Archives For Bible
These two monkey are my sons. Ryan, the one on the left, is 10 years old and in the 5th grade. Dylan, the one that needs a haircut, is on the right and he’s 9 years old and in the 3rd grade. They are 100% boys, and I love to bounce things off them from time to time. I mean that both literally with objects and figuratively like books that publishers send me.
One of these such books is The Action Bible from my friends at David C. Cook. They’ve had an Action Bible in their bedrooms for over a year, so they were familiar with the graphical wonderland of this fun book. David C. Cook sent us a devotional for me try out, so I passed it on to the boys and told them I’d ask some questions after two weeks. (The devotion is broken up into one-a-week segments, but I asked them to complete at least 5 of the devotions. )
The questions are mine, but the responses are straight from them!
#1. Tell me about The Action Bible. What is it? How is it different than other bibles?
RYAN || Well, the action bible is totally different because it’s all in comic book form of the bible! It’s every thing a boy would love!DYLAN || It is different then other bibles becouse you can write in it and it gives me questions.
#2. What were some things you liked about the Action Bible Devotional?
RYAN || I liked the missions you had to do after you read the little comic. Like there was one where you had to build noahs’s ark out of legos or something. I also like the ‘x-ray vision’ which was about what the story meant and how to apply it to our lives.
DYLAN || I loved the missions most of all!
#3. Was it easy to use the devotional?
RYAN || Yes, it was very easy to use it with all the ‘inside information’ and instructions for the things you could do.
DYLAN || Yes, because you just write down whatever you learn from reading it.
#4. Is there something you didn’t like about the devotional?
RYAN || There isn’t anything that makes me not like it.DYLAN || Not really.
#5. Why is it important for kids like you to read the Bible?
RYAN || I think it’s important for kids like me to read the bible so we could know how to act like jesus and learn about making wise choices.
DYLAN || Because we learn stuff and when you learn stuff you get smarter.
Check out all of the newly released Action Bible tools.
I came across a fantastic infographic, and with it being Passion Week it seemed a fun thing to share. It is a chronological timeline of the major events that happened during Jesus’ last week before he died and rose again.
Each event is cross-referenced with the gospel(s) it is found in. It also includes major location changes as well as the relative possible timing of the Last Supper, Trial and Crucifixion.
Enjoy! (Click the image to make it much larger!)
I serve as a Family Ministry Director at my church, and have been fortunate enough to meet and collaborate with other like-minded people doing the same things at their churches. I’ve also been given many opportunities to share my opinions on family ministry as it is in 2012 and the future. I’ve for sure learned a few things as it’s been happening.
Let me randomly throw some things out there that I’ve come to believe:
- It’s important that whoever leads the team have mentoring, disciple-making, and high-level people skills in their repertoire. As the leader at our church, I’ve worked hard to try and increase my skills in these areas. However, I’ve seen some churches hire the “most successful” pastor on their staff and then that leader struggles big-time because he’s more about the end-game ministry that he is about the big picture leading of a team.
- It HAS to be the long-term vision of the senior leaders of the church. If it’s more of a pencil-pushing delegation of tasks, then it won’t work long term. Sounds harsh, but I’ve seen it bear out many times. If the Senior Pastor is simply trying to reward excellence by allowing the family teams to merge, then it won’t work. It has to come from a real desire to see ministries working with the families in the church come together to lock arms and combine resources to help everyone be successful.
- Be prepared for change. Anytime that another layer is added between a pastor and the senior leaders of the church, it can get tricky. NextGEN ministry is no exception.
- It can work. In the places where I’ve worked, when we started communicating as one team to one family, the families in our church began to notice. It starts with simple things like a church-wide family picnic with all the family teams working together; and then moves into more strategic activities. Yes, I advocate for food-related family and church events.
- It’s important to involve the entire staff of the NextGEN team into the conversation for the future. Together at the same table, sharing the same vision, and creating the same goals for all of the team. It can bring people together, and help everyone understand each other in a new way. (I’ve used the Orange Leaders Handbook to help us craft a strategy that fit our church.)
- There are tons of churches moving into this model of combining what were solo ministries into combined ministries, and there are tons of models of what that should look like. It’s my believe though, that each church is different and therefore each church has to tweak, create, and adjust the models to fit their churches’ over all vision, mission, and values. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to church staff structures.
If you’re a parent: What benefit, if any, do you see to your youth pastors working with your children’s pastors?
If you’re on a church staff: Have you any thoughts to add to the conversation?
It’s impossible to tell people what I do without the words team and teamwork being heard. I work in a church so I work with people that go to that church. I work in those environments for kids and students, so I work with kids and students. That much is obvious. But what I really do is lead the teams that lead those areas specifically. To further complicate it, I lead a team of leaders that lead their own teams. Take me to coffee sometime, and I’ll tell you about this team of all-stars I have the privilege of leading now.
But, what is a team? A team is collection of people gathered together to accomplish one singular purpose. Easy enough to understand, right? If I’m creating a hockey team, I need a collection of hockey players. My team won’t work if I put 3 hockey players with 20 people that can’t ice skate. Get that? A team is a collection/group/cohort that works together to accomplish/do/achieve one singular purpose.
Let’s go to the Bible on this. Teamwork matters.
- Ecclesiastes 4:9-12: “Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it’s just too bad, because there is no one to help him. If it’s cold, two can sleep together and stay warm but how can you keep warm by yourself. Two men can resist an attack that would defeat one man alone. A rope of three cords is hard to break.” (TEV) We are better together than we are on our own.
- Nehemiah 4: When the Israelites were rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem, the work got tough and they got discouraged. Finally, they just gave up. So Nehemiah reorganized the work into teams. Half would stand guard with their spears and swords and protect everyone. The other half would work. Then they’d alternate their positions. He posted everyone by groups and families, so they could encourage and support each other.
- Mark 6:7: When Jesus sent people out in ministry; he sent them out in twos. He did not expect them to minister alone.
- Acts 24: Paul specifically mentions seven people who were part of him ministry team. He brought others along, not only to train them, but also to keep him encouraged.
BTW: There is a great book by John Maxwell, titled “Teamwork 101″; you should check it out.
