been Thinking Lately…

• I like quotes. I find them fascinating. In this article, Perry Noble shares some quotes and his thoughts on them.

Why You Should Understand Your Weaknesses

• Michael Hyatt explains why it is important to know your weaknesses in addition to your strengths.

Building Confidence in Volunteers

• In Lisa Habisreutinger first article for Kidmin1124.com, she shares how she worked intentionally to build up a team of volunteers.

Snack Pack Leadership

• Gina McClain shares the value in, and a practical method of, pouring into your volunteers.

As a youth minister, how do you develop stronger theology for yourself as a leader?

• Chad Swanzy shares some thoughts on how to make sure you are constantly growing stronger in your own theology.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Blog Series – Recruiting Volunteers

In this two part series, Karen Kolger looks at ways to recruit volunteers.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Different Ways to Recruit

Coach Shef examines several different methods of recruiting people on the Orange Leaders blog.

• The Traveling Salesman Approach
• The Storefront Approach

A Complete (FREE) Volunteer Recruitment Package

• Courtesy of Andy Johnson and Free CM Stuff, this is a complete recruiting package for kidmin volunteers.

Create a Variety of Special Needs Ministry Volunteer Opportunities

• Amy Fenton Lee shares ways a church can build congregational support for special needs ministry by offering various positions.

Need More Volunteers?

• Dale Hudson on the proper approach to finding volunteers.

Finalizing Volunteers’ Commitment

• Jenny Funderburke concludes her series on volunteers with this important post on how to finalize commitments.

Make a Difference

• Andy Johnson posted this free complete volunteer recruitment package that you can use for your church.

6 Steps to Effective Recruiting

• This article from Impulsive Joy offers 6 tips to better recruit volunteers.

Still Recruiting? Sell What’s Important

• Coach Shef writes about the importance of being realistic in the expectations for your volunteer recruiting.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Nothing New Under the Sun and Children’s Ministry

• This article looks at an interesting quote from Charles Spurgeon which mirrors some of the current issues in children’s ministry.

Blog Series – Connecting Church and Home

Tony Kummer covered the inaugural Connecting Church and Home Conference for his blog. Here are his thoughts.

• Connecting Church & Home: Opening Questions
• Calling Fathers to Raise Men: Randy Stinson
• Spiritual Orphans in God’s Household: Russell Moore
• Christian Parenting is Combat: Albert Mohler
• The Genesis Standard for Families: Ryan Rush
• 2010 Connecting Church and Home Conference Summary
• Connecting Church & Home: Closing Questions
• Gospel Parenting in the Home: Timothy Paul Jones
• The Spiritual Impact of Mothers: Sally Michael
• What’s a Christian Dad Suppose To Do: Randy Stinson
• 6 Habits of Gospel-Centered Homes: Peter Schemm

It Takes a Village

• Gina McClain comments on an Article from Brian Haynes in the latest issue of Children’s Ministry Magazine on family ministry.

How We Create Moments for Families

• Gina McClain shares the specifics of a great family event her church put on. There is much to be learned from this article.

Surround Your Children with Faith Witnesses!

• Greg Priebbenow explores Hebrews 11 and why it is important to surround your kids with other Christian influences.

Parents are a Necessary Part

• This article explores the importance of getting parents involved in Christian education.

Intergenerational Ministry and the Family

• Kara Jenkins, of Ministry-to-Children.com, writes about the practical imperatives of intergenerational ministry.

Kids & The Bible

Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the Bible and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Why the Bible is a Tough Book for Americans

• Don Miller explores the “Why” and the “What” of our lives and how it impacts our ability to accept the Bible.

Let’s just ignore the text and go straight to looking for a subtext…

• Abraham Piper shares this cartoon on “over interpreting” the text.

Poll Results: What Bible translation do you use in youth group?

• Check out these interesting results regarding the most popular Bible translations used in youth groups.

Involving children with the Bible

• The Children’s Ministry Blog shares 10 great ideas for getting kids excited about the Bible.

Trusting God with our Children

• Jared Kennedy shares some resources which are helpful in wrestling with trusting God with our kids including issues related to suffering kids and the age of accountability.

Will I See My Pet in Heaven?

• The Life Together blog shares some links to answer the question “Will I see my pet in heaven?” In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I have not had time to review the resources he linked to.

Kids & Christ

In all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

Who is Jesus? Ask the Puppets!

• Karl Bastian shared this video he made with puppets in his backyard for a series on what the gospel is and is not.

Celebrating Changed Lives

• If you’ve read the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol for long, you know I have a great fondness for stories of God working through kids to expand his Kingdom. This is another one of those stories.

How one kid thinks of Jesus

• Lin Pearson links to one child’s storybook for Jesus.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

If 40 is the New 30 Then is 20 the New Junior High?

• Donald Miller offers some much needed advice to those in their 20’s about growing up.

How does the Internet impact relationships?

• Matthew Guevara explores how the internet impacts relationships.

Video Games, Idols and Your Child’s Heart

• Advice from C.J. Mahaney on dealing with idols in kids’ lives.

Internet Safety For the Family

• Dad’s 4 Life shares some internet safety tips.

44% of Kids Say They Have No Role Models

• GJ Farmer shares the results of an alarming study on the lack of role models in kids’ lives today.

the internet – infographic

• Check out these interesting statistics about the internet.

VBS / Camp

VBS is over for the summer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of articles out there. Here are some of them.

Summer Camp: What works.

• Sam Luce writes about what works at summer camps.

Summer Camp: What works and doesn’t work

• Sam Luce shares his personal thoughts on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to Summer Camps.

Printable VBS Evaluation Forms

• I was asked to develop a generic VBS evaluation questionnaire for Ministry-to-Children.com. Here it is.

10 Reasons To Still Do Vacation Bible School

• Fresh off Vacation Bible School at my church, I wrote this article on 10 reasons to still do VBS in light of a trend in kidmin towards cancelling such events.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

Another Post on Minute to Win It for Children’s Ministry

• I’m putting together a Minute to Win It game night for early next year. So, I pulled together a bunch of the resources I’ve found online.

Bible Games for Kids – Sign or No Sign

• Christianity Cove shares a fun game for kids specifically designed for a lesson on Gideon.

3 Active Games for Children’s Church

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-Children.com shares these three great games for church. These will work especially well for your more active kids – you know the ones I’m talking about!

Group game for teaching about prayer

• Lin Pearson shares a great game for helping kids to learn about the spiritual discipline of prayer.

Bible Jeopardy Game for Family Time

• Pastor Steve links to a jeopardy type game for teaching your kids about the Bible.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Wonder by Randy Isola

• I slowed down this past month, but I’m still working through the chapters in the e-book “What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry.” This month I looked at the chapter on Wonder by Randy Isola.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

Spotlight on our Sponsors – Christianity Cove

• On Dad in the Middle, we’ve started to shine the spotlight on some of our sponsors, this article highlights some of the features of Christianity Cove.

What is CommanderBill.net?

• Commander Bill shares just what his Awana site is all about.

Pay Jr. = 21st Century Allowance

• Sam Luce reviews a resource that brings the concept of allowance into the 21st century.

Open Content Policy for Website Content

• Tony Kummer shares the policies of Ministry-to-Children.com on the use of materials published on their site.

Coloring Pages

Recently some sites (specifically Ministry-to-Children.com) have been offering free Bible based coloring pages for use at home or in your ministry. I thought they merited their own section, so here it is!

Gospel Coloring Pages: Who is my King?

• Check out this new series of coloring pages from Ministry-to-Children.com

Gospel Coloring Pages: Why Do I Need a King?

• Ministry-to-Children.com’s gospel coloring page series continued with this “Why Do I Need a King?” page.

Creation Coloring Pages “Very Good”

• Ministry-to-Children.com is quickly becoming known as the premiere place on the internet to getting coloring pages for your kids or your children’s ministry. Check out this page on creation.

Armor of God Coloring Pages

• More coloring page from Ministry-to-Children.com. This article includes several related to the Armor of God.

Other Kidmin Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Shout Out Loud

• This is fun video to get the kids in your ministry up and moving.

GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP DVDs (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• God’s Kids Worship is a great resource for worship music for your children’s ministry. Find out more about them in this article.

Blog Series – CD Burn Notice

Yancy Richmond offers solid advice about music and copyrights.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Free stuff every kids pastor need to know about.

• Sam Luce shares links to various free things that all children’s pastors should take advantage of. Thanks for Sam for listing these out.

Meet the Rizers

• Sam Luce shares information about a great group doing kids worship music.

Free Resource Friday: CM Talk

• Jared Massey links to one of my favorite podcasts – CM Talk and shares his 6 degrees of separation from both Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode.

Other General Resources (Bible Study, Theology, Etc.)

As those in children’s ministry, one of the things we should be committed to is growing in our own faith. I come across all kinds of resources to help with that, I will share them here.

Love Genealogy? Then You’ll Love This Bible Website!

• John Saddington shares a link to a fascinating site based on the genealogies of the Bible.

Biblia.com Launches, Access Scripture Everywhere

• Here is another site from John Saddington. This one if for Bible study and comes from the people who put out the Logos Bible Study software. There are elements that you can purchase, but there is plenty of free stuff you can use as well.

Jesus.org – A New Tool for Answering Kids

• Here is an article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com about an apologetic site which answers a multitude of questions about Jesus.

Virtual Models of the Temple Mount in the Time of Jesus

• Justin Taylor shares this video recreation of what the temple looked like in the days of Jesus.

Writer’s Block. What to do When the Well Runs Dry.

• Don Miller offers his advice on what to do when your creative writing juices dry up.

13 Questions to Diagnose Your Idolatries

• The Desiring God blogs share a short and insightful list of questions for you to diagnose the idols in your own life.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

Blog Series – Free Bible Lessons

Sam Luce continues to post free Bible lessons on the books of the Old Testament.

• Free Bible Lesson: Book of Ruth
• Free Bible Lesson: 1 & 2 Samuel
• Free Bible Lesson: 1 & 2 Kings

Special Needs Focused Curriculum

• Amy Fenton Lee answers the question about how to find curriculum for special needs children for your church.

How NOT to Choose Curriculum

• Karl Bastian shares five ways you SHOULD NOT choose curriculum for your children’s ministry.

Salvation Object Lesson

• Linnea Sandvall, of Ministry-to-Children.com shares an object lesson on salvation using only an egg.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

The Moment of Terror

• This article conveys my personal experience with the worst feeling a parent could ever experience.

Blog Series – 8 ways to empower your child to have the best school year ever !

Jim Wideman shares how you can bless your kids in this new school year.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Hide and go seek and letting go.

• Sam Luce shares his theories on the importance of training our kids and letting them go.

