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. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 2010)
2. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (December 2009)
3. Blog Patrol (June 9, 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 (June 2010)
2. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (January 2010)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (February 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

• Missing Oranges
• Orange Conference: Pre-Conference Breakout #1
• Orange Conference: Pre-Conference Breakout #3
• Orange Conference Link Love
• Orange Breakout // Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
• Orange Breakout // Influencing Transition
• Orange 2010 Finale

Orange – Orange Leaders

• Ten Orange 10 Tips…
• Announcing an Orange Leaders App…
• Lead. (Session 1)
• Strategy (Session 2)
• Message (Session 3)
• Family (Session 4)
• Community (Session 5)
• Orange Leaders exists to…
• And the WINNERS are….
• Do you lead out of imagination or memory?
• Leading Your Team
• Did you say Rev Run?
• A Healthy Ministry is not an Accident!
• The Orangatar…

Orange – West Coast CM (Anthony Prince)

• Orange Conference 2010 Breakouts
• On your mark, get set… #Orange10!

Orange – Dan Scott

• Dan Scott Blog – Orange 10 and a Bit of Spring Cleaning
• Orange | In the Waiting
• Orange | Session 1 | Mark Batterson
• Orange Conference | Session 1 | COLLIDE
• Orange | Hangin’ Out
• Orange | Session 3 | Rev Run Wisdom

Orange – Gina McClain

• Orange Conf 10 – Day 1
• Orange Conf 10 – Day 2
• Drinking From the Fire Hydrant
• Orange10 – Final Session

Orange – Sam Luce

• Orange Pre Conference: The Big Deal Guys
• Creative Orange Resources: TheCreativeBoard.com
• Orange 2010 Opening Session
• Orange: General Session – John and Nancy Ortberg
• Orange: General Session – Rev Run and Doug Fields
• Last Session – Donald Miller
• Parenting beyond your capacity

Orange – Iblogo (Kelly Dolan)

• Technology and Hospitality
• Hoarding Experiences and Why Should Anyone Blog?
• Relevance as a Red Herring
• Accidental Parachurch Ministries
• One Kind of Person – Orange Main Session #1
• Colliding with Others’ Stories
• What Do We Really Believe Parents are Capable Of?
• Where Innovation Happens (and Doesn’t)
• The Transformational Power of Story

Orange – Michael Blayne

• LIVE from the Orange Confernece all week…
• Orange Conference WHAT?
• Becoming a better COMMUNICATOR
• Catching Volunteers UP TO SPEED
• Opening Session @ the Orange Conference
• think TEAM
• Does any of this matter?
• Fight for your FAMILY
• 7 principles for HEALTHY kid and student ministry
• PROCESS Orange 2010

Orange – Saved Sister (Wendy Douglas)

• Peeling Orange
• Infusing Orange
• Leading Orange
• LET’S TALK MISSION!

Blog Series Orange – Other

• Matt McKee – Warning: Oranges Ahead
• Jim Wideman – Orange Is Almost Here
• Sojourn Kids – Thinking Orange: A History of Family Ministry the Reformation to Reggie Joiner
• Nick Blevins – My Orange Conference Schedule & Breakouts #orange10
• Saved Sister – Orange You Ready? I am!
• SmallTownKidmin – Blue About Orange
• Rick Smith – The Making Of Orange – behind the veil
• Church Crunch – Orange Conference: Launching a Blog and Having Fun Doing It
• SmallTownKidmin – Orange Links
• Dustin Aagaard – It’s all Orange!
• Rick Smith – Can you say “DELUXE ” accommodations…..
• SmallTownKidmin – More Orange Fun
• Rick Smith – Orange 2010 does it big..!
• Jim Wideman – Orange Has Come And Gone
• Matt McKee – Ministry Monday: Orange Conference Posts, What happened?
• Inside North Point – Our Plan to Partner With Parents
• Church Crunch – How Ministry Conferences are Using Live Video Streaming to Change Lives at No Cost

Related posts:

1. Orange 2010 – A Blogging Extravaganza
2. My Favorite Tweets from Orange 2010
3. For Those Craving Orange

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. I made another slight change this month. In prior months, if a series continued into the next month, I would simply wait until that month to include the article. Since this Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol is not published until the 1st Tuesday of each month, I have decided to include any additional installments in blog series that are published through the Monday preceding publication. Articles not part of a series will still have to wait until the following month.

To help identify what I view as 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 again this month to make things easier to find. AS the number of posts increases, I’ve felt it necessary to add additional categories. This month, we added categories for Storytelling and Discipline and renamed “Kids & Theology” to “Kids & The Bible” to more accurately describe the articles contained in that section. 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
• Discipline
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & The Bible
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• 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).

So you wanna work for me?

• David Wakerley shares his list of what he looks for in people who work for him. I think all of us could use this list as a goal for how we lead our Christian lives and ministries.

Incredible Resource for Teachers!

• Check out this chart from Dr. Daniel Ray of the various teaching methods employed by Jesus in dealing with others.

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 – Tips for Large Group Teaching

Earlier this year, I started a new series in which we look at various tips that can be used in Large Group Teaching situations. The entire series can be found at this link. The following were the entries to the series this month.

• #44 – Read To Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #45 – Teach From Their Level (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #46 – Using Contrast to Mix Things Up (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #47 – The Use of Visual Aids and Focal Points (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #48 – Use Special Demonstrations (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #49 – Two Are Better Than One (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #50 – The Power of Sound (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #51 – Learn From Your Failures (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #52 – Seek Feedback (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #53 – If It’s Too Comfortable, You’re Not Doing Something Right! (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

Blog Series – 12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas

Roger Fields is a creative genius, and in this article he offers 12 secrets to assist you in being creative as well.

• 12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas (1-4)
• 12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas (5-8)
• 12 Secrets for Developing Creative Ideas (9-12)

HOW DO I PREPARE A TALK?

• From Youth Leader Stash.com, this article provides some insight into how one pastor prepares his talks.

On Prizes, Drawings and Giveaways

• Children’s Ministry Monthly offers some advice on prizes and such used in children’s ministry.

Rev Up the 40

• Roger Fields examines how to make the 40 hours we get with kids each year as effective as possible.

How I Prepare a Speech, or How to Guide Somebody Toward an Epiphany

• Donald Miller shares his technique for preparing speeches and public addresses.

Discovering a Child’s Capacity to Learn

• If I could teach everyone who works with children one thing it would be, “Don’t underestimate kids because of their age or size.” This article is a great example of that.

The value of Lists

• Lin Pearson of Effective Children’s Ministry looks at the value of lists. As a list person myself, I loved reading this article.

Effective Teaching

• Karen Wingate explores the importance of knowing God’s Word in being an effective teacher.

ANNOUNCEMENTS UNDER PRESSURE

• Here’s a fun idea to spice up your announcement time.

Incredible Resource for Teachers!

• Check out this chart from Dr. Daniel Ray of the various teaching methods employed by Jesus in dealing with others.

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.

Is Storytelling Really That Important?

• This article from some guy named Wayne Stocks, on Ministry-to-Children.com, looks at why storytelling is important to kids and critical in conveying the Bible to kids.

The Power of Story to Cast Vision

• I loved this recruitment video for children’s workers from Northpoint. Powerful stuff!

Story put to bed

• This interesting little tidbit from Children’s Minister Blog looks at an alarming trend in the U.K. when it comes to parents reading to children.

Writing a Storyline, An Alternative to the Mission Statement

• Donald Miller explores the idea of replacing mission statements with storylines.

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 – How to Make VBS the Biggest Thing All Year

Ryan Frank continues his series on making your VBS extraordinary.

• How to make VBS the biggest thing all summer – part 5
• How to make VBS the biggest thing all summer – part 6

Blog Series – Undercover Boss

Last month, Sam Luce started a series on what children’s ministers and other leaders can learn from the show Undercover Boss. The final post spilled over into this month.

• Undercover Boss: Small vs. Big

Blog Series – Frustrations in Children’s Ministry

Tamera Kraft, from Revival Fire for Kids, offers up this series on things that can be frustrating in children’s ministry.

• <Well Meaning Parishioners
• Well Meaning Parents
• Lack Of
• Not So Well Meaning People
• Senior Pastors

Blog Series – How to Connect with Kids

On the CMConnect blog this month, Greg Baird published a series of articles offering practical advice on connecting with kids.

• Part 1
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7

Blog Series – Initiating Difficult Parent Conversations

The Inclusive Church blog offers some advice on having those difficult but sometimes necessary conversations with parents.

• Talking Points
• Following Up

Blog Series – Ministry For Kids By Kids

In this series, the One Way Street blog looks at the benefits of allowing kids to serve in children’s ministry.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Blog Series – 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off the Ground (Without the Hot Air)

Ryan Frank starts a 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!

• 101 Ways to Get Your Children’s Ministry Off The Ground (Without the Hot Air)
• #1. Credit card companies and brown M&Ms
• #2. Jesus in the morning

Secrets to Longevity

• Christina Yount Jones reflects on her secrets to longevity.

5 People to Meet in Twenty10: Meeting CYJ

• Anthony Prince reflects on his meeting with Christina Yount Jones.

List of 25 Ways to Affirm A Child

• Rags Studio offers a list of 25 unique ways to encourage a child.

Giving Your Best Each Week

• Children’s Ministry Blog reflects on why we should give our best each week in children’s ministry.

Thank, Think & Thaw

• Kidmin360 offers this list of three simple things you should do after a big children’s ministry event.

Give Courage.

• In working with kids, it’s important that we are a source of encouragement for them.

Cats, Babies, and Bible Study

• This article explores the importance of both the large group and small group format for teaching kids.

OH stop blaming everyone else will you!

• This article offers a very insightful looks into what our goals should be in children’s ministry.

Just Say No: Why I Have Not Blogged Lately

• Pastor Jared offers up his personal experience with working two jobs and still trying to find time to share his thoughts.

Where Am I Leading Him?

• Pastor Jared shares this story about the importance of paying attention to what we do and say.

So you wanna work for me?

• David Wakerley shares his list of what he looks for in people who work for him. I think all of us could use this list as a goal for how we lead our Christian lives and ministries.

Get out the way

• This article is a great reminder that God wants more and has bigger plans for the kids in our ministry than even we do.

AFTER THE EVENT

• Rob Bradbury looks at the steps you should go through with your team after an event.

Adapting Your Bible Lesson for Children with Special Needs

• This guest post for Ministry-to-Children.com offers five ways to take exisiting curriculum and adapt it for special needs kids.

Your underwear

• Beyond the great title, David Wakerley offers some advice on how to communicate change.

Why is the church losing its youth?

• Acacia in the Dessert asks if the reason we are losing the youth of our churches is because our messages are not gospel-centered.

Connect with Kids

• The bottom line of this article is, “Building relationships is a key principle for reaching today’s generation of young families.” You definitely want to check this one out.

Fun Ideas to Keep Connected with Kids

• This articles includes ten awesome ideas for staying connected with kids outside of the church setting.

Are We Too Cool to Care?

• In this thought provoking article, Karl Bastian tackles the question of whether or not those of us in children’s ministry sometimes strive so hard to be “relevant” to kids that we lose sight of what they really need.

ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR AN AWESOME VBS

• This thorough and fairly comprehensive guide is great for anyone thinking about or planning a vacation bible school.

(non) traditional families

• Amy Dolan ponders whether our programs need to change to account for the changing definition of family in our culture.

Don’t Be Afraid of Technology

• JC encourages you to get connected online.

Does Teaching Babies and Toddlers at Church Matter?

• Lauren Foster from Ministry-to-Children.com reminds us of the importance of teaching God’s word to even the smallest of his creation.

Bad Language

• David Wakerley explores some of the dirty language which has become common place in Children’s Ministry today.

5 Questions to Ask about the Kids in your Ministry

• This articles includes five great questions to start a conversation with kids.

Special Needs Ministry Resource

• JC looks at special needs kids and links to a great new blog dedicated to the issue of special needs ministry.

Mother’s Day & Kids Who Have Lost Their Mom

• Kristin Charles offers some advice on dealing with motherless children on this coming Mother’s Day.

Practically Improving Preschool.

• Sam Luce shares his thoughts on improving preschool ministry.

Who Is Wayne Stocks?

• This wasn’t my original title for my first article on Ministry-to-Children.com, but it will work. This article is really about the importance of mission statements and developing our own personal mission statement for 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.

Classroom Management: Discipline or Redirection?

• Karen Wingate offers advice on keeping your classroom under control from the viewpoint of a seasoned professional.

What About Negative Behaviors?

• The Children’s Ministry Blog offers practical advice on dealing with negative classroom behavior.

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.

• #7: build a better meeting
• #8: build a better (CREATIVE) meeting
• #9: build a better (DIGITAL) meeting

Blog Series – A Kidmin Leader Is

Greg Baird at Kidmin360.com looks at the elements of a good children’s misnitry leader.

