FrogSpot Grown-Ups

Space Shuttle Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Space exploration is something that naturally fascinates kids. and there are many object lessons to be drawn from the "heavens". See Psalm 19:1-6.

Last year God impressed me with a cool space based program that teaches about the battle between Christ and Satan for each person's life. I was also impressed with a simple and inexpensive way to make a space shuttle that the kids could get inside to hear the Bible stories. I also found the parts to the Astronaut costume really cheaply.

We just got done with a great weekend at KS-NE Campmeeting leading the Primary Division in which we used this theme of Space Exploration. It worked wonderfully!

I plan to write up the plans to the shuttle so that anyone can use it. If you want a copy of these plans just email me. You can see pictures of the assembly here. As I set this thing up I realized it could easily be converted into a covered wagon or a greenhouse to make it useful for many themes.

The space suit consisted of the following:

MicroMax Coveralls with Hood, Elastic Wrists and Ankles
White PVC Boots
Astronaut helmet (you could probably make this just as well with paper maché and a balloon)
White gloves

Read'n With Da Boy!

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Just for fun!

Are Fathers still important? My local hospital says "no"!

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Well I've been pretty quiet on my web sites since my first child was born on July 28. No apologies, I've been spending that time doing daddy things!

But tonight I wanted to get something off my chest that has been bugging me ever since my boy was born. It started with the prenatal classes. The major focus was on the mother, which is to be expected, after all, it's the mother who has to get the baby out! But every once in a while they would make a lame attempt to include fathers. Here's one example. After going on and on about the close relationship a mother can build with her baby through everyday caretaking, like nursing, they said, "Now, the father may think that there isn't much for him to do but that's not true. After the baby's fed the father can burp him!" (Not an exact quote but the basic idea) Thanks a bunch! That's exactly what every guy sees as a fulfilling relationship with his baby--getting spit up all over! Not that I mind Kevin burping on me, but I don't see that as my major care-giving role!

I wrote these comments off as innocent carelessness, but in the hospital on delivery day this anti-father bias became glaringly apparent. It seemed that the whole system was set up with the idea that my wife was the baby's real parent and I was the tag-along.

Now I have to stop here and say that the nurses that we had were great. They were respectful and even apologetic when they had to enforce the asinine anti-fatherhood policies of the hospital. So my complaint is not with the hospital staff but with the idiots (and I mean that literally) who made up the policies.

I could rant for a long time about the anti-father policies at the hospital but I'll stick to three obvious ones.

1. When Kevin was born and everything was stabilized enough, they had us move from the labor and delivery room to a nursery room. As we were getting ready to go down the hall, the nurse apologetically informed me that the I was not aloud to carry my own baby to the new room; he had to be carried by my wife. Excuse me!?! Who came up with that boneheaded idea? My wife was weak and bleeding from the delivery with a perfectly capable husband right next to her yet they made her carry the baby in her lap in the wheelchair, because, in their mind, Kevin was her baby not ours.

2. When we got top the new room Kevin's bassinet was given a place card identifying his name and other pertinent info including the name of his mother. Significantly absent...the name of the father. Then they gave us all armbands. In all the action I didn't bother to read my arm band till later that night. It identified me as "Significant Other". To give them the benefit of the doubt I thought that maybe they made their relationship designations based on the mother, not the child, and since their are so many unmarried women having babies these days maybe they might be afraid to write husband on the band. Of course if that's the case then her band should say "patient". So to check up on my theory, as soon as Heather was awake I asked to read her arm band. Sure enough, it identified her as "Mother"! This really got me mad. How dare they identify Kevin's mom as "mother" but relegate his dad to the status of "significant other"! Every child has a father. He may be good, he may be bad, he may be involved or he may be distant, but unless he died in the past 9 months the child still has a father. And they ought to have an arm band that says it!

3. When they gave Heather the various paperwork to fill out I decided that, just to make sure that their is some recognition that the baby belongs to both of us, I'd be the one to fill out the application for the birth certificate. I was relieved to find that they did have a place for the father to sign on the certificate but then I saw the catch; there was a place on the form where, if the mother and father are not married, the mother could state who the father was, giving him parental rights. Of course, if the mother didn't want to do that then the father's only hope would be to hire a lawyer. Now, Heather and I are happily married so this didn't apply to us so I didn't bother Heather with it, she was already tired enough. But when did we get to the place where a father has to have the permission of the mother to have the rights and privileges of a daddy? I thought that right was God given and biological.

