I am really bad at keeping a secret! Really! When I receive good news, I want to share it with EVERYONE! For the past several months, I have had two big secrets that I wanted to desperately share with all of you but couldn’t until now. Let me fill you in:
PROJECT #1
Earlier this year, I was asked to be part of Kidology‘s new e-book resource for Children’s Ministry leaders and volunteers. Bright Ideas for Children’s Ministry – Volume 1 is a collection of highly practical “bright ideas” that you can immediately implement in your ministry. Who doesn’t love practical, easily implemented ideas from fellow Children’s Ministry leaders?! You’ll find ideas for object lessons, games, crafts, leadership, technology, missions and so much more – it’ll become a trusted go-to resource.
Bright Ideas for Children’s Ministry – Volume 1 is regularly priced at $16.99. If you are a Kidology Premium Member, the regular price is $14.99. But I have more good news – my friends at Kidology have allowed me to offer a special deal for my blog readers. Simply click here to order and enter promo code “SAVE5KP” when you check out – you’ll save $5! Check it out and let me know what you think!
PROJECT #2
I am also excited to share that I will be Children’s Ministry Magazine’s newest columnist, beginning with the January/February 2015 issue! In each issue, I will share ideas specifically for younger elementary children (ages 6-9). This is new territory for me but I am excited to venture into this project. The folks at Group (who publishes the magazine) have been so kind to me – I’m really looking forward to working with them. 🙂
Whew–I feel so much better now that the secrets are out of the bag! God is doing some pretty amazing things in my life and I’m sure you have some awesome things going on with you too!
Keep the conversation going! Tell me what’s going new in your neck of the woods. What are you working on?
For the past week, I have posted information about preparing for Group’s KidMin Conference and my experiences as a result of the conference (search the blog for related posts). Today, I thought I’d share notes from the two workshops that I took at the conference.
WORKSHOP #1: “Bringing the Bible to Life” by David Jennings
Workshop Description: Discover more than 50 practical, NEW ideas you can take home and use right away in your ministry. You’ll also learn various “smarts” that aim to help kids experience the Bible in a surprising and personally specific way.
Workshop Content:
Most of our teaching is “word smart”, meaning the teacher does most of the talking.
Usually we teach in the way we learn best. However, kids learn best when they use their preferred way to learn.
Make learning more kid-focused than teacher-focused.
The first activity we did was to complete a “Got Smarts?” quiz to determine our own preferred way of learning. I scored highest in “Self Smart”, meaning I: understand myself; am reflective, meditative and self-motivated; desire time alone; am aware of my own feelings and my own strengths and weaknesses.
Then we moved into talking about 8 multiple intelligences that we discussed in detail.
Workshop Description: Maximize prayer in fresh and exciting new ways while you teach kids to pray at different ages. Experience multiple prayer styles, from The Lord’s Prayer to using music and art to pray. Take home LOTS of creative strategies to your children’s ministry.
Workshop Content:
Mary shared personal stories of ways she’s incorporated a variety of prayer methods in her ministry. I love personal stories!
She had a good balance of lecture time and interactive time around the tables. One activity we did was to pray in color (my second time at the conference). Another activity included a bowl of ordinary objects (such as bandages, slinkies, plastic rings, etc.) and we told how we would use that object to teach children about prayer. That was pretty cool – I love really practical stuff!
This past Sunday, we launched our new ministry year. Children were moved up to their new classrooms, new leaders made their way to their classrooms and an air of excitement was in the air.
We made a few adjustments to our programming and ministry spaces this year. These changes were made based on feedback from leaders and parents as well as logistical needs.
Nursery (Birth – 23 months): We were extremely blessed to have our 4 nursery classrooms repainted over the summer. We chose softer, child-friendly colors that refreshed our space and make it feel more cozy. We’ll add some wall decor and other decorative elements in the coming weeks, but it’s amazing what a coat (or three) of paint can do to a room! We’ll also have our nursery hallway painted in the coming weeks.
