Little Big Planet has finally landed!, originally uploaded by Tengaport.

I saw this article in USA Today talking about how Little Big Planet a game for PS3 with the tagline “Play, Create, and Share” has received over 1,000,000 levels to play online.

Just goes to show you that media creation is at an all time high. With only 2.4 million (insert overstatement joke here) people playing this game. That is a great ratio of level created to player.

This is where our KiDs and Students are headed. How can we develop this and put some structure behind it without totally killing their desire to do so?

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Slaughter Salon: Centri-Kid Camp 2009, originally uploaded by jcisonline.

OK so I love fun cheap stuff. It’s builds memories, anybody can pull it off, and it’s something that you can do again and again. I am totally stealing this one from Lifeway but, it’s too awesome not to tell you. Basically tons of hairspray and temporary hair color and charge $1. It all goes to missions, it’s awesome and unbelievable how much the kids enjoy it of course the leaders need to get their do done as well, but it’s worth it. Builds tons of memories and is super fun for Cheap!

got any Children’s Ministry or #kidmin fun cheap ideas?

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abundant growth, originally uploaded by carolg2007.

When I worked at UPS as a part time supervisor we had a job motto:

“70% of your time you should be training your employees and the other 30% you should be figuring out a way to better train your employees.”

Training was a value that we spent our times perfecting. We had a person whose sole purpose was to train new people. As a result we were the best or second best hub in the region for awhile.

I am a trainer it’s what I do best. My gift is teaching people. So this was right in my sweet spot.

But I wonder how many times in “church world” do we get caught up more in managing than training?

Our job is to develop people and push them to grow in Christ. Or as Paul says “equip the saints” Ephesians 4:12

Too often especially in Children’s Ministry, we get roped into managing or spot filling. I pray alot that all over the world on Sundays, #kidmin peeps would pour into their volunteers instead of being only concerned about them being there.

But I want to know, what are you training your volunteers to do? What are a few must have skills of your volunteers? If you’re in a higher position of leadership, what are you pouring into your staff? What are you teaching others?

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Photo 7, originally uploaded by jcisonline.

So I’m at camp and on barf control right now cuz one of the kids is throwing up. Feel bad for the kids but he’s being a trooper.

Couple things I’ve learned:

* I’m terrible at barf control. I don’t know what to say or do.
* I remember my mom telling me to drink a sprite.
* I remember when I had serious stomach issues to sit up and don’t lay down.
* I asked other people what to do.

Totally on another world with this one. But it seems that too often I can’t or don’t know how is followed up by that’s ok or quitting.

Use what your given instead of given up.

By the way, didn’t mean to get Jesus up in here but He rooted His way into my thinking as I wrote this post.

I love Jesus

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It’s Exhausting Being This Cute [134/365], originally uploaded by Krysta Larson.

I am completely exhausted right now. Incredibly awesome week but incredibly awesomely exhausted. Luckily I can relax for a few days with absolutely no work to do. It’s pretty awesome. I am pretty excited to get back into the blog world as well.

I’ve missed it and I’m sure ya missed me too

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So basically I’m stealing this video from two places:

I saw it on Henry Zonio’s Blog

and he saw it on Scot McKnight’s Blog

But it’s awesomely funny and it will let you know that kids pick up on so much more than you give them credit for. So here is what I want you to think about: If you are in a relationship with God you are called to serve (my belief based on scripture you can go here to see a ton of verses and questions if you are wondering about our call to serve).  If kids can have a relationship to God do we give them opportunities to serve?

Again this is a different direction than the post that Henry gave, which by the way is incredibly awesome. I’ve been thinking about this so much with kids and teens that somehow they are only viewed as Henry says “incomplete adults”. However if we felt like these “incomplete adults” can have just the same impact on the kingdom as “complete adults (haha)” then would we view our preparation and time the same as we do now? I mean do we really believe that we are equipping, preparing, instilling, and developing servants for Christ?

I hope that this view of kids and teenagers as “incomplete adults” and thus less important members our the body of Christ doesn’t continue to be the majority view in the church. Because then the Missional Church that many church members have been praying for might never be realized.

I mean you have a generation desiring to help people and they may have to flesh out that desire somewhere other than the church because they aren’t complete adults yet. What are your thoughts?

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Video Render Screen, originally uploaded by jcisonline.

Just thought you might like to know what I’m doing today… and for the next 10 days until Swamp Stomp starts on the 15th!!! Can’t wait.

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Link, originally uploaded by Dunechaser.

I’m gonna throw out some go to websites for different parts of my job that are absolutely must reads. Check them out and let me know about some of your favorites.

John Saddington:
Human3rror and ChurchCrunch

WordPress Master lvl 99 and incredibly nice and intuitive about where the church falls in the web world

Kem Meyer

She’s a wiz at communication and if you don’t subscribe to her blog you are a bunch of characters short of a complete thought.

Church Marketing Sucks

Yeah they’re trying to fix it, you should listen.

StudentsbyDesign

A student ministry site ran by the Brookwood Student ministry. Great writers, wish they would post more. Really on the verge of something huge in Student Ministry

Oh yeah and you can definitely subscribe to my site cuz I heard it’s pretty sweet

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IMG_0264, originally uploaded by jcisonline.

Alright here is why I haven’t been blogging much over the last three or four weeks…

My desk is a mess. In about two weeks we will have had an 800 person Adventure Week event and a couple days to rest right before Summer Camp at Centri-Kid Ridgecrest, NC. Some of you might be thinking this is cleaner than your desk right now and that might be true but I generally keep a pretty sweet and clean workspace.

So I’ve got some stuff on the docket but I’m also developing some content for you guys…

• Some edgy decorating tips for your children’s areas.
• A before and after look at our Upper Elementary Worship Areas
• A Motion 3 tutorial that will show you a write on technique for illustration

But I want to know from you all if there is anything out there that is on your mind? Is there something that I might be able to help you with in your area of expertise.

I know it’s like a deadly blogger sin to let readers dictate your content in any shape or form but I’m feeling spicy so gimme what ya got.

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ABC Blocks, originally uploaded by michaelgoodin.

So this week at BrookwoodKiDs we are in wk 6 of Zooplosion or Gospel presentation week. I love this week (even though the Bible Story is from Adam & Eve to Jesus’ death and ressurection ) that I get to present the gospel.

We do things different at Brookwood. But Ned Gable, my CP said something in passing today that I told him he should write a blog about since he hasn’t in awhile. But I chose to instead. He said “We want to be about the Believe more than the commit”

I really want to know what you think about this. Especially after my friend @tberry86 shared this with me:
“commitment is a lot harder. You can Believe anything, but putting your commitment into play takes a lot more faith.”

Hmmmm what do you think?
Are you on the Belief or Commitment side? (not that they are against one another) Do you teach different than what you feel is more important? After Orange I’m thinking alot more about what I communicate!

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