How to Prepare for Camp: Guest Post by Elizabeth Hyndman

Are you so excited to serve as a CentriKid staffer on one of our 8 teams this summer? Alumni staffer, Elizabeth Hyndman, prepared this list of things to do before camp so that you will be completely prepared... Enjoy!

1. Get up early each day.

2. High-five everyone you see, for no reason at all.

3. Jump up and down for 15 minutes, at least 4 times daily.

4. Yell. Scream. Shout. Do this often, even after your voice is almost gone.

5. Eat each meal (including breakfast) in under 15 minutes, while trying to maintain conversation with a 10 year old. Try to steer the conversation toward deep topics like the child's home life or spiritual walk.

6. Try to relate every single aspect of your day to Jesus, the Bible, or church.

7. Try to get people to play games. Outside. On the hottest day of the year. Tell them that this is your favorite part of the day.

8. Load and unload a moving truck full of boxes, sound equipment, sporting goods, and suitcases from a truck once a week. It would be best if you could find someone to throw these boxes to you.

9. Go into a room full of children. Attempt to hold their attention for an hour and a half.

10. Constantly be excited.

11. You may sit down for approximately 20 minutes, toward the end of the day, in a dark, air-conditioned room. You must not fall asleep and you must remain completely alert.

12. You may go to sleep around midnight each night.

13. Learn to take 5 minute showers.

Welcome to camp! 

Elizabeth worked as a CK staffer from 2006-2009. She lives in Nashville where she's a grad student and an Admin Assistant. Also, she writes. And drinks a lot of tea. You can read more of her writing at edhyndman.com or follow her on Twitter @edhyndman.

3 Qualities of a Great Camp Staffer

I’m gearing up to spend my 6th summer at camp. I think it’s safe to say that I know what qualities a great CK staffer holds. Here are just some of the qualities that our staff must have: 

Spiritual maturity. We train a lot before camp actually starts, but our staffers need to come into the summer knowing that they will be relying on the strength of the Lord. We hold them accountable to spend time in the Word every day and maintain their relationship with God. It’s not something that can take a backseat when you are constantly pouring into kids.

Teachability. No one comes into camp knowing everything...even if you are a returning staffer. There are things we change from year to year with our camps and so you need to come in ready to learn new things. Staffers who don’t have a teachable spirit often do not get the most out of camp. 

Flexibility. There’s always a chance that you will be teaching Kitchen Chaos and the electric will be out in your room just as you are getting ready to use the oven. Our staff need to be able to quickly switch to a different activity and keep kids engaged, even if things aren’t going as planned. If you have this quality and can be flexible without panicking, your campers probably won’t even notice when plans change!

Like I said before, these are just some of the qualities that make our staff great. Do you have these qualities? Keep them in mind as you work in your kids ministry!

Jen Hall is our camp intern and will direct CK2 at Campbellsville this summer. Keep up with Jen via twitter.

Discipleship for Kids - Quiet Time Sheet (free download)

We have a free Quiet Time Sheet for kids that you can download.  Emily Echols explains how she uses this sheet to help her students at school get into studying God's word.

This simple sheet was developed years ago by Emily's Uncle Tom who had a true heart for sharing the gospel and seeing kids grow in the Lord.  Uncle Tom took every opportunity he could to share what the Lord had done in his life.  He left a legacy of many new believers who came to saving faith in Christ.  He would always make sure that new believers had a Bible and got help reading it and understanding it.

Download this quiet time sheet for free.  

It is free to reproduce and free to share.  

Please feel free to copy the web address for this blog and email it to other parents or kids ministry leaders.  http://centrikidblog.com/blog/discipleship-for-kids-quiet-time-sheet-free-download.html

3 Reasons to Check Out The Gospel Project For Kids

Over the past few weeks you've heard a lot about LifeWay's newest Bible study resource, The Gospel Project for Kids.  It has recently gone on sale and if you chose the digital delivery system, you'll have access instantly to the first full volume.

There've been lots of posts about The Gospel Project...but I wanted to share what I believe to be the top three reasons one might choose to use The Gospel Project in your kids ministry.

#1:  The Christ Centered Chronological approach to the Bible.  Helping kids see the entire Bible through the lens of Christ is huge. instead of the Gospel just  being Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the entire Bible is the Gospel... God's redemptive plan to rescue us from sin and death.  The logical, linear chronological approach will help kids to see scripture with order, from Genesis to Revelation... allowing the Gospel to work and transform.

#2:  The Video and Low Prep Options. The Gospel Project for Kids includes video options that I think you're going to love. Both the preschool and the kids editions provide a Bible story video. You might use it every week, you might use it occasionally, or you might not use it at all (the written Bible stories are still in the leader resource)... but when it comes to saving prep time... these videos are excellent options.  Additionally, there are low prep options through out the resource (easily identified with a "low prep" icon) helping busy teachers and last minute substitutes to lead a successful  Bible learning experience.

