Worship Archives - KidMinspiration

Hillsong Kids DVD – Can You Believe It!? {Review and Giveaway}

11/20/201811/20/2018 Kathie Phillips

Hillsong Kids "Can You Believe It" Review and Giveaway

If you’re like me, finding great music for your kidmin can sometimes be a challenge, depending on what you’re looking for. For our elementary areas in particular, I usually stick with upbeat music that sounds up to date with voices that aren’t too childish (if children are singing the tracks). Last year, I purchased a Spotify premium subscription (to eliminate ads that might be inappropriate) and created playlists for Sunday mornings and special events. (In my opinion, this is a well-spent expense.)

Before we moved over to Spotify, I used some Hillsong Kids CDs for our kids’ worship (thankfully, they are on Spotify, so we’re able to enjoy our favorites). The music was exactly what I was looking for – upbeat, relevant and fresh. Recently, I was provided a chance to review their newest release and I couldn’t wait to take a listen.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HILLSONG KIDS

Hillsong believes that teaching children to love God and others takes place in both the home and in the church. For this reason they seek to partner with parents (the greatest teachers of all!) and with church pastors and leaders, equipping them with great resources. Through fun experiences, meaningful music and ministry that encourages kids to participate, Hillsong Kids presents Jesus Christ and His Church in a relevant way, creating moments which children will never forget.

Their new kids’ worship DVD DOES NOT disappoint!!

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

“Can You Believe It!? – Songs of Truth” is both a question and a challenge… a statement of gratitude to a loving God and an invitation to explore the very foundations of faith. Classic songs like “My Best Friend”, “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” and “What A Beautiful Name” join brand new declarations of faith such as “As The World Shakes” & “Heaven Is Our Home”. We pray that this collection of fun and vibrant songs, help children around the world to declare biblical truths about God’s love and grace for them.

Check out this promo video!

WHAT I LOVED

The DVD featured upbeat songs and catchy beats, colorful and eye-catching graphics that will capture the attention of your elementary-age kiddos. I think preteens will especially love it because it’s not baby-ish at all! Some of the tracks are songs sung in ‘big church’ and played on Christian radio, so many of your kids might recognize them (even though they have slightly different arrangements). The DVD features a good balance of praise and worship songs, allowing you the flexibility to offer both songs kids can move to as well as songs that can quiet them and focus them.

The DVD also includes music videos for the songs. I’m not sure how I would use these in my context but I’m sure there are ways that you could incorporate them. What I loved about the videos was that there was a lot of diversity represented – so glad to see that!

WHAT I FELT WAS MISSING

As great as the DVD is, it’s missing hand motions, so if you’re kids like doing hand motions during worship, you’ll need to add your own. Also, navigating the DVD main menu was a little tricky at first but I eventually got the hang of it. In addition, if you use the music videos, there are no lyrics that go along with that.

Overall, “Can You Believe It!?” is a perfect complement for Sunday mornings or midweek programming. You will not be disappointed with this well-done, high quality product!

You can purchase the DVD here, BUT…

I am giving away a free copy!!

Enter to win a copy of the new Hillsong Kids DVD, “Can You Believe It!?” by emailing me at kidminspiration@gmail.com. All entries should be received by 11:59 pm on this Thursday, November 22. You’ll definitely want this in your music arsenal!

You can also enter to win by tweeting about the giveaway:

Enter to win Hillsong Kids’ new music DVD, “Can You Believe It!?”

Click To Tweet

The winner of this giveaway will be contacted via email and announced on our Facebook page on Friday, November 23.

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Get Creative with 8 KidMin Learning/Activity Stations

08/06/201508/06/2015 Kathie Phillips

A few months ago, I wanted to create a different kind of Sunday morning learning experience for our elementary students. This was because our weekly curriculum’s lesson for a that particular week missed the mark in several areas, prompting this change:

1. All of the activities relied primarily on question and answer-style responses.

2. The curriculum assumed that all of the children who attended were familiar with navigating the Bible (which, on that particular Sunday, just wasn’t the case). In my opinion, this would make our non-churched or less Bible-literate children feel very uncomfortable (or gasp – even bored).