• A Kidmin Leader Is…
• A Kidmin Leader Is… (2)
• A Kidmin Leader Is… (3)
• A Kidmin Leader Is… (4)

Blog Series – Pain

Perry Noble offers advice on what we can learn through Pain.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – Vision Casting

Jim Wideman examines the importance of vision to a leader.

• Vision Casting
• Vision Casting- Part 2
• Vision Casting- Part 3
• Vision Casting- Part 4 & 5
• Vision Casting- Part 6 & 7

Blog Series – Outsourcing the Children’s Pastor – Knowing What & When to Delegate

Jim Wideman looks at the importance and art of delegation.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Blog Series – One on One Meetings

The inside North Pointkids blog offers up this series on the importance and technique for conducting one-on-one meetings.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – What Does Your Office Say About You?

Mike Johnson takes a look at what the state of your office says about youyou’re your ministry.

• What does your office say about you?
• What does your office say about you? – Clutter
• What does your office say about you? – Color
• What does your office say about you? – Toys
• What does your office say about you? – Lighting
• What does your office say about you? – Smell

Jump in There

• Roger Fields offers up an article on the importance of trying something.

Rest

• Sometimes, especially in ministry, it is hard to step away. This article looks at the importance of taking a little time off.

One Leader’s Influence

• This is another great story about why we do what we do!

Leadership Versus Management: two distinctions?

• Chuck Bomar explores the difference between being a manager and a leader.

Do you ask these 3 questions?

• Orange Leaders poses three questions that leaders should be asking as much as possible.

Time to really become S.M.A.R.T.

• Tood McKeever applies the SMART principle (and acronym) from Ken Blanchard to goal setting.

What’s In Your Sphere?

• Roger Fields provides a biblical basis for sticking to your SPHERE of influence when it comes to ministry.

The Restful Practice of Play

• This article examines the importance of play and having fun in our spiritual walk.

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.

4 Qualities Every Kids Minister Ought to Have

• Here is a little article I wrote over on Ministry-to-children.com laying out four characteristics which I view as critical to anyone working in children’s ministry.

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 – How To Create An Effective Family Ministry

Greg Baird from Kidmin306 explores how to develop a family ministry at your church.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Blog Series – History of Family Ministry

Jared Kennedy from Sojourn Kids looks at the history of family ministry.

• History of Family Ministry, Part 1: The Reformation & the Home as a Little Church
• History of Family Ministry, Part 2: Sunday School & the Industrial Revolution
• History of Family Ministry, Part 3: The Invention of the Teenager
• The History of Family Ministry, Part 4: The Family Ministry Movement

What bugs me about family ministry

• Ryan Frank offers some insightful thoughts on the current trend of family ministry.

Children’s Pastor (not family pastor) at Heart!

• Justyn Smith shares way he is happy to be known as a Children’s Pastor.

Children’s Pastor or Family Pastor?

• Greg Baird from Kidmin360 gives his interpretation of family ministry and how it related to children’s 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 ARE BIBLES DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER?

• apPARENTly blogging looks at the confusion that different bible translations can have for kids.

Choosing a Child’s Bible

• If you’re looking for a Bible for your kids (and it’s one of the greatest gifts you can give them), this article will help you decide which one to get.

Does Your Personality Influence Your Theology?

• Donald Miller explores whether or not our personality impacts our view of God.

Don’t Ever Read a Bible Verse

• Justin Taylor offers some sage advice from Greg Koukul on interpreting Biblical passages.

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.

Out of the mouths of babes

• I love stories about kids and their view of the world. I loved this one and thought I would share it.

The Love Factor

• JC compares the love of a son for his father with our own spiritual journey.

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.

EQ and IQ in Students

• Tim Elmore looks at the difference between Emotional Intelligence and Intellectual Intelligence.

We need to kick infidelity in the face

• Nick Blevins offers some sobering facts about infidelity.

digital learning & children in the church

• Amy Dolan looks at the effect of electronics on kids today.

Nine Things Parents Can Do To Raise Drug Free Children

• Dad’s 4 Life offers up some practical advice for parents on how to help keep their kids drug free.

Learning from Video Games: Impatience

• Matthew Guevara looks at engaging kids in our culture who have become more and more impatient as a result of the digital revolution.

Guard Your Heart: Teaching Kids to Be Pure in a Promiscuous World

• This article includes some practical ideas about how to teach kids the value of purity in today’s culture.

How You Can Minister to Children of Divorce

• Kids Ministry 101 looks at the importance and methods of ministering to kids of divorce.

TRENDY WEDNESDAY

• Here’s some information on a new trend which has come to roost in my house as well as thousands of others.

MAKES YOU THINK …

• This amazing statistic compares the time kids spend watching T.V. to the time they spend with their parents.

“Cyberbullying: Not My Kid!”

• Donna Perugini looks at the recent phenomena of Cyber-Bullying and what you should do about it.

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.

REACH THE BEACH

• Here’s a fun game that only needs a beach ball and a role of tape to play.

BALLOON STOMP

• Here’s a fun game in which kids try to bust balloons tied by a string to other kids’ legs.

Act Like an Animal Game

• Check out this great game for preschoolers that teaches that God made the world and everything in it.

S AND T

• This game from Youth Leader Stash requires very little set up and can be played with a large group of kids.

Bible Baseball

• Children’s Minister Blog describes this great review game which combines baseball with trivia type questions.

Five Scripture Memory Games for Children

• Amy Brown introduces five simple games to help kids memorize scripture.

3 Short Games for Children

• Children’s Minister Blog explains three short and easy review type games to play with 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.

Blog Series – Collaborate Book Blog Tour

This series of videos looks at four biblical stories through the eyes of a couple of flies.

• A Review of Collaborate: Family + Church
• Collaborate: Family + Church (A Synopsis of Chapters 1 – 9)
• Collaborate: Family + Church (A Synopsis of Chapters 10 – 18)
• Collaborate: Family + Church (A Synopsis of Chapters 19 – 27)
• Collaborate: Family + Church (A Synopsis of Chapters 28 – 35)

Blog Series – Collaborate Book Blog Tour

The new book Collaborate: Family + Church went on a book blog tour this month to mark its release. At Dad in the Middle, we were happy to participate in that tour (see the separate entry in this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol for our series on this book). Though this is technically not a series, I thought it would be useful to accumulate the reviews for the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol this month.

• KidMin360 (Greg Baird)
• Occaisional Thoughts (Jim Kast-Keat)
• Saved Sister
• Justyn Smith
• Sojourn Kids (Jared Kennedy)
• Lemon Lime Kids (Amy Dolan)
• Sojourn Kids (Jared Kennedy)
• Dan Scott Blog
• iTodd (Todd McKeever
• Passionate Children’s Service (Theresa Haskins)
• Anchor Children’s Ministry
• KidMo! Girl
• Glen Woods

Blog Series – Dear Michael Chanley + Group of 34

Anthony Prince, from West Coast CM, took an interesting approach to reviewing collaborate. Through a series of posts he “responds” to the authors of Collaborate.

• Collaborate: Dear Michael Chanley + the Group of 34
• Collaborating (kind of): Anna J. Light
• Collaborating (kind of): Michael Chanley
• Collaborating (kind of): Brad S. Tate
• Collaborating (kind of): Brian Haynes
• Collaborating (kind of): Becky Arthur
• Collaborating (kind of): Brian Vander Ark
• Collaborating (kind of): Carey Nieuwhof
• Collaborating (kind of): Dick Gruber

How I Read a Book

• Tim Challies reflects on how he reviews a book.

Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)

• In this age of overprotective parents, Matthew Guevara reviews a book from Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler called Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do).

You need to read these books!

• Sam Luce offers his picks for five books you need to read. He is the umpteen gazzillionth person to recommend A Tale of Three Kings, so I am going to have to check that one out!

Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham

• Terry Delaney reviews the book Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham.

First Impressions: Book Review

• This post is a review of the book First Impressions by Mark Waltz which explores the importance of that first impression that your ministry gives to visitors.

Ultimate Parent Resource List (in the works)

• A while back there was a Google Wave in which a number of people in the kidmin community exchanged ideas and thoughts on books to recommend to parents. For me, that wave meant a whole new stack of books I needed to go out and buy. Now, Kenny Conley has taken that wave, deleted all the extra chatter, and shared the list. I hope you find it as useful as I did.

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 milestone: Post 1000!

• Here at the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, we salute the fact that Kenny Conley and ChildrensMinistryOnline.com met a significant goal in their blogging history.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

• Earlier in the month we celebrated the blog birthday of Kenny Conley’s Children’s Ministry Online blog. With this entry, we say Happy 3rd Birthday to Sam Luce’s blog!

familylife.com

• Arise and Eat offers a link to this valuable resource for married couples and parents.

Free YM Stuff?

• Free CM Stuff links to a similar site with free Youth Ministry resources.

Youth Ministry Resources are Good For You!

• Free CM Stuff links to a site that includes Youth Ministry resources that can be easily adapted for children’s ministry.

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 – Why Go To A Conference?

Jim Wideman looks at all the reasons to attend conferences.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Record Whatever Comes Through Your CPU Speakers

• Here is a great resources linked from Free CM Stuff that will allow you to record anything that plays through your computer speakers.

Do You Know What’s In The Bible? (Is it true? Is it reliable?)

• Jared Massey from SmallTownKidmin blog reviews Phil Vischer’s new endeavor What’s In the Bible? I particularly enjoyed this line from his review, “Here is what I love about WITB. First, it is nothing like VT….While I have already admitted my love for VT, the time has come for something new.”

Evernote

• I haven’t checked out this resource from Free CM Stuff yet, but this post had added it to my to do list (yes, I get the irony of that ).

It’s going to get noisy over the next few days.

• Sam Luce shares an application that allows you to “mute” tweets from selected individuals. That said, I’m not sure why you want to mute Sam’s tweets, but I guess that’s up to you.

16 Hours of Free…Yes Free Top Notch Training

• Free CM Stuff writes about a free Children’s Ministry Telesummit coming up this weekend. Great speakers, and it’s free – that’s a great combination! I’ve already registered. You should make sure you register today!

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.

Post 500: My thoughts on Curriculum…

• Lot’s of celebrating this month! J.C. celebrates his 500th post with some thoughts on curriculum.

Sharing Jesus’ Stories: Road to Emmaus

• Here is a simple object lesson based on Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

Lesson: Jesus Changes Saul to Paul

• This lesson for seven to twelve year olds uses the story of Saul’s conversion to teach kids that Jesus can change their lives.

“Jesus Knows Me” Sunday School Lesson

• For ages 7-12, this lesson based on John 10:1-18 teaches children that God loves them and knows them

Talking to God in Prayer

• Make sure to check out this lesson from Children’s Ministry Blog that uses a wheel to teach kids about prayer.

Tell the Creation Story with 12 Familiar Objects

• Acacia in the Dessert offers up a great object lesson using 12 objects to teach children the story of creation.

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.

CSI-ing where your kids learned bad stuff.

• From Stuff Christian Like, are you the kind of parents who drops immediately into “where did they learn that mode?”

Dads Set the Temperature in the Home

• Doug Wolter offers this challenge to Dad’s to be the thermostat in their families.

Wrestling with an Angel

• This heartfelt letter from a father to his 17 year old son is a great example of what biblical manhood and fatherhood should look like.

The fictional family your family compared you to.

• Stuff Christians Like looks at the Christian equivalent of “They say…”

How I Pastor My Family

• Justin Hide shares how he fills the role as pastor of his family. If you are a husband and/or Dad, you need to read this article!

This Mom Can Wrap!

• This is a fun little rap from a mom about the preeminence of God over everything else.

How to Get Kids Ready

• Pastor Steve offers advice on how to utilize the time you spend getting your kids ready.

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.

Getting Started With Family Devotions

• This post offers a little primer on starting family devotions.

Safe

• This devotion for kids helps them to understand that everyone is afraid of something but God protects us.

Magna Doodle Devotions

• Here is a great idea for family devotionals using a magna doodle.

Cool Stuff About Creation

• This is a great devotion for kids on the marvel of God’s creation.

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.

5 suggestions in case PETA ever wants a new name….

• This one is creative and funny…no picketing my house though!

YouTube Friday: Don’t Commit Adultery Kids!

• There are some times when cartoons are just not the appropriate delivery vehicles. Kudos to them for trying, but this one misses the mark. Thanks to Sam Luce for sharing this one.

Wondering how youthtastic your youth minister is.

• Here’s a fun one from Stuff Christians Like to help you gauge just how youthtastic your youth minister really is.

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.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

• This article announces my first post over at Ministry-to-Children.com all about the importance of a personal mission statement.

A Plethora of P’s for Children’s Ministry

• This link to my article on Ministry-to-Children.com deals with four important characteristics of anyone working in children’s ministry.

The Importance of Storytelling With Children

• This link to my article on Ministry-to-Children.com discusses the importance of storytelling in children’s ministry.

