I will never forget an online exchange I had years ago with a prominent figure in church leadership.  He argued that seminary was a complete was of time because its role was to “help people answer questions no one is asking.”  According to that leader, a seminary education was irrelevant to “real” church leadership.  Without a doubt, one of the greatest gifts I received from my time in Bethel Seminary’s Children’s and Family Ministry Program was the gift of understanding my own leadership and the passion to pursue leadership topics that were previously untouched.

This passion brought about the resources behind What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry and the newly released Kindle ebook Nexus: Central Themes in Children’s Ministry.  The focus of all of these projects was to answer big questions because that very act of collectively and collaboratively identifying and pursuing the primary issues in our ministry work is what leaders do.

Nexus answers the question: What is at the core of children’s ministry?

Why do children’s pastors, Sunday School teachers, Christian Education directors engage in children’s ministry?  When you take all of the programming, special events, recruiting efforts, and shopping for supplies – what is the foundation of ministering to children?

David Csinos, Greg Carlson, Nancy Davies, Amy Dolan, Larry Fowler, Ryan Frank, Matt Guevara, Stacy Igarashi, Ed Jenkins, Melissa MacDonald, Matt McKee, Dustin Nickerson, and Nicki Straza contributed to the book and their answers and passion for ministry are inspiring.

Nexus is available for free this week on Amazon.  Stop by the Amazon store and pick up a copy of the Kindle ebook!

This is a guest post by Keith Ferrin.  Keith is a pastor, speaker, and author of the books Falling in Love with God’s Word and Like Ice Cream: The Scoop on Helping the Next Generation Fall in Love with God’s Word.  You can find Keith on Twitter and on his website www.thatyoumayknow.com.

Two Simple Ways to Make Sure Your Kids NEVER Like the Bible

Sarah, Caleb, and Hannah. All three are under 10 years old. All three live in my house. All three have the very real potential of growing up believing the Bible is true…and boring. If your kids grow up believing the Bible is true, is that enough? If they think this “true” book is dry, boring, and “for old people” will the Living Word of God ever be more than just a phrase?

Unless I am intentional (more on the power of that word in another blog post) about helping my kids fall in love with God’s Word – they never will. I run the risk of doing the very things that will cement in their minds the boringness – and irrelevance – of the Bible. So…if you want to make sure your kids never like the Bible, there are two ways to guarantee it:

#1: Don’t let them see you liking it.

This is the one that hits the hardest. We all know the truth of the saying, Our kids do what they see us doing, not what we tell them to do. If you want your kids to stay away from the Bible, all you have to do is stay away from it yourself. Thankfully, the opposite is true as well. If you want them to fall in love with God’s Word, let them see you reading it and enjoying it.

In 2010 I moved my early morning time in God’s Word from my upstairs office (where I prefer to read, pray, and study), to my living room couch. Each morning I would read until my first kid woke up. They would groggily lumber down the stairs, crawl into my lap, and we would sit. Sometimes we would talk. Sometimes not. Sometimes I would tell them about what I was reading. Sometimes we would simply talk about the upcoming day or a crazy dream they had. It quickly became one of our favorite parts of the day.

I didn’t fully realize the power of this early morning time until returning from my last trip. After snowstorms in Seattle and Chicago kept me stuck in the Windy City an extra 46 hours, I landed in Seattle and was greeted with a monster hug from my oldest (now 9). The second thing she said to me (immediately after You can NOT travel for several more months!) was So…does this mean you’ll be on the couch in the morning? I’m not moving back to my office until my youngest moves out!

#2: Only talk about it at church.

Let’s face it. We are an “outsourcing” society. Someone else can do our shopping, clean our house, mow our lawn, or walk our dog. Honestly, I think a lot of that outsourcing is good. I am all for saving time. However, thinking that getting our kids to church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday is going to guarantee that they like the Bible and love Jesus is a massive mistake.

Here is why. Our kids are connected to everyone and everything that’s important to them – all the time! Between cell phones, texting, Facebook and Twitter (just to name a few) there is rarely a time when they aren’t connected. “Connected” is possibly the single, best word to describe this generation. And yet, the temptation for me is to feel like going to church (and eventually youth group) is making it a priority.

