Here is another article I published over on Ministry-to-Children.com. The article titled Review: VBS Curriculum from the Seventh Day Adventist Church was published on July 8, 2010.
Brief Synopsis: Tony Kummer asked me to review a VBS program put together by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Find out what I had to say about it in this article.
If I timed this blog entry correctly, there is an exciting new resource for children’s ministry folks which has just been announced by Michael Chanley. Michael, who is the brainchild behind CMConnect.org has done it again with his brand new resource:
Imakidmin.com is a visual way of seeing where people are located geographically. Have you ever wondered where all those great people you’ve met online are actually located, now you can see at a glance with Imakidmin.com.
Here is how Michael describes the site:
imakidmin is a fun new way to help Children’s Pastors network with one another. Because all of our free zones are maps one can easily find other kidmin peeps in their area… the point is simple: to help you build community with other kidmin leaders in your region!
It’s been awhile since I last reviewed a chapter from the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry, and it seemed like the perfect time to get back to it. For those who might not recall, this book compiled answers from a variety of experts to the question, “What matters now in children’s ministry?” The one word answers were followed by an approximately 300 word long explanation. In the book, Rev. Sean Miller chose the Word “Space.” He writes:
Physical space matters. We have all seen children run up and down the halls of a church pointing out their spaces to parents, giving spur-of-the-moment tours to their friends, like they own the place… because they do. Physical space gives children ownership in their family of faith.
See, kids don’t view your children’s ministry space as the possession of the church, or the children’s pastor or anyone in particular. They think of it as theirs, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. As Rev. Miller explains:
Here is another article I published over on Ministry-to-Children.com. The article titled Ten Internet Tools for Children’s Ministry was published on July 5, 2010.
Brief Synopsis: In this article, I share ten online tools which I use that are helpful in children’s ministry.
About a month or so ago, I started to accept ads on this site to recover some of the cost of hosting, software, etc. My hope has been, and continues to be, to find sponsors which the users of this site will find valuable. I think I have been able to accomplish this, and I like our sponsors so much that I have decided to feature them from time to time on this site beginning with today.
We begin Spotlight on our Sponsors with Christianity Cove. Rather than wax eloquently on my own (right!), I decided to ask Mary-Kate Warner some questions about the site to give us a better idea what they are all about. Here is the transcript of that interview:
Earlier this summer on Dad in the Middle, I reviewed a series of CDs from God’s Kids Worship and gave away a set of the CDs to one lucky reader (GOD’S KIDS WORSHIP MODERN CD 3-PACK (A Dad in the Middle Review). Since that time, I have had a chance to meet Bob Singleton (founder and president of God’s Kids Worship® at the CM Expo, and I am grateful that God’s Kids Worship® became the very first sponsor of Dad in the Middle. In order to celebrate, I am giving away a set of DVDs from God’s Kids Worship this week – but more on that later. First I want to tell you a little bit about the DVDs. These DVDs contain 14 songs each and feature the music of God’s Kids Worship. I wrote extensively about the music itself in my last review of the modern worship CDs, so I won’t reiterate all that here, but as I explained in my last review:
The songs are engaging and fun to listen to and make for a great worship experience. They are also perfect for parents to listen to with their kids in the car or at home as both are sure to enjoy the music.
What I do want to tell you about is some of the awesome features included on the DVDs themselves. For this review, I watch the 3 DVDs which are part of the June/July/August Modern Worship Summer DVD set. Down to the packaging, which is pretty cool, the attention to detail on these DVDs is amazing. Everything is designed to help you use the DVD’s in your children’s worship services as easily and effectively as possible. Each DVD loads quickly as there are no FBI Warnings or company logos to wait through in order to get to the music you need. This might not seem like a big deal until you are standing in front of 30 5 & 6 year olds waiting for you to get the DVD player working. The songs can be selected individually, or you can choose from one of four ready-to-go worship sets (containing four songs each) on each DVD.
I’m heading off to the CM Expo this week, so it seemed like a good time to get caught up on telling you about some articles I’ve written over the last several weeks which were published on Ministry-to-Children.com. The article titled Why Not Have Fun with Your Kids Church Offering? was published on May 25, 2010.
Brief Synopsis: In this article, I share a tool which we’ve started using in our children’s ministry to make offering a little more fun. It’s been a couple of months since I wrote the original article, and I am glad to say the kids are having as much fun as ever with their offering time at church!