What Goes Into a Weekend Kids' Service?

One of my favorite TV shows is the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels,” a show that gives you a behind-the-scenes peek into the inner workings of things we take for granted every day. Sometimes I can’t believe how much effort goes into producing something that I don’t think twice about.


That’s one of the things I love about serving on the Children’s Ministry team at Southland. I get to see the tremendous effort that goes into pulling off incredible weekend experiences for kids.

Go ahead and dismiss any notions of a lone Sunday School teacher skimming a curriculum book and preparing a felt board and a few craft supplies. Pulling off weekend children’s services at Southland requires the coordination and collaboration of hundreds of staff and volunteers, all working together to help our kids experience Jesus week after week after week.

Come along with me for a quick tour of what it really takes to create a weekend experience for Southland kids.

Brainstorming Session

About two months before a weekend series goes live in the room, our team gathers for a brainstorming session. In this meeting our Programming Team provides us with an overview of our upcoming series including the Bible stories and key concepts. During this meeting we look for fun themes and current cultural trends to use to present old lessons in fresh ways. For example, in our last brainstorming session we took a series on Psalm 23 called “Show Me the Shepherd” and changed it to “The Sheep Life of Jack & Brody” to liven it up and give it more kid appeal.

Unpacking the Curriculum

After the brainstorming session, various members of our programming team take the scripts for the Large Group program and tear them apart. We evaluate each script through several filters.

• Is it biblical?

• Is it age-appropriate?

• Is it creative and fun?

• Does it have a compelling hook to get our kids’ attention?

• Does it engage multiple learning styles or does it just use a teacher as a talking head?

• Does it provide clear, tangible application, giving the kids something to do differently on Monday because of what they heard on Saturday or Sunday?

• Is there at least one powerful moment where kids can do business with God?

Rewrites

At this point, our large group programmers plan every element of the service, including worship and special elements, and plot the whole thing out on a storyboard so that we can map out the spiritual and emotional journey we’ll be taking kids on for the weekend. After this, they rewrite the scripts and send it on to the rest of the staff and our volunteers.

Putting Together the Pieces

Once we have a final script, our team attacks it, each adding his or her own unique, creative gifts. Diana Bower begins locating, purchasing or creating all props and costumes. Nicole Ernst communicates details of the weekend to our volunteer teams including teachers, worship leaders and actors and recruits any additional people needed. Chris Tetterton begins designing the tech elements. This includes computer graphics, videos, sound effects and lighting cues.

This may seem like a lot of work, because, well, it is. But can you think of anything that deserves more time, effort and attention than helping kids fall in love with Jesus and follow Him? Yeah, me neither.

As you can see, the preparation that goes into these weekend services is closer to a Disney stage show than a simple kids’ lesson. But this is just the beginning. In my next post, we’ll take a look at what how our Children’s Ministry team takes all of this preparation and puts it into action.

See you back here next time for another look behind-the-scenes.

Get Your Skates On

I don’t know about you, but I have great roller skating memories from childhood. I remember that I couldn’t wait to get to the rink and take off flying. It seemed like it took forever just to get out of the car, rent our stuff, and get my skates on. But once we were all set, it was total awesomeness.

Wind in my face. Disco ball spinning. Journey singing. Feet slipping. Skates flying. Tailbone smacking. Nacho eating.

Yes, it was the ultimate skating experience!

Best of all, I have fantastic memories with my family and friends just hanging out, laughing and clowning around on skates. It was just another excuse to be together and have some fun.

At the end of this month we want to give your family the same opportunity to make some awesome memories. If you have preschool or elementary children, come join us at Champs for our first Southland Skate night, Monday, February 28 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Our Children’s Ministry staff and families will be there to hang out and show off some our amazing skating skills. At the very least I’m sure you’ll see some of us demonstrate the spectacular art of falling. That alone will be worth the price of admission.

You don’t need to register or pay for your family in advance, so come on out for this fun connection opportunity. The cost at the door is $6 a person for skating. Laser Tag and snacks are separate. See you there!

Ready to Stretch Your Leadership Muscles?

I am incredibly disciplined at working out . . .  once a month.  It never fails.  I get frustrated just sitting around and then get suddenly inspired to go hit the weights and the excercise bike with all I've got.  You should see me.  I am a ball of atomic energy as I feverishly work every muscle from head to toe.  No pain, no gain, right?  Not quite.  The next day I have plenty of pain but have gained little.  I'm sore and exhausted and never quite get around to working out again until a month later when I'm feeling guilty and out of shape. 

I never get anywhere because you can't manufacture physical fitness in one day.  The same is true of leadership skills.  If you are volunteer in Children's Ministry, God wants you to grow both spiritually and as a leader.  Paul wrote that "physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Tim. 4:8)

Just like with physical training, it takes small doses of constant development to grow as a leader. 

That's why we've created the "Magnetic Children's Ministry" blog, to help awesome leaders like you to grow both in your faith and to give you practical tools to help you win with the kids.  Just click on this link and it will take you to the Magnetic Ministry Blog, a place full of resources for leaders who are in the trenches with kids every week. 