The harsh reality is this – If it’s not relevant on Tuesday mornings at 10am or Friday nights at 8:30pm, then it’s not relevant. There must be conversations at home, over meals, in the car, or walking through the store. We must intentionally (there’s that word again) help our kids connect the Bible to everyday life.

Fortunately, the more I talk with my kids about the Bible, the more they like it. And the more I like it. And the more they bring it up. And that is a beautiful thing!

You can find out more about Keith Ferrin and Like Ice Cream: The Scoop on Helping the Next Generation Fall In Love with God’s Word at www.thatyoumayknow.com.

Here’s a scary thought….
Most people don’t read.

A number of years ago I was wondering what percentage of the population read 10 or more books a year. While I was unable to find out, I did learn that 58% of the U.S. adult population never reads a book after high school and 42% of college graduates never read a book after graduation.

The problem with this is that if you are not reading, you are missing a key ingredient in becoming a better leader. As David Gergen has said, “Not ever reader is a leader, but every leader is a reader.” If you want to lead well, you need to read diligently.

Most of the best ideas that I have found have come from nuggets buried in the pages of great books. Some of my favorites have been from Patrick Lencioni, Andy Stanley and Jim Wideman but there are others great ideas to be found from lesser known names as well.

If you don’t have a set reading goal and your leading, don’t let your ministry stagnate because you don’t want to pick up any knew ideas – grab a book and start reading!

What are some books that you’ve read recently and would recommend to others?

If you want to understand what’s at the center of teaching digital learners and the way they prefer to learn, start by exploring the term “participatory learning.” Kids (to borrow a term from Henry Jenkins) are “cultural activators.” They use the tools of technology to actively change things. It is a common misconception that all media (TV, video games, mobile devices, web, computers, handheld game systems) is simply mind-numbing entertainment designed to waste time without any tangible benefit. Kids are proving us wrong.

Henry Jenkins in the video below talks about the world of the Harry Potter Alliance – a Harry Potter fan site that has reached over 100,000 individuals with a mission “to educate and mobilize young people across the world toward issues of literacy, equality, and human rights.” Children are joining forces online to make the world a better place. The Harry Potter Alliance is simply organizing them. While the scope of each project the HPA is involved in may not coincide with my personal beliefs, the actions they are taking in digital space serve as a model for leaders in the church.

In other words you and I, as children’s and family ministry leaders, can organize and capitalize the time and passion and heart of children online to make a prolific difference in the world for the cause of Christ. Kids today are not a passive audience; they want to get in the middle of creating something unique. What can we create together?

I wanted to revisit my official reviews (here and here) of the book Think Orange in light of a recent conversation I had with a member of the Orange team.  This conversation was an important one for me because my primary understanding of Orange was shaped tangentially through blog posts and Twitter updates, not through actual current experience with the 252 Basics or First Look curricula or by attending the Orange Conference.  Orange represents a important model of family ministry that, as a member of the Cory Center team and a co-laborer in the field of children’s and family ministry, I could no longer be ignorant of.  Having taken the time to truly understand the curriculum and the heart behind the Orange philosophy, I realized that my previous reviews of the book Think Orange misrepresented the 252 Basics curriculum and required revision.

252 Basics is a curriculum created in a manner that plays into a church that is implementing the Orange strategy.  Part of the curriculum includes a resource called the “Family Experience”.  I’ve been exposed to the Family Experience through Dan Scott’s blog.  Often Dan shares artwork or videos he’s created for the Family Experiences at Ada Bible Church.  These experiences look amazing and they are designed to bring the family together for a shared worship experience with the idea that when the family leaves together, they have tools to continue the discussion in the home environment.

Now, previously I posted that 252 Basics was structured around teaching virtues.  This is incorrect. According to the Orange staff member I spoke with, the virtues of Christ are the organizational tool that help them structure Biblical content.  In other words, they care deeply about teaching Scripture and use a monthly virtue as the thread that runs through each Bible story chosen for the month.  So each week the “hub” of the lesson is the Bible Story and discipleship happens in small groups.

