The Kidfest ‘09 events have been finalized. Our program this year is exciting and will add some new stuff we haven’t done before! The brochures are being printed and prepared for mailing! On Friday night at each Kidfest event: Carolina (April 24-26), Midwest (May 1-3), and Smoky Mountain (May 15-17), there will be a kids concert featuring THE LADS! How cool is that? Of course, Burnin Bush will be back at each event. Kevin McHann and His Word Studio are our featured ministry guests at all four Kidfest events. Texas will get the opportunity to see Fritzy. Kevin and Story the horse, will be sharing at Smoky Mountain. We’re expecting sell-out crowds at all these events! Register early! Let’s plan to RIDE THE WAVE of the Holy Spirit at Kidfest ‘09!
KIDFEST 09 FINALIZED
October 20, 2008
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creative ministry, resources | 
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Posted by tony l
KIDFEST ‘09
July 30, 2008
You thought Kidfest ‘08 was the greatest? Wait till you see what’s in store for Kidfest ‘09. This is the greatest weekend of the year for kids. It’s a time of transformation! Mark your calendar now for the 2009 Kidfest season dates and locations. New Kidfest locations will be added soon. Watch www.mykidfest.com for future information about this year’s events and locations!Frontier Kidfest: April 3-5
Carolina Kidfest: April 24-26
Midwest Kidfest: May 1-3
Smoky Mt. Kidfest: May 15-17
This year’s theme is RIDE THE WAVE!
What would you like to see at this year’s Kidfest? Share some ideas!
Any testimonies about past Kidfest events? Share one!
-tl
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creative ministry, leadership | Tagged: children's ministry, kidfest, ride the wave | 
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Posted by tony l
PIXAR… Master Story Tellers!
July 30, 2008
My family went to the movies recently to see ‘Wall-e.” As expected, the genuis of Pixar shined through once again. The makers of some of the best animated films ever… including The Incredibles, Toy Story, and Monster’s Inc… once again showed why they are the best. They are MASTER story tellers!
Sure, they always have amazing, new graphics, perfect soundtracks, and the best voice-overs in the business. With Pixar though, all these elements are there to support (and never overpower) the reason for their movies… to tell a GREAT story!
In addition to telling a great story, the folks at Pixar humanized their insentient characters like only they can. One of the coolest moments in the movie for my family was at the climax. Without giving too much away… Blake (my seven-year-old) got it! He was telling me why things weren’t working and was providing me with the technical solution. However, I new this plan wouldn’t work, but I didn’t know how they were going to resolve it. Well, let’s just say they did it perfectly… even with a gesture of respect to some of the Disney classics.
Way to go Pixar!
As children’s ministry leaders, we must never allow stuff to overpower THE Story we have to tell. The methods of our ministry must never supersede the Message. We must remember that we’ve got the greatest story of redemption the world has ever known, and all our efforts at creativity should be to present that Story in a way that is understood by the audience. Creative programming is the means to the end!! The end is kids accepting the truth of the Story!!
Anybody else see the movie? What were your thoughts?
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creative ministry, leadership | Tagged: children's ministry, Pixar, story tellers, wall-e | 
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Posted by phil h
The BIG Challenge
February 24, 2008
We recently closed out a teaching series at GenesisKIDS entitled the BIG Challenge. In the series we talked about getting into spiritual shape. We covered issues with the kids that would help them focus on becoming all that God wanted them to be.
When we closed the series, I remember praying for the kids during that last service. I prayed for them to respond to God’s leading so they could do great things for God. But then, in a moment I will not soon forget, the Lord checked me and I changed my prayer. I prayed that the kids would first allow His Spirit to change them. Then I repented for the times I prayed for God to do great things through me instead of in me. I asked for forgiveness for the times I wanted change the world, but I neglected to allow His Spirit to change my heart.
It seems kids today are more socially aware then my generation. In my experience with them, they are definitely more concerned about issues affecting the world then my friends were in the 80’s, and that is without a doubt a good thing! However, in order to affect real, eternal change, it will take kids (and adults) whose concerns go beyond the social injustices of today. God needs people whose principle concern is how they respond to God’s leading their personal lives with that still small voice. To put it more succinctly, the BIG challenge for us today is to focus on what God wants us to be, before we obsess over what He wants us to do.
1 Comment | creative ministry, encouragement, leadership | Tagged: challenge, children's ministry, genesiskids | Permalink
Posted by phil h
Engage 21 Conference
February 1, 2008
An invitation is being extended to visionary leaders who desire to be connected and empowered for ministry. Engage 21, February 28 and 29, is the first conference of this type in the Church of God and we are excited about its potential! I long for a re-focus on the mission which Jesus initiated. Perhaps the dialogue and interaction allowed at this gathering will help us to do that. I greatly appreciate the emerging leaders, including church planters, lead pastors, children’s pastors, and student ministry pastors. One of the tensions we all experience is the uniqueness in which God has created us for a specific purpose in the place where He desires to go. We have to allow for differences in style and methodology. While the Word does not change, culture shifts. And in order to be effective in reaching our varied cultures, we must empower individuals to proceed, doing whatever it takes to win their communities for Christ! We have to make a choice to choose to encourage, rather than criticize!
