eWeb upDATE Postr

My children's ministry site has moved here. (http://kidsblastvt.org) I am going to be changing things here in the near future, so come back every once in awhile.

God bless 2.0

Creative Destruction?

Today I used some of the inherent angst my teenage helpers have to help make a point. I had one of them take a crow bar to an old computer. He messed the thing up... badly.

Why did I do this?

I needed a way to make what the prodigal son did real. Kids don't understand the value of money well. They don't place the same value on it that we as adults do. However, computers are something kids put value on. They see them as cool and desirable.

The result was tangible. They were amazed that someone would destroy a valuable thing like a computer. When I told them that the prodigal son did the same kind of thing with his father's money they got it. I was a bit worried that the message might get lost in the digital abuse, but it was a good illustration. The kids understood the concept of throwing away what is valuable for the long haul for something that is just short term fun.

So I guess creative destruction paid off... for once.

Children and Easter

Today I had the privilege of speaking to our MOPS group (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers). They asked me to speak on portraying the Easter story to pre-schoolers.

I found out that's not really as easy as it sounds.

Here's a way to tell the Easter story I came up with.

1. Jesus lived a perfect life, he never did anything wrong.
2. Jesus choose to die for us to take away our sins.
3. Three days after Jesus died God made Jesus alive again.
4. Jesus went into heaven to be with God and to prepare a place for us so that when we die we can be in heaven with Him.

This is what I came up with, and since I've got to tell this story to my three year old for the first time this year I'd love to hear some other ideas of how to tell very young children about the Easter story.

Please Pray

My brother was just put in jail. That's a problem. However, the real problem is his spiritual condition. He needs to turn his life over to Jesus. Please pray with me that he does so.

Thanks!

Bible Read-A-Thon Success!

The Bible Read-A-Thon I mentioned in the last post went great! We had about 1/3 of the kids participate, including some who live in the "really need it" category. Many of our kids did the assigned readings without promptings from parents.

We are having an awards ceremony this Sunday. The clincher is going to be the gift bags we give to each child. I plan on pointing out that while these bags of candy and toys are cool, the real prize is the peace, joy, and wisdom God gives us when we read the Bible.

If you have any other ideas for getting the kids excited about daily devotions, make sure an post a comment.