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Kids Ministry

Dedicated to helping Kids Ministry leaders in their mission of making disciples

Fun

Eating your way through Music City during KMC

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Well, I’ve been given the task of giving you some tips on how to have fun in Nashville while you are here for Kids Ministry Conference. While thinking about this post, I realized that all my ideas of fun had to do with food. 🙂

So, here are some tips on some great places to eat while you are visiting Nashville!

If you don’t have a car, these are within walking distance of LifeWay:

If you do have a car:

  • Baja Burrito – a local favorite. Be prepared to stand in line and try the pineapple salsa!
  • Burger Up (and Las Paletas) – One of my favorite new restaurants. Love the burger with pimento and cheese and the truffle fries. Make sure you take cash and grab a mexican popsicle at Las Paletas which is right next door (NOTE: Las Paletas is closed on Mondays)! 
  • Taco Mamacita’s – Great tacos, dips, and peruvian chicken. Just trust me.
  • Pancake Pantry – Open 6 AM to 3 PM. Expect a line, but you’ll love the food. And you may see someone famous.
  • Monell’s – Southern food served family style. You eat at a table of 8 with people you may or may not know 🙂
  • Germantown Cafe – Great new Nashville restaurant. The desserts there are scrumptious.
  • Calypso Cafe – Cuban food. Think chicken, rice, black beans. So good. Try the fruit tea!

Anybody got some other favorite eating places in Nashville to share?

Looking forward to seeing you guys in October!

 

Encouragement

Remember the Chicago song “You’re the Inspiration”?

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I used to love that song! Of course, it came out in 1984 (when I was 10 years old) and what does a 10 year old know about inspiration?? 

Music has always been a source of inspiration in my life. Growing up as a minister of music’s daughter, there was always music in our home – it was just a part of everyday life. I remember having favorite hymns – I always wanted to sing "Pass It On" or "Holy, Holy, Holy"

At different times in my life, different songs have been inspiring to me. While I was in college, there was an album from a group called "Sons and Daughters"  (you may know them now as Christy and Nathan Nockels or Watermark and Charlie Hall) called Holy Roar – That whole album was an inspiration to me. I would recommend it to you, but I’m not sure you can still get it!

Some other songs that have been inspirations to me:

Mighty to Save (Hillsong)

Restless (Audrey Assad)

Hosanna – Praise is Rising (Brenton Brown)

You’ll Come (Hillsong)

Our God is Love (Hillsong)

2 questions for you . . . what is your favorite hymn? What songs have been inspirations to you? 

Can’t wait to hear them!

 

 

Fun

It’s Kids Ministry Conference Week: DREAM BIG!!!

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The theme for this year’s Kids Ministry Conference is Dream Big! I’m so excited about the speakers and the workshops. I mean, where else can you see the Duggars and Ed Stetzer at the same conference? 

My prayer is that this conference would inspire you to dream big about your ministry to children and equip you to carry out those dreams!

I thought it might be fun for us to do some dreaming together today. . . Will you answer 2 questions for me – one fun and one serious??

1. What is your dream vacation?

2. What is your dream for the kids in your ministry?

Here are my answers:

1. My dream vacation would include lots of shopping and lots of eating in warm (but not hot) weather – I really don’t care where, although Greece or Italy would be nice . . . 

2. My dream for the kids in my ministry (for me, it’s the kids that I teach on Sunday mornings and kids that I visit in Moldova once a year) is that they would grow up to be adults that honor God with their lives.

What about you?

 

Networking

Kids ministry in the portable church

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Is your church a portable church? You know, the one you have to set up every Sunday morning, and tear down right after because there is something else happening in the building you are renting? My church began in the common area of an apartment, moved to a hotel, then moved to a movie theater before finally having a building of our own. I was a kids ministry volunteer during those movie theater years, and it was always interesting. Week to week, we didn’t know if we were going to have to move theaters or tear down early because there was a movie showing at 12:05 and church was over at 12:00.  Many of the resources we used called for supplies that we didn’t necessarily have on hand in our boxes that had to be packed up and put in a trailer each week. And there’s no place to make photocopies at a movie theater!

There are some lessons that I learned while teaching in a portable church:

1. Preparing ahead is extremely important. There’s no resource room to fall back on, so if your game calls for 6 ping pong balls, you better know that ahead of time!

2. Set boundaries for your space.  Running up and down the stairs and through the rows of the movie theater was a big temptation for the kids at my church. In a non-traditional setting, you have to establish boundaries for kids in order to keep things from spiraling out of control.