One of the things we say often in my ministry context is that the Bible tells us “who God is and what God has done.”  One of the phrases that I heard over and over again in my conversation was, “We study God’s Word to find out God’s character.”  That is right on the money, God’s Word reveals who God is and the entire premise of our faith tradition is that as we learn more of God’s Word, we change to become more and more like Jesus.

I was encouraged to find out that some exciting things are on the way from Orange in 2011:

• New curriculum components that will provide context for the actual Bible stories
• Increased emphasis on a foundational component of the curriculum: God’s Big Story
• Leader resources to make the Biblical connection between the story and God’s character

If you have any questions about Orange or the curriculum options they provide, click here.  The Orange staff is more than willing to answer questions or dialogue about their ministry resources. If you are a leader trying to implement the Orange philosophy, make sure to pick up a copy of the Orange Leaders Handbook, which will help you customize the principles from Think Orange for your ministry.

On a personal note, I wanted to apologize to the Cory Center readers for misrepresenting the Orange philosophy and the curriculum that goes alongside it in my two previous reviews of Think Orange. As a children’s pastor and father, I am deeply committed to seeing the church integrate into my family and vice-versa.  I am thankful for the program at Bethel Seminary in Children’s and Family Ministry that helped me understand and learn about the importance of family ministry and I support and champion ministries that help accomplish this work like Awana At Home, Visionary Family Ministries, Legacy Milestones, Faith at Home, Fathers52.com, and Orange. Thanks for reading.

Even though I’m a children’s pastor, I consider myself a Christian Educator.  As part of the teaching and learning process, my favorite group to teach tends to be early childhood (probably because my two daughters are 4 and 5).  Kids in this developmental stage are awed by stories, which is why the mechanism that delivers these stories (children’s story Bibles) are so important.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson, I had the opportunity to review their Read and Share Bible.  Let’s start with the good stuff:

Layout: The stories are all two pages long.  I like the shorter length because it makes for easy reading.  My kids really liked the artwork.

Bible Passages: The table of contents in the Read and Share Bible is ideal.  Each story is listed next to its parallel passage in Scripture.  In the actual story, the Bible passage is listed underneath each story title. Each story also includes a question at the end for parents to ask their kids!  Nicely done.

Accuracy/Theological Integrity: So often I notice that children’s story Bibles make theological mistakes.  My first port of call when testing this is looking at how the text treats Saul’s encounter on the Damascus Road.  Most children’s Bibles indicate that Saul changed his name to Paul as a result of this encounter, however that simply is not in Scripture.  Go ahead, check it out for yourself!  Saul’s name in the text switches to Paul subtly about two chapters after the Damascus Road event.  The Read and Share Bible tells the story beautifully: “Saul was also called Paul.”  This kind of attention to Biblical accuracy is important.

Now for the tough stuff:

Euphemisms: Throughout the Read and Share Bible I noticed that certain names of objects are omitted and called by a different name.  In the case of the Ark of the Covenant, the Read and Share Bible refers to it as “The Holy Box.”  Names are important!  Would we make up a kid-friendly name for Jesus and call him, “The Holy Child”?  The covenant is such an important theme in Scripture, I think it is a good thing to teach kids its real name.

The Rabbit: There is a rabbit that shows up in almost every story in the Read and Share Bible. I didn’t get it.

David Does Wrong: This is the only children’s story Bible that I know of that tells the story of David and Bathsheba.  My issue is not at all with telling this story.  The story is actually told quite gently as a picture of Biblical forgiveness.  However the picture in the story is really problematic for me.  Obviously for 3-5 year old kids, the pictures will speak much louder than the printed words.  In David Does Wrong, the picture has David kissing Bathsheba on the cheek with hearts surrounding the pair.  When I asked some kids to use some words to describe the picture, they said: love, wedding, marriage, engaged, I think they like each other, and in love.  So in this rare instance, the pictures definitely do not enhance the story – they actually reverse the story.

