You take a self-wadded up piece of tissue and a coffee stir straw and have the students try to blow the tissue off of a defined space (we used a table) through the little straw.
We like having competitions (going head to head with another student). But you can also use this game to beat a clock.
We did this game in Main Street.
source YouTube
“I am NOT Patience!” Sari exclaimed.
“Not Patience. Patient.” I retorted.
There was a girl named, Patience, in the church nursery. So whenever we would ask our girls to be patient, or to wait, we would get the response: “I’m not Patience!” Macie, our youngest, had no idea what she was saying, but because she heard her sister constantly say this phrase, she would repeat it verbatim.
As a self-proclaimed child expert/observer, I love discovering and interacting with such occurrences. You see, no matter how much I tried to explain the differences, my two toddlers could not understand that one word can have multiple meanings. To them, when we would encourage “patience” they actually believed we were asking them to “be” Patience.
This interchange happened some time ago, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that my oldest, Sari, grasped the one-word, double (or multiple) meaning idea. It was fun to see the discovery in her mind.
It had to do with the word “rest.” I had asked Sari to finish the rest of her food. Then a couple of sentences later I made reference to them having to take a rest. After I said the second rest, Sari paused, made that invisible clicking sound in her head as a new connection was made, and she turned to me and smiled. I said: “You just figured out that one word can mean two different things, didn’t you?” Without missing a beat, she said: “Yep. Rest means going to sleep. And rest could be eating what’s leftover of your food on your plate.” I smiled again, and gave her a high-five. “Good job, Sari.”
Priceless.
Galileo was our special guest @ Main Street a couple of years ago and he shared about his experience doing the opposite (having a different theory of geocentrism than the leading minds of the day). He connects and relates his experience with what Jesus experienced, particularly in Jesus’ message entitled: “The Sermon on the Mount.”
source Vimeo
The students in Main Street learned that the main point of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was (and is): “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near…” 180 degree turnaround. Do virtually the opposite of what we would humanly (or in our flesh) want to do.
We reviewed the four categories of people Jesus encountered in the world of his day: Pharisees, Saduccees, Essenes, and Zealots. In his sermon, Jesus directly confronted these various groups and made most people very uncomfortable!
Story Lesson (320.02kb, pdf)
Audio File (12.5mb, mp3)
Video Link (@ vimeo.com | 10.2.11)
Video Link (@ vimeo.com | 10.5.08)
There’s a good conversation going on in the comments in the link below if you are interested. Take a look!
via Churchm.ag
The Internet (aka Google) has brought us a treasure here recently. They have digitized the Dead Sea Scrolls and made them available and searchable online:
It’s taken 24 centuries, the work of archaeologists, scholars and historians, and the advent of the Internet to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to anyone in the world. Today, as the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, we’re celebrating the launch of the Dead Sea Scrolls online; a project of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem powered by Google technology.
Written between the third and first centuries BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. In 68 BCE, they were hidden in 11 caves in the Judean desert on the shores of the Dead Sea to protect them from the approaching Roman armies. They weren’t discovered again until 1947, when a Bedouin shepherd threw a rock in a cave and realized something was inside. Since 1965, the scrolls have been on exhibit at the Shrine of the Book at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Among other topics, the scrolls offer critical insights into life and religion in ancient Jerusalem, including the birth of Christianity.
Now, anyone around the world can view, read and interact with five digitized Dead Sea Scrolls. The high resolution photographs, taken by Ardon Bar-Hama, are up to 1,200 megapixels, almost 200 times more than the average consumer camera, so viewers can see even the most minute details in the parchment. For example, zoom in on the Temple Scroll to get a feel for the animal skin it’s written on—only one-tenth of a millimeter thick.
Historical documents are no longer limited to only one physical location. Technology can give us the ability to replicate and distribute these treasures in truly universally accessible ways. Amazing.
