High Seas Gallery

4 08 2010

High Seas Expedition was a fantastic week where the church worked together to create a highly memorable experience for kids and families to look back on for the rest of their lives. The theme was God’s love as shown through His Word. May His Word go out into the world, linger in people’s souls and bring real and eternal hope through Jesus.

We had over 100 kids for the first time! We had the most volunteers we’ve ever had. New kids came and other kids came back who have come all the years we’ve been doing this exciting summer week. Blankets and Good News colouring books were prepared to send off to Africa. New volunteers were stretched, but with the great reward of joy and satisfaction in knowing they had a positive influence on children. Kids didn’t want to leave at the end of the week. Kids who’ve never had their own Bible received one. There was great music, food, Bible stories, crafts, games and friendship.

Thanks to everyone who participated to make this a great and God-honouring week!





Chat Show (Volume 1, Issue 1)

17 07 2010

Each week at church I do a few minutes segment called Chat with Pastor Steve. Kids can write in any comments, questions, jokes or prayer requests. (We’re a small enough church that I usually don’t worry about having too many to handle in a service). I really enjoy getting into the minds of kids this way. There are some really fun and funny comments as well as some deep questions. Each week, I’m gonna try to capture these thoughts here and how I answer them (if I do at all). Enjoy!

Joke: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? I just want to give you an orange door. J.G. Gr.3

Joke: Q. What is eternity? A. When 4 blondes meet at a 4 way stop sign. T.B. Gr.5 // Funny! BTW, this was written by a blonde boy and even my blonde wife laughed.)

Comment: You have a big nose for Chat with Pastor Steve. ? Gr.3 // The picture I use was done with a fisheye lens. Actually Karl Bastian took it when I was in Yosemite with him.





Personalities in Kids

19 05 2010

The Farside

I’m always fascinated with personalities. In the Bible you have gutsy Peter, eccentric John the Baptist, encouraging Barnabas, driven King David and so on. People are wonderfully designed with so many different styles of life.

My two children are vastly different in personalities. Sonora is particular, loves to be pretty, sings laments when she’s in trouble and regularly speaks of her owies. Josiah on the other hand is aggressive, hands-on and he can be sweet one moment and growling angry the next. For example, when Sonora gets in your lap, she subtly, gently and sweetly climbs up. But Josiah runs and flops on you, then scrambles up. There is so much fun to be had in discovering the differences in kids!

As a parent or as a children’s ministry volunteer, we need to be students of our kids’ personalities. While I don’t suggest we put kids in a box and limit them to our decision about what their personality is, I do, however, recommend that we learn their tendencies. We do this to praise their strengths and correct their weaknesses. We notice and comment on what part of their character is right in God’s eyes. And we also strategize with them on how they can improve the not-so-healthy parts of their character.

Consider some different personalities in the article: Motivation and Personality Type.





Outdoor Fun for Kids

4 05 2010

From Family Minute:

Did you ever see the movie Holes? 
If you saw my backyard right now, you would think about this film. It looks like a war zone. You see, my son and his friends dug three big holes in the ground that they can hide in for paintball wars. It would be easy to get bothered about it and yell at our son for digging up the yard and tracking dirt into the house. But you know what… it’s better than watching T.V. or playing video games… and he’s having the time of his life!  Can’t think of anything?  We’ve got 10 Great Things to do right here!





Do Disturb Me

29 04 2010

ONLY KIDS MAY DISTURB ME

Kids wake me up!

Kids make me laugh!

Kids remind me of God!

Kids make me smile!

Kids are fun!

Kids are interesting!

Kids are valuable!

Kids are curious!

Jesus welcomed them and so will I.

I am a children’s pastor!





How to Get Kids Ready

29 04 2010

(Reposted from an earlier Facebook note).

Getting your kids ready may sound like an easy thing, but sometimes it can get downright stressful! Here are some ideas from the Bourque family to make your transition times more enjoyable and actually a meaningful part of daily life! (While this article targets parents, there are important principles for children’s ministry volunteers as well). I’ll get the difficult point out of the way first and then get into some fun stuff.

1. Getting your kids ready may take some SACRIFICE.

When you became a parent, you gave away some of your personal freedoms…you now have someone else to take care of. When you refuse to sacrifice or be a little flexible in this, tempers can begin to flair. So embrace the fact that you must give up some of your personal interests for the sake of family peace and unity! “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too” (Philippians 2:4). Read the rest of this entry »








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