I am excited today to let you, our readers, know about some very exciting changes at Kidmin1124.  Beginning immediately, Matt Norman will be taking over as chief editor here on Kidmin1124.  Matt will introduce himself more fully in a coming post and share his ideas and vision for Kidmin1124 moving forward.  If we’re lucky, he may even include a more recent picture of himself in that post.

Today marks both a very exciting and very sad day for me in the history of Kidmin1124.  I am excited to hand the reigns of Kidmin1124 off to Matt, and I trust that God will lead him and this ministry in the right direction.  For me personally, that is very exciting.  Without going into all of the details, I believe this transition is a “God thing,” and I am excited to see what that means for the future of Kidmin1124. 

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Cue the power ballad.  All together now:

We’re #16!

We’re #16!

Seriously though, at Kidmin1124.com, we are excited to have claimed the #16 spot in Tony Kummer’s annual list of the top 100 children’s ministry blogs.  Last year, just a few months after our launch, we were excited to come in 44th, and it is exciting to move up this year.  It is exciting to move, not because it feeds some need to be recognized, but because it is a reflection that people are actually finding the blog useful.

I’m a little biased, but I think one of the things that really sets Kidmin1124 apart is our writers.  I have never known a more talented group of individuals who are so willing to give of themselves to help others.  Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised because our writing team consists of volunteers and bi-vocational children’s ministers to begin with.  They make a habit of giving of themselves until it hurts (and then giving some more).

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We need your help.  Those of you who read Kidmin1124 on a regular basis may have noticed over the last couple of months that our posts have been fewer and far between.  Our team of writers has dwindled as people have gotten busy and taken on other tasks.  We are currently looking for people who work in children’s ministry who have something to share about their experience and wisdom with the readers of Kidmin1124.  In short,

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

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Let me start by saying that this article is different from what you are used to reading on this site. It is not children’s ministry related, but I hope you will read it anyway.

I set out today to right the second in my “I Can’t Dive” series, but this message was laid on my heart and I have to share it. Today as I stood in a local glass shop getting pricing for a new mirror for my car I heard on the news about a man in Nevada that walked into an IHOP and had killed several people. I was both saddened and outraged. I was saddened for those that lost their lives and for the gunmen that found himself in such a dire situation that he thought this was the best way to deal with it. I was outraged by the unjust loss of life. For me this event was a symptom of a much bigger problem, Our Nation Is Sick.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God promises, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” This promise was made to the Israelites after years of turning away from God. As I listened to this news story I couldn’t help but think that America has done the same thing. There can be little doubt that our founding fathers were Christians and that Christian values are a major part of the foundations of our country. However, in the years since the founding of our country we have gradually drifted further and further from God. We may not be worshipping Baal or any of the other false gods that the Israelites turned to, but we have come to worship things other than God. We slowly allowed many things distract us from God. This may be new cars, or bigger TVs. It may be happenings in Hollywood, or a profession athlete. It is something different for all of us, but for most of us there are things that, if we are honest distract us from loving God with all our Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength.

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Some of you may remember me. I did some writing for Kidmin1124 last year. My last post was on December 30 of last year. Since then things have gotten really crazy in my life and I had to set aside the writing for a time. I know that many of the people that read this blog are either part-time, or volunteers in children’s ministry. Because of this I know that you can relate.

I have greatly missed writing for Kidmin1124 and I am very excited to say that I AM BACK! Things have changed in my schedule and I think I will have time to do a little writing again. I look forward to writing about my journey in children’s ministry and, hopefully, helping you in your journey.  I look forward to interacting with our readers. I look forward to hearing from you, and learning your thoughts on what I write and hearing your stories about what God is doing in your ministry.

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One of the things that makes Kidmin1124 great is the collection of talented writers that we have.  Apparently, when they’re not busy writing for this site or for their own blogs, some of our writers are spending their time writing witty poems to help teach inappropriate Bible stories to kids.  One such poem, written by Lindsey Whitney, has now gained international fame by being featured on Stuff Christians Like.  SCL is a satire blog written by Jon Acuff and is one of the most visited Christian blogs out there.  We are so proud of Lindsey for being able to guest post on Jon’s blog.  You can catch Lindsey’s reaction to this experience on her blog, Growing Kids Ministry.

Dear reader,

We appreciate your support and look forward to providing great articles and resources to you in the future.  Right now, we could really use your help.

Our blog is currently involved in a very intense and high stakes battle with other kids’ ministry blogs (the preceding sentence was majorly exaggerated for effect).  While we recognize there are many excellent blogs included in the competition, we would certainly like to be one of the sixteen blogs that advance into the second round.  Currently, the top four blogs in each region will advance.

If you would take a quick thirty seconds and stop over and vote for Kidmin1124 in the West Regional, you can help us advance.  Right now we are in a close race for the fourth spot in our regional and every vote really counts.

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Last year, Tony Kummer at Ministry-to-children started the Kidmin Blog Madness competition.  It’s a fun way to get exposure to some exciting kidmin blogs, as well as reward the ones that have benefitted you the most.  The competition is bracket style a la March Madness and there are currently four divisions with seventeen blogs in each.  In round one, you can vote for up to four blogs in each division.  The top four blogs from each division advance to round two.

Now, I’m not going to tell you who you should vote for, but you should definitely vote for Kidmin1124 in the West Regional.  And if you really want to support this blog, some of our authors have personal blogs listed as well and you might want to vote for them too.

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Hi, how are you?  I’m not much of a warm tea person, so why don’t we have a glass of iced tea (sweetened of course) and get started!

1. Good afternoon. Why don’t you start by sharing your name and where you live?

Wayne Stocks. Pataskala, Ohio.

2. Tell us a little bit about the church you attend.

I attend New Life Church in Gahanna, Ohio. It is a non-denominational church with a membership of around 1,000.

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