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 (January 2010)

UPDATE: JUST A FEW MERE HOURS AFTER PUBLISHING THIS “COMPREHENSIVE” COMPILATION OF ORANGE POSTS, MY GOOGLE READER RSS FEED IS ALIVE WITH NEW INSIGHTS AND POSTS AS PEOPLE DECOMPRESS AFTER ORANGE.  I EVEN STUMBLE ACROSS A COUPLE OF BLOGS THAT I HAD, FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON, NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY FOLLOWING.  SO, CHECK BACK NEXT MONDAY (I AM GIVING EVERYONE A WHOLE WEEK) FOR AN UPDATE TO THIS LIST WHICH WILL INCLUDE THE ADDITIONAL POSTS.  HAPPY BLOGGING!

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

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

Orange – Chad Swanzy

• THE ORANGE CONFERENCE LINE-UP
• Jamey Dickens Breakout Session
• SAM LUCE KEEP BLOGGING…
• DON’T WANT TO WASTE MY LIFE, LECRAE

Orange – Jonathan Cliff.com

• Missing Oranges
• Orange Conference: Pre-Conference Breakout #1
• Orange Conference: Pre-Conference Breakout #3
• Orange Conference Link Love
• Orange Breakout // Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
• Orange Breakout // Influencing Transition
• Orange 2010 Finale

Orange – Orange Leaders

• Ten Orange 10 Tips…
• Announcing an Orange Leaders App…
• Lead. (Session 1)
• Strategy (Session 2)
• Message (Session 3)
• Family (Session 4)
• Community (Session 5)
• Orange Leaders exists to…

Orange – West Coast CM (Anthony Prince)

• Orange Conference 2010 Breakouts
• On your mark, get set… #Orange10!

Orange – Dan Scott

• Dan Scott Blog – Orange 10 and a Bit of Spring Cleaning
• Orange | In the Waiting
• Orange | Session 1 | Mark Batterson
• Orange Conference | Session 1 | COLLIDE
• Orange | Hangin’ Out
• Orange | Session 3 | Rev Run Wisdom

Orange – Gina McClain

• Orange Conf 10 – Day 1
• Orange Conf 10 – Day 2
• Drinking From the Fire Hydrant
• Orange10 – Final Session

Orange – Sam Luce

• Orange Pre Conference: The Big Deal Guys
• Creative Orange Resources: TheCreativeBoard.com
• Orange 2010 Opening Session

Blog Series – Orange – Other

• Matt McKee – Warning: Oranges Ahead
• Jim Wideman – Orange Is Almost Here
• Sojourn Kids – Thinking Orange: A History of Family Ministry the Reformation to Reggie Joiner
• Nick Blevins – My Orange Conference Schedule & Breakouts #orange10
• Saved Sister – Orange You Ready? I am!
• SmallTownKidmin – Blue About Orange
• Rick Smith – The Making Of Orange – behind the veil
• Church Crunch – Orange Conference: Launching a Blog and Having Fun Doing It
• SmallTownKidmin – Orange Links
• Dustin Aagaard – It’s all Orange!
• Rick Smith – Can you say “DELUXE ” accommodations…..
• SmallTownKidmin – More Orange Fun
• Rick Smith – Orange 2010 does it big..!
• Jim Wideman – Orange Has Come And Gone

Related posts:

1. An Orange 2010 Blogging Extravaganza – UPDATE
2. My Favorite Tweets from Orange 2010
3. For Those Craving Orange

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, 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 this month to make things easier to find. The following is a quick guide to the various sections of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• On Teaching & Working With Kids
• General Ministry Issues
• Leaders and Leadership
• Volunteers
• Family Ministry / Orange
• Kids & Theology
• Kids & Christ
• Kids & Culture
• Games
• Books
• Internet Sites
• Other Resources (Music, Conferences,Etc.)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Devotions for Kids and Families
• Just For Fun

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.

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

On Teaching & Working With Kids

Blog Series – Tips for Large Group Teaching

Last month, I started a new series in which we look at various tips that can be used in Large Group Teaching situations. The entire series can be found at this link. The following were the entries to the series this month.

• #28 – See the World Through Their Eyes (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #29 – Don’t Read Your Lesson (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #30 – Break It Up (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #31 – Find the New You (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #32 – Don’t Forget Your Baritone (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #33 – When You’re Not Teaching, Join Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #34 – Use Games (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #35 – Get the Kids Involved (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #36 – The Power of the Remote Video (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #37 – Laugh With Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #38 – Make Yourself Part of the Lesson (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #39 – Candy, Candy, Candy (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #40 – Play With Them (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #41 – Step Into The Story (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #42 – Be Specific With Your Application (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #43 – Don’t Be Afraid to Admit That You May Be Too Old (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

Shaped By The Story

• This article is based on a post originally done by Amy Dolan on the importance of storytelling in teaching kids the Bible.

Blog Series – Storytelling 101

Dan Scott looks at the essentials of storytelling in this series.

• The Script and Your Audience
• Characterization and the Dramatic Pause
• Storytelling 101 | Blocking and All Things BLING
• Storytelling 101: Required Reading

Blog Series – Confusing terminology and spiritual concepts for kids

In this series, Kenny Conley examines various terminology that is used in Christian circles and churches which can be confusing to children.

• Confusing terminology and spiritual concepts for kids
• Confusing terminology and spiritual concepts for kids: God
• Confusing terminology and spiritual concepts for kids: Salvation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
• Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: Hearing God’s voice
• http://www.childrensministryonline.com/fresh-ideas/confusing-terminolgy-and-spiritual-concepts-for-kids-churchy-words/

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.

Tips for Leading Discussions With Kids

• The Children’s Ministry Blog offers up this article some advice on leading discussions with kids.

Sticks and Stones?

• Donna Perugini examines the importance of choosing the right words when you’re talking to kids.

You’ve Got the Power

• This article provides a simple and profound example of how our words impact the children we lead.

How NOT to Teach About Miracles

• The Acacia in the Desert blog examines the importance of HOW you teach about the miracles recounted in the Bible.

The Worship Factor

• Gina McClain explores how to get kids engaged in worship.

New Teacher Training Methods

• Tamera Kraft examines different methods of training teachers in your Children’s Ministry.

It’s All In the Questions

• The Children’s Ministry Blog provides a practical listing of types of questions you can use to engage children.

Creativity Over Presence?

• Justyn Smith reminds us to not sacrifice our real mission at the alter of creativity.

How to Treat Your Children so That They Have Good and Right Thoughts about God

• Justin Taylor summarizes a sermon from C.J. Mahaney on how to interact with your kids in a way that will not cause them view God the Father in a negative way.

GOT QUESTIONS? THE TALK.

• Chad Swanzy shares how he prepares and delivers his lessons.

Leadership Nugget–Preparing a Lesson for Kids

• Andy Johnson provides a worksheet he uses to prepare lessons for Children’s Ministry.

Clarity is a must

• Pastor Todd McKeever tells a funny story that illustrates the importance of being clear in what we say. This is particularly true for those of us in children’s ministry as kids, particularly younger kids, are very concrete thinkers.

Just Dance!

• Joy Bowens explains the importance, and how to, of motions in children’s worship.

Building Christ followers the old fashioned way

• Kenny Conley wonders if we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to certain traditional teaching methods like catechism.

Respect: Demanded, Earned or Both?

• This article from Children’s Ministry Monthly examines whether teachers should demand respect from their students or earn it.

Bring The Bible To Life!

• One of my passions is finding ways to convey the inherent excitement of the Bible to kids. I loved this post from Northpoint on how they brought the story of David and Goliath to life.

#KidMin Create/Innovate/Relate

• Jamie Doyle offers five practical things you can do to be creative, innovative, relevant and fun in your ministry.

Why Kids Need Stories

• Justin Taylor offers a quote from Alasdair MacIntyre on the importance of stories to kids.

Sharing Communion With Children

• Mimi Bullock offers practical advice on the preparation for, and execution of, communion with children.

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 – 5 Essential For Kidmin

This second series from Greg Baird at Kidmin360 looks at five essential elements of kidmin.

• Heartfelt Relationships
• Engaging Teaching
• Authentic Worship
• Real Service
• Telling the Good News

Blog Series – Milestones

In this series, JC looks at specific milestones in Children’s Ministry

• Family Ministry Milestones
• Milestone: What does Kindergarten Look Like?
• Milestone: When do Children Start Reading?
• Milestones: When are Parents Comfortable Making the Change?
• Milestone: The Big Take-Away
• Milestones: The Aha moment
• Milestones: Baptism for Kids

Blog Series – Milestone Transitions

Jonathan Cliff looks at various indications for determining the proper time to advance kids from Kindergarten ministry to “a more mature Elementary environment.”

• Milestone Transitions
• Milestone: What does Kindergarten Look Like?
• Milestone: When do Children Start Reading?
• Milestones: When are Parents Comfortable Making the Change?

Blog Series – Jim Wideman

Although not a series in the traditional sense of the word, Kenny Conley offered a series of posts about Jim Wideman this month. Jim is a bit of a legend in the Kidmin world, and Kenny took some time to examine how Jim has helped him in his ministry.

• New books from Jim Wideman
• Things I’ve learned from Jim Wideman (part 1)
• Things I’ve learned from Jim Wideman (part 2)
• Things I’ve learned from Jim Wideman (part 3)
• Learning from Jim Wideman

Blog Series – Innovation

Sam Luce published article this month on asking the right questions in ministry.

• Innovation: Asking the Right Question
• More on How and Why.

Blog Series – The Kidmin Space

Gina McClain looks at the importance of your physical kidmin space.

• Part 1 of 3
• Part 2 of 3

Blog Series – Kids Worship Innovation Then & Now

Jim Wideman looks at the evolution of worship in Children’s Ministry.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Blog Series – How to make VBS the biggest thing all summer

Ryan Frank offers six practical tips for making your summer vacation bible school the biggest thing all summer. In a day and age where many churches are scrapping their summer vacation bible schools, it is refreshing to read these articles which extol the virtues of such an event.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Blog Series – Undercover Boss

One of the shows I have started watching recently is Undercover Boss. One of the things I like best about Sam Luce is his keen eye for learning opportunities in secular culture (I don’t care for that phrase by the way, but it fits here). In this series, Sam looks at various leadership lessons to be learned from Undercover Boss.

• What show is a must watch for anyone in #kidmin?
• Undercover Boss: Listen
• Undercover Boss: Thank people specifically
• Undercover Boss: Systems matter

Celebrating the Win: Define the Win

• Small Town Kidmin blog looks at the importance of defining victory before an event happens.

Is your ministry built around a HOOK or an ANCHOR?

• On the Orange Leaders blog, Tom Shefcunas takes an interesting look at the difference between hooks and anchors in Childern’s Ministry and wonders which one you are building your ministry on.

Things I’ve Learned About Meetings

• Matthew Guevara provides practical tips for making a meeting all that it can be.

Tips for Planning a Kids Ministry Block Party

• Mimi Bullock from Ministry-to-Children.com looks at some important things to consider if you are planning a block party for your ministry.

Five Fabulously Fun Ways to Bond with your Kids in Five Minutes or Less

• This article offers five unique ways to have fun with your kids.

Relevantly Irrelevant

• Jared from the Small Town Kidmin Blog reminds us that what is relevant in one community may be totally irrelevant to another.

I can’t do kids’ ministry because I’m not musical

• Many people feel like they aren’t cut out for Children’s Ministry because they are not musically inclined, This article offers some helpful tips for those of us who are tone deaf and sound more like a dying cow when we sing than a performer.

What I learned from Infuse

• Sam Luce reflects on his first year in Jim Wideman’s Infuse program and shares some of the insights he picked up.

Children in Today’s Church: Goals for Growing Spiritually

• This article from Logos Ministry shares some age specific goals for the spiritual maturation of children.

Stir up the waters

• Todd McKeever looks at ways that we hinder kids and how we can keep from doing that in Children’s Ministry.

The healing power of consistency

• This short article looks at an aspect of children’s ministry which I think is sometimes overlooked – consistency.

10 weeds that choke kid’s ministry

• Effective Children’s Ministry links to an article from ChildrensMinistry.com which includes 10 things which will threaten the growth of your Children’s Ministry.

Interesting rules

• As those involved in Children’s Ministry, we oftentimes see the normal everyday things of the world through the eyes of children. One of the things I appreciate about Kenny Conley is that he does just that.

Meanings, Must-Haves, & Goals for Children’s Ministry

• This articles looks at various targets, goals and purposes that a Children’s Ministry should have.

God’s Word and its role in our lives

• JC reminds us all of the importance of following God and modeling the act of listening to God for the kids in our lives.

Ministry t-shirts

• One thing I really like about Kenny Conley’s blog is that his posts run the gamut from the extremely theoretical and thought-provoking to the extremely practical. In this article, which tends towards the practical side, Kenny examines what he looks for in volunteer T-shirts.

