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2020-02-26 to 28 Pictures: Charleston, South Carolina

One of the few upsides of having to cancel our Spring Break trip last March at the onset of the pandemic is that we are "stuck" with a rather large voucher from one of those discount airlines. Last autumn, Tricia and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia and had a...

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

John 3:16 is one of the most well known and reassuring verses in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16 (NIV) The following is a little craft I threw...

2020-03-01 Pictures: Lyndsey’s College Signing Day

This afternoon Lyndsey made it official, signing her letter of intent to play college basketball for the Hiram College Terriers starting next year. While she made the decision and committed to Hiram before Christmas, she has been looking forward to this day since her...

2020-02-13 Pictures: Lyndsey’s 18th Birthday

I am little behind on posting photos. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weekends ago when we got a chance to celebrate Lyndsey's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe that my little girl is officially an adult. It was nice to have the family all back...

What is DOCTRINE?

Introduction I love working with kids, and I love teaching them hard concepts in ways they can understand. To that end, for years I have been working on a dictionary of theological terms for kids and teens. In sharing those definitions, there seemed no better place to...

If You Want It Done Right

In all likelihood, you know how the phrase ends: If you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF! This is a bit of a mantra for me, and frankly, something that I struggle with daily both in leadership and in my Christian walk.  In theory, this is easy to accept. ...

What Does God Hate?

This is the little and humble post that started it all. I happened to be reading through my Bible, and this passage impacted me so much that I posted a little blurb about it on Facebook. That was July 28, 2008, and I've been writing and sharing ever since. (Maybe...

10 Essential Gospel Truths for Kids

10 Essential TruthsI have always liked the following passage from 1 Corinthians:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. [1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV]

Those of who are parents and/or work in children’s ministry have been called by God to proclaim His Good News to children.  No matter what bells and whistles we might utilize, the focus of our ministry to kids, the very heart of we must proclaim to them, must be the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is critical that we give them a firm foundation in the Gospel of Christ or everything else we do will likely be for naught.

The best presentation I have ever heard on this subject was delivered by Jill Nelson at the 2007 Children Desiring God Conference.  Entitled “Presenting the Gospel to Children,” this presentation lays a foundation for the need to teach kids the gospel and then proceeds through 10 essential truths that we must convey to children in order to ground them in the truth of the Gospel.  Each of the 10 truths is supported by scripture, thoroughly explained in kid friendly language, illustrated in kid friendly ways and is associated with a clear implication.

I was so moved by that presentation that, in this series, I have laid out each of those gospel truths along with my notes from listening to her presentation.  I urge any parents to read carefully through these posts and listen to the original presentation.  The eternal fate of your children and those you teach may very well depend on it.

The following are the entries in this series: