Tag: free children’s church curriculum

Posted on by

Conscious Learning | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Conscious Learning | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Based on Blender Foundation speech by Andrew Price (view full videos on youtube.com)

Habit #4 Conscious learning – not practice, practice, practice

 

I heard a saying “It is  not practice that makes perfect, but perfect practice that makes perfect.”

 

Andrew uses the example of a time when he was drawing but he was in a rut, not improving – just redrawing the same pictures over and over again.  He realized he needed more training.  He started to re-learn the old things and he realized he hadn’t adopted everything he had learned.

 

How I found this applied to me in my cartooning of the bible was that I recognized pretty quickly my limitations and I enrolled in a night school course for cartooning once per week at my local college.  I totally enjoyed the experience and enjoyed getting out each week with other people who had like interests.

 

If you feel like you need more training in the area you are called to, go and get the training.  Look outside the box so to speak, to see how you could make it happen.

 

Consciously always be improving your skills.  Try not to plateau.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

 

Posted on by

Stealing | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Stealing | 7 Habits of a Good Artist |  Based on Blender Foundation Speech by Andrew Price (video series can be viewed on youtube.com)

Habit 3 – Get good at stealing

Andrew says that we build on the stuff we have learned from others.  Find your idols, copy the stuff you love and put them into a file.

He says, “If you steal from one person you are plagiarizing but if you are stealing ideas from 100 people you are not doing plagiarism.”

When I was first learning to cartoon for the bible stories, I had very little background knowledge to draw from.  I had enjoyed the Saturday morning cartoons I watched on television as a child and I drew inspiration from them.  I also started to look at the cartoon section of our local newspaper and even advertising flyers that came in my daily mail.  My eyes were suddenly open to all the cartoons that were around me.

I started to recognize that there are certain styles of cartoons that I like and I started to try to copy them.  My limited drawing experience required me to rely on reference material.  I would cut out from the newspaper all of the cartoons with unusual facial expressions and make files of various things I felt I might need to use as inspiration.  Now of course with the internet, you have it all at your fingertips.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

 

Posted on by

Volume Not Perfection | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Habit #2  Work on Volume not Perfection

7 HABITS OF A GOOD ARTIST based on Blender Foundation Speech by Andrew Price
(You can find the series on Youtube.com)

Habit #2 is to work on Volume of pieces and not perfection of each piece of art that you do.  Andrew Price uses the example of Picasso and how he did a huge volume of artwork, thousands and thousands of pieces, but only a few pieces became famous.

Apparently the more compositions you make in 5 years, the higher your chances become in making a “hit”.

How I found this related to me in my cartooning of the bible is that, because each story required 10 to 15 pictures, I couldn’t afford to do “perfect”  artwork, as the upcoming Sunday service only allowed me a certain amount of time to get the story presentable. Fortunately since kids are so forgiving, I just made the pictures as best as I could and over time my art work started to improve.   Probably most stories have been done 2 to 3 times to get them to their current level.  I can attest that volume of work makes a difference.  You get better as you do it.  Don’t slow yourself down trying to be perfect.  Just keep on moving.

I also have come to ACCEPT that my work WON’T be perfect.  Before I even started the project of cartooning the bible, I was at a church and the pastor called me out and said that he felt God had a message for me.  He said God was going to give me a work to do and that I was not to compare myself to others and say that others could have done this job better.  I accept the job given to me and I am doing my best to develop the talent given to me.  I encourage the same for you.

Posted on by

Do A Little Every Day | 7 Habits of a Good Artist | Andrew Price

Do a Little Every Day | SEVEN HABITS OF A GOOD ARTIST based on Blender Foundation Speech by Andrew Price.  (You should be able to view the full series on Youtube.com)

Habit #1 is “Do a little bit every day”.

If you are reading this blog, you most likely know that I am attempting to cartoon the entire bible (at least all the parts that have a story to illustrate).  A few times I have felt overwhelmed to the point of tears at how massive this project was, but I have learned that doing a little bit everyday does add up.   I am amazed at how much I do get accomplished when I block a certain amount of time each business day of the week, and stick to my schedule.

The old Chinese proverb is true that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep.