Just for comic relief...After being completely shut out by the hospital's policies, after making it extremely clear that, in their opinion, Kevin belonged to Heather and I was just a "significant other", I did finally get some recognition from the hospital....They addressed the bill to me (not to Heather)! At least they figured out that fathers are to be the providers!

So what does all this matter? Why don't I just shake my head, laugh it off and then forget about such insults? Because this strikes at the heart of society's desecration of the God given role of fathers. When I was working in radio and later when I sat on a child abuse prevention committee one common thread arose: We need to get fathers to be fathers. When the father is not involved in a kid's life the child suffers and so does society. We ran ads and did education campaigns trying to get fathers to get involved. All the while our health and government agencies were actively disrespecting the father's role!

In his book, Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs proposes that while women most desire to feel loved, men most desire to feel respected. After careful consideration I think he is right on. So if we really want men to step up and be dads, we need to respect the role of father. When a hospital, court, health and human services, the media or any other agency disrespects fathers it contributes to a culture where fatherhood is not a respectable thing. And if men want to get respect, they'll have to look elsewhere to find it.

Thankfully I get my opinion of fatherhood from God, who thinks it's so important that he used it to describe His relationship to us (see Romans 8:15-17). So I'll do what I can to help change society's view of fathers, but meanwhile I'm going to be a proud dad; and if others think it's strange...I don't care!

New Year of Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:47:00 +0000

It's a new school year. And the classes I'm taking have a ridiculously high level of homework. Of course, the overabundance of information will result in less learning. What? Less learning? Yes.

In children's ministry I've found over and over that when we're teaching we find a lot of wonderful things our students need to know so we add it to the list of things to get into the curriculum . The problem is that when you have too much information going in then most of it doesn't get retained.

So just a quick reminder. Keep it Biblical, accurate and SIMPLE!!!!

P.S. Here are a few books I'm going to be reading this year.

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Creating a Healthier Church

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Is Easter About Jesus Or Bunnies?

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:14:00 +0000

When your children's ministry moves into the Easter season, how do you keep the focus off of Bunnies and Eggs and on Jesus? When dealing with secular kids, and those whose families are not very involved in their spiritual training, this can be quite an issue.

A year ago I was planning our Logos Easter program with my 2nd and 3rd graders and they kept mentioning easter eggs and bunnies (they're not from my church). I decided that instead of telling them "No we don't do bunnies and eggs" I'd explain why. One of the kids is a champion speller so I said (in a much more elaborate way), "What if you won the national spelling bee and the town had a big celebration to honor you. But when you got there no one even said 'Hi' to you or mentioned your accomplishment instead they had all brought their dogs and they had turned it into a dog show. How would you like that?" (they didn't) so then I explained that Easter is when we celebrate Jesus dieing on the cross for us and then rising from the dead. "How do you think Jesus likes it when we ignore Him and just talk about bunnies and eggs?" I asked. They got the point, and loved it so much that they decided, totally on their own, that they wanted to turn that story into a play and teach that concept to the adults at the easter program.

I have written the story out as a narrated skit and my 2nd ans 3rd graders are practicing it right now.

Click here to read the skit.
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This post was originally posted Mar 13, 2008

Should Christians bring children into immoral world?

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:02:00 +0000

Heather and I are thrilled, we're pregnant!!! We kept it secret till Thanksgiving day when we told Heather's and my families via a conference call. Once the secret was out we've trumpeted the good news to the world.

Last Friday I told a friend that my wife is pregnant and his first response was, "I wouldn't want to raise a child in these days." I was a bit surprised with that response, it's not the typical thing we hear.

Heather and I had actually thought of that before we decided to have a baby. Indeed, it seems like children are bombarded from every angle with messages and influences that seek to counteract any glimmer of Christian faith.

Children are overloaded with media which is filled not only with programs that espouse immorality and self-centeredness but even advertisers do their best to use children to sell their products, thus teaching kids to be "me centered."

Following the lead of media advertising, children's departments at stores entice kids with pictures and sayings of things that don't reflect a Christian world view. In the kids sections of clothing stores I see kids clothes that say, "Sassy", or "trouble" or have messages of disrespect toward parents, siblings and teachers. On the other hand there's the whole "princess" and "perfect angel" motif which encourages little girls to think they are the queen and should be catered to by their parents and society. And lets not forget all the "licensed" junk in the kids sections that are connected with magical movies and TV shows.

