Each January we gather for a pasta dinner as a leadership team before the first Sunday of the year. We met at Olive Garden last year, but our team continues to grow so we met at a team member’s home this year. We picked up fabulous take-out of meat lasagna and spinach tortellini with all the yummy bread and salad from a local Italian restaurant so we could easily move around, chat, share holiday news, and enjoy each other’s company.

To open our leadership conversation, I passed out several index cards, the 2020 Super Summer Sunday idea list, and the five major celebrations of the previous year to toot our horn about. We invited everyone to write on the index cards any thought, idea, or suggestion which came to mind to turn in at the end of the evening. Included on the celebrations sheet were our planned and scheduled experiences designated as Meat, Milestones, Mountain Top Experiences, and Marvelous Moments for McEachern Kids.

Conversations…
– 5 major 2019 celebrations (toot their horns) See last week’s blogpost
– June through August Summer special Sunday brainstorming (why?)
– Idea of a monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly thirty-minute Children’s Ministry Open House immediately following the last Sunday service to enthusiastically introduce how we can join in a family’s quest to grow closer to Jesus AND offer a tour of our environments, spaces, and routines.
– Idea of a Summer Book Club for K5-3rd grade (index cards came in with book suggestions and people to talk to)
– Ideas of more inter-generational opportunities (index cards came in with suggestions and people to talk to)
– 2020 Family Christmas event
– Ideas for topics for Parenting With A Purpose classes

The stack of handwritten index cards were filled with ideas, drawings, dreams, and requests to get together soon to discuss further. I read them over tea the next morning and I couldn’t quit smiling. I share life with the most amazing Jesus disciples.

Next Monday I’ll be making a bunch of phone calls to reserve foam pits and Ice Cream trucks. Now I’m ready for the Family Ministry team meeting next Tuesday to calendar the summer and much of the fall with room reservations and online registration forms ready in February. Wednesday and Thursday we will gather images and map out the communications plans for the year for those Marvelous Moments especially.

How do you get to brainstorm and celebrate all of your children’s ministry team’s pasta-bilities?

“They gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” Acts 14:27

Sunday comes every seven days and now that Christmas has been a huge success, it’s time to think about Easter. Let me stop you right there inviting you to take thirty minutes to do two things:
1. Write down five major accomplishments and successes of the last year to report anywhere you can, and
2. Write down five resolutions – lenses through which you’ll look in the year to come.

First, the five major accomplishments/successes of 2019…for me?
1. Parenting With A Purpose Classes for parents and grandparents as we walk into the challenges we face to lead our littles to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength AND love our neighbors as ourselves.
2. Initiated a God & Me and God & Family program for 1st-5th graders to share with their parents who will be recognized on 2020 Scout Sunday in service with brunch.
3. Began an exclusive monthly experience for 3rd-5th graders in play, Bible study, and service we call CLUB345.
4. Offering three Christian education and relationship building, developmentally appropriate experiences for 11am service: K5 & 1st grade Children’s Church, 2nd & 3rd grade Bible Black Belts, 4th & 5th grade Well-Versed Kids deep diving into the Holy Habit of journaling.
5. The incredibly committed leaders who faithfully prepare and execute these experiences and more. I’m surrounded by the most amazing team of Jesus guys and gals! Our team is built not on tasks to be accomplished, but friendships to be made.

Second, the five areas of resolve as my responsibility as a leader in 2020…for me?
1. Jesus every time, every Sunday, all the time.
2. Get trained in community. Attending a training/conference on my own only helps me. But in community, the partnership is plentiful, the brainstorming is relevant, and the implementation is shared so to equip my church and other churches through shared events. #bettertogether
3. Remain in upgrade mode, tossing or passing along what we can not use from the closets, and asking more questions than making statements in every conversation.
4. Stay in the word: The Bible. A regular diet of God’s word lets me know His voice when it’s time to shoot a cannonball or eat a frog. Bible Reading is the holy habit that reminds me He is who He says He is, and I am who He says I am.
5. Offer developmentally appropriate experiences which are sticky where children and families can build relationships with Jesus and one another straight-up…not a stretch…not an afterthought…not just a goal, but the purpose.

