Ryan Frank

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Posted on May 7, 2010 - by edoyle

What’s in the Bible WINNERS!

Yes, the time has come to announce the winners of the veritable “What’s in the Bible?” signed DVD contest. It was a great week hearing from all of you about your favorite Bible stories and various social networking pursuits you used to try and win this DVD. We’ve employed the latest in random number technology to select the winners for this contest. The winners will be contacted shortly via the email provided at signup.

And now, without further ado, the winners of the signed “What’s in the Bible?” DVDs are, in order as selected:

Emily Carson
Amy DeKoninck
Faith Tyson
David Barnes
Jean Smiley
Lilly Conforti
Christy Thompson
Evan Reid
Stacey Kay
Jonathan Foster

Congratulations winners! Thanks to everyone else for participating. Be on the lookout on Facebook and Twitter for more opportunities to win from KidzMatter!

Posted on April 29, 2010 - by edoyle

Win a signed copy of What’s in the Bible!

Yes my friends, it is time for a giveaway here at RyanFrank.com! My good friends at Tyndale House Publishers have sent me 10 copies of Phil Vischer’s all new What’s in the Bible DVDs. What’s in the Bible is designed to walk kids and families through the entire Bible with the help of Buck Denver and his friends. It’s one of the top Bible-based kids’ movies out right now.

But these aren’t just 10 regular old DVDs Tyndale has sent us to give away. These are DVDs signed by the big man himself, Phil Vischer. We’ve got 5 Volume 1 and 5 Volume 2 DVDs to give away. You could even frame it when you get it and make it part of your Phil Vischer shrine. You have one of those, right?

I hear ya, I hear ya. “Enough with the formalities! How do I win this thing?” Well, the answer to that my friends is very simple. Below you’ll find several ways to enter. You can enter through as many of the methods below as you would like, but you can only enter through each method once. Mmm kay? Let’s get started.

Methods of entry:
a. The first one is easy. Just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite Bible story. (Be sure to put your email address in the appropriate field so I can contact you!)
b. Like What’s in the Bible on Facebook. Then come back here and leave another comment telling me you did.
c. Like KidzMatter on Facebook. Just like above, come back here and leave another comment.
d. Tweet the following: “Enter to win a signed copy of @whatsinthebible from @KidzMatter! Visit http://bit.ly/a2Md1W” Once you’ve done that, come back here and leave another comment.
Rules:
a. You must be at least 18 years old.
b. You must be a resident of the United States.
c. You must not be a family member, friend, or staff member of KidzMatter or Tyndale House.
d. You must really, really want a Phil Vischer signed copy of What’s in the Bible.

See? That wasn’t so hard after all. Now, get entering! Winners will be announced next Thursday, May 6.

P.S. Can I tell you a secret? Phil Vischer is getting interviewed in the July/August issue of K! Magazine. Subscribe yourself (and your team!) now and make sure you’ll get your hands on this valuable issue.

Posted on December 1, 2009 - by edoyle

Look what we’re serving up

Today is a big day for the KidzMatter staffers here in Indiana. We are launching a new product called The Kitchen.

The Kitchen is a quarterly kid’s church curriculum that is Bible-based, teacher-driven, video-supported, and has tons of extras. I do mean tons of extras. When you download a sample lesson and check it out for yourself, you’ll see what I’m talking about! We hope you’ll be bummed that you didn’t get to everything you wanted to at the end of kid’s church.

The Kitchen is a dream come true – and not just for me. Last summer (2008) on our strategic planning day I announced to our staff that I wanted to start publishing curriculum. We decided we would start with elementary kids’ church.

Earlier this year (in May) I called Tina Houser on the phone and shared my vision with her for the curriculum. Tina was a full-time children’s pastor at the time where she had been serving for 17 years. I made the big ask and asked her to pray about joining my staff where she could focus her attention on making this curriculum a reality. It didn’t take long for her to say yes.

Bill Hybels talks a lot about hiring “tens.” When we got Tina, we got a ten. Tina has jumped in the driver’s seat and has pushed hard since July on The Kitchen. She has been writing like mad, hired a branding company, hired an animation studio to help with the videos, developed a great marketing strategy, and so much more.

