When will the Z become ironic?

In 1987 a revolution happened. The Church of the Nazarene in Wynona, South Dakota changed the name of its children’s ministry to “Nazarene Xtreme Kidz” (perhaps alluding to the “Z” in Nazarene), they were following the lead of multiple youth ministries since the early 80′s to use the “Z” in place of an “S”. This seemingly insignificant event sparked a worldwide naming phenomenon with thousands of churches jumping on the great ‘Z’ bandwagon.

South African preschool’s, English after school programs, Australian sunday schools were proudly displaying their relevance to the world. And it continues to this day with “Z” prominently displayed on many a logo and clipart noticeboard around the world.

But I am still waiting.

You see most everything from the 70′s 80′s and 90′s has come back again as a cultural force. Flares, Midriff tank tops, Hula Hoops, Yo-Yo’s, George Bush, Rubix Cubes — even Michael Jackson was experiencing a resurgence towards the end of his life.

We take cultural influences from our past, and in bouts of nostalgia… reinvent them. Look for Hannah Montana in 2032 to make a comeback, mark my words.

But in order for something to return, even ironically (like a 30 year old hipster wearing a Knight Rider tee-shirt), it needs to go away.

And that’s the problem… Z never went away. It hung around like an Uncle who lost his job and is living in your basement.

So I wait. Wait for a death so I can experience a resurrection. For until I can name a children’s ministry – “Miraclez Sunshinez Kidz Ministriez” — and everyone gets the joke, I shall have no part of it.

P.S. Yes, much of this post is parody.

P.P.S. Please don’t make me specify which part.

P.P.S. The “Z” sensation was only eclipsed in significance and impact by the inclusion of the famous Comic Sans font in the release of Windows ’95, igniting a firestorm of imagination and whimsy in paper signs on the doors of preschools the world over.

The media’s attention has moved on to Japan, but today in Christchurch (the town I grew up in) they held a memorial service in one of the beautiful city parks.

This is the video they played during the service.

Christchurch Earthquake 2011 – Central City

The central city is still off limits to everyone. And I know of numerous friends who have left town, some who have made the jump to Australia.

The future? God knows.

In much the same way as ten years ago I wouldn’t consider a kids program complete without a puppet show, today I would never consider running a service without some sort of creative video media.

What would you never consider going without?

I wonder what it will be in ten years?

Every weekend in Hillsong Kids we have what are called ‘Ask God’ and ‘Thank God’s', they are modelled off the Praise reports and Prayer Requests that the adults have in their service.

This is my son Brooklyn’s first ever Ask God:

He is asking God to ‘find Bullseye’.

Bullseye is, of course, the horse from Toy Story 2 and 3, and one of his favourite toys.

This is also some of the early recorded handwriting from my son.

Apart from being ridiculously cute, I highly recommend printing out slips like this in your ministry and get your children to fill them out before services. Then during the program read them out and take a moment to pray for needs and thank God for providing!

P.S. Unfortunately God has remained silent on the issue of Bullseye, but we remain in hope and faith and maintain a single candle lit as a memorial to the departed toy.

P.P.S. Only part of that last sentence is true

At our official Hillsong Blog ‘Collected’ I just had a post of mine go up. It’s a quite a strong piece about not outsourcing only what we can do as parents. And also a call to take Church seriously. I would love you to visit, have a read and at the least click the like button at the bottom. But at the most write a comment/response. It would be GREAT to get conversation going about this topic on Collected…. it would say so much to have the topic that is often a discussion on kids pastors blogs get some major recognition on our wider Church blog! Thanks in advance.

Here is the post:

I have outsourced my child’s swimming development.

You see, I’m just not an expert on the subject. I haven’t studied swim theory and I am completely unfamiliar with what it takes to learn how to become a swimmer even to the most basic of levels… which I would assume is ‘not drowning’. Click to read on!

Before Youtube, who knew there were so many babies that laughed uncontrollably at random things.

I am going to try this on my baby right now.

I grew up in Christchurch New Zealand.

It’s my home.

Growing up I loved the name… Christchurch. It was a statement that said a lot about it’s heritage, probably the most ‘English‘ city outside of England.

So it is with a heavy heart that I watch on Australian TV the horrific earthquake that has hit my town, a town I was in last week visiting my family. The second major quake that has hit New Zealand in the last six months.

The first one was a surprise and a little bit of a non event, no one killed and very little damage across the city. But this second big one was no joke.

Thanks to the grace of God, none of my direct family was affected but friends of my parents and relations are no longer here on earth.

I know one thing – I have hope. Because of the Church in Christchurch and the resilience of the people… I see a future stronger than it’s past.

Check out www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz which as of writing registers 4966 quakes since September 2010.

I feel bad.

Someone asked one of our awesome team (Kathryn Macdowall) to  send them an organisation chart for Hillsong Kids, and she had to write one down from memory because we don’t really have a up to date one.

It’s like one of the first rules of ministry.

Especially if doing multi campus Church!

It’s so important, you have to submit it before entering kidmin heaven along with your child safety policy.

But I didn’t have one.

You need clarity in your communication, which is usually found in the writing of something, but so many job descriptions and charts lie around gathering dust. Having something in the hearts and minds of your team is so much more important than having it just on paper.

What’s the most important document you have that no one has read?

