[Kid Inspiration]

I have found the single greatest children’s ministry game that X-Box has ever made…FUZION FRENZY!!!

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/fuzionfrenzy/

It combines the qualities of being an extremely simple game to control (I play it with 5 year olds) as well as being highly entertaining.  It includes more than 45 mini-games which can be played with 1-4 players.  It is a game that only last 1-2 minutes with a clear 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th display which makes it easy to rotate players quickly enabling your whole children’s ministry to be involved.

It is also a great social game for your leaders…Dave Wakerley and I have a fierce rivalry when it comes to this game.  Now usually I am not one to boast, however, after one year of Dave being the undesputed champion of Twisted System (one of the mini-games) I have finally climbed my way back from a great form slump to sieze the record by posting a massive score of 180 on twisted system!  I know, I know.  The word proud doesn’t do justice to the feelings I am having!!!

If you have posted a massive score on this game please let us no as Dave needs some encouragement that I can be beaten!  You could also enter a comment offering Dave some sypathy regarding his massive defeat!

Also as Dave mentioned we are just about to launch into Kids Fest and our album recording on the day.  To check out a little bit about it click on the link.

http://www2.hillsong.com/kids/default.asp?pid=1038

Two things:

1. I am neck deep in kids album preparations. We are recording the album on the 4th October along with a huge Kidsfest event — and right now are working on the songs and filming a bunch of stuff for the DVD, which will be a LOT different that the first two!

It’s seasons like this I wish I drank coffee.

2. Zap Reader – Try this out. Got a long blog post you want to read, but not the time to read it? Paste the text into this cool little tool and speed read your way through it!

Dave signing off – coming soon, a sneak preview of the kids album!

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

- Mother Theresa

Wow!  I just came out of one of the most inspiring events of my life and I have to share it with you in hope that you to will be inspired.

This morning I attended the funeral of a child who died just minutes after being born three months premature.  To see the love the parents showed towards that child and the impact his little life has had on our world in such a brief time was absolutely amazing!

This event really made me sit back and gain perspective on this amazing gift we have of life.  Not only did I think about my life but the thousands of young lives I come into contact with every week.  It inspired me to keep living for something bigger then myself.  Keep sacrificing so I can see others find the same life I have found in Christ Jesus.  Keep loving even when I don’t feel like it because I know the value of one life!

I know that next time I have another night out ministering to children or meeting with leaders that it’s all worth it.  Next time I have to give up my day off to Pastor my kids that I have not wasted my time.  Next time I ask my self the question “Why do I do what I do?”  I will quickly answer with confidence “I do it because God has given me the revelation of the value of one life!”.

We as ministers to children are truely blessed and have the greatest opportunity to take the kingdom of God forward.  Be excited that you are part of changing this world and ALWAYS REMEMBER WHY YOU DO WHAT YOU DO!

Via Keith Johnson at Childrens Ministry and Culture
Comes another hilarious Lark News story (remember… it’s a joke).

ABILENE — On Sunday mornings, six-year-old Adrian Teller goes to Sunday school through a VIP entrance, avoiding the “cattle class” at the front desk. “It’s worth the $15 per week,” says mother Sandy Teller who has embraced Abilene Baptist Church’s “First Class Kids” option. Read on!

At my church I currently Pastor 5 – 11 year olds.  We have 5 services across a weekend and at each of these I oversee two seperate programs…one for 5-7 years (Fun House) and another for 8-11 years (All Stars).

Obviously I can’t be at two places at once and cannot personally run 10 programs so to take our ministry forward I have a Key Team of 14 people who oversee either a service each or a specific area of our ministry such as New People or Pastoral Care.

 The one thing however that caught my attention last week was the type of people I am building on.  Naturally when you are looking for someone to step up and carry the extra load of your children’s ministry you look for someone with a passion for children but also someone who has enough free time to come in to the office and make things happen mid week.  If this is the case then I would say you are closing your eyes to the very people that God has placed in your church who can take your ministry forward!  That’s right, the biggest leadership lesson I have learnt in my 4 years of ministry is DON’T NOT ASK PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE BUSY!!!

Out of all my services the four that are run by business owners who work more then most and also have families are the four services I never have to worry about. 

So my challenge to the Chilrdren’s Leaders and Pastors out there is this – Find the most successful business person you know that is also passionate about chiuldren, sell the vision that you have for your ministry to them, get them passionate about the cause and give them an area to own, then sit back and watch the benefits in your ministry.

 Note: This can only be done by a secure leader as this type of person will question any process that doesn’t work and ask 1 million questions all in the quest to make your ministry better!  Only take this challenge if you want things to move forward and are prepared to grow!

Not sure where or who this came from, but it is funny.
Things I’ve learned from raising my Boys (honest and not kidding):

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house
4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with
roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded
restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong
enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman
cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread
paint on all four walls of a 20×20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on.
When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few
times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit
by a ceiling fan.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words “uh oh”, it’s already
too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a
36-year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Lego’s will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year
old Boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool! you still
can’t walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) VCR’s do not eject sandwiches even though TV commercials show they
do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not
like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms
dizzy.

22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with
or without kids.