Gods word is family business

• Todd McKeever offers three tips for sharing the Word of God with your kids.

God is an Optical Illusion

• This article from A Heart After Children includes some cool optical illusions and reminds us not to put God in a box based on our perceptions.

Speaking of revolutions

• Last week I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and it opened my eyes to a lot of different things. As he often does, Kenny Conley sees parallels between this show and children’s ministry.

10 great reminders from a friend

• Ryan Frank shares this list given to him by a friend of ten reminders for leaders in children’s ministry.

VBS or not?

• Larry Shallenberger looks at the challenges of putting on a Vacation Bible School in today’s day and age.

Health Care and Kids Ministry

• This article offers five questions to evaluate the spiritual health of your children’s ministry.

Children’s Ministries – Basics 101

• Victory Circle offers practical advice to those entering a new position in children’s ministry.

Leading the Next Generation Well – Overwhelmed

• Tim Elmore looks at helping youth today feel less overwhelmed.

Stuff Children’s Pastors like #103

• Sam Luce offers alternatives to the phrase “Seeing the light come on.”

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 – Power to Last

Jim Wideman is a fixture in the world of Children’s Ministry. He has been around for years helping others in the field. This series, which started last month, is Brother Jim’s look at persevering in Children’s Ministry.

• Part 9
• Part 10

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

Last month Amy Dolan from Lemon Lime Kids started a series offering tips for having a better and more productive meeting. She continued that series this month

• #3: build a better meeting
• #4: build a better meeting
• #5: build a better meeting
• #6: build a better meeting

Blog Series – Leading Through Challenges

In this series, Pudge Huckaby looks at seven things to remember whenleading people through a challenging time based on the book “7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis” by Bill George.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – What Kind of Leader Are You?

Children’s Ministry Blog looks at different ways of leading and relating to children to help ensure that they don’t walk away from church.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – A Growing Leader

In this series, Jim Wideman examines several characteristics of a growing leader.

• A Growing Leader Is A Learner
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 2
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 3
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 4
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 5
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 6
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 7
• A Growing Leader Is A Learner-Part 8

Apples, Leadership and the Gag Factor

• This article contains the best analogy I’ve ever heard about not trying to take on too much too soon when you are in a leadership position.

Who says it’s lonely at the top?

• Kenny Conley looks at ways for a leader to keep from getting lonely at the top.

Pastor Challenge

• Jamie Doyle offers a challenge to pastors (and all leaders frankly) to invest in those under their leadership.

Five Miles Less

• Jim Kast-Keat is on an interesting and commendable trek this year to simplify. This month he tackles slowing down the pace of life in general.

#KidMin Leaders’ Challenge

• Following his challenge to pastors, Jamie Doyle offers this challenge to Kidmin leaders.

How to LEAD in Kidmin

• Greg Baird offers a little acronym to remember what is mean to be a leader in ministry.

If it Weren’t For God, You’d be More Efficient

• Donald Miller looks at God’s plan to slow us down

What if Every #KidMin Leader Was Like Me? Curious Minds Want To Know…

• Jamie Doyle challenges us to ponder this question in our ministry to children. If everyone were like me, what would Kidmin look like? It’s a great way to identify areas where you may want to change your approach or your attitude.

What Do You Think?

• Perry Noble examines the importance of the question “What Do You Think?” to leaders.

Who Are You?

• Jared Masey offers a link to a free online personality test and explains that it is important that we know who we are as leaders.

What’s your Blind Side?

• Kendra Fleming encourages you to examine what your personal blind spots might be and how they affect those you lead.

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.

Lead by Training!

• One of the principal jobs of a leader is to train others. This article from Bill Emeott looks at the value of training others.

Welcoming High School Students into Your Children’s Ministry

• Larry Shallenberger looks at why those of us in Children’s Ministry should be actively recruiting helpers from the high school ministry.

New Volunteer Orientation

• Inside North Point Kids offers insight into their own volunteer orientation program.

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.

Don’t Waste Your Time Partnering With Parents

• I love the catchy title from Orange Leaders, but what this article is really about is making the most of your time spent with parents.

Practical Ideas for Family Worship

• Tony Kummer offers some links to various resources related to family ministry.

THE UP PLAN

• Rob Bradbury, of Planet Shakers and Children’s Ministry 1234, offers a seven step plan for family ministry to help kids grow up in God. He’s got a great graphic to go with a great plan too!

Kids & Theology

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

Blog Series – When Can A Child Believe

Kids Ministry 101 asks the age old question of when a child is old enough to have (and accordingly also a responsibility to choose) a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Personal Agency and Childhood Conversion

In this series, Doug Wolter shares an e-mail conversation he had with Dr. Eric Johnson, Professor of Pastoral Care at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on the issue of personal agency and childhood conversion.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Levels of Doctrine

• This article from Justin Taylor has nothing to do with Children’s Ministry. It is however an interesting look at the different levels of “importance” when it comes to doctrine. I believe that those of us who work with kids should be grounded in doctrine and therefore this article is important to our own spiritual development.

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.

Blog Series – Responsible Evangelism with Kids

The Kids Ministry 101 blog from Bill Emeott examines thirteen principles for approaching children with the gospel of Christ in a responsible way.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Leading A Child to Christ

• Our goal in Children’s Ministry should be to lead children to Christ. This article offers some practical advice on that process.

Teaching Children About Salvation

• Jerry Moyer talks about sharing the Gospel with kids.

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.

Blog Series – Commercialism and Faith

In this series, Donald Miller explores the relationship between the language of culture (i.e., commercialism) and faith.

• Commercialism and Faith Pt 1: The Effect of Commercials on the Human Brain
• Commercialism and Faith Pt 2: Paradise Lost
• Commercialism and Faith Pt 3: Rituals and Evangelical Voodoo

Blog Series – Can We Put Adolescence to Rest

Tim Elmore examines the cultural trend of prolonged adolescence.

• Part 1
• Part 2

How is the Family Different? – A Facebook Comment Transplant

• Anchor Children’s Ministry examines the difference between today’s “families” and families in the New Testament era.

Everybody wants to be famous

• Funny Man Dan looks at the obsession with fame in our culture. As an aside, I would ask for his autograph if I could.

Kids & Cell Phones

• This article looks at the impact cell phones are having on kids today.

Cyber-Bullying

• The Arise and Eat blogs looks at the growth in the alarming trend of cyber-bullying among youth.

Top Five Shows the Children in your Church are Watching

• This article from CentriKids offers a brief summary of five shows the kids in your ministry might be watching.

JUST THE FACTS MONDAY – EASTER

• By the time this is published, Easter will be over, but I thought the facts in this article were interesting none-the-less.

Divorce in Families

• This article offers some interesting statistics on the prevalence of divorce in this country and asks whether your ministry is prepared to deal with the implication of the statistics.

Viewing Preferences: TV vs. Online

• This article offers interesting insight into how children and youth are watching T.V. these days.

Generation Y and Faith: Spiritual but not Religious

• Tim Elmore offers some advice on dealing with those from Generation Y.

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.

Free Powerpoint review game – Burger Bar

• Effective Children’s Ministry provides a free Powerpoint template for a Bible review game.

Animals vs. People Game

• Acacia in the Desert provides a game for preschoolers which teaches that man is made in the image of God.

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 – Review of Formational Children’s Ministry

Various bloggers reviewed Ivy Beckwith’s new book – Formational Children’s Ministry this month. These group blogging projects are really catching on. I am looking forward to participating in one or two in the coming months myself.

• Day One – Larry Shallenberger
• Day Two – Michael Novelli
• Day 3 – Liz Perraud
• Day 4 – Henry Zonio
• Day 5 – Barabara Graves
• Day 6 – Lori Bethran
• Day 7 – Matthew Guevara
• Day 8 – Sam Luce
• Day 9 – Amy Dolan

Read to Them..Please?

• Donna Perugini looks at the importance of reading to your kids and how to pick the right thing to read to your kids. I am happy to announce that I have corresponded with Ms. Perugini, and I will be reviewing her book(s) sometime in the near future here on Dad in the Middle.

Site of the week: Bookie Woogie

• Kenny Conley links to a unique site which offers reviews of children’s books from a father and his kids.

Sojourn’s first published book!

• I can’t wait to get my hands on this new book from Sojourn Kids! Now I just need to find someone to send me a preview copy to review on Dad in the Middle (Hint! Hint!) .

Book review: Revolutionary Parenting

• Kenny Conley offers his review of this revolutionary (pun intended) book from George Barna.

Read More, Read Better

• Tim Challies, one of the most prolific readers I know of, offers his advice on ways to read more and make better use of your reading time.

Internet Sites

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.

Wayne’s bumper bundle

• Lin Pearson, from Effective Children’s Ministry, was kind enough to link to last month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol again this month. If the title of this post wasn’t so familiar at this point, I might think of changing it to the Bumper Bundle.

Family Time Training

• Free CM Stuff links to a site that contains various free family activities to use in your ministry or with your own kids.

Children’s Church Ministry Resources

• Andy Johnson offers this link to a site with some good ideas and some motivational resources.

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 – R U Smarter than A Fly

This series of videos looks at four biblical stories through the eyes of a couple of flies.

• R U Smarter than a Fly? Fly in the Eye
• R U Smarter Than a Fly? Christmas Pudding
• R U Smarter than a Fly? Rubbish Heap
• R U Smarter Than A Fly? – Darkness

Blog Series – Napkin Conference

Glen Woods is nice enough to share some of his notes from this year’s Napkin conference.

• Napkin 2010: Introducing a Great Conference!
• Napkin Conference: Great Networking Opportunity
• Napkin Ideas Session 1: Justyn Smith
• Napkin Ideas Session 2: Benny Perez
• Napkin Ideas Session 3: Ryan Frank
• Napkin Ideas Session 4: Yancy Richmond
• Napkin Ideas Session 5: Jim Wideman
• Napkin Ideas Session 6: Justyn Smith

Fun stuff for your elementary rooms

• Kenny Conley provides links to some fun things you can add to your elementary rooms!

How to Build a Kid-Sized Tabernacle

• Acacia in the Dessert offers instruction on building a kid-sized tabernacle for preschoolers.

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 Child’s Prayer

• Children’s Moment blog offers this lesson for teaching kids about prayer.

Where Would You Look? (Jesus Lost in Jerusalem)

• This Q&A type lesson teaches kids about the time Jesus stayed at the temple in Jerusalem.

Lesson from the Garden of Gethsemane

• Beckie Stewart from Ministry-to-Children.com offers up this lesson for 7-12 year olds based on Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Lesson: The Rewards of Obedience

• Beckie Stewart, from Ministry-to-Children.com, uses the story of Jesus calling the disciples in this lesson for 7-12 year olds on the rewards of being obedient.

Bible Lesson: Wise & Foolish Builders

• The Children’s Ministry Blog offers a fun lesson for teaching kids the lesson of the wise and foolish builders.

Lesson: Journey Through the Book of Acts

• This object lesson from Kelly Henderson at Ministry-to-Children.com is for kids aged 9 to 12 is a review of the first 9 chapters of the book of Acts.

Sheep SAVED by a Shepherd: Preschool Lesson

• This lesson intended for preschoolers helps kids to recognize Jesus as the Good Shepherd who saves us.

Creation Art Project #2

• From Acacia in the Desert, this is a great activity for preschool kids related to creation.

Sheep LOVED by a Shepherd: Preschool Lesson

• This lesson intended for preschoolers helps kids to recognize Jesus as the Good Shepherd who loves us.

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.

Top Ten Ways To Frustrate Your Kids

• Want to know how to frustrate your kids? This article gives you the top ten ways. Head on over and take a personal inventory to see how you are doing.

Arguing Logically vs. Listening Empathetically

• Doug Wolter offers advice to parents on dealing with emotional kids.

Parenting with Hope in the Worst of Times

• I haven’t YET listened to the sermon associated with the article, but the article provides a Godly perspective on raising kids.

Helping Parents Embrace Spiritual Weirdness

• This article examines how awkward moments (particularly with teens) can often offer the best opportunity for spiritual guidance.

Weary Parents

• Being a parent is hard work. This article from Shepherd Press offers some encouraging words to wearied parents.

THIRTEEN IDEAS FOR GREAT FAMILY DINNERS

• apPARENTly blogging offers 13 great tips for you and your family to engage around the dinner table.

AND EVEN MORE FAMILY DINNER IDEAS

• apPARENTly Blogging offers 13 more fun ideas for the family dinner.

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 Devotional on Matthew: Following the King

• Jared Kennedy offers up some ideas for devotionals based on the book of Matthew in this article.

What’s wrong with grumbling anyway?

• This devotional for kids teaches the importance of not grumbling based on the story of the Israelites from the book of Numbers.

Family Devotional on Mark: The Mustard Seed Kingdom

• Enjoy this devotional based on the parable of the mustard seed from the Book of Mark.

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.

