iKidmin

  Life moves so fast in kidmin and there have been lots of things going on and I just don't seem to make time to blog about them. I really, really want to because I love having that record of what's going on.   But for now, here's what's on the agenda this week. Monday- VBS Final clean up.  We have some walls still covered and we will be sad to see them go but it's time to get the last few things down and move on. Finish writing devotionals for preteen camp books Tuesday- another church is coming to get our VBS decorations. They purchased some of the more expensive pieces and we made the rest so we shared! I also will get started on printed the books for preteen camp. Wednesday- Finish printing and binding preteen camp books PowerSource! We are teaching on Esther this month.  I set up the Bible story room with 4 corner vignettes depicting a part of the story. I will get pictures and post them. Thursday- Set up for children's church Sunday Friday-...

Yesterday was "one of those days". The agenda yesterday was already full: Set up for Children's Church (I was not the leader but I was doing a monologue as the Samaritan Woman) Teach Bible study  Lead a lunchtime training for camp counselors  home for a short period back for branding team meeting church service church council meeting after. I had to bring food for the training so I entered the building through the kitchen and I noticed it was very warm.  The thermostat said 90! As I went on through to the fellowship hall/children's room (it's a shared space) it was 97! I suspect it may have been hotter but I'm not sure the thermostat registers higher than that.  Someone had turned the heat and fan on and it was on all night long! Now, the air in that room has been having problems so there was no way it was going to cool before children's church.  I had three choices: the youth room (lots of "stuff" for kids to mess with), a classroo...

This week's list is simple... Sunday - Praying and last minute prep for VBS Monday - VBS Tuesday - VBS Wednesday - VBS Thursday - VBS Friday - VBS Saturday - Rest from VBS That's pretty much it!  See you on the other side. :) Watch for VBS wrap up post soon!

Last week was busy as usual.  But I'm ready for another week and anxious to see what the Lord will do through His people. I'm praying that a VBS backdrop I ordered comes in time.  I don't want to waste money. If it arrives too late it will be useless to us. :(  Father you know the need, so trivial but yet I don't want to be wasteful of your resources.  It's in your hands. I trust You. :)  We had a successful decorating day on Saturday  Here's a peek of the one picture I got. Yes, just one. I'm terrible about taking pictures when I'm busy. Check In Station Now I'm ready to move on to the next step. VBS is one week away. I'm so excited! Sunday: My pastor has asked me to give a "mission report" on VBS this morning. I'm nervous and grateful.  I teach Sunday school with my son and then rest after that. Monday: Work on VBS at church.  Finishing up as many details as possible before our last decorating day. Tuesday: No ...

Seems like the weeks are flying by! This week is all about momentum.  VBS is 2 weeks away and we have gotten so much done yet so much more to be done but I refuse to worry or stress.  Telling kids about Jesus is more important that bulletin paper, glue, tape, foam and paint.  Yes I love those things and making things is lots of fun.  Changing the environment for VBS is very important. Yet I must keep the main thing the main thing.  My relationship with Jesus comes FIRST. Why? Because I can do nothing without Him. He does it through me. This is not my VBS, or my ministry (although I often use those terms) it is His.  He chooses to use me to do it and I'm so glad of that! On to the to do list: Sunday: Day of rest. I have only to teach Sunday school but after that I took a nap. I felt so refreshed this morning. God knew what He was doing when he required rest. Monday: Working on VBS today. Finishing some decorations and planning. Tuesday: Lead VBS ...

I was organizing files and came across pictures I have taken of various things that I never blogged about. So I thought I would post them so that I could know when/what they were. Pic from 2008. Princess Annie and Dudley the Dragon.  This is truly a happy memory. These two puppets were our mascots in children's church. Princess Annie was a sassy princess who thought everything revolved around her. The kids helped me teach her lessons about God and who He was and that He is the one to be glorified. Princess Annie and Dudley circa 2008 Funny Story: This castle stage was in three pieces and on wheels and could be pushed back and turned around so that the youth could use the space on Wednesday nights. Each Sunday after children's church we would pull the pins out, push the middle back to the wall, and flip the ends (they actually had a different brick pattern on the back for the youth set. It was and ingenious design and I miss the couple so much that made it!). One Su...

