Tag Archives: Curriculum

Good Friday resources: Where are they?

Posted on 03. Apr, 2012 by .

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It seems that there really isn’t any shortage of Easter resources. From curriculum, video, and other needs, you can find just about anything you’re looking for. But that’s not true of Good Friday. It appears that most resources seem to lump all of Good Friday and Easter into one package, but the Good Friday stuff really can’t stand on it’s own. With more churches offering Good Friday services, events and experiences, the need for stuff specific to Good Friday has increased.

At Gateway we’re doing a very interesting and unique (unique to us) experience for Good Friday which I’ll write about later. We’re putting together a family experience around around Good Friday and we really had a difficult time finding what we were looking for. With what we did find, it was hard to find something that wasn’t too bloody and something that wasn’t too cheesy.

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Awkward Curriculum Conversations

Posted on 19. Mar, 2012 by .

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Two weeks ago, Jonathan Cliff wrote a wonderful post on the Curriculum war. I’m really glad he wrote it. Whether people would actually own up to it or not, there is a battle going on in the world of kidmin curriculum. There are some very strong opinions, mostly those of vocal users who want to explain why one is better, more Biblical or theologically correct. Honestly, I feel that these conversations are more hurtful than helpful in most respects. Most of the jabs at curriculum are not about Biblical inaccuracies, but philosophical disagreements that just about anyone could argue both sides equally well.

That manifestation of this curriculum war became very apparent for me last week. LifeWay graciously invited me to blog at the media launch of their new Gospel Project.… Read the rest

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The Gospel Project

Posted on 14. Mar, 2012 by .

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Today is a big day for Lifeway! For the last several months, you may have seen that Lifeway has been working on a new curriculum called the Gospel Project. Not only is this a new curriculum for kids, but curriculum for every age group. It’s a curriculum that ties every Bible story in the scripture to the greater redemptive story of Jesus and his death on the cross.

Today at 2:00 PM, Lifeway is streaming a live webcast to communicate more about the Gospel Project. I’ll be blogging about the webcast because I’ll actually be there for the event. Lifeway graciously invited me to attend the webcast in person and experience this product launch and share with the kidmin world through this blog.… Read the rest

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Unreached people groups kidmin curriculum

Posted on 01. Apr, 2011 by .

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Now that missions week is pretty much over, what about curriculum? “What if I want to teach some of this stuff to my kids? What if I’m still new to this unreached people’s stuff, who am I going to teach it?”

Great question! Actually, there is some pretty descent stuff out there. Let me point you to one resource called “Kids Around the World.”

About 6-7 years ago, I came across this curriculum and used it for a midweek breakout class and it was a big hit. Let me preface this though. I’d probably not use this curriculum on a Sunday morning. It’s good stuff, but not the high-energy content I’d prefer for a Sunday experience. Some of the music and such is already a little dated, but the content really is good.… Read the rest

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Legal usage of kidmin resources

Posted on 13. Jan, 2011 by .

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Earlier this week I reviewed a new Easter Resource by God’s Kids Worship (in case you forgot, I’m giving one away this week too… check here for details) and it prompted a very interesting thought. As a part of the the resource God’s Kids Worship gives you in most of their products, they provide you with a license to burn up to 30 music CD’s to give out to people for rehearsal purposes. I think think that this is great. It provides great value for this resource, but on the other side, it makes the end user very clear what they are and are not allowed to do.

I’ve found that many of us in ministry and kidmin are not usually aware of what the license on most products grant us permission to do and in many cases, a lot of kidmin leaders are technically breaking the law in the ways they use their resources.… Read the rest

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Question for the CMO tribe

Posted on 20. Dec, 2010 by .

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Late last week I got an email from Skip Coulter. He said he had a question for the CMO tribe. I liked that. I know there’s a decent little crowd of regular readers and the “CMO tribe” has really helped me out in the past when I’ve had questions on illustrations, ideas or other things I was working on. So, here’s Skip’s question:

I really believe that the integrity of a children’s program is in the quality of its material.What recommendations (brand name) would you make as excellent sources of material for pre-school and grade school materials?  I’m a lay worker in a small church in Alabama, but we have a wonderful children’s minister and kids that we just enjoy and want to invest their lives glorifying God.  Can you give me some advice?

… Read the rest

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Free Curriculum

Posted on 21. Oct, 2010 by .

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Free curriculum! Did that get your attention. I heard about this a while back and thought to myself, “what a great idea!” We’ve been using 252 Basics and My First Look for over two years at Gateway and it’s been a great experience.

Curriculum can be expensive, so this free trial comes as a huge gift. Obviously, Orange would love for you to use their curriculum. They believe it will help your church in your strategy to reach the whole family, something few curriculums do. Over and over again you’ll hear Reggie Joiner say, “It’s not a curriculum, it’s a strategy.” However, even if you end up not sticking with Orange, isn’t it at least worth a shot? At the very least you’ll save money for three months as you won’t have the curriculum expense that quarter.… Read the rest

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Where Does a Parent Learn to Be a Parent?

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by .

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Here’s some news on the family ministry front. Here’s a press release from Group Publishing concerning a new product that ties into their Faith Weaver line of curriculum.

New Curriculum Helps Parents Develop a Spiritual Foundation for Their Kids

Loveland, CO—For years, parents have been encouraged to take an active role in their child’s spiritual development, but oftentimes the primary responsibility falls on the shoulders of the church. In many cases, it’s because parents don’t know where to turn.

“Although many parents desire that their children develop spiritually, my experience shows that about 60 percent of parents aren’t doing anything at home to help build their children’s spiritual lives,” says Christine Yount Jones, executive editor of Children’s Ministry magazine. “I think this is because parents often lack confidence and don’t have a place to go to learn.”

As churches are looking for ways to equip parents to apply spiritual teaching in their everyday parenting, Group Publishing in Loveland, CO, has developed special small group curriculum for parents to meet that need.… Read the rest

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Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Conclusion

Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by .

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Okay, I never intended this series to jump into a third week. Sorry, my week last week got a little busy.

I just thought I’d wrap it up with a few closing thoughts.

Here’s what we explored:

There were some great conversations on some of these posts. If you missed any, be sure to check them out.

There seemed to be a lot of agreement from other Children’s Pastors in response to these posts. I expected as much since I wrote these based on personal frustrations as well as hearing first hand what others have been frustrated about. However, the point of this series wasn’t to complain to publishers.… Read the rest

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Dear kidmin curriculum publishers: Independent standards

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by .

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Screen shot 2010-02-18 at 5.11.49 PMThis is actually something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time. I know other people have mentioned this kind of stuff before as well, especially anyone who has ever come from the field of education. I think actually pulling something like this off might be next to impossible, but greater things have happened. If I’m totally off, just ignore me then.

I have a very personal opinion that most children’s pastors who write their own curriculum should not be writing their own curriculum. I know that we’re very opinionated and we feel that we know what’s best for our kids, but just becasue we feel we’re good educators and teachers does not mean we know anything about curriculum paths, development progression and pushing out a comprehensive scope and sequence.… Read the rest

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