KidMin Backstage

I'm joined by my daughter, Aneisha and Pastor's daughter, Shaylee. In our Sunday school we have been blessed to have a whole backstage area.  In the past we had a mobile Sunday school where we had to set up every Saturday night and then take down every Sunday after Sunday school. Then we had more of a permanent space up here where we are now before the building was finished for a few yea...

Just a little preview...

Sunday school leaders must take responsibility. When someone is quote, in charge, of something and they don’t feel responsible for the outcome, it will most likely fail.  President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that stated, “The Buck Stops Here”. This comes from the idea of passing the buck, not admitting that it’s up to me. What a blessing we can be to our Pastor if we take the attitude tha...

It's an idea session! In our Sunday school we almost always have a theme.  Now some people use the word theme, and they are referring to lesson content-we call that a topic. To clarify; theme for us means a type of environment. An army theme for example would have some kind of barracks or headquarters, maybe a forest and army costumes & props.  So, along with our themes we typically have...

Just a quick clip of this Friday's upcoming episode!

We should always be looking to better ourselves and to make our team better.  Every year I go to the Children’s Ministry Conference in Redlands, CA and I bring some of our team. This is an awesome 2-day conference, and the teachers are great.  We’ve been talking about starting an in-house training and the time is upon us. I have a general outlook and even some specific topics that I want our staff...

Sorry Brennen! Just a quick bonus post with some clips from the Training Ideas episode. COMING OUT THIS FRIDAY!

Public speaking is considered to be one of the greatest fears. Many people say they would never speak in front of an audience. I have found, from my own personal experience and from bringing on many people into Sunday school, that even speaking in front of and to kids can be frightening. I have been "performing" on stage in various capacities for several years now, but I still get nervou...

We all know about New Year’s Resolutions and what a bad rap they have. And while I still fall guilty of making a few myself-and failing with few as well-this time of year does set the tone for reflection and reevaluating.  So, in the context of new accomplishments and fresh goals, let’s talk about a few ideas to kick-off 2024.  There are many different methods of setting goals, monitoring mileston...

Today I'm joined by Evangelist, Bryan Critcher. We talk about championing your Pastor's vision. Many of us are Sunday school leaders and we control the direction of the Sunday school department or team etc. Here at our Sunday school, we’re given a lot of freedom to be creative and move the ministry forward. I believe that it is our responsibility as leaders of any, quote; “ministry” to n...

Today Bro. Brent & I create a new Sunday school character! Character is what drives story. In our Sunday school we’re heavy on stories, characters and themes. What a lot of the kids remember is our quote; famous, characters. Bro. Keech & I did a podcast recently talking about some of our iconic characters, characters that transcend themes. Characters like, Captain John, Sammy, Ruth Less, a...

We have a lot of great staff in our Sunday school. When various people see pictures from our Sunday school. I’m often asked, “How do you have so many guys in your Sunday school?”  On any given Sunday we have 10 staff, but our total staff is around 30 people. We rotate the staff, and the driver is often the characters of our theme storyline or, if we’re doing a series in the Bible story, we try to...

The making of a Bad Guy! Today I'm joined by Bro. Keech; our resident "Bad Guy". We use stories throughout our Sunday School. We have themes and our themes typically have an ongoing storyline. We run roughly 16 weeks in a theme and through that theme we have several characters that are “staples” in the story or the foundation upon which the story is built. Every story needs a protag...

Do Sunday School the RIGHT way! There are many different ways to do Sunday school. And while there may be wrong ways to do it, there’s no single right way. We have a certain style and way we run Sunday school and we’ve experimented with a few other ideas, but what we do is what seems to be working for us. On this podcast we don’t proclaim to have it all figured out or to be the, quote “best”-we’ll...

Navy Seals don't dip their toe in the water! Have you ever gone swimming and you want to know how the water feels before you dive in? Or maybe you’re one of those that slowly wades in an inch at a time. When it comes to Sunday school, we like to encourage our staff to take the plunge, to jump in with both feet. We want to be as “perfect” as we can in our Sunday school, but it’s far better for...

Getting kids to connect with God. Today I'm joined by Bro. Aaron and we talk about engaging kids in worship. We have a lot of fun in our Sunday school. And by, “we”, I mean the staff. But even with the kids, we have fully costumed characters, bigger than life sets and interactive stories. And then there’s a whole lot of comedy and just plain silliness that goes on. The kids absolutely love an...

You have to be attractive to work in kids ministry! Not really-if that were the case, many of us would be disqualified. We borrowed the U.G.L.Y. acronym from Christian comedian, Jonathan Slocumb; he says, U.G.L.Y. stands for, U Gotta Love Yo'self! Today we're talking about teamwork. A few of the things we try to cover: Why have a team in the first place? How big is your vision? Having a...

GETTING THINGS DONE! Many of us in Sunday schools across the nation have original thoughts, but because we don’t execute no one knows about them. The failure to execute stifles the production of Apostolic materials. Apostolics should be leading the charge in Sunday school content. We often feel that we’re not good enough or we think we’re being-quote-humble and we don’t take the initiative.  Today...

What a character! Today Steve & I discuss characters and “getting into character”. We use stories very heavily in our Sunday school and characters are a major part of any story.   A few things we try to cover…   -How characters can reinforce the story -Kids love characters and characters keep their attention -A few different types of characters:      -Bible Characters      -Theme Characters  ...

Kids on stage is a great way to engage. Today Brent and I talk about making Sunday school more than a “classroom”. We want kids to be surrounded by the stories and for them to even be involved in the stories.   A few of the things we try to cover… -Sunday school can be a theater instead of a classroom -If kids can DO something when they’re in Sunday School, they’ll come back -Ways to engage kids -...

Are you creative?! (Because you "must" be creative to be in kids ministry) Today Bro. Aaron & I discuss the subject of creativity. What is it and how do you get it? Many people don’t think they’re creative at all and wonder why they didn’t get “blessed” with creativity. We argue that creativity is within your reach, and here’s how.   A few things we try to cover…  Don’t use your ‘lac...

Welcome to Kids Ministry! Today I’m joined by Brennen, and we’re talking about themes.   We talk about going all out with your theme, from theme-stories and set design to special effects and costumes.   A few things we try to cover: What is a theme? Ongoing storyline  Interactive set designs Special effects Costumes 

Welcome to Kids Ministry! Today I'm joined by Steve and we talk about sustainability - not going green. We discuss ways to keep our Sunday school ministry moving forward and how to maintain an edge.  Here are a few of the items we tried to cover: Consistent format Your personal walk with God Building a bench - training the next generation Standardize Don't forget the older ones

Welcome to our debut episode! This is your backstage pass to kids ministry. Today Aaron and I talk about creating a Bible story to be acted out on stage in Sunday school. This episode is really a peek behind the scenes as we brainstorm and come up with some ideas for Joseph in the jail with the butler and baker.  A few points we attempt to cover: Bible stories for the sake of just knowing the stor...