I’ve been having internet troubles the last few weeks.  Today I’m writing this post in Word so I can copy and paste later because I want to keep my habit of blogging. So much has been happening, planned and unplanned and I hope to share some changes we’ve made in our children’s area soon! For today I will post my “Kidmin to do” list for the week of May 28, 2017. Sunday – PIT Crew practice.  We have this once a month. This is our team of 6th grade and up that does puppets, drama and helps in children’s church. We will have pizza and work on upcoming performances and lessons. Monday – Memorial Day.  I thank the men and women for the sacrifice they gave. We have no idea what they have done for us.  I may work on puppets! Tuesday – I’m so excited!!!! I’m going to spend the day with my buddy Corrine ! She will be in Texas and we will get to hang out today! I really need this break and I’m so looking forward to it. Wednesday – PowerSource night! My last week ...

Last week was so busy I didn't even get to post my to-do list! So how about a "to-done" list? Week of April 24-30th I taught at my associations VBS conference. I had fun. I had to set up my room and teach on the same day so I kept it simple. Here's a pic of the set up: The rest of the week I spent on our new check-in system. I spent hours making the name badges, testing the scanner, printer and reports.  I'm trying it out all sorts of ways before I present it to the others so I can know all the ins and outs of the program and how it will work best for us.  I think we like it and it will work well for us since our internet is so terrible there is no way for us to use an internet based system. I will be doing a detailed post about it soon. I spent one whole day outlining the next three months for our Wednesday night program "PowerSource". Here's my list for this week May 1-7th Plan, prep and rehearsal for our annual "GF Kids ...

This year we wanted to do something different instead of our usual Valentine Banquet Fund Raiser.  This event killed three birds with one stone: It was a fund raiser. We charged $10 for those staying 6pm-11-pm and $20 for overnighters  It was a chance for us to hang out with the kids (one of our favorite things to do!) It was a Spring Break event for kids.   Once we agreed on having the event for K-6th we decided to make it a lock-in for 3-6th grade. This is the age-group that is eligible to attend preteen camp this summer so this was an opportunity to find out if  sleeping away from home was something the kids can handle.  They did great! There are always those that aren't sure if they can stay away all night so this was a perfect "safe" way to test the waters. Choosing the Theme: I had just recently downloaded some lessons from CMD and "How to Train Your Attitude" was one of the units. We decided to use that as our base and watch the ...

Praise God he arose! Thank you Jesus for what you did for me on the cross and that you are coming again! Amen! I had a good day of rest and celebration for Easter Sunday but now it's back to work. What's on my list this week? three team meetings to plan for this weekend PowerSource  planning meeting Friday evening VBS 2017 Leaders meeting Saturday morning PIT Crew monthly meeting and practice Sunday continue my plans for the VBS conference Monday. I teach the Children's Bible Study session at our association's annual conference for the Lifeway VBS curriculum.  The conference is in one week! I'm excited and nervous as usual.   These meeting plans will take most of my time this week.  Do you ever have weeks like this where there isn't much creativity going on and it's mostly administrative?  I can't figure out how they always fall this way but I have five meetings in the next 2-weeks! It's been meeting season for me.  I have to plan a...

Sunday for children's worship we started a new Toy Box series and I set up the decorations on Saturday. It was lots of fun! The Etch A Sketch is crooked and it's annoying but it is what it is. Not one child commented on it and that's why I love kids. The hit of the day was "The Claw" prize box. I'll share how it works soon in another post. This week I have a variety of things to do and not sure what day they will happen so instead of a day by day outline I'm just going to list them:  make a toybox bulletin board for a prayer station. The idea is that the kids will write their prayer on a paper with a pic of a toy and place it in the toybox. finish filling the Easter goody bags and set up the station for kids to pick them up on Sunday get pics approved and processed for our kids facebook page set up for Wednesday PowerSource set up the DOT Store for Wednesday PowerSource (we didn't get it done last week!) I have a week off of les...