I honour of the beginning of another year of our awesome Bible College I present a few helpful pick up lines… only for use in second year

“We have to go to a restaurant now! Because I have been praying and fasting for you all my life!”

“There you are, I have finally found my rib!”

“I tithed today… want to help me spend my 90%”

“Do you need help carrying your Bible? It looks heavy.”

“Your name must be Grace, because you are amazing”

“I noticed you crying during altar call, can I help?”

“I’m an Arminian unless of course you believe we are destined to be together.”

“I see that hand… holding mine.”

“Man it’s hard getting up for quiet time at 5 every morning, do you think you could give me a ring everyday just to help my time with the Lord.”

**results not guaranteed.

I want to learn how to ski, just so I can wear these!

A tiny screen embedded in the polarized and light-adjusting lens displays GPS metrics such as location, speed, and distance traveled.

From https://www.zealoptics.com/transcend

CAN IT TEXT? BLOG? SCROLL? WI-FI? TWEET? No. . . It’s a book.

Love this forthcoming children’s book called… It’s a Book.

Check out the trailer:

No matter how many electronic devices are available these days, you can’t deny the simple appeal of a good book. Monkey is reading a book, but his friend wants to know what the book can do. Does it have a mouse like his computer? Can you make the characters fight? And does it make loud noises? No, it’s a book. Monkey’s friend discovers that a good book doesn’t need fancy electronic accessories.

Who would have thought this book would have been even an idea a few short years ago!

The times they are a-changin’

Your gut knows best.

Much of the book Blink  by Malcolm Gladwell is about trusting intuition. He proposes that your first impression is probably the right one.

He makes a compelling case and I firmly believe that as a follower of Christ we have access to the wisdom of God (Colossians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21, Colossians 1:9). So over the years I have learned to trust that wisdom and followed my gut, what I believe is a God given sense.

I was asked to contribute to a book by a great friend in ministry last year(ish). It was a great opportunity and would have been fun to be involved but something didn’t sit well in that ‘gastro intestinal’ area. The topic was one I could have written on but had limited experience with.

It came down to this; would my senior pastor agree philosophically with what I wrote? I decided no. He may do in the future - and I am in the process of starting in our ministry what I would written about – but timing is everything

So I passed it up.

I’m sure he was disappointed and I hate to let people down, but I just can’t go against the gut!

A great conversation that I promised to get back to last year was the original Story = Danger? post.

Basic premise: Are our kids developmentally ready for the violent narratives found all through the old testament?

So it gathered a lot of comments and lead to a post called Sanitising the Bible for Children? from an English Bishop.

And here now is part the second, in which I put forth a solid hypothesis founded on much introspection, prayer and solid Biblical analysis… and keep it below a few hundred words. After all this is a blog not a thesis.

I think we are quite naive about the developmental stages of humans.

Doesn’t the death of someone close to us give us a greater sense of the fleeting nature of life and a greater empathy/understanding for others going through this. I would dare to say that a child who has experienced tragedy is far more ‘developed’ in certain areas of understanding than myself. The most traumatic experience was the suicide of a friend while he was in Bible College.

Contrast this to the orphans and children affected by the conflict in Uganda. Child soliders that I witnessed at our Church a few weeks ago present their story of unimaginable horror at the hands of the LRA.

I am not even suggesting that children are more ‘advanced’, I am suggesting that you are probably not as far along the ‘development’ curve as you think.

Before you can be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid – Anon

The wiser you get (age never guarantees wisdom), the more you realise how little you knew as young person. Surely this is as true in your spiritual life.

Have you ever taken parenting advice from a teenager who hasn’t even finished negotiating puberty?

So, unfortunately I did what I usually do when I don’t have a solid answer… create more questions in your mind, dear reader. My hope is that I simply made you a little less sure of what you thought you knew.

He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise – Lao-Tzu

Last week we held our annual summer camp for our preteen group (Voltage). It was rad as usual with a whole bunch of fun and good times!

For the first time ever I decided to do a session with the kids on purity. Not that I wanted to lead it myself, I attempted to get one of our brilliant pastors who is a grandfather himself and would have bought a great authority to the message… but it was not to be, so I prepared to do it myself!

…It was brilliant…

The KDG (small group) time afterward (kids are divided into cabins) was probably the best I have ever seen. Kids sitting and talking with their leaders about things that REALLY matter!

I highly recommend it… here was the process.

• The registration letter that was sent to parents included information that we would be doing this session and this link: http://hillsongkids.com/purity
• Two parents contacted us with questions about this. We talked to them and which they found very helpful
• I made it very clear that I wasn’t going to talk about sex (especially the ‘mechanics’ involved).
• I make it clear that our small group discussions needed to focus on purity as well.

Here are some notes from my message (I didn’t use all of this and will see if I can find the KDG notes):

PURITY

I love Christian graphic design… just make sure that it all works together… or you might send the wrong message

I just found this while idly browsing through some Church sites… I don’t know anything about the conference, but what I do know is that they need a little work on their logo

So last Friday we returned from an epic SummerCamp with our preteens (Voltage) group.

Lot’s more to write about it, but here is a quick highlights video from our Youth team that includes a sweet flyover of our Voltage camp.

SummerCamp 2011 Highlights

For the first time ever we covered a topic that is sorely needed in our culture – purity. I will be posting the notes I used to talk about this sensitive topic soon, and also giving some insight to the feedback we got from parents.