In the end, the Read and Share Bible is a full collection of Biblical stories with great artwork and helpful tools for parents.  Pick one up at your local Christian bookstore, Thomas Nelson’s website, or Amazon.

For the chance to win a copy of the Read and Share Bible, you can:

1) Copy and send this tweet:

@corycenter is giving away some free kidmin resources, check out http://corycenter.org right now!

2) Sign up for our e-newsletter (the form is right on this page!)

3) Comment below with your favorite Bible story

We’ll pick a winner on Friday, January 14th!

If you’re interested in learning more about the Read and Share Bible, visit TommyNelson.com, Facebook, Scribd, or YouTube.  A review copy of the Read and Share Bible was provided to me for review purposes by Thomas Nelson.

I’ve been reading Clay Shirky’s new book Cognitive Surplus.  The book is challenging my thinking on the impact of social networking and all things digital on society.  In the book, Shirky notes that people in the United States spend 200 billion hours a year watching TV and it took only 100 million hours to create Wikipedia.  What does that really look like?

The point Shirky makes is that all of these hours – billions and billions of them – represent a lot of time that could be harnessed, organized, and put to use.  I think this relates to children’s ministry in a powerful way.  Kids are incessantly interacting with digital tools and we could harness that time and energy into something extraordinary.  We could create the tools for them to make an impact on other nations, to interact with one another for the purposes of faith formation, or to put Scripture in words they can understand.

It does not seem that long ago, but in the fall of 2003 I began my journey in full-time children’s ministry in Madison, WI.  I had Biblical and theological foundations from my newly earned Pastoral Studies degree and loads of volunteer experience working with children.  However, lacking a great deal of maturity, I started ministry trying to be someone else.  I grew up in the mindset that children’s ministry was event-driven, using puppets, performance, juggling, clowning/miming, Scripture pictures, and gospel magic. Having no real training in those areas, I took lessons in magic and devoted a great deal of time to trying to become a children’s ministry performer.  I patterned my ministry after the models I grew up with and it did not take long before the thing that I so desired to become my entire life (a pastor) felt like it was going to kill me and my wife!  God taught me an important lesson: Ministry was not going to work unless I was going to be myself.  This was one of the toughest and longest lessons I learn as a young pastor.  I wish Larry Shallenberger’s book, Lead the Way God Made You, was around in 2003.

The central message of Shallenberger’s precise work is simply that God created you to lead in a specific way and that’s okay.  Shallenberger dispels the myth of the perfect leader at the outset of the book and introduces the dominant metaphor of the book, the theater.  It really is a perfect setup for the rest of the content because it touches on a theme that everyone feels and experiences.  The content is rich and it leads the reader through a process of self-discovery with the “Dramatic Leadership Assessment Test” and gives Scriptural foundations for each of the Assessments styles (Director, Stage Manager, Drama Coach, Theater Manager, Stagehand, and Production Assistant).  For me, the assessment confirmed my leadership style (Director) but gave me critical insights into the other styles.

I loved the tone of the book because the experience of reading felt like I was being mentored by an experienced leader.  Here’s some of the parts that resonated the most with me:

•    Quote, page 49: “A few years ago, a senor leader in the church pressured me to launch this program.  I politely told him that it sounded like a good idea first initiative for the new children’s pastor.” Gutsy

•    The “5 Star Training Planner” on page 122 and the Leadership Style Summaries (to share with your team) are some resources that are worth more than the price of the book.

Part of spiritual leadership is the hard work of self-reflection and self- discovery. Use Lead the Way God Made You to help you long the way.

Join the rest of the Lead the Way God Made You Blog Tour!

•    June 29^th – Barbara Graves, barbaragraves.net

•    June 30^th – Joe McGuinness, familygeneration.com

•    July 1^st – Todd McKeaver, toddmckeaver.com

•    July 2^nd – Henry Zonio, elementalcm.com

•    July 5^th – Kenny Conley, childrensministryonline.org

•    July 6^th – Greg Baird, kidmin360.com

•    July 7^th – Wayne Stocks, stocksohio.com

•    July 8^th – Jonathan Cliff, jonathancliff.com

•    July 9^th, Wendy Douglas

Starting today, you can get your own printed copy of the book What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry. It’s only $7.99, but you can use the discount code N8XZJLWK to get 10% off (this week only).

