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#8 – My First Study Bible (Top Ten Christian Books for Kids)

October 13, 2009 in Kidmin Resources, Other Books with 2 Comments

Top Ten #8My First Study Bible is subtitled “Exploring God’s Word on My Own!” and it’s great for exactly that.  This book gives kids a chance to really study the Bible like they (hopefully) see their parents doing.  My First Study Bible retells biblical stories in a kid-friendly first person style with words and sentences meant for early readers.

Each book includes an introduction written as though it is coming from the author.  Mixed in with the stories are kid-friendly facts similar to those you might find in an adult study Bible.  The text also includes cross references to other related stories to get your little ones used to the idea of flipping within their Bibles to allow the Bible to interpret itself.  Each story ends with a “Think About This” section which gives kids questions and thoughts to ponder about what they’ve just read.

My First Study BibleHere’s what Christianbook.com has to say about  My First Study Bible:

“Now 4- to 7-year-olds can have a study Bible all their own, just like Mom and Dad! Biblical characters like Joshua, Rahab, David, Esther, Mary, and many more share their exciting stories. Children will learn all about God’s Word in a fun and exciting way. Each Bible story has an introduction, background information, special notes with lots of details, and a summary at the end. Each page also has colorful and entertaining illustrations. It also includes: Detailed sidebars; Character sketches; “Think About This” sections; and so much more! This hardcover book measures 7.75″ x 6.5″, and has 528 pages.”

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#9 – Big Truths for Young Hearts (Top Ten Christian Books for Kids)

October 12, 2009 in Kidmin Resources, Other Books with 2 Comments

Top Ten #9Big Truths for Young Heart is the one book in my top ten that actually breaks my own rules for this list.  Unlike the other books, I have not yet read this one cover-to-cover.  I have read numerous sections in doing research for various bible studies.

This book by Dr. Bruce Ware represents a complete systematic theology work meant entirely for children.  This book includes sections covering:

  • God’s Word
  • The Trinity
  • Creation and Dominion
  • Human Nature and Sin
  • Christology
  • The Completed Work of Christ
  • The Holy Spirit
  • Salvation
  • The Church
  • Eschatology

Each section is divided into a number smaller, kid-friendly sized, chapters.  Christianbook.com indicates this work is intended for 6-14 year olds.  That said, I’ve read chapters to both my 8-year-old and 6-year-old, and it kept their interest.  It also sparked interesting conversations dealing with the topics in each chapter.  Each chapter includes discussion questions as well as a memory verse based on the chapter.

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#10 – Arch Series Books (Top Ten Christian Books for Kids)

October 9, 2009 in Kidmin Resources, Other Books with 2 Comments

Top Ten #10Welcome to the very first installment of the Top Ten Christian Books for Kids.  I wasn’t entirely sure where to start this series until I looked on the top of my bookshelf.  Sitting on top of another set of books are about fifty to seventy-five little paper cover books that rank among my, and my kids, favorites when it comes to Bible stories.  Over the years, we have accumulated many of the books from the Arch series.

The arch series web site can be found Concordia Publishing House. By my count, they have well over 100 different books available.  Each book tells a Bible story in unique rhyming narratives that help to make the stories more memorable for children.  In addition to being great to read to younger children, they also make excellent books for your early readers.  Space prohibits me all the books in this series, but some of my favorite books in the series include:

  • The Story of Creation
  • The First Brothers
  • Noah’s 2-By-2 Adventure
  • The Ten Commandments
  • Tried and True Job
  • Baby Jesus Is Born
  • Star of Wonder
  • When Jesus Was Born
  • He’s Risen! He’s Alive!
  • The Day Jesus Died
  • Jesus Returns to Heaven
  • Jesus Calms the Storm
  • What’s For Lunch?
  • Jesus and the Family Trip
  • The Coming of the Holy Spirit
  • Zacchaeus
  • Twelve Who Followed Jesus
  • Saul’s Conversion
  • Moses’ Dry Feet
  • The Springy, Slingy Sling
  • The Lost Coin
  • The Lord’s Prayer

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Top Ten Christian Children’s Books

October 8, 2009 in Kidmin Resources, Other Books with 2 Comments

Over the last month or two there have been a rash (perhaps not the best word) of top ten lists of resources in Children’s Ministry that I have really enjoyed following. Those have included:

Top Ten Books USED

So, starting tomorrow, and over the course of the next couple of weeks, I am going to take a break from our normal series and offer up my own top ten! I’ve scoured through my personal book shelf of Christian children’s books gather over the course of raising four kids now ages 2 through 16 to find the top ten books for teaching kids about God. The focus of the list is on books that directly teach about God and Christianity and are targeted at preschool through elementary age kids. Finally, I limited my list to those books which I personally own and have read. Since my wife reigns in my spending on books (thankfully), I am sure that there are plenty of additional great resources out there for kids. I hope if you have a personal favorite, or even a list, of items not included in my list that you will share it in the comments.