I’d Rather be Hated than Loved with Conditions

• Donald Miller writes about the problems of conditional love.

Let’s get Awkward!

• Matt Mckee explores the awkwardness of praying with your spouse.

5 C’s for Parenting

• Forming Faith reposts a blog article on the five C’s of biblical parenting. The author may be unknown, but the article is definitely worth reading.

Worshipping With Children: Some Thoughts for Parents

• Greg Priebbenow shares his thought on how to make Sunday a more enjoyable experience.

Less Time…More Influence

• Carey Nieuwhof writes about the amount of time you have with your kids and your influence on them.

Parenting Tip: Compliance vs. Obedience

• One of the things I love about Staci Inskeep and her Cap City Kidz blog is the practical advice she offers to parents in her ministry. In this article, she tackles the difference between compliance and obedience.

Parenting Tip: Understanding Obedience

• In this article, Staci Inskeep helps parents to understand what Obedience is.

Parenting Tip: Strong-Willed Kids

• Staci Inskeep offers advice to parents on what to do with strong-willed kids.

18 Lessons From 18 Years of Marriage

• Past Mark Driscoll, and his wife, share 18 things they have learned over the course of their marriage.

Developing a Family Plan for your child’s spiritual growth

• This post will help parents sit down and come up with a spiritual plan for their kids.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

Children’s Bible Studies – Good Friend Qualities

• This lesson from Christianity Cove, uses the story of Samson to teach about being a good friend.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

Arguing with a stereotypical woman

• Abraham Pipers shares this fun cartoon about the art of arguing with women.

5 people you meet in any small group.

• Stuff Christians Like explores 5 types of people you will meet in small groups. I wonder what the kidmin equivalents of these are.

Twitter.

• Stuff Christians Like suggests come Twitter etiquette.

95 Theses Rap

• What do Martin Luther and rap music have in common?

A helicopter you can fly with your iPhone

• J.C. Thompson shares what has to be one of the coolest toys I’ve seen in a while!

Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

This section includes a listing of my posts on Dad in the Middle alerting readers to new articles which I have published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

The Centrality of Christ in Children’s Ministry

• In this Ministry-to-Children.com article, I examined the importance of, and provided some guidelines for gauging, the centrality of Christ in your kidmin lesson.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (August 2009)
2. Top 10 in 2010–Best Articles from The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (June 2010)

Welcome to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry. As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

To help identify what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month, I’ve added this little graphic next to titles of particularly pertinent posts. I think they’re all must-reads, but if you’re running short on time, you should make sure that you check out these articles at a minimum!

We’ve added several new categories over the last several months to make things easier to find. AS the number of posts increases, I’ve felt it necessary to add additional categories. If you have any category ideas, please let me know!

We are introduced a new feature a couple of months ago called “Featured Article of the Month.” As I explain in the introduction to that section, “The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).”

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• Featured Article of the Month
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• VBS
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites and Resources
• Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun
• Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

As has become a custom here in on the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, I’ve included this graphic to warn you / let you know where a post came from Dad in the Middle. I am also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com. Those articles are scattered throughout the Blog Patrol.

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

Ministering to Kids in Divorce… a guest blog by Tori Einstein

• Tori Einstein writes from her own personal experience about what kids suffering through divorce really need from you.

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

The Importance of Worship Music for Kids

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explore the importance of finding good worship music to use in your children’s ministry.

Ministering to Kids in Divorce… a guest blog by Tori Einstein

• Tori Einstein writes from her own personal experience about what kids suffering through divorce really need from you.

Good teachers

• Brenna Phillips shares several marks of a great teacher.

The Truth this Sunday

• Jonathan cliff did a great job incorporating an article I wrote into a video for his volunteers. I was honored that he felt like it would be a useful thing for his volunteers to hear.

2010 Lower Elementary Worship Set

• Joy Bowen shares the music they are using this summer for their lower elementary age groups.

Hey, What’s Your Name?

• Christine Yount Jones shares some ideas for what to do when you forget a child’s name.

The 7 Most Important Things You Can Tell A Child

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share the seven most important things I think you can tell any child.

Unwanted Counsel during Times of Grief

• This observation relayed by Justin Taylor is very insightful when it comes to dealing with grief.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Blog Series – The “Non-Negotiables”

In this series, on Kidmin1124.com, I explore those things which you can not cut out of your life in order to make time.

• The Non-Negotiables: An Introduction
• The Non-Negotiables #1: Prayer
• The Non-Negotiables #2: Time in the Word

Blog Series – 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off the Ground (Without the Hot Air)

Ryan Frank continued his series this month of 101 ways to get your children’s ministry going.

• #5. Leaders let go (just ask Andy).
• #6. Two hotels and a few cans of paint.

Blog Series – Developing Depth in Your Ministry

Jim Wideman concludes his series on manufacturing depth in your children’s ministry.

• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7

Blog Series – Starting From Scratch

North Point Kids discusses starting a children’s ministry from scratch.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – Expectations

Kids Ministry 101 explores the importance of great expectations in children’s ministry.

• Great Expectations through Kids Sunday School!
• Expect Classes to Reproduce!
• Expect Classes to Reproduce!

Blog Series – Super Size Me

Turns out this series isn’t about fast food. Rather, Jim Wideman discusses the process by which you enlarge your abilities.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

Blog Series – Creating Kids Church Magic

Justyn Smith discusses the life of Jesus and Disney World.

• Creating Kids Church Magic: Create a Culture of Training (1 of 7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: Everyone Is Important (2 of 7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: Be Guilty of Appreciation Overload (3/7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: Create Magical Moments (4/7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: Stay Ahead (5/7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: Eliminate Hassles (6/7)
• Creating Kids Church Magic: You Represent the Church (7/7)

7 Things Kids Wish Their Leaders Knew

• This article from Ministry-to-Children.com is based on a conversation I had with my own kids about what they would like new leaders in their children’s ministries to know about them.

Killing Our Need For Affirmation

• Peter Bierma writes about where we should find our affirmation and the need to get past desiring that affirmation from man.

What’s the Proper Role of Children’s Ministry?

• In this article, I explore some questions I have been wrestling with about the proper role of children’s ministry within the church.

Opportunity comes to those who work… not wait!

• Nicki Straza shares her thoughts on the importance of trying.

Three Convictions About Children’s Ministry – Sunday Night Reflections

• Perry Noble offers up three thoughts on children’s ministry. This is an interesting look at children’s ministry from the eyes of a senior pastor.

Teen Buddy Training

• Amy Fenton Lee writes about using a teen buddy system in special needs ministry.

A Defining Moment

• Wendy Douglas asks what your defining moment in children’s ministry was.

How Do You Build Momentum in Your Children’s Ministry?

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share my thoughts on the importance of building momentum in your ministry.

What does “fun” mean?

• Lin Pearson asks what fun means and how that impacts Children’s Ministry.

Surviving Ministry in a Shrinking Church

• In the latest Think Tank from Ministry-to-Children.com, several writers weigh in on how to survive and thrive in children’s ministry in a shrinking church.

No Excuses

• In his first article for Kidmin1124Jared Massey asks what excuses you are using for not doing what you need to get done.

How can I be more creative?

• J.C. shares his thoughts on ways to spark creativity.

You Have to Take Time to Make Time

• In her first article for Kidmin1124.com, Barbra Graves explores how you can spend some time to make time.

When Your Ministry Program Falls Apart

• Karen Wingate shares her personal story of a flailing children’s ministry and what it means to her personal faith.

Where Have all the Children Gone?

• Kevin DeYoung shares an interesting graph based on a 2008 Pew Study regarding where kids raised in different churches end up as adults.

Comp ‘Em

• Dale Hudson shares his thoughts on what to do in children’s ministry in those situations where people are upset with you.

Just the Facts! Special Needs Statistics

• Amy Fenton Lee shares some statistics regarding special needs based on her extensive research.

You can change a child’s direction

• Lin Pearson shares a powerful Biblical example of how external influences can change the path a child takes.

Five ways Children’s Ministry is like the documentary “Oceans”

• Growing Kids Ministry comments on what we can learn about children’s ministry from the Oceans documentary.

Too Much Church! 5 Dangers Facing Over-Churched Kids

• Tony Kummer kicks off his discussion of over-churched kids with this look at five dangers you could face when kids spend too much time at church. Make sure you read through the comments section as well – great stuff!

9 Strategies for Reaching Over-Churched Kids

• In his follow-up to the dangers of being over churched, Tony Kummer offers some practical advice and tips on how to combat it.

8 Reasons Some Churches Do Not Grow

• Parry Noble shares eight reasons churches don’t grow. I think these are applicable to children’s ministries as well.

the trap of busyness

• Pudge Huckaby explores the dangers of being to busy.

I Could Learn From… Reggie Joiner

• In a continuing series, Larry Shallenberger explores the lessons he could learn from Orange pioneer Reggie Joiner.

True Beauty?

• John Foley explore what we can learn about children’s ministry from the reality show True Beauty.

Creating an Organization that Values Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose

• This book, and these ideas, are on my list of things to blog about, but I just haven’t had the chance yet. So, here is a great article from John Saddington on what motivates people from the book Drive by Daniel H. Pink.

The Premise of “The Inclusive Church” Blog

• Amy Fenton Lee shares the basis for her blog dedicated to Special Needs Children’s ministry.

3AM Wake Up Call

• Wendy Douglas shares a personal story about God’s guidance in her life.

Parenting Advice from a Single Children’s Pastor

• In Kenny Acock’s inaugural article for Kidmin1124.com he shares ways that single pastors can help parents.

play with your food (?)

• Amy Dolan wonders if it is appropriate to play with our food in children’s ministry.

Strategies for Separation Anxiety at Church

• Kristin Charles from Ministry-to-Children.com shares some practical ideas on how to overcome separation anxiety.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

The Most Important Part of Your Story

• Michael Hyatt writes about the importance of not quitting.

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

Blog Series – Where the Wild Things Are

Jenny Funderburke concludes her series on children’s ministry discipline.

• “Max’s mother called him ‘Wild Thing’ and sent him to bed without supper…” Discipline and Consequences in Children’s Ministry

Blog Series – How To Deal With Difficult Kids

J.C. examines ways to deal with difficult kids in children’s ministry.

• How to deal with difficult kids when you’re teaching
• How to deal with difficult kids: The Riddler

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan continues her long running Monday Morning series with ideas for having a better meeting.

• #13: build a better (mental) meeting
• #14: build a better (one word) meeting
• #15: build a better (iPad) meeting

Do you explain things well?

• Joy Bowen writes on identifying your weaknesses and figuring out how to bring that strength to your team.