Many toys for girls promote vanity, selfishness and magic, while predisposing them to our sexually explicit society. Boy's toys seem to focus on violence, magic, and self-power. As an adult, I even cringe at some of the despicable pictures and characters in the toy isle.

Last but certainly not least, there's the completely morally bankrupt society we live in. Where right and wrong are subject to one's own opinion. Where it's no longer a shameful thing to have a baby out of wedlock, and "shacking up" before marriage is not just excepted but expected. Where the public schools are centers of liberal-socialist indoctrination and curriculum's deny God and teach kids that faith is just a fairy tale. Where the government thinks they have a say in how you should raise your kids. Yes, it's certainly not the ideal environment to try to raise a child to love and serve the Lord.

So why did Heather and I decide to have a kid in such a reprobate world? Here's just one of many reasons: If Christians look at the world and decide not to have kids because of all the evil then we're surrendering the next generation to Satan. We need to be raising kids who will be able to positively influence society when they're grown just as we are trying to do now. We all know that the non believers aren't slowing the pace of child making. In fact, I predict that by the time my kid is in school it will be unusual for a kid to be born within a committed married union.

It may seem that the odds are stacked against us but let's not forget that we're not alone in this fight, in fact we're on the winning side. Jesus has already won over satan, we're just waiting for the homecoming now! Romans 5:20 says, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" we'll certainly need that grace raising our little bundle of joy for God because we are admittedly incapable of doing it on our own. But we trust Jesus when He says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." and we say with Paul, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

We're looking forward to seeing God override the evil influences all around as we guide our little one to Him! If you're a young christian married couple I hope you'll join us in taking the next generation for Jesus.

Halloween and Kids' Ministry--Open Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:45:00 +0000

The topic of Halloween is (or should be) a hot one in kids' ministry circles. Should we encourage our kids to go ahead with the customary celebration of the day or should we provide a Bible based alternative? Some say to just completely ignore the topic.

I found a neat blog which has an open discussion on the topic. I found it very interesting. Click here to view it yourself www.ministry-to-children.com

One interesting thing I found on this website is that many churches do a reformation day celebration. I just learned this year that it was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That is why October 31 is called Reformation Day. I may just find myself joining in with the other kids' ministries who choose to celebrate reformation day instead of Halloween.

What do you think kids' ministries should do about Halloween? I'd like to know. Please post a comment.

Satellite Kid's Evangelism

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:07:00 +0000

We are excited to introduce Amazing Adventure! A dynamic satellite evangelistic series for kids ages 8-12.

My church in Beatrice, NE, will have the privilege of being one of the first host sites for a brand new ministry idea--Satellite evangelism! No, we're not trying to convert satellites--we're using satellites to convert kids :-). It's called "Amazing Adventure". When kids come to the church we'll have a live kids event for them to watch on the "big screen" then when that over we take them out to play and their parents get to learn a little about Biblical parenting.

While satellite evangelism has been around for more than 13 years it is just now being harnessed to reach the most important age group for evangelism--kids.

If you're in the area and have kids please come and be our guest for this ground breaking event! Click here for directions.

Time:
Kids Program: Sept 12-20 @ 7:00- 8:00 PM
Parenting Program: Sept 12-20 @ 8:00- 8:30 PM

Or if you'd like to be a host site click here to learn more.

A B C & Ds of Salvation

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:44:00 +0000

Here's a quick and easy outline I use for sharing the steps to salvation with kids.

A. Admit that you are a sinner and that you deserve to punished with eternal death. Romans 3:23; 6:23

B. Believe that Jesus loves you so much that He chose to take your punishment of death so you don't have to. That happened when Jesus died on the cross. Romans 6:23, 1 Peter 2:22, 24

C. Claim the forgiveness and salvation the Jesus offers. Romans 8:9, 10

D. Decide to let Jesus direct your life. Proverbs 3:5, 6

Have A Schedule And Don't Stick To It!

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:51:00 +0000

by Pastor Steve Severance.

It was one of those moments when time seems to speed up and go whizzing past you so fast that the world around you is a blur. I had planned a 45 minute program for my portion of our community kid's program but my time had been cut to just 30 minutes. And while my watch seemed to speed along like an 8 year old on Mountain Dew I struggled to get through all the material I had carefully planned: before the bell rang. As I was telling my story I mentioned something like, "this is what a Christian would do in this situation". Austin raised his hand.

"Yes Austin?" I said, hoping his question wouldn't be too long.

"What's a Christian?"

