Kathie Phillips, Author at Kathie Phillips

{Book Review} “Power Bible”

05/06/201405/06/2014 Kathie Phillips

I love reviewing materials that offer a different spin on a classic or traditional product, so when the kind people at Green Egg Media contacted me to review two of their Power Bibles, I was thrilled.

About the Books

The Power Bible is a set of 10 illustrated comic book-style bibles featuring stories and characters from the Old and New Testaments. The series brings bible stories to life for children ages 6 to 12. The stories are easy to follow and understand and create a strong emotional connection that will hold kids’ attention from beginning to end. The books reference scripture verses from the NASB version.

The publishers outline why a comic style was used:

Visual. Pictures tell a better story. Comics bring ideas to life, creating an intimate, emotional connection between the reader and the story.

Individualized. The reader determines the pace of the story by lingering on images or reviewing pages to better understand the story.

Learning tool. Comics make difficult ideas easy to understand. Educators today use comics to help young readers, especially to engage those who don’t like to read.

Fun. Kids enjoy reading a comic so much that learning becomes effortless and fun.

What I Liked

If you combine a bible storybook and a comic book, you’d have the Power Bible. Kids who love comic books will absolutely love the graphics and layout. (Note: The colorful, attention-grabbing Asian-style graphics stems from the fact that the books were first published in Korea.)

I also like that mini character biographies are included at the beginning of each book. Having that information will help the children connect better with the characters and just might teach them a thing or two (but don’t tell your children that!)

What I Think Was Missing

While the graphics were indeed bold and colorful, some of them were a bit scary. The bulging eyes and facial details on some characters were, in my opinion, a little too dramatic.

I also would’ve loved if the chapter titles and scripture passages were a little larger. To me, the smaller text was lost on the page with the graphics and conversation bubbles.

I also would’ve liked to see the scripture passages listed with the chapter names in the Table of Contents. I think that would help the children better develop their bible literacy skills.

My Recommendation

Overall, I think middle to older elementary children (2nd-5th graders) will enjoy reading the series. Check it out for yourself at www.greeneggmediagroup.com. Each of the 10 volumes sells individually for $14.99. The complete set of 10 books sells for $149.90. The Old Testament series (Books 1-6) sells for $89.90, while the New Testament series (Books 7-10) sells for $59.90.

Have you seen the Power Bible? What were your thoughts?

Green Egg Media provided me two free copies of books in the series in exchange for an honest review.

Connected to the Vine

04/28/201404/28/2014 Kathie Phillips 5 Comments

A few weeks ago, I ate a bunch of grapes and when I had eaten them all, something grabbed my attention. The empty vine that I held was so tightly intertwined, I’m surprised I was able to free any grapes to enjoy! A very familiar scripture passage popped into my mind:

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit…”

John 15:5

I didn’t think much about the empty grapevine after that evening, but this morning, I was again reminded of the same scripture. You see, I was out running errands but came across some beautiful plants that I thought would be perfect to plant in the planters on my front porch. I couldn’t wait to get home and plant them in the lackluster planters.

As I cleared out what was left of the mums I had planted months earlier, I notice that while the branches broke off easily, pulling the root out of the planters was a bit of a struggle. Again, the above scripture came to mind. The passage continues:

“Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers…”

John 15:6

Staying connected to God (the Vine) is a vital element of a growing relationship with God. So often, those of us in ministry work in the name of the Lord without realizing that we might not be spending adequate time in the Word and the presence of our Savior.

At our staff meeting that same week, our Senior Pastor encouraged us to stay connected to the Vine by incorporating the following into our regular spiritual practices:

The First 30: We were encouraged to find a quiet place (the Sanctuary, the Worship Center, the prayer chapel or our office) and spend the first 30 minutes of our day with the Lord before we jump into our work. When he suggested this, I realized that even though I work in a church, I rarely sit in the prayer chapel or Sanctuary to pray or read my Bible. This was a great suggestion.

