Tag Archives: salvation
Kids Camp: Day 3
Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
Day three was incredible. At this point, we were just getting into our groove. It was another fun day at camp as you can see from the video above.
So, on day three of our Chase the Light camp series, the kids learned about Nicodemus, the Misfit Pharisee. He was a misfit because under the cover of darkness, he went to meet with Jesus privately. He knew a lot about Jesus as the Pharisees had been observing him and his work, but he didn’t really know Jesus. He was intrigued and was interested in knowing who this man really was.
The thing about the Pharisees is that they were pretty secure in their faith. They followed the law in such a way that they were secure in their eternity.… Read the rest
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Salvation Booklet from KidNation.org
Posted on 13. Jan, 2011 by Kenny.
Just before Christmas, Josh and Kate Richter sent me their new Salvation booklet. They mentioned that they created their booklet because they couldn’t find anything else like this on the market today. Very True. I remember about seven or eight years ago I used some booklets from Church on the Move that was pretty good. It was more of a short study broken down into four parts that I would give to kids to complete before meeting with me to talk about baptism.
However, this booklet is really nice. It’s the perfect size and colorful and glossy. I love that they’ve made this. It’s a pretty thorough telling of the gospel story of creation, the fall of man and what Christ did for us.… Read the rest
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Confusing terminolgy and spiritual concepts for kids: Salvation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit
Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 by Kenny.
Wow, that’s a long title. I think it’s a record for me.
So yesterday I started this series by posting about how many kids mix up God with God the Father which may seem like I’m getting picky, but it does create confusion around the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit with God the Father. Today’s closely ties into this concept of “trinity” confusion.
When I was four years old, I asked Jesus into my heart. I really did. The funny thing is that when I was young, I literally pictured my heart having a little door on it and inside was a little bench that Jesus could sit on. I eventually came to understand that Jesus didn’t really live in my heart just like I came to understand that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist.… Read the rest
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Faith development of a child: Episode 4
Posted on 30. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
Thank you for being patient with my random thoughts about faith development. Usually when doing a series like this, I’ve got a plan and a place I’m trying to take the reader. This time; however, I’m just emptying my head of many different thoughts I’m trying to sort through.
Education + Evangelism = Responsible faith development.
There is a certain amount of education that needs to happen regardless of a hearers age, but it seems that this is even more essential for kids. Let me explain.
When communicating salvation to adults, the emphasis seems to be more on persuasion. It’s crafting the message in such a way that combined with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, a person wants to give their life to Christ.… Read the rest
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Faith development of a child: Episode 3
Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
Last week I wrote about kids believing blindly.
Give me ten minutes with a kid and I can make a child believe just about anything. Kids trust. Kids believe. This is a beautiful part of their nature. But in this respect we have to understand that kids and adults are different. If I met an adult who didn’t know Christ, it would take me some time to lead them to faith. I’d have to show a lot of evidence before someone was ready to believe. I’d have to take them on a journey through scripture and share stories from how God worked in my life. After presenting all the stories, leading him through scriptures and showing him Christ’s love, he may decide to follow Christ.… Read the rest
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Leading a child to faith: C is for Confess
Posted on 19. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
C is my favorite part. Actually, C is kinda the linchpin of them all. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to admin that we’ve sinned, that we’ve broking a moral code. It’s also not too much to believe in Jesus and to believe what he did for us. A person could admit that they sin and believe in Christ, yet still not be a Christ-Follower. That is where C comes in. C is for confess. Confess that Jesus is Lord.
What does confess mean? What does Lord mean? Come on, we’re talking to kids here. We gotta break it down.
Confess means to say out loud or to say with your mouth.
Lord mean someone who is in charge. A king.… Read the rest
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Leading a child to faith: B is for Believe
Posted on 18. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
B stand for Believe. Believe what? Believe that Jesus is God’s son and that he died on the cross for our sins.
This is where faith becomes a part of the equation. When reading about the new converts throughout the early part of Acts we see how people believed and were baptized. Many of them had heard for Jesus, but didn’t witness what he had done. They took steps of faith to believe the words of those who witnessed what Jesus had done. Our kids have to take the same steps of faith. Do you believe that the Bible is true? Do you believe that Jesus is God’s son? Do you believe that he lived a perfect life? Do you believe that he died on the cross for your sins?… Read the rest
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Leading a child to faith: A is for Admit
Posted on 17. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
I use the ABCs of becoming a Christ Follower when leading kids to Christ. It’s easy and it clearly explains the important aspects of becoming a Christ Follower.
So, the first part is to Admit. Admit that we are a sinner.
I usually have to define admit and sometimes even clearly explain what a sinner or sin is. We usually decide that admit means to say that you did something. Close enough. So to admit that I’m a sinner means that I say that I’ve done wrong. I’m coming clean, letting everyone know that I’m not perfect. It’s an essential first step. If wrong has been committed yet no one has admitted to it, there is a breakdown in the relationship.… Read the rest
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Leading a child to faith
Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by Kenny.
I love leading kids to faith. It’s the best thing in the world. Actually I really love baptizing kids too or at least helping parents baptize their kids as well. It’s just one of the perks of being a children’s pastor. If evangelism is your thing, then children’s ministry is the place to be. The largest number of decisions for Christ happen with kids, so it’s where they fish are biting.
So, I’m starting a little series on leading a child to faith. I know this sounds a little remedial, but perhaps something I write will give someone some ideas. What I enjoy the most is hearing how you’re doing it differently, which often gives me new ideas to improve what I’m doing.… Read the rest
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Does it bother you that the same kid gets saved every week?
Posted on 20. Apr, 2008 by Kenny.
Ha! If you’ve ministered to kids for any time, you probably got a kick out of this title!
Last week I was listening to an audio blog post on Steven Furtick’s blog. The blog was about how to give effective invitations. It was a great message, regardless of your position. He shared his advice and experience in the wake of Easter where his church saw over 500 people come to Christ. Absolutely amazing! There were so many great points worth hearing.
One thing did stick out to me in particular. Pastor Steven talked about how it had been his tendency to make it difficult for a person to come to Christ in order to ensure that they authentically made the decision.… Read the rest
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