Category: Children’s Ministry
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Julian Walton: Great-Grandfather and Servant
Read More: Julian Walton: Great-Grandfather and ServantMy grandfather-in-law, now a great-grandfather to my children, is named Julian Walton. I like the designation of “great” for him, because not only is he a great family man, but also a great servant to our nation. He is among the few veterans of the Second World War still gracing our planet. He was at…
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Teaching kids a Biblical view of work
Read More: Teaching kids a Biblical view of workI recently attended a conference called the Faith at Work Summit. It was an exciting three days of speakers and workshops exploring the meaning of work through the lens of the Christian faith. Christians often separate (either intentionally or unintentionally) their Sunday morning life from their Monday through Friday life. This conference asks how Christians…
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Colossians Memory Verse
Read More: Colossians Memory VerseYour daily work, no matter how seemingly glorious or menial, can be an act of worship unto the Lord. #mvotw #mvotwyear
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Philippians Memory Verse
Read More: Philippians Memory VerseHis abundant riches never run out. He will always provide our every need. #mvotw
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1 Corinthians Memory Verse
Read More: 1 Corinthians Memory VerseReminds me of the Delirious song “Message of the Cross.” #mvotw
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Romans Memory Verse
Read More: Romans Memory VerseA most beautiful summary of the Bible. And it is this week’s memory verse in our #mvotwyear (covering the Bible in a year with a verse or two a week from each book of the Bible).
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Play Kahoot! without devices
Read More: Play Kahoot! without devicesIf you work with kids in education, ministry, or some other setting, you need to check out Kahoot! I’ve spoken about it on here before and it is a digital resource for teachers and leaders who want to facilitate interactive trivia or feedback with their students. One problem with using Kahoot! in venues with lots…
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Finding Hidden Treasure In Our House
Read More: Finding Hidden Treasure In Our HouseWe bought an old house four years ago. It was built in 1919, at the end of World War I. We spent a year and a half fixing it up and restoring what we could to it’s original charm. We love our old house. One thing I did not know going into this project though,…
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Activity: A Hunt for the Real Meaning of Easter
Read More: Activity: A Hunt for the Real Meaning of EasterHere’s a simple and fun Easter egg hunt activity that involves all ages. You can use this at home, at church, or any other Easter event. Using plastic Easter eggs, have the adults hide the eggs for the children – the more people you get involved the better, as you’ll see why in the next…
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Ezra Memory Verse
Read More: Ezra Memory VerseThis is the three-legged stool of Bible teachers. We must study, observe, and teach. You can’t have two without the missing one. Know, be, do. #mvotwyear
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2 Chronicles Memory Verse
Read More: 2 Chronicles Memory VerseWe WILL find God. He will allow us to find him. He will reveal himself to us. No matter how long it takes or how tough it seems. He is there. And He will be found by us. #mvotwyear
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Church not Childcare
Read More: Church not ChildcareI believe the words and titles we use for things convey messages of value. That’s how language works. For example, take “wedding ceremony” versus “wedding celebration.” Both terms tell people that a wedding is happening, but the first phrase sends messages of formality, tradition, and even the sacredness of it. The second phrase sends the…
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Judges Memory Verse
Read More: Judges Memory VerseGideon protested to the Lord that he was the weakest and the least in his family. Yet God (through the angel) calls Gideon a “mighty warrior.” God sees past our size, our rank, and our place in the pecking order of the world. During Lent (which starts tomorrow with Ash Wednesday) we will be doing…
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Genesis Memory Verse – Memorizing one verse from each book of the Bible in a year
Read More: Genesis Memory Verse – Memorizing one verse from each book of the Bible in a yearThere are 66 books in the Bible. There are 52 weeks in a year. That’s pretty close. The difference is 14. So if you can double up on fourteen of the weeks… Then, you can memorize a verse from each book of the Bible in a year. In fact, if you memorize two verses in…
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Where’s Haggai?: How to Help Kids Navigate the Bible
Read More: Where’s Haggai?: How to Help Kids Navigate the BibleIt’s on page 1,195 of course! So yeah, even most adults need the table of contents if the pastor says, “Turn to the second chapter of Haggai as we look at what this prophet says to Zerubbabel.” And if you work with kids in a church or ministry setting, you know the challenge of trying…
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One of the easiest games that kids love
Read More: One of the easiest games that kids loveRemember Bozo the Clown’s Grand Prize Game?! If you don’t, then either you’re much younger than me or you had better things to do than watch television as a child. His bucket game was full of pomp and craziness, but the basic idea of it is extremely simple and duplicatable in any setting where you…
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Stewards of the Story
Read More: Stewards of the StoryLast night, I was working with my seven year-old daughter on a Bible verse that she is trying to memorize. The verse spoke about the “fear of God” and we had a good discussion about the definition of the word “fear” in that context. While that alone is a whole other discussion, the point I…
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What toy will be the next “fidget spinner”?