The 200 slide solution

• Seth Godin writes about a technique for keeping an audience engaged by simply changing how you present something. While this particular technique is likely not applicable to children’s ministry, the idea is sound.

Underpromising Leadership

• Do you overpromise in leadership or underpromise?

Five Strategies for Building New Habits

• Michael Hyatt shares five strategies he has found useful in developing habits.

Five Ways to Use Authority for the Benefit of Your Team

• As a leader, are you using your authority to benefit yourself or to benefit your team?

feedback ≠ control

• Just because you get feedback on something doesn’t mean you need to turn over control of it to someone else. Amy Dolan looks at using feedback while still maintaining control.

How (Not) to Fail at Communication

• There was no better way to summarize this article than to share my favorite line from it which is, “Separating the issue from the person allows you to communicate in a way that shows you value the relationship – and still deal with the issue.”

Signs of Personal Stress in your Ministry

• This article provides a listing of ten signs that you are succumbing to personal stress and might be a good litmus test for you.

The Principle of the Leadership Lid

• Thom Rainer talks about the limitations a leader can put on an entire organization and the importance of having the right people.

Real Leaders Rest

• Carey Nieuwhof discusses the importance, and gift, of rest.

Avoiding the Tyranny of the Urgent

• Do you schedule time with yourself? Michael Hyatt suggests that it might be a good idea.

Learning through transition

• J.C. Thompson shares what he’s learning as he transitions roles at his church.

Young Leadership Lesson #2 – Respect

• J.C. returns with his series of lessons for young leaders – this time talking about respect.

5 Types of Leaders

• Orange Leaders lays out five different kinds of leaders.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

What Do Your Volunteers Want?

• Check out this list I compiled of ten things your volunteers want from you.

Are Your Volunteers Driven?

• Joy Bowen shares a very interesting video about what really motivates people. This has made my list of things to write about at some point in the near future!

Be a Place Where Volunteers Want to Be

• Jenny Funderburke explores what a place where volunteers want to be would look like.

Need or Vision

• Barbara Graves asks what message we are giving to potential volunteers.

10 Ways To Build An Effective Children’s Ministry Team

• Tamera Kraft shares ten tips for building a children’s ministry team.

If You’re Going to Recruit, You’re Going to Have to Talk to People

• Jenny Funderburke shares some volunteer recruiting basics.

How Good of a Stalker Are You?

• Jenny Funderburke offers more advice on the art of kidmin recruiting.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Children in Worship … Or Not

• This article from Greg Priebbenow addresses the issue of whether or not children should stay in worship with their parents.

Kids & The Bible

Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the Bible and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Using the Bible Biblically to Parent Biblically

• Mark Tubbs explores the indirect parenting advice from the Bible.

The Spirit of the Child

• Greg Priebbenow writes about the spiritual life of kids and why it matters.

Kids & Christ

In all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

When the Angels Rejoice

• I wrote this article about the upcoming baptism of my seven year old daughter.

The Gospel Matters for Your Toddler

• Jay Younts explores why parents should have a sense of urgency about sharing the gospel with their toddlers.

The Gospel Matters for Your Eight-Year-Old

• Jay Younts explores why the gospel is important to your kids in a world which is ready to offer plenty of alternatives.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Online Safety for parents.

• Sam Luce shares a resource with parents that will monitor their children’s online activity on social networking sites.

10 Commandments of Online Safety for kids.

• If you are a parent, or someone who works with kids, you HAVE TO read this post from Sam Luce. These 10 rules are short, simple and absolutely essential!

How to protect our kids online

• Lin Pearson summarizes 13 points from Steven Kryger on how to protect your kids online.

Over 80% of Teenagers Lack Meaningful Relationships with Adults Beyond Family

• The Forming Faith blog looks at how many teenagers have a meaningful relationship with adults outside of their own family.

Children are growing older faster

• Brenna Phillips writes about the cultural phenomenon whereby kids are asked to grow up quicker in our society.

Are Movies Becoming More “Christian”?

• This interesting little article from Mike Johnson asks if movies are becoming “more Christian.”

VBS

With VBS getting closer and closer, the number articles related to the topic warrants its own category.

Review: VBS Curriculum from the Seventh Day Adventist Church

• I reviewed a VBS produced by the Seventh Day Adventist Church for Ministry-to-Children.com. Here is what I had to say.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

I’m Puzzled | game

• Here a fun teamwork game involving blindfolds and puzzles.

Games for large groups

• Lin Pearson lists some great resources for large group games.

Fun & Games

• Wendy Douglas shares some resources for finding fun and games to infuse into your ministry.

Indoor games for hot days

• Brenna Phillips shares a link to some fun indoor games you can play when the weather outside it too hot to spend much time in the great outdoors.

How We Tweak Minute to Win It Games for kidmin.

• Sam Luce shares how they tweaked some Minute to Win It games for their children’s ministry event.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

Blog Series – Lead the Way God Made You – Five Year Anniversary Blog Tour

There were two separate series going on this month to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of Larry Shallenbeger’s book “Lead the Way God Made You.” Larry spent some time on his blog sharing more about the book, and a series of bloggers (including myself) reviewed the book. This section includes them both.

Blog Series – What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry?

This month, I continued my series in which I am working my way through the book “What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry?” chapter by chapter.

• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Redemption by Sam Luce
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Memories by Sarah Killelea
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Community by Liz Perraud

• Larry Shallenberger – The “Lead The Way God Made You Blog Tour” Opens!
• Matthew Guevara – Lead the Way God Made You – Blog Tour
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You, Day 2: “Sometimes the First Idea is Not the Best Idea”
• Barbara Graves – Lead the Way God Made You
• Larry Shallenberger – LTWGMY DAY 3: What Bowling has to do with Building Culture
• Joe McGinnis – Lead the Way God Made You – Book Review
• Kenny Conley – A “not-so-new” (but great) leadership resource
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour, Day 4: Read for Free
• Todd McKeever – Lead the way God made you book review
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You, Day 5: Goose Chase
• Henry Zonio – Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour!!!
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour, Day 6
• Kenny Conley – Book Review: Lead the Way God Made You
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You, Day 7: “Letting Go of Part of Your Game”
• Greg Baird – Lead the Way God Made You (Book Review)
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You, Day Eight: A Leadership Profile of Karl Bastian
• Wayne Stocks – LEAD THE WAY GOD MADE YOU by LARRY SHALLENBERGER (a Dad in the Middle Review)
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour, Day 9: “The Goal isn’t Perfection, It’s Being Connected”
• Jonathan Cliff – Book Review: Lead the way God Made You
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour, Day 10: “But Will it Play in Korea?”
• Wendy Douglas – Happy Birthday to Larry Shallenberger & Lead the Way God Made You!
• Larry Shallenberger – Lead the Way God Made You, Final Post of Blog Tour
• Peter Bierma (not part of the official tour, but interesting none the less) – Lead the Way God Made You

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

TOGETHERVILLE.COM (A Dad in the Middle Review) [07/28/2010]

• In this article, I review a great new “facebook like” website for kids.

Ten Internet Tools for Children’s Ministry

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share ten sites that people in children’s ministry ought to know about.

Site of the week: Seeds

• Kenny Conley shares a site from Church on the Move in which they share great information on the technical side of church.

Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Blog Series – The Best Part of My Trip to the CM Expo

In this two part series, I reflect on the best thing about the CM Expo.

• The Best Part of My Visit to the CM Expo (Part 1)
• The Best Part of My Visit to the CM Expo (Part 2)

Review: Cullen’s ABC’s Online Preschool Program

• Here is a review of an online preschool which I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com.

The Two Years that Will Impact the Entire Rest of My Ministry

• Jenny Funderburke shares her thoughts on her time spent in Jim Wideman’s infuse program.

Top 25 iPhone Apps for Kids

• Sam Luce shares the top twenty five apps for kids for the Iphone. I don’t have one myself, by I know that my kids (from 3 to 17) all enjoy playing on their Mom’s IPod Touch.

Video & Recap from Children’s Ministry Expo

• Tony Kummer shares some thoughts and a video re: his experience at the CM Expo, and yes, I have a very small cameo in the video.

CMX 2010 Report

• This is Commander Bill’s take on the Expo.

CMX: My Children’s Ministry Expo Experience

• Pastor Steve shares his thoughts on his trip to the Expo as well.

Kidology to Go – Where the Rubber Meets the Road!

• Kidology announced a new two-and-a-half year program that is going to take Kidology out of the computer and into churches around the country.

What’s the Deal with Seeds Family Worship?

• I love the music of Seed Family Worship. Check out this review that I did for Ministry-to-Children.com.

Andrew Peterson’s Counting Stars, A Review

• Donald Miller reviews the latest album of Andrew Peterson.

CMX: My Experience Part 2

• Steve Bourque shares more about his experience at the CM Expo.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

Blog Series – Sam Luce Bible Lessons

Last Month, Sam Luce started sharing some of the lessons he has written for children’s ministry. Last month he shared Genesis and Exodus which were featured in the The Blog Patrol. This month, Sam shared a number of additional lessons.

• Free Bible Lessons: Leviticus “Book of Holiness”
• Free Bible Lessons: Numbers “Book of Wanderings”
• Free Bible Lessons: Deuteronomy “Faith and Obedience”
• Free Bible Lesson – Joshua “Boldness”
• Free Bible Lesson – Judges “Heros”

Review: The Lads Kids Curriculum.

• Sam Luce reviews a new curriculum from The Lads Band.

ReThink ReInvents Family Times

• Kenny Conley writes about the new product for families from ReThink called Cue Box.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Blog Series – Our Values

Reggie Joiner explores the values that he and Carey Nieuwhof write about in their book Parenting Beyond Your Capacity

• Our Values
• Family Value #1: Widen the Circle
• Family Value #2: Imagine the End
• Family Value #3: Fight for the Heart
• Family Value #4: Create a Rhythm
• Family Value #5: Make it Personal

Parenting | Saying Yes

• Dan Scott reminds us that our kids grow up quickly, and our goal should be to tell them yes as much as possible.

How To Fail At Communication (1)

• Carey Nieuwhof reminds us that how we say things to our kids is just as important as what we say.

Why Are Parents So Unhappy? And Who Would Settle for Happiness, Anyway?

• Albert Mohler comments on studies which conclude that parenting does not make people happy.

Preschool Moms Ministry: Preschool Play Day

• Amy Brown offers some ideas for parents of preschoolers to get together with other preschoolers for a day out.

The Misery of the American Parent

• Ivy Beckwith explores what parents might be thinking when we tell them that they need to be at the center of their children’s spiritual formation.

children + city = strong faith

• Amy Dolan explores the pros and cons of raising kids in a city verses rural setting.