"Someone who trusts Jesus for salvation" was my totally meaningless, yet accurate answer. I hurried on with my story, but before I could get too much farther Austin's hand was waving in the air again. I waited as long as I thought I could before recognizing him. Finally I had no good excuse not to, so I asked what his question was.

"Am I a Christian?" He wanted to know.

I looked at my watch; I had no time for all this. "You are if you've confessed your sins and asked Jesus to come into your life." was my quick reply; demonstrating my vast knowledge of Christian cliché. As I continued on with my well-thought-out program, Austin's hand once again slipped skyward.

"How do you become a Christian?" he asked sincerely. While I remained calm on the outside, inwardly I was so frazzled that my vision literally seemed to blur. I had planned out a wonderful program for these kids. I had an important Biblical message I was trying to communicate, and now, not only had my time had been cut short, I kept getting interruptions! I grabbed for the first cliché that came to mind, "You have to confess your sins and ask Jesus to come into your life," I said, not even thinking about what or who I was talking about or to. My mind was on my schedule; and I was nearly out of time. Soon the bell interrupted me; I hastily closed in prayer then prepared for the next group of kids.

That evening when all the activity subsided I thought of Austin. His questions had been sincere. He wasn't from a Christian family, his mom was in jail and his dad was a drunken deadbeat whom he hadn't seen in years. He lived with his grandparents who attended a church that taught salvation by works and ceremony instead of grace. Yet through all of that, the Holy Spirit had impressed his heart. He wanted to become a real honest to goodness Christian, but when he asked me how to do it I had been so worried about my schedule that I hadn't taken time to lead this precious little boy to Jesus! It was then that I realized that I had made my schedule more important than this kid's salvation. When he asked that question I should have stopped the whole program and taken however much time was needed to explain salvation and lead Austin, and any others, in a prayer of salvation.

I confessed my sin to God and He forgave me. Then I made up a new rule for myself. "Have a schedule and don't stick to it." It sounds strange, I know, but then again sometimes a strange rule will stick better then a normal one. What my rule means is that it is important to have a schedule. I do need to plan out what I'm going to do and say or else I won't get much accomplished. But it's equally important not to chisel my plan in stone or stamp it with the seal of the Meads and Persians that cannot be altered or revoked. Keep in mind the most important things and if something more important comes up, lay aside the schedule and take the time necessary to follow up on it. The schedule can wait; the moment of conviction will not.

The next time I saw Austin I tried to talk to him about salvation but his interest had waned. The moment of conviction had passed. It was too late.

For sure, this was one of the hardest lessons I've learned as a children's minister. That's why I share it with you. I hope that you will incorporate this rule into your own life so that the next time your little "Austin" seems to disrupt your program with an important question, you can guide him right to the loving arms of his Savior who always has time for his questions. Remember, "Have A Schedule And Don't Stick To It!"

Kids Ministry Ideas Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:28:00 +0000

There's a neat little magazine called Kids Ministry Ideas published by my church. For quite some time I've been thinking that they should open an internet forum so that people could post their questions.

They just did so! It's at kidsministryideas.com

There's not much on it yet because it's brand new but if people, like those who read this blog, patronize it, it will soon be an awesome resource!

Go KMI!!!!!

Social Benefits of Homeschooling

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:01:00 +0000

I recently read an inspiring comment on one of my favorite blogs, ministry-to-children.com. The author, Tony, asked for comment on the homeschool vs. public school debate and one lady told this story which I thought you'd like to hear:

This is by Carrie Fetters. Read it in its original context here.

"I thought I'd share the fruit of homeschooling. There are lots of "opinions", but real life speaks for itself.

"The oldest of our 4 children is 14. We pulled her out of the school system after 2nd grade. We attend a church in a rural setting (appro. 350-400 people) with "good" public schools in the area. We have some homeschoolers in our church, some Christian schooled children, but the majority is public school children.

"Every summer the Jr. High leads a Back Yard Bible Club in an area neighborhood. The Jr. Highers are supposed to lead songs, tell a story and then just play with and get to know the neighborhood kids and tell them about Jesus and the salvation He brings. I showed up early on the last day, and sat in the car waiting to pick up my daughter (then 13). This is what I saw: Most of the neighorhood kids were playing by themselves. ALL of the public school kids were huddled up together. My daughter (the only homeschooler in the group) and the 3 Christian schooled kids were either talking with or playing on the playground with the kids. My daughter was sitting in the grass talking with a little girl. I saw my daughter get up and grab her Bible, then return to the little girl she was talking to, then another Christian schooled girl joined my daughter in talking to this little girl.

