danielle bell, Author at dandibell

In kidmin

a new to me tool

October 4, 2020 No Comments

recently we reopened life groups for families. to ensure social distancing, we were given the gym. while we were thankful for such a large space, we immediately ran into several production issues: the sound, the harsh lighting from a glass building, and not enough tvs or quality projectors to reach the room.

so how do you lead an hour and a half family life group without screen? enter padlet. (big thanks go to abbie johnson, a coworker, for introducing me to padlet.)

padlet is a free online tool (we paid a subscription for more services) that serves as an online notice board. used mainly in education environments, we knew immediately that this would be needed if we were to successfully use screens in a gym of 200 socially distanced family members.

with so many changes being communicated to families, we kept it simple first. we designed our board (turning off permissions for others to comment and post) and all those that sign up for family life group get a text 15 minutes before we begin with the link to our padlet. once they pull up our page, everything we drop on the main computers padlet shows up on their device. any instructions we give we share on the padlet so they also have the instructions in front of them at their table.

here is what our padlet looks like – dawson kids padlet. i am a sucker for new technology, especially when it is simple and meets an immediate ministry need. check it out.

In kidmin

join me for my online class

August 23, 2020 No Comments

with so many conferences going virtual, why not join me for my online class? this course contains six weeks of my best kidmin material and is full of intentional conversations centering around best practices for children’s ministry leaders. not only do we sharpen one another as we grow in knowledge together, we also leave with a new network of ministry friends to encourage each other during these difficult times.

the next class is slated for – october 12 – november 20, 2020

read below for a full description of my course and click here to be taken to the registration site.

This will be an examination of the role of the educator in supporting the faith development of children and families in the congregation. We’ll cover pedagogies, models of ministry, and administrational tasks. Not only will we discover how to intentionally plan and lead long term, but we will examine best solutions to the in-the-trenches children’s ministry elements.

This course will equip you with techniques for the following:

Creating and Maintaining a Gospel-Centered Ministry
Different Models of Ministry (what’s best for your ministerial context?)
Partnering with Parents
Strategic Planning, Budgeting, Outreach, Service and Follow-Up
Building, Leading & Maintaining Volunteer Teams
Consistent & Creative Communication
Serving Families with Special Needs
The Preteen Bubble
Family Worship
Using Your Facility to set your teaching/worship up for success

Students are required to have the following books for this class:

Gospel Centered Kids Ministry, by Brian Dembowczyk
Sustainable Children’s Ministry, by Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom
What About Kids Ministry, edited by Bill Emeott

NOTE: IFD Certification learners may complete either IFDC140 or IFDC150 as part of their Children’s Ministry certification.

This course is eligible for 3.0 CEU.

LEARN MORE HERE

In kidmin

Gospel Class Goes Online

July 19, 2020 No Comments

What happens when you have a crew of kiddos and families wanting to take the Gospel Class, but you are aren’t meeting with kids on campus yet? Well you get creative and take the interactive class online.

First of all I share all three parts of the outline for this class here, here, and here. I also had the privilege of writing the resource for a longer class like this for your church setting. You can find out more about that here. It comes with leader guides that we make sure to put in the hands of our families to help continue to conversations. You can find those here.

The main objectives I have for this class that kids attend with adults are:
– See truth in God’s Word.
– Experience truth in a hands-on way.
– Discuss truth as families.

This gets really tricky when the class gets moved to video. After registration, I made sure parents had a list of supplies then I recorded two videos for them to experiences as families. Each child also got a packet with a Gospel God’s Plan for Me workbook, this storybook, and I gave parents a guide to leading their kids to Christ.

Here is a peak at the first video. You will have to use the password: Gospelclass to be able to see the video. I would love to hear what you are doing to reach families with the Gospel during this unique season.

https://vimeo.com/439755520