Qualities of a Strong Family

• This is a great bullet list of what makes a family successful in various areas.

How To Make Sure You Destroy Your Marriage With An Affair!

• Perry Nobel shares a list of things you can do that are certain to ruin your marriage.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

5 On-The-Go Family Devotions for Summertime

• Kristin Charles shares five great ideas for summer devotionals for families on the go.

Cooking Up Family Devotions with Your Kids

• Kristin Charles from Ministry-to-Children.com offers up three food related devotions you can do with your kids.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

Glory Days

• Funny Man Dan on focusing on the “good old days.”

Personality Profiles

• I like personality tests. I really do. Here’s are John’s results from Human Error. I feel like I know him after reading this.

Stuff Kids Pastor’s Like #105: Candy and Drugs.

• Sam Luce shares this candy to drugs conversion table.

10 Common Spelling Mistakes That Haunt Bloggers

• I’m a bit of a grammar nut, but I do make the occasional typo in a blog. Here is a list of the top ten mistakes bloggers make.

Baby Sunday School

• John Acuff shares some rules, as only he can, for a baby Sunday school.

Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

This section includes a listing of my posts on Dad in the Middle alerting readers to new articles which I have published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

Why Life Isn’t Supposed to Be Fair

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I discuss the problem with the idea of fairness.

Does Quality Time Always Have to Be Spiritual Time? [07/16/2010]

• Do you really have to talk about God every time you talk to a child?

A Collection of Verses for Fathers [07/30/2010]

• This Ministry-to-Children.com article is a collection of verses for dads.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (July 2009)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (May 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)

Welcome to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry. As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

With the makeover of the blog this past month, I was hoping to update the look of the Blog Patrol as well, but I decided to go on a Daddy/Daughter date with my seven year old instead.  I will work on it for next month!

To help identify what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month, I’ve added this little graphic next to titles of particularly pertinent posts. I think they’re all must-reads, but if you’re running short on time, you should make sure that you check out these articles at a minimum!

We’ve added several new categories over the last several months to make things easier to find. AS the number of posts increases, I’ve felt it necessary to add additional categories. If you have any category ideas, please let me know!

We are introduced a new feature a couple of months ago called “Featured Article of the Month.” As I explain in the introduction to that section, “The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).”

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• Featured Article of the Month
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• VBS
• Games
• Books
• Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun
• Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

As has become a custom here in on the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, I’ve included this graphic to warn you / let you know where a post came from Dad in the Middle. I am also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com and Kidmin1124.com. Those articles are scattered throughout the Blog Patrol.

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

Blog Series – Toy Story 3: What We Can Learn From a Great Story

Donald Miller explores Toy Story 3 as an example of great storytelling.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Where is Jesus in this Bible Story?

• In this article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com I discuss the importance of making sure that Jesus is at the very center of your children’s ministry.

Does Quality Time Always Have to Be Spiritual Time?

• In this article written for Ministry-to-Children.com I discuss the time we spend with kids discussing “non-spiritual” matters,

Memory verses: Out-loud learning really works

• Lin Pearson shares some advice on how to help kids memorize verses by repeating them out loud.

4 Tools a Preschool Sunday School Teacher Can Use to Add Zing

• Acacia in the Desert shares four tools you can use in preschool ministry to add zing to your classroom.

Learning style

• Brenna Phillips shares a link to a site to test your knowledge on what kind of learner your kid is.

Training Your Children to Manage Money

• Justin Taylor provides an outline and link to the full article by Randy Alcorn on how to help your kids manage money.

10 Way to Get Kids Excited About the Bible

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share ten things you can do to get children excited about their Bibles.

Children in Worship

• Greg Priebbenow offers some resources related to children’s worship.

Stuff Kid’s Pastors Like #104 – Forcing Object Lessons

• Sam Luce shares some bad ideas for incorporating object lessons into your children’s ministry.

Summertime = Playtime. Playtime = Building Relationships with Kids.

• Kristi West discusses the importance of playing with kids.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

Blog Series – The Art of Storytelling

Jared Kennedy offers this series on telling good stories based on a two part lecture given by Andrew Peterson. Read this series, and make sure you listen to the talks from Andrew Peterson as well. It will be time well spent!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – Toy Story 3: What We Can Learn From a Great Story

Donald Miller explores Toy Story 3 as an example of great storytelling.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

What kind of story are you writing?

• Sam Luce wonders what kind of life we’re living in front of our kids. Is it the kind of life that demonstrates faith in God?

Creative Bible Teaching: 5 Bible Storytelling Ideas

• Amy Brown offers five ideas for creatively telling stories on Ministry-to-Children.com

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Blog Series – What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry

I continued my review and comments on various submissions to the E-Book “What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry?”

• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Kingdom by Anthony Prince
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Sufficiency Dr. Rob Rienow
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Ingenuity by Henry Zonio
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – The End by Kenny Conley
• What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Us by David Wakerley

Blog Series – Kids Ministry Champion of the Week

Tony Kummer continues his series on Ministry-to-Children.com highlighting selected champions of the Children’s Ministry community.

• Amy Dolan
• Christine Yount Jones

Blog Series – Large Group / Small Group

Jonathan Cliff explores the dynamic between large group and small group time.

• Meeting Jesus
• Small Group Ministry Prayer
• Large Group Ministry Flexibility

Blog Series – Hiring in Children’s Ministry

Jonathan Cliff shares some of the criteria he uses in hiring people.

• Building a Ministry Staff Team
• Hiring Quality #1 // Love Your Spouse
• Hiring Quality #2 // Love the Church
• Hiring Quality #3 // Love the Lord
• Ministry Staff Team Summary

Blog Series – Do You Lie About Yourself Online?

Sam Luce, in an effort to share that we are all human, shares some of the mistakes he has made in ministry.

• Do you lie about yourself online?
• Not including parents.
• Caring more about fun than safety.
• #fail: Not functioning under authority.

Blog Series – Time Gobblers

Mike Johnson writes about things that can needlessly eat up your time.

• Part 1: Programming Pac-man
• Part 2: The Meeting Miser
• Time Gobblers – Part 3: The Interruption Immobilizer
• Time Gobblers – Part 4: The Plan-less Paralyzer

Blog Series – Developing Depth in Your Ministry

Jim Wideman shares his thoughts on the importance of, and methods for, developing depth in your ministry.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Reaching Out to Children: Do You Have a Plan?

• Kids Ministry 101 offers advice on developing a plan for reaching children.

Nothing Is Actually Free

• Carey Nieuwhof reminds us that there is really nothing in life which is truly free.

Life Is Not Fair (and Neither Is God)

• In this article written for Ministry-to-Children.com, I examine the problems with the cultural trend towards mandatory fairness.

Giving advice on a subject you know nothing about

• J.C. shares an experience in Children’s Ministry where he was called upon to give advice in an area where he has no personal experience. I think this is something most of us have experienced this in ministry at some point or another.

Verbs Not Nouns

• This is an interesting article about how kids approach the world as a verb and not a noun.

Weekend Recap: Inadequate Facilities

• Jared Massey discusses the facilities at his church and God’s provision.

Forward Momentum

• Gina McClain discusses the need to build momentum in order to accomplish goals in ministry.

Questions to Engage the Parent of a Child with Special Needs

• Amy Fenton Lee shares a list of questions you can use to engage the parents of a child with special needs.

A Servant’s Heart

• This article offers some advice to Children’s Pastors about how they can serve their Senior Pastors.

5 Ways to Make Sure You’re Always Insecure

• Anna Light shares five things that, if you do them, will always keep you feeling insecure.

Weekend Recap: “Dear God, I Love You”

• Jared Massey shares a wonderful story about the kids and prayer.

(not yet hatched) creative ideas

• Amy Dolan shares some great ideas that she has been mulling over.

Cut The Bull: Where’s Your True Passion

• Todd McKeever explores the importance of passion in your ministry.

Success! What our Preschool Minister Did Right

• Amy Fenton Lee shares how a preschool minister in her church did all the right things for her autistic son.

What Do You Do When the Pressure Is On?

• The Inside North Point Kids blog offers advice on how to handle the situation when the pressure gauge is turned up extra high!

Now That Was a Good Confrontation

• Larry Shallenberger shares a confrontation he had in which the other person approached it with a biblical model of confrontation.

5 Ways To Balance Family and Church Ministry

• Kristen Charles from Ministry-to-Children.com shares five ways to helps balance your ministry to your own family with your ministry to kids at church.

Using Music Beyond Sundays

• Joy Bowen looks at ways to incorporate kids’ worship music throughout your week.

The Need for Control

• Anna Light examines the relationship between fear in women and a need for control.

Get Your Head in the Game

• Wendy Douglas, in her first published article for Kidmin1124.com shares some tips on how balance work and ministry.

Discussing Death with Children

• In this article, Greg Priebbenow offers practical advice on talking to children about death.

parents oppose security?

• Amy Dolan wonders why some parents oppose the security procedures in place to protect their kids.

The Antidote for Control

• Anna Light explores the antidote for a controlling personality.

First Impressions

• Joy Bowen writes about the importance of making a good first impression, and no this article has nothing to do with dandruff. 

Family Focus

• Wendy Douglas shares her thoughts and ideas on how to put your family first.

Weekend Recap: Impact

• Jared Massey shares a story that reminds us why those of us in children’s ministry do the things we do.

Organization tips for children’s ministry

• Theo-Ann offers some practical suggestions about how to stay organized in ministry.

Pixar on Collaboration

• Matthew Guevara links to a great video from Pixar University Dean Randy Nelson discussing finding the right people and collaboration.

Discipline

How to discipline in Children’s Ministry is an oft discussed question, and this section is dedicated to all things related to discipline.

Blog Series – Where the Wild Things Are

With an apt title for an article on discipline in children’s ministry, this series explores “how we can better minister to our “wild things” with behavior management strategies.”

• New (and first) Blog Series: Where the Wild Things Are
• Let the wild rumpus begin…
• “His mother called him ‘Wild Thing’”… What Not to Say and Do
• “And Max said, ‘I’ll eat you up.’”… Behaviors that HAVE to be Addressed

Discipline Policy for Children’s Ministries

• This article offers some ideas on discipline for various age levels.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

It’s Time Again – Announcing The 2nd Annual “Go Dark” Challenge

• It’s time for the Go Dark challenge again this year where I turn off everything electronic for a week. You can get all the details here. I hope you will consider joining me in Go Dark!

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan of Lemon Lime Kids continues her Monday morning series on building a better meeting.