"I got out of my car and walked past the huddled public schooled kids (kids I love and have taught in SS). As I walked past, I said, "Why don't you guys go talk to some of the kids?" One person spoke up and said, "I don't know what to say to them." I encouraged them to talk to them about the lesson that was shared, but no one moved. I continued on and talked to one of the leaders, until we were interrupted by the little girl that my daughter was talking to. She was beaming and said, "God loves me and I just asked Him to be my Savior!"

"Later I talked to my daughter about the events as I saw them. She said, "Mom, it was like that every day. The public schooled kids care too much about what their friends think of them. They don't reach out."

"In that moment every doubt about homeschooling I ever had flew away. Years of hearing from a Christian neighbor how my daughter should be in the public school to be a witness...I won't even get into what her 14 year old "Christian" daughter is like.

"If we, and our children are prepared to be a witness, God will give us and them opportunities, but we can have all the opportunities in the world and not move on them if our hearts are not ready.

"At first when my daughter was in elementary school it was harder to tell the difference between the homeschoolers, and public schooled kids, but now as the fruit is maturing (going into highschool) it is evident.

"In our experience, homeschoolers are less peer dependent, community focused, and interact well people of every age. Yes, I do know there are exceptions!

"A sick peach tree can still give a few healthy looking peaches, and a healthy peach tree can give a few sickly peaches, but what kind of tree do you want your kids growing on?

"One last note: Often people are remarking how accomplished my daughter is musically. This is no accident. She has the time to work hard on both the harp and the piano. This past year she was actually invited by a public school in the area to come play the harp for a large event in which many teachers, children and parents attended! Talk about God creating opportunities for a ready heart!"

Thanks, Carrie, for that reminder.

Easter: About Jesus Or Bunnies?

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:47:00 +0000

When your children's ministry moves into the Easter season, how do you keep the focus off of Bunnies and Eggs and on Jesus? When dealing with secular kids, and those whose families are not very involved in their spiritual training, this can be quite an issue.

A couple of weeks ago I was planning our Logos Easter program with my 2nd and 3rd graders this week and they kept mentioning easter eggs and bunnies (they're not from my church). I decided that instead of telling them "No we don't do bunnies and eggs" I'd explain why. One of the kids is a champion speller so I said (in a much more elaborate way), "What if you won the national spelling bee and the town had a big celebration to honor you. But when you got there no one even said 'Hi' to you or mentioned your accomplishment instead they had all brought their dogs and they had turned it into a dog show. How would you like that?" (they didn't) so then I explained that Easter is when we celebrate Jesus dieing on the cross for us and then rising from the dead. "How do you think Jesus likes it when we ignore Him and just talk about bunnies and eggs?" I asked. They got the point, and loved it so much that they decided, totally on their own, that they wanted to turn that story into a play and teach that concept to the adults at the easter program.

I have written the story out as a narrated skit and my 2nd ans 3rd graders are practicing it right now.

Click here to read the skit.
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This post was originally posted Mar 13, 2008

Homeschool Illegal?

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:07:00 +0000

A court in California recently ruled that homeschooling is illegal unless either the parent is a fully state certified teacher or he/she hired a fully state certified private tooter! This egregious ruling is obviously not based on a desire to improve education for kids since homeschool has been proven to give the highest test scores nation wide. It comes from a belief that the government has the right and duty to decide how best to raise kids and then enforce their beliefs on parents.

When I heard this news I was surprised by the bluntness of this statement. While California has, by far, the worst situation, Nebraska (my state) is dealing with a senator who wants the state to micromanage homeschooling and has put forth a bill, LB1141, to do just that.

The issue is whether or not the state (government) is more qualified to raise kids than the parents. There is a disturbing trend among politicians (even high level ones) and judges to think the state is the best suited and the highest authority in kid’s lives.

Here is a excerpt from my conversation with DiAnna Schimek, the Nebraska state senator who put forth LB1141, "It may be 'the state of Nebraska's responsibility to provide education for all children in the state' [that was her claim] but it is not NE's responsibility to control it. In America we have proven that, although sometimes risky, freedom and limited government encourage people to strive for excellence. The more freedom people are given to make educational choices for their children the more effort they will expend in doing so. That translates into a more valued and valuable education for kids with much more involved parents. I realize that freedom naturally allows for some to violate the trust, but the benefits of freedom far outweigh the risks."

