There is an interesting new report out from The American Bible Society based on a survey conducted by the Barna Group.  The study explores American’s beliefs about the Bible, its role in society and its presence in U.S. homes.  Some of the findings from the report include:

• 47% of American adults believe the Bible has too little influence in society today
• 55% read the Bible to be closer to God, down 9% (from 64%) in 2011
• 79% believe they are knowledgeable about the Bible but 54% were unable to correctly identify the first five books of the Bible  
• 46% believe the Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are different expressions of the same spiritual truths, 46% disagree
• On average, 85% of U.S. households own a Bible; the average amount of Bibles per household is 4.3
• 36% of Americans read the Bible less than once a year or never while 33% read the Bible once a week or more 
• Americans’ beliefs about the Bible are highly varied by age. Only 34% of those age 18-27 vs. 62% age 66 and older believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know about living a meaningful life.

I was also very interested in the report of responses on the influence of the Bible by age group.  Have a look at the lower right hand corner of the inforgraphic above.  The trends are interesting and should tell those of us who work in children’s ministry something about the importance of teaching the Bible to kids.

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After watching people like Evan Doyle, Christopher Sykes and J.C. Thompson do video reviews, I decided to give it a shot.  I wanted to show them what a video from someone old enough to shave looks like.   More importantly, I wanted to touch on something I didn’t cover thoroughly enough in my original review: Should someone who is not a vocational children’s pastor read this book?

Here is my video:

Head on over to my original written review for your chance to win one of three copies of the book.  The entries are piling up, so make sure to get yours in today!

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• Happy Birthday @mindmeister #ipad3giveaway http://t.co/NYc5Obrj #

The Kidmin Blog Madness competition is back again this year.  In past years I have campaigned heavily, and successfully, and made it to the Sweet 16 each year.  This year, I opted not to campaign and to use that time elsewhere.  The Blog Madness competition rolled on without  me (go figure), and there are 16 great blogs left in the Sweet 16.

Like previous year, I want to go on record with my picks for whatever they are worth to you!  This gets harder and harder for me each year as I get to know more and more of these bloggers personally.  In fact, this year I know, have met personally or have interacted directly with 15 out of the 16 finalist, and by all accounts Dustin Nickerson is someone I need to get to know (send me an e-mail Dustin!).  That said, I’ve tried to put personal feelings aside and go with who I believe deserves to win this thing.

Here are my picks:

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Every year, my friend Tony Kummer from Ministry-to-Children.com runs a blog madness competition for children’s ministry bloggers that coincides with March Madness.  You can find the competition HERE! Each of the last two years, I have campaigned shamelessly and relentlessly for my blog.  In the end, it’s a lot a fun as I know many of the bloggers in the competition, and we have a good time competing on a friendly level.  Each year, my shameless self-promotion has landed my blogs in the sweet sixteen.  This year, I have neither the time nor the inclination to promote my personal blogs.  If you want to vote for them, that would be great, but I do not plan to promote them this year like in previous years:

Dad in the Middle – (4th Seed) – Eastern Region

Kidmin1124 – (3rd Seed) – Midwest Region

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The folks at Only144.com are at it again.  This time, they’ve put together an amazing collection of worship videos from the famous Uncle Charlie.  If you don’t know Uncle Charlie, you should.  I first found out about him about four years ago, and I have used his music consistently ever since.  In fact, we are using his “Fruit of the Spirit” song this weekend in my lesson about faith.  If you pick the music for your children’s ministry or just like good God honoring children’s music, you don’t want to miss this deal!

For only $97, you get over $1,670 worth of Children’s Worship Video MPEGS and Songs from Uncle Charlie.  It ends Thursday, February 16th at noon (only a few hours left).  Visit http://www.only144.com to check it out.

Included in this offering is: Continue Reading…

• Check out the new and improved (sort of) #Kidmin Blog Patrol on facebook at http://t.co/0MAm8ViF #