[Kid Inspiration]

adalat no prescription color=”#330000″>Religion does seem to be good for young children. The religious attendance of parents and a cohesive religious environment in the home yields significant benefits for children’s behavioral, emotional, and cognitive development, and such outcomes are most pronounced when both partners attend services frequently.”

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study by researchers at Mississippi State University

Article from Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox — Church is good for children.

That’s the message of a new study that says young children of churchgoing parents fare better behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively than do children of parents who never attend church. In fact, the more often the parents attend, the better off the kids are.

Nice.

The downside to day care?

These kind of articles become a LOT more interesting when you have a one year old child — in day care three days a week.

It seems that children who are looked after by their mothers up to the age of 3 do significantly better in developmental tests than those cared for by nurseries, nannies, childminders or relatives.

Of course, statistical studies on behavior and grades and development alone cannot measure the full impact on children of spending their days away from both parents. The presence of a parent provides children with a sense of safety and well being, personal love, the instilling of family values, and a stronger family bond. Parents are parents best when they are actually actos 6o mg present. A nanny or other child care provider may be able to love a child and teach him to follow all the rules. But more than the feminists will admit, children often…simply need Mom and Dad.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

Related Links:

A Downside to Day Care? – MSNBC
•Study: Day Care Slightly Weakens Child-Mother Bond – CNN
•Mother’s Care is Best For First Three Years – The Times
•Number of Hours and Length of Time in Child Care – nces.ed.gov
•Blueprint For Action – Healthychildcare.org
•Official: Babies Do Best With Mother – The Guardian

Nice article about ‘contemporizing’ the bible for kids.

A pain-free way to get a little blip on the attention-o-meter is to look for strategic places you can contemporize the language. actos 30 mg In other words, add some modern lingo, even pop culture references, to tug them in.

Link

Author Donald Miller wrote this after attending screenwriting course:

It did not escape me, as I listenend to 36 hours of story deconstruction, how powerful story is. The overwhelming majority of the Bible, in fact, is story. We often think of the Bible as creeds and precepts, but it is anything but. Instead, the stories of the Bible work to create an internal map, a guide and compass, teaching us what is worth pursuing and what is worthless, what is meaningful and what is not. Right and wrong, then, are not often taught by lists (truth without meaningful context) but rather through the tools of story. The seminar made me wonder why religious institutions who aim to teach ancient texts don’t have story departments alongside their systematic pursuits. It seems that one might benefit from the other.

Link

Keeping kids attention.

But…

Is there a line?

Can we put too many words in the ‘mouth’ of the bible?

I read an article that talked about the development of childrens bibles from the 1800′s until now.

It seems that there are some extra-biblia (that a word?) additions to some of the stories in the kids versions. Or they cut off the story at a happy ending not a tragic one – and it is getting more widespread every year.

When are we giving kids false information?

A lot of my mental images of bible stories are pictures/artwork/movies that I have seen as a child… nice line of animals ldeaing into the ark (It was 2 of every unclean animal, 7 of every clean one Gen 7:2-3)

So there is a line I guess – and there is nothing I love doing more that shattering a bible ‘myth’ that was created by a church culture or a line taken out of context (eg. Only God can understand you when you speak in tongues).

The bottom line (I love a good bottom line).

Children need to understand the bible as ONE narrative, extending from creation to the end of time, teaching them the reality of the world around them.

(I am sure there is a better bottom line, maybe you could write it?)

A church leader I love hearing and reading is Andy Stanley.

Great speaker and writer…

Here are some thoughts from a conference he spoke at late last year… I know a little behind the times but better actonel lowest price late than never.

God works through systems. For example, your body is a complex system designed by God. It’s systematic and predictable. God created systems. That doesn’t make him small. Likewise, God works through systems in our ministry. Systems aren’t secular.

We made a fundamental decision years ago that we were going to be more committed to reaching people than keeping people.

Your current system is perfectly designed for the results you’re getting. That may be great news, or that may be bad news.