So…I brainstormed how to solve this issue and landed on having the children rotate through activity stations after our large group worship and Bible story time. We offered 3 stations for our Sunday morning experience:

Arrival Time

Coloring & Activity Pages (I printed off coloring and activity pages from our curriculum as well as word searches that I found online)
Active Games

Post-Large Group Time

Active Games
Snack (we don’t usually serve snacks in our elementary area, so this was a special treat)
Object Lesson & Worship Response

Every time we’ve changed up the format in this way, it’s been a big hit. Sometimes, we have our leaders stationed at one area for the entire morning (so they only have to really focus on preparing for one thing). Other times, we have them rotate through with their group. Either way, it works and the kids love it.

If you’re looking for ways to get the kids learning in a different way, don’t be afraid to give learning/activity stations a try. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Games

I suggest doing a mix of high-energy and low-energy options that correspond to the day’s lesson. Use a high-energy option if your other stations are more reflective or slower paced; use a low-energy option if your morning will include a lot of stimulating elements. Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired games here.

Arts and Crafts

Kids love being creative! Set out a variety of art supplies and let the children express their individuality. Items such as paints, modeling clay, construction paper, beads, pipe cleaners, craft sticks and markers are things you should keep on hand for this. Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired crafts here.

Worship Response/Quiet Reflection

Sometimes kids just need a place to sit and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them. Create this atmosphere by having soft lighting, gentle music and flameless candles. Provide journals or index cards for the kids to jot down prayer requests or provide another prayer station option. Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired prayer ideas here.

Snacks

What child doesn’t love a snack? What child wouldn’t love a snack that went along with a Bible story? Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired snack ideas here.

Missions/Service

How can you offer kids a chance to think outside of the church walls? Can you invite a missionary in to share? Is there a local mission you can partner with? Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired outreach ideas here.

Coloring/Activity Pages

Our younger children (2nd grade and younger) love to color, while our older children (3rd-5th grade) enjoy crossword puzzles, word searches, word scrambles and brain teasers. When we use these, they always correspond to the day’s lesson. What I love about this station is that it provides a quieter spot for children who need that.

Drama (Skits, Puppets, Pantomime)

I love the chance for children to express themselves in a creative way! Provide puppets, props and skits and let children act out the bible story or a real-life situation. Or – provide supplies for the children to create their own puppets, props and skits. You’ll not only see their creative side but you’ll also see their personalities shine!

Object Lessons

Sometimes, there is no better way to bring home a point than doing an object lesson. On the Sunday referenced above, we used one of my favorite object lessons. The children were mesmerized. There are great options available that would complement many Bible stories. Check out my favorite Pinterest-inspired object lessons here.

Keep the conversation going! What learning/activity stations would you add to the list?

“LET IT BE JESUS” Review & Giveaway

04/23/201504/23/2015 Kathie Phillips 11 Comments

The first time I heard of Christy Nockels was during the weeks and months leading up to the 2014 KidMin Conference. Christy was slated to lead worship during portions of the conference, so I was definitely looking forward to hearing her.

I was not disappointed! Christy’s voice was phenomenal. Her stage presence spoke confidence. Her personal stories in between songs were ones I connected to. She was able to usher thousands of kidmin leaders into worship in a very special, personal way.

When I was presented the opportunity to review Christy’s new CD, “Let It Be Jesus”, I jumped at the opportunity and once again she didn’t disappoint.

The CD has a mix of slow and upbeat songs, all of which are worshipful. I envision that many of the songs will become favorites of church worship leaders and contemporary Christian music lovers everywhere. My absolute favorites are tracks 2, 5 and 6.

You will love this CD in church, in the car, at home, and everywhere. Be sure to grab it when it releases on April 28th…OR…you could enter to win a digital copy!