Use your little moments that you do get.  Use the technology you have.  Record ideas on your cell phone.  Don’t lose time.  Don’t lose a thought.  Even if you don’t have time to develop your thoughts at this moment, at least they are recorded for the future when you do have time.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

Posted on by

Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children India | Mission Moment #5

Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children in India | Mission Moment #5

Here are a few more of the children’s stories as sent to me by Simon David, the director of the home in India.  Here is his contact information blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

(For some reason I am unable to rotate the photo – sorry about that.)  Maria’s mother is suffering from AIDS, when this girl was born, she wanted to kill her by grinding her in the mill. When she was taking her, one of the school teacher/pastor came to know about it and took the child from her. Pastor contacted us and requested us to take her. At present she has no one to call her, her own. Hence we took her and that is the reason she is with us.  When we took her for check up she came out Positive with AIDS.  As I informed that Maria’s mother is pregnant, I understand that she delivered another girl child and I am sure she should also be carrying AIDS.

Epsibha is the 4 child in her family. They can’t afford even 2 meals a day.  Mother wanted to get her aborted, hence she took many steps like tablets and so on. But to her surprise she was born that also a girl. Hence she was joined in our home.

This is Nagamani. Her father wanted to kill her as she was the 7th girl child. When she came to know about her father’s plan she told her mother and ran away from her house and with her mother’s help she came and joined our home.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

 

 

Posted on by

Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children India | Mission Moment #4

Mission Moment #4 | Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children

In the next few weeks we will be focusing on some of the children the home cares for.  All of these stories were provided to me by Simon David, the director of the home.  You can reach him at blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

Pavani lost her father when she was 3 months old. Her grand parents chased the mother and the girl out of the house, because they said we have nothing to do with the child as our own son is no more. Hence Padma and her daughter Pavani had to live alone, and that is when they knocked our door and we kept her with us. Pavani was suffering with terrible fits and God healed her.

This girl is our branch Pastor’s daughter. She was in incubator and Doctors gave up hopes and told only a miracle can save her. When we came to know we went and prayed for her. God heard our prayers and saved this child. Pastor promised God that if she survives I will leave her in our home. That is the reason why she is with us.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

Posted on by

Orphanage and Home for Aids Affected Children | Mission Moment Part 3

Here is a letter from the American pastor whose church sends a team each year to the Home for Aids Affected Children.  He recounts how his church came to be in contact with Mr. Simon David, the Indian businessman who founded the Home for Aids Affected Children.

Here’s my story —

At Bear Valley Community Church we decided we needed to do something about the AIDS crisis in the world. So we asked around if anyone knew of any ministry that we could support anywhere in the world. As God would have it: here’s the crazy thing that happened. A guy in our church had just returned from India where he had been standing on a curb trying to get across a 10-lane street with traffic buzzing around. So an Indian man, S.V. David, took him by the hand and helped him skirt through 10 lanes of traffic without getting killed. My friend told me that the man, S.V. David had an AIDS home and orphanage for children whose parents died of AIDS leaving them orphans. That’s how we found out about El-Rohi.

 

So a few months later our team left for India to visit this home – El Rohi. Once in Hyderabad, India, we drove on a 4-lane road for about an hour, then we drove on a 2-lane road, then we drove on a 1-lane road, then we found ourselves driving down a dirt path. Who knew where this road would take us? We finally arrived at a gate, and we entered. The children were in the middle of a worship service when we arrived. They were singing, they were all dressed up in their native garb, the children were dancing to the energetic music, and there was preaching.

 

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived at the home. I assumed it would be a bunch of little poverty kids who were just trying to survive. Instead in the midst of the beautiful children, the heart-felt music, and the gorgeous scenery with palm trees, my first thought was this — “Is this what heaven is going to be like?” It’s hard for me to describe the sensation I had from the Lord and the feeling of God’s overwhelming presence there in this little tiny spot filled with these precious kids, but I saw the Lord there that day, and I’ve never been the same since.

Here is a photo of me a few years ago with a little girl, Leah, who was saved from a mother who said she didn’t need any more children and so was going to terminate the baby’s life when born. Leah is now in the 2nd grade and is number one in her class in school. She loves Jesus and is a trophy of God’s grace.