Ministry Architects calls this exercise ‘balcony time.’ “In balcony time, we step out of the wild, rushing current of doing ministry and step into a place where we actually work on our ministries. It is in the balcony that we gain the perspective to work on our ministries, not just in them. In the balcony, we find the leverage to move our ministries forward; it’s in the balcony that we learn to say no to secondary priorities in order to attend to the most essential ones.”

Can you schedule some balcony time before you start a new year in ministry?

“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8

On Monday, January 6, 2020 I will begin facilitating a new Facebook Bible study reading through the gospels. The following blog was originally posted November 10, 2015 and gives the basis for this journey. If you’d like to be part of the new group, ask to join the private Facebook group here. 

When my Uncle John passed away 27 years ago, he shared in a recording for his family of wisdom and several life regrets. As a professing Christian, one of his major regrets of his life was not reading the Bible all the way through. In two weeks, 10 days to be specific, I will complete a journey that started on January 1, 2011: Reading through the Bible…in community. The community was within a closed Facebook group.

Our senior pastor sets a scripture to give clarity and a focus for our local church for the upcoming new year. On Christmas Eve 2010, He called us to ‘Let the Spirit of God grow in you’ for 2011. Seemed easy enough: be a part of a Bible study.

But I had some challenges:
1. I lived 50 minutes away from the church
2. I was on staff, so I could be seen as an ‘authority’, though FAR from it
3. Most of the congregation commuted to downtown Atlanta for work and had little time to carve out one more thing like a typical Bible study
4. I had just started at this church, so I had no real credibility in being part of a discipleship program…these folks didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat

So I opened a closed Facebook group to begin early January. The parameters were…
1. We’d promote it in the church and on Facebook
2. Starting in Matthew, we’d follow a reading plan, reading one chapter in the New Testament, in order, each day
3. We’d post our train of thought in a comment each day, though we’d take weekends and holidays off
4. The first one to post started with a comment (January 6: Matthew 1: ‘comment’) and others would add their comments to the comment stream.

We started with five commenters/members. We found after we read the New Testament that we wanted to continue, but with adjusted parameters:
1. Read one chapter each day beginning in Psalms and through Proverbs, taking the weekends and holidays off
2. Periodically promote it in the bulletin and on Facebook allowing others to join if one of the originating members knew them.
3. We’d keep on reading, keep on commenting, and if a fellow sojourner wanted to join in who was known by a member of the group, we’d add them

After finishing the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, we completed the first year. But found we wanted to continue this holy habit, this new spiritual discipline. So come January 2012, we started the Old Testament, one chapter each day, taking the weekends and holidays off. The first to comment started the stream for that day.

Today, we have thirty members, but typically have only three to five comment, or ‘like’, or view. We have members from all over the country and include both men and women. Members have come in and out in comment activity. Each one perhaps not able to carve hours out of their daily schedule to gather together and study the Bible in a typical way. Rather, we have dedicated to start out each morning with reading one chapter each day and commenting what is on our hearts and minds, a simple prayer, keeping it clean of dis-unifying rants, and just sharing in our pajamas or work suits and over a cup of coffee or tea or Diet Coke.

The accountability has been fantastic. The habit has been transforming. There are now a few folks who know ALL the colors of my rainbow through the lens of scripture…and I remember a whole lot more of what I’ve read. For goodness sakes, just when I thought obeying God couldn’t get any more difficult, I read in Isaiah 20 that God asked Isaiah to go around stripped and barefoot for 3 years….naked and barefoot for 3 years! And Isaiah did it! I don’t know how I missed that before.

