I am so pumped about some new developments in our church. Just today I bought a lazer-tape gadget that uses a lazer beam to measure distance. It can then add the linear distances together and figure out square footage of a room. (Or cubic footage if you care).

Why did I buy this gadget for $19.95 us at Menard’s? Because we are expanding the children’s ministry into some newly acquired warehouse space (We own a warehouse as a church). It will give us the ability to have a secure children’s ministry wing and TRIPLE the size of our square footage. So, I have been measuring every room that we have currently to figure out what we need, what we want and what we can do. If you could triple the size of your children’s area, what would you do?

Hey out there to my Calvary Chapel friends. I am going to be at the Calvary Chapel Children’s Ministry Leadership Conference in Southern California in March. You can get the pdf brochure here. If you are in Children’s Ministry, and you are with the Calvary Chapel, and you can get to the Murrieta area by March 4… then, you should be there! it’s a great time and the price is right for the conrference, food and lodging on site.

I ran across this post a few days ago – it intrigued me because, 1. I run a children’s ministry and 2. This is a church in Minnesota. I added my comment and got a nice response from the folks in charge of the blog. It turns out that the family is just one suburb over from our church and the folks in charge of the blog were going to forward our church info to them. When I found out where they lived, I knew which church they were referring to. I began to realize how sad it is that this well known church in our part of the metro is not just well known for being big… they have a reputation as the church that has a cover-charge for kids to get into the children’s ministry. It makes me wonder if they realize that they have this kind of reputation.

How about you – what do you think? Do you charge kids to attend weekend children’s ministries? If you were asked to start by your leadership, would you?

If you look off to the right of this post (if you are not on bloglines which by the way… if you are not on bloglines, then subscribe so you can keep track of all of your blogs) then you will see that there is a new podcast episode called “How To Be A Winner – Part 1” If you are at bloglines, then just click here and go to my podcast page. This is part one of a two part episode on some tips, tricks and ideas that could help you go to the next level.

For those who care and need to know details. This was a lecture that was recorded live at the National Children’s Ministries Leadership Conference hosted by the Assemblies of God in Springfield, MO.

I hope you enjoy it – and as always, I would love your feedback.

I have some more pics of the new set that I had built for our TOYS series. I will post them when I get the chance.

Here are a few pictures of the props that are making up the set for our new series in Kids’ Church “TOYS – everyday fun… eternal truths”.

The first pic is of me and my 3 year-old daughter, Emma, atop of the giant legos. These are a few of 6 total that were built for us by a guy in our church. They are actually made of wood and the bottoms are finished as well and actually have holes that perfectly fit the knobs on the tops – these things can actually be stacked like the real thing!

The second pic is on me and the giant Rubik’s Cube, a Lego on bottom and the big Paddle-Ball Paddle. Off to the right on the floor, leaning up against the sound booth, you can see the monkeys for the Barrel of Monkeys.

I’ll add some more shots of the finished set later (My projection screens look like Etch-a-Sketches – the same guy made all of this stuff for us!) Can you tell that I am totally geeked about this series?

This is a post form my church blog for parents:

We are starting the new series in KidZone Church this weekend called: “TOYS – everyday fun… eternal truths” The room is gonna be amazing! Kristie Kerr and her entourage of amazing decorators and set-design gurus will be unleashed upon the room formerly known as the secondary auditorium this week to adorn it with jumbo-sized replicas of classic toys.

Each week we will take a classic or famous toy and turn it into an illustrative message that will be unforgettable!

I really don’t mind if you, as parents, would like to come in and see the room and stay for the service – there’s no doubt that your minds will be flooded with memories of the days by-gone of yesteryear when you, as a youngins, occupied the floor of your bedrooms, frolicking about with many of the toys that you will see!

David Wakerly over at the childrensministryblog.com just busted my chops (and a few other bloggers) for neglecting to update our blogs… Guilty. The last time I updated this thing was over a month ago when I shamelessly promoted how well my podcast was going. Well, here is an update and I hope you find it helpful:

Kids Don’t Schedule Counseling Appointments – by Jamie Doyle

If you are a kids’ pastor or synonymous leader in your church to children, then you have realized that children aren’t standing in line in front of the children’s church room following the service to set-up a counseling appointment with you. Kids don’t think in those terms. But I have found that kids will talk with you about all kinds of stuff when you are just hanging out with them and being yourself. Issues in their lives will surface when they feel comfortable with you.

I was at a spiritual emphasis week at another church (about ten years ago). I was the featured speaker for the children’s services. Prior to my presentation, the children’s pastor at that church set up games and activities for the kids to play. I was a little put off by this and couldn’t understand why we were “playing games” at a spiritual emphasis church event. The next day, I felt like God had spoken to me to go and play the games. I really didn’t want to but, I did. While I was playing the game, the kids at that table began to talk to me about issues in their own lives. We ended up praying together and I informed the children’s pastor about it so he could continue to minister to those kids later. I continued to move from table to table and just play the games with the kids. That night during the message, I had earned the right to be heard and at the altar time, I knew what I why some of those kids came forward and I knew what to pray about.

To this day, I still schedule activities in which I can just hang out and have fun. Try it – You will earn the right to be heard and you will be able to counsel kids that need it.

Thanks Dave for bustin’ my chops!

I recently started up my PodCast – I have been talking about doing it for… well, a long time. But now it’s finally happening. I have gotten some great responses from those who have subscribed (over 130 subscribers to date). Thanks to those of you have listened in and sent me comments. I have even gotten some good tips from some experienced PodCasters – Thanks for your help as well. If you have not headed over to itunes or to the PodOmatic site to download, listen or subscribe, you can do so off to the side of this blog by simply choosing the episode you want to listen to and listening to it with the player provided (you don’t even need itunes, but it helps). Please send me or post your comments and any ideas for future episodes.

Thanks once again and I hope you enjoy!