Today's notes come from Karl Bastian's Podcast Children's Ministry Podcast #10 Learning the Work of Play Learn the language and culture of kids. Speak in ways kids can relate to. "If they don't understand the message it will only be entertainment." - Pastor Karl A child's work = PLAY Play is a vital part of what kids do every day. Adults must learn to play. Jesus commanded us to be childlike (not childish). Five ways adults can learn to play. to explore: discover, adventure. have a sense of adventure, take kids to a new place, actually do things or just have that sense of discover in the lesson/story to experiment: bring things to church. be willing to try even if not so great at it role play: pretend, imagine, describe, become character, hat etc. compete: games, playful nature even when not playing an organized game. learn to laugh: enjoy life, have fun, be silly Not setting aside work to play but approaching life with a play...

Today's notes are from Karl Bastian's Podcast  Children's Ministry Podcast #09 Part 1: Connecting with Kids Kidology - study of kids, how they think, relate, communicate and learn Culture of kids is different than ours Adjust to the culture Learn the language - How kids talk A) Humor - not necessarily jokes   1. Kids enjoy life - embrace the simple adventure of life   2. Kids are in a constant state of pretend   3. Discover the power of the imaginative "IF" what if this...or that... (NOTE: This is the MOST POWERFUL) Disclaimer:  Forgive any choppiness or random ideas since they are *my* notes.  If they help you then I'm glad, but if they don't feel free to leave a comment and ask a question and I will do my best to answer. I will always link to the source so you can learn for yourself from the original.  I am just posting them here to reduce clutter of tons of half used notebooks on my desk. 

Today's notes are from Karl Bastian's podcast. Children's Ministry Podcast #08 What is Kidology? Get into the world of kids Provide opportunity for kids who are already Christians to answer a call from God. "Growing up's got nothing to do with serving God." - Karl's mom Learn everything you can to be a better children's evangelist. Stay engaged in the world of children. May look silly - but be dead serious about kids' souls and the gospel. Passion = engage in a relational "culture" of kids; like a foreign missionary Disclaimer:  Forgive any choppiness or random ideas since they are *my* notes.  If they help you then I'm glad, but if they don't feel free to leave a comment and ask a question and I will do my best to answer. I will always link to the source so you can learn for yourself from the original.  I am just posting them here to reduce clutter of tons of half used notebooks on my desk. 

Today's notes are from Karl Bastian's podcast. Children's Ministry Podcast #03 How to show kids L.O.V.E. L - learn about them, learn their names, family, pets, recreation, hobbies, dreams, What would you do with a million dollars? Pass out a survey, add their picture, use this as a prayer notebook (I have always intended to do this). O - observe them. Don't be so wrapped up in your own agenda that you don't notice what they are going through/feelings. observe their "stuff" connect V - value. Show them that they have value. Celebrate them - go nuts when they arrive, high fives etc. Heart speech...I don't have to be here... no martyr attitude There is nothing significant to a kid about you as their teacher. They always have an adult in charge. You are someone else. They realize value when we do something OUTSIDE the classroom. Most grown ups don't have time for kids through the week. Visit them at home.  E- encourage. Say something ...

I've cleared my calendar this week because....drumroll... I get to have my grandkids for 3 days! This is my first kidmin priority and I'm so excited.  They live out of state and I only get to see them a couple of times a year and I've never gotten to have them on my own. It's a Grammy's dream come true. So here's the plan for the week: Sunday - church, we don't have children's worship the first Sunday of the month we all meet together. I'm doing a skit with my dragon costume and we are going to sing our memory verse song on stage. Monday - take grandkids shopping and for bluebonnet pictures, I will miss a meeting tonight but the grands come first! Tuesday - play time with the grands Wednesday - more play time and PowerSource in the evening. We are teaching on the Lord's Supper and the whole Easter story this month. I teach the Bible story portion and plan on doing a little reenactment of the Lord's supper with the middle group....

