Several months ago I found out that one of my favorite children’s Bibles was being rereleased.  The Toddler’s Bible, written by V. Gilbert Beers, came out in 1992 to great acclaim.  The author, a ministry and publishing veteran, knew that in order to engage the 2-3 year old mind, heart, and eyes that he would have to “become a toddler.“  It worked.

Here are five things I love about this children’s Bible.

1. Brilliant artwork: When you glance at The Toddler’s Bible cover, you’ll immediately be struck by the vivid illustrations created by Claudine Gévry (click here to visit Claudine’s personal website).  These illustrations will quickly draw young readers into the story.

2. Interactive: When you read The Toddler’s Bible aloud, you’ll notice an ebb and flow of interactive language specifically and intentionally written for the 2-3 year old child:

Shhh. Do you see the baby?  This is baby Jesus.

Shhh. Do you see the animals?

Baby Jesus is sleeping in a manger.

- Excerpt from The Toddler’s Bible, Baby Jesus Story

3. Bible references: While each story is written in developmentally appropriate language, the Table of Contents includes the source Scripture passages.  I love it when children’s Bibles do not seek to replace Scripture, but point people to it.

4. Author introduction: I had the privilege of spending some time with the author, who lives about five minutes from my house.  Even though I have spent the better part of the last ten years ministering to kids and families, “Gil” took me to school on toddlers.  His introduction to The Toddler’s Bible is a helpful guide for parents and teachers.

5. Learnings: At the end of The Toddler’s Bible there is an outline of the attributes of God that children learn from immersing themselves in God’s Word.  I love this overt admission that the Bible reveals more than historical events, it tells us who God is.

One of the great thing about reading is that they will often benefit you were you are, not just where you want to go. One such book that recently helped me was Stretch, by Jim Wideman. Jim is a self-proclaimed “good ol’ country boy” but it is a title that he holds well and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in the Kidmin world.

Stretch opens with with the idea that there are two basic types a structure for your ministry: one that is prepared for growth or one that is prepared to maintain. I believe that we all want our ministries to grow in some fashion (numerically, spiritually, etc.) so I continued reading. If you want your ministry to stay the same – don’t read Stretch. In fact, you need not finish this blog post about the book.

After convincing you of the importance of structure, Jim then walks through some key areas to help you think about where your ministry is and where you are going. He doesn’t jump into getting a larger number of kids, which I think is a great selling point of this book. While we may want more kids in our ministry, he’s careful to show how we first need to prepare saying that perhaps God is saying, “What would you do with more kids if I sent them to you?”

Stretch is 10 simple chapters on preparing fro growth by enlarging the abilities of those you lead, structuring your organization, preparing and structuring volunteers, and taking a look at your facilities and your own leadership style. Jim then wraps up with how to communicate the your structure as well as some questions you need to ask yourself.

As I mentioned above, books can often hit you where you are and Structure did that for me on two points. First, I love teaching in my ministries but that can take me away from my calling which is to oversee the ministry. Jim points out that overseeing is something that we do not do well in children’s ministry and it inhibits our growth. If we’re doing all the work, how will we be able to continue if God expands our ministry? We need to have a system that not only takes care of the kids we have but is ready to take care of new ones. As a new friend of mine said, “I need to be working on my ministry more than I work in my ministry.”

The second big help the book gave was in some thinking that I’ve been doing on where and how our classes our structured. There wasn’t any specific helps on this in the book but it did lend clarity to that thought process.

Finally, as I make one last case for this book, let me share two quotes that, even if you don’t read Stretch, I hope will help you.

“My mama taught me a long time ago, ‘It is never as bad as you think it is. You are never as wonderful as you think you are. And when people tell you everybody is upset, count the everybodys.’”

“There are some things you do each week that others can do if you just give them a checklist.”

Do you have a kidmin book to share?

For the past few weeks I’ve been talking about why you should be a reader as well as suggesting some excellent books. Even so, I know that some of you are thinking, “I’d love to read more, but I simply don’t have time.” I understand the constraints of time, but, sorry, I don’t buy it.

My older son is an avid reader but until I tracked his 2010 reading I had no idea how much he read. Granted you probably have significantly less free time than a 3rd grader and you’ll be reading longer books so I wouldn’t expect you to read nearly as many. So, I’ll start with an easy challenge, read 10% of the number of books he read.

