Serving on a local church staff, speaking at training workshops, and working at “all things little people,” I am constantly asked, “What do you read?” These are the blogs I read regularly no matter what else comes into my email inbox and a new fun find:

http://bookstore.peacemaker.net/blog/  Route 5:9 offers weekly insight on dealing with conflict within the church and in the world.  Reading this blog can turn my heart and mind on a dime.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog   Seth Godin’s blog is a daily snippet of thoughts ranging from organizational bullying (awesome stuff on the bully-target cycle), organizational tribes, the way people operate when they have a seat at the table, and communication challenges.  Plus the blogs are very short which I like a lot.

http://www.relevantchildrensministry.com/   Good stuff by Dale Hudson on effectively sharing Jesus with today’s children and families.  He puts stuff out there that I can use this Sunday.  He shared his list of questions asked of parents at his last parent summit by my sending him an email and he responded that same day.  Accessible and helpful so that we don’t always have to reinvent the wheel.  That way I am able to save my limited creativity for other things.

http://theinclusivechurch.wordpress.com    Amy Fenton Lee is an Atlantan who challenges churches to intentionally meet the needs of families of children with differences.  As a long-time preschool teacher, I love how she offers ideas and shares how other local churches across the country are answering the call to share Christ with those who don’t look and act like us. This is especially helpful in offering multi-sensory experiences for little people.

http://flamecreativekids.blogspot.com/   This blog gives ideas of making holy things from junk.  Visual and so much fun.  Great stuff on prayer.

http://www.whenyourise.com/2012/01/teaching-your-child-to-pray-seven.html   This blog is my new fun find.  It led me to a 21-day Warrior Prayer Challenge for Boys that will kickoff nationally in May and a 31-days of Prayer for Our Daughters ebook downloads.  With WC’s KidMin prayer focus as we “Let the Spirit of God grow in us,” I’m thinking we have ourselves the prayer themes for May and June.

And I can’t say enough good things about Pinterest!  This visual girl now has online bulleint boards and file folders specifically for KidMin that I can draw from at my fingertips instead of digging through boxes.

The friends I follow who blog outside of KidMin interests are Pat Dunbar at http://barefootpreachr.org/  and Lynn Watts at http://www.lynnewatts.blogspot.com.  Both are inspirational, beautiful women of faith who are in the business of writing, sharing, preaching, encouraging, educating.  I just adore them both personally and professionally.

What’s the stuff you read regularly?

Prayer Rocks!

1st Sunday: Jacob’s prayer pillow…see the previous post, Part 1.  (Genesis 28:11-22)

2nd Sunday: Samuel’s Ebenezer Stone…when a “rock” is removed from it’s natural state and used for another purpose, it’s name changes to a “stone.” Idea: Our prayers remind us that “God has been good to us so far, and He will be good us going forward.”  (1 Samuel 7:12)

This week we introduced “Rocks & Socks,” and began collecting socks for the local homeless shelter.  Idea:  Because God has been good to us so far, we can be good to others by donating socks for the months of January and February.

3rd Sunday: David’s 5 smooth stones…”Go with what you know and not with how you feel. For the battle is the Lord’s”  (1 Samuel 17:49)

4th Sunday:  The stone was rolled away from Jesus’ tomb to let His disciples in to see that He had risen.  The scriptures tell us that Peter and John ran to the grave when they heard Jesus had risen from the women who came to visit the grave.  John makes sure to tell us that he outran Peter (which just makes me chuckle.)  Once they got to the tomb, Peter runs in and checks things out.  John chooses to stand at the entrance.  John then sees that the cloth that had wrapped Jesus’ body was folded and left in place.  You know, I can tell who folded the towels at my house.  I roll them.  #1 Son folds them in half.  Baby Girl folds them into thirds.  I wonder if John knew it had to be Jesus by the way the cloth was folded?  They did spend a whole lot of time together.  That’s what good friends do.  Idea:  We want to know Jesus so well that we can see and know where He is and where He has been.  (John 20:2-5)

As per some KidMin friends, I’m posting the series of Children’s Moment Messages for Sunday Mornings at WC.

Background:  The theme for 2012 is based on 1 Corinthians 3:16.  The children’s focus will be to “let the Spirit of God grow in you… through prayer.”  Each month has a different prayer focus.  January’s is “Prayer Rocks!”

Growing up with 4 brothers in south Florida and South Louisiana, rocks and sticks were the toys most prevalent. Rocks are spoken of often in the scriptures. We’ll be using them as reminders that “Prayer Rocks!” this month at WC as we embark on this new year of “Letting the Spirit of God grow in me,” from 1 Corinthians 3:16.

In the book of Genesis, there is a story of a man named Jacob. Jacob was on his way to begin a new season in his life. But, he had some serious problems. After a long day’s journey, he used a big rock for his pillow. While Jacob was sleeping, he had a dream. He dreamed about a ladder that went all the way up to heaven.  Angels were coming up and down the ladder. God was at the top of the ladder and he spoke to Jacob. The Lord told Jacob that He (the LORD) would always be with him (Jacob) as the LORD was with his father, Isaac, and his father, Abraham, before him.

When Jacob woke up he knew he was in a special place. He took the rock that was lying flat on the ground as his pillow and stood it up on end like a pillar. He also poured oil over the rock to honor God.  

Do you have a special place to talk to God?

God talks to us through the Bible.  Did you know that you can talk to God anywhere and He will listen?

It’s good to choose a special place to pray because doing this can help us to remember to pray more.  God wants us to talk to Him everyday.  I brought a rock for each of you to remind you to talk to God everyday.  You can set it in a special place.  You might set it on your sink while you brush your teeth.  You might set it on your bedside table to see before you go to bed at night and when you wake up in the morning.

When you see it, you can pray to God.

Sometimes it is hard to start a conversation with God, especially if you just woke up.  You can use the alphabet to help you get you going.

Thank you God for ALWAYS being with me.

Help me, God, to BE kind to my little sister.

Show me, God, how to CARE for my pets without being asked.

Thank you, God, for all you DO for me and my family.

Letting the Spirit of God grow in me through prayer will help me be more like Jesus.

Prayer Rocks!