I was cleaning out my desk and found a few notebooks with notes from various places that I've taken over the years and I decided to start typing them up here and reduce the clutter. Disclaimer:  Forgive any choppiness or random ideas since they are *my* notes.  If they help you then I'm glad, but if they don't feel free to leave a comment and ask a question and I will do my best to answer. I will always link to the source so you can learn for yourself from the original. Okay, onto the first installment of "kidmin notes". Today's notes come from Karl Bastian's podcast at Kidmintalk.com .  I love his podcast. I've listened to these episodes more than once. Many times I can't take notes because I'm listening while driving or working.  Karl has tons of experience in all kinds of kidmin situations and I glean something new each time. Let me encourage you to download and listen to Karl's podcast and search for other kidmin podcasts. ...

Another busy week this week. Sunday - teaching small groups 5th-6th graders about Jesus in the Temple when he was a boy.  I know they've heard this story before. I'm praying for God to speak to them through it since they are right about that age.  Hopefully they will identify with Jesus being a boy their age. After church we have PIT Crew practice.  I will write about PIT Crew soon, to give a more detailed look at what we do. Tomorrow our main plan is to work on a dowel rod song to "Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns for Easter service. Monday - Day off! I hope to get some housework and planning done for April and Easter and all those activities. In the afternoon I have a planning meeting for the worship service next week. Tuesday - Work during the day and in the evening I have a Preteen Camp Taskforce meeting. It was rescheduled from last week. Wednesday - Work during the day and Power Source in the evening. Thursday - Work during the day and home errands...

I don't know about you but springtime seems to be busier than the Christmas season for me and I don't even have to plan an egg hunt. (Are you jealous?) There is a lot of planning and meeting going on in the spring for all the summer events on the horizon and I am involved in several summer events and projects. As I write this, it is the day after our spring break kids event. This year we had a lock-in; our first for kids of this age group.  It was a blast and I will be writing about it soon.  In the meantime check out my inspiration for putting on an event like this at my friend Kidmin Corrine's website. So what's on my list this week: Sunday - Morning: Teach small group of kids 5th-6th grade. My son and I team teach this class but he won't be able to attend so I'm on my own. Evening: Church Council where I will report in on our event and tell stories of how kids responded to the Bible teachings and the relationships that were built. Monday - Mee...

Beat the Clock Beat the Clock by Jim Wideman This is my last month in Kidmin Academy  and this is the month I've been waiting for! I love to learn about time management and organization so this book is right up my alley. As usual though, God always has more in store for me than what I could imagine.  I had my own ideas about what I would learn from the book but God had other ideas as well. Here are a few things that God showed me in this book: I was recruited to fulfill my pastor's vision; not mine (ouch! guilty!) Even though I'm pretty organized and efficient I have much room to grow in the area of procrastination and prioritizing I've learned to set goals but I still struggle with an effective plan to get there. I need to set markers, and break things down into manageable chunks along the way I still have a lot to learn about "duplicating myself"  I'm often busy, but am I doing the right thing? Plan to grow, not plan to where you are...

We don't have a budget or the resources to do a purchased program on Wednesday nights but we want to do something a little different than what we do on Sundays and we wanted kids to really get a chance to dig into the Bible and retain what they have learned.   I will say that we have worked with this particular model for two years, and we make tweaks constantly.  At this point we are trying to move past just filling a schedule into giving the kids a little more time to absorb and process what they've learned and a chance to hear the Holy Spirit speak.  It is hard to hear Him when there is so much "busyness".  Today's post is the outline of how a typical Wednesday night flows. I will post later about how we choose and present our Bible content.

I started this blog to chronicle the things I do through a year of kid ministry as a volunteer.  I haven’t been consistent in posting throughout the year so what better way to kick off a new year than with a post about our first planning meeting.  I want to share with you how I organize this type of meeting and share our plans for the coming year. So where did I start? Do I need to say it? PRAY I spent some time in prayer before I even met with the team.  I invited them to pray as well. Next I set the meeting date. I invited team members via a Facebook event on our church page and through a personal message. Side note: In our church Facebook Event invites and Facebook messenger or text seem to work the best.  The Facebook event photo (It says "pot luck" but we changed it to build your own tacos.) This year we scheduled the meeting for lunch after church with everyone bringing a portion of the meal. I decided it would be easier to have tacos so bus...