Site of the week: Nintendo8.com

• Kenny Conley linked to this site which has nothing to do with Children’s Ministry but did manage to take up a couple hours of my day. This site includes links to play various games from the original Nintendo system online. As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I had a blast!

Expecting your kids to memorize more Bible than you.

• Stuff Christians Like makes a triumphant return to The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol with this article on having kids memorize verses.

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 (April 2010)
3. This Month in the Middle (March 2010)

The four blogs that made the final are frequently featured in the The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol. I am in the final stages of putting together March’s installment of the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, and I thought in honor of these four blogs I would feature some of my favorite posts from each blog over the course of the last month. If you are not familiar with these blogs, you should be! Perhaps these posts will help you make your decision, then go ahead on over to Kidmin Blog Madness and cast your vote!

Children’s Ministry 1234 (Rob Bradbury)

Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)

Lemon Lime Kids (Amy Dolan)

Sam Luce

Related posts:

1. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (March 2010)
2. Kidmin Blog Madness – We Made It to Round 2 – Now Go Vote!
3. Dad in the Middle Needs YOUR VOTE Today!

Instead of stumping for votes this week, I thought a better use of this space would be to highlight the other fifteen blogs that made the second round.  I am familiar with all of them as every single one has been featured in the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.  A number of them were also featured in:

·        Top Ten Non Children’s Ministry Blogs That Those in Children’s Ministry Should Follow
·        Next Ten Children’s Ministry Blogs (#11-20)
·        Children’s Ministry Blogs – Up and Comers and Consistent Contributors

For those, I was able to borrow much of the description from those posts.  I like all of these blogs, I am not just saying that. I skim through and review every article posted to each of them in compiling the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.  That said, I do have some blogs which are my personal favorites, either because of content or writing style or both.  With those blogs, I attempt to thoroughly read EVERY article that is posted.  I have made a point to note those blogs below.

I am honored to be counted amongst the following blogs and bloggers.  Make sure you go check out their blogs and then go vote in the Kidmin Blog Madness.

MIDWEST DIVISION

1. Lemon Lime Kids

Amy Dolan is the founder and leader of Lemon Lime Kids which is an organization dedicated to seeing God “do a fresh work in the lives of children.”  Amy previously worked at Willow Creek Community Church.  Her blog offers insightful and practical articles on working in children’s ministry and clearly demonstrates her passion for kids.

2. Matt Mckee live

Matt McKee is the Pastor of Students and Children at Horizon Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.  His blog frequently demonstrates his creative talents as well as a fresh perspective on children’s ministry.  Many of his posts also reflect a lighter side.

3. JonathanCliff.com

Jonathan Cliff is the Children’s Ministry Pastor at Trinity Church in Lubbock, TX. He describes himself as “an Abnormal Children’s Pastor in many circles, as I’m not a big fan of puppets or magic tricks that cause things to spontaneously burst into flames.” And, to that, I say Amen! His articles cover issues of theology, kids in general and children’s ministry.

4. Children’s Ministry Blog

I am still on a quest to figure out who is behind this blog.  Why, you ask?  I love the articles posted on the site and frequently feature them on the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.  But, for the life of me, I cannot figure out who is behind this blog.  If you know, please tell me!  Even if you don’t know, make sure you check out the blog.

SOUTH DIVISION

1. Children’s Ministry Online (Kenny Conley)

Children’s Ministry Online is the Blog of Kenney Conley who is the Next Generation Pastor at Gateway Community Church in Austin, Texas. He started his blog to fill a void in quality Children’s Ministry blogs, and he has accomplished that. The stated purpose of his blog is to be “about the proliferation of ideas, strategies and solutions for today’s children’s ministry.”  Kenny is a prolific writer, and his article will challenge you to really think about how you do Children’s Ministry.  Kenny’s blog is the first in this list that I would label as one of my personal favorites, and at the risk of swaying others’ votes (as if), Kenny got my vote in this division.

2. Orange Leaders

“Orange” is the newest trend in Children’s Ministry spearheaded by Reggie Joiner and the ReThink group.  Orange envisions the church as yellow (shining the light of Christ) and the family as read (showing the Love of Jesus).  When these two entities join forces they create Orange.  This movement calls for a shift from a program based view of Children’s Ministry to a view focused on empowering and working with families to change kids’ lives.  Orange Leaders is their blog with contributions from a variety of authors.

3. apPARENTly blogging

apPARENTly blogging is a blog from Awana.  In addition to issue specific from Awana, one of my favorite features of this blog is Just the Facts Monday which offers statistics and facts about kids which should interest anyone involved in Children’s Ministry.

4. Revival Fire For Kids Blog

The Revival Fire 4 Kids Blog is written by Tamara Kraft who is the leader of the Revival Fire 4 Kids Ministry based in Akron, Ohio. Having worked for a long time as a children’s pastor before starting this ministry, Tamara’s articles deal with all aspects of Children’s Ministry.

EAST DIVISION

1. Sam Luce

Sam Luce is the Children’s Pastor at Mt. Zion Ministries Church in Utica N.Y. – a position he has held for the last 12 years.  Sam’s articles run the gamut from practical advice to insightful pieces on current children’s ministry trends and issues.  Sam also serves as an editor for K! Magazine.  Finally, as one of the lesser distinctions he has ever received, Sam’s blog is one of my personal favorites, and I would certainly have voted for it had it not been in the same division as the woefully overmatched DAD IN THE MIDDLE.

2. Justyn Smith

Justyn Smith’s blog offers excellent articles on various aspects of Children’s Ministry. Justyn Smith is the Children’s Pastor at The Church at South Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada and chief coordinator of the Napkin Conference.

3. GinaMcClain.com

Gina McClain is currently Children’s Ministry Director at Faithpromise Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.  She previously served as the LIFEKids Pastor at the Oklahoma City, OK campus of Lifechurch.tv (their largest campus). Gina is a frequent speaker at children’s ministry conferences and great resource to those involved in Children’s Ministries.  Her blog deals with practical issues in Children’s Ministry with a focus on having a vision.  Gina’s blogs is another of personal favorites which, like Sam’s blog, I would have loved to have voted for if it were not in the same division as the perennial underdog – DAD IN THE MIDDLE.

4. Dad In The Middle

Really, what more can I say about this blog other than – VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!? J

WEST DIVISION

1. A Heart After Children – Brittany Sky

Recently revamped, A Heart After Children is the blog of Brittany Sky.  Brittany is the Children’s Ministry Director of a church in Oklahoma.  This blog is based on the philosophy that when you teach children to love themselves as amazing creations of God, then they will “grow up with a love for the world” and then take that love out into the world to bring people closer to the kingdom of God.

2. Jim Wideman

Anyone involved in Children’s Ministry won’t be surprised that Jim Wideman’s blog made it through! Brother Jim is a well known and respected leader in the Children’s Ministry community dedicated to helping younger leaders excel in working with kids. The articles on his sight are insightful and valuable for anyone working with kids! No surprise that Brother Jim’s blog is one of my personal favorites and, though it was close with Kid Inspiration, got my vote in this round.

3. Childrens Ministry 1234

Children’s Ministry 1234 is the blog of Rob Bradbury who is the Children’s Pastor at Planetshakers City Church in Melbourne, Australia and his team at PlanetKids. The topics covered on this blog run the gamut of Children’s Ministry.

4. [Kid Inspiration] – Dave Wakerley

Kid Inspiration is the blog of David Wakerly. Ever since he gave me grief about the name of my blog (which by the way led me to changing it to the even more confusing “Dad in the Middle”) I have followed David’s blog. His articles are not as frequent as some blogs, but every time he writes I walk away with new knowledge or insight. For that reason alone, this blog ranks as one of my personal favorites. David Wakerly is a Children’s Pastor at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia.

Related posts:

1. Kidmin Blog Madness – A DAD IN THE MIDDLE Call to Action!
2. Dad in the Middle Needs YOUR VOTE Today!
3. Dad in the Middle…Monthly Round Up (July 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 and gather then together here in one place. 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, or most important, posts of the month, I’ve added this little graphic next to title 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!

Last month, in response to what was dubbed “Orange Week,” I added a separate section called Orange Week. It was supposed to be a one month addition, but this month Henry Zonio featured a review of the book Orange by multiple bloggers. With the Orange conference coming up soon, I may just leave this section for the time being. Here is an index to that and the other sections of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• Practical Teaching Tips and Advice
• General Ministry Issues
• Leaders and Leadership
• Everything Orange
• Volunteers
• Kids & Theology
• Kids & Christ
• Cultural Trends
• Resources (Music, Conferences, Internet Sites, Books, Games)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Family Ministry
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Just For Fun

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.

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

Practical Teaching Tips & Advice

These articles offer tips and advice of teaching, working with kids, running your ministry and basically anything else that involves dealing with a group of kids.

Blog Series – Tips for Large Group Teaching

Last month, I started a new series in which we look at various tips that can be used in Large Group Teaching situations. The entire series can be found at this link. The following were the entries to the series this month.

• #13 – It’s All About Jesus (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #14 – Be Yourself (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #15 – Challenge Your Kids (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #16 – Teach From the Book (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #17 – Read About Teaching (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #18 – Keep It Simple (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #19 – Point Everything in the Same Direction (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #20 – You Must Keep Learning to Keep Teaching (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #21 – Don’t Lose Sight of Your Own Spiritual Journey (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #22 – Invite Questions From the Kids (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #23 – The Power of Open-Ended Questions (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #24 – Always Be a Source of Encouragement (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #25 – Understanding Different Learning Styles (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #26 – Always Be On The Lookout (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #27 – Love Them Like Jesus (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

Blog Series – Communicating With Children

This series by Michael Chanley over at CmConnect.org looks at some tips on how to communicate with kids.

• Part 1- Posture
• Part 2 – Vocabulary
• Part 3 NAMES

Blog Series – The Dynamics of a Small Group

Pudge Huckaby examines the personalities and challenges in leading a small group.

• Part 1
• Part 2

The Making of a GREAT Preschool Storyteller

• This article offers six tips for telling stories to pre-school aged children. That said, many of the tips are applicable to storytelling at any age level.

Caution: Children Growing!

• The Children’s Ministry Blog looks at how to gear your teaching towards the seven different learning styles in order to be most effective.

How to make kids smile

• From Effective Children’s Ministry, this article looks at an acronym based on the word smile to help you improve communication skills.

Performance Skills 102 – Glorified Um’s

• This guest post on Sam Luce’s blog was written by Funny Man Dan looks at the use of fillers (like “um”) in communication and what you can do about them.

Um…how to…er…stop using fillers

• Sam Luce follows up on an earlier guest post on the use of fillers in speaking. He offers ten tips for avoiding the “Ums” in speaking.

Flannelgraph: a tool for today?

• Based on an off-hand comment I made in the Ministry-to-Children.com Forums asking whether or not anyone actually uses flannel graph anymore, Lin Pearson of Effective Children’s Ministry wrote this informative article on the pros and cons of flannel graph.

Classroom Conflict Management: It’s All in How You Drive

• Karen Wingate from the “Inside the Classroom” blog examines your role in managing classroom conflict.

Attention-Getters for Children’s Ministry

• Kristin Charles from Ministry-to-Children.com offers five practical ideas for getting kids’ attention.

Preaching with the help of a mind map

• I don’t know if I like this article because of how useful it is or just because it matches up with how I prepare my lessons. Regardless, Ryan Frank presents a great tool for preparing a sermon that I can attest will work well for children’s ministry lessons as well.

Common Sense Teacher’s Training

• Tamera Kraft from Revival Fire for Kids offers some common sense reminders for those teaching 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 – Dear kidmin curriculum publishers

Kenny Conley from Ministrytochildren.com offers his input to publishers of Children’s Ministry curriculum.

• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Defining roles
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Curriculum distribution
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Video curriculum
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Leverage creative collaboration
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Family content
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Video access
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Independent standards
• Ministry resources: risk versus safety
• Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Conclusion

Blog Series – Power to Last

Jim Wideman is a fixture in the world of Children’s Ministry. He has been around for years helping others in the field, and in this series he looks at persevering.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8

Blog Series – What is Kidmin?

Kidmin360.com is the new blog of Greg Baird. In his first series of posts, Greg examines what kidmin should be all about.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Blog Series – 3 Things Pastors Need to Read

Dustin “Can I Buy A Vowel Please” Aagaard takes a look at three things every pastor should read. Number one won’t surprise you, but two and three are a little more out of the box. Though this series is not geared specifically towards those in Children’s Ministry, it is certainly true for us as well.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

A Special Place: Ministry to Children

• This article examines the importance of Children’s Ministry in a church.

FEED MY LAMBS

• I am a fan of Charles Spurgeon (to the extent that you can be a “fan” of a preacher). I appreciate his simplicity, straightforwardness and deep thought. That’s one of the reasons I am in the middle of a fairly lengthy synopsis of his book Come ‘Ye Children. This article examines a Spurgeon sermon on the importance of Children’s Ministry.

