Posts Tagged ‘KidzMatter’

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 January 15, 2010 - by rfrank

Top children’s ministry websites

The other day I was reading the Jan/Feb issue of Children’s Ministry Magazine, and on page 44 they listed the top children’s ministry websites. I found this too be interesting (especially since KidzMatter made the list). Here’s what was reported in CMM:

A recent ranking of the most-visited children’s ministry websites found these sites at the top:

1. ministry-to-children.com
2. childrensministry.com
3. kidology.org
4. kidzmatter.com
5. cmconnect.org

Source: compete.com

Posted on January 7, 2010 - by rfrank

CPC week at a glance

I had a great week at Children’s Pastors’ Conference in Nashville. We have been home for a few hours. Luci is in bed, Jay Leno is on TV, and I need a break from catching up on email! I thought I’d let you know what the week was like.

Are you ready? Here we go!

Sunday

• We did week one of The Kitchen in my kids church. The kids ate it up! It was the first week in a long time that I ran out of time and didn’t get everything done.
• After church, we met at my house and headed south to Children’s Pastors’ Conference. We had seven KidzMatter staffers at CPC this year. The van was so packed with stuff that Tina, Evan and Lara had to follow four of us in the van.
• We ate dinner at Cock of the Walk in Nashville and then found our rooms at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Monday

• Monday was set up day in the exhibit hall (see picture above – more on my facebook page)
• Monday was also registration day for the conference!
• The resource center opened with a bang Monday afternoon followed by a great general session with awesome worship and comedian Tim Hawkins.

Tuesday

• I started the day by checking out the breakouts. I managed to pop my head in every breakout the first two breakout hours. Needless to say, I was tired after all that walking! There were some awesome breakouts this year.
• I also talked to a good 500 people on Monday. I had several scheduled meetings but a majority of my conversations were informal chats with heroes that faithfully teach kids week after week.
• The night ended with an INCM Board of Directors meeting.

Wednesday

• My parents were at CPC today! They drove down to see what CPC is all about. They’ve heard me talking about it all of these years and were able to experience it for a day themselves! Beth and I enjoyed having them around.
• I taught a workshop in the morning and then spoke to 330 children’s pastors at lunch about excellence in ministry.
• Wednesday afternoon my staff worked hard at the KidzMatter booth in the resource center. They talked to a lot of people and encouraged them in their ministry.
• I spent a good part of the afternoon networking with the resource providers. CPC was “a great show” (using their language). It’s no wonder why there’s a waiting list for resource center every year.
• I had a few meetings in the afternoon with some people like Larry Fowler and Scott Turansky.
• Wednesday night I heard from Austin Gutwein, a 15-year-old hero who has raised over 2 million dollars for orphans in Africa. Wow, what an inspiration!
• Wednesday night I helped the staff tear down the booth and load up the van. Then I started to get nervous about our drive home after hearing about the snow storm coming.

Thursday

• After Tina’s workshop, we headed home! Praise the Lord the roads weren’t too bad. The 5 1/2 hour drive took us 7. I won’t complain!
• When I got home, I managed to get the van into the driveway. But after moving my car in and out of the garage, I managed to get stuck. I was kicking myself in the butt. 30 minutes later (and with the help of my father-in-law across the street) I got un-stuck!

Whew, what a week! This was a great CPC! If you want to look at the twitter chat about the conference, click here. If you were there, let me know how your week went!

Posted on September 1, 2009 - by rfrank

The last few days at KidzMatter

It’s been a great few days at KidzMatter. Here’s the low down on what we’ve been up to.

• We had a great staff meeting today. I bought everyone lunch (thanks for picking it up, Evan) at a new place in town called Culvers.
• Evan is having some computer problems. Evan and computer problems is not good.
• Tina and I both did training events this weekend in Georgia (different cities) and had a great weekend. Tina made my day when she said that the event ended by the organizer reading an excerpt from K! Magazine… and she had nothing to do with it!
• I flew into Atlanta early before my speaking engagement Friday night and Saturday. I drove up to Cummings, GA to meet with Reggie Joiner. We started with breakfast while talking the world of children’s and family ministry. Then we went over to the reThink condo where I met some of his team and learned about a new product they are working on. (The picture on this post is Reggie working on his laptop in the condo.) Then Reggie took me a few blocks over to their main offices. Like I expected, we wished we would have had more time to talk. We’ll make it happen later.
• I ate at Chic-fil-a four times in two days. Random, I know.
• Our team decided on a branding company that is helping us roll out a whole new line of resources in 2010. The cat’s still in the bag, but you’ll be hearing about it soon. I’ll just tell you that it’s big.
• I hired a new administrative assistant. Lara Collett is working at KidzMatter now! She has been volunteering since June. Today was her first day as a “real” employee!
• We’re trying to nail a time to meet with our strategic planner this month. Everyone’s schedule is nuts.
• The September/October issue of K! Magazine printed and is dropping in the mail. It might be the best one yet.
• We rescheduled our Christmas party and bumped it up two days.
• Oh, last week was a crazy week for new K! Magazine subscribers. They flooded in all week! Ya baby!

As you can see, things are hoppin’ at KidzMatter. God has blessed us with the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of several thousand children’s pastors and leaders. It’s been a good few days!

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 June 12, 2009 - by rfrank

Freebie Friday: Igniter Media

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:
Igniter Media’s Free Downloads

Igniter Media is an awesome organization that produces media for the church.  They have everything from motion backgrounds to animated songs to countdowns and more.  The best part is, they feature a monthly free download.  This month’s is a fun, kid-friendly loopable background for summer.  I’ve picked up my copy, and I think you should too.  Check it out on the homepage of IgniterMedia.com.

Posted on June 5, 2009 - by edoyle

Freebie Friday: Bible Drills

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:
KidzMatter’s Bible Drills

Everybody loves Bible drills.  You race to see who can find a book in the Bible the fastest.  (Don’t try the 1st Hezekiah trick on me.  I know it.) Now, there’s a way to bring it into the 21st century.  Your Bible drills will now be powered 100% by pure technological wizardry!  (And a little button pushing.)  Just visit KidzMatter.com and look for the “Free Download” box in the bottom-left corner.