Posted By allen on May 24, 2010

God’s promises for boys by Jack Countryman and Amy Parker is a collection of over 30 promises from the Bible. Each promise begins with a short (usually about 4 lines) application of the promise that boys can relate to. This is followed by several Bible verses relating to the promise. The scriptures are quoted from the International Children’s Bible.

The promises are broken into 7 sections: God’s Promises When, God’s Promises About, God Wants You To, God’s Promises of Help When, God’s Promises about Making a Difference, God’s Promises About Jesus, and God’s Promises for You.

This book would probably be best enjoyed by ages 4 – 8. God’s Promises for Boys would be good for an extra thing to read with the Bible. This book would make a wonderful gift for a little boy.

As a children’s pastor, this book has earned a place on my reference shelf. With it there, I will have access to a list of God’s Promises. The way that the book is organized could lend itself to a series of devotions in Sunday School or Kids Chapel.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Tags: book review, booksneeze, devotion

Posted By allen on May 18, 2010

Last Saturday night I watched with pride as my youngest daughter(Debbie) walked across the stage and was given her high school diploma. There was also a sense of relief as I realized that all four of my children were now high school graduates. (The two oldest have also finished college.)

There were other moments of pride and joy that night as many of her classmates that I had known (a few since birth) got their diplomas. These were youth that I had worked with at church over the years. I watched many of them grow both physically and spiritually. To these kids, I had been their church bus driver, Royal Ranger commander, children’s pastor, or Sunday school teacher at some time in their life.

After the ceremony was over, I was trying to make my way to the other side of the building to meet my daughter when somebody came running up behind me. I turned and did not recognize the young man standing there. He grabbed my arm and said that his brothers wanted to see me. It was then that I recognized him as the oldest of three boys that I had watched grow up in the church. The youngest of the three had graduated that night. We talked for several minutes about campouts, children’s church events, church bus “horror stories” and other things that we had shared together over the last 15 years. They thanked me for never giving up on them and always being a friend.

A similar scene was replayed many times as I walked across the parking lot to my family. With each family that I ran into, I realized that I had many “children” that graduated that night.

Two things kept coming up in every conversation – memories and relationships.

This post is not about bragging – it is about encouragement. 

As you look out at church and see various kids acting out – don’t give up.

Keep loving and praying for those children. Build a relationship with them and their family.

Create opportunities for making memories with them. They may forget the lesson that you taught on a special Sunday, but the memories you create and relationships you form will last a very long time.

If you remember nothing else from what I wrote today, take these two things with you:

• BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
• MAKE MEMORIES

***And don’t forget to pray for the kids that you work with.***

Category: Family | No Comments »
Tags: challenge, growth, retention

Posted By allen on May 3, 2010

Inspirational Zingers Jumble by Christopher Hudson is a “must have” for anybody that enjoys puzzles. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to enjoy and solve these puzzles.

There are six different variations of the “jumble” puzzles: Jumbles, Double Jumbles, Mystery Person Jumbles, Word Search Jumbles, Super Jumbles, and Criss-cross Jumbles. All six variations require you to unscramble several words. The difference is in how the unscrambled words are used and the clues given.

My favorite puzzle type was the Super Jumble. These puzzles provided clues like most of the other jumbles, but all the clues were listed in random order so the puzzler didn’t know which clue went with which word. These were the puzzles I found most challenging and enjoyable.

This was a good collection of puzzles that I highly recommend.

***I received this book free from Tyndale Publishers as part of their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”***

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Tags: book review, Tyndale Publishers

Posted By allen on April 30, 2010

What do you get when you combine a little girl that see angels, an obnoxious nurse (with an MD), a single mom, a narrow-minded school psychiatrist, and a few other colorful characters? You get Wonders Never Cease – a book by Tim Downs. The simple plot of the book centers on a six year old girl that sees angels. Some people believe her and others do not. This plot by itself would make a very boring book, but Tim Downs combines some very memorable characters with many sub-plots to turn Wonders Never Cease into a book that you don’t want to put down.

The first two chapters of the book were a little slow, but needed to set up the rest of the story. The pace picks up at the end of the second chapter and continues through the surprise ending. There were several twists in the book that I never saw coming.

I would not consider this an inspirational book, but it was an excellent piece of fiction.  Wonders Never Cease was an enjoyable, easy read that contained well-measured parts of suspense, sadness, and humor.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Category: book reviews | 1 Comment »
Tags: book review, booksneeze, Thomas Nelson publishers

Posted By allen on April 29, 2010

Trained Volunteer Presenter – These 3 words have been written across the top of my scratch pad at work for almost a week now. I wrote them there after seeing them in one of our company newsletters that was talking about an upcoming luncheon. The article said that the program would be conducted by trained volunteer presenters.

That started me thinking…

How many of the volunteers in our church that teach Sunday school, midweek groups, children’s church, etc could be accurately and truthfully labeled with this title?

I am aware of many churches that have excellent ongoing training programs for their teachers and leaders. I am fairly certain that for every church that has this training, there are at least two or three that have poor or no training program.

Why?

If the secular society sees a need to train their volunteers, why is the church not providing quality training for theirs?

If people doing a presentation about water filter systems are trained (not picking on them), then why shouldn’t our people that present the story of Jesus and His plan for us be trained just as well?

Any salesman will tell you that a poor presentation will make a sale difficult.

My challenge to you is this —

• If your church does not have a practical, quality program in place to train your teachers, start developing one now.
• If your church does have a training program in place – that is GREAT! But, after congratulating yourself a little, take some time to evaluate it and see if it can be improved.

I would like to see every teacher in the church honestly classified as a Trained Volunteer Presenter.

** I suggest that we take this idea one step further. Not only should those who teach in the church be trained, but also those that share the Gospel with others outside the church.

Category: uncatergorized | No Comments »
Tags: challenge, excellence, growth, outreach, training, volunteers