Before jumping into the challenge, here are three things that my son helped me to better understand how to make time for reading, maybe they will help you out as well.

Routine

Bedtime at our house is 8:00 for the children and lights out at 9:30. For that 90 minutes they may choose a quiet activity. My oldest always chooses reading and much of the time the younger one does the same, though he’ll call for tuck-ins before 9:30. This simple choice means that my older son reads a phenomenal amount of books. Granted, Magic Tree House books are shorter than the ones that I am reading, but page for page, I am sure he out reads me.

Variety adds Spice

There are some series that my son loves and as a result he’s read all of the series. Because of that he either needs to stop reading or find other topics. His love of reading has led him to some odd series and driven him deep into the non-fiction shelves at the library. I think this has further sparked a love for reading. As I mentioned last week, if I hang out with the same style of books, I burn out. I need to mix in some fiction. Further variety means that you have more things to talk about – and for my son, knowing things that I don’t further sparks that desire to read and learn.

Enjoy it

Sometimes it can be helpful to labor through a book. I needed to do that for a number of books while in seminary but that labor takes a toll on your desire to pick up the next book. As I mentioned above, my son likes to know things I and his mother do not and there are a number of series that he adores. That’s his enjoyment. I find enjoyment in fictional stories about covert operatives and learning how to be a better leader. Find your sweet spot and spend most of your reading time there.

Still thinking about that challenge above? Don’t, it was offered in jest. Last year my son read over 1110 different books so even 10% of that would mean close to 2 books per week.

Nevertheless, I still want to encourage you to read so I’ll close by adding 2 tips of my own.

Set a Goal

Sometime in the 90s I decided that I would read at least 10 books each year. It seemed like a reasonable goal at less than 1 per month. Since then, I’ve never failed to read that many, in fact, I’ve always read more. I currently oversee a growing ministry, have 2 young children and a desire to spend time with friends and other leisure activities – but I still found time over the last 2 years to read more than 50 books plus over 100 stories to my children. Goals have helped me do this.

Make Time

Finally, it all boils down to making it a priority. I opened with the complaint of “I don’t have time” but in all honesty, I don’t buy it. We make time for the things that we want to do and if you agree with me that reading is important, you’ll have to set some time aside to do it.

As I mentioned above, my son uses 90 minutes each day to devour books. If you’re an early riser, maybe you can set aside 30 minutes on some mornings. If you stay up late, why not turn the TV off 30 minutes early and read instead?

Do you have tips of your own?

Last week I asked what you were reading. @Amy Dolan responded with a video blog over at Lemon Lime Kids and I thought to further encourage the community I would share some of the books that I am currently reading, have on my list, and just finished.

My reading list generally falls into a five different categories: Children’s Ministry/Parenting, Leadership, Fiction, Biography and General Ministry/Theology.

I don’t usually read Children’s Ministry books for new ideas, for that, I prefer to read blogs instead. Generally by the time a great idea makes its way into a ministry book, many churches have found the pros and cons and someone has blogged about it. However, CM books are great at reminding me of things that I already know but don’t always remember to practice and there are some authors that are great at sharing timeless principles. I just finished reading Stretch – Structuring Your Ministry For Growth which was a great help as I think through moving some classrooms around.
I’m also reading Parenting by The Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child. Reading parenting books helps me as a dad but also helps me know what books to recommend to parents.

I read leadership books mostly because I love reading leadership books – it’s kind of a hobby. I finished The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary a few months ago. It’s a very quick read that talks about having excellence in all you do. I don’t have another book on deck in this category – maybe you could leave a comment and suggest a good one.

I try to read a biography each year. I’ve found they are filled with tidbits that help me in my ministry and my life. Most recently I finished reading Decision Points. Very educational – no matter what your political leanings I think you can always learn from someone who was skilled enough to reach the office of President. I have a few possibilities for next year, maybe Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy or one of the books on Jimmy Carter.

In General Ministry, this years best book was The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict Loved the book and have spent the last 10 weeks teaching our children’s church the principles of resolving conflict biblically. Currently I am re-reading a book that I read in 2006: Seven Practices of Effective Ministry.