• #12: build a better (robotic) meeting

Blog Series – Renew and You

Jim Wideman examines the importance of personal renewal.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – Eleven People You Need to Beware Of

Perry Noble give a synopsis of 11 different types of people you need to beware of.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Project Management for Children’s Pastors

Tamera Kraft shares advice for children’s pastors about managing projects.

• Introduction and Scope
• Resources and Team Building
• List Your Steps
• Work Your Plan

Blog Series – Leaders Are Examples

In this series, Jim Wideman writes about the need for leaders to be examples to those they lead.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Two Quick Leadership Thoughts…

• Perry Noble offers two brief insights into being a leader.

Young Leadership Lesson #1 – Humility

• J.C., young in years but wise beyond his age, shares his insights into humility.

“This better work”

• Seth Godin explores the difference in attitude between “This might work.” and “This better work!”

The Fine Art of Delegation

• Christine Yount Jones reflects on the consequences of poor delegation.

10 Random Leadership Thoughts!

• Perry Noble shares exactly what the title implies – 10 random thoughts on leadership. They may be random, but they are definitely useful.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Kidmin1124 – A New Perspective on Children’s Ministry

• Along with several other volunteer and bi-vocational children’s ministers, we launched a new blog called Kidmin1124.com this month. Here is my article announcing the launch.

More Than “Just a Volunteer”

• In my very first article for Kidmin1124.com, I write about why we are so much more than “just volunteers.”

Great Tips for Recruiting Volunteers for Ministry

• J.C. shares some tips on recruiting volunteers.

Stepping Stones

• Wendy Douglas reminds us that all volunteers are stepping stones to something great.

I Couldn’t Find It

• This article explores the value of having kid volunteers in your ministry and the importance of accepting that that will sometimes mean you face challenges.

Asking them to do MORE, not less

• Orange Leaders asks whether or not you are asking too little of your volunteers.

New Blog in Town

• Jared Massey promotes the new group blogging known as at Kidmin1124project done from the perspective of volunteers and bi-vocational children’s ministers.

Leadership Nugget–Firing Volunteers

• Andy Johnson, from Free CM Stuff, offers advice on how to fire volunteers.

Kidmin 1124: Help for Non-Paid Ministry Leaders

• Tony Kummer, the founder of Ministry-to-Children.com, wrote a nice article announcing the launch of Kidmin1124.com.

The Week of Sacrifice

• Commander Bill writes about the importance of remembering your volunteers and the sacrifices they make.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

Southern Baptist Statement on Family Worship

• Tony Kummer shares a resolution from the SBC on family worship. Regardless of your denomination (or lack thereof), this is worth a read.

Kids & The Bible

Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the BIble and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Prepackaged Goodness!

• Henry Zonio asks is we are restricting God to a small box in how we teach kids in our children’s ministries.

Bethlehem Baptist’s New Youth Baptism Policy

• Jared Kennedy, from Sojourn Church, shares a paper exploring different views on child baptism.

Biblical Support for Intergenerational Ministry

• Kara Jenkins from Ministry-to-Children.com provides walks through the support for intergeneration ministry.

One of the Marks of God’s Creation is Infinite Complexity

• Donald Miller on the complexity of God and why we can’t figure everything out.

Kids & Christ

In all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

What Can a 2-Year Old Teach You About Prayer?

• In this article I share some basic principles about prayer that I learned from my two year old son.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Modesty guidelines for girls.

• Sam Luce offers some practical advice on modesty for young children.

GameShift: Winning Isn’t Everything Anymore

• Matthew Guevara looks at a trend in video games where it is no longer about winning but the game play that has become the most important factor. He also offers a suggestion about how this might be applied to children’s ministry.

Seven Questions to Help Engage the Culture

• Carey Nieuwhof offers up seven questions he and his team use to gauge how they are engaging the culture.

Meet the New American Family, Digitally Deluged

• Albert Mohler explores the new digital family.

Creating or Consuming Culture?

• In this insightful article, Larry Shallenberger explores Philippians 4:8 and whether or not God intends us to apply the verse merely to consuming culture or to creating culture.

Can you dial-up and play?

• Brenna Phillips writes about some interesting ways young kids are using technology to stay connected.

Technology, Friendships, and How It’s Changing Online Ministry

• John Saddington asks how the use of technology by kids may impact the ministry they will do.

VBS

With VBS getting closer and closer, the number articles related to the topic warrants its own category.

Creative VBS/Summer Ministry Ideas

• Andy Johnson offers some fun ideas that you can incorporate into your VBS.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

On a Bug Hunt – free PowerPoint review Game

• Effective Children’s Ministry offers this free Power Point review game

Scavenger Hunts for Youth, Children, and Adults

• This article offers ideas for a fun family scavenger hunt.

25 Things To Do When There’s Nothing To Do

• Julie Cantrell shares a list of 25 fun things you can do with kids next time they announce “There’s nothing to do!”

Top 5 Way to make games into Super Duper Games

• CentriKids offers suggestions on making your games as much fun as possible.

3 Group Building Games

• Children’s Minister Blog shares three fun, and easy to do, games which are great for group building with kids.

Ideas for games to play

• Brenna Phillips links to a resource with a listing of excellent games for kids.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS – By Jim Wideman (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Here is my review of a great book by Jim Wideman that every parent and person who works with kids should read.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

• Sam Luce shares what he learned from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. This article inspired me to read the book, and I didn’t regret it.

Pastor Dad–Free PDF Download from Mark Driscoll

• Free CM Stuff shares a link to Mark Driscoll’s free e-book called Pastor Dad.

Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Blog Series – CM Telesummit

I shared my notes from the CM Telesummit this past month. Here they are.

• CM TeleSummit – How to Create an Engaging Message by Jeremy White
• CM TeleSummit – Why Family Ministry Is Not an Option – Rob Rienow
• CM TeleSummit – Praise and Worship That Rocks – Yancy
• CMTeleSummit – The Art of Leading Up – Gina McClain
• CMTeleSummit – Leading Strategically From Your Strengths – Michael Chanley
• CMTeleSummit – Digital Children’s Ministry – Amy Dolan
• CM TeleSummit – Technology Tidbits – Jeremy Collins
• CM TeleSummit – Proactive Leadership – Karl Bastian
• CM TeleSummit – 10 Attributes of a Children’s Leader – Justyn Smith
• CM TeleSummit – Finding and Keeping Volunteers – Jim Wideman
• CM TeleSummit – Leading a Core Volunteer Team – David Wakerley and Nathan McLean
• CM Telesummit – Child Evangelism – Jerry Moyer
• CM TeleSummit – Help! I Need Volunteers – Kevin Ranfield

GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• Check out this review I did of modern kids’ worship music from God’s Kids Worship.

Jesus Came to Save Sinners (Free Worship Music for Kids)

• This article showcases free children’s worship music from The Village Church in Texas.

Blog Series – Merge2day

Amy Dolan shares her thoughts from the Merge2day conference.

• [sunday review] merge 2day
• [monday review] merge 2day
• [collaboration] merge 2day
• [moving away from application] merge 2day
• [video] merge 2day

Blog Series – Merge2Day Conference

Ivy Beckwith also shared her thoughts from the Merge2Day Conference.

• Merge2Day Conference
• Merge2Day Day 1
• Merge2Day Day 2
• Merge2Day Day 3

Church Bulletin Insert: The Faith Focused Family

• Nicole VanderMeullen wrote an insert for your church bulletin to give parents tips on developing a faith focused family.

New KidMin Conference

• Christine Yount Jones offers some more details on a new conference which Group Publishing will be putting on this October in Chicago.

Free Bible Lesson – Genesis “God Created Me”

• Sam Luce has begun to share some children’s lessons he wrote from his file, and what better place to start than the book of Genesis?

The Rizers: Family Worship and Scripture Memory that’s fun

• J.C. writes about a source of music for helping kids memorize scripture and provides a link to a site where you can preview some of their music.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

FAITHWEAVER PARENT CLASS (A Dad in the Middle Review)

• I reviewed a new product from Group Publishing – a parent class that goes along with their Faithweaver series of products.

Lesson for Children about Prayer

• Kristin Charles from Ministry-to-Children.com shares a lesson on teaching kids to pray.

Free Bible Lessons – Exodus “Jesus My Redeemer”

• Sam Luce share a children’s lesson he wrote on the book of Exodus.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Blog Series – Real World Parents

Various authors contributed to Lemon Lime Kids’ series based on Mark Matlock’s book by the same name

• [1] real world parents
• [2] real world parents: preschool
• [3] real world parents: ages 6-8
• [4] real world parents: ages 9-10
• [5] real world parents: ages 11-12

Bible Verses for Father’s Day

• In this article written for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share 15 Bible verses which should guide Dads in their role as father.

Teach Motivation, Not Just Morality

• This articles looks at why parents must teach their kids not just that they should behave, but why.

PARENTS AND PUNISHMENT

• Parents need to agree on punishments. This article offers up 14 things which parents should discuss when it comes to discipline.

12 Ways Ephesians 1:3 Should Impact Our Marriage

• This article shares twelve ways that the verse Ephesians 1:3 should impact your marriage.

Marriage: When Ordinary Becomes Counter-Cultural

• Trevin Wax writes on the importance of marriage.

Reframing Reality

• I love pictures – photographs, especially family photos. To the outside world they are just a reflection of a great vacation, a fun birthday, or a magical moment. But, for me, each photo has a much bigger story. It brings back the memories of feelings and emotions before and after the photo. Oftentimes, those memories are a lot more fun in hindsight than they were at the time of the photo. I think Carey Nieuwhof hit son that phenomenon in this article.

Biblical Parenting: 10 Tips for Fathers

• In this article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explore ten bits of advice for fathers gleaned from Corinthians 4:14-21.

The Myth of the Perfect Parent

• Larry Shallenberger reflects on a January 2010 article from Christianity Today on the myth that there is such a thing as a perfect parent.

CORRECTION – ANOTHER PIECE OF DISCIPLINE

• This article looks at the difference between punishment and correction.

Like Lightning

• Reggie Joiner writes on the importance of quantity time with your children.

The Case Against Marriage, Courtesy of Newsweek

• Albert Mohler comments on a Newsweek article that takes aim at the institution of marriage.

Rethink Your Family Rhythm

• How do we make things part of our daily family rhythm? What does your family’s rhythm look like?

Don’t Waste Your Summer: Read with and to Your Kids!

• The Gospel Coalition blog offers some suggestions for books parents can read with their kids.

Fathers: Talk with your children!

• Greg Priebbenow writes about the importance of fathers talking to their kids.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

Repent = Change Direction

• This devotion for kids based on the verses from Joel 2:12-19 teaches kids what repentance really means.

