Since the addition of bus ministry we have been doing a lot of recruiting lately.  Because of bus ministry we have started several new ministries.  One of those ministry, we started because of bus ministry is Fuel.  It’s our 4th, 5th, & 6th grade service on Wednesday nights.  We added this in addition to Rangers & MPact Girls Club.  Because we’ve had so many brand new kids attending our church, we have also had lots of new salvation’s.  This week we talked about Water Baptism in a large group and small group settings of Fuel.  In the large group we had our sermon time, we preached on the idea that water baptism is like putting on a sports jersey.

So this is how the sermon goes:  we talked about kids being on a sports team, we explained that when you sign up and fill out all the paperwork and show up for practice; you are on the team.  In the same way when you ask Jesus into your heart you are on God’s team.  Now on a sports team once you join that team there is a way to identify as one of the players of that team; it’s the jersey.  The jersey lets everyone know who’s team you play for.  Once you ask Jesus in your heart you are saved, you want to let everyone know you are a Christian.  That’s when Water Baptism comes in.  Water Baptism is you going public that you are on God’s team.  Also, like sports there is an audience to cheer for you.  So after you get baptized your church family is going to go wild and cheer for you.  I also shared my personal testimony and we shared the fact that we don’t want to be private Christians; we want everyone to know what Jesus has done for us.

We normally do the sermon towards the end of the service but this time we did it immediately following a few praise and worship songs.  This way the students would have time to sign up for water baptism and to record a short testimony video.  The videos will be played next Wednesday during their water baptism service.  So here is where the win comes from the church, we will be doing this Wednesday night in the main sanctuary and we have invited the entire church.  This gives our church the chance to celebrate with us and the kids of Fuel.  What I’m finding is as we share the testimony’s of what God is doing in Fuel, Rangers, MPact Girls Club, and the Bus Ministry we are finding more and more people who are volunteering to help us run the many aspects of these Wednesday night ministries.

Below are invites for the students to pass out to their family and friends and the small group study guide:

Small Group BAPTISM

One of the things we really love to do is incorporate family in unique ways. We’ve started family communion at the beginning of the year. This event is immediately after each one our services. We set up stations where I and other workers who have been trained lead a devotion, and then give the sacraments to the spiritual leader of the household (which could Dad, Mom or grandparents). The parent then leads their kids in prayer for the bread and wine And then the family takes communion together. One of the benefits of family communion is giving the spiritual oweness back to parents. We have made this a monthly event, once a month on the first Sunday of every month.

Last week I did a review of Nathan Anderson’s new book “Jak And The Scarlet Thread” creativekidspastor.com/jak-and-the-scarlet-thread and then interviewed him @ creativekidspastor.com/win_an_autographed_copy. Last week you had 3 chances to win and today we announce the winners.

Congratulations to all the winners, if you didn’t win you can buy the book here:

Nathan Anderson is a writer, speaker, radio host,and musician intent on teaching families the Bible in ways that grab their souls and set them on fire to know God. He graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and spent ten years pastoring in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nathan host a nightly radio show for kids, Nite Lite and he is the author of a young adult/tween fantasy novel series called Jak and the Scarlet Thread that will take readers through the entire Bible.

Follow Nathan Anderson:
Blog: http://www.bighungryplanet.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nathanandersonj
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190508947

Buy his book Jak and the Scarlet Thread:

In this video I interview Nathan Anderson about his new book Jak and the Scarlet Thread. Help get the word out about this amazing book for a chance to win. Also check out my review of this book at http://creativekidspastor.com/jak-and-the-scarlet-thread/.

This contest is over! Check out the winners @ http://creativekidspastor.com/and-the-winner-is/

Two autographed copies of Jak and the Scarlet Thread will be given away to readers of Creative Kids Pastor.

You have 3 chances to win!
1.) Tweet this message: @kidzpastor is giving away @NathanAndersonJ ‘s new book “Jak and the Scarlet Thread” http://goo.gl/nlshZ #jakbook #kidmin

2.)Tweet this message: @kidzpastor interview w/ @NathanAndersonJ about Jak and the Scarlet Thread. CHANCE 2 WIN FREE BOOK http://goo.gl/5qau9 #jakbook #kidmin

3.)Share this Post on Facebook (http://creativekidspastor.com/win_an_autographed_copy/) or the book review (http://creativekidspastor.com/jak-and-the-scarlet-thread/) Leave a comment on this post to let us know you share on Facebook.

Nathan Anderson is a writer, speaker, radio host,and musician intent on teaching families the Bible in ways that grab their souls and set them on fire to know God. He graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and spent ten years pastoring in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nathan host a nightly radio show for kids, Nite Lite and he is the author of a young adult/tween fantasy novel series called Jak and the Scarlet Thread that will take readers through the entire Bible.