3. Assign specific set up and tear down tasks to volunteers. After a while, every portable church will get into a rhythm of set up and tear down. When you add volunteers who aren’t in that rhythm, make sure you give them specific tasks: "Can you roll the carpets and move them into the loading zone for the trailer?" 

4. Don’t let the "temporary-ness" of your location keep you from investing in the spiritual development of kids.  As churches are planted, many times kids ministry is an after-thought, but there has to be a plan for spiritual development in order for you to reach kids and families!

I want to hear about your portable churches. What is working well for you? What are your biggest issues? Are there needs that we at LifeWay Kids can help you with?  

Networking

The 20 Question Quiz – Getting to know Scott Wiley

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1. What’s your full name? Ronald Scott Wiley

2. Were you named after anyone? First name after my dad; middle name was just something my parents liked
 
3. Where were you born? Waco, Texas
 
4. What was the mascot at your high school? Tigers
 
5. What’s your favorite college football team? Don’t really have one – I went to Baylor University, not a real football powerhouse; I usually cheer for whoever is playing against University of Tennessee
 
6. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you "grew up"? A teacher
 
7. What is your favorite food? Hamburgers (at least that’s what I eat most often)
 
8. What type of pets do you have, if any? 1 dog – Chihuahua mix – Lexie (refugee from Hurricane Katrina)
 
9. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes
 
10. Have you ever bungee jumped? Would you? Never have. Probably only would if I was on the Amazing Race
 
11. What are you listening to right now? "Give You Glory" by Jeremy Camp (on Pandora Radio)
 
12. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Yellow
 
13. Summer or Winter? Winter
 
14. Computer or Television? A toss-up – but Television probably gets the edge
 
15. What is the farthest you have been from your home? Taipei Taiwan (8000 miles roughly)
 
16. What is your favorite color? Yellow
 
17. If you could choose anywhere to go on vacation, where would it be? Albuquerque, NM…or maybe Hong Kong
 
18. Choose one word to describe yourself. Curious
 
19. What drives you every day? I get to help touch the lives of boys and girls for eternity – what else could be so important and so exciting?
 
20. How do you want to be remembered? He cared; he made a difference. (This one was hard!)
Sunday School

Confessions of a Sunday School teacher. . .

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I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t know of a more rewarding thing than teaching the bible to children on a weekly basis. I have been teaching younger children in Sunday School for the past 10 years of my life, and I can’t imagine missing out on the ministry that happens during that one hour (well, let’s be honest -1 1/2 to 2 hours) each week.

And since we’re being honest, my church (Rolling Hills Community Church), really makes it easy for me to focus on preparing the lesson (we use Worship KidStyle). We have a great kids ministry intern (SHOUT OUT TO MADELINE!!!) who prepares all of the resources we will need for the week, so I’m not worrying about whether or not we have enough stuff in the resource room to do what we need to do.  Our incredible Kids and Family Minister, Nic, has added volunteers to do check-in and check-out, so I can really focus on relationships with kids and teaching the bible rather than making sure that that everyone is where they need to be. Those two things alone have changed my world when it comes to teaching on Sunday morning. It’s put my focus back on the right thing, the life-changing thing (the word of God) rather than all of the busy stuff that happens on Sunday mornings (check-in, check-out, bathroom breaks, supply gathering). And (more honesty here) if given the chance, my tendency is to focus on the busy stuff rather than the life-changing stuff. 

I feel like there are probably more Sunday School teachers out there like me. We are the Sunday School teachers that are called to teach kids. We are committed to being at church every Sunday we are able. We are going to tell you when we will not be at church because we know that there needs to be a sub. But, without help and guidance, we are going to focus on the busy stuff. And the busy stuff causes us to become tired and burnt out. 

Are you doing all you can to help your Sunday School teachers focus on the life-changing stuff rather than the busy stuff?

Networking

The 20 Question Quiz – Getting to know Courtney Baker

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1. What’s your full name? Courtney Michelle Baker

2. Were you named after anyone? No

3. Where were you born? Nashville, TN

4. What was the mascot at your high school? Bears

5. What’s your favorite college football team? The University of Tennessee, of course. 

6. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you "grew up"? I’m not sure I had a specific job. I did know I wanted to do something creative. My favorite pastime growing up was drawing detailed pictures with sidewalk chalk.

7. What is your favorite food? Mexican

8. What type of pets do you have, if any? My husband and I have a 5 pound Yorkie named Maddie. You wouldn’t know it now, but before we got her I wasn’t too crazy about dogs!

9. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.

