It's all about Jesus right?

It's all about Jesus right?


What good are we doing if we teach Bible stories as an end in themselves?


"OK kids what did we learn today?"
"That David was little but he killed Goliath with God's help!"
That's correct! End of day.


That was my way of doing things for quite some time!


I was convicted.


 "OK kids what did we learn today?"
"That David was little but he killed Goliath with God's help!"
That's correct, but let's take it a step further:


How do we see Jesus in this story? How do we apply it to our lives?

Before we can ask these questions to children, we have to ask them to ourselves, and really grapple with them.


It's no lie that Jesus is found from Genesis to Revelation. We must look for him in all things!


John 1:3, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."


There.


Colossians 1:16-17, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."


There.


Ephesians 1:7, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace."


There.


If the Bible tells us these things and we adhere to it as the Holy Word of God, then it's a crime to teach children Bible stories without connecting them back to Christ! Isn't that the hinge of our faith? Without Christ, nothing would have happened and further, nothing would be in existence.


The entire Bible is a metanarrative of Jesus' life and the AWESOME part is that we are in it too! We are involved in this masterpiece love-story and it's all true!


So, I've been challenging myself to find Jesus in every bit of scripture I read, in every lesson I plan, and in every situation I face in my own life.


I challenge you to do the same!

Alright, so I don't have much time to write, but when I do, it'll be good!

Here's a game I came up with yesterday for our Wednesday PM programming.

Our memory verse is Philippians  4:4-9 and we learned verse 9 last night.

I wrote every word of the verse on separate pieces of paper.

Then I put each word into a plastic egg.

I hid the eggs all over the upstairs where we meet.

I then wrote out verse 4-8 on posterboard (the verses we had already learned) so the kids could read it aloud together and tagged on verse 9.

Verse 9 looked like this:

Eerwthva uoy aveh ndelaer ro cieedrev ro herad ofrm em, ro nese ni em-ptu ti otni tiepcrac dan het odg fo ecpae iwll eb hitw ouy.

So naturally, when the kids got to verse 9, they couldn't read it.

We found it in the Bible and read it a few times.

Then it was time to find the eggs!

As the kids found the eggs, they brought them to another piece of poster board with lines representing each word.

They looked at the scrambled up verse 9 and tried to figure out which word they had.

They then had to put their word from the egg they found in the correct spot.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, they got the verse!

I call the game...

Scrambled Eggs!

It's great because they work together to unscramble their words and put them in the correct order.

It requires repetition in reciting the verse and teamwork.

Pretty fun times here at Sunshine Community Church!

Kidmin 2012

So my wife told me there's an app for this blogging thing. We are so busy at Kidmin 2012, I have no time to write a post. Here's a picture from the first day. All I have time to say is that every class I'm attending is so informative and challenging. I got mad ideas and practical advice to use when I get back!

We'll Start Here.

It's been almost a year since my wife started her
blogging-or maybe 2-and I've finally given in!

I graduated from Calvin College in 2011 with
a bachelors degree in psychology focusing on
childhood development and a minor in
studio art.

The last place I thought I'd end up
is in ministry.  And by the look on my face,
I was tuckered out anyway from all that school.
God tends to redirect...and redirect...and redirect.....
until we finally get it.  I've been at Sunshine
Community Church located on the NE side
of Grand Rapids, Michigan for a little over a
year now.

This blog will not only be about my work as
a Director of Children's Ministries, but will also
be a journal, if you will, of my life and how God
directs it.  Not only will this blog be a learning experience
for me, but also a testimony to whoever will listen and look,
and a way to record my thoughts and ideas.

You'll see art that I make, art that kids make,
ideas that I've had, ways that God directs, and much more.

To whet your appetite, I think it's appropriate to show you my working buddy.

Yeah, that's Technology-named by a kid at church.  One of the first fun things I did with the kids at Sunshine was a game to name my 3 fish and snail in my office.  The kids had 3 Sundays to write on a giant sheet of paper the names they came up with.  Not only was it super fun to see what the kids would come up with, but it gave them an opportunity to get to know me as their new Children's Ministries Director.  I drew Technology out of about 70 other names.  Seems fitting right?

Anyway, I'll get the hang of this blogging thing soon enough.

<To God Be The Glory>