Follow Nathan Anderson:
Blog: http://www.bighungryplanet.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nathanandersonj
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190508947

Buy his book Jak and the Scarlet Thread:

Jak and the Scarlet Thread by Nathan Anderson

This summer I got to preview a brand new book called Jak and the Scarlet Thread by Nathan Anderson. This book caught my attention and held it all the way to the very last page. Jak and the Scarlet Thread is action packed and captures the reader imagination. The story begins with Jak losing his grandmother and him finding a magical book that transfers him, his cousin, his grandpa, and even his little dog into one of the greatest books ever written – the Bible. The reason I love this book is that it is geared towards young readers who are looking for fantasy stories such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or even Twilight. It presents one of the greatest messages ever given to us which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only does it introduce these young readers to this incredible message but they also meet historical biblical characters such as Adam & Eve, Cain, Noah, and many more. Jak and the Scarlet Thread deals with elements such as: death, good vs. evil, and sacrifice while at the same time presents a story that is completely filled with life and hope.

This week I’ll be giving away signed copies of this book, doing an video interview with the author, and teaming up with other ministry blogs to get the word out about this book.

Here is my reason why: I believe that we as Christian, need to do more than just mimic culture; don’t get me wrong I’m not saying we shouldn’t use the culture that kids live in to try in reach kids for Christ. I just believe that it is time that we also start creating culture, we serve a creative God. I would love to see this book reach more than just the kids that are in church but those that could potentially read this story and be introduced to the Bible for the first time. I also would love to see more stories in this genre became mainstream so that we have alternatives to the often darker stories told. I’m not being payed for this review, I am merely endorsing and encouraging an author that creating culture.
Two autographed copies of “Jak and the Scarlet Thread” will be given away to readers of Creative Kids Pastor.

This contest is over! Check out the winners @ http://creativekidspastor.com/and-the-winner-is/
You have 3 chances to win!
1.) Tweet this message: @kidzpastor is giving away @NathanAndersonJ ‘s new book “Jak and the Scarlet Thread” http://goo.gl/nlshZ #jakbook #kidmin

2.)Tweet this message: @kidzpastor interview w/ @NathanAndersonJ about Jak and the Scarlet Thread. CHANCE 2 WIN FREE BOOK http://goo.gl/5qau9 #jakbook #kidmin

3.)Share this Post on Facebook (http://creativekidspastor.com/win_an_autographed_copy/) or the book review (http://creativekidspastor.com/jak-and-the-scarlet-thread/) Leave a comment on this post to let us know you share on Facebook.

Nathan Anderson is a writer, speaker, radio host,and musician intent on teaching families the Bible in ways that grab their souls and set them on fire to know God. He graduated from Bethel Seminary with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and spent ten years pastoring in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nathan host a nightly radio show for kids, Nite Lite and he is the author of a young adult/tween fantasy novel series called Jak and the Scarlet Thread that will take readers through the entire Bible.

Follow Nathan Anderson:
Blog: http://www.bighungryplanet.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nathanandersonj
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190508947

Buy his book Jak and the Scarlet Thread:

Jak on Kindle:

He’s known as The Amazing Dave May by Oklahoma audiences who’ve seen his vaudeville-esque ventriloquist and magic road show. Dave May is a world class performer with a huge heart for kids and youth. Dave capture the imagination of his audiences using ventriloquism, magic, and humor. Dave came to RE:NEW The Children’s Ministry Gathering to share why he uses ventriloquist and illusions when trying to reach the heart of kids and youth.

 

For more information about Dave May, check him out at:
Website-  http://amazingdavemay.com

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656525283

 

 

 

 

RE:NEW Recap:

Jamie Doyle @ RE:NEW 2011

Dave May At RE:NEW

Lisa Grace Shares Her Notes From RE:NEW

This is a must watch sermon for every Pastor, Youth Pastor and Kid’s Pastor! It’s all about understanding the “i Generation” and how to reach them. “MOVING AND POWERFUL”
 

Treasure Quest is a pirate series on the bible that we wrote for Spring Creek Kids.

This series uses live elements like pirates who not only act in skits but also greet families at the door, attend services in pirate gear, and try to order bottles of rum at the coffee shop. We added a family element, which was a treasure hunt. Each week we hid gold – which was 1 dollar coins and tickets somewhere outside on the church property. The first to find the gold gets it. Then everyone else who found the treasure took a ticket to be entered in the big drawing at the end of the series. At the end of each service the kids would be given a clue sheet with questions and scripture references and the answers would be land marks or a direction around the church. Example at the end of this post. We used free resources and few that we bought to add fun and cool elements.

I listed the elements below:

For the Pirate Bible story we wrote it out and used a English to Pirate translator. I tried four different sites but this is the site I felt was the best: http://www.syddware.com/cgi-bin/pirate.pl [MAKE SURE YOU PROOF READ THE RESULTS! WE HAD TO REMOVE A FEW WORDS, NO CURSING JUST SLANG.]