Read More: What toy will be the next “fidget spinner”?If you work with kids, then you saw the fidget spinner come and go this past summer. The popularity of this fad toy (which has actually been around for quite some time) peaked sometime in June 2017. But by July and August, it seemed that every child in North America had at least a dozen…
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Books for Christian Ministry with Children
Read More: Books for Christian Ministry with ChildrenI’d like to share some resources that have helped me over the years while working with children and families in church ministry contexts. You’ll notice one book in this list that seems out of place (the Jonestown one). I included that as a narrative about how NOT to lead families and children in ministry. It…
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Fidget Spinner Bible Lesson
Read More: Fidget Spinner Bible LessonSo here’s a way to teach a Bible lesson using a fidget spinner…. What Really Lasts? Bring and show off as many of these fad toys as you can find (show pictures if you don’t have the actual toy): the hula hoop Lincoln Logs the pet rock the Rubix Cube Slinky the slap bracelet Beanie…
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Fun Video from Curt Nelson
Read More: Fun Video from Curt NelsonCurt Nelson has a video that shows kids eating from a bag of M&M’s, not knowing that there are skittles hidden in the bags. The reactions are fun and it makes for a good intro to a Bible lesson about how we should “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Check out the video…
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Awesome Crowd Game Ideas
Read More: Awesome Crowd Game IdeasI do a lot of large group events. I’m always on the lookout for games that are fun and easy for huge crowds. When people come together in large groups, there is a lot of potential energy that can be tapped in the form of socialization, laughter, competition, and shared human experiences. So here are…
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Three Surprising Things I’ve Learned from Juggling
Read More: Three Surprising Things I’ve Learned from JugglingJuggling is really old. Did you know that images of jugglers have been discovered on the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb that is about 4,000 years old? Near the town of modern-day Minya, Egypt, you can visit the Beni Hasan tombs. In tomb number 15, you can see an unmistakable illustration of multiple women juggling…
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The Idea of Invitation in Worship
Read More: The Idea of Invitation in Worship“Let the little children come to me.” – Jesus of Nazareth This past Sunday was a snow day in our part of the country. Most churches closed due to weather. When my wife, daughter, and I made our way downstairs to make some breakfast together, my wife suggested that we have a family devotional time.…
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Big God, Little Kids – free Bible lessons for children’s ministry
Read More: Big God, Little Kids – free Bible lessons for children’s ministryI have written a 13-lesson curriculum called “Big God, Little Kids.” It is a series of lessons built around stories of God doing big things through ordinary kids in the Bible. You are free to use it for any non-profit ministry setting such as Sunday School, Children’s Church, Vacation Bible School, or the like. I…
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Kahoot: A free and easy platform with lots of fun uses for learning
Read More: Kahoot: A free and easy platform with lots of fun uses for learningI attended a community event a few weeks ago at a local theater. Before the event started, a quiz game was running on the big screen. And anyone could join in and play if they had a personal electronic device and the game code entered into their web browser on the device. The game code…
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Faith Development Resources: Early Childhood
Read More: Faith Development Resources: Early ChildhoodINTRODUCTION Finding quality resources that help nurture the faith development of children and families can sometimes be difficult. This is the first post in a series, broken up by age-level focus, that can be of help to children, family members, and ministry leaders as they navigate the pilgrimage of the Christian faith. I will start…
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What Cain and Jesus Share
Read More: What Cain and Jesus ShareWhat?! You’re comparing Cain, the first murderer, to Jesus? How dare you! Follow me here. I was writing a paper about ministry with children and I suddenly discovered in the Cain and Abel story something I had never seen before… You probably already knew that Cain was the first child to be born (remember, Adam and Eve…
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The Family Prayer Corner
Read More: The Family Prayer CornerYesterday, I worked together with my five-year old daughter to set up a little prayer station in our house. My wife and I got the idea from her school, which uses a lot of hands-on activities that teach kids about spirituality. I’ve always been a little skeptical of creating ritualistic prayer spaces because I want…
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Valentine’s Day Lesson for Children’s Church
Read More: Valentine’s Day Lesson for Children’s ChurchHere is a brief presentation I gave for the kids at my church on Valentine’s Day 2016. I do some juggling in it, but if you give a similar lesson (which you are free to do, of course), just insert your own version of something impressive to demonstrate to the children instead of juggling. The…
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Four Ways to Help Kids Get Excited About the Bible
Read More: Four Ways to Help Kids Get Excited About the Bible(Picture above thanks to JaredFanning.com). Also found at http://visual.ly/top-10-most-read-books-world Here’s the file of the image: In my previous post, I shared about a large group game idea called “Super Bible Trivia.” I wanted to follow that up with a few practical tips that help us share the wonder of God’s Word with children. Here are a…
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Atlanta Tour Recap
Read More: Atlanta Tour RecapI just got back from three shows in the greater Atlanta area over the weekend. I had a wonderful time visiting three churches. At each one, I got to perform my show and share about the story of Christ. My prayer is that God’s Word will be planted in good soil in the hearts of…
