Category: Children’s Ministry

Judges Memory Verse

February 13, 2018

Gideon 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

January 7, 2018

There 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

January 5, 2018

It’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

November 30, 2017

Remember 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

November 30, 2017

Last 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”?

November 6, 2017

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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Harvest Festival Tonight!

October 31, 2017

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Books for Christian Ministry with Children

October 5, 2017

I’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

May 30, 2017

So 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

March 23, 2017

Curt 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

February 21, 2017

I 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

January 26, 2017

Juggling 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

January 12, 2017

“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

November 30, 2016

I 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

October 28, 2016

I 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

April 22, 2016

INTRODUCTION 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

March 24, 2016

What?! 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

February 26, 2016

Yesterday, 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

February 15, 2016

Here 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

February 15, 2016

(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

February 10, 2016

I 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

January 30, 2016

One 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

January 28, 2016

My 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

January 27, 2016

I’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

January 25, 2016

Here’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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