Childrens Ministry Online

Your kids can help kids in Alabama

Posted on 04. May, 2011 by Jenny Funderburke.

Mitzi Eaker has put together a really neat project that is a very practical way for your children’s ministry or your family to minister to kids who were impacted by last week’s tornadoes.  There are so many kids in so many areas of the state.  I love how easy and hands on this project is.  Here is a brief description from the website:

“We are asking that families and children’s ministries across the country get involved by creating “Boxes of Hope” for children which will be distributed in disaster relief centers, emergency shelters, and area hospitals to storm victims. These boxes will contain a personal note to the children with scripture for encouragement, fun activities such as a coloring book, small toys or games, and a few toiletry items.… Read the rest

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Why take kids on a mission trip?

Posted on 01. Apr, 2011 by Jenny Funderburke.

On our mission trip to Belize last week, we took 7 kids age 6 to 14.  Until a few years ago I would have never envisioned this being a reality.  David and Karen Rhodes, our partner missionaries, expressed that they have gotten lots of negative feedback about envisioning such experiences for young kids.  Here is a summary of our experience.

Read the entire post here.… Read the rest

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The 4-14 Window

Posted on 31. Mar, 2011 by Kenny.

As I wrote yesterday, I first learned of the 10-40 Window almost 20 years ago. However, about 4-5 years ago I began hearing about another window. It was the 4-14 window. Huh? Was this an even more specific area where even less evangelized people lived? Not quite. I’m sure that a lot of what I’ve written this week during missions week hasn’t appealed to everyone in kidmin, but this post probably will.

Where the 10-40 window is a geographic window in the world, the 4-14 window is a demographic window in the world. Here are some stats taken from the International House of Prayer website:

• The 4/14 Window describes a demographic frame—a life season comprising the ten years between the ages of 4 and 14
• There are 1.2 billion children in the 4/14 WindowAt least two-thirds of these children do not know Christ.

… Read the rest

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Ultimate Parent Resource List (in the works)

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by Kenny.

Several months ago there was a Google Wave that accumulated a master list of books and resources for Parents/Kids and Parenting. I’ve had to consult this list many times in the past few months and I thought I’d simply transport it over here and share with those of you who weren’t on the Wave. I don’t take credit for this list, it was a collaborative effort by several people. Also, I didn’t read all of these… yet. Feel free to suggest others.

Just for Parents

Shepherding a Child’s Heart
Revolutionary Parenting
Grace Based Parenting (Tim Kimmel)
Scream Free Parenting
Raising a Modern Day Knight
Raising a Modern Day Princess
It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men
The Most Important Place on Earth
Never Mind the Joneses
Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family – Patrick Lencioni
Parenting with Love and Logic
Boundaries with Kids

Marriage Helps

For Men Only
For Women Only
Choosing to Cheat
Sheet Music
Sacred Marriage
Creating an Intimate Marriage

Children 0-5

Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers: The Gospel
Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers: The Trinity
Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers: The Scripture
Read with me Bible for Toddlers
Day by Day Begin-to-Read Bible

Children 6-9

Day by Day Kid’s Bible: The Bible for Young Readers
Jesus Storybook Bible
Read with me Bible
Growing With Jesus Devotional

Children 10-12

Big Truths For Young Hearts
Case for A Creator for Kids
Case for Faith for Kids
Case for Christ for Kids
Get off My Case for Kids

Kid’s Bibles

NIrV Kids’ Devotional Bible
GOD’S WORD for Girls
GOD’S WORD for Boys
The Adventure Bible for Early Readers (NIrV)
The Super Heros Bible (NIrV)… Read the rest

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Bad cookies and the Smartie Principle

Posted on 14. Feb, 2010 by Kenny.

Yesterday my wonderful wife made a batch of very bad cookies. Please don’t think I’m picking on my wife. She’s the first one to tell me they were bad. She’s an incredible baker and cook. It must have been a bad recipe. They were valentines day cookies and guess what? Titus LOVED them! They were the first thing he saw when he got up from his nap and he was so excited to eat “red hearts.” He had two.

That’s something I’ve noticed and have always been amused about children’s ministry. When it comes to certain things, kids just don’t care. I could have a bad cookie that I paid 15 cents for or a delicious gourmet cookie that cost three dollars and the kids would be equally excited about both.… Read the rest

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Internet radio for kids

Posted on 23. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.

I came across this site a few months ago, but I didn’t get it. Maybe I just have a very short attention span and didn’t stick around long enough to figure it out. I think Jim Wideman recommended it as they play a lot of Yancy there. I came back again recently and tuned in and listened for a few hours while I did some work.

Duh, I get it now. It’s Christian Internet radio for kids. It’s actually really good. Very well produced and with plenty of good content. I think it’s a program from Cornerstone University Radio. I think it’s about time this was made available. I remember tuning into the local Christian talk radio to hear “Adventures in Oddessy” every morning as I drove to work a few years ago.… Read the rest

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Mission review (Surge Part 4)

Posted on 14. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.

Typically after every event I do, I make notes for the following year. On the server where we keep all the files, I’ll usually open a folder under “Surge” called 2008. In it will be a single word document with all the recommendations for the next year. I try to do this within the week of the event and then close the file out completely and not think of it for a while. It feels very good to close the file and move on rather than dwelling on it continually. So, here are the things I would do differently (but I must preface… there is very little I would have done differently… it was an amazing experience).… Read the rest

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Mission details (Surge Part 3)

Posted on 13. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.

Putting together this mission trip was a lot of work, but not nearly as much as it was putting together Venture Quest (our VBS type program) or summer camp. Actually the most frustrating thing was tracking down donations (we had some issues that were beyond our control). I would have anticipated that a 2008 trip to Mexico would have taken significantly less time because I had so much of the ground work done. So, if you’re thinking about doing a mission trip, feel free to borrow as much of this as you need to maximize your time!

Informational meeting

I made sure I had my ducks in a row for this meeting. Although people would come to this meeting very curious and very excited, it is also the first opportunity they have to hear about you taking their child outside of the country.… Read the rest

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Mission overview (Surge Part 2)

Posted on 12. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.

Like I said before, I had to reinvent the wheel here as I couldn’t get any help from anyone who had done this before. Fortunately I have participated on many mission trips (as an adult and as a teenager) and have led trips for adults, so I had a pretty good idea of what to do. I boiled all this down in the context of presenting to kids and their parents.

Initially I began leaking information about a coming trip to all the kids involved in our mid-week small group program. Then in late March I began advertising in the program/bulletin that we would be offering a mission trip for 4th and 5th graders. It listed a web address for more information and dates for an informational meeting in April.… Read the rest

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Mission origin (Surge Part 1)

Posted on 11. Mar, 2008 by Kenny.

Goodness, I’m not even sure where to begin. I guess I’ll start from square one… when I first decided to take kids on a mission trip.

I believe it was in 2003, I was sitting in an all-day pre-conference with Craig Jutila at CPC in Atlanta. I sat there like a sponge, taking in everything he had to say about purpose driven children’s ministry. For me, it was a new approach to ministry that I desperately needed. I had a lot of great things going, but it was inspiration from this session that helped refine, polish and add structure to ministry. Having a huge heart for international missions, I knew that I’d eventually take kids on missions, I just didn’t know how or when.… Read the rest

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