Born is the King (It's Christmas) from Hillsong - Amazing!

Born Is the King (It's Christmas) 
By - Hillsong


Favorite Features -

• eight songs on the CD
• truly enjoyable, deep, rich harmonies
• full musical sound - even has a banjo on several songs!
• old familiar carols with a new "twist" and sound - very enjoyable! Familiar, yet new!

Track Listing:
1. The Westward Procession 
2. Joy To The World
3. Born Is The King (It's Christmas)
4. Emmanuel
5. We Three Kings
6. Come Let Us Adore Him
7. Holy Night

8. Silent Night

VBS 2012 Reviews Release on January 1st . . . My First Kit Arrived Today!

Yes! Believe it or not, VBS 2012 is almost upon us! In two months I'll be over half-way through my Top Ten VBS Reviews for 2012! I am looking forward to VBS 2012!


Today the first kit for my 2012 VBS reviews arrived . . . Bug Zone from Regular Baptist Press! While I don't want to reveal too much before my reviews release in January, I can say I'm very happy with what I see! The content is absolutely solid - as you would expect with RBP - and the extras are very nicely done! (Wait until you see Bugzi !!!) A pleasant surprise is the music and while I usually cringe when I hear of a bug theme VBS, I'm delighted to say there are no spiders in this kit!!!! Of course with the theme of "Being transformed by our Big God!" the only good "transformation" for a spider is when you squash it! :-), so butterflies are a much better choice when it comes to bugs and RBP's butterflies are wonderful!


Stay tuned . . . more VBS 2012 info - complete with reviews and another side-by-side comparison chart - are on their way!

Put Feet to Their Faith with Samaritan Purse's Gift Catalog!

if you talk to any of the children in your ministry and ask them what they would like to receive for Christmas, you would likely be hard pressed to find a child who isn't dreaming of at least one gift. So, with Christmas just around the corner it is the perfect time to talk with the children in your ministry about working together to raise money and select an gift from the Samaritan Purse Gift Catalog to send to a child or a family in need somewhere in the world! 


Just take a look at the catalog . . . you'll find items as inexpensive as feeding a hungry baby for a week for just $9 or for just $6 they can send a warm blanket or soft sleeping mat to a child/family who has experienced a disaster. One of my favorite gifts is the sheep/baby lambs for just $80 each! This makes a wonderful class project as children raise money to see how many sheep they can give so families are able to raise sheep and have wool and a food source . . . just as people did in Bible times! 

First Friday Freebies - Free Christmas Lesson!

With Christmas just around the corner I thought it was a good time to give away a free Christmas lesson for both preschool and elementary age children! These lessons are from kidz Connection curriculum (which I write) and are from the Talking with God year of lessons.

You'll find a Sunday School lesson and an option second service lesson for each age level . . . if you have a longer Sunday service, you could easily combine both lessons for your longer service or for use in your mid-week ministry as well! The preschool and elementary lessons are from a unified scope and sequence so all ages of children learn the same lesson the same week. You are welcome to download and print these lessons for use in your ministry.

Family Pick - VeggieTales "O Holy Night" . . . I'm Giving One Away!

O Holy Night: Journey of a Little Drummer Boy

By - VeggieTales


Part of the fun of Christmas is bringing out and singing all our favorite Christmas songs and carols! I'm delighted for the opportunity to share with you a new CD from VeggieTales filled with songs your children . . . and you . . . will enjoy and sing along with this Christmas, and for Christmases to come! This CD has 11 songs on it - 

• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• Do You Hear What I Hear
• It's About Love - featuring Wynonna Judd (From VeggieTales classic - and one of my all-time-Veggie-favorites - Lord of the Beans)
• Can't Smile Without Ewe (from VeggieTales the Little Drummer Boy)
• Meant to Be - featuring Steven Curtis Chapman (From VeggieTales - and another of my all-time-Veggie-favorites - It's a Meaningful Life)
• Silent Night
• What Child is This / The First Noel
• Give This Christmas Away - featuring Amy Grant & Matthew West (From the VeggieTales St. Nicholas)
• Oh Holy Night
• Away In A Manger
• The Little Drummer Boy - featuring BeBe & CeCe Winans (From the VeggieTales the Little Drummer Boy)

I Have a Winner in My Brittany Hargest Love All the Way CD Give-Away!

I'm happy to announce Danielle Taylor is the winner in my Brittany Hargest Love All the Way CD give-away! (You'll find the review at this link) Thank you Brittany for reading About the Children's Department (please message me your address so I can have it sent to you) and thank you EMI Gospel for sending a CD for my review and for making another available for me to give away on my blog!

How Does Your Children's Ministry Support Parents With Special Needs Children?

Loretta Baughan wrote a powerful and thought provoking post on Modern Day Eugenics on her blog, STRAIGHT4ward with Loretta Baughan. Please take a moment to read this post and then consider the following . . . 

• what are you doing to communicate the value of all babies, children and adults? Are you intentional about taking every opportunity to teach and show just as God loves all of us, you also made the choice to do the same? Do you make opportunities to stand for the value of all life?
• when a parent receives the difficult news their child will be born with challenges, what do you do to come alongside these parents and walk with them through the many decisions they will need to make. How do you support, encourage and help these parents? What do you do to make sure these parents know they are not alone?
• what do you do to walk with a parent as they raise their exceptionally challenged child? Do you provide a support base for the parents? Do you make sure these valued children are welcome in your children's ministry? Do you educate and train volunteers so they know how to best engage these children as they enter and move through your children's ministry?

What is your plan? If you do not have one, you will not only be unprepared when a family in your ministry faces this "road", but you will miss out on the opportunity to show to a watching world your ministry is real and it lives what it teaches . . . this being, just as "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world", so do you!