The coolest part is that you can just enter your email address and get this resource sent straight to your in-box!  So, what are you waiting for?  Head on over to the leadership blog and get ready to grow.

The Sheep Life of Jack and Brody

In a world that gets crazier by the day, 21st century kids need to know that they have a great big God who wants to protect and provide for them no matter what challenges they face. That’s why we’re about to begin a new five-week series in our 3rd-5th grade Club Orbit environment called “The Sheep Life of Jack and Brody.”

Beginning February 12th/13th weekend, kids will get to check out how Jesus protects and provides for each of us like a shepherd cares for his sheep. In the “Sheep Life,” kids will learn that we all need a shepherd to watch out for us and that our shepherd Jesus:

• Comforts us when we’re scared.

• Provides for our needs.

• Sets limits to protect us.

• Lays down His life for us.

Throughout this five week series we are challenging all of 3rd-5th graders AND THEIR PARENTS to memorize Psalm 23 in the NIV version of the Bible. When our kids are facing tough situations, we want that truth planted deep in their hearts, that the Lord really is their shepherd, and that He’s got their back.

So, what are you waiting for? Bust out Psalm 23 with your 3rd-5th grader and make sure they join us for “The Sheep Life of Jack and Brody,” the weekends of February 12th/13th through March 12th/13th in Club Orbit, located Building F, Room 205.

Want To Wow Your Preschoolers with the Bible?

I’m having a big problem lately trying to keep my daughters from fighting over who gets the most time with the Bible. Not a bad problem to have, huh? I’d like to say it’s due to my highly spiritual parenting skills, but in fact, I owe it all to a cool new download.


I have two preschoolers at home and they absolutely love the Beginner’s Bible published by Zonderkidz. The illustrations have major kid-appeal for preschool eyes, and the stories are told in a simple, engaging manner. This is also the Bible we use in our preschool environments at Southland, so my girls get the same version reinforced both at home and at church.

But this isn’t the Bible they’ve been fighting over. At least, not exactly.

I downloaded the exact same Bible (the Bible that we have two physical copies of in our house) through the Kindle app on my iPod touch for only $7.99, and it has been magic for my daughters. You would have thought I’d given them a pony.

I think every parent of preschoolers who has an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad should buy this from the Kindle store and give it a shot, that is, of course, if you don’t mind giving up your gadget for hours at a time.

So what’s the big deal?

The iPod’s screen brings the Bible images to life in rich, vivid color. My girls (even my two year-old) can easily manipulate the pictures, zooming in and out and moving it all around the screen to check out their favorite parts. The pages flow so fluidly from one to the next it gives the feeling of animated motion even though it’s just a still picture. Also, the Kindle app is so intuitive that my five year-old already knows how to get to the table of contents and go straight to an individual story.

Both girls love just sitting on my lap, flipping through page after page, exploring dozens of the 90 Bible stories at a time.

Once I purchased it, I can now also access the same Bible on my black and white kindle reader. Even though this doesn’t have the same appeal as viewing on an Apple device, it still gives me another copy to read when we’re on the road or when we can’t find one our hard copies.

I don’t recommend many resources, but anything that gets my daughters begging to look at Bible stories has to be worth eight bucks. And hey, it is cheaper than a pony.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!

Anyone who's ever seen the Wizard of Oz remembers the wizard frantically trying to keep Dorothy from seeing what was really going on behind-the-scenes to make the wizard look so awesome. Here in Children's Ministry, though, we love to pull back the curtain to help parents and leaders to see all that goes into creating a fantastic weekend experience for their kids.

Long before a weekend service arrives, our staff team has been adapting and writing curriculum, buying and organizing supplies, creating props, sets and costumes, setting up lighting and tech and preparing volunteer leaders for the big moment when kids walk in the door. Many long hours and meetings go into crafting what we pray is an incredible experience for every child in our ministry.

Over the next couple of months I'm going to unpack step-by-step what our talented does to take a weekend service from the page to the stage, all to help you to see just how much we want to help kids fall in love with Jesus and follow Him. And who knows, some of you along the way may just say, "Wow, I'd love to be a part of that! How can I help?" I'll be letting you know just how you can make a big difference by partnering with our team.

So, stay tuned for more behind-the-scene with Southland Kids!

Your Children's Ministry Story = Free Chicken

Here in Children's Ministry we love to celebrate what God is doing in the lives of our kids, families and leaders. So we want to hear your story. Each month of 2011 we will be hosting a contest to collect God stories from you.


Here's what we need - a story from you of how God has used Children's Ministry to make a difference in someone's life. This can be a story about a child, a leader, a family member or whoever.

Just e-mail it to Wende at wmalone@southlandchristian.org by the 1st day of the month. All entries will be thrown in a hat, and we'll draw each month to award a Chick-Fil-A gift card to the winning story.

So what are you waiting for? Share more stories. Eat more chickin!