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?

From time to time I get the opportunity to tell the Bible Story to our kids in both Waumba Land and UpStreet. I love it!

As I hang out backstage with our different volunteers, I can see that everyone has a different way of preparing. Some methods work better than others and some people are more prepared than others.

I hate it when a communicator is not prepared. It always shows and is such a wasted opportunity. If you’re going to communicate to kids, give it your best!  Be prepared. The message is too important to just wing it!

Here’s how I prepare to communicate to kids:

• I receive the script early in the week and I read it through to get a good sense for what I will be doing and how difficult it will be to memorize or prepare. This lets me know how much preparation time I need to schedule into the week.

• Two or three days before Sunday, I read the script several times and work on the drama, the pacing, the use of props, and transitions. I practice how I want to deliver the script.

• On the day before, I start memorizing for real. I write the bottom line for the script at the top of a piece of paper and then I write simple statements that help me break the script into segments so that I teach to certain transitions. This is easier for me than memorizing the script as a whole.  Each point represents a paragraph or two of the script that I am memorizing. The statements are triggers for me and help me to map out where I’m going with the story and know the flow as I memorize.

Here’s an example of my notes from a few weeks ago:

BL: We should celebrate that Jesus is born!

1.     Transition from Never Ending Story opening video to God always had a plan.

2.     Shepherds were taking care of their sheep.

(video segment)

3.     Angels appeared & they were terrified.

4.     Angles told them where they would find Jesus, wrapped in a cloth & lying in a manger.

5.     Host of angels join - celebrating that Jesus is born.

(video segment)

6.     Shepherds go and find Jesus.

7.     Shepherds tell EVERYONE that Jesus is born.

(video segment)

8.     Shepherds celebrate.

9.     God kept his promise. He sent a Savior.

(celebrate video)

10. We should celebrate that Jesus is born - build to Celebrate Song

(worship team comes out)

• Arrive early and practice on the stage with the props. I’ve found several times that I misunderstood the prop or needed to work through where I would stand or where lighting cues would be. I practice several times without my script.

• I keep practicing until I go on. I’m not great at memorizing so I have to keep the script in my short term-memory until right before I go up!

There is nothing more frustrating than knowing that we’ve wasted an opportunity to communicate a clear and engaging message to our kids. Nobody does a perfect job, but preparation will carry you a long way towards creating an excellent experience.

How do you prepare to communicate to kids?

Every year we challenge parents to bring the party home and celebrate Jesus’ birthday by baking a cake and celebrating together. Some people get their kids involved and they all bake together. Some decorate for a birthday party and set aside a special night for the party. Some people bake it on Christmas Eve and the cake is an honored dessert on the Christmas table.

We provide some suggestions of what they can do and what they can talk about, but we don’t care how they do it! We just want families getting together and celebrate the AMAZING birth of our Savior, Jesus!

Here’s what it looks like:

Waumba Land is sending home a cute red and white polka dotted box pack with one Christmas funfetti cake mix, frosting, and sprinkles. This card is included!

UpStreet has got the cake topper covered and is sending it home with kids the same day!

KidStuf sent home a star-shaped cake pan complete with instructions placed in the center for a very merry family fun night!

Then on the last Sunday before Christmas we throw a great big birthday party for Jesus!

Do you know what I love most about this? I love how each of our departments communicated and worked together to send home the best possible tools to our parents. The question wasn’t which department would have the greatest take-home and come up with the best idea. The question was . . . how can we set parents up for success?  Love how this whole month is coming together!

What are you doing to set your families up for success this holiday season?

Super Kids was the theme.

Teaching preschoolers that they can count on God was the purpose.

Implementing a fun theme from time to time, is a great idea!

Our favorite things about Super Kids:

1. Our staff and volunteers were excited to do something new. It’s fun to shake things up every once in a while . . . to add something . . . to create. Creating and designing around this theme was fun for our teams!

2. Our preschoolers were ENGAGED! They loved this theme! What 3 or 4 year old doesn’t like a good superhero? Kids learned the names of their favorite hero, smiled when they saw them flying through the hallway, and yelled with excitement as the host told of their great adventures.

3. Our kids learned a really important verse! We added some crazy motions and really made the memory verse a big part of our month. We were amazed at how many kids learned their verse.

Be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid . . . for God is with you. Deuteronomy 31:6

4. Parents really connected to what their kids were learning. We sent home a coloring book on the first two Sundays of October. We heard so much feedback about that piece. We even had quite a few parents send in video of their kids learning their verse. This theme allowed us to catch the attention of parents in a new way.

5. We drew attention to Waumba Land. Anytime you can make kids, volunteers, parents, and attendees more aware of your environment the better. Not because we want the attention. But because we want our attendees to feel great talking about our preschool environment to EVERYONE they invite.

The very BEST thing about Super Kids? The Message! They heard the stories of Joshua and Jericho, Rahab and the Spies, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and Esther. Rich, powerful stories of people who trusted God . . . people who turned to God and counted on him.

They learned that our God is BIGGER and STRONGER and the ONE TRUE GOD!

We taught them that they can always count on God!

What themes have you used in your preschool environment?

]]> October was a GREAT month in Waumba Land.

Super Kids was the theme.

Teaching preschoolers that they can count on God was the purpose.

Implementing a fun theme from time to time, is a great idea!

Our favorite things about Super Kids:

1. Our staff and volunteers were excited to do something new. It’s fun to shake things up every once in a while . . . to add something . . . to create. Creating and designing around this theme was fun for our teams!

2. Our preschoolers were ENGAGED! They loved this theme! What 3 or 4 year old doesn’t like a good superhero? Kids learned the names of their favorite hero, smiled when they saw them flying through the hallway, and yelled with excitement as the host told of their great adventures.

3. Our kids learned a really important verse! We added some crazy motions and really made the memory verse a big part of our month. We were amazed at how many kids learned their verse.

Be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid . . . for God is with you. Deuteronomy 31:6

4. Parents really connected to what their kids were learning. We sent home a coloring book on the first two Sundays of October. We heard so much feedback about that piece. We even had quite a few parents send in video of their kids learning their verse. This theme allowed us to catch the attention of parents in a new way.

5. We drew attention to Waumba Land. Anytime you can make kids, volunteers, parents, and attendees more aware of your environment the better. Not because we want the attention. But because we want our attendees to feel great talking about our preschool environment to EVERYONE they invite.

The very BEST thing about Super Kids? The Message! They heard the stories of Joshua and Jericho, Rahab and the Spies, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and Esther. Rich, powerful stories of people who trusted God . . . people who turned to God and counted on him.

They learned that our God is BIGGER and STRONGER and the ONE TRUE GOD!

We taught them that they can always count on God!

What themes have you used in your preschool environment?

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