Preschool (Age 2 – Kindergarten): This summer, we consolidated our preschool classrooms from 4 classes to 2. This was not only done because of summer attendance but because I also think that summer is a great time to experiment and change things up. During the school year, we had a 2’s class, a 3’s class, a Pre-K/4’s class, and a K/5’s class. In June (and continuing through August), we kept our 2’s class but provided a mixed-age class for 3’s – 5’s. This format change was well-received from both leaders AND parents, so we wanted to give it a try for this school year.
We decided upon separate classes for 2’s and 3’s and a mixed-age class for 4’s & 5’s. So far, feedback has remained positive and the new format has allowed us to bring in additional student leaders to take more responsibility as worship, games and small group leaders.
Elementary (Grades 1-3): Changes made in this area were more logistical. We wanted to be more intentional about encouraging relationship-building between students and leaders & students to each other. Instead of setting up activity stations around the room (our 1st-3rd Graders meet in a large room that has dividers we pull after our large group time), we now have students go directly to their small group after they are checked in. Our leaders will now prepare arrival & session starter activities for their group to encourage friendships within the group. Each small group area is marked with a posted sign that will help children easily find their group.
We were also extremely blessed to have more college students join this age group this year. Their passion and energy will bring a new level of excitement to our elementary area!
Making Kickoff Sunday Fun!
With all of these changes in place, we also wanted to be more intentional about welcoming families, thanking volunteers for serving and thanking children for coming.
Welcoming Families
Four dozen (that’s right, 48!) balloons were placed strategically throughout the church (upstairs and on the lower level where our classrooms are) to say “Welcome!” These balloons made our morning look like one, big party! And because children were moving to new classrooms, we asked a few moms to come in to greet families and help direct them to their new classrooms.
Thanking Volunteers
It has been a desire of mine to have a cozy space of their own to gather and grab refreshments on Sunday mornings. My Associate Director has done a fabulous job of making sure we have treats each week but this past Sunday we opened up The Hammock. Since 3 of our ministry areas have a backyard/nature related name, The Hammock is a good fit to describe our volunteer space. My supervisor and our summer intern did a nice job making my vision come to life. During the week, we’ll have our kidmin staff meetings in this space. Check it out for yourself:
The Hammock – our new volunteer lounge
The food table
Water & handouts for volunteers to pick up
Thanking Volunteers
Our summer intern, Erin, had a great idea – let’s give our volunteers a small gift on Kickoff Sunday. I loved it! In yesterday’s post, I talked about our theme for the year, and Erin put together a lovely gift that tied in to it.
I’ll never look at M & M’s the same!
Thanking Children for Coming
We also thought that it would be a nice touch to give children a small gift for coming on Kickoff Sunday. Erin put together small gift bags that were distributed to children ages 2 – Grade 5. We will keep leftovers and give them out to children who are visiting us for the first time. Such a cute idea!
Children’s gift bag
Children’s gift bag card
Keep the conversation going! Leave a comment below, telling me how you celebrated Kickoff Sunday in your kidmin.
My friends over at Orange Books are offering some great deals this week for their first ever Orange Books Deal Week. But it’s not too late. You can get any of the deals today, like this featured deal:
Buy the Orange Books Digital Library (Kindle editions of Married People, Make Believe, Creating a Lead Small Culture, Lead Small,Leading Change Without Losing It, Leading a Special Needs Ministry, and Playing for Keeps/Losing Your Marbles, and get all of the following:
All Orange Conference 2014 breakouts offered in Deals 1–4
A three-month trial membership to Weekly (an online subscription to empower your small group leaders and parents)
Do for a Few: A Training Event in How to Lead Small (a training event and guide)
Playing for Keeps 2.0 (a workshop and training event for small group leaders and parents)
Plus, when you tweet or share on Facebook any of the deals using the hashtag #OrangeBooks, you’ll be entered to win a prize.