Policies and Procedures

• This article from Emily Meredith offers some insight into the policies and procedures for the Children’s Ministry at North Point Church.

What If: Customized Curriculum Collaboration

• Justyn Smith talks about curriculums and the ability to customize that curriculum.

The Importance of Packaging

• James Kennison looks at the importance of packaging in Children’s Ministry. As he explains, “Packaging isn’t the most important part of children’s ministry… but it is an important part.”

10 Ways To Build An Effective Children’s Ministry Team

• Tamera Kraft provides ten tips on building a Children’s Ministry. From communication to accountability, this article hits on foundational principles.

The Role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Child

• Sam Luce examines the role of the Holy Spirit in a child’s life and wonders why it is largely ignored in Children’s Ministry.

101 Ways to Praise a Child

• Here are 101 phrases you can use to praise a child. Pick a few and use them with your kids today!

What is the Holy Spirits Role in Children’s Ministry

• Sam Luce looks at the building a children’s ministry on the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Tears of Ministry

• Dale Hudson reminds us that work in Children’s Ministry sometimes includes grief and tears.

Iconic Values

• I think Sam Luce is one of the most creative Kidmin people I’ve found on the internet. In this post he speaks to the value of icons in conveying the core attitudes of his children’s ministry, and yes he does provide pictures.

What’s This All Really Worth?

• Jamie Doyle looks at the necessity of good stewardship when it comes to spending your ministry resources.

Texting Tuesday 2/17/10

• Each Tuesday Take 2.0 ministries answers questions texted in on Sundays by their 4th through 6th graders. I highlighted this post for two reasons. First, I love the use of a technology that the kids are familiar with to interact with them. I applaud Take 2.0 to for staying on the cutting edge. More importantly though, I appreciate the fact that Take 2.0 is dedicated to drawing questions out of the kids they minister to.

Kids and parents from outside the church

• How does your ministry deal with kids who have no family in the church?

Say it in the Children’s Sermon

• This is a great article on how we, as adults, benefit from the Children’s Sermon.

A Children’s Pastor’s Most Important Mission

• The most important thing we must do in Children’s Ministry has nothing directly to do with Children’s Ministry itself. This article reminds us that our first priority is being a follower of Christ.

Be Our Guest

• This article includes tips on creating an inviting environment for guests.

Children’s Ministry Think Tank: Does God Call People to Children’s Ministry?

• In this latest installment of Ministry-to-Children.com’s Children’s Ministry Think Tank the likes of Gina McClain, Sam Luce, Kenny Conley, Brenna Phillips and yours truly answer questions related to the call into Children’s Ministry (and yes I feel l a little bit like a t-baller thrown into the starting lineup of the New York Yankees being part of this group!).

Making Disciples

• This article offers useful advice on the process of making children into disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Children’s Ministry 101: Building a Team

• Sam Luce shares his ideas about how to create a successful team.

Making Vision Stick

• CM Buzz talks about the process of coming up with a new vision based on Andy Stanely’s book “Making Vision Stick.”

Equipping Parents – The Timing Factor

• Gina McClain asks, “What do you give to parents who have just recently responded to the gospel to help them be spiritual leaders with their kids?”

Benefits and Pitfalls of Memorizing

• Acacia in the Desert is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs for discussions of Children’s Ministry theory. In this article they look at the benefits of scripture memorization.

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 – Leading When You’re Young

Last months, we started a series from 23 year old J.C. which looks at the leading others when you’re still young/ He continued that series this month (I went ahead and included the entries from the prior Blog Patrol as well.)

• Leading When You’re Young
• Leading when you’re Young: Time

Blog Series – Learning 2 Lead

In this series, Pudge Huckaby shares what he is learning about leadership.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Build A Better Meeting

In this series, Amy Dolan from Lemon Lime Kids offers several tips for having a better and more productive meeting.

• #1: Build A Better Meeting
• #2: Build A Better Meeting

Confessions of a People-Pleaser

• Anna Light looks at overcoming the urge to be a people pleaser.

Leadership | Lessons from the Iron Chefs

• My wife loves the food channel. She watches it a lot, and her love for it has rubbed off on me and my kids. My 8 year old son knows chefs and ingredients that normal 8 year olds have never heard of. One of the shows we like to watch as a family is Iron Chef America. Whether you are a fan of the show or not, you will benefit from the five qualities of leadership which Dan Scott gleans from an episode of Iron Chef.

Developing Leaders: High Performance Teams

• This article from the North Point Kids blog looks at how to develop leaders for your ministry team.

Leadership Nugget–Want to make a change?

• This article from Free CM Stuff provides a pdf worksheet to help you initiate effective change.

Bible talks about leadership and delegation. We often misunderstand what delegation really is.

• Todd McKeever reviews an article from Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson Publishers on understanding biblical leadership.

I Need this Today

• Anna Light Ministries offers biblical words of encouragement.

Do You Want To Lead or Boss People?

• Pete Wilson shares a quote which lays out the difference between a leader and a boss. If you’re in a position of leadership (or a boss), you should definitely check out this post.

Everything Orange

For one month only, I’ve added a section for links to all the Orange Week posts from various Children’s Ministry bloggers around the internet. If you’re interested in the Orange concept, make sure to check out these articles.

Blog Series – Think Orange Group Blogging Project

Last month, we featured Orange week where a number of blogs spent a week digging into the different aspects of the Orange philosophy. This month, Elemental Children’s Ministry sponsored a group blogging project on the book Think Orange by Reggie Joiner. Elemental did a similar series on a book several months ago, and I’m hoping to get in on the next one planned for sometime in April.

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Orange-ology
• Chapter 2: Bright Lights
• Chapter 3: Warm Hearts
• Chapter 4: Orange Glow
• Chapter 5: Skeeples and Lomes
• Chapter 6: Essential #1 Integrate Strategy
• Chapter 7: Essential #2 Refine The Message
• Chapter 8: Essential #3 Reactivate The Family
• Chapter 9: Essential #4 Elevate Community
• Think Orange Group Blog Project – Chapter 10: Essential #5 Leverage Influence
• Think Orange Group Blog Project – Conclusion: Orange-ality
• Wrap Up: A Standing Orange-Vation

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.

Why Parents of Young Children Should Serve in Children’s Ministry

• Recruiting volunteers is a constant battle in many Children’s Ministries. This article offers number of practical reasons why parents should serve in Children’s Ministry.

Teenagers in your children’s ministry

• Kenny Conley examines types of teenagers and how they can help you out in your Children’s Ministry.

Trusting Your Volunteers

• Kenny Conley turned me on to this blog from Jared Masey who writes specifically for those who work in Children’s Ministries in smaller towns and churches. In this article, Jared examines the struggles and importance of learning to trust your volunteers.

Kids and Theology

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

M is for Manuscript (Apologetics in Children’s Ministry)

• Terry Delaney continues his look at the apologetics in Children’s Ministry.

“Once Upon a Time” Is Not An Appropriate Bible Story Beginning

• I am passionate about the Bible and specifically about kids and the Bible. One of the things I spend a lot of time thinking about is how to make sure that we do not convey (explicitly or implicitly) the message to kids that Bible is similar to other fictional stories they read or hear. In this article from the Acacia in the Dessert Blog looks at appropriate introductions to Biblical stories taken from (where else?) the Bible.

Formational Apologetics

• Henry Zonio from Elemental Children’s Ministry wrote an article for Children’s Ministry Magazine about what apologetics might look like for kids today. This article includes a link to the full Children’s Ministry Magazine article.

Kids and 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.

Kids Transition from Liking God to Relationship With Him

• In this article, Donna Perugini offers insight into how to transition kids from simply liking God to having a relationship with him.

Kids and Cultural Trends

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 THE FACTS MONDAY – ALL-TIME BEST SELLING CHILDREN’S BOOKS

• This is a listing of the top ten bestselling children’s books of all time.

8 Tips for Reading to Television-Jaded Preschoolers

• This article is packed with eight practical tips for reading to preschoolers in order to keep their attention and interest.

Acceleration: Parenting in a Fast-moving World

• The Logos ministry looks at parenting in the increasingly fast-paced culture that we live in.

More on Youngest Generation

• Larry Shallenberger links to a USA Today article filled with information on the youngest generation.

Generation Z – The Homelander Generation

• The Revival Fire for Kids Blog offers some interesting characteristics and data on the Z Generation born between 1999 and 2005. My middle two kids, and the kids in my room on Sunday fall into this generation. It was revealing to compare them to the information from this article.

Characteristics of the Homelander Generation

• Tamera Kraft from The Revival Fire for Kids blog offers some interesting cultural information on the Homelander Generation.

Ministering To The Homelander Generation

• In a follow-up to an earlier post, Tamera Kraft looks at ways to minister to the Homelander Generation.

JUST THE FACTS MONDAY – TWEENS AND ALCOHOL

• apparently Blogging offers up this alarming statistic on tweens and alcohol.

“The Online Life of Kids”

• CM Buzz looks at recent statistics regarding the amount of time kids spend online.

Characteristics of Children

• The Children’s Minister Blog offers up this link to information from the Children’s Ministry Agency- Assemblies of God USA with information on how to approach kids with different types of personalities.

Resources (Music, Conferences, Internet Sites, Books, Games)

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.

Don’t Miss Out On This Kidmin Resource

• This article is all about the great forums available at Ministry-to-Children.com. It is a resource that you will definitely want to check out!

1 Timothy 4:12 (Seeds Family Worship)

• This is a great resource from Seeds Family Worship to help kids and adults memorize scripture.

Review of “What’s In the Bible”

• In one of our last posts of the month, I provided a thorough review of Phil Vischer’s new endeavor called “What’s In The Bible.” You can find out what I thought of the video here.

Kid’s ministry Internet Resources in one place

• Effective Children’s Ministry is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs and resource sites on the internet. They were kind enough to link to last month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol in this article. This article also introduced me to the phrase “Bumper Bundle.”

Books that every children’s pastor should read

• Ryan Frank from K Magazine (can’t wait for the next issue by the way) provides a listing of 11 books every children’s pastor should have and read. The end result of this article for me is another trip to the book store!

Games that Grow a Kid’s Faith

• Free CM Stuff offers up a link to Faith Incubators and their site called FaithInk games.

Free PowerPoint – more reasons to believe the Bible

• Effective Children’s Ministry has added part 2 to their series on reasons to believe the Bible. You will definitely want to check out this PowerPoint presentation.

Thousands of Skits

• Free CM Stuff offers up a link to Dramatix which is a site full of thousands of Christian skits.

Free PowerPoint: The structure of the Bible

• Elsewhere in the Blog Patrol, we have featured posts from Effective Children’s Ministry which include PowerPoint presentations on the reliability of the Bible. In this third installment they tackle the structure of the Bible with an equally compelling presentation.

Daily Devotionals for Kids

• The Free CM Stuff blog offers up a link to a site which offers daily devotionals for kids. You will definitely want to check this site out.

Book Review- Formational Children’s Ministry

• Glen Woods offers up this review of the good points and concerns related to this recent book from Ivy Beckwith.

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.

Children’s Bible Lesson: You, Joseph, and Greatness

• This lesson for 1st to 6th graders teaches kids to make use of what they have now rather than just dreaming about what they want to do when they get older. It is based on the story of Joseph.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER – Good Samaritan Bible Story Lesson

• This lesson from Betty Benson Robertson teaches kids about biblical love based on the story of the good Samaritan.

God is Love: A Lesson Plan for Preschoolers

• This lesson plan from Ministry-to-Children.com teaches preschoolers aged 3-5 to develop a love for God’s Word.

13 Lessons on Hebrews

• Free CM Stuff links to these 13 free lessons from the Book of Hebrews presented by Dick Gruber and Jason Rhode who host the Children’s Ministry Talk podcast.

Extensive Lessons

• Free CM Stuff offers a link to a collection of Old and New Testament lessons from Calvary Chapel.

Web Wednesday

• A Heart After Children links to a website with a multitude of Sunday School lessons and resources.

Family Ministry

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.

Family Focused Environments

• This article from North Point Kids talks about how they create a shared family experience.

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.

Parenting Tip: Understanding Attitudes and How to Change Them

• Cap City Kidz offers insight into the three components of a child’s attitude. It also offers advice to parents on what they can do to change those attitudes.

Parents, be dull—it’s key to your children developing their imaginations.

• The 22 Words blog explains how being a dull parent is good for their development.

On shouting for silence

• As a parent, I have to plead guilty on this one!

3 Creative Ways to Play with Your Kids

• Trevin Wax offers 3 unique ways to play with your kids. If you’re looking for something new to do with your kids, make sure you check this out.

5 Steps to developing a child’s work ethic!

• This post from CMConnect offers five steps that we must go through in order to instill a work ethic in our kids.

How to Listen to Your Children Biblically

• Jay Younts explores the importance and art of listening to your kids.