We’ve decided to continue on through the New Testament again in two weeks. For just about everyone, they accomplished something rare, especially for Christians….American Christians: They read the whole Bible through.

Have you?

“The most frequent excuse for not growing in our spiritual lives is lack of time. Most of us live at the mercy of our schedule, instead of planning ahead and arranging our schedule around our apprenticeship to Jesus.” Rev James Bryan Smith, from The Good And Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ

Devotionals for children to partner with daily Bible Reading are difficult to find for middle to upper elementary students and I love everything about Breakfast With Jesus: 100 Devotions For Kids About the Life of Jesus. Vanessa Myers is a children’s ministry colleague from North Georgia. She’s a wife, mother of two amazing girls, soccer mom, Georgia Tech fan and Duke University alumni, and fabulous Children’s Pastor at Dahlonega First United Methodist Church. This is her second book and she knocked it out of the park.

Breakfast With Jesus: 100 Devotions for Kids About the Life of Jesus walks through the four gospels providing 100 short, kid-friendly devotionals. Vanessa chose the perfect colors, a fun layout, elementary-sized words which point children to Jesus. Inside are kid-friendly breakfast recipes and sticky situations sprinkled throughout. Want that long-lost sausage ball recipe? She’s got it! Vanessa presents Jesus as a kid’s friend and how they (we) can become more like Jesus today!

Each devotion offers scripture, a conversational teaching story about Jesus, closing in a prayer and a “Follow Me” challenge for the day. This is all developmentally appropriate for middle to upper elementary to read on their own or an early elementary student to be read to. This devotional is also one which can be repeated because it clearly lives in a kid’s world with situations and suggestions to apply to every day. I ordered multiple copies for some special Oregon grands and their friends for Christmas knowing it was ready for shipping on December 16.

As the New Year is here, holy habits start anew. Daily Bible reading is a holy habit that we share with the Christian saints of the past and faithful disciples of today. A devotional is a great way to partner with daily Bible reading which we know is the #1 spiritual activity that makes the greatest impact on a child’s life as a follower of Jesus to remain a follower of Jesus throughout the rest of their lives. (Lifeway, Nothing Less: Engaging Kids In A Lifetime of Faith, Jana Magruder, 2017, pg. 53) 

Want a free copy of Breakfast With Jesus? Tag a children’s ministry champion or parent friend who could use this fabulous resource with their children on this Facebook or Instagram post. Every friend tagged counts as a separate entry. On Friday, December 27, I’ll announce the winner and Vanessa will send to you your very own personal copy of this wonderful book.

The next stop on the Breakfast With Jesus blog tour is Dec. 30 with Stacey Shannon at www.familieswithgrace.com. I’m off to get those sausage balls ready for Christmas morning. Merry Christmas!

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of hte disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ they knew it was the Lord.” John 21:12

Congratulations Kate Morris, Family Ministry Director serving Acworth United Methodist Church located in Acworth, Georgia will be receiving her own personal copy of Breakfast with Jesus!

This week’s guest blogger is Hannah Harwood, Director of Children’s Ministries serving the families of Sam Jones United Methodist Church in Cartersville, Georgia, a suburb of the Greater Atlanta area.

I love out of the box events. My absolute favorite events are when families are invited to gather in community to do something out of the ordinary. I have been at Sam Jones United Methodist Church for little over two years. My first event was actually our Happy Birthday Jesus party when we all went together to see The Star and packed out a movie theater. The next Christmas, we gathered together and made Gingerbread nativities. I was so excited to find The Manger Project for this year.  This event by Dema Kohen was a perfect fit for our church community.

First, I ordered the blueprints and contacted our Building and Grounds Supervisor who is always game for an adventure project. He took the blueprint and purchased enough wood to make thirty kits for thirty families. He packaged the thirty kits into VBS crew bags and included a sandwich bag of the needed nails.