About Christy:

As a worship leader for many years, she has been an integral part of Passion Conferences from its inception in 1997. She’s seen first hand music sweep people into the presence of God in a powerful way. A pastor’s kid, who was born in Fort Worth and raised in Oklahoma, she grew up singing in church. She met her husband, Nathan, in 1993 at the Christian Artists Seminar in Estes Park, Co. They recorded an independent record with fellow worship leader Charlie Hall under the name Sons & Daughters that led to an invitation from Louie Giglio to participate in the first Passion conference in Austin. Christy’s voice gained a national platform when she and Nathan formed the duo Watermark, recording four acclaimed albums before that musical season ended, paving the way for Christy’s solo career. In 2008, the couple moved to Atlanta to become part of Passion City Church where she serves on the worship team with sixstepsrecords labelmates Chris Tomlin and Kristian Stanfill. The following year, Nockels released her acclaimed solo debut, Life Light Up and spent much of the next two years touring with Tomlin and Passion.

S O C I A L • C O R N E R

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

iTunes

#LetItBeJesus

Enter to win a digital copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

{Throwback Thursday}: Encourage & Equip Families to Worship Together

01/29/201501/29/2015 Kathie Phillips 2 Comments

Photo Credit: Central Presbyterian Church

This month, our church has encouraged families with elementary, middle, and high school students to worship together in lieu of their regular Sunday morning programming. It was an idea that surfaced at the end of last summer and again this past April at a staff meeting. It wasn’t really a hard decision for us to make because of two observations: (1) last summer it was almost impossible to recruit volunteers to serve because of August travel schedules and (2) summer is a good time to try something different. We had also been asked by several families to promote this type of initiative.

After a number of collaborative brainstorming sessions between Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, Worship Arts, invested parents and Senior Leadership, we decided to go for it. But we wanted to be strategic about our approach.

We wanted to give advance notice to our congregation, so we began announcing this change a few weeks out. Our first announcement fell on our VBS Celebration Sunday (when there were many families – regular attenders and visitors – were in attendance.) Our Family Pastor even gave the children a bit of a teaser by announcing that a special ticket book might show up at their house. *See below for more info about this.

In addition, a number of promotional material was prepared. We contracted a designer to create a Worship Together logo that was used on promotional material through the Sunday bulletin, our weekly e-newsletter, a letter that was mailed home to parents, our website and video. Our promo videos included a rising 6th grader being ‘interviewed’ by one of our preachers; a skit by members of our Family Ministry team and one by me (gasp)!

We acknowledged that some parents & families might be a little apprehensive about worshiping with their younger elementary-aged children. We wanted to ease their fears a bit and supplied a “Worship Together Resource” handout for parents to download from our website. You can take a peek at that here. (I will also place a pdf copy under the “Parent Resources/Downloads” tab on this blog.)

Being very intentional about including children and students in the service is something we also desired. This included a special blessing that parents could over children and students on Communion Sunday; creatively telling the Bible story through skits (involving children & students); and using examples that kids could relate to. Our contracted designer also designed a pew card that explained the elements of the service and why we do them.

Supplying children’s worship bags was also a way for us to be intentional about including younger children in the service. Each bag (a small, bright yellow plastic bag that I had on hand from a previous event) was filled with crayons, a pencil and that week’s specially designed children’s bulletin. Our children’s bulletin was a one-page bi-fold which included a cover page; a place for older children to take notes (write down the scripture, who was preaching & what they learned); a place for children to circle corresponding pictures every time they sang a song, prayed, gave an offering, took Communion and read their Bible; and 2 activity pages (we varied the activities each week and chose crosswords, coloring pages, decoder puzzles, mazes, etc.) Remembering that we were catering to children in grades 2-5, we wanted to offer a balance of activities to suit the wide age span.

Earlier I mentioned a special ticket book for families. We mailed a ticket book to families with elementary-aged children so that the children could redeem tickets each week for a special small treat. We chose some items that corresponded with the scripture text as well as general items like pencils and bookmarks.

I am hearing pretty good feedback from parents and other adults about how much they’ve enjoyed worshiping together and seeing the children in worship. Our prayer is that Worship Together would become a regular practice among families at our church.