In case you’re wondering, I do not receive anything for offering any of these reviews.  I should really look into that!  But, as a parent and a worker in Children’s Ministry I think it is important to share those resources that we come across that are exceptional!

Best of the Best – Children’s Ministry Internet Resources

September 29, 2009 in Kidmin Resources with 4 Comments

Clip Art Graphic of a Desktop Computer Cartoon CharacterThe Internet has changed the way people live. Some of those changes have been for the worse, but some of them have been for the better. One of the changes for the better is the immediate availability of resources. There are a number of great resources out there in cyberspace for those who work in Children’s Ministry. My struggle in developing this list was not to find adequate sites, but to limit them to just the top three for each category! The list person who dwells inside of me would have given you a list of every site I ever visited ranked by how useful I found them, but I decided to refrain. So, the following is a list of my personal Top 3 sites for various categories related to Children’s Ministry:

Forums

Now, this category was easier than the rest in terms of selecting just three entries. There are three sites that I visit almost every day related to children’s ministry, and each of those sites have great forums filled with great people ready to help out with their wisdom and insight. If you have any, and I mean any, questions related to Children’s Ministry, check out the following forums: Continue Reading…

Best Devotional Book for Kids

July 3, 2009 in Kidmin Resources, Other Books with 1 Comment

Growing With JesusI don’t recommend things lightly on this blog, but I was at my local Lifeway store last night looking through the Children’s Devotional section, and I was reminded of the best such book I have ever read with my kids.  The name of the book is Growing With Jesus by Andy Holmes.  I found the book quite by accident.  I ordered it from one of those fund raisers that comes home from school with the kids without ever having seen the inside.  That is a bit of a scary prospect when it comes to any so called “Christian Literature” especially of the Kid’s variety because you never know what you’re going to get!

Fortunately, this book did not disappoint, and I comend it to any parent or Children’s Ministry worker to read with their kids.  From Devotion #1 – “You’re God’s Special Project” to Devotion #100 – “Jesus is Coming Back,” this book affirms, eddifies, teaches and challenges kids and the adults reading with them.  Each devotional offer a Bible Verse, Thoughts to Grow On which explores the verse, Today which offers the kids actions they can take today related to the devotional, and My Amazing World which gives the kids an interesting factoid.  Each devotional is two pages and includes illustrations which keep the kids interest.  For example, my kids were constantly looking for the devotionals with the pictures from the front cover!  Last time we read through this book, my kids were 6 and 4.  We are starting in again this week, they are now 8, 6 and almost 2.  They love the book, and the devotions spark even deeper conversations.   As a parent I love that they love the book, and I find myself learning from it as well.

Children Desiring God – A Summary of the 2009 National Conference

May 2, 2009 in Kidmin Resources with 7 Comments

It seems like everybody and their brother was at the Orange Conference this week, and I have enjoyed reading the tweets, blogs and more from people there this week.  It turns out their is another Children’s Ministry conference going on this week.  Children Desiring God 2009 National Conference: Oh Glorious God is also going on this weekend.  Jared Kennedy over at SojournKids.com is doing a great job blogging the various sessions.  Some of the speakers include John Piper, Paul David Tripp, Bruce Ware and David Michael.  I’m not all that familiar with Mr. Michael, but I have read the other three, and given what i have read, I imagine this must be a great event.  Since this conference seems to be getting less attention in the blogosphere, I thought I would provide a summary of some of the key points from Mr. Kennedy’s blog posts as well as John Piper’s. My point here is just to provide some interesting insights from what has been written thus far about the conference.  Here’s what has been going on in a bullet point format.

UPDATE (05/20/09): Children Desiring God has now posted the audio from plenary speakers at that event on their website here. You can listen to or download the following sessions:

These are definately worth listening to!  The Children Desiring God website currently says that the audio from the break out sessions will be posted soon.  Once those are available, I will let you know.

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