RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

Dan Johnson makes history come alive for his students.  Watch the video below and pick up some great ideas for making the Bible come alive for the kids you minister to.  The ideas I gleaned from him are listed below.  Feel free to share your ideas and thoughts in the comment section.

1. Engage all senses.  He even used kerosene lamps to engage the sense of smell.
2. Create experiences instead of just dishing out facts and figures.
3. Make it interesting.  Kids quickly know the difference between interesting and boring.
4. Take them there by re-creating the environment.  It doesn't have to be elaborate.  Using a few simple props makes a difference.  This will jump start kids' imaginations.
5. Kids will only get as excited about the lesson as you are.

Are you too busy to pray?

Are you too busy to relax?

Are you too busy to take a day off?

Are you too busy to read your Bible?

Are you too busy to spend time with your kids?

Are you too busy to dream new dreams?

Are you too busy to attend adult worship?

Are you too busy to write a thank you note?

Are you too busy to just sit and think?

Are you too busy to celebrate the victory?

Are you too busy to use your vacation time?

Are you too busy to enjoy the blessing God sent your way?

Are you too busy to call your parents just to say I love you?

Are you too busy to evaluate what you're currently doing?

Are you too busy to read in order to grow?

Are you too busy to enjoy your favorite hobby?

Are you too busy to take a lunch break?

Are you too busy to go to your child's program at school?

Are you too busy to get proper sleep?

Are you too busy to build your team?

Are you too busy to raise up other leaders?

Are you too busy to just talk to someone in the hallway with no agenda?

Are you too busy to go on a date with your spouse?

Guess what?  Things are not going to slow down.  Maybe it's time to slow yourself down. 

Don't be so busy that you miss the little things in life that are really the big things.

I'm always looking for ways to creatively communicate with the kids and parents who walk in our doors.  Here are some signs we just added last week.  These type signs are relatively inexpensive and can help add the "wow" factor to your communication.  Below the signs are explanations of how we created them.

Added a frame around our preschool chapel tv.  Frame came from www.wackyworld.tv and was attached with velcro.  An inexpensive frame like this will add the "wow' factor to your tv.

This is an inexpensive wallpaper graphic we purchased from www.wackyworld.tv.  One of our volunteers then attached it to a wooden frame he made.  We then cut out the center and inserted a LED scrolling sign.

This is a banner stand we purchased from GeoMetrix Displays (google them for retailers).  It was around $1000 (included graphic design and banner printing), but we felt it was worth the investment to communicate our Spiritual Milestones to parents.  We wanted something large and eye-catching.

Here's another inexpensive tv frame we purchased from www.wackyworld.tv and attached with velcro.  This is at our guest services area.

We wanted a creative way to communicate guidelines for our indoor play area.  We purchased this inexpensive graphic from www.wackyworld.tv.  Again, one of our volunteers attached it to a wooden frame he made.  He also made a slot with plexiglass that we can drop posters in.

In this previous post, I shared a unique strategy we developed to help kids get a heart for world missions.

We developed a gift shop called "Five Loaves and Two Fish."  Kids earn store money by bringing their Bible, saying their memory verse, attendance, etc.  They can then use the money to buy prizes out of the gift shop.

The unique twist...all of the prizes are for other people locally and around the world.  We then make their purchases a reality through our missions department.

The kids response to this has been overwhelming.  It is great seeing them develop a heart for giving instead of getting.

We recently remodeled the gift shop to make it more interactive.  Below are some pictures.  If you'd like more information about setting this up at your church, feel free to contact me.

Where do you park at church?

I've seen churches who reserve the best parking for the pastor and staff.  Here's a "real life" example.
But I think the opposite should happen.  I believe staff should park in the worst parking and save the best parking for guests.

Guests decide if they are going to return in the first 8 minutes.  Do you want them to spend the first 8 minutes trying to find a parking spot and then having to walk all the way across the parking lot?

Think for a moment how nice it is to find a great parking spot at Wal-Mart, Target, or the mall.  You enter the crowded, busy parking lot with thousands of cars stretched across miles of parking lot...(okay...maybe it's not that big...but it feels like it).  And just when you think you'll have to park far away, suddenly a spot opens up right in the front.  You hurriedly grab it, hoping no one else will beat you to it.  And when you pull in...you feel great.  Blessed.  Privileged.

Don't you want your guests feeling like that when they walk in your doors for the very first time?  Are you willing to save the best parking spots to see this happen?  Are you willing to park in the worst parking spot to see it happen?