Songs we sang for the series:

Lord, you are my treasure- This song is from the Rated Arrgh series that LifeKIDS.tv did a few years back. They offer it for free on open.lifechurch.tv. This is a great song that all the boys really loved. Click here and download the “Show Opener Video” for this song. Lifechurch.tv requires you to sign in but all their resources are FREE. They are rockstars!!!

I Love My B-I-B-L-E- This is also a free song from the creative gurus at Kids On The Move and can be found on Church on the Moves free resource site called Seeds. Click Here For The Song “I Love My B-I-B-L-E”. The whole I love my bible series is awesome and you may want to just use it. I am telling you that team is crazy creative and really nice (hints the sharing of their stuff). By the way Church on the Move is throwing a 3 in 1 Conference for Kids, Youth, and Creative Pastors. You should check it out seeds.churchonthemove.com/conference.

Happy Day- By Fee. We used a video loop and the lyrics to make it a sing along video. Click to hear the song.

Spin- By Lincoln Brewster. We used a video loop and the lyrics to make it a sing along video. Click to hear the song.

Week 1

Every week we opened with one of the youth rapping this song:

Topic: The Bible Is A Map

Cap’n Jakes Bible Story: Noah Ark

Game: Swab The Decks

This is a very funny pirate game that’s not as easy as it looks!

What You’ll Need:

• A space with lots of open floor space.
• 10 ping pong balls (a different color for each crew)
• 2 brooms

How to Play:

1. Pick two crews (or teams). Have each Team captain split their crews in half and send one half of the team to the opposite side of the room.
2. Give the first kid on each team a broom and five ping pong balls.
3. On the word “Go!,” the first two kids from each crew must sweep their balls to the other side of the room.
4. Once they get there, they give their broom to the next crew member and they herd the balls back to the other side.
5. The game continues like this until every pirate has had a turn. The team that finishes first wins the game.

Skit: Rusty and Giggling Sally Interrupt the service demanding the treasure and are told that the treasure is hidden some where on the church grounds. We also told the kids that they and their families could search for this treasure and keep the treasure they find. Rusty complains that they have looked everywhere but have had no luck finding it and Sally gives up and threatens to quit because the task is to hard. So I explained to them that the task is hard but that they have a map and clues to find it. The Bible is the map and the clues are the answers to the questions about the Bible references given on the clue sheet.

Lesson: God has a great plan for our lives and has given us the instructions (the Bible). We can do great things like Noah. When God told Noah to build a boat, Noah said “what a boat?”. God gave Noah instructions on how to build the boat and God also gives us instructions and if we follow them it will lead us to Heaven and a extraordinary life.

Small Group: Show the kids how to use the Bibles table of contents, glossary, and maps. Have plenty of extra Bibles for those who do not have one.

Week 2

Topic: The Bible Is A Sword

Cap’n Jakes Bible Story: Jesus Is Tempted

Game: Sword Fighting

What You’ll Need:

• 2 Wacky Noodles (Dollar Trees Sells these year round for cheap)
• Duct Tape
• 6 balloons (2 set of 3 balloons, each set a different color)

How to Play:

1. Pick two volunteers about the same height and give each a strip of duct and have both kids wear it like a belt but with the sticky side facing out.

2. Place 3 matching colored balloons on each duct tape belt.

3. Give both kids a wacky noodle. Explain that this is their sword and that they must knock their opponents balloons off before all their balloons are knocked off.

4. The kids who knocks all their opponents balloons off first wins.

Skit: Rusty has been kidnapped by other pirates who are looking for the treasure. Giggly Sally is explaining that the other pirates caught them by surprise and Rusty didn’t have his sword. Giggly Sally was able to run away and was looking for their swords to go help save Rusty. Sally decides to never leave her sword at home again and to always be ready for the attack of the enemy.

Lesson:

[ I STOLE THIS LESSON FROM THE KIDS ON THE MOVE CREW AND IT'S AVAILABLE FOR FREE AT seeds.churchonthemove.com/series/i-love-my-bible AND IS WRITTEN WAY BETTER THEN BELOW. YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD IT!!!]

We review the facts about how Jesus overcame temptation by using God’s word, the Bible. Then I explained also that each kid here in church today has an enemy. This enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy and his name is the devil. We must be ready for the attacks of the enemy, we need something to fight him with. Bring out a real sword. We need a sword and Hebrews calls the Bible a sword. Satan will try and put thoughts in their head. Have 3 balloons with the words Sickness, Fear, Doubt and then quote scriptures and pop the balloon with the real sword. Again you should go to http://seeds.churchonthemove.com/series/i-love-my-bible and download “I Love My Bible – Overview & Illustrations” it’s free and awesome!