I also contacted a church member who works for Home Depot and asked for donations of their child-size work aprons. I looked into my box of safety goggles for another event and put those to the side as well. Because it would be a very loud event, I also created a sensory friendly room.

In our sensory-friendly room, I purchased Advent posters from Illustrated Ministry and several easy crafts from Hobby Lobby. I set up that room with the posters and lots of brand new colored pencils. New pencils are a source of so much joy!

We have an amazing preschool at our church. We made sure and not only invited our church families, but our preschool families as well.

We intentionally set up fifteen tables in the main room and decorated using plastic tablecloths. We set up all the kits on a long table and displayed the aprons, safety goggles, and extra hammers. Each family was invited to bring their own hammer. For food, each family brought their favorite Christmas snack and we set up a fun hot chocolate bar.

As people arrived, they were encouraged to color a banner and put their food items on the table. It was so fun to see all the families color together and even our Pastor joined in on the fun. Once everyone arrived, we invited each family to pick a table so that two families shared a table. So many of the parents met new friends. Our carpenter explained each part step by step. Next, came the Carol of the Hammers. Be prepared to take lots of pictures as it was so much fun to see each family work together and take turns building their manger. Even the littlest ones got to take a turn hammering. After we finished the project and wrote the date with sharpies, it was time for food and fellowship. The entire event lasted around an hour and a half which was perfect for our families’ busy schedules. Now… what adventure should we go on next year?

Hannah Harwood is a wife, mom, and loves her coffee. Hannah can be contacted by emailing hharwood@samjonesumc.org.

“and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Luke 2:7

Jesus, children, grandchildren, and tea are four of my very favorite things. Sally Clarkson’s new devotional, Mom Heart Moments: Daily Devotions for Life-giving Motherhood speaks of all four with great encouragement and raw emotion.

I typically don’t use a devotional as part of my daily quiet time, but rather read the scriptures, journal, and pray using prayer books to guide me. I feel my prayer vocabulary is limited. Prayer can make things happen that won’t without it. Prayer can make things not happen that could happen without it, as well. For almost twenty years, I’ve used Stormie Omartian’s Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Parent each day to pray specifically for my husband and my children, now my grandchildren. It’s organized into thirty chapters with very specific prayers for various areas of my people’s life. It helps me to go beyond, ‘Fix them, Lord,’ or ‘I lift up…..” Thirty days, one for each day of the month.

Several years ago, I also began using Susanna Wright’s new edition of John Baillie’s A Diary of Private Prayer. The prayers are organized by morning and evening with special prayers for Sundays. Anybody else need special prayers for Sundays? A Diary of Private Prayer was originally published in 1936. There’s something to be said for being guided by the prayers of the saints, the dutiful, and those who totally understood conflict, hope, and change.

Anyway, Sally Clarkson is on the grandmother side of life. She raised four children, and moved around the world with her husband. Her books include titles such as The Mission of Motherhood, The Ministry of Motherhood, Season’s of a Mother’s Heart, just to name a few. My first Sally Clarkson book was the fabulous Life-Giving Home: Creating A Place for Belonging and Becoming which is all about providing the sacred space, faith-filled traditions, and an environment of hope and love for your family in your home.

My daughter just finished Different: The Story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him which Sally wrote with her son, Nathan. From early childhood, Nathan was bursting with uncontainable energy and diagnosed with anxiety and OCD. Bravely choosing to listen to her motherly intuition, Sally dared to believe that Nathan’s differences could be part of an intentional design from a loving Creator with a plan for his life. Sally has spent some devotional-prayer time on behalf of her son and both she and Nathan share their stories. No Stepford children here…no Stepford mama, either. She’s got some scars and she’s had some amazing celebrations.