Attending staff prayer: Three times a week, our entire staff gathers for 30 minutes to pray. The time isn’t required but it’s highly encouraged. It’s a time to take a break and connect with each other about personal and ministry needs.

Retreat Day: The last thing that our Pastor encouraged was for us to take a personal retreat day monthly, quarterly or a few times a year. The retreat day should include time for solitude, prayer, Bible reading and just sitting in the presence of God.

During Holy Week, I was able to take a few days away to for prayer, planning, reading and studying. While the time included some distractions (ugh!), I was able to read some of George Barna’s The Power of Team Leadership as well as think through a volunteer orientation program I’d like to re-launch this fall. My time in the Word was extra special because my Mom wrote a devotional for me to use each day. You can download the devotional here and use it in your own quiet time.

I am so thankful for a leader who not only cares about the ministries we lead but also cares for us personally.

Whether you lead a ministry, lead children as a volunteer or lead your family, it is important – or rather imperative – that you stay connected to the Vine.

What does this look like in your life? How do you stay connected to the Vine while leading a busy life?

How Our Kidmin Celebrated Easter

04/25/201404/25/2014 Kathie Phillips 5 Comments

Like most of my kidmin friends, the weeks leading up to Easter kept us busy. They were action-packed – extra services, egg hunts – lots to do to help children and families celebrate our Savior’s Resurrection.

Here are a few things we did for Easter:

EASTER EGG HUNT

On Saturday, April 12, we welcomed children and families into our building for a morning of games, prizes, egg hunting, candy (lots of candy actually!), refreshments and Journey to Easter stations, which chronicled the last week of Jesus’ life. Each station had a skit that helped the children understand the Easter story better. The children also completed a progressive craft as they traveled to each station. What makes this time so special is that many children hear the true meaning of Easter for the first time during this event, which is why we put a lot of attention into this particular area.

Here are a few pictures:

Our Empty Tomb, which served as our Photo Booth

PALM SUNDAY

On Palm Sunday, our preschoolers and elementary children learned about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. We marked the celebration with our very own palm parade – our very first palm parade! Our elementary children and preteens created a human pathway for our preschoolers to parade through while everyone waved palm leaves. The children paraded through our elementary area to Israel Houghton’s “You are Good”. It was such a fun time!

Here are a few pics:

Our elementary exit ramp welcomed our preschoolers to the parade!

EASTER SUNDAY

On Easter Sunday, I decided to change things up a bit in our elementary area. Because some of our leaders were going to be away, we designed the morning’s schedule to look a little different. We had 4 activity stations for the children to choose from when they arrived: a coloring page area (for younger ones); a craft area; and 2 game areas (we used one game from our printed material and one Easter Minute-to-Win-It game – that was a BIG hit!).

We then had our large group worship time but we set up chairs for the children – they usually sit on the floor. Having the chairs changed the atmosphere and allowed the children to focus a lot better, so we might continue to set up chairs each week.

After worship, we had our large group teaching time, followed by a game and then a snack. The snack was a real treat because we don’t serve snack every week. We had the children construct edible tomb snacks (you can find the directions here).

It was a great morning and a sweet way to end Holy Week.

How was your Easter? Did you try anything new this year? I’d love to hear about it!

Last-Minute Ideas for Easter

04/10/201404/10/2014 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Palm Sunday is this Sunday and Easter is right around the corner!

Here is a list of just a few of the many resources available to help you get ready:

Children’s Ministry Deals: Games, curriculum, countdown videos and printables.

Kidology: Games, lessons, devotionals, printables, and discussion forums filled with tons of helpful ideas.

What’s in the Bible: Videos, Holy Week devotional, articles, and printables.

Worship House Kids: Videos, song tracks, countdowns and motion & still backgrounds.

Guildcraft: Printables galore and craft kits

If you’re looking for even more Easter ideas for church, home or school, be sure to visit my Lent & Easter board on my Pinterest page. You can access the board here: http://pinterest.com/kathierphillips/kidmin-lent-easter/

What do you have planned to make the Easter season come alive this year? I’d love to hear all about and pictures are also welcomed!