Connect the dots. You need to figure out a way for every single volunteer in your organization to understand what they contribute to the whole.

Link (In three parts)

I heard about this amazing innovation a few months ago and have been looking forward to seeing the final project… well it has been finished.

The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning. It is touted as a potent learning tool created expressly for the world’s poorest children living in its most remote environments.

Read a BBC news report here.

Nicholas aciphex pharmaciess online Negroponte is former Director of the MIT Media Lab, and founder of the non-profit, One Laptop Per Child, dedicated to making the famed $100 laptop a reality.

In this talk, he outlines some of the challenges of getting a $100 laptop produced, and explains why he stepped down as Media Lab director to focus on it full-time, “for the rest of my life.”

I love that great minds are committing themselves to helping the plight of poor children around the world!

I use bloglines to read all the blogs I participate in in one place.

I thought I might post all the Children’s Ministry Blogs I can find online here, you may find one that you had not heard of yet.

And leave a comment if you know of one not on this list!

• Bob’s Blog
  
• Cheap Technology for Children’s Ministry
• Children’s Minister BLOG
• Children’s Ministry and Culture
• Children’s Ministry Blog
• Children’s Ministry Blog with Jamie Doyle
• Children’s Ministry Musings
• Children’s Ministry Podcast
• Children’s Pastors Speak Out
• CLPC Kids
• Counting the days til Sunday
• Emerging Kids
• Emergingminister.com
• philvischer.com
• Inside Cha’s Head
• Jaded Children’s Minister
• K.I.D.S. Church & Parenting
• Kablooey, Kabaam, and KidServants
• Kid Kove
• Kidology.org Zone accutane us price Update
• Kids Ministry
• Kids Ministry Abstract
• p2 (pronounced p squared)
• PastorKarl.com
• puppetminster.com blog
• RandysInfo
• The Remix of Children’s Ministry
• Squonk
• STRANGE GAMES
• Take T.W.O. Kids Ministry
• This is Daniel! (.com)
• Will The Next Generation Treasure Christ?
• Youth Equipped to Serve (Oh, YES!)

Some of these are purely children’s ministry blogs, others like the Strange Games blog is a collection of strange games that every now and then I find a game for use with kids.
Most of these blogs are updated regularly, but a few have not been taken care in recent months. So tread carefully, and if you are some of the bloggers who are neglecting their blogs… beware of the wrath of a neglected internet… it can strike at any time… there is nothing quite as dangerous as an internet that has been forgotten about.
Oh and here is a list of pretty much all the blogs I read!
http://www.bloglines.com/public/kidinspiration

EDIT: So I missed out one the the more prolific CM Blogs, Jaded Children’s Minister Thanks MargieH for pointing that out! It is now added!

A great option if you make videos in your children’s ministry, if you make one, let me know how it works!

Steadycams (or acai pure sale camera stabilizers) are attachments used to capture smooth looking video even when the camera and camera operator are in motion. The camera operator may walk (or even jog), move through tight hallways and doorways, and even climb up and down stairs without shaking the camera. Unfortunately, professional steadycams cost around $1500. Even the cheap 3rd party ones cost $600+. Not exactly a bargain considering many of us use cameras in that price range.

$14 Steadycam

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 825 mg augmentin 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?

Kidshaper 2006 was a spectacular success, it looks like there will be some photos coming soon on the official site.

Now, I took an elective during the conference entitled ‘Fast Ministry’. And basically exposed my nerd-dom to the world, talking about the internet and tech stuff in Children’s Ministry. So if you are visiting the blog from that elective… welcome!! If you have been reading the blog for a while… welcome also! (just wanted to include everybody)

So my first installment in the Kidshaper report is simply a bunch of notes from my elective. You can download them in PDF form by clicking here:

http://kidinspiration.com/media/fast_ministry.pdf

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file (most computers have it installed). 6buy cheap levitra If not, click here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

God Bless and enjoy the notes.