Today, Mom Heart Moments begins with Isaiah 40:11, then jumps right into, Somewhere along the way, I decided to put the load of guilt from all the ways I had failed into the file drawers of heaven and mark forgiven over them. (pg. 346). Yesterday, the short devotion included her admission to being overwhelmed because I felt trapped and wondered if I would truly make it through the rest of the years of my children being at home…..DON’T STAY THERE! MOVE ON! The day before she spoke of of an annual Christmas tea when she and her daughters would also invite two or three women or girls who didn’t have family or friends in town, or who we thought might need some special encouragement.

This devotional is where I’m at. One day recalling a memory of great joy, another day wondering if I can remain strong with a holy energy on those ministry marathon days.
As you begin to consider how you want the new year to begin, perhaps a new devotional, a new prayer book, or the start of a new holy habit might be just the thing to jump-start the weary. I decided not to wait until January.

What do you use to guide your daily devotional time?

Parenting Relationships and Friendships is a class offered through a Parenting with a Purpose initiative which has been in my heart and mind for several years. The goal is to offer a 90-minute class filled with stories, laughter, sacred conversations, and tools to grow in our relationships within our families, our community, and with Jesus. Information about prior classes can be found here.

Healthy and effective communication skills was the focus of Parenting Relationships and Friendships. We have a counseling center on campus led by an associate pastor and several counselors. They are the first responders of our local church when life happens that would leave a family in grief, chaos, uncertainty, and needing next steps. I wanted my parents to meet these gifted and trained folks before all that, ‘before-before.’ I wanted my parents to know they have access to resources provided by their church family to walk through whatever comes and before whatever comes, comes.

Class agenda – opening/greeting of the purpose and goal of the class
• Associate Pastor spoke of the intentionality of dialogue rather than lecture with small group scenarios and tending to a restored relationship over perfect behavior.
• Transitioned that the next 10 minutes would be really uncomfortable, but we’d be better after which led to the Counseling Center Counselor sharing about suicide: differences between mood swings and depression, warning signs, domain, length of season, etc.
• Last thirty minutes I led them through a Holy Listening Stone exercise with a small set of stones prepared ahead of time by my amazing assistant.
• Closed with my personal testimony of prayer for my children using Stormie Omartian’s Power Of A Praying Parent. This book has thirty short chapters with fabulous prayers to be claimed for your child(ren) for each day of the month. The prayer vocabulary and the systematic way to pray through your child’s seasons is made so much easier with a tool like this book. There are things that won’t happen unless we pray for them. There are things that may happen unless we pray against them. I don’t know any Christian who feels they have adequate prayer vocabulary. This is a must-have-parenting-resource.

Each participant was able to take away multiple handouts from the speakers, a pre-made set of Holy Listening Stones, and their own copy of Power of a Praying Parent. This I know: each Christian parent wants their child to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength AND love their neighbor as themselves. Let’s give them the tools to do it!

What are the tools and resources your local church can offer your families to battle the war for the hearts and minds of their children AND the children you influence in your world?

“Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.” Proverbs 12:15

Over the last two months the Lord has been waking me between 3:50am and 4:10am most mornings. I’m an early riser, but this is EARLY. I don’t wake rested nor slowly. I wrestle my brain in holy conferencing with the Lord. If I kept minutes of our holy conferencing, these are just a few items I’d record…