25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the clorox with brake
fluid.

There were four country churches in a small Texas town: The Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church and the Catholic Church. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels. One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn’t interfere with God’s divine will.

In the Baptist Church the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week. The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creation. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

But — The Catholic Church came up with the best and most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter

Rove Live is a talk show here in Australia, he recently had Elmo and Kevin Clash on his show… check out the two videos below: Both from the same show, one with Elmo and then Rove interviews both performers.

I am a little fanatic about Muppet related stuff.

But here is one book that has shot to the top of my reading list:

My Life as a Furry Red Monster – by Kevin Clash who is Elmo’s performer. At the book site there is a short excerpt from the book, here is a part from the end of it:

…Steve Whitmire was fielding a question about the responsibility he felt in taking over as Kermit after Jim Henson died, so I don’t think too many people heard her. I did, but I didn’t want to interrupt Steve’s response.

“Hi, Elmo,” she repeated. “I love you.”

This time her voice was louder. I couldn’t let Elmo ignore her, so I had him wave, but I knew that wouldn’t hold her. I was dying to get Elmo over to her. By this time, the folks in the front rows who’d seen and heard her started murmuring, and Steve and everyone else onstage were looking at the little girl. I went to the edge of the stage. Elmo bent over and hugged her and said, “Hello. Elmo loves you, too.” He put his arms around her and hugged and kissed her. That girl’s smile lit up the entire darkened portion of the auditorium. She hugged him back and they said their good-byes before she gleefully ran back to her mother.

The audience burst into applause. This little girl could not come to an event where her friend was and not say hello to him. She had to connect with him and tell him that she loved him. All the rest, the reminiscences and the revelations about new developments, didn’t matter to her. After that exchange with the child, that stuff seemed to matter a little less to those of us onstage and in the audience, too. That’s the power of giving and receiving love.

You can read the entire excerpt from the new book here:
http://www.randomhouse.com/broadway/furryredmonster/excerpt.html

It’s just simply a powerful insight into Kevin’s world.

How do we as the church connect with children as powerfully as that?

More funny made up news from Lark News.com

  EUGENE, Ore. — Amateur puppeteer Tim Braswell, founder of Peter, Paul and Jelly Puppet Troupe, has raised $1.2 million for a make-or-break Super Bowl ad he hopes will catapult his tiny ministry into the big-time.
“That sock-dog a few years back inspired me,” Braswell says. “I thought, if a puppet can sell pet food, then a team of puppets like mine can certainly sell Jesus.”  Read On

Okay, so some dude spammed my blog, I deleted the comment as usual, but followed the link as it seemed kinda interesting.

Renowned Christian entertainer and recording artist, Rob Evans AKA “The Donut Man” has come home! Just this past Easter he was received into the Catholic Church!

To see the story of Rob’s journey home to the Catholic Church see him tell his story on EWTN’s Journey Home on September 11th, 2006. Go to EWTN’s website: http://www.ewtn.com/journeyhome/index.asp
You can listen live on the web or watch on your local cable TV station if they carry EWTN. programming.

So apparently there is a Catholic programme called ‘The Journey Home’ which details a whole bunch of people who have jumped ship to the Catholic church.

If you don’t know Rob Evans (The Donut Man), he has been using a talking Donut since the early 80′s to teach American kids about Jesus.

Look out for the new album ‘Bells, Smells and Crucifixes – Liturgy for little ones’ coming this Christmas

Now this is just a plain old great photo… Hilarious… via Seth Godins Blog.

Unlike Dave I’m not all that great at technical mumbo jumbo… you could say I’m not on the ‘bleeding edge’. However what I do love and am passionate about is leadership and preaching. From my posts you can expect to get leadership tips and ideas on how to communicate more effectively to children.

In my opinion one of the most important aspects of communicating to children is FUN. In order to capture a childs attention and maintain it throughout a lesson one must take into account how entertaining you are to listen to. Obviously every communicator is different and we don’t all have to be hillariously funny or amazingly crazy but we do all need to be creative in how we communicate so that children listen and learn!

Lately I have been experimenting with a communication style that would be best known as Toy Box Tales. I got this from Ps Karl Bastian after veiwing his website. Basically you take toys and get them to act out the story you are telling to the children. If you have a smaller number of kids you can just do it directly in front of the children, however if you have a large group they will not all be able to see. This is where the technical part comes in. In order to allow all children to see and to avoid a riot of kids trying to push to the front you can use a normal video camera and with the right equipment can link it to your projector screen so all can see on the screens. To see how this is done simply click on the following link.

Like most of you out there, when I started I didn’t have a full set of toys with a background or anything so I just connected with a family from my church who have stacks of toys and planned my lessons by using their toys. When I was on stage however I referred to them all as MY TOYS because kids want me to be into the same things as them…little tip – never refer to the toys you use as your childs toys or a friends toys they must always be YOUR TOYS…this helps you connect with kids!

I ended up getting a castle as a background and used a heap of his figurines and spoke about the armour of God…it was a blast and worked brilliantly! I attempted to record it but like I said i’m prehistoric when it comes to technical things so made a mistake and couldn’t film it! Next time I record it and will post it on the blog for you all to see.