HT Engadget
via Official Google Blog
source Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
Recently someone made a comment to me about flying on a plane: “Don’t get on the plane if there is an Arab onboard.” This comment initially bothered me, and still bothers me. Maybe because I know how prejudiced it is as well as ignorant. I find it frustrating that we (Americans) seem to have marginalized and blamed an entire people group (Muslims) on the basis and actions of 19 people who did a horrific act on 9-11-01. Granted, I realize that these 19 men had an organization behind them, and the attacks against civilians and innocent lives was atrocious.
Still, I find it ridiculous and wrong to subjugate any and all Muslims to this terrible, terrorist group.
As a Christian (a follower of Jesus), I don’t want to be associated the likes of fundamentalist, militant Christianity, either, but our seemingly American tendency is to lump a whole continuum of people into one ideology (however extreme the edges might be). There are people who follow Jesus who are hopeful of an end to religious extremism and anticipate a day when we all as humans learn to respect and appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of each person, people group, culture, ethnicity, and country of origin.
I think Jesus called this the “kingdom of heaven” in Matthew.
Just so you, there were many different nationalities present on my recent flight on 9-11-11. And it was a smooth and uneventful flight.
It’s been brought to my attention recently that I’m getting stuck in my ways (patterns, thinking, etc.). I have 8+ years of full-time experience, I know what I am doing. I don’t need to read or listen to what other people are doing. I still experiment and try new things, but only to the comfort level I deem is comfortable for me. Part of it is I am managing my time and ability to pull off various things or initiatives. But that’s no excuse.
With our introduction and proliferation of small group ministry in the middle school youth environment, I’ve been seeking wisdom because “I didn’t know.” I pulled youth ministry text books off my shelf, dusted them off, and started re-reading them. Woah! What I critiqued and shelved years ago are still relevant and true today (seemingly more relevant now for me than it was years ago). I’m learning that they “experience” I have helps me learn more because there’s more raw material to work with. It’s like I’m re-learning youth ministry all over again. It’s humbling because I should know this stuff and be on the road to mastering it, right?! I need to always be learning…
During Followers 2010-2011, the students interacted with phrases, verses and Bible stories. On the last day of Followers, we had the students write down some practical applications of actually practicing these principles in real life. This series “Quotes from kids” will share what the kids wrote:
Say it Phrase: Angry words can cause a big fight, so choose kind words and treat your family right.
Say it Verse: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1
Quotes:
I’m not a planner by nature. I have always enjoyed flying by the seat of my pants in my life and thrilled with the twists and turns life brings. To me, it makes living exciting.
In youth and children’s ministry, however, I have found that planning is vital and flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t communicate anything to your parents or allow your volunteers to minister alongside of you with children and youth. Planning is important.
I have found that planning out the upcoming ministry year frees me up to engage and pastor more effectively than if I just made it up as I went along.
With that said, this is how I have planned and prepared for youth and children’s ministry @ Hayward Wesleyan Church this year (2011-2012):
Calendaring
I print out a 13 month calendar (one month per page) from August to August. I get a copy of the upcoming school district’s calendar, sports activities that are relevant to the arena of ministry I engage in (soccer, football, hockey, basketball, skiing, track, etc), list of major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc), main church events calendar, and list of my personal family calendar, and I litter the 13 month calendar with all of these preset dates. Then I set our weekly Sunday morning children’s ministry called Main Street on the calendar, then the Followers every other Monday schedule on the calendar, then the dates for Middle School Youth every Wednesday evening. I then start to plan events for Followers and Middle School Youth. I try to make sure that there is a rhythm to the routine and events for me personally, as well as the students and their scattered schedules. It’s tough, but in a smaller community like Hayward where there is only one school district this is doable (I don’t know what ministry planning would look like in an area with multiple school districts and a huge random sports schedule). I run it by my wife, then set it in semi-stone for the year.
Curriculum
I love choosing and thinking through curriculum choices. This is the meat of what the students will engage and interact with throughout the year.