Accurate Predictions

• Based on Joel 2:28-32, this devotion for kids explores Biblical prophecy.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

Dear America

• David Wakerley shares this fun video to help those of us on this side of the pond learn the Queen’s English. If it’s all the same to you, I could less if it’s the same difference.

Microsoft wins the bid to package the new iPhone 4.

• This is a funny take on how Microsoft would have “improved” the packaging of the Ipod. The humor in this one is found in the element of truth included in it.

One liners – not just for laughs

• Funny Man Dan lives up to his name with these well thought out one liners that you can work into conversations.

And you thought twitter was a waste of time.

• I love this. I really think this is the way some people view Twitter.

Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

This section includes a listing of my posts on Dad in the Middle alerting readers to new articles which I have published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. Top 10 in 2010–Best Articles from The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)
3. Blog Patrol (June 2, 2009)

Welcome to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. Every month we gather links from around the blogging world related to Children’s Ministry and issues important to those who work in Children’s Ministry. As always, there were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. I hope you will take a few moments to check them out.

To help identify what I view as the best of the best, or most important, articles of the past month, I’ve added this little graphic next to titles of particularly pertinent posts. I think they’re all must-reads, but if you’re running short on time, you should make sure that you check out these articles at a minimum!

We’ve continued to add new categories. On the heels of adding categories for Storytelling and Discipline and renamed “Kids & Theology” to “Kids & The Bible” last month, this month we’ve added a separate category for Vacation Bible School as more and more articles on the topic begin to appear. If you have any category ideas, please let me know!

We are introducing a new feature this month called “Featured Article of the Month.” As I explain in the introduction to that section, “The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).”

The following is a quick guide to the various sections of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• Featured Article of the Month
• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Storytelling
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• VBS
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites & Resources
• Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun
• Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

As has become a custom here in on the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, I’ve included this graphic to warn you / let you know where a post came from Dad in the Middle. I finally updated the graphic this month to match the new look of Dad in the Middle. I am also now writing for Ministry-to-Children.com. You can find links to those articles below under the section titled Ministry-to-Children.com Articles.

The last couple of days of this month were dominated by posts related to the Orange Conference. Rather than include all of those here, please check out the following two articles which I posted related to Orange:

• My Favorite Tweets from Orange 2010 [05/01/2010]
• An Orange 2010 Blogging Extravaganza [05/03/2010]

With that introduction, let’s have a look at some articles you might have missed this past month:

Featured Article of the Month

The idea of this section is to pick the one article (or series) each month which had the greatest impact on me and I thought would be the most useful to the readers of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. That said, I know myself, and there is a good chance that I may include more than one article each month where I found it impossible to pick just one. I do promise to keep it to three or fewer though! (Note: These articles are also included in their proper categories below).

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry

• I decided to do things a little bit differently this month. What impacted me most this month was not one particular blog entry but a series of them related to the free e-book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry. The link above is to a page which includes links to all the entries this prior month related to the book including my office review of the book. In My Official Review, I have included an updated list of link to all of the blog posts (including my own) related to the book. Those include (as of today):

1. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – The Teaser Post – from Dad in the Middle
2. The Best New Kidmin Resource…For FREEEEEEEEEE? – from SmallTownKidmin (Jared Massey)
3. It’s Coming | What Matters Now – from Dan Scott
4. Preview: What Matters Now In Children’s Ministry – Anthony Prince preview post
5. Vision | One Word – from Dan Scott (when he writing his chapter)
6. Free E-book: What Matters Now – Larry Shallenberger
7. What Matters Now? – David Wakerley
8. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Ebook Release! – Matt Guevara
9. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Henry Zonio
10. “What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry?” – Logos Ministry
11. What Matters Now In Children’s Ministry: Free eBook! – Anthony Prince
12. What matters now? – Kenny Conley
13. Can You Say…Free Book! – One Way Street
14. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Dan Scott
15. Free inspiring children’s ministry e-book – Lin Pearson
16. What Matters Now? – Jill Nelson
17. What Matters Now In Children’s Ministry – Barbara Graves
18. Does it really matter? – Greg Baird
19. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – New ebook – Kelly Dolan
20. Give away Tuesday: Free collaboration book. – Sam Luce
21. FREE E-book for Children’s Ministry – Pastor Steve
22. Free E-Book! – Lindsey
23. What Matters Now…Finally – Jared Massey
24. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – DOP Candy
25. What matters NOW in children’s ministry – Amy Dolan
26. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Digital – Matt Guevara (His chapter from the book)
27. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry: Ingenuity – Henry Zonio (on his chapter from the book)
28. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Worldview – What my contribution would have been
29. why i chose confidence – Amy Dolan expands on her contribution to the book
30. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Karl Bastian
31. What Matters Now… – Wndy Douglas on Connections
32. What (Else) Matters Now – Barabara Graves on Foundations
33. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Empowerment – Matthew Guevara on Empowerment
34. Effectiveness As Told Through Stories – Dan Scott expands on storytelling as a means of measuring effectiveness
35. What Matters Now in Children’s Mnistry – More – Matthew Geuvara on the chapter from Byron Ragains
36. what matters NOW: space – Amy Dolan on Sean Miller’s contribution to the book on space
37. What Matter Now in Children’s Ministry – Parents by Gina McClain – Here’s my write up on Gina McClain’s contribution which I thought cut to the core of the purpose of children’s ministry.
38. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Wonder – Matt Guevara on Randy Isola’s chapter on Wonder
39. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Confidence by Amy Dolan – Here is my take on Amy Dolan’s chapter on Confidence
40. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads – My take on The Lads’ chapter on Infectious
41. What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry: Why I Chose Ingenuity – Henry Zonio shares why he chose to write about Ingeniuty

On Teaching & Working With Kids

One of the critical roles in Children’s Ministry is that of teacher and shepherd of kids. These articles offer tips and advice on teaching and doing presentation for kids as well as general information on working with children.

Blog Series – Stop Saying You’re Not Creative

This series from One Way Street encourages people to find their creative side.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas

• Roger Fields provides 12 tips for coming up with creative ideas.

Here’s an Easy Way to Teach Bible Stories to Children

• In this article from Ministry-to-Children.com, I provide a practical idea for a way to present a Bible story which is both fun and drives the story home for kids.

How to Think of Sermon Preparation and Delivery Like a Three-Course Meal

• Justin Taylor looks at preparing a message in terms of a three course meal. This article is not specifically geared towards children’s ministry but might be of some assistance in terms of preparing messages for kids’ church as well.

Grabbing the Teachable Moment

• Karen Wingate explores the importance of capitalizing on the teachable moments even if it means deviating from your original plan.

Defining Fun

• Gina McClain wonders about the importance of fun in ministry and how you would define it.

Key Components of UpStreet Large Group

• Especially for those of you who use the 252 Basic curriculum, this post explores the components of the large group teaching portion of the curriculum along with some great pictures from North Point Church.

why is fun so important?

• Continuing with the theme raised in a Gina McClain article, Amy Dolan asks if fun is really all that important to children’s ministry after all.

Should FUN be a Value in Children’s Ministry?

• On the heels of several other blog posts on the issue of fun in Children’s Ministry, Tony Kummer offers his thoughts.

Talking to Kids: 100 Questions to Start Conversations

• Here is an article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com with 100 conversation starters for those who have trouble, or are uncomfortable with, talking to kids.

More than Words

• Cara Martens reminds us that conversation is about a whole lot more than words.

Storytelling

Anyone who knows me or follows this blog probably knows that I feel storytelling is an essential element in conveying the meaning and veracity of the Bible to kids. I’m hoping to find enough posts to have a separate section for posts related to storytelling. So, let’s see how it goes.

One blog mistake we all make.

• Jon Acuff from Stuff Christians Like talks about the importance of allowing you reader to put themselves into the story. I think this is an important concept in teaching kids the story of the Bible – God’s story.

Children’s Ministry Issues

This category is a bit of a catch all for everything that doesn’t fit under another category. These articles deal with all kinds of different issues relevant to Children’s Ministry and those who work in that ministry.

Volunteer and Bivocational Children’s Ministry

• If you volunteer in children’s ministry or work in a bi-vocational capacity, I started a Facebook group for us to network and share our passion for the ministry.

Join the Campaign to Revive the CMEdge Podcast!

• This was my humble attempt to talk the powers-that-be into restarting the CM Edge podcast. It got some positive comments so hopefully that wonderful resource for children’s ministry will be revived soon.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry (My Official Review)

• This was my official review of the new free e-book called What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry and includes links to all the other blog posts I could find about this book.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Worldview

• This article includes what my one word contribution to What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry would have been.

What Matter Now in Children’s Ministry – Parents by Gina McClain

• In this article, I add my thoughts and questions for further discussion on the chapter written by Gina McClain in the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry on Parents.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Confidence by Amy Dolan

• In this article, I add my thoughts and questions for further discussion on the chapter written by Amy Dolan in the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry on Confidence.

What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry – Infectious by The Lads

• In this article, I add my thoughts and questions for further discussion on the chapter written by The Lads in the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry on being Infectious.

Blog Series – Kidmin Champions of the Week

Tony Kummer and Ministry-to-Children.com introduced a new feature this month that highlights one Kidmin Champion each week.

• Jim Wideman
• Karl Bastian

Blog Series – 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off the Ground (Without the Hot Air)

Ryan Frank continues year-long series of useful techniques and advice on children’s ministry. Check back in the months to come for the remaining installments in this series that is bound to bless children’s pastors and ministers from around the world!

• #3. 64 1/2 ways to help.

Blog Series – Preschoolers Are Creative

In this series, Children’s Ministry Blog looks at how to help preschoolers to be creative.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – The Missing Piece

Jim Wideman shares his own testimony about how he got started in Children’s Ministry and having a biblical world view.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Blog Series – Lessons Learned from the Flood

Kids Ministry 101 looks at lessons in Children’s Ministry that can be learned from the recent floods in Tennessee.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – 10 Things I’ve Learned Since Becoming a Children’s Director

Helen Fuller examines 10 things she has learned since becoming a children’s director.

• #10 – THE CALL!
• #9 – Leading isn’t like Playing!
• #8 – The Team is a Reflection of the Leader
• #7 – Hobbies are Essential!
• #6 – Someone to Share!
• #5 – I’m in over my head!
• #4 – Leadership Hurts!
• #3 – God is Merciful and Gracious
• #2 – I work with Family!

Blog Series – Why Kids Ministry?

The Learn…Dream…Live blog looks at the importance of children’s ministry in this series.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Children’s Ministry Job Security

In this series, Kenny Conley looks at full time jobs in children’s ministry.

