Author: Patti Loranger

Patti Loranger is a Canadian author, cartoonist and songwriter. She is currently writing children's church curriculum covering the main stories and teachings of the bible. She is also cartooning the bible and those stories can be viewed and purchased at www.cartoonbibleseries.com
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Game Snow Ball Push

Game SNOW BALL PUSH

Preparation:   Using waste paper crumple the paper into hundreds of  paper wads.   You should have enough paper wads to fill a large garbage bag (the kind you rake leaves into).    Using masking tape, put a line into the center of the floor and dump the bag of paper wads directly on the line so that the wads fall approximately 50% on each side of the line.  Choose 2 people who will be opponents.  On the signal the 2 people have to push the wads over the opponents side of the line.   At 30 seconds the whistle is blown and the person who has pushed the most wads over the other side of the line is the winner.  Recite memory verse between rounds.

A less messy alternative to this game is to make a square on the floor with chalk or masking tape.  Draw a line in the center.  Place one person in each half of the square.  Give each person 15 or 20 paper wads.  Each person should have different coloured paper wads.  When you say “go” they must toss their paper wads unto the other person’s side.  At the end of 20 seconds with person with the least number of paper wads is the winner.

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Keith Green

Inspiration from Keith Green

I just finished reading the book written by Melody Green about the life story of her late husband, Keith Green.   The book is called “No Compromise”.

Keith Green was very popular during my teenage years.  As I have been giving thought to his life and to my life, I see how God has worked so differently in each of our lives.  In my life most things have happened LATER than most other people.  I received children in my 40’s.  I started to cartoon the bible when I was 38.  I took up viola lessons at 50 and also now in my 50’s I also feel called to write songs.  So I am doing it.  Whereas, Keith Green by the time he was 28 when he died, he had already been married, had 4 children and had numerous albums and had done much ministry – a great burst of energy.  The moral of the story is that you do what God puts on your heart when he puts it in your heart.  Don’t delay.  Start working toward what God is putting on your heart.

You might be like be my friend who has so many really good ideas (even to write an opera) but she feels that during this stage of her life since her children are competitive volley ball players and she spends so much time driving them around to games and sitting in tournaments, that this is something that is going to have to be done way off in the future.  I reminded her that with today’s technology and even if you don’t have smart phones, you can still jot down notes, that every time an idea comes to her she should grab her phone and record the idea.  As these ideas bubble up, and they will bubble up, because as soon as we are relaxed all these ideas come to us, RECORD them.  It is just the way it is.  You have to have a way to catch those ideas.  As long as you have caught them, then at some time in the future when you have time to sit down begin the project you will have all of those ideas to work with.

Work towards that thing that God is putting in your heart.  Don’t delay.  Take action, even small actions.

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Game Smelly Business

Game SMELLY BUSINESS

Take several disposable plates and place on each one a sample of various items from your fridge.  Suggestions would be peanut butter, jam, onion slices, ground garlic, used coffee grounds, pickles etc.  Now blindfold your friends and bring them into the room one by one to test their powers of smell as you pass each plate under their noses.  For humour you could have a teacher take off their shoes and put a shoe or smelly sock on a platter.

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When to be Angry

When to be Angry

“The trouble with patience is that the more a fellow has, the more folks want to use.”
(E. C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

The apostle Paul says to “be angry and sin not.”   From that verse I deduct that there are times when you DO need to get angry.  You will find scriptures where God himself had had enough, and he was angry.

If your children’s church class is out of control you may need to get angry before things get better.

In one church where I was asked to teach the kids church, when I started the class was completely out of control.  They were good kids gone wild.  It was pretty much impossible to teach, so at one point I thought, “you know, I don’t get paid for this, and I am not putting up with this.”  I raised my voice and I told them to “sit down and shut up”.  Of course the kids eyes were big with shock and whether or not you agree with what I did, this was the result.  The kids came and sat down in front of me and they listened.  I never had to raise my voice again after that.  That church turned out to be the best experience of all of my years teaching children’s ministry, even to this day.  I have never experienced kids that worshipped like those kids did, and they hungered after the word of God.  I am not totally sure why so many good things happened there, perhaps much prayer, but one thing is for certain, I had to get angry before it turned around.  The kids have to know you mean business!

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Attitude

Attitude

“Ability is what you are capable of doing.  Motivation determines what you do.  Attitude determines how well you do it.”
Lou Holtz

I saw this saying on a wall plaque in a home I visited and I thought this is true.

I am always telling my kids the importance of doing your best at whatever you do.   The bible says that whatever we do we should do it with all of our might.  If we have this attitude in all we do, we bring Glory to Christ.

In my life I have discovered that even if I was not the most talented at what I was endeavouring to do, with disciplined practice I could accomplish a lot and make works of beauty.