God Wants You to Give Up

• Justin Taylor looks at how God uses the institution of marriage in our sanctification based on the book What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage by Paul Tripp.

Marriage Builders

• This article by Susan Alexander Yates offers six tips for strengthening your marriage during the parenting years.

Practical Parenting Tips: Why Do You Do What’s Right?

• Cap City Kidz helps parents to use their children’s conscience in raising kids.

Parenting Tip: The Conscience Needs Training

• Cap City Kidz offers advice to parents on how to develop the conscience of their children.

What can distract us from a biblical vision for our family?

• Jared Kennedy looks at some common goals we have for our kids that can easily become idols if we are not careful.

Drive Time Tip #2

• This articles wonders if you are pushing your kids towards average or above-average.

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.

The Curse of Being Smarter Than Everyone Else

• I enjoyed this look at the lighter side of Biblical love so I thought I would post it here.

101 Writing Tips

• As someone who enjoys writing, I found this article very useful.

How to Read a Non-Fiction Book

• Michael Hyatt offers ten tips for reading non-fiction books. Since non-fiction makes up 99% of what I read, I found this article fascinating.

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 (July 2009)
3. The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol (March 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 Children’s Ministry and compile them here in one place. It’s the very first Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol of 2010 and it’s packed full of great articles. There were a lot of great articles published this month in the world of Children’s Ministry. Everyone must have saved up there good ideas from December when the whole world was writing about Christmas. What the means for you is a disproportionate number of posts in this month’s Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol, but I hope you will take the time to check them all out.

As I’ve been doing for the last several months, I continue to add this little graphic to the right of the title of particularly pertinent posts. I think they’re all must-reads, but if you’re running short on time, make sure that you check out these articles at a minimum!

In addition to everything else going on this month, Kenny Conley started Orange Week this past month. A number of blogs dedicated the third week of the month to articles related to the Orange concept of family ministry. I could have included them all under the Family Ministry section, but I decided to add a separate section for just this month. Here is an index to that and the other sections of The Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol:

• Practical Teaching Tips and Advice
• General Ministry Issues
• Leaders and Leadership
• Orange Week
• Volunteers
• Kids & Theology
• Kids & Christ
• Cultural Trends
• Resources (Music, Conferences, Internet Sites, Books, Games)
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
• Family Ministry
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
• Just For Fun

As I have been doing for the last several months, those posts from Dad in the Middle included in the monthly Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol have this warning label attached to them to warn you / let you know.

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

Practical Teaching Tips & Advice

These articles offer tips and advice of teaching, working with kids, running your ministry and basically anything else that involves dealing with a group of kids.

Blog Series – Tips for Large Group Teaching

In this series, which will continue well into next month and the one after, I looks at various tips that can be used in Large Group Teaching situations.

• What On Earth Should I Do With All These Kids? (Tips for Large Group Situations)
• #1 – Prepare! Prepare! Prepare (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #2 – Pray, Pray and then, Pray! (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #3 – Don’t Think More Highly of Yourself Than You Ought (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #4 – Stay the Course (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #5 – Be Willing to Adapt (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #6 – Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #7 – If You Can’t Remember Names, Be Creative! (Tips for Large Group Teaching)
• #8 – Keep It Fresh (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #9 – You Are Not Alone (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #10 – The Dreaded Discipline System (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #11 – Build On What They Already Like (Tips For Large Group Teaching)
• #12 – Get Fired Up! (Tips For Large Group Teaching)

Teaching Children to Set Goals

• Karen Wingate offers some advice on how to teach kids about setting goals.

Shaped by Story

• Amy Dolan looks at a method of teaching kids stories from the Bible from Michael Novelli’s book Shaped by the Story.

When Teaching a Large Age Range

• The Kidologist, Karl Bastian offers a suggestion on who to target when teaching to a group of kids with a large age range.

The Student Teacher

• Karen Wingate reminds us that as teachers we are still students as well.

Stepping Into the Story

• Henry Zonio from Elemental Children’s Ministry offers this story on the art of telling a story.

Let’s not turn the Bible into a fairy tale

• How do we convey the stories of the Bible without leaving kids with the mistaken notion that Bible stories are no different than other fictional characters they are familiar with.

16 things to keep in mind when teaching kids the Word

• Jamie Doyle offers up 16 simple and useful tips for teaching kids the Word of God.

Help the Children Love the Different People

• From Desiring God, David Mathis provides eight ways parents can help teach their kids to love people who are different.

Teaching Just By Being

• Brick by Brick offers this article that reminds us that what kids observe in us is as important, if not more important, than the words that come out of our mouths.

Teach the Bible as One Coherent Story

• Larry Shallenberger links to the newest endeavor from Phil Vischer titled What’s In The Bible?

Lessons Are Fun When You Are!

• This article from Children’s Ministry Blog offers good practical advice on what it means to work with kids.

Teacher’s Prayer

• A poem from Linda Stevenson for those who work in Children’s Ministry.

“…The Goal of our Instruction”

• Larry Shallenberger examines the importance of teaching kids comprehension and not just retention of knowledge.

Helping Kids Cope with Disaster

• In wake of the earthquake in Haiti, Ryan Frank looks at how to help kids cope with such disasters.

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 – Staying Dynamic in Children’s Ministry

Last Month we started a series from Elemental Children’s Ministry looks at eight things a Children’s Ministry needs to do in order to remain dynamic. I’ve included the final four from this month as well as the first four from last month.

• #1 Creative Space
• #2 Cross-Train
• #3 Question Everything
• #4 Be Involved in Your Community
• #5 Futurecast
• #6 When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Grape Juice!
• #7 It’s Not About You
• #8 The Holy Spirit is Your Friend

On the importance of being prepared in Children’s Ministry (Children’s Ministry Moment #8)

• In this article I look at why you must always be prepared for anything in Children’s Ministry.

I love Jesus enough to punch you in the mouth (Children’s Ministry Moment #9)

• In this Children’s Ministry Moment, I recount a story that demonstrates the need for sanctification in kids of all ages.

Blog Series – Ideas in a Collaborative Community

In this series, Anthony Prince from West Coast CM examines some of the best ways to share ideas in a collaborative community.

• Ideas in a Collaborative Community
• Ideas: The One that Worked

Dear New Children’s Pastor

• Same Luce offers three goals for new Children’s Ministers to keep them grounded and help them get started.

Do you evaluate based on effort?

• We all spend a lot of time preparing our lessons. Do you spend enough time evaluating them after the fact?

Fishing Guide for Dummies

• Gina McClain comments on a Sam Luce article by the same name in which he uses fishing for an analogy for getting caught up in the wrong things in Children’s Ministry.

Mental drift: possibly the solution to your biggest problem

• Kenny Conley wonders if we should allow more time in our schedule to not only account for, but encourage, the wandering mind.

Why Are We So Offended All the Time?

• Kevin DeYoung wonders why it is that we always seem so offended by just about anything.

10 Commandments for Sunday School Teachers

• 10 Commandments penned by Henrietta C. Mears in the early 1900’s.

Two new ideas I am trying to connect with parents.

• Sam Luce shares some ideas for connecting with parents that have not worked and some new ideas that he is trying.

#KIDMIN VS #STUMIN

• Chad Swanzy looks at the relationship between Children’s Ministry and Student Ministry.

10 Ways Your Church Should Support Parents as Spiritual Leaders

• Jeff Smith offers a list of ten things every church should do to support them in their role as their children’s spiritual leaders.

Let ‘Em Play!

• Brick by brick examines the importance of play time in working with kids.

Gospel-Centered Children’s Curriculum

• This article includes a link to a Yancey Arlington Article on putting the gospel at the center of your curriculum.

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

• Terry Delaney, from Christian Book Notes, reviews this book from the daughter of Francis and Edith Schaffer.

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 – Keeping Life Simple

Jim Wideman offers this multi-part series on something we all strive for – simplifying our lives.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9
• Part 10
• Part 11
• Part 12
• Part 13
• Part 14
• Part 15
• Part 16
• Part 17
• Part 18
• Part 19
• Part 20
• Part 21
• Part 22
• Part 23

Blog Series – 7 Differences Between A Coach And A Critic

Perry Noble exams the fine line between being a coach and being a critic in this series.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Blog Series – Two Principles for Delegation

Nick Blevins looks at two fundamental principles when it comes to delegating responsibilities.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Blog Series – Leading When You’re Young

23 year old J.C. looks at the leading others when you’re young in this interesting series.

• Leading When You’re Young
• Leading when you’re Young: Time

Five Characteristics of Key Leaders in Children’s Ministry

• Glen Woods examines five characteristics he looks for in leaders.

10 Choices A Leader Needs To Make About His Staff

• Perry Noble looks at ten things a leader must do in relation to those who work for him.

Four Reasons Why Leaders Stop Leading

• Perry Noble looks at four reasons that leaders give up and stop leading.

And poof! a great meeting appears

• Amy Dolan offers some advice on how to hold a successful meeting.

Groups Directors: Best Practices

• Ideas for being a better leader to the volunteers who you lead.

Leadership | Don’t Dream Big?

• Dan Scott reminds us that we shouldn’t stop dreaming big just because we don’t have the means to implement our dreams.

A Top Leadership Tool

• From Relevant Children’s Ministry, Dale Hudson examines a biblical model for finding wisdom.

Celebration Time!

• Inside North Point looks at ways of celebrating and the benefits of celebrating as a team.

Good Leaders, Listen Well

• One critical skill for any good leader is the ability to listen. This article looks at the importance of listening in your ministry.

Orange Week

For one month only, I’ve added a section for links to all the Orange Week posts from various Children’s Ministry bloggers around the internet. If you’re interested in the Orange concept, make sure to check out these articles.

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Kenny Conley (Children’s Ministry Online)

• Next week is Orange week
• Plans for Orange Week
• Promote Orange: Get a badge for you blog
• Welcome to Orange Week!
• Orange Week: Integrated strategy
• Integrated Strategy: student and kids ministry getting along
• Orange Week: Integrated Strategy Recap
• Orange Week: Refine the message
• Refine the message: Additional thoughts
• Orange Week: Refine the message recap
• Orange Week: Elevate community
• Orange Week: Two Post Tuesday
• Orange Week: Reactivate the family
• Orange Week: Tuesday Recap
• Reactivate the Family: What about when they need activating too?
• Elevate Community: It’s gotta be in your DNA
• Orange Week: Wednesday Recap
• Orange Week: Leverage influence
• Orange Week: Leverage Influence Recap
• Orange Week Concluded

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Sam Luce

• Next week is “Orange Week”
• Orange Conference Badges
• Orange Week: Integrated strategy
• Orange Week: Refine the message
• Orange Week: Reactivate the family
• Orange Week: Elevate Community
• Orange Week: Leverage Influence
• Orange Week Recap

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Dan Scott

• Orange Week | Integrate the Strategy | Part 1
• Orange Week | Integrate the Strategy | Part 2
• Orange Week | Refine the Message | Part 1
• Orange Week | Refine the Message | Part 2
• Orange Week | Refine the Message | Part 3
• Orange Week | Reactivate the Family | Part 1
• Orange Week | Reactivate the Family | Anatomy of an FX
• Reactivate the Family | Student Ministries | Cell Family Parent Night
• Orange Week | Elevate Community | Small Groups from 3 – 18
• Orange Week | Leverage Influence

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Kendra Golden

• Orange Week
• Integrated Strategy
• Refine the Message
• Reactivate the Family
• Elevate Community
• Leverage Influence

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Matt McKee

• I bleed…. Orange?!?!?
• Orange Week Peeled: Strategy
• Orange Conference Badge
• Orange Week Peeled: The Message
• Orange Week Peeled: Reactivate The Family
• Orange Week Peeled: Elevate Community
• Orange Week Peeled: Leverage Influence

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Jonathan Cliff

• Upcoming Orange Week!
• Orange Conference Badges for Everybody
• Integrated Strategy
• 
  Refine the Message
• 
  Reactivate the Family
• Elevate Community
• 
  Leverage Influence
• 
  Orange Giveaway!

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Anthony Prince

• Orange Week
• Orange Week: Integrated Strategy
• Orange Week: Refine the Message
• Orange Week: Elevate Community
• Orange Week: Reactivate the Family
• Orange Week: Leverage Influence

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Gina McClain

• It’s Orange Week
• Spare Parts Won’t Get You Anywhere
• It’s the Little Things in Life
• Creating an Echo
• Shared Experiences
• Holy Orange Onion, Batman!
• Influential Orange Perspectives
• The Power of Little People

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: JC

• Orange Week
• Integrated Strategy
• Refine the message
• Reactivating the Family
• Elevate Community
• Leverage Influence

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Nick Blevins

• Orange Week: Refine the Message #orangeweek
• Orange Week: Elevate Community #orangeweek
• Orange Week: Reactivate the Family #orangeweek
• Orange Week: Leverage Influence #orangeweek

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Tamera Kraft (Revival Fire for Kids)

• Orange Week – What Is Orange?
• Orange Week – Orange Essentials
• Orange Week – Partnering With Parents
• Orange Week – Partnering With Staff
• Orange Week – Discipling Children

Blog Series – ORANGE WEEK: Orange Leaders

• Orange Week: Integrate Strategy
• Orange Week- a creative challenge for your cast!
• Orange Week continues- Refine the Message
• Orange Week- Reactivate the Family
• Orange Week- Elevate Community!

