Archive for the ‘Kids' Ministry’ Category

Posted on March 1, 2010 - by rfrank

The Kitchen video sampler

Evan Doyle just emailed me and told me that our next KidzMatter email is ready to be proofed. Of course, I don’t proof it, that’s Tina’s job. You can thank me for that! But I always like taking a look at it before it hits the Inbox of over 15,000 children’s pastors and leaders.

Tomorrow’s email is about the overwhelmingly positive feedback we hear from everyone using The Kitchen. Evan also put together a cool video sampler to showcase some of the videos we have produced for the lessons. While the curriculum is not media-driven but teacher-driven, we understand the importance of media with today’s kids. That’s why we have invested so many resources into these videos. While we still have a way to go, the videos keep getting better and better every week.

After setting up and tearing down a portable video studio at my church for the first few months (a ton of work), we finally have a green screen studio of our very own! A church in town (my grandma’s church) had a few classrooms they weren’t using. They gave us a classroom to use as a video studio. It is such a blessing to have a real studio where we can leave everything set up and ready to shoot. I’ll have to share some pictures of our studio in an upcoming blog post.

Click here to watch the video that we will be sharing tomorrow. Enjoy!!

Posted on February 2, 2010 - by rfrank

Books that every children’s pastor should read

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. It’s never been easier to read than today with iPhone apps, Kindle, and the iPad. I want to share eight books that every children’s pastor should read.

I apologize if you’ve written a book and it didn’t make the cut. Don’t take it personally! Eight is a small number to choose from.

I have listed these books alphabetically, not by priority. And, in case you’re wondering, the Bible isn’t included. It comes before the eight!

• A Tale of three Kings by Gene Edwards. This is a book that I read every year about David, Saul and Absalom. It reminds me that God uses humble, broken people.

• Already Gone by Ken Ham. This was my number one read in 2009. If you want to know why kids leave the church and what you can do to stop it, you better read this book.

• Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson. Does working in the church ever interfere with your relationship with Christ? I thought so. You need this book.

• Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I remember the first time my friend Nevan Hooker told me about the book. I bought it and the light turned on. You’ll learn how to make your ministry great by being remarkable.

• Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. Do you know your strengths? What about the strengths of your staff? Great leaders learn to identify weaknesses and maximize strengths.

• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. Every leader needs to read this classic more than once. Learn how to organize your tasks, get things done right, and about everything in between.

• Raising a Modern-Day Joseph by Larry Fowler. This is a book that every parent in the church needs to read. They will get help forming a strategy for growing great kids.

• Children’s Ministry Volunteers That Stick by Jim Wideman. Get the help you need recruiting, training and most importantly, keeping volunteers in your ministry. Jim knows his stuff.

I was suppose to stop at eight, but here are a few extras:

• Axiom by Bill Hybels. This is a great book packed with short leadership proverbs that we all need to hear. I’ve shared a lot of this book with our staff at KidzMatter.

• Building Children’s Ministry by Tina Houser. Practical is the word that describes this book. I wish I would have read it when I first started in children’s ministry.

• Think Orange by Reggie Joiner. This new book is a popular one in children’s and family ministry. Reggie gets practical about the relationship the church and family can have together.

Posted on January 26, 2010 - by rfrank

Kaleidoscopes and Kid’s Ministry

The kaleidoscope is perhaps the most well known of all optical toys. It was invented by Sir David Brewster (a Scottish scientist) in 1816. He named his invention after some Greek words that mean “the beautiful form watcher”. Brewster’s kaleidoscope was a tube containing loose pieces of colored glass and other pretty objects, reflected by mirrors or glass lenses set at angles, that created patterns when viewed through the end of the tube.

You can learn a lot from a kaleidoscope – even about children’s ministry. Here are five lessons I’ll share with you.

Change things up.
What’s a kaleidoscope if you look in it and never twist the tube and change it up? Your ministry needs to change. In the last 15 years, I have changed the way I do Kid’s Church about 15 times.  Never be resistant to change. You need it.

No two kids are the same.
A kaleidoscope is nothing more than a tube containing loose colored little objects. These different pieces are blended together to create something beautiful. Similarly, no two kids are the same. Everyone looks different, acts different, and learns different. This is one of your greatest tasks – blending a group of kids together and creating an environment where they can all learn and grow.

Children’s ministry is blending.
The coolest part of a kaleidoscope is seeing all those colored pieces blend together. Think of everything you have to blend in children’s ministry. There’s learning styles, behavioral needs, personality differences, social and economic backgrounds, just to name a few. This is cool though because this is how God works – He is in the blending business. God said that one day “every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation” will stand before the Lord (Rev. 5:9).

Kids want to move.
Your kaleidoscope works best when you put it up to your eye and begin to move those small objects around. Sure, you can look through the kaleidoscope without moving the tube and it’s going to be pretty, but it pales compared to what some movement will bring. Your kids want to get up and move. They want to do something. This is why you can ask for a volunteer and every hand will go up even before they know what they have to do. Let them move.

Everything is beautiful when you look through the light.
That kaleidoscope sure isn’t worth looking at in a dark room. You have to look at it through the light. Did you know that every one of those kids in your ministry are beautiful when you look at them through the Light (capital L). They are special people, created in the image of God Himself, and He has a plan for their life.

So, what did I forget? Are there some other ministry lessons you can learn from a kaleidoscope? Tell me what you think!