• Children’s ministry job security
• Childrens Ministry as a career? Kidmin has bad PR
• The perfect Children’s Pastor?
• The Kidmin Revolution

Blog Series – Born Into Heaven

Kenny Conley shares about a service they did in honor of children who never had a chance to take their first breath.

• Born into heaven
• Born into heaven: Overview
• Born into heaven: Resources

Blog Series – Make Your Ministry Shine

In this series, Christine Yount Jones shares tips for internal public relations.

• #1. Publish your good news.
• Make Your Ministry Shine 2
• Make Your Ministry Shine 3

Blog Series – Starting/Restarting your Childrens Ministry Career

Kenny Conley does a series on jobs in children’s ministry.

• Starting/Restarting your Childrens Ministry Career
• Childrens Ministry Career: Starting options
• Childrens Ministry Networking to find that job
• My career path could have looked differently
• Discover the next stage of your Kidmin career through job boards

Blog Series – Taboo Words

The Centri Kids blog looks at five taboo phrases when it comes to talking to kids about salvation.

• Taboo Words: “Ask Jesus in your heart”
• Taboo Words: “Walk with God”
• Taboo Words #3: Blood of the Lamb
• Taboo Words #4: Born Again
• Taboo Words: Check YES or NO
• Taboo Words: The Series Recap

4 Functions of Children’s Ministry

• Roger Fields offers his insight into the four functions of children’s ministry.

Was/Now

• This short post provides some insight into the state of children’s ministry.

How To Start a Children’s Church

• Tony Kummer of Ministry-to-Children.com explores nine steps you should take in starting a church program for kids.

What does your office say about you? – Conclusion

• This series was featured in last month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. This is the conclusion of that series.

Vision – What Could Be

• Justyn Smith reminds us that we need a God sized vision for the kids in our ministry – especially those kids who cause the most problems.

The Art of Visibility

• Gina McClain tackles the question, “What can we do to make sure parents know about the children’s ministries we have available for their kids.”

Sunday Debrief

• I love the Inside North Point blog. In this post, one of the leaders shares some practical things she learned from hanging out on one of their campuses one Sunday.

The Insignificance of Teaching by Randy Dulin

• Randy Dulin looks at what is really important in children’s ministry.

Refocusing Volunteers & Nourishing the Parents

• Amy Fenton Lee explains that sometimes the best thing that can come out of having difficult or challenging kids in children’s ministry is allowing their parents the time to be refilled spiritually.

Rewarding Kids Debate…How About This?

• Dale Hudson writes about how he changed his prize store into a giving store for kids.

24 THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT CHILDREN’S MINISTRY FROM “24″

• This article is both fun and insightful. Tim shares 24 things he learned from the show 24 that somehow apply to children’s ministry. I include it here first because of it’s insights, but secondly because I have been a fan of the show from the beginning.

Are You a Natural Thinker or Feeler?

• Anna Light reflects from the standpoint of a natural feeler on how to think. As a thinker, I found this article quite interesting.

5 Ways to Spice Up Your Crafts

• In this article, Acacia in the Desert offers up five practical ways to make your craft time a little more engaging each week.

Have You Ever Has A Full Moon Sunday?

• James Kennison openly and honestly discusses those weekends where you’ve planned everything out and nothing seems to go right.

Kids Ministry is Teamwork!

• The Kids Ministry 101 blog on the importance of teamwork in children’s ministry.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

• Roger Fields looks at the need for change.

Parent Focus Groups

• Dale Hudson shares his idea for Parent Focus Groups in his church.

The Children’s Pastor score card

• Sam Luce developed a score card to gauge what kind of children’s pastor you are.

The Truth About This Sunday

• Here is another article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com about the importance of each and every Sunday.

10 Things You Used to do as a Child, That You Should Never Be Too Old to do as an Adult

• Anna Light shares 10 things you should not loose just because you become an adult.

Developing A Great Children’s Ministry Team

• Tamera Kraft offers 10 pieces of advice on putting together your children’s ministry team.

Media and Ministry

• This article looks at the right way to incorporate media into ministry.

I Am Not Creative and Other Lies You Tell Yourself

• Matthew Guevara writes about the importance of visual thinking.

Children’s Ministry Organizational Charts

• Kendra Flemming posted her org charts for the North Point Children’s Ministry for all of us right-brained type people. I enjoyed seeing how they have their ministry set up.

Weekend Recap: Enabling Them to Win

• Jared Massey from SmallTownKidmin shares his observations on enabling kids to win.

But No-Thing [Project 2010: 12 Months of Simplicity]

• We continue to follow Jim Kast-Keat in his year-long efforts to simplify. This month he vows to buy nothing that is not edible.

Leaders and Leadership

Running a ministry takes leadership at all kinds of different levels. This section is for articles about and for leaders.

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Amy Dolan, from Lemon Lime Kids, continues her Monday series with tips on having better meetings.

• #10: build a better meeting
• #11: build a better meeting (environment)

Blog Series – Leaders Are Examples

Jim Wideman explores the necessity of leading by example.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

Blog Series – How to Strengthen Your Leadership

Jim Wideman offers his advice on how to increase your skills in the area of Leadership

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I’m JUST Saying…

• Christina Yount Jones implores you to drop the “just” from your conversation.

Four Signs You Know Your Working With A Leader

• Perry Noble offers four indications that you are working with a leader.

How to Not Really Win an Argument

• Donald Miller provides a list of six ways you can lose an argument while seemingly winning.

Six Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made

• Perry Noble shares six things he has done wrong as a leader so that you can learn from his mistakes.

Sentences, paragraphs and chapters

• Seth Godin reflects on the difference between people who are willing to proof read sentences and paragraphs, and those who are willing to rearrange chapters and applies that to the people who “proofread” our lives.

Quit Apologizing!

• Anna Light laments people “over-apologizing.”

Vision – There Will Be Opposition

• Justyn Smith explores God given vision and the opposition to that vision.

Delegating for Failure

• Gina McClain writes about what real delegation actually looks like.

Simple five step plan for just about everyone and everything

• Seth Godin offers a simple but profound list a things you should do in just about everything you undertake.

A list about lists

• Jim Kast-Keat shares a list about lists.

Why not Wednesday: A not so perfect start

• This article provides insight into why a poor start is not a reason for not doing something.

Volunteers

Most Children’s Ministries are made up principally, or entirely, of volunteers. I am amongst that number. This section includes articles related to volunteers both for volunteers and about volunteers.

Blog Series – Volunteers That Stick

Jim Wideman is the man when it comes to recruiting volunteers as far as I can tell. Thus, he writes this series which bears the same name as a book he wrote on the topic.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Ideas | Volunteer Recruitment

• Dan Scott offers some advice on how to recruit volunteers.

do parents = great #kidmin leaders?

• Any Dolan asks whether or not being a parent changes your work in children’s ministry. Make sure to read the discussion contained in the comments to this post.

a (digital) volunteer perspective

• Amy Dolan shares her thought on how to incorporate technology into your volunteer culture.

Family Ministry / Orange

Family Ministry is a growing trend in the field of Children’s Ministry wherein worship services and teaching are not segregated by age. Instead, the whole family is the core. This section includes articles specifically related to Family Ministry.

My Favorite Tweets from Orange 2010

• This post includes some of my favorite Tweets from those who attended the Orange Conference this year.

An Orange 2010 Blogging Extravaganza – UPDATE

• I accumulated all the blog posts I could find from the Orange Conference and organized them in this post.

Family Ministry: Cultural or Positional

• Justyn Smith asks whether family ministry requires a title or if we are all really family ministers.

Family First

• This article would be included in the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol if for no other reason than the subtitle, “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.” Beyond that, this is a great article on how to be a truly family friendly church.

Kids & The Bible

Jesus should be at the center of any Children’s Ministry. That means teaching kids about Jesus, about the Bible and about theology. This section is for articles that discuss and assist with teaching kids about the Bible, theology and theological concepts.

Blog Series – Since when did faith become a 4 letter word?

Sam Luce examines the issue of faith and how we should talk to kids about it.

• Since when did faith become a 4 letter word?

What To Do When the Bible Baffles

• Kevin DeYoung offers advice on what to do with those difficult biblical passages.

Thursday Book Club: What does Biblical Interpretation have to do with Children’s Ministry?

• Jared Kennedy examines the application of Biblical Interpretation to Children’s Ministry based on the book 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible written by Robert Plummer Jared’s review was sufficient for me to add this book to my list of books I need to read.

Why Memorize Scripture?

• John Piper offers six reasons why we should memorize scripture, and I feel these are just as applicable to children as adults.

Kids & Christ

In all about Christ! This section is for articles about bringing kids to Christ, bringing kids back to Christ, salvation and children, and anything along those lines. I’ll warn you that I love stories about kids being saved. So, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few of those hear too.

The Gospel for Kids

• This is a great video for kids with a clear presentation of sin and the need for the gospel.

Just A Thought…

• This was a cool little analogy of how we might treat Jesus if he came into our local church.

Kids & Culture

Kid are multi-million dollar target market. Is it any wonder that kids these days have their own culture? This section looks various cultural trends and issues with kids and that affect kids.

Babies Know the Difference Between Good and Evil – study shows

• I’m not going to get into the whole Calvinist / free-will debate, but I thought this article was interesting.

An Uncomfortable Reality

• This article includes some eye-opening statistics about abuse and abusers. If you work in children’s ministry, or with children in any capacity, you should be aware of these statistics.

VBS

With VBS getting closer and closer, the number articles related to the topic warrants its own category.

VBS Game Ideas That Won’t Break Your Budget

• Mimi Bullock offers four simple games you can play during VBS that won’t cost you much.

10 Tips for VBS Directors & Leaders

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-Children.com offers ten practical pieces of advice for running a VBS.

More VBS Ideas Kids Will Love

• Mimi Bullock shares some more ideas for planning your church’s VBS that kids will love.

VBS IS Evangelism!

• Kids Ministry 101 gives 11 tips to help ensure that your VBS this year is an evangelistic outreach event!

Popular Ideas for VBS Themes

• Mim Bullock shares some common and popular themes for planning your VBS.

Feeling embarrassed for VBS programs that don’t have bouncy things.

• Stuff Christian’s Like is at it again with this hilarious article on the VBS Bounce House.

Games

One of the fun things about working in Children’s Ministry is playing games with kids. As Games Leader in AWANA each week, this is near and dear to my heart. In this section, I have accumulated articles about and links to various games.

Paper Plane Game

• Here is fun game to help your kids get to know one another.

Sunday School Games for Preschoolers

• Kristen Charles shares four fun and easy games you can play with preschoolers.

Awana Games for Children’s Ministry: The M&M’s Gauntlet

• In this article on Ministry-to-children.com, I write about a game I developed for Awana involving scooters, M&Ms, spoons and rubber balls.