When I met with with Amy Dolan and Henry Zonio a few months ago to discuss the idea of gathering many voices from the field of children’s and family ministry to answer an epic question, we had no idea that more than 3000 people would download the resource.  What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry has struck a chord with children’s and family ministry leaders.  But we knew that no matter how many people downloaded the ebook, there would many more leaders who would prefer a printed book over a screen-based resource.  So with the help of IMAGO, who donated their amazing work to the project, we designed a version for web and print.

Here’s some ideas for how I would use the printed resource:

•    Several children’s pastors and leaders have bought multiple copies for their volunteer teams.  I would use the book in this setting to spark conversation, especially if one of the themes in the book resonates with the themes in your ministry OR with proposed change in your ministry.  I would ask questions of the volunteers ahead of time such as: What theme speaks to you the most?  Why? What theme resonates the most with our ministry? What theme resonates the most with where we want to go/what we want to accomplish?

•    I plan on using the book as a one-on-one coaching tool.  I’ll ask the mentoree to read the book in its entirety and choose 2-3 contributions that they felt were the most helpful.  I’ll also asked the mentoree to create their own contribution.  In this setting, I would allow them 300 words to answer the question “What matters now in children’s ministry” – instead of the official 200 word limit.  But my goal would be to get the person I am coaching to hone their idea to 200 words.

•    The printed book is a great resource and gift to hand out to other staff members, especially a senior pastor.  I think that giving other staff members resources is a great way to lead your co-workers “up.”  I think the book is especially useful for senior pastors, who receive multiple emails/files/digital resources everyday and may not pay as much attention to the content of the ebook as they would a printed resource.

•    Note: You are the expert in your ministry.  For some of your “digital native” volunteers, the ebook is the best way for them to receive the information in What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry.  For others, perhaps the digital immigrants on your team, the printed resource would work much better.  I think you can and should use both.

If you are interested in buying 10 or more copies of the book, please email me for a special bulk-discount code!  Otherwise you can use the discount code N8XZJLWK to get 10% off (this week only).

I want to continue our series of posts about What Matters Now in Children’s Ministry with a few posts about the answers that really resonated with me.  Randy Isola contributed the answer “Wonder” to the What Matters Now project.  Randy is my boss, but that’s not why I’m reflecting on his contribution (I’m pretty sure he does not read this blog anyway).  Randy has re-taught me what children’s ministry is all about.  I say that he “re-taught” me, because before I met Randy I thought I knew everything about children’s ministry.  Here’s what Randy had to say about wonder:

I believe one of the most compelling questions in Scripture is the disciples’ asking about Jesus, “What kind of man is this?” After a glimpse of his power, the disciples were driven to discover the answer. Our churches should instill that wonder in children and propel them to a lifelong adventure of finding out the truth behind that question.

When it comes to children’s ministry, we all want engaging programming, flawless theology, deep relational communities, great tools to equip parents, etc. Ultimately, we want all that so we can point children to Jesus. Sometimes we do that by giving answers, other times by raising questions. I wish that children would always leave churches with answers and questions, with a sense of wonder and amazement at the person and work of Jesus. I hope that our ministries help children encounter Jesus in such a way that multiple times throughout the week they will, with a sense of wonder, ask themselves the question, “Who is Jesus?”

I pray that every child influenced by children’s ministries everywhere will wonder so fully, so deeply, so passionately that they embark on a quest to know, “Who is Jesus?”

This answer resonated with me because I’ve been reading Exodus lately.  And even a cursory look at Exodus will reveal the word “wonder” several times.  The source of wonder was simply God’s unique power.  It got me thinking along the same lines as Byron Ragain’s contribution – how hard will I work to perform wonders among children? Many times I try to do wonders – through programming, creative teaching, or resources.  Do my efforts direct and guide children to experience the wonders of their powerful God?  As Exodus 15:11 says, “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”  There is simply no one like our God of wonders.  All my work should point to Him!