Finally, fiction…Last year I probably would not have thought to include this category in a post but I found out that it is vital to my reading. I read a minimum of 10 books a year, usually the total falls between 20 and 30. Add on the blog reading and social networking on top of that and I found that I was burning out, I’d sooner sit in front of the TV rather than read. For me, fiction rekindles a desire for reading when I am feeling burned out. Even better, if I read a fiction book every 3 books or so I have found that I can avoid burnout in the first place. My favorite author is Vince Flynn and I’m finding that I enjoy Tim Green (who also writes children’s novels). Right now I am reading Bill Myers’ The Judas Gospel: A Novel. Myers is a Christian author and I’ve never not enjoyed his writting – but I am a bit of a sci-fi geek.

So, other than this long post, what are you reading? Why not comment below or blog about your books and send us the link in a comment?

Books are central to our families identity so I was particularly stuck by the story of Laurence Brewer who was diagnosed with MND (the same disease that Steven Hawking has). Rather than one day simply rely on a voice synthesizer Laurence is recording his voice so that his 6 month old son will be able to hear his dad’s real voice when being read a bedtime story.

This story not only shows a dad that wants to make sure that he will be leaving a lasting legacy but also shows alludes to the importance of children hearing a human voice. In this information age, children are exposed to tons of ads and media – at home, at school, and even at church. While video venues are not inherently wrong I think our temptation is to rely on video and other media to teach and entertain. When we over rely on this medium, the personal stories, the realness of the gospel message gets lost.

Our family’s frequent trips to the library and two stories a night routine has shown me how easy it is to meld storybooks, my story, and the story of the gospel on a regular basis. It’s something that has helped my ministry maintain that personal touch as well.

If you’re using stories (from storybooks) in your ministry, share some successes – if you’re not, why not share why you don’t?

I spent 9 years in undergraduate and graduate classes learning, listening, reading, interacting, and processing the myriad facets of ministry.  But no one told me that regardless of where I worked, what denomination I became affiliated with, the size of my church or staff team, that I would spend 25%-50% of my time in meetings.  Every new year I spend as a children’s ministry leader, I spend more time in meetings and leading meetings.

There are plenty of resources out there on meetings.  Stop by Amy Dolan’s blog every week for her incredible “Build a better meeting” series.

Over the past few weeks I’ve come across a new book that takes the principles, tools, and rules of video game design and applies them to collaboration, team-building, and meetings.  Sign me up…

The book is called Gamestorming.  Here’s a quick video trailer of the book.

Gamestorming explained by one of the authors, Dave Gray

If you’ve read it, what did you think?  Have you been able to implement any of the tools in your children’s ministry settings? Let us know in the comments!

I just finished reading Think Orange.  I wanted to do a quick review and lay out my overall thoughts on the book and the movement.

First, I have a sense (confirmed recently in a conversation with LOGOS President Tom Beagan) that as far as ReThink and the Orange Conference goes, it is less about the person of Reggie Joiner and more about the philosophy.  The Orange Movement is far more philosophy driven than person driven.  I think this is a tremendous effort on the part of Orange and ReThink.  As Tom noted, “You have to dig pretty far down the layers of ReThink’s website to get to Reggie.”

Second, that being said I find that I get a lot more from individuals who are working in ministry week in and week out than from consultants who have left the ministry context of the local church.  One of the reasons why Dr. Denise Muir-Kjesbo earned my respect as a professor at Bethel Seminary is because she was not only a tenured academic, but she was spending her weekends working in the trenches of local church ministry and eventually planted a church in Sioux Falls, SD.  In short, the best comments Reggie made in Think Orange are those that referred back to his ministry at North Point and other churches.  There are chapters of the book that are based on other chapters/ideas from the book Reggie co-wrote with Andy Stanley (Seven Effective Practices of Ministry).  Reading Think Orange made me want to go back and re-read the Seven Practices book!

When Reggie decided to leave the daily grind of full-time ministry in order to pursue providing paid curriculum resources, he dramatically changed the way he could impact the field of children’s and family ministry.  I think he could have done more by staying in the church, because I’m convinced that the local church needs less incredible curriculum providers and more incredible leaders and examples of ministry momentum.

Third, Think Orange is by no means a new phenomenon.  It is a rebranding of ideas that others have been thinking and writing on for a long time in other contexts.  Merton Strommen and Dick Hardel of the Youth and Family Institute wrote a book called Passing on the Faith and it identifies many, many of the thoughts and ideas found in Think Orange.  Rob Reinow, the marriage and family pastor at Wheaton Bible Church, just released a book called God’s Grand Vision for the Home.  You can get more information about Rob’s ministry (Visionary Parenting) here.  With both resources, you will find a much more robust theology behind the partnership between parents and church.  You will find a pretty light and worn theological foundation in Think Orange.