Pastor Lee Johnson, Ph.D.
Bear Valley Community Church
7900 Precinct Line Road
Colleyville, TX  76034
817-485-9910
lee@bearvalleychurch.com

 

“We give our lives helping people and families find their place in God’s story.”

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

 

Posted on by

Why Start a Home for Aids Affected Children? | Mission Moment #2

As I mentioned in my previous blog, many years ago a Christian minister in India contacted me in regards to helping with children’s ministry.   This was in the early days of email.  Now I receive many such requests and most of them I don’t pursue, but this one seemed special.  I asked him if he would write and tell my why he started the home for Aids Affected Children.  Below is his response.

 

“We have a small hut church in this village. Whenever we conduct the service few children and women used to stay back with us after the service is over and this increased rapidly. When we inquired about them, they would say that they have been chased out by their own family members and their village people because they have AIDS. They would say can you please ask Jesus to heal us or please allow us to stay in the church.

Some mothers wanted to silently kill their daughter by feeding them with paddy husks, (when this goes into the food pipes, it will tear them and they will silently die, without anyone knowing that this a cold blooded murder) because they already have 4 daughters. This moved our hearts, it was then when we went on our knees to Pray for them. Holy Spirit gave us a burden to build a Orphanage for children and shelter for the AIDS affected women.”

If you would like to contact the director of this Home for Aids Affected Children,  Mr. Simon David, you may do so through his email address  blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

Below is the story of one of the children they are caring for.

Pavani lost her father when she was 3 months old. Her grand parents chased the mother and the girl out of the house, because they said we have nothing to do with the child as our own son is no more. Hence Padma and her daughter Pavani had to live alone, and that is when they knocked our door and we kept her with us. Pavani was suffering with terrible fits and God healed her.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

 

Posted on by

Over Under Game

Over Under Game for Children’s Ministry

Good high energy game for all ages. Instead of water, you may find slippery things at a dollar store that make this game a lot of fun to pass from one to another.

http://www.greatgroupgames.com/over-under-game.htm

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

Posted on by

ORPHANAGE AND HOME FOR AIDS AFFECTED CHILDREN INDIA | MISSION MOMENT #6

ORPHANAGE AND HOME FOR AIDS AFFECTED CHILDREN | MISSION MOMENT #6

Here are more stories from Simon David the director of the home for children in India.  You may contact him if you wish at blessingchild2002@yahoo.com

This is Ezra, this boy ran away from his home and was wandering on the roads. As one of the cops who is known to me requested me to take him in our home, hence he is with us.

(photo not included for child’s protection)

George’s father (name changed) had many wives. As George was a hinderence to him, he wanted to get rid of George. One day his father came with a knife to kill him. This boy with some injuries came and landed in our home with his mothers concern. His father is still in a hunt for George.

This Raveli, she lost her father with AIDS. She ran away from home and landed in her uncle’s house. When he heard about our home he requested us to take her in our home.  Long after we taking her, her mother Lakshmi from whom all the evil sprits were delivered. She is the one from whom all the knifes/bottles/bricks/stones came out. Today she is delivered and she is well.

This Ajay, she lost both his parents from AIDS. He is been abandoned by his own family members and the society.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources

Posted on by

DEVELOP YOUR TALENT

DEVELOP YOUR TALENT:  It took me some time to accept all the “re-do’s” that I had to do in my cartoon drawings and bible story writing. All the early stories that I did, I had to re-do at least 3 times and at first I used to get so frustrated and angry at myself.  “Like why do I have to learn SO slowly and why do I have to re-do all this?”  As things start to click in, you get a little wiser, but through all this, I have come to realize that God has allowed time in his plan for us to develop our skills.

 

Keep on walking.  Don’t get discouraged if you have “re-do’s” in life.  You will always be under construction until the day you go home.

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.

Posted on by

FEED YOUR SPIRIT

The message I want to remind you of as a children’s minister is the importance of remembering to feed your spirit.  You need personal time with the Lord that is NOT about ministry.  I know, having been a children’s minister, that you can spend enormous amounts of time doing the work of the ministry doing bible related activity.  But, you can end up neglecting time with the Lord that is not focused on anything but him, so that he can talk to you.  Don’t forget to spend time reading the bible with an open mind and no agenda for ministry.

 

Click here for Children’s Ministry Resources.