For Followers, at least for the first half of the year, we are using an Elevate curriculum called: “Upside Down Town.” The focus is on living our lives as Followers of Jesus in this world. It’s simple and memorable. We aren’t using the entire program, just the Skit video and the Story video. So during the 35 minute teaching time the students sit in gender and grade specific groups with a leader and we start with any announcements or event videos and we set up the “lesson” with the Main Point and the Verse. Then we show them the Skit video, after which the leaders and the students engage in an activity with their group, during which the Main Point is reinforced. Then we show them the Story video, after which the leaders do a short review with the students and pray with them. Done. Simple.
The second half of the curriculum for Followers will be a LifeChurch.tv curriculum called “The Book in the Attic” which is a 2-part, 8-week series on the entire Bible (part 1 = OT and part 2 = NT). Format will be similar in nature.
For Main Street, the curriculum in Year 3 of our 3-Year chronological journey through the Bible is focused on the life, teachings, and vindication of Jesus as well as the story of the church in Acts. This year we decided to alternate each week with songs and games. Over the summer we didn’t sing any songs at the beginning. Instead we played various upfront games (kind of like youth group kind of games). The students loved it! And instead of just adding that piece in to an already crowded programming set on Sunday morning during our Main Street time, we decided to alternate between music and game each week. It’s been working really well so far!
For Middle School Youth, the curriculum has been amazing so far! The previous year, I did all of the teaching personally each week. This year I wanted to use some curriculum to lighten the load for some other initiatives I wanted to engage in. I bought a school year’s worth of small group curriculum from Simply Youth Ministry that is particularly geared for middle school students (seven 5-week series). We set the chairs in our program room into multiple horseshoes with a chair at the head for the leader. We play an upfront game, communicate any announcements, and then head into the teaching time, which consists of: a 3-4 minute video, after which the leaders engage and interact with their group with 4 questions. Then we watch another 3-4 minute video, and the leaders do another 3-4 questions with the group. Then I’ll go up and sort of encapsulate and review what they learned and pray. We then dismiss and play some sort of dodgeball game for a while and then have snacks and then send them home. Simple and very effective!
Leaders
The leaders I have engaging and interacting with the students this year are phenomenal. Almost all of them have been serving with me for many years and have a lot to share. In an environment like this any new or unseasoned volunteers get seasoned and up to speed very quickly. It’s been great. These leaders are all very consistent and reliable, not the least which all of these leaders become really good friends of mine, regardless of age or stage of life.
Database
We recently made a change in the database that manages all of the names, information, program schedules, check-in, event registration, and email communication. We’ve finally moved into the cloud! What this new database gives us the capability to do is:
This change really made the month of August and start of programs in September and database crossover, tricky and busy. It’s mostly running well right now, with most of the glitches worked out. There is more the database is capable of doing, but we’ll learn those as we have the time.
Contact me if you want to know what database program we are using.
Conclusion
There are many miscellaneous things that need to be planned for as well that don’t make a general category list like the ones above. I updated some of our video projection capabilities in our Main Street Theatre program room. Also, our playground needed to be finalized with weed bed fabric and wood chips. Our website gets fresh coat of paint and some refreshing and updating of content for the new ministry year (I don’t want that to get stale).
Planning doesn’t mean that I get to sit back and relax for the rest of the ministry year. Planning frees me up to be a pastor to families, develop and plan new initiatives (like middle school small groups, and family small groups), and significant time to study and stay current on youth culture, Biblical studies, leadership development, and peer encouragement.
Any ways in which you plan?
After over a year of writing, posting, image searching, linking, blood, sweat and tears, jeremymavis.com has made the kidmin world’s Top 100 Children’s Ministry Blogs (as ranked by ministry-to-children.com).
Whew! I would like to thank my two daughters and the children and youth @ Hayward Wesleyan Church who provide fodder for my online musings. Also, my wife, Amanda, who puts up with me on the computer at home posting on the blog as well as me talking about what I posted on the blog. And myself, for those countless hours of pecking the right keys on the keyboard into cohesive words and sentences that other people might find useful to read for a few seconds.
Let’s see, what should be my next goal? Maybe go from #76 to the Top 20… hmmm…