P.S. If you really are confused about all this internet stuff, check
out this video here: http://kidinspiration.com/video/

Kids 4 Truth International (www.kids4truth.com) announces the release of a brand new Dynamation:

The Watchmaker: www.kids4truth.com/watchmaker/watch.html

This dynamic animation (i.e. Dynamation) transports the viewer into an imaginary world where by chance and chance alone, a beautiful, working watch is formed over a process of 600 mg motrin millions of years. Where did the watch come from? Obviously, the idea of a watch forming by chance and/or accident is sheer lunacy!

Brilliant post via Perry 60 allegra mg Noble… from Mark Batterson.

“I read a fascinating study a few years ago that suggested that we stop thinking about the lyrics of a song after hearing it thirty times. That has profound implications when it comes to worship. If we aren’t careful, we stop worshiping in spirit and in truth and start lip syncing. Maybe that’s why the Psalmist exhorts us eight times to sing a new song.”

Read the rest at Evotional.com

BTW, you should read both these blogs regulary:) Ok.

It’s cool to see this stuff online… here is a manual online to have a look at…

http://www.sonlifeafrica.com/children/index.htm 6 cheap propecia

TheOOZE is a website dedicated to the emerging Church culture…

Have a look around the site, especially if you are wired into the emerging church discussion. There is not much on the site devoted to discussion of ministry to children in a post-modern context.

But I did just read a fascinating article of the type that you often find on the site about the five-fold ministry mentioned in Ephesians 4.

There is a bunch of 50 mg zoloft stuff to get you thinking in the article:

The idea that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd/teachers are ministry titles is a post-Biblical invention. It is also an anti-Biblical invention! It is sad yet prevalent today to hear men and women wielding these Biblical words as personal titles. “Apostle Tommy and Prophet Wilma,” “Bishop Jaquanza,” “Pastor Rotunda,” and “Evangelist Billy-Bob” all run against the grain of our Lord’s aversion for titles and position which was a mark of the Jewish mindset of His day.

In fact, nowhere in the New Testament do we find any ministry or function in the Body deployed as a title before the names of God’s servants. Christians who are “title-happy” need to reflect seriously on this! 

The philosophy that we operate in, in our ministry is that my role as pastor is exactly that… a role, not a title.

Anyhoo have a read of the article here.

One of the most profound thoughts running around on a rampage in my head is the idea that the church can take lead the way in educating our kids. Public education systems around the world are obsolete and irrelevant and getting more so by the day.

The church, free of the constraints of government mandated curriculum can respond in the space of a week and begin to teach kids the most important knowledge on earth, the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that have not been seen before.
Watch the video below from Ken Robinson and get inspired to create real learning in your children.

Click here to watch “TED : Sir Ken Robinson (2006) video”
Sir Ken Robinson is an influential advocate for the importance of creativity in education. He makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for overhauling our education system. 5 lisinopril mg [Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA]

Interesting findings from a study in preschool programming…

Aussie iTV study tells preschool programmers to toss the narrative

A three-year research study from Perth, Australia’s Interactive Television Research Institute (ITRI) at Murdoch University may change the way producers and networks approach preschool programming the world over. Although the 40 mg strattera university is in the process of releasing the study’s results, which examined how interactivity can enhance a five-year-old’s experience with preschool programming, some initial findings are certain to raise questions about how the biz currently speaks to the youngest of viewers.

Read on

If you don’t have a myspace page yet… your kids may have.

Here’s mine: http://www.myspace.com/kidinspiration

Here are some stats from November 05:

• 150,000 new users a day during the first half of November, up from about 100,000 a day last summer
• 24.2 million unique users in October, up 12% from 21.6 million in September
• 11.6 billion page views in October (up from 9-billion in September), displacing eBay as the fourth-busiest site on the net
• More page views than any Internet destination except Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.
• Twice the page views as Google which logged 6.6 billion in October.

Do any of the kids in your ministry have 35 actonel mg a myspace page?