There is no evidence that homeschoolers are getting an inferior education. In fact, nation wide, homeschoolers consistently beat out public and private schooled kids in test scores. I would say that the only reason the government should be looking in on homeschool families would be to discover their secret of success and try to implement that into the public school system to get its scores up!

Pray that we will retain the freedom to choose the world view we instill in our children; then speak out when people try to take the freedom away!

It's time to take action. Even if you're not a homeschooling family this issue affects you since it is just a first step in the ideology that kids are the property of the state not parents.

ACTION STEPS

Sign the petition: HSLDA's depublishing petition (this is not just for Californians, it's for everyone!)

Get informed:

Check out the "Legislative Watch" section of the Home School Legal Defense Assotiations's website www.hslda.org.

Read this article from Citizenlink

Great Kids Blog.

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:22:00 +0000

One of the inspirations behind me starting this blog was another blog by Tony Kummer. He is living my dream of someday becoming a kid's ministry pastor.

He has put together an excellent website and has the only email newsletter that I regularly read in its entirety.

One of the best features of his blog is his discussion on safety procedures for church based children's ministry. http://ministry-to-children.com/sunday-school/sunday-school-safety-security/

It's definitely worth a look see. http://ministry-to-children.com/

Our Mission, KIDS!

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:53:00 +0000

I recently Preached a sermon in my churches on the topic of training our kids with a Christian World View. Here's the handout:

Click here to listen to this Sermon

A family learns a new culture and language to share Jesus with other lands, we call them missionaries. A group of young people travels abroad to build churches and lead out in VBSs, we call them missionaries. A doctor leaves her successful American practice to extend the healing touch of Jesus through free medical help to those in need of it, we call her a missionary. A translator gives of his time and abilities to make sure people around him have God's Word in their own tongue, we call him a missionary. A teacher gets up in front of an American classroom and teaches the Three R's and so much more through a Christian Worldview, we call him/her a missionary—or at least we should! Our kids are the most fertile mission field on the planet!

Mark 10:13-16—Although kids are often overlooked when it comes to Spiritual things, this is not the attitude that Jesus showed. Over and over He said that the kingdom of heaven is for kids and people who have faith like them. Childhood is when kids are learning to understand life and making lifelong decisions.

Proverbs 1:1-7—We're not just after raising kids who will show up in church once a week. God's concern is for the whole character, which is shaped by worldview. Worldview is the lens through which we view everything that happens in the world. I believe that one of the greatest reasons why we loose our youth is because we allow the public school system, media and society to decide our kid's worldview. The good news is that there are many tools at our disposal for helping our kids gain a healthier, Christian worldview that encompasses every aspect of their life.

Psalm 111:10—Many people see education and their faith as two different things. In their view each has its place, but neither should interfere with the other. But these things cannot really be separated. To be truly wise you must understand the spiritual framework in which our world is made. Public schools teach a secular worldview (framework) that doesn't include God. But church and home schools can give kids true wisdom by giving them a Christian worldview.

Proverbs 9:10—Education is more than the transference of knowledge, it is learning how to learn. The secular education system teaches that all things must be explained without using any force outside of our understandable dimensions, ie, without God. But the Bible teaches that knowledge of the Holy one is understanding. Christian education takes all the best of earthly science, math, social studies, etc. and uses an understanding of the Creating, loving, redeeming and sustaining God as a catalyst to make it all make sense and create upright, Godly citizens.
Just as we support mission outreaches such as frontier missions, Bible translation, medical missions and youth mission trips that don't directly benefit us, we should also support Adventist education even when we don't have a child going to the school—because it's mission work.

1 John 2:12, 13—In this list we see a place for kids in the church. They are the ones who keep the focus on the simplicity of the Gospel. The church can become a very powerful tool for reaching kids when it uses Sabbath Schools and other church kids ministries to support parent's efforts, help mold worldview, provide for Christian relationships and make a safe place for kids to grow and learn about serving God and others.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7—Some people think that they can leave it up to the "professionals" at church to reach their kids for Christ. This is neither Biblical nor realistic—this job belongs to parents. Barna Research Group1 did a study and found out that even with all the other powerful influences that are out today, parents still rank number 1 in having the most influence on their kids. A church's best function is assisting parents in discipling their kids as needed. This is a day in and day out thing. When you're at home or in town, when you get up and when you go to bed, your influence is shaping the worldview of your kids!