Review Game for lesson on Joseph

• Lin Pearson and Effective Children’s Ministry are at it again with this Power Point based review game for the story of Joseph.

Key to success or a mess – free review game

• Effective Children’s Ministry shares this game to help kids understand the consequences of their actions.

Books

There are lots of great books out there about Children’s Ministry and lots of great books for kids. In this section, we accumulated reviews and recommendations to such books.

Our Home Is Like A Little Church (A Review)

• Check out my review of a great book for kids and dads on a father’s rol as the pastor of his home.

The Importance of Reading in a Digital Age

• This article reestablishes the importance of reading in an age dominated by electronic media.

In Defense of Books

• Here’s another article defending the good old fashioned book!

10 Great Leadership Books For Children’s Ministry

• Tamera Kraft shares a great list of books on leadership for Children’s Ministry. She has certainly given me a couple of more books to add to my must-read list.

Internet Sites and Resources

The goal of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is to bring together useful resources for those involved in Children’s Ministry. Many bloggers out there write about their favorite web sites. This section is for those types of articles.

How to Customize Facebook For Your Children’s Ministry.

• This guest post on Sam Luce’s blog provides step-by-step instructions for customizing your facebook fan page.

Archiving Conference Tweets with Twapper Keeper

• Church Crunch offers a link to this site which will allow you to archive Tweets with any given hashtag.

More Transferrable Youth Resources

• Andy Johnson, from Free CM Stuff, links to this site full of youth resources which can be adapted for children’s ministry.

Free Resources for Father’s Day

• This articles provides some great links full of Father’s Day ideas and resources.

WOW – Our Website Just Turned 3 Years Old

• All of my favorite kidmin blogs are turning three. This month, Ministry-to-Children marked its third birthday.

Other Resources (Music, Conferences, Etc.)

One thing I have learned since getting involved in Children’s Ministry is that those who work in Children’s Ministry are generous to a fault. This section is full of useful resources for those working with kids.

Who Else is Going to the Children’s Ministry Expo?

• Are you headed to the Children’s Ministry Expo this July in Lexington? If so, please comment on this article and let me know.

The Children’s Ministry Telesummit (A Conference You Can Go to in Your Bathrobe)

• This is a great conference coming up in June that you can participate in from your house. Here are the details.

Creation Coloring Page “Let There Be Light”

• This is a great coloring page for kids based on the story of creation.

Bible in a Balloon Trick

• Here is a neat little trick that you can use to show kids how to get the Word of God in their hearts with a Bible and a balloon.

Drawing Church History

• I don’t know quite what to make of this coloring book. If nothing else, it is definitely unique.

Why Not Have Fun with Your Kids Church Offering?

• In this article that I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I offer an idea for helping to make your children’s giving time more fun and engaging.

Curriculum and Object Lessons

Curriculum was part of the Resources section before I started to see more and more object lessons as blog posts. I don’t put them all here do to time constraints, but I will link to some of my favorite every month. If you’re looking for more, trying searching the blogs that show up under this section. Many of them frequently post object lessons.

A Three Week Lesson Plan: Creation

• Acacia in the desert provides this three week plan for teaching preschoolers and kindergarteners about creation.

STUFF YOU CAN’T HAVE

• From Youth Leader Stash comes this post with ideas for a 3 week series on thing kids can’t have.

Giving Object Lesson for Children

• Here is an object lesson I came up with to demonstrate the impact of working together to meet other people’s needs.

Lesson: Peter Raises Dorcas

• From Ministry-to-Children.com, this lesson plan for 7 – 12 year olds teaches kids about the difference their lives can make on other people.

Parenting and Marriage Issues

The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol would not be complete if we did not pay attention to family issues that affect the kids we minister to. This section includes various articles and parenting and marriage.

Strategic Parenting (or How Not to Crash Your Car)

• From the new Orange Parents blog, Carey Nieuwhof discusses five strategies for parenting.

Fathers as Prophets, Priests, and Kings

• How are you doing in the three roles to which a father is called?

Cows with a View

• Reggie Joiner reminds us of the importance of choosing to spend time with our kids over doing chores and other responsibilities.

What Your Kids Want Most From You

• Carey Nieuwhof reveals what it is our kids really want from us, and you may be surprised by the answer.

Imperfect Parents

• Apparently there are some parents out there who are not perfect. Go figure? Reggie Joiner reflects on teaching his kids about their perfect heavenly father.

Should We Marry If We’re Theologically Divided? My Response

• Russell Moore answers a question from someone wondering if they should marry their fiancé when they have differing theological views.

Time Warp

• Carey Nieuwhof reflects on the importance of parenting with the end in mind.

Get a Plan

• Carey Nieuwhof (whose name I am going to have to remember how to spell now that he is posting so many useful articles on Orange Parents) reflects in this article on the importance of having a plan for our kids’ lives.

Prayer: A parental priority

• Jim Wideman writes about the importance of parents making prayer a priority in the lives of their children.

How Much Time Should Dad Spend With His Children?

• This article answers this question simply with the word “enough.” This is accompanied by a listing of questions to gauge whether or not you are spending enough time with your kids.

What’s Your Rhythm?

• Carey Nieuwhof encourages parents to include discussing God in the rhythm of their daily parenting.

Putting Your Kids to Bed…And Enjoying it!

• Pastor Steve offers some thoughts on how to create a routine to help in putting your kids to bed.

Where Have all the Fathers Gone? A Sobering Challenge for Dads

• Jeff Robinson shares a challenging sermon from Alistair Begg on fatherhood.

Ok, men, mop this floor

• Here is some simple advice on how to be a better husband.

Grace or Truth – Which Parent Are You?

• As a parent, do you tip the scales more towards grace or truth? Where should you fall on the spectrum?

How to Have a Family Fight

• Carey Nieuwhof explains why you should fight for people instead of with them.

Devotions for Kids & Families

There are great sites out there with devotions for families and kids. These are great resources which we can point families too.

Family Worship: Book of Acts

• Jared Kennedy offers some ideas for studying Acts 1-9 with your family.

Trouble

• Bible Drive Thru offers this devotional for kids on getting in trouble.

Wise Wish

• This devotional for kids is based on Solomon’s request for wisdom.

Made Things and the Maker

• A devotion for kids on the difference between the Creator and the Creation.

Parent Problems

• Bible Drive Thru offers this devotional for kids about dealing with your parents in a biblical way.

Just For Fun

This section includes posts from various Children’s Ministry blogs from the last month that were lighthearted, useful or just made me chuckle.

Having a big fight right before church.

• Really? People do that? Who knew! 

DRIVE CONFERENCE SUNDAY’S COMING VIDEO

• Check out this take on a “normal” Sunday church service.

Stuff Kid’s Pastors like #105: Superheros

• Sam Luce is at it again. In this post he gives superhero names to some prominent Children’s Ministry leaders based on their superpowers.

In Case of the Pentecost…

• Check out this hilarious warning sticker on Pentecost.

In Case of the Eschaton…

• On the heels of “In Case of the Pentecost” comes this warning sticker on the Eschaton.

Ministry-to-Children.com Articles

This section includes a listing of my posts on Dad in the Middle alerting readers to new articles which I have published on Ministry-to-Children.com.

The Play That Doesn’t Work

• In this article from Ministry-to-Children.com, I write about a technique I use in large group to tell a Bible story over and over while having fun with the kids.

The M&M Gauntlet

• In this article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share a game I developed for our church’s Awana program which is equal parts relay Nascar, Dodgeball and American Gladiator.

100 Questions For Talking to Kids

• In this article I wrote for Ministry-to-Children.com, I share 100 different conversation starters for kids.

This Sunday

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I reflect on the amazing things that can happen when God crosses our paths with the paths of the kids in our children’s ministry,

An Object Lesson on the Impact of Giving

• In this article for Ministry-to-Children.com, I explain an object lesson I did to teach kids about the cooperation and giving.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of “The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.”

Fish Image courtesy of www.christart.com

Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (March 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (June 2010)

Orange – Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)

• Check out #Orange10 Backstage!
• #Orange10: Two things not to miss
• Contests this week at the #Orange10 Conference
• Pre-Orange networking
• #Orange10 Meat up to Tweet up
• Brand New Orange Leaders App
• #Orange10 Bloggers Brown Bag Lunch
• #Orange10 Day 1: Catching volunteers up to Speed
• #Orange10 Day 1: Building an apprentice mindset
• #Orange10 Conference contest #2
• #Orange10 Day 1: Opening Session
• Drinking from a fire hydrant
• After my Kidmin/Orange marathon, this is how I feel
• #Orange10 Tweet up
• #Orange10 Day 2: John Ortberg
• #Orange10 Day 2: Doug Fields
• #Orange10 Day 2: Family First
• #Orange10 Day 2: Rev Run
• #Orange10 Day 3: Perry Nobel
• #Orange10 Day 3: Donald Miller
• #Orange10 Day 3: Parenting beyond your capacity
• Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-03

Orange – Elemental Children’s Ministry (Henry Zonio)

• It’s Orange 2010! I’m Here! Finally!
• Orange 2010 PreConference #2 Notes – Developing a Successful Social Media Strategy by John Saddington
• Orange 2010 PreConference #3 Notes – Storyrealing with Michael and Andrew
• Family Experience Showcase to Be Livestreamed!
• Orange 2010 PreConference #1 Notes – Blogging For Fun and Effectiveness with John Saddington and Tom Shefchunas
• Orange 2010 Opening Session – Part 1
• Orange 2010 Opening Session – Part 2
• Orange 2010 Breakout Notes – Communicating and Culture with Julie Pierce
• Orange 2010 Breakout Notes – How a Small Church Can Make a Big Difference with Shaun King
• Orange 2010 Collisions – Introduction
• Orange 2010 Opening Session – Part 3
• Orange 2010 Collisions – Theresa Haskins
• Orange 2010 Collisions – Anthony Prince

Orange – Lemon Lime Kids (Amy Dolan)

• it’s orange week at lemon lime kids!
• 3 orange hopes
• start a blog!
• lead strong!
• 5 stupid things
• #orange session 1
• perhaps a change in direction
• me & the rev!
• community is messy
• early childhood matters!
• orange & a great group of people
• join me! orange next steps

Orange – Chad Swanzy

• ORANGE DREAM
• THE ORANGE CONFERENCE LINE-UP
• Jamey Dickens Breakout Session
• SAM LUCE KEEP BLOGGING…
• DON’T WANT TO WASTE MY LIFE, LECRAE
• ORANGE CONFERENCE CHIK-FIL-A AVATAR
• THE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW

Orange – Jonathan Cliff.com