• It was only a year ago that Baby Girl and her family moved to Oregon to help a new church start. They sold or gave away everything they had to ‘follow Him.’ They are living their best lives, dad-gum-it! I miss them terribly, but she’s doing what we raised her for, and living her life for whom we raised her for.
• Rehashing conversations in my head from the previous day that He knows I need to re-record over. The Enneagram 3 in me has been raging, so I’ve had to ask the Lord to wrestle that thing to the ground just to keep me from crawling in a corner and crying. Climbing into the Savior’s lap at 4am has been the perfect place to leave yesterday behind and be reminded that today is a new day.
• Honor the boundaries of Sabbath no matter what comes through email or text on Friday and Saturday so that I can be fully present with my family. We’ve got a new baby coming in December and I need to be a good help by being a good noticer of what I can do, be, say, cook, laugh to be a blessing.
• Intentionally plan for creative outlets. Schedule that art class with a BFF and find a wooden dollhouse to jack up for Christmas… for the grands… for the memories.
• Many of my United Methodist friends and colleagues are anticipating….well, we don’t know what we’re anticipating. HOW we do ministry may be different this time next year. Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart, and trouble will come. No matter what, I and my other kidmin colleagues will continue to share with our little people that God made them and Jesus loves them. We will also continue to share with our little people’s big people that we are in this life together to learn to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul, mind, and strength AND love our neighbor as ourselves.
• Stay in my lane. Don’t be distracted by that which is not for me. It totally affects me, but unless I’m invited to those tables to engage in those conversations, keep my head down and do my best work as unto the Lord. Go with what I know and not with how I feel.
• It’s Thanksgiving and a reminder that there are some amazing people who are no longer here. My cousin, Sonny Johnson wrote this last year:
Empty Chair
The empty chair I speak of, is not an empty seat.
It’s space at the table, where we use to meet.
It’s not a place setting, or even an empty chair,
But memories of someone missing, you know who’s not there.
Thankful for all who join us, friends and family.
We talk of new beginnings, and how it use to be.
God bless food on this table, and bless the people there,
Bless those who couldn’t make it, God bless the empty chair.

What does holy conferencing with the Lord at 4am look like for you?

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:19-20

I’ve been part of the North Georgia United Methodist Church’s Children’s Ministry Institute this fall. One of the exercises is for everyone to bring an item to share (program, event, activity, children’s sermon, etc.) With 32 in attendance, the stack of shared goodness was almost two inches thick. Around our tables, we had almost an hour to give more details and logistics about the item brought by each member of our table.

After we excitedly began sharing around my table, we started putting some of the items together that would work for a Messy Family Christmas event. My table colleagues asked me to share, so these are the stations we’ll be enjoying for our 2019 Messy Family Christmas coming up this December:

#1 – Decorating gift bags (inside each bag is a list of upcoming Kids events)
Need: gift bags; Christmas stickers; Markers; Crayons
Plan: Write name on the bag to hold their goodies from the evening
Talk about: Jesus is the sweetest name I know. Be sure to add kid’s names to bags before leaving the station.
#2 – Stove Top Potpourri (the smells of Christmas)
Need: Whole oranges (1 per child); Cinnamon sticks (2-3 per child); Whole cloves (1 Tablespoon per child); Clear cellophane bag (1 per child); Direction card (1 per child); String to tie directions to bag
Plan: Set up an assembly line with each item available for the children to make a potpourri bag for their family. Remind them to continue to use it over the Holidays and keep adding water.
Talk about: Start with talking about the smells of Christmas. Smells remind us of certain things (let the kids talk about smells and what they associate with that smell.)
The apostle Paul uses our sensitivity to smell in describing the effect that Christians have on others.
“God considers us to be the sweet smell that Christ Jesus is spreading among people who are being saved and people who are dying.” 2 Corinthians 2:15 Paul is reminding us that our behavior gives off an aroma that creates an impression on other people for Christ. (Thank you Melanie Adams of Carrollton First UMC for sharing the idea!)
#3 – Christmas Kabob (the tastes of Christmas)
Need: Wooden skewer; marshmallows; gumdrops; ribbon; Ziploc bag
Plan: Skewer a kabob of gumdrop, marshmallow, gumdrop, marshmallow. Wrap in Ziploc bag and tie with a ribbon.
Talk about: Jesus is the sweetest name I know! What are some sweet things you like to taste at Christmas?
#4 – Roasted marshmallows (the taste and smell of Christmas)
Need: Large marshmallows; Wooden sticks; Sterno cans; Lighter
Plan: Roast a marshmallow on a stick and eat.
Talk about: Talk about the foods of Christmas. What would Baby Jesus eat? What Christmas foods are their favorites? (Every Messy Family event should have an opportunity for a sense of danger! Thank you Kate Morris of Acworth UMC for sharing the entire set-up!)
#5 – Christmas Cards (the touch of Christmas)
Need: Unused Christmas cards; ink pens
Plan: Make a Christmas card to send to a church shut-in (church family); family member
Talk about: Talk about the way Christmas is a good time to remember how special friends and family are, because Jesus didn’t just appear by magic – he was born into a family.
#6 – Darlene with Barnyard Friends (the sights of Christmas) She has a large plastic Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. Then surrounds it with all kinds of REAL ANIMALS that can be touched and pet from a stable like sheep, chickens, etc. (Darlene and I have known each other for years from weekday Preschool world.)
#7 – Rhythm Ribbons for Christmas carols (the sounds of Christmas)
Need: Dancing ribbon sticks
Plan: Dance to the music you hear
Talk about: Talk about the songs of Christmas and ask the kids what are their favorites.
#8 – Gingerbread Nativity (the taste of Christmas)
Need: Graham crackers; Meringue Powder (adds stiffness); Animal crackers; Shallow plates with sides; Holy family cookies (Pepperidge Farm); Candies; Chocolate chips; Shredded wheat bars
Plan: Invite children to decorate their stables
Talk about: Talk about how God created the animals in the stable. Ask the children if they have animals and pets. How does God take care of the animals and how does God ask them to take care of their animals and creation.