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Questions Kids Ask About God
Read More: Questions Kids Ask About GodOne of the worship response stations that I’ve used at multiple retreats and summer camps is a table where kids can go and write down questions they have about God or the Bible. We call it “Question Cards.” There are Bibles on hand at the table and adults on hand as well to help answer…
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Cardboard Craft: Noah’s Ark
Read More: Cardboard Craft: Noah’s ArkMy daughter was making a zoo with blocks and her little plastic animals. I figured, “Why don’t we just make a Noah’s Ark since we have all these animals?” I’m not the most crafty person in the world, but I know how to cut cardboard boxes. So I started cutting up an Amazon shipping box.…
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The Role of the Children’s Pastor
Read More: The Role of the Children’s PastorI’m reading a great book on ministry with children right now called Children Matter by Scottie May, Beth Posterski, Catherine Stonehouse, and Linda Cannell (Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 2005). Here is a quote that made me stop in my tracks: “Our responsibility is to create an environment in which the child can learn about and enter…
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The Line Up Game
Read More: The Line Up GameHere’s another great group game that requires ZERO set-up or materials. It’s called The Line Up Game. There are many variations to the game. This can work with any group with three or more people. You can split the group into smaller groups to compete against one another. The goal/point of the game is for…
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Godly Play: A Model for Ministry with Children
Read More: Godly Play: A Model for Ministry with ChildrenGodly Play is a teaching system used by many churches around the world to educate children about God, the Bible, and also invite them into the Christian narrative. Jerome Berryman developed the curriculum and he was influenced by the educational theories of Maria Montessori. I observed Godly Play in action once when I was in…
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Is Jesus Our Superhero?
Read More: Is Jesus Our Superhero?A metaphor that some people use for describing Jesus Christ is that he is our superhero. But, I feel that the metaphor (like most) breaks down here – and so much so that I am uncomfortable saying that Jesus is my superhero (and teaching kids the like). Here’s why: I believe that Jesus is beyond the…
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Large Group Game: Hot Potato Extreme
Read More: Large Group Game: Hot Potato ExtremeHere’s a great group game that actively involves everyone and no one gets “out.” It also involves an element of juggling that anyone can do without practice. It is like large group hot potato juggling. Here’s how it works: Have the group sit in a circle. You can do multiple circles if you want to…
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Sunrise at Masada
Read More: Sunrise at MasadaMasada was the final Jewish stronghold when the Romans took Jerusalem and the surrounding areas in the early to mid 70’s AD. It is small rocky plateau in the desert just west of the Dead Sea. Herod built a grand palace atop Masada in the 1st Century and ruins of his palace still remain. Today…
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A Brain Game for Ministry
Read More: A Brain Game for MinistryI like finding neat science tricks and visual illustrations that can be used to help communicate Biblical concepts in teaching. I found this neat brain game trick which I like to call the “curved arcs” from Steve Spangler Science. He sells the pieces I bought below. But you can also make your own and he…
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How to Balance a Hat on Your Face
Read More: How to Balance a Hat on Your FaceEnjoy this new video I just posted on balancing a hat on your face. Always remember two main things: Keep your eyes fixed on the highest point possible on the object you’re balancing. Tilt your head back farther than you think you should. Let me know if you have any questions!
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“Holy Fools”: Exploring the Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers
I am happy to announce that my PhD dissertation has been published to ProQuest, an academic database for published research. I have made the dissertation open source, which means anyone anywhere can access the full content free of charge. Here is the full dissertation: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/holy-fools-exploring-journey-calling-christian/docview/2622316783/se-2 Please share far and wide. I am very much excited…
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The Easiest Large Group Game Ever
This is probably the easiest large group game ever invented. If you can think of an easier one, please let me know in the comments. Heads or Tails! This game of heads or tails involves EVERYONE in your large group. It is actually better the larger the group gets. There is an elimination factor to…
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Merry Christmas from the Joyners!
Greetings from our family in Richmond, Virginia! We are thankful for you, our friends and family. We are also thankful to the Lord for His gift of the love to us all this season. This past year has been a roller coaster of experiences and emotions, specifically regarding our spunky little Annie, who is now…
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Book Release! Incredibly Bad Dad Jokes
I have been writing down my original Dad jokes for several years now, but recently they dramatically increased. While the past five months of my life have been the toughest for me as a Dad (with Annie’s medical crisis), the Dad jokes actually came out in full force during this season. You see, in my…
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A Children’s Ministry Poem
From the mouths of children come questions galore about heaven and angels and Satan and more. They speak what their hearts say without holding back, so the wonder of God is something they never lack. Oh God, who are you? Who inspires the minds of little ones many, so that they may find this Jesus…