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Game Pudding Dunk

Game PUDDING DUNK

Supplies:  4-8 chocolate pudding cups, 1 bag of miniature marshmallows. 4 – 8 small Styrofoam dessert plates.  Set up a table and place as many plates out as you want contestants.  Empty the contents of a pudding cup onto each plate.   Count into each pudding, 10 miniature marshmallows them stir them into the pudding.  Choose a contestant to stand behind each plate.   Tell them to put their hands behind their backs.   When you say go, they must stick their faces into the pudding and pull out the marshmallows with their teeth and put them on a plate beside them.  The person who withdraws the 10 marshmallows first is the winner!  Recite memory verse before and between each round.

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Feed the Lambs

Feed the Lambs

“When you feel like criticizing the younger generation, just remember who raised them.”
(E. C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

You know, if as children’s ministers we have the mindset that we are raising the next generation of believers and ministers, we would take our work much more seriously.  I have been in children’s ministries where the workers were truly just babysitting, filling in time so that the adults can enjoy their service.  They did not “feed the lambs”.

We need to feed the lambs the word of God.  You can find free cartoon bible stories at our web site www.rocksolidcurriculum.com  God promises that his word will NOT return VOID.  It will accomplish what he pleases.

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Game Ping Pong Ball Races

Game PING PONG BALL RACES

Using masking tape put a start line and a finish line on the floor.  Choose 2 or 3 children who will line up at the starting line.  They must recite the memory verse.    After the teacher says “1,2,3,go!”, the children must get down on their hands and knees and blow their ping pong ball to the finish line.   They must not at any point touch the ball with their hands.   First person to get their ball across the finish line is the winner.Repeat the race with new children as often as you wish.   Recite memory verse between each round.  For added fun divide the class into 2 or 3 teams and assign a teacher to each team to be their team leader.    Have the team leaders race with each other.  Award 5,000 points for each win.   Team with the most points at the end wins.

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Strength to Go Through

Strength to Go Through

“More people ask the Lord to lighten their burden than ask him to strengthen their backs.”
(E.C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

In my life I would say the thing I appreciate more than anything is that I can ask God for strength.  There are some things in life that you have to walk through.  You can’t go around them.  You can’t avoid them.  Jesus had to go through the cross, but he prayed and his Father gave him strength.

I have found that a great peace comes upon me when I buckle down for the burden, so to speak, when I am not looking for the easy way out but for the strength to go through.   Set your mind to go through hardships.  Teach the kids to have this mindset as well and they will experience more peace.

He gives strength to those who wait upon him.

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Game Pass the Orange

Game PASS THE ORANGE

You can either play this pass the orange game in two teams or stand around together in one circle. The object is simply to pass an orange from one person to another, using only the chins and the shoulders. If you are using two teams, you can make it a race, but it is always very funny whichever way you play.  Repeat the memory verse between rounds.

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Adultery

Adultery

 

Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.

 

What is adultery?

Only married people can commit the sin of adultery.  When one person (or both) in a marriage is unfaithful to their partner and has a lover-type relationship with another person, this is adultery.

 

Why is adultery so bad?

Adultery deeply hurts all members of the family, most especially the betrayed spouse.

 

What are the possible consequences of adultery?

  1. Divorce
  2. Financial hardship (everything may have to be split)
  3. Much sorrow and weeping.
  4. Murder (if the betrayed person responds violently.)
  5. Children suffer because sometimes their parents are so occupied  with their own problems they don’t see or meet the emotional needs of their children.

 

What are marriage vows?

Marriage vows are promises that the husband and wife make to each other when they get married.  There can be different promises made, but the universal one is the promise to cleave to each other, forsaking all others.

 

How could a marriage stay together and be better even after adultery happened?

The Adulterer could demonstrate true repentance and remorse for the unfaithfulness and the pain caused.  The betrayed spouse could forgive.  The couple could receive counseling and begin to communicate and get to the root of the problem.

 

What is God’s purpose for marriage?  Why not go from partner to partner?

 

Malachi 2:15          “What does he want from marriage?  Children of God, that’s what.  So guard the spirit of marriage within you. Don’t cheat on your spouse.  I hate divorce, says the God of Israel.  (The Message)

 

Scriptures to Study:  Leviticus 20:10, Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 5:28, Song of Solomon 8:4, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 2 Tim 2:22

 

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Go Deeper in the Presence of God

Go Deeper

“You can’t lead anyone else any further than you have gone yourself.”
(E.C. McKenzie from 1800 Quotable Quotes)

As children’s ministers it is our job to lead kids into the presence of God and into knowing God but this can only happen as we develop ourselves and spend the time ourselves in his presence.

Pursue everything God has for you.  If you had a bucket of chocolate bars and chips at the front of your classroom and you told the kids to come and help themselves, would the kids in your class hold themselves back?  Not in my class.  They would run to the front and joyfully dig in.

Rare would be the child who would take one jelly bean or one potato chip and be satisfied with only that.  Yet sometimes people hold themselves back from pursuing the presence of God.  We are often satisfied with crumbs when we could have a feast.

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