Enough of the story, let me tell you what it so great about the curriculum. I’ll use bullet points to keep it simple.

Teacher-driven. We know that most of you do kids’ church the traditional way with a teacher up front leading the action. We like that.
Bible-based. This curriculum is not virtue or character-trait based. We figure as important as character traits are, kids learn those at school. This curriculum is about building a solid Biblical foundation in kids’ lives.
Video-supported. We know today’s kids connect with videos and media. The Kitchen is video-supported, not video-driven. Each week you get a fun video to support your lesson.
Extra galore! I’m talking puppet skits, games, object lessons, science experiments, Bible verses, take-home ideas, worship videos, PowerPoint slides, blessings, plus more! There’s plenty to pick and choose from.
Subscription-based. Buy it by the quarter or by the year – it’s up to you.
Electronic. Sorry, no thick notebooks or teacher manuals coming to you in the mail. Everything is downloadable.
Affordable. All of this costs less than 10 bucks a Sunday.

Get to the website and learn more about The Kitchen for yourself. I can’t wait to start using it myself the first Sunday in January! You’re going to love it too! Be sure and let me know what you think.

Posted on September 1, 2009 - by edoyle

Tuesday Talk: Len Banks

Tuesday Talk is a weekly feature on Ryan Frank’s blog. Each week, I interview one children’s ministry expert and ask for their answer to a question. Check back every Tuesday for a new interview.

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Len Banks answers the question, “What are some tips you can share for branding your children’s ministry?”

I think the first thing you should know about branding your ministry is that you don’t have to be an artist! It is about being consistent with a theme, keeping your eye out for using items in a different way, making every activity or event represent it, and anchor on colors and logos. We are Surf’s Up, a surfing theme, and all my age groups are named based on that; tide pools (nursery), boogie boards (preschool), short boards (grades K-2), and long boards (grades 3-5). Our logo is blue, orange and white and those colors show up all over our room, print materials…everywhere! I have place mats from IKEA as wall decorations, color tissue paper varnished on the walls for color blocks, a surf board as a basketball back board and another one as a hanging light shelf, and 50 pair of flip flops walking the walls from the lobby to the main room. The last four years of VBS curriculum all were ocean, island, water themes (the outer space one may be better but it doesn’t fit our culture and branding so I just tweak, if necessary, the one that does). I also think it is important to pick a brand that fits your culture more than it just being a cool “Christian” name. We live in Half Moon Bay, CA home of the Mavericks surfing contest, so Surf’s Up fits us. If agriculture or baseball or mountains are your regional culture or environment – then key off of that. That creates immediate relevance, identification and ownership. It just feels right. Have Fun!

Len Banks has been a minister for over 20 years now working in all areas from youth to lead pastor, music to mens. Currently he is the Associate pastor at Mariners Church in Half Moon Bay, CA with areas of responsibility as executive pastor, children’s pastor, and all arts, media, and web. He has been married to Diane for 23 years and has a 15 year old daughter, Nikki. Together they love travel and all things Disney. His current obsessions are Starbucks Venti Americanos, his Apple MacBook Pro and his Mini Cooper S. You can connect with him on Facebook or his church site MarinersCC.org.

Posted on August 11, 2009 - by edoyle

Tuesday Talk: Kenny Conley

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Kenny Conley answers the question, “How do you manage children’s ministry in a multi-site church?”

This question is a can of worms. There are as many versions of multi-site as there are denominations, so execution will vary by strategy. However, two words come to mind in regard to multi-site, both as the person leading and those participating.

Collaboration and compromise.

Multi-site offers the unique opportunity for teamwork to impact different audiences. This type of collaboration allows a team to get more done with less people. The positive side of this is that since you have a team helping you get things done programmatically and administratively, it gives you more time to lead your teams and pastor kids and families. The down side is compromise. Although you have a voice collaboratively, compromise is a part of the whole team (multiple sites) heading down a road, maybe one you weren’t in favor of.

I communicate this clearly to new people coming on staff. There’s no room for lone rangers here. For those already on the team, encourage them to find ways to take advantage of the collaborative team and spend more time leading and pastoring and less time behind the laptop.