With only thirty minutes of stations, we limit the number to eight. Thirty minutes of worship put together with an emcee and mostly video segments including the story told by children will make for a multi-sensory experience in song with the dancing ribbons, story, and games. Thirty minutes of a simple soup supper with bread and water brings us all to a place of fellowship and relationship-building. Closing out with an all-hands together benediction.
Anything you would add?

“And David danced before the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel 6:14

Reading aloud books to our Kindergartners and First graders each week in Children’s Church is a highlight of my week. I choose a book that goes along with our Sunday school lesson or theme for the day or season and the kids just love it. It’s a great way to close out our time together just before parent pickup.

When I discovered my children’s ministry colleague, Glenys Nellist, wrote two new board books, I was thrilled! Glenys makes a rhyme jump off the page with joy, whimsy, and delight as she points each story to our great God as our Creator and the good news of Jesus. With a toddler grandson making frequent visits, board books are where it’s at. The new board books are the newest in the Good News series which started with Good News: It’s Easter.

In last week’s Children’s Church we read Good News: God Made Me! The illustrations by the fabulous Lizzie Walkley show colorful spaces full of fabulous items to point to as a toddler learns vocabulary. On the first page is a book, ball, fruit bowl, wagon, bear, bunny, dog, doll, pillow, stools, and a cheerful grandmother. I know it’s a grandmother since it says so on her mug. (smile) I’m partial to children who are barefoot and have different hair types and hair colors and these are delightful. “The good news is that God made me”… finishes every other page. The rhyming is so simple, the children finished almost every line which kept them totally engaged.

The second book couldn’t be more timely entitled, Good News! It’s Christmas! Each page begins, “Good News!” then ‘whispered Mary,’ ‘hee-haws Donkey,’ ‘coos the pigeons,’ and even ‘sing the angels.’ But my very favorite page is the one with the wise men. I struggle when children’s books show the wise men arriving at the stable. This book instead reads, “Good News! shout the wise men, trekking mile by mile. ‘We’re off to see the new king, but it might take a while!’” According to the scriptures, it does indeed. I’m saving this one for the first Sunday in Advent.

The board books are super thick, delightfully illustrated, and the stories are simply rhymed. I am honored to have them on my shelf. No doubt I’ll be purchasing another set for that special grandson’s home because he LOVES them! Thanks, Glenys!

“Good News! Says God to us, smiling from above. ‘This baby in the manger will fill your world with love!’” – Glenys Nellist