I’m excited about the future, if we can regain our focus on the mission and not on positional movement with selfish agendas. As long as we are willing to deny ourselves and our desires, then God can mold us, shaping us into a vessel fit for His use in today’s world. I’m ready to be propelled into the future! I believe in the new generation of leadership. I choose to stand still, listen for His voice, maintain integrity to the call and character of Christ, and obey. As Erwin McManus, I too want to follow the barbarian way!
Join me on the journey! Take a look at the Engage 21 Conference information which can be seen at www.churchofgod.org. There you will see a promo video, schedule, and registration form. I hope to see some fellow barbarians there!
-tl
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Posted by tony l
Wii Series
December 3, 2007
Yesterday in GenesisKIDS we started a new series entitled Wii. We started off with WiiStop, where we discussed how we all need times of rest in our lives. More specifically, we looked to scriptures where there are numerous accounts of Jesus seeking out silence and solitude in His life. Think about that. Jesus, the son of God, often went off to be alone and pray. If He needed to, don’t you think we need to?
This discipline is often overlooked in our culture. I spoke to the kids about finding God’s rhythm of grace. Finding rest in His presence. We talked about making a habit of turning off the noise of this world, and stepping out of the busy traffic of life. We closed with a very meaningful time of silent prayer. It was so sweet to see our kids kneeling in worship to our God.
If we can raise a generation of kids who can get this, oh how their lives would change. They’d have a wealth of wisdom, peace, confidence and courage. They would understand, like Jesus did, that silence and solitude is where they truly begin to “be still and know.”
2 Comments | creative ministry, leadership | Tagged: silence, solitude, teaching series, wii | Permalink
Posted by phil h
We Don’t Belong Here
November 12, 2007
Today in GenesisKIDS we wrapped up a lesson series entitled “Major Pain” where we talked about suffering. Today’s lesson was entitled “GRADUATION!” and we talked about how perseverance through our pain can bring about wisdom and maturity in our faith.
But more importantly, we talked about how one day we’ll graduate. Similarly to how folks graduate from kindergarten, high school and even military boot camp, one day we’ll graduate from life here on earth. And on that day we’ll leave this place filled with pain, suffering, sickness, wars, hurricanes, and a ton of other stuff we don’t understand. We’ll leave this place where we really don’t belong, and God will welcome us into the place He created for us. He’ll say to us, “Enter in.” And for the first time, we’ll understand what “home” truly means.
On our take home papers we had questions about heaven along with scripture references for the kids to look up with their parents to answer those questions. How have you talked to your kids about heaven?
Leave a Comment » | creative ministry, encouragement, family ministry | Tagged: children's ministry, heaven | Permalink
Posted by phil h
Lemonade… it’s always good!
October 30, 2007This past Sunday we started a three week series on Job. For our game this week, we decided to go back to an ol’ favorite… Lemonade. In this ‘relay race’ game each kid has to:
1. take a big bite of a lemon wedge
2. down a packet of sugar
3. drink a small cup of water
4. jump up and down 5 times to mix it all up
This game is an old favorite, but also perfect for the day’s lesson where we talked about taking our ‘lemons of life’ and making… you know the rest.
What game is an ol’ favorite for your kids?
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Posted by phil h
Family Ministry
October 24, 2007
At GenesisChurch.tv, we’ve been employing a ministry concept spelled out in Dave Ferguson’s book, The BIG Idea. At our worship experiences, we teach on the same subject matter for all ages from elementary kids and up. We just closed out the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Champion) series for the adults where we focused on three champions of the Bible: Jacob, Samson, and David. In the corresponding GenesisKIDS series, entitled CHAMP!, we focused on the same three stories, but the content was tweaked in order to be age appropriate and relevant for that age group. While this is not the only aspect of our family ministry, we’ve discovered this to be a valuable tool in our efforts to minister to our kids and parents. When families leave church together on the same page spiritually, it helps set the table for spiritual discussions at home during the week.
What model or tool have you found to be effective for ministering to the entire family? Have you had successful events that reach the entire family?
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Posted by phil h
Creative Arts Store
October 18, 2007
Here is a great resource coming from one of our own. Many of you may recognize the name Darren Casteel, recently children’s pastor at Lawrenceville Church of God. He is now a part of the leadership at Christian Creative Arts Association. The CCAA exists to advance the Kingdom through individuals and churches using the creative arts in worship, ministry, and missions. You can find out more about CCAA here.
They also offer online the Creative Arts Store. You may remember them being one of our exhibitors at the last FOCUS conference. There is some really cool stuff here. Check it out.
Leave a Comment » | creative ministry, resources | Tagged: creative arts, resources | Permalink
Posted by steve b