At the beginning stages of our church movement God showed us the necessity of reaching out to our kids. This led to Sabbath Schools in nearly every church that has even one kid. It has led us to have the largest educational system of any evangelical church. And it led us to promote family values that are sometimes countercultural. Let's not drop the ball now. Let's see this mission work thrive in our time.

Understanding Your Kid's Internet Lingo

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:15:00 +0000

So your kid has been chatting with friends on the internet and, as a good and conscientious parent, you go over to check and see that every thing's ok. When you look on the screen you see that the most recent thing your kid typed is "POS". "What does that mean?" you wonder but everything looks ok and you trust your kid, so you just walk away. Did you do the right thing?

It's good if you can trust your kids, but when they're on the internet you never know if you can trust the person on the other side. Many good kids slip into trouble online without really trying too. That's where you come in.

Nebraska Attorney General , Jon Bruning has made some magnets designed to help parents stay on top of the often confusing internet lingo. If you can understand what they're acronyms are saying the you'll be able to keep a better watch out to make sure your kids are ok.

Here's a list of some common internet lingo and what it means:

Internet Lingo key for parents


LMIRL	Lets meet in real life	121	One to one
NP	Nosy Parent	WTGP	Want to go private?
OLL	On-line love	A/S/L	Age, Sex, Location?
PA	Parent alert	WUF	Where are you from?
PAL	Parents are listening	WFM	Works for me
PANB	Parents are nearby	SAW	Siblings are watching
PM	Private message	TOS	Teacher over shoulder
POS	Parents over shoulder	DIKU	Do I know you?
YBS	You'll be sorry	W/E	Whatever
WIBNI	Wouldn't it be nice if?	TAW	Teachers are watching

For more on Online Lingo check out www.safekids.ne.gov/lingo.html

You may also find his Safe Kids site of use. It's about protecting your kids on the internet. http://www.safekids.ne.gov/

Bad Theology Is Spreading among Kids like Wildfire!

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:58:00 +0000

Hey Friends,

One of the media Ministries for which I have the most respect is "Paws and Tales" a ministry of Insight for Living. Their creative Director David Carl wrote an insightful article on teaching theology to kids. I've obtained permission from them to post that here on the site (Thanks Dave!). It's rather long but well worth your time.

Enjoy,
--Uncle Steve

Bad Theology Is Spreading among Kids like Wildfire!
By David Carl

Theology is a great word. Over the years, however, we have allowed it to become a word that’s only used by theologians who wear wool sweaters and socks that don’t match. We’ve come to believe that theology is something foreign and impractical like medieval poetry—fine for odd little men who work at a university, but the rest of us have reports to complete, clothes to wash, and jobs that leave us exhausted and numb at the end of the day. Therefore we feel that because we live in the “real world” we have other, more important things to grapple with than theology. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Theology is like oxygen—it’s all around us whether we think about it or not. It’s actually impossible not to have some sort of theology. What you think about God is your theology. You may be a Protestant, a practicing witch, or someone just “making it up as you go”—but you do have a theology. Even the staunchest atheist who believes that there is nothing spiritual to believe in has a theology.

In recent years, an “open-minded” school of thought has become prevalent, in which parents wait for their kids to grow up and then allow them to choose a religion for themselves. This concept assumes that these children will operate through their formative years without developing a theology, but this is impossible. This well-meaning, though misguided, method indeed teaches theology very loudly and decisively. Through it, parents teach their children that religion is of very little importance and that all religions are equally irrelevant. And bad theology passes from one generation to the next.

We don’t allow our kids to grow up and then tell us whether or not they want to eat vegetables, learn to read, or take childhood vaccinations. These things are too important! We might give kids the choice of which Happy Meal they want or which toy they would like for their birthdays, but for the truly important things in life, we choose for them. By doing so, we teach them exactly how important these things are.

As a third-grader watches the clouds go by, he’ll ponder the world around him. Unfortunately, most of the answers to life’s questions are out of reach for his young mind. On his own he won’t come up with the notion of photosynthesis, or gravity, or the aerodynamics that allow a bird to fly. Were the child to grapple with these things alone, he would come up with wrong answers. His answers might be creative, even clever, but they would be wrong. That’s why we send him to school. Most of the answers to life’s spiritual questions are also out of reach. “Why do people suffer?” “Why do others have more than me?” “Where did the world come from?” “What will happen when I die?” And I guarantee you a healthy, honest mind will, at one time or another, struggle with the question, “Why would an all-powerful God not answer my prayer?” If a child is left to grapple with these questions alone, he will come up with the wrong answers. They may be creative and clever, but they will be wrong. He may decide: God must not care about what I need. He must be busy with more important things. I must not have used the right words. I must not have gotten His attention. Maybe I need to do something especially good before He’ll give me what I want. Left without good, biblical instruction, the child will arrive at answers to these great questions which will likely result in his disappointment in and perhaps even anger at God. And more bad theology is formed—bad theology that is spreading like wildfire.