Posted on January 18, 2010 - by rfrank

Helping Kids Cope with Disaster

My friend Kurt Jarvis emailed me a great article today and told me I could post it on my blog. I think this will help you as you help kids cope with disaster in light of Haiti. I hope you find this helpful.

When global tragedy happens it is not uncommon for Christians to wonder why God allows such things to occur. Children often have the same question. The Bible, God’s Word, can help give us understanding of these situations.

In Luke 13:1-5 we read an account where this very issue of tragedy is discussed. This account is of a time when Pilate had murdered many from Galilee and had used their blood in pagan sacrifices. Jesus answered the questions asked by many if this was God’s punishment by posing a question Himself. He asked those around him “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? … Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?””

Here are two examples of tragedies, one that was the direct action of a person (Pilate). The other tragedy might have been from a natural disaster such as an earthquake or negligence by those who constructed the tower. In both incidences people died. Jesus clarified that it was wrong to think that these people died because they were worse sinners than others. Jesus also said that when these things happen it should be a wake up call to everyone to consider their own relationship with God.

If we think global disasters are God’s judgment on people we are going against the very words of Jesus. Earthquakes happen because this is the way the earth was created; they are part of nature and what makes life. Scripture does not support that they are events triggered by God against certain nations or people. It is part of nature, part of life and part of death. Jesus calmed the storm when he was in the boat with His disciples but Jesus did not end storms forever. Storms, earthquakes and tsunamis are all part of nature. (more…)

Posted on January 12, 2010 - by rfrank

What books are you reading?

We’re working our tails off putting the finishing touches on the March/April issue of K! Magazine. It’s a leadership issue and the rumor is that it might be just be the best yet. As you know, we have a page in the magazine called the K! Kuotable. I would love to hear from some of my Facebook friends. I’ll pick some of your quotes and will print them in this issue. Here’s the question: What books are you reading? I don’t want to hear about the latest Nicholas Sparks novel – tell me what you’ve been reading to grow your leadership.

Please use the comments field. Tell me your name (we want to let people know who you are, after all) and what books you are reading (up to three). Oh, tell us the author too. That will save us some time on Amazon trying to figure it out.

Thanks for helping us make K! Magazine so remarkable!

Posted on December 27, 2009 - by rfrank

Email or text later!

Justin Carrell (Calvary Baptist Church) told me about a cool service called EmailFuture.com. It is a free service that lets you send emails in the future. Send a message in 10 minutes or in 10 years! He thought it was something children’s pastors should know about and I agree! They also have a text messaging service at textitlater.com where you can send texts in the future.

Cool stuff, huh? Think these could be tools for training volunteers in this digital age? Thanks Justin!

Posted on December 8, 2009 - by rfrank

How are things cooking in the Kitchen?

I’ve had a lot of you ask me how things are cooking up in The Kitchen. As you know, last week we launched our first ever year-round curriculum for children’s ministry. You can read my announcement here or learn more about the curriculum here.

Here’s what the last week has been like in a word: amazing! When we announced The Kitchen to the world (or the small part of the world that listens to us!) it started a buzz. This morning in our staff meeting I learned that last Tuesday (launch day) we saw a huge jump in traffic on the website. Many of you, I’m sure, were downloading the sample lesson or watching Tina’s intro video.

The response has knocked our socks off. Literally every day kid’s church leaders and children’s pastors are signing up for this new curriculum. They are talking to us too! Here is some of the stuff we are hearing:

“What a wonderful resource you have given kid’s pastors!  Of course, I was waiting for the announcement yesterday, and looked over the site once it came online.  It looked wonderful.  But last night late, I downloaded the sample and went through it more carefully.  I can say it’s the best curriculum I have seen.” BG

“Just finished watching the videos, reading the sample and I have to say this looks really great. I love how you have given us back the teaching role and yet have enough variety that will help my ‘extra’ energy kids hang with me. I’m going to give a quarter a try! Should be great to kick off the new year!” TB

Today in our staff meeting we prayed, by name, for every church and leader that has purchased The Kitchen and will be using it in their church. We understand the importance of what you are doing and are here to support you however we can.

As a children’s pastor, I understand that there are a lot of great curriculums available. I encourage you to download the sample lesson and see what sets The Kitchen apart from others. If you are looking for something teacher-driven, Bible-based, video-supported, with more stuff in each lesson than you could ever use, this might be what you are looking for.

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 November 18, 2009 - by rfrank

A new blog from Mike Johnson

Mike Johnson is one of the coolest children’s pastors in America. I have enjoyed getting to know Mike and his team the past few years. In fact, the past two years we have told each other that we would get a meal at Children’s Pastors’ Conference but we always get too busy and never get around to it. Maybe this year!

Last year I asked Mike to talk write an article about his office at the church. Though I have never been in his office, I have heard about it and the picture (see it on this page) is awesome.

Mike just launched a blog. I’ll be checking it out often and I think you should too. It is at www.mikejohnsonblog.com. Go check it out for yourself. Mike has a lot to say and we we will grow if we stop and listen.

Posted on November 5, 2009 - by rfrank

New podcast episode

This morning I recorded a podcast with Jason Rhode from Children’s Ministry Talk. We talked about what is happening with KidzMatter, K! Magazine, and Children’s Ministry University Online. However, our main focus was introducing ACMA.

We have been working with Jason Rhode and Dick Gruber over the past few months about forming a partnership between K! Magazine and their podcast. We are pleased to tell you that Children’s Ministry Talk is going to be the official podcast of K! Magazine in 2010. We will announce more in the near future.

For now, click here to check out today’s podcast episode. Enjoy!