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.

Stages of Growing a Team Paid and Volunteer

• Todd McKeever looks at the four stages of team development.

Kids and Theology

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

Blog Series – Interview with Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham

Terry Delaney from Ministry-to-Children.com sits down with the founder and president of the Answers in Genesis ministry which is responsible for the Creation Museum.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Can the Bible be trusted? A Free PowerPoint

• From Effective Children’s Ministry, this two part power point presentation examines the proof for the reliability of the Bible. I have reviewed these presentations as part of our continuing series on this site called Why I Believe the Bible

Apologetics in Children’s Ministry: An Introduction

• Terry Delaney, from Ministry-to-Children.com looks at the role and use of apologetics in Children’s Ministry.

Yes, Hermeneutics Matters When Teaching Children

• John Walton examines five common errors writers make when writing children’s curriculum.

Kids and 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 and Today’s Youth

• The Gospel Coalition Blog looks at the alarming increase in the use of electronic devices among children and youth.

Children and the Gospel

• The Children’s Ministry Blog offers a link to an article from Ron Buckland entitled “Children and the Gospel.”

Kids and Cultural Trends

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 THE FACTS MONDAY – KIDS AND CELLPHONES

• Some interesting facts about kids and cell phones in today’s society.

One Third of US 11-Year-Olds Have A Cell phone

• The title kind of gives it away. This article looks at the rising number of younger kids with cell phones.

XBOX 360 and the Bible

• Ed Stetzer breaks the news that you can now read your Bible on the XBOX 360 gaming console.

JUST THE FACTS MONDAY – SOME STATISTICS ABOUT MOMS AND MORNINGS

• The AWANA blog offers up some interesting statistics about mornings and kids.

The enemy of family time

• Kenny Conley explores the negative impact of media and electronics on family time.

Charity: Who Cares?

• Nick Blevins offers some interesting statistics on charity from Mint.com.

Resources (Music, Conferences, Internet Sites, Books, Games)

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.

Great internet resource sites

• This one is a little bit self-serving, but Effective Children’s Ministry was nice enough to link to a post I did several months ago of great internet resources. So I thought I would mention it here in the Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol.

Worshiphouse Kids: a clearing house of kidmin media

• Kenny Conley offers a link to this resource which offers a variety of great media content for Children’s Ministries.

Gross Games Club or Event

• Chad Swanzy offers 7 “gross games” for your reading and playing pleasure.

Top 55 Pastor Bloggers

• Online Christian Colleges offers this listing of top pastor’s blogs in various categories including one for Youth Pastors & Ministries. If you’re a regular of the Blog Patrol, you should recognize most of these.

Game Show Software (updated with link)

• Free CM Stuff links to a site with various game show controls which you may find useful in your Children’s Ministry.

Bible Hangman with a “Twist”: A Fun Bible Review Game

• Scripture Lady describes a fun twist on the game of hangman with a Bible theme.

Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat: A Super Fun Bible Review Activity

• In this game, Scripture Lady incorporates jump rope with Bible memorization.

100 Amazing Websites For Christian Kids

• Online Christian Colleges offers 100 links to safe sites for Christian kids to enjoy on the internet.

Have you seen Kidscreen?

• Ryan Frank links to Kidscreen which is an online resource that will help keep you up-to-date on “what’s new and what’s coming in the world of preschool and children’s media.”

Top Children’s Ministry Conferences 2010

• Tamera Kraft offers information and links to seven top Children’s Ministry conferences coming up this year.

8-Pin Bowling Free Review Game

• Effective Children’s Ministry offers up this Bible review game based on bowling which requires only some questions and some Skittles.

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.

The “I AM” Names of Jesus: A Children’s Church Lesson

• A lesson for 7-12 year olds on the “I AM” names of Jesus from the Gospel of John.

Children’s Bible Lesson About Sacrifice

• This lesson from Ministry-to-Children.com is for first to sixth graders and teaches kids about giving.

God the Holy Spirit Is Everywhere (Object Lesson for Children)

• This lesson utilizes simple science to demonstrate the omnipresence of God.

Sunday School Lesson: Daniel in the Lion’s Den

• From Ministry-to-Children.com, this article includes a lesson on Godly Character for 9-12 year olds based on the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

Family Ministry

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 – 6 Models of Family Ministry

Ryan Frank, editor of K Magazine (one of my personal favorites) shares six models of family ministry he has seen churches using and looks at the pros and cons of each.

• Model 1: “We Can Do It”
• Model 2: Teach Us Model
• Model 3: You Do It
• Model 4: Let’s Create A Position Model
• Model 5: Each Department For Itself Model
• Model 6: Experience It Together Model

Men in Family Ministry

• This article looks at the benefit of men serving in Children’s Ministry and links to notes from a lesson on three men from the Bible who invested in the next generation.

Parents: Not The Enemy

• Children’s Ministry Monthly reminds us that parents our not the enemy when it comes to Children’s Ministry.

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 – What Is Biblical Love for your Children?

Jay Younts looks at a definition of biblical love when it comes to being a parent.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Proverbs Family Devotional Guide

• Sojourn Kids offers devotionals for parents from the book of Proverbs.

Ten Motives for Fathers from a Faithful Pastor

• Jeff Robinson updates 10 motives for men in providing spiritual guidance to their wives and kids originally written by Puritan Richard Baxter in the 17th Century.

My greatest sermon- what’s yours?

• Jim Wideman reminds us of one more reason why our kids are so important.

New Parenting Blog

• Henry Zonio from Elemental Children’s Ministry and his wife have created a new site on parenting called, appropriately enough, Elemental Parenting.

Christianity Today: The Myth of the Perfect Parent

• This link to an article from Christianity today examines the myth in Christian circles known as the “Perfect Parent.”

FIVE PROVERBS TO LEARN WITH YOUR KIDS

• This simple post from the Awana blog offers five proverbs which would serve for great devotional time with your kids.

Talking With Your Children About Marriage & Sex

• From the Shepherd Press blog, this article examined the when and how of having the “sex talk” with your kids.

Passing the Parenting Test

• The Logos Ministry redefines the question of parenting from “Am I Parenting Successfully?” to “Am I Parenting Faithfully?”

Realistic Parent Training

• Christine Yount Jones explores unrealistic expectation some churches may have about parents.

Parenting and the Tribulation

• This article answers the question, “How do we prepare our kids for the end times?”

Just For Fun

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

Monday Morning Humor

• Kevin DeYoung offers a link to Lark News which is a site of funny Christian-satire – a genre DeYoung describes as a “rare bird.”

Alphabet Game

• When I was little, we used to pass time on our car trips playing the alphabet game. So, this was too good to pass up even though it has nothing to do with Children’s Ministry.

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. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (September 2009)
3. The Children's Ministry Blog Patrol (July 2009)

The NEW AND IMPROVED Children’s Ministry Blog Patrol seems to have been a success. I hope that you will find this month’s equally as useful. There are a lot of people out there dedicated to Children and Children’s Ministry publishing great and useful stuff on the internet. This is my attempt to try to compile some of the best of that information into one place for your perusal. As you might suspect, there were a lot, and I mean A LOT, of articles about Christmas this past month. I tried to limit the number in the Blog Patrol (seeing as how you won’t read it until January), but there were a couple I could not resist including.

I’ve decided I like the “must read” feature, so I am going to stick with it for now. As I’ve said before, I think they’re all must-reads, but for the best-of-the best, I’ve added this little graphic to the right of the title. If you’re running low on time, make sure that you check out these articles at a minimum!

This Blog Patrol seems to get longer every month, so I thought I would add a quick little section index right up front:

• Practical Teaching Tips and Advice
  
• General Ministry Issues
  
• Leaders and Leadership
  
• Volunteers
  
• Kids & Theology
  
• Kids & Christ
  
• Cultural Trends
  
• Resources (Music, Conferences, Internet Sites, Books, Games)
  
• Curriculum and Object Lessons
  
• Family Ministry
  
• Parenting and Marriage Issues
  
• Just For Fun
  

There weren’t a lot of Children’s Ministry posts on Dad in the Middle last month as we spent most of the month doing the Christmas Carol Advent.

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

Practical Teaching Tips & Advice

These articles offer tips and advice of teaching, working with kids, running your ministry and basically anything else that involves dealing with a group of kids.

Classic Teaching Principles for Children’s Ministry

• Kristin Charles, from Ministry-to-Children.com looks at the seven laws of teaching. How do you apply these laws to your Children’s Ministry?

Curriculum Essentials – Teaching the Bible

• Mike Johnson looks at the importance of the Bible and his method for getting kids involved in the stories of the Bible.

TWEEN TALK

• aPARENTly Blogging offers 8 practical tips for engaging your tween in conversation.

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 – Keep Your Focus

This is the continuation of a series started last month on the Free CM Stuff blog dedicated to resources to help in your spiritual growth.

• Day 7 – Grace Bible Church Bible Studies
  
• Day 8 – Grooveshark
  

Blog Series – Five People to Meet in Twenty10

Anthony Prince concludes a series started last month listing people he would like to make contact with in the coming year.

• Christine Yount-Jones
  
• Rick Warren
  

Blog Series – 5 Things I Hate About Children’s Ministry

Jonathan Cliff looks at five negative directions and roles that Children’s Pastors often take on.

• Introduction
  
• #1 – The Irrelevant Children’s Minister
  
• #2 – The “One-Man Show” Children’s Minister
  
• #3 – The Children’s Pastor that Ignores Early Childhood
  
• #4 – The “Jump on my Sinking Ship” Children’s Minister
  
• #5 – The Ungrateful Children’s Minister
  

Blog Series – Staying Dynamic in Children’s Ministry

In this series, Elemental Children’s Ministry looks at eight things a Children’s Ministry needs to do in order to remain dynamic. He tackled four of them this month.

• #1 Creative Space
  
• #2 Cross-Train
  
• #3 Question Everything
  
• #4 Be Involved in Your Community
  

Children’s Ministries Produce Spiritually Active Adults Study Confirms

• Take 2.0 links to a Barna study that reveals the importance of Children’s Ministries in the spiritual formation of adults.

THEY’RE WATCHING …

• The article from the Awana blog reminds us that kids, and not just our own kids, are always watching us. We should make sure that we are showing them Christ in our actions not just our words.

Ministry Is Spending

• Jim Wideman reminds us that ministry is draining, and it is important that you invest in your relationship with God before you actually need it.

10 Secrets To Stay Renewed

• Jim Wideman offers 10 practical ideas for helping you stay renewed in ministry.

Things I’m Big On In Children’s Church

• James Kennison lists six things about Children’s Church that are important to him in his ministry.

A well oiled machine or a plateau?

• Spencer Click reminds us that it isn’t always a good sign when things are running smoothly.

Why Require Unregenerate Children to Act Like They’re Good?

• A great article from John Piper on requiring kids to behave in ways which conform to God’s will.

I Want to be in Ministry Full Time

• Chad Swanzy examines a list of things you should contemplate to see if you are ready to go into Children’s or Youth Ministry on a full-time basis.

“This Sh_t Is Awesome!”

• Perry Noble relates a story from their Children’s Ministry and examines how we approach unsaved kids.

Redefining Worship

• This article looks at what worship truly is and the relationship between kids and worship.

Kid Devotions

• J.C. examines the components of a devotional for kids.

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 – Casting Vision to Your Church Staff

Kenny Conley had an opportunity to spend ninety minutes talking to the leadership of his church about the Children’s Ministry. This series captures what he said.

• What would you say?
  
• What I said
  
• Part 1
  
• Part 2
  
• Part 3
  
• Part 4
  
• Part 5
  
• Conclusion
  

Blog Series – Leading With Help

In this series, Jim Wideman looks at the importance of including others in your Children’s Ministry efforts.

• Part 1
  
• Part 2
  
• Part 3
  
• Part 4
  

Dealing with Criticism Without Becoming Critical

• Jim Wideman discusses coming to the realization that everyone will not like you and your decisions in ministry.

Getting your team on the same page

• Orange leaders looks at some practical tips for getting your team on the same page.

Seven Leadership Questions Teams Should Be Asking

• Perry Noble offers up seven questions that any leadership team, in Children’s Ministry or otherwise, should ask on a consistent basis.

The Art of Change

• Rags Studio looks at the four “A’s” of change.

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.

Kidmin | Small Group Leader Expectations | Unconditional Love

• This article examines the need for small group leaders to be invested in the lives of the kids they lead and what that means in terms of what should be expected of small group leaders.