Here’s what happened:

• Launched the Big Idea of Honor
• Watched KidStuf Live
• Hosted visiting churches for Sunday’s at North Point
• Observed the crowded hallways between services
• Listened in as a large group team debriefed
• Talked through a tough situation
• Cleaned up when a child threw up in the hallway (or our amazing facilities crew did!)
• Photographed our team dressing up for the Disney event
• Welcomed our amazing volunteers to a Disney training event

Here’s a few pictures!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was a GREAT month.

Title Package for Large Group:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Every month we send home this Parent Card which includes an overview of what we’re teaching for the month.

Here are a few videos we used through out the month as part of the storytelling segment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What did you teach your kids in February?

It’s been a while since a great story has totally sucked me in this way.

The over arching theme of these books is not for young kids, but there is much to be learned from the style of the storytelling.

We are in the midst of writing the spring content for our kids. Working through bottom lines, choosing Bible stories, and finding creative angles. Wanting to present the most amazing stories ever lived in an unforgettable way.

We are teaching our kids the most important stories they will ever hear. Many of them are jaw-dropping, action packed, and emotional. I wonder if they simply listen or if they are swept away by the wonder of it all.

A few challenges from the Hunger Games:

Bring the characters to life. They should feel pain, love their little sisters, be skilled hunters, sneak outside the fences, and miss their fathers.

Every week we teach our kids the stories from the Bible full of some of the most rich characters you will ever meet. Make them alive again in the imagination of the kids.

Create an adventure. They should sneak through the woods and lie in wait. They should break the law and scavenge for food for the whole village. They should wear magnificent costumes and battle for their life and the lives of those they love.

Want to make sure your kids never forget the stories you teach? Engage them in an epic adventure. Don’t just describe the details. Don’t just tell the facts of the story. Drive them right into the middle of the action and adventure and drop them off.

Build Tension. You should want them to win and yet be against the battle. You know they are a child and yet want to see them fight like a warrior. You should want them to be safe and yet hope they risk everything.

When there is a conflict then there is emotion. When there is emotion, then you engage. When you engage…you remember. You learn.

For those of you who write curriculum, create video, and communicate the Bible stories, what can you do to make the Bible come to life for our kids?

How can you make sure it’s the BEST book they ever read?

A few years ago I had a discrepancy with our mortgage company. They said we owed a late payment…I did not agree. I called them. I was on hold for 20 minutes.

I explained the situation to one person. He was not authorized to change anything and advised me that the easiest solution was to pay the late fee. Um, no. So he transferred me to the next person, and I was on hold for another 20 minutes.

This person would need to do a little research into our records. Could I please hold? This went on, and on, and on. I was transferred. I was put on hold. By the end of it all, it would have been cheaper for everyone involved had I just paid the undeserved late fee.

I remember thinking in that moment “I’m just a number”. They are dealing with so many people that they don’t have time to be personal. They don’t have the margin to care about my situation. I’m at their mercy.

They’ve created a system to herd me along with the thousands of other phone calls that they receive every day. I was unimportant. I was lost in the crowd.

I hated that feeling.

We have hundreds of kids in our environments on Sunday morning. Sometimes my systematic self likes to make sure that we are moving everyone from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible. Sometimes I just see the crowd.

Sometimes it can feel like we’re herding children along to the next thing.

But it can NEVER be acceptable to us to herd children.

We must instead LEAD each child into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

We have to believe that we are connecting with unique individuals who are massively loved by their Heavenly Father. They are valuable. They are important.

Every child we are leading is in a different place in her journey of faith. Some don’t know Jesus at all yet. Some are struggling to forgive a friend. Some are gathering the courage to do something big for God.

They are all different.

They are all significant.

They all deserve our attention.

When you are leading you are accepting each child right where she is, and you are helping her take the next step of faith. You connect to her uniquely. You care personally.

When you are herding you see the crowd. You are efficient. You chose the solution that fits the needs of the masses instead of the needs of the individual.

When you are herding…. people get lost in the shuffle.

When you are leading…every story matters.

How do you make sure that you invest in each child’s individual story of faith?

For the month of May, we are talking about JOY!

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> Every month, we promo KidStuf LIVE in the main service. It’s our chance to invite parents to KidStuf LIVE and cast vision for our partnership with them.

For the month of May, we are talking about JOY!

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://insidenorthpoint.org/kids/2011/05/18/got-the-joy/feed/ http://insidenorthpoint.org/kids/2011/05/05/family-birthday-celebration-videos/ http://insidenorthpoint.org/kids/2011/05/05/family-birthday-celebration-videos/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 19:38:49 +0000 kendra http://insidenorthpoint.org/kids/?p=5288 One of my favorite things about Family Birthday Celebration is hearing our kids share their stories. If you work in Children’s Ministry you and your team play a part in stories just like this every week.

God is at work in the lives of our children. I love that we are here to witness it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We got quiet.

We were together at SharpTop Cove. It was a beautiful mountain retreat. It was so easy to see God’s handiwork all around us. TOGETHER, we carved out some quiet time with our Heavenly Father.

We prayed for:

• Wisdom
• Boldness
• Our Marriages
• Our Families
• Our Neighbors
• Our New Campuses

Philippians 1:3-11

I love this passage!

We prayed this passage for each other that day.

We are heading into the week of the Drive Conference 2011, where we will meet so many of you. Then you will head back to your communities, and we will all get back to work reaching out to our communities.

Let’s remember:

We are partners in spreading the Good News.

God has begun a good work in us.

May our love overflow.

That’s what really matters.

Philippians 1:3-11

Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.

For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation-the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ-for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

I loved it! There was an orange Christmas tree! There were verses written on the wall. And there was a bulletin board with candid team pictures. It was basically just a backstage space we had carved out for our team to wait in, but they made it their own.

Yes, that’s an orange Christmas tree!

Silver sharpie, red wall, and their favorite verses

Win statements for their volunteer positions and a mirror for those last minute costume checks

How have you personalized your volunteer’s space?

We just launched the Big Idea of Cooperation. One of the stories that we wanted to teach as a part of Cooperation was the Great Commission. We wanted to show our kids that God could have spread His message in a million, supernatural, amazing ways, but He chose to work through people. Our bottom line? We can ALL help others learn about Jesus.

The creative angle for delivery of the story was super fun. It involved candy, so therefore it was engaging to kids.

Here’s what we did:

1. We took a large styrofoam ball and painted it blue.
2. Then we covered it with different kinds of candy to create the land and the water.
3. We bought some larger suckers to be the disciples. As we introduced each disciple, we put one of the suckers in the world.
4. We told the story of when Jesus called them together to send them out to the whole world. We described the message that He wanted them to share as a message for NOW and LATER. (Get it? NOW & LATER) The message is for NOW because we can have a relationship with Jesus right NOW. And the message is for LATER because we can live forever with Jesus LATER. We used the words NOW and LATER often in the script.
5. Next we showed how the message spread all over the world by adding more and more suckers - smaller and different kinds of suckers -  to the world. We explained how the disciples shared the message with people, and then those people shared the message, and then those people shared the message, and on and on and on until the message began to reach the whole world.
6. We wrapped it up by making the connection to the message being passed down and how it’s important for us to share the message today.
7. We gave each child a pack of NOW and LATER candies that they could share with a friend, then talked to our kids in small group about WHO they could share the message with.

That’s the idea! Take it and make it your own!

What’s a fun, creative angle you’ve used lately to tell a Bible Story?