Small Group: Small Group: Do sword drills, this is where you have the kids race to find the scriptures. We used Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 100:103, I Peter 2:24, 2 Timothy 1:7, Romans 8:28, & Psalm 119:105.  Have plenty of extra Bibles for those who do not have a Bible.

Week 3

Topic: The Bible Is A Shield

Cap’n Jakes Bible Story: 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace

Game: Pirate Key Decoder

What You’ll Need:

• Power Point or Keynote
• 40 pieces of construction paper squares (10 Yellow, 10 red, 10 green, 10 blue)

How to Play:

1. Pick two crews (or teams).
2. Mix all the colored squares in a pile at the back of the room.
3. Show the first picture and send the kids to the back of the room to grab the keys (colored squares) and bring them back to place them in the right order to crack the code
4. The code is not the word but the color of the word
5. Show the second picture and send the kids to the back of the room to grab the keys (colored squares) and bring them back to place them in the right order to crack the code
6. The code is not the word but the color of the last letter of the word

Skit: Rusty and Giggling Sally have had some trouble while searching for the treasure. Enemy pirates have been throwing rocks and sticks at them and they are looking for their shield. Giggling Sally brings out silly things like a fake fish, a dumbbell, whoopie cushion, and finally a tennis racket. Rusty finally get upset and decides to show her why she needs a better shield. He gives every kid a piece of paper, and then shows the kids how to make origami; origami rocks that is. Then he has everyone throw their origami rock at Sally while she defends herself using the tennis racket as a shield. Then he brings out a round table as a shield and repeats the exercise to show her the importance of the shield.

Lesson: We must be ready to defend are faith. We need to know why we live the way we live so when we are in a heated situation we can stand firm. Just like the 3 Hebrews when the king wanted everyone to bow to his image. Everyone was doing it and they were on their own. They were able to stand because they had built a strong shield by Daily Bible Reading, Scripture Memorization and Meditating on the word. You can’t wait until your in the battle to build you shield you must build it now.

Small Group: Talk about ways to memorize Scripture like repeating it over and over, singing it, writing it somewhere you will see it a lot, or making motions for the words. Have plenty of extra Bibles for those who do not have a Bible.

Week 4

Topic: The Bible Is A Light

Cap’n Jakes Bible Story: Saul Sees the Light

Game: Pirate Key Decoder

What You’ll Need:

• Power Point or Keynote with Pictures of famous pirates or sailors

How to Play:

1. Pick two crews (or teams).
2. Show a picture of a famous pirate and the first to guess the right answer gets a point
3. Team with the most points wins

Skit: Rusty and Giggling Sally are packing up to set sail. They are packing up in the dark and keep trip over a rock on the stage. This goes on for a while until Rusty decides to find a light and then he is able to see the rock and move it. We talk about how to see in the dark and why it’s important to know where your going and then have the kids tell the pirates goodbye.

Lesson: Sometimes in life we stumble or make mistakes. The Bible can help us avoid stumbling blocks that may trip us up like lying, cheating, talking hateful or even acting out of anger. We may not see these habits as bad things because we are use to them and maybe no one ever corrected us for these habits but they can really hold us back. These habits can get us in trouble because it can cause us to lose friends or even cause people to not trust us. The Bible brings to light these habits that hold us back from living the best life God has intended us to live.

I shared a story about when I went to the hospital to visit someone and had weird black lines all over my face from working outside and then changing in the bathroom in the dark. No light means we can’t truly see ourselves.

Saul was making a big mistake in the way he treated Christians until he saw the light.

God’s big plan for our lives is the best plan. I need the light to know what path he wants me to take.

Small Group: Have the kids look up the word LIGHT in the concordance. Have plenty of extra Bibles for those who do not have a Bible.

EXTRAS

Clues For The Treasure Hunt:

1.   Josiah was how old when he became king. (2 Kings 22)

2.   Look for the color of the first chariots horses. (Zechariah 6)

3.   How many times did Balaam’s donkey save his life? (Numbers 22)

4.   What were the sailors afraid of hitting that caused them to drop anchor? (Acts 27)

5.   From which direction does he come in golden splendor? (Job 37)

Videos taken that could be used for this series:

Click this YouTube video to go to YouTube. On the description is a link to download this video for free

Sometimes I make this comic to blow off a little creative steam!

Check Out The Other Twitter Comics:

@abbyluvsu

@gregstratton

@grumpyeric

max7.org

I love finding free stuff for my Kid’s Ministry!!! The Max7 website features a variety of Bible resources including curriculum, videos, music, and training materials for use through children’s or young people’s ministry, sports or creative ministry. I’ve used several video from this site like the Good Samaritan, the Parable of the Sower and the Cross of Demas. My favorite video is Bigger Than The World Itself. This short story features a young computer ‘gamer’ who has his world enlarged by a Bible that introduces him to Jesus.