I'm Giving Away a Pick Punch!

If  you are a musical guitar-playing person or a crafty person who likes to find ways to use unique things in your children's ministry the the Pick Punch is the perfect, and unique, item for you! With a Pick Punch and any plastic card - credit card, gift card, hotel key card - or even plastic lids, you can make your own guitar picks!  


In addition, if you use your imagination and a little creativity, you could make picks and then use them to make jewelry, mosaic pictures, picture frames . . . whatever you can think of! You could also design your own unique picks by taking photos, using your children's ministry logo, artwork, - whatever you like - and gluing them between thin, clear pieces of plastic and then punch them out to make your own personalized picks! Pick Punch is a fun and unique items - there is no telling what you could end up making with them! 


I'm delighted to say Pick Punch sent me a punch for review and another for give-away! If you have "liked" About the Children's Department using the tab in the "find us on facebook" box ON THE BLOG, then you are entered in my drawing which will be on October 14th! If you have not "liked" this blog yet, please take a moment to do so and you'll be entered in my give-away! It is this simple! Thank you for reading About the Children's Department - please share this blog with the people you know!

I Have a Winner in My Shake Up Game Give-Away!

I'm happy to announce Ashley Osborn is the winner in my Shake Up game give-away! (You will find the review for this game at this link) Thank you Ashley for reading About the Children's Department and thank you Jax for sending a game for my review and another for me to give away!

Kidmin1124 Radio Show - How Do I Form a Cohesive Vision?

Please mark your calenders and plan to tune in to the Kidmin1124 Radio Show Thursday, October 6th from 9pm to 10pm (Eastern) for a discussion on forming a cohesive vision. I've been invited to be part of the panel and look forward to interacting with you through the CM Connect Chat Room on this important topic! We'll be talking about the following questions -

• What does a cohesive vision for children's ministry look like?  
• How does it interact with student ministry and young adult ministry?  
• What is the principal role of the church in the spiritual nurturing of kids?  
• How do I figure out what my vision is?  
• Is my vision biblical?  
• How do I get others excited about my vision?

"The word vision is thrown around all the time in children's ministry cirlces these days, join the team from Kidmin1124 as we talk in practical terms about what a children's ministry vision is and how it should look."

Kidmin1124 Radio Show & Some Questions to Consider - How Do I Determine My Vision/Purpose for the Children's Ministry?

Tomorrow evening at 9pm (Eastern) the Kidmin1124 Radio Show will be focusing on Forming a Cohesive Vision - what it is, how do we develop a vision and how do we implement it. Please plan to join us on the CM Connect Chat Room for this discussion - I've been invited to be a panelist and I'd love to have the opportunity to interact with you during this radio show!

I posted this article on vision back on June 27th and decided to share it with you again . . . I believe it is essential for us to have a specific, written vision for our children's ministries if they are going to be effective . . . so what do you do if you do not have such a vision? Consider the following . . . 

Check Out Kidmin1124 . . . I Wrote About Teaching Kids the True Meaning of Worship - Real Worship Requires Giving Our Whole Selves to God!

Check this link to a post I wrote for Kidmin1124 about teaching kids the true meaning of worship - real worship requires giving of your whole self to God! Find out about Caleb and Josiah and how they were real serious about being real worshippers of God . . . you'll also find a few ideas for how to help your children learn how to  make daily giving their all to God part of their worship of Him!

Put Feet to Their Faith With a Project Through New Tribes Mission to Get the Bible in Mwinika!

If the children in your church are like the average person in America, they have Bibles in their homes. Consider the following statistics about American use of the Bible according to Gallup . . .

• Most Americans own a Bible. In fact, 92% of households in America own at least one copy. 
• Of those households that own a Bible, the average number of Bibles is three. This includes not only the homes of practicing Christians but hundreds of thousands of atheists as well. 
• Although most Americans own a Bible, use of the Bible varies significantly. In a poll taken by the Gallup Organization in October, 2000, 59% of Americans reported that they read the Bible at least occasionally. This is down from 73% in the 1980s. 
• The percentage of Americans who read the Bible at least once a week is 37%. This is down slightly from 40% in 1990.  
• According to the Barna Research Group, those who read the Bible regularly spend about 52 minutes a week in the scriptures. Barna, "The Bible," data is from 1997.
• Women (42%) are more likely than men (32%) to have read the Bible in the past week. 
• When it comes to going beyond merely reading the Bible to actual study of the Bible, the numbers decline sharply. Only one in seven Americans report an involvement that goes beyond just reading the Bible. 
• According to Gallup, "Despite the impressive statistics concerning Bible reading and study, it is apparent that ignorance about its contents is widespread." 
• Only half of adults interviewed nationwide could name any of the four Gospels of the New Testament. Just 37% of those interviewed could name all four Gospels.

Top Ten Reasons for Involving Your Children in Christmas for an Orphan - rerun!

The beginning of this month I posted about WorldHelp's Christmas for an Orphan and encouraged you to "Put Feet to Their Faith" by involving the children in your ministry in this project to share Jesus' love with children around the world. Today I'm going to post the top ten reasons for involving your children in Christmas for an Orphan -

• it gives them the opportunity to share Jesus' love with others
• it motivates children to pray diligently for other children
• it gives them the opportunity to grow and become more "Christ-like"
• it allows children to think about and focus on others at a time of year when they tend to think about and focus on themselves
• it gives children something tangible and "do-able" they can do to help children in need
• it challenges children to live what they learn
• it gives children an opportunity to follow Jesus' example and do something real to care for others
• it motivates children to learn about other children in need
• it gives them an opportunity to earn something they can give to others
• it gives them the opportunity to work with others to accomplish an important goal

There are many more reasons for you to involve the children in your ministry in Christmas for an Orphan, but whatever reason you choose, please make the commitment to involve your kids in earning money to buy gifts for their boxes, gathering items for their boxes and most importantly, in praying for these children so they will not only have a box of gifts, but will choose to accept the best Gift they could ever receive, Jesus! Make this part of every Christmas . . . it could become the favorite part of Christmas for the children in your ministry!