Kenny Conley is the Next Gen Pastor at Gateway Church in Austin, TX. Kenny brings 11 years of Children’s Ministry experience in leading multi-age ministries (cradle to college) with a multi-site strategy. He lives in NW Austin with his beautiful wife Sara of ten years (this July) and his ruggedly handsome two year old son Titus (this June). Kenny avidly blogs at www.childrensministryonline.com.

Posted on July 10, 2009 - by edoyle

Freebie Friday: Sunshine

Freebie Friday is a weekly feature here on my blog. Every Friday, we’ll post about a new freebie you can find online or near you!

This week in Freebie Friday:
Uncle Charlie’s Sunshine

Do you find kids falling asleep during worship time? The kids just aren’t interested anymore? Then this awesome music video from Uncle Charlie is just what you need! It’s exciting and fun, and it’s only free for one month. Just visit KidzMatter.com and look for the “Free Download” box in the bottom-left corner.

Posted on July 7, 2009 - by edoyle

Tuesday Talk: Sam Luce

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Sam Luce answers the question, “How can you use Twitter to enhance your Children’s ministry?”

1. Communicate with volunteers.
I have started the process of using twitter with my volunteers. I created multiple accounts. One is for Small group leaders, another for Logistics (the check in security crowd), a large group one for our producers and communicators, and a preschool one. At a campus level I created one for each campus for updates on a broader scale that would be helpful for parents and volunteers.

2. Communicate with parents.
This year I plan on communicating from camp primarily though twitter updates. Praise requests, fun quotes from kids, kids saying Hi to mom and dad. I hope to use it as something we can build from year to year.

3. Communicate vision, values and best practices.
As more of our volunteers get on twitter I will use it as a reminder of our vision and how they can practically put to action our vision and values through small practical tips. Another thing that is great is the ability to send links that point volunteers to blog posts and videos that will help train them to be more effective in what they do. Again making ministry specific twitter user names is essential to keep people zoned in on only the twitters that pertain to them.

4. Communicate with loads of kids pastors.
As a kids pastor if you are not leveraging Twitter to connect with and learn from other kids pastors you are nuts. Twitter is by far the best place to get instant feedback to know if an idea is good or stupid. To find out what other kids pastors are doing that is working. Also if you are using Fellowship One or 252basics there are many others that are doing the same so twitter can be leveraged in a huge way to collaborate with others doing ministry in with many of the same tools you are.

5. Communicate with Ryan!
Lastly through the power of Twitter you can learn that Ryan (@r_frank) likes hot dogs. (Editors note: Because we always knew you cared!)

See you in the Twitterverse!

Sam Luce has been the children’s Pastor at Mt. Zion Ministries Church in Utica, NY for 11 years. He is passionate about reaching kids and equipping families. Sam is married to his beautiful wife Sandra they have two boys and their first girl. For more info about Sam (and his brief stint as a Twitter fugitive) go to www.samluce.com.

Posted on June 30, 2009 - by edoyle

Tuesday Talk: Gil Johnson

This week on Tuesday Talk:
Gil Johnson answers the question, “How can children’s ministries use video to enhance their worship time?”

As we all know, the kids that we work with in our churches are living in a visual world. They see videos on television, computers, iPods, and even billboards as they move through their daily lives. While it’s always great to use video for funny intros, Bible teaching and game times, we should use the same attention grabbing technologies to help these kids engage in their most important task- worshiping God.

Children’s ministries can strategically use video in their worship time by first using video to set the mood as kids arrive. This will help get them prepared for worship by letting them hear worship and possibly even watch other kids worship.

Videos used during the music portion of the worship time will help kids by letting them see the words they are singing and some videos even have something going on in the background to add context to the message. On a practical level, using video can help hold kids’ attention and help them focus on worship instead of being distracted by the environment they are in or the other kids around them. All of these elements help make the worship time more relevant and meaningful to the kids.

Gil Johnson is the marketing manager for the Integrity Kids worship product line of Integrity Music and is also Children’s Pastor at West Mobile Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. He spends his free time with his beautiful wife Jennifer, their 12 year old daughter Hannah and 9 year old son Justin.

Posted on June 5, 2009 - by edoyle

Freebie Friday: Bible Drills