#3:  The Electronic/Customizable Delivery Option. This is a first for LifeWay Kids and many of you have already shared with me that you will definitely be choosing this option. This digital delivery offers churches the ability to customize the resource, deliver leader resources via email, and have instant access when each volume is released.  If digital isn't your preference, the printed version will be available.  If you want a little printed and a little digital, that's an option, too.

The Gospel Project for kids is a wonderful Bible Study resource for use on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Mid-Week, or anytime kids are gathered to learn about God's plan for their lives.

Don't miss the opportunity to check out the first four sessions by joing the Pilot Program.  You'll receive access to everything so you can investigate, take it for a test drive, see where it works best for you.  I think you'll be pleased with what you find!

This guest post is written by Bill Emeott - Childhood Ministry Specialist for LifeWay Kids.  Bill writes on the LifeWay Kids 101 blog and we've also featured a video series about Salvation and Kids here on centrikidblog.com.

3 Tips for Recruiting Sponsors for Camp

Picture Credit

You’ve got the kids in your ministry signed up for camp; you’ve got their participant forms; you even have the transportation to and from camp arranged. One major problem, you can’t seem to find enough chaperones. Trouble finding adult sponsors is something we hear frequently from churches. Here are 3 tips to help recruit sponsors for camp:

- Team Assistant Program. This is a program we created several years ago to not only help churches meet our 1:5 adult to camper ratio, but also to help spot potential CentriKid staffers for the future. We require Team Assistants be at least a junior or senior in high school or college student. These are meant to be some of your “most trusted” youth.  We accept up to 2 Team Assistant per church.

- Allow adult sponsors to switch out mid-week. This is a great option if an adult can only stay for 2-3 days at camp. Simply switch out adults if you have one that needs to leave for work or some other reason. Make sure that each adult, whether they’re there the entire week or not, fills out a Participant Form so we have knowledge of them being at camp. Also, make sure the camp director and assistant director is aware of the change.

- Bring parents. Some parents may not feel like they are allowed to come because they don’t work in the church very often, but this is a great way for them to be involved. In allowing a kid’s parent to come, this may be the one way for the child to be allowed to attend camp in the first place. 

The final “unofficial” tip is to be direct in asking for volunteers. Don’t just administer a blanket statement asking for help. Seek out the Sunday School teachers, the Wednesday night teachers, the folks that are already investing in these kids’ lives. I think you will be surprised how willing they will be to help when they know that you intentionally thought of them as a potential volunteer. Let us know if you have any tips for recruiting sponsors for camp!

Jessica Herrell, Department Intern, will be directing CentriKid Team 6 at Lee University, Shocco Springs, Louisiana College, and Austin College. Feel free to check up on her and CK6 on Twitter and her personal blog.

You Might Be One of CentriKid's Biggest Fans If...

 

1. June 1 is on your calendar with a big star to remind you that registration just opened.
2. You and your volunteers save up vacation time just so you can go to camp.  You’d rather go to camp than on vacation, anyway.
3. You can discuss the themes from the last 4 years of camp and can quote the memory verses… at dinner…for fun…during the winter.
4. “OMC” is a regular part of your vocabulary.
5. You and your friends get together to watch the CentriKid Live event (it’s June 27^th this summer, just in case you need to send some invitations).
6. You’ve played OMC once, maybe twice, maybe three times since last summer at camp.
7. You wish CentriKid had been around when you were a college student because you definitely would have loved to be a staffer.
8. You call all the churches in your area to see why on earth they don’t come to CentriKid the same week as you guys.
9. You register for the next summer at camp or even before you go to camp.
10. You talk about your camp staffers or camp director by their first name to your friends… and they know exactly who you are talking about.

We love our churches who join us at camp! Thanks for being fans!!

Mary Carlisle serves on the CentriKid office team and is the director for CK3 at Millsaps College. She loves serving at camp and hearing adults talk about how they love camp as much as their kids do!  Follow Mary on twitter and check out her blog.

5 Classic Novels for Preteen Readers this Summer

Want to encourage your preteen to keep reading this summer but don't know where to start? Your preteen may show interest in some popular books (The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight) that you may not feel are appropriate for her age.  Be actively involved in their selections and encourage your child to keep reading throughout the summer!

Your library may offer a summer reading program with incentives. That's a good place to start. Your preteen can keep track of the books he reads and earn rewards or prizes. 

Here are 5 great books for preteens. Classics are classics for a reason! Read along with your child for a chance to spark some great discussions.

1- Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh - Harriet learns some hard lessons when her classmates discover her spying journal and all turn against her. 


2- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl - Charlie sets a great example of moral character in the midst of adversity when he visits the infamous Willy Wonka factory with some other spoiled and unlovely children. 



3- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - This classic paints a beautiful fantasy land where good battles evil ... and can lead to awesome conversation about the nature of Christ as shown through the mighty lion Aslan.

4- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Readers will learn about the Civil War and the 19th century while becoming engrossed in the growing up of the March sisters. 



5- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - This classic French fantasy novel will fascinate your little learner, and probably teach you a few things, too!

Do you have any books you suggest for preteen readers? Share other great titles for kids or preteens on the CentriKid facebook page or on the ParentLife facebook page.