Fourth, having been personally familiar with the material and themes I felt like the content of the book was old and tired even though it had a bright, glossy coat of orange paint.  Philosophically, the book spends a great deal of ink focusing on the importance of the partnership between church and family.  Yet, it seemed like so little time was spent on the practics of how to make that happen.  I wanted to yell at the book, “I’m already on the bus Reggie – I already know that this partnership is absolutely critical, what happens next?!?”

Fifth, my favorite part of the book by far was the chapter on Elevating Community.  It is an absolute must read and much of the material could be used in a training session for small group leaders.  It provides a great metaphor for community.

Sixth, even though my review might seem harsh, I devoured this book like a wolf among small defenseless animals.  I enjoyed it, I just wanted more from it.  My only caveat is that there are other places to get Vitamin besides Oranges.

Why did our Cory Center team decide to go digital?  There are many reasons…

1. Our kids are becoming more and more digital and the learn digitally
2. We have a responsibility to respond to the digital age with change
3. The statistics about the amount of time kids spend interacting with media is incredible and we need to know how kids spend their time
4. Knowing about how kids spend their time helps us create tools and resources to better facilitate spiritual development
5. The amount of information on kids and technology is overwhelming and we want to provide some easy and ministry specific updates
6. Getting the updates on technology will help us better inform parents about how to interact with the kids and how to protect them as well

This blog will serve these purposes in days to come and I hope you join us on the journey!

I love stories.  In fact, I’ve been recaptured by the idea of story in the past few weeks (you can read a recent blog posting about story here).  But most recently I was captured again by story in the debate over a very popular story, Harry Potter.

I know, the debate over Harry Potter is essentially over.  However the debate comes to haunt those of us who lead children’s and family ministry because the movies are still being released.  For those keeping score at home (somehow people can only keep score at home, other places are not conducive for keeping score), there are three movies left.  This debate has a fairly polemical nature to it. The two sides (pro and con) routinely write books and fire away in articles and blogs.  But I’m less concerned about the polemic nature of the actual debate.  My brother John is.

John is a brilliant scholar who finds time to teach Logic to a group of homeschooled high school students.  One of the major assignments in the class is to participate in a formal logical debate over the issue of Harry Potter.  This debate is happening in just a few days.  Many of the books John allows kids to check out are books he stole from my library a few years ago (and btw I want those back).  I really hoped I would be able to attend the debate, but I just cannot make it.  Instead, I thought I would write a few thoughts on the power of story, the necessity for community, and the dangers of developing a Christian ethic of story.  This might sound lofty, but I hope the attached article helps you process your leadership in terms of the stories and media you are asked to weigh in on with your community of faith (be it iCarly, Hannah Montana, Twilight, Harry Potter, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and even Facebook or Twitter).  The scope of this blog posting cannot recount the data and the conclusions in one sweep, but I’m sure these will pop up from time to time as appropriate in the discussion of forming children’s and family ministry leaders in the 21st century.  Perhaps the central point is that as leaders it would be more appropriate (and Biblical) to develop an ethic of story than to just leave decisions about media solely up to individual families (and be okay with the variety of responses).

One caveat: This article was written in between breaks and during odd times in the schedule while I was in class this week.  I have not extensively edited it.  Download the article here.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite books.  Now, I think it could be my favorite game developed by the Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab.  According to the website, “Tipping Point is a cooperative puzzle game for up to four players. Players assume the roles of Project Managers, and must work together to complete projects before they go too far past their deadline. The game is won by completing a set number of projects without letting any project fail.”

I’m always looking for creative ways to train leaders.  My current go-to resource has been Wilderdom.   When I look for training resources, I’m  trying to find  ways to get people to work together and think through problems.  What’s great about the Tipping Point is that if any single player’s project fails, everyone fails.  At the end of the day, that’s a powerful truth for children’s ministry. If one team captain is rocking the house in 5th grade, but 2nd grade is sucking wind – the team has failed.  Leaders need to work together and that’s a powerful team skill to coach and develop.  I can’t wait to use this with my team captains.

The instructions were intended for children’s ministry people too – take a look at the requirements: Paper, color printer, scissors, 5 sandwich bags, and a manila envelope.

Download it here.