10. Have you ever bungee jumped? Would you? No and no, are you crazy? I can’t climb a ladder without being scared. 

11. What are you listening to right now? Nothing. It’s 7:00 am and no one’s in the office yet. 

12. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Navy and white. 

13. Summer or Winter? Summer.

14. Computer or Television? Computer

15. What is the farthest you have been from your home? Botswana, Africa. 

16. What is your favorite color? Gray… that sounds boring, but I really do love gray.

17. If you could choose anywhere to go on vacation, where would it be? Maui. I really could live there. 

18. Choose one word to describe yourself. Focused

19. What drives you every day? Doing the best I can do with what God has given me, whether that’s cleaning the house or writing a marketing plan. 

20. How do you want to be remembered? I want to be remembered as someone that believed in Christ and lived in such a way that it was evident to the world. 

Fun, Networking

Show us your KidMin space!!

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beckyBWsmall.jpgAs a teacher at a church that started in hotel, then moved to a movie theater, then into a permanant space in a warehouse, I’ve grown to appreciate the need for good spaces for kids ministry.  I’m proud of our space at my church (Rolling Hills Community Church), and as our church grows we are beginning to work toward expanding our Kids Ministry space! Wanted to share a few pics with you hoping that you might share some pics with us!!

 Our Kids Ministry space is called "The Backyard." Check it out!

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Maybe it’s your impeccably stocked resource room, or your top notch play area for preschoolers – whatever the space, WE WANNA SEE IT!!  Make sure that you are a fan of LifeWay Kids on facebook and add your pic to our wall.  Let us know why the space is special to you and how it’s working in your kids ministry. If you don’t have a pic to add to facebook, comment below to let us know about your space. Can’t wait to SEE AND HEAR ABOUT YOUR KIDMIN SPACE!!! 

Networking

The 20 Question Quiz – Getting to Know Jeff Land

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1. What’s your full name? Jeffry Reed Land

2. Were you named after anyone? No
 
3. Where were you born? Amory, MS
 
4. What was the mascot at your high school? Okay… It’s really dorky. I went to a boarding school for gifted students called the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science. Anyway, we were the Blue Waves.
 
5. What’s your favorite college football team? I was raised to be a MSU Bulldog, but I’m probably more interested in Vandy. 
 
6. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you "grew up"? Earliest dream job was to be a car salesman. I have always been fascinated by cars which showed in my early adult years as I was constantly trading cars. Then I realized how irresponsible that was and now drive a 10 year old Jeep with 180,000 miles. But, it’s paid for.
 
7. What is your favorite food? I love seafood.
 
8. What type of pets do you have, if any? We have an aquarium that My parents gave our oldest son. It sat in a closet until Bill Emeott got it out and bought fish. Now we have about 13 fish.
 
9. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes. I was always jealous of kids who had theirs removed.
 
10. Have you ever bungee jumped? Would you? I have not but would absolutely love to. And sky dive, parasail, etc.
 
11. What are you listening to right now? My little boys in their beds refusing to go to sleep while I fill out this survey on my iPhone while laying between their beds on the floor.
 
12. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Brown–my most favorite color. I love brown. 
 
13. Summer or Winter? Summer- most definitely. Although I really love spring and fall most. 
 
14. Computer or Television? Probably computer because I can watch tv on hulu.
 
15. What is the farthest you have been from your home? Taiwan where God blessed my wife and I with our three little boys.
 
16. What is your favorite color? Brown, hands down.
 
17. If you could choose anywhere to go on vacation, where would it be? Somewhere with beach and lots of food. 
 
18. Choose one word to describe yourself. Happy
 
19. What drives you every day? The opportunity to be used by God to create life changing resources. And I’ve got bills to pay. 
 
20. How do you want to be remembered? Christ follower, devoted husband, and the best daddy ever.
Fun

Celebrating Jell-O Week: Strawberry Pretzel Salad Recipe

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beckyBWsmall.jpgIn celebration of the end of Jell-O week, I thought I would share my favorite recipe that uses Jell-O. This is a family favorite at my house, and even though it takes a while to make, it is TOTALLY worth it!! And, it’s red and white, which makes it perfect to serve on Valentine’s Day!

 

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
4 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted  

Filling:
1 cup white sugar
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed  

Topping:
1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
2 cups boiling water
1 (16 ounce) package frozen strawberries  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix together the pretzels, 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Mix in frozen strawberries, and stir until thawed. Let mixture "soft-set" for about 30 minutes. Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.

This recipe adapted from Judy’s Strawberry Pretzel Salad on Allrecipes.com

 

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