We got some new songs for our upcoming “God Is…” series in Toon Town!

Check them out here!

Check me out doing this all in sequence.  What’s up with that?!?  Usually I toss in a few random posts just to keep you guessing.  Not so, this time.  Let’s keep rolling.  If you missed the first two, you can catch up here.

Skill #3:  Dialogue with God

The environments created at home and at church will be one of the first places children and teenagers learn to pray

Talking with God is not a difficult thing to demonstrate.  Actually doing it is the secret.  Though mealtime prayers are a ritual in many homes; breakfast, lunch and dinner are not the only times to dialogue with God.  We don’t stop talking to our kids at breakfast, do we?

Here’s a fun idea to establish a habit of prayer with your kids:

Every time the bell rings at school, just say hello to God.

It draws them back to a focus on Him and encourages an opportunity to talk with Him.

As a Christ-follower, what could serve as a constant reminder to just say hello to God?

As a parent, ministry leader/volunteer, what ideas do you have that would teach a Christ-follower the habit of dialogue with God?

I’ll leave you with this little nugget.  Who could resist. 

At the Orange Conference I attended a breakout session talking about 5 basic Faith Skills to build into kids to help them take ownership of their faith and make it theirs.  If you are a parent and/or serve in kids ministry, you don’t want to miss the next 5 posts.

Skill #1:  Navigate the Bible

• Children should know how the smaller stories within the Bible work together to tell God’s Big Story.  Many ministries are guilty of teaching the bible as a series of one-liners that support the main teaching point.  Yet kids fail to see the bigger picture in scripture.
  
• The Bible is a place they can go to find verses that will help them with specific questions.
  

God’s word is a source of Life to a believer.  Read in context, it reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.  Kids that learn a biblical worldview have a more solid foundation to build their life upon.  We can’t expect our kids to have a biblical worldview unless the Bible plays a prominent role in our lives.

Parents, how can we better equip you to teach your kids how to navigate the Bible?

Ministry leaders, how well does your curriculum teach kids to view the Bible as a continuous story of His Glory?

We recently celebrated Baptisms at LifeChurch.tv.  My passion centers around equipping parents for the long haul, so I lean toward providing ‘tools’ for them rather than just doing it myself.  I love the idea of mom/dad having a rich God-conversation on the playground… like baptism.  If I can give them the right questions to ask along with the right responses to look for, they can make a determination regarding their child’s readiness for these milestones.

The last baptism weekend was touching when a dad approached me right before his daughter’s baptism.  He said,

Three weeks ago my 8 year old asked about salvation.  I was able to go to LifeKIDS.tv, find information about salvation, have a great conversation with my little girl then lead her through a prayer to ask Jesus into her life.  Last week she wanted to know about baptism.  Again, I went to LifeKIDS.tv and found information about baptism.  Today I’m baptizing my daughter because she wants everyone to know what God has done.  I want you to know what you have done.  You empowered me to have conversations with my daughter I never thought I could have.  Thank you

That was amazing.  And he has no idea how much that meant to hear.

I need to learn more…

As a parent, what additional tools can your kids ministry leaders put in your hands?

As a ministry leader, what tools do you offer your parents?

My friend, Sam Luce, is featured on the cover of K! magazine.

If you’re looking for a solid resource to inspire you in kids ministry, K! mag is a great place to start. You can check out the entire mag online (including Sam’s article) here.

The winner of a signed copy of Reggie Joiner’s latest book, Think Orange is…

**cue drumroll**

Sarah Thompson

Sarah is the Children’s Pastor of  SouthLife Church in Dunedin, New Zealand.  You can check out her blog here. She’s got some great questions and I love the perspective she brings to the Kids Ministry conversation.  I’ve become a big fan of collaboration and the pursuit of working with churches in our communities to make a bigger impact on families.  Sarah is hard at work doing just that.  She shares a little about that here.  Check out her blog and leave some comment love.  Working alongside Sarah, we can help teach kids in New Zealand how to follow Jesus with all their heart, mind and strength.

How Cool Is That!?!

Sarah, thanks for all you do… seen and unseen… to serve this generation.  Keep rockin’ it out!

The 5th and final parenting skill… and my favorite of all.  Parenting Skill #5 is…

Multiply your Influence

Pursue strategic relationships for your kids.  As our kids grow older, our influence begins to diminish and the influence of others increases.  You can be strategic about who those influences are.

Though I can demonstrate what it looks like to be a godly mom and a godly wife for my kids, I will always be mom to them.  I want my daughter to be influenced by single young women who love Jesus.  So, I strategically place these Christ-following women in her life that demonstrate what purity and modesty looks like in that phase of life.  I’m selective of the babysitters that I choose and the company she keeps.

You can multiply your influence over your kids by surrounding them with relationships that live out this scripture… “…Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!”

Parenting Skill #4 is…

Fight for the Heart

Communicate in a way that brings value to the relationship.  As a parent, my words have the greatest impact on my child.

A sarcastic tongue… a sharp response… these things can hurt a child’s heart. They hurt even more coming from their parent.  Be the greatest protector of your child’s heart.

Your child will make mistakes.  They will break things.  They will spill things.  And sooner than you think, they’ll be 16 years old and back into the mailbox… in your car.  In these times, carefully address the problem, while affirming them as a person.

Then, in those random moments when nothing is wrong, nothings was spilled, nothing was broken… and your mailbox is still standing… take these moments to speak words filled with encouragement and praise.

Watch your child light up when you tell her what you see.

See his confidence grow when you tell him you fully believe that he can be a world changer.

Fight for their heart!

Here is #3 of the 5 Parenting Skills.  If you want to catch up click here.

Parenting Skill #3 is:

Create a Rhythm

Deuteronomy 6: 6-7 says, “Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children.  Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street…”

Create rhythms (or habits) in your home.  Rhythms are the constant themes that weave your family together.  One example of a rhythm is family time. Time together as a family is easy to do when the kids are young.  As they grow older, there are other things that fight for their time like friends, school, athletics, and other activities.  Increase the quantity of quality time. Create the habit of spending time together.

If you are the strongest influence in your child’s life then you’ve got to create the time to be that influence.

Your kids will have questions.  They’re looking for someone to ask.  Increase the chances they’ll ask you.  Create rhythms (or habits) where you have opportunity to talk about what God is doing.

Last week I posted about hooks in ministry.  Read it here to catch up.

Hooks are important in ministry b/c most people know what they want, but don’t know what they need.  I need a good hook to gain parents’ attention in order to expand their vision for their family.  The best hook in my tackle box for a young family is Child Dedications.

Child Dedications is a natural draw because:

• It’s the ’shiny’ moment where the parents showcase their child/family.
• Parents want to express their sincere intent to do what is best for their child.
• Parents are hungry for direction.

How do we know parents are hungry?

• They’ll pay $25 for the book, “What to Expect When Expecting”
• They study the origins of names searching for the perfect one
• They’ll tour the hospital BEFORE giving birth to their first-born

For the record… once you reach child #3… things change a little:

• That $25 book becomes a booster seat for the toddler
• Your kindergartner chooses the name based upon his favorite movie character.  And that’s how you have a child named Jack-Jack
• The hospital tour occurs while you’re pacing the halls in the midst of labor

But I digress.  Back to my point… Parents are willing to jump through a few hoops to participate in an event like Child Dedications.  So it should be more than just an isolated event.  Child Dedications should be a  process that lead mom and dad to embrace a God-sized vision for their family.  I’ll unpack my process for Child Dedications, but I’d like to hear your thoughts first.  No lurking. What’s the most important thing you want parents to know when they walk away from your Child Dedication event?