Jessie Weaver is a stay-at-home mom of 3-year-old Libbie and 1-year-old David in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She manages the ParentLife blog and writes regularly about motherhood, faith, and recipes at VanderbiltWife.com.

3 Tips to Prepare for VBS

This is a guest post from Mike Smith, who works at LifeWay and is part of the Evalgelism team. He's also very involved with VBS and even teaches sessions on "DEF: Discipleship, Evalgelism, & Follow-Up" at our VBS Previews across the country.

In less than a month, we begin VBS in my own church.  And like you, we’ve already begun.  Like you, I know that VBS begins before it ever starts and isn’t over on the last day of VBS.  And yes, that last sentence is correct.  Would you allow me to encourage you in three ways.  Just 3 words:  Prayer.  Priority.  Plan.

Prayer.  We haven’t even started until we have prayed!  I am thinking about a host of ways to engage a multitude of people in your church in praying actions.  I am thinking of strategically including the children in those praying actions.  There is a biblical pattern in the following:
                -First, we intercede
                -Second, we interact
                -Third, we intervene

As we pray and interact with the VBS participants, we discover several ways in which we can intervene in their lives and the lives of their families.  But it works in the right order – first, we pray.  Then we interact (primarily during the VBS event, but also in post-VBS activities).  And finally, we intervene, which is a powerful thing.  We take action (s) based on our praying and our activity we’ve had in the lives of the VBS participants.  But the foundation is built on prayer. 

Priority.  Give priority to building relationships!  I’ve noticed, like many of you, that it is taking longer to build relational bridges into the lives of people.  It’s true:  In most places across the country, it’s taking longer to engage and impact lives.  My mind continually goes back to Deut 31:12.  You know that verse, which is a great VBS text.  “Gather the people—men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law.“  Would you give prayerful thought to who are the “men, women, children and foreigners living within your gates?”  Who are those living within the sphere of your influence and reach?  And please don’t overlook the foreigners…..

Plan.  This year in the VBS previews and institutes, I mentioned some resources that are well designed to help us in effective VBS follow up.  They include “I’m A Christian Now” and “Leading a Child To Christ.”  There is also “More To Life” (particularly, Discover More To Life, which is designed to engage an unbeliever in a discovery of who Jesus is and what He does in the lives of people).  I am also excited about Fouad Masri’s excellent work, “Bridges:  Connecting Christians With Muslims.”  Bridges is a much needed piece in the follow up arsenal, as we have over seven million Muslims living in America.  And honestly, most Christians do not know what to say to a Muslim.  Bridges helps prepare Christians in how to engage and interact with our Muslim neighbors and co-workers.  Take a look at the following webpages:

                www.lifeway.com/moretolife
                www.lifeway.com/bridges
               

I’m pumped about VBS and the lives impacted because of it.  And I invite you to join me in praying, prioritizing and planning.  Repeat after me:  VBS isn’t over on the last day of VBS!  VBS isn’t over on the last day of ……  VBS isn’t over on…..

3 Ways to Pray for Camp

Lots of people ask us “How can we pray for CentriKid?” Here are all the details!

Pray for your church. Here is a great way to start. Get a list of all the kids who will be going to camp with your church. There may be some kids that you don’t recognize, who are friends with kids who go to your church. They may not attend church anywhere. Pray for the decisions those kids will make throughout the week, as well as the things they will learn while they are at camp. It also never hurts to pray that the Lord will double the amount of sleep the Adult Sponsors that are going will get.  

Pray for your week of camp. Pray for the Camp Director, the Camp Pastor and the rest of the CentriKid Staff. Pray for the other churches that will be attending camp that week. 

Pray for camp throughout the summer. We have 8 CentriKid teams that will be at a total of 23 different locations. Pray for all of the kids that will attend, their adult sponsors, and that the message of Christ will be clear to thousands of them this summer!

We appreciate your prayers and are encouraged by those who want to join us in ministry!

Jen Hall is our camp intern and will be directing CK2 at Campbellsville this summer. Keep up with Jen via twitter and her personal blog.

3 Ways to Keep the Van Ride Fun

It's almost summer, and summer means lots of fun at CentriKid Camps. Inevitably, you have a van ride or a bus ride or a car ride to get to camp. Here are 3 ways to keep that ride fun for kids!

1. GAMES. Play games like "Green Glass Doors" or "I'm going to camp and I'm going to bring..." or "Crossed or Uncrossed..." or "Who's in the middle?" Read rules for fun games like these here.

2. RIDDLES. Tell riddles. Ask kids to bring riddles with them. Kids love riddles. They love asking you to figure them out, and they also love figuring them out themselves. Prepare your list of riddles beforehand. Here are some to help!

3. SONGS. Download the CAMP MUSIC to play in the van (on the right hand side of our blog) and get kids excited about songs they will hear at camp. You can also sing some cheesy songs that kids love, or teach them some of your favorite old songs from when you were a kid!

Meredith Teasley loves games and fun. She loves helping #kidmin leaders learn new games they can use in their churches! Find more games from Meredith here... follow her on twitter or on her blog to keep up with what she's doing when she's not planning games.