In his classic book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer tells us, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Our theology—good or bad—will steer our every thought and decision. If we listen to the worldview of the secular, mainstream media, we will conclude that if God exists at all, He’s either indifferent or He’s angry. Either is disastrous. If we believe, for the sake of discussion, that God’s chief characteristic is anger, any reasonable person will want only minimal contact with Him. We will want to stay off the heavenly radar screen until we really, really need help. But how do you convince an always angry God to actually render aid? We might, on occasion, need to perform a kindly act—like giving a five dollar bill to a homeless person. Because of this “selfless act” (actually rather selfish act), we might assume that God would be less angry with us and a bit more inclined to help when we’re in a fix. Sadly, this line of bad theology may be the predominant religious belief system in America today. If we allow our children to think wrongly about God, it will negatively affect the rest of their lives. Nothing is more important than good theology!

How, then, do we go about teaching our third-graders theology? Though not the only way, I believe storytelling is the most effective means. Jesus rarely taught without telling a story. The hard truth is that Christianity is complicated, and most of it is counter-intuitive. To be first, we must be last; to live, we must die. We must learn to resist natural impulses and foster supernatural impulses that we don’t even know we have yet. We won’t come up with this stuff on our own. Some of it is difficult, and much of it is mysterious.

Again, the best way to communicate the deep and the mysterious is through a well-crafted story. Jonah and the fish is an amazingly deep and rich story that you could study for years. Certainly it tells us about a stubborn and narrow-minded prophet, but more importantly, it tells us volumes about God. God wanted to save the wicked city of Nineveh. God cared enough about Jonah to send a storm to swallow him and a fish to save him. God then had the fish deliver Jonah to the very shores of Nineveh. Jonah repented, and the people of Nineveh repented, too. God forgave Jonah and the people of Nineveh—neither of whom deserved forgiveness. This is real insight into the loving, forgiving character of God, and as such, this story communicates really good theology.

We can tell our kids that God is not always angry and that He loves them deeply, but our words will likely bounce right off their armor. To get past their defenses, it’s better to tell them the Old Testament story of the Jews wandering through the desert. It’s difficult to hear this story and not grow angry with the nation of Israel as they are saved from Pharaoh’s army, eat miraculous manna, and follow a cloud and a pillar of fire, only to rebel against God because they miss the yummy food they ate while suffering abject slavery in Egypt. This story will better communicate God’s patient and long-suffering character than any list of well-written propositions. Bad theology is spreading like wildfire, but good theology must be carefully taught, tended, and nurtured over a long period of time.

This is the very reason Insight for Living launched the children’s radio ministry of Paws & Tales. Through the use of story, we teach the kind of good, solid, biblical theology kids need when they are young and will benefit from it the most. We often deal with deep questions like “How does prayer work?” in the episode titled, “The Princess;” and “Is there really spiritual evil?” in the episode titled, “Powers and Principalities.” We’ve even created a wonderful, three-part musical retelling called The Story of Esther that teaches kids about suffering, the loss of hope, the importance of remaining faithful when all seems lost, the final price of wickedness, and best of all, the amazing love and faithfulness of God. At Paws & Tales we are dedicated to using drama, humor, and music to teach kids good theology so that they will know the truth about God. With this as their foundation, they can then begin to grow to love God with all of their hearts, souls, and minds and, then, to love their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 22:37–39). And that’s the power of good theology.

Written by David Carl, Creative director of Paws and Tales radio broadcast for kids. Posted by permission. Origionally printed in "The Old School House Magazine".

Welcome Children's Ministers (and other interested parties)

noreply@blogger.com (Uncle Steve Severance) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:01:00 +0000

Hey fellow kid's ministry workers!

From time to time I come up with (what I think is) a good idea I'd like to share with the world about leading kids to Jesus. Other times I'm amazed at the insight God gave someone else on this topic. So I thought I'd start a blog to pull all this together.

I hope you like it!

--Uncle Steve
www.frogspot.com