As leaders in children’s ministry, we know the significance of our job. We have the opportunity to teach kids about Christ. What could be better than that? Yet in the middle of the week-to-week preparations, we can get so focused on the details that we forget the bigger picture. Our job is not simply to ensure our 4s class has a teacher this Sunday—our job is to nurture the spiritual development of kids.

The holidays are a special time for families to celebrate traditions, to share the reason for the season, and to create new memories. Christmastime can be simply magical, but have you ever wondered what Christmas means to a preschool child? Young preschoolers may not completely grasp the meaning of the symbols, the beliefs, and the activities that surround the holiday season. This article provides five easy steps to help ensure this Christmas is one to remember for the little ones.

This article offers great ideas to help get your JBQ ministry going and KEEP it going: 1.) Recruiting Volunteers, 2.) Promote, 3.) Go the Extra Mile. As the article says, this is more than just preparation for competition—JBQ is ministry!

Each year at our local church, we attempt to find creative strategies to walk this fine line. We’ve done the stickers, JBQ store, end-of-year parties, attendance rewards, and more—all with varying degrees of success. With the upcoming 2016-17 season, we met to discuss what this year’s new-and-improved system would be. We didn’t need to look any further than JBQ’s national campaign, “Conquer the Cards.” The result was a two-faceted JBQ program—one part to motivate all kids to learn the Bible Fact-Pak and another to help motivate those who wished to attend the quiz meets.

According to Pastor Elyse Murphy in her first book release "Confessions of a Church Kid: Honest Thoughts on Finding God and Becoming Myself," kids face several issues that parents and leaders alike may not realize. This Salubris release is a rare treasure for the hearts of young church-goers. In this engaging read, Elyse shares portions of her real-life story as she speaks out for students that have grown up in the church world with their unique temptations and downfalls. Filled with laughter, love, and life-lows, Elyse, who is now the youth/young adult pastor at Oasis Church in California, opens her heart wide to the world as she confesses her personal journey as a Christian teen. She is the pastor’s kid to whom every Christian kid can relate.

As a recovering back-row leader, Rob Ketterling gives the road map for moving from the back to the front. In his book "Front Row Leadership," Rob shows the reader how to look for obstacles and frustrations and how to push through them. With his conversational writing style, he walks the reader through creating alignment on teams and describes the job of a front-row leader.