• How To Dunk A Cookie
HOW TO DUNK A COOKIE, By Nancy Kannard
Read the directions first before performing this at home.
- First washing your hands (to the elbow) is recommended. Then one starts with a fresh cookie. (Recommended for this would be a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie rather than a boxed cookie or something of that sort. If you must cheat then I am sure Mrs. Fields is around the corner at the mall.) Also you will need a glass of Milk (for best results use 2% or whole milk) and a thick absorbent napkin. (For those of you familiar with cookie dunking and are most skilled will have extra napkins “standing by” just in case and elbow gets in the way.
- You bite the cookie exactly 2/3 of the way down so that it has a nice moon-shaped bite in it.
- Then turn the cookie 180 degrees so it is now upside down and the cookie bite is pointing southward.
- Then, with the cookie in your right hand, pick up the glass of milk in you left hand. Very deliberately dunk the cookie down into the milk. You dunk should be deep enough that the cookie is completely submerged in the milk and so that the milk level rises. This is where it gets a little messy for you fingers but that never stopped you as a kid, did it?
- Then watch. The signal you are looking for are bubbles. If you have followed directions properly up to this point you will see bubbles coming up, up from the cookie at the bitten part. You wait, with cookie submerged until all the bubbles have ceased. This then is how you know that the cookie is “ready” and now saturated with milk.
- Very carefully and soon after all the bubbles stop, lift the cookie up between your fingers and put it in your mouth. This is where the freedom of choice comes in. You may choose to eat the entire thing or only half at this point it is up to your discretion but choose wisely for you do not want to have to practice the 30 second rule which is shorted to 3 if you have indoor pets. I must warn you that in using this method, it is perilous (at least to the cookie) to try a double dunk. One must realize, that a cookie in the hand is worth two on the floor. So dunk carefully.
- Then repeat the process, sitting around the table with your friends or family and tell jokes to each other. Especially, the ones who are only funny at the peak of “the sillies”
Blessing: May your cookie never crumble or fall in your glass. May your milk get eaten up before it goes sour and May your mother just have gone to Costco to buy napkins.
Let sweet times abound!
• Program Rehab: One by One
All Children’s Ministry leaders want their programs to grow by design. We want healthy groups and growing people in them. However attempting to remodel ministries we did not start is, admittedly, very challenging. You want to stop the exodus of families caused by keep-out signs and a rather large back door. Reversing this reputation or the church’s image is like swimming upstream—it will take a lot of work.
Knowing how to start a rehab program is really quite simple—one program at a time. However, getting just one part of your children’s ministry up and running again in a healthy manner is not enough to change the image in the community. It would be like trying to impress your neighbors by remodeling or cleaning up one room in your house. Program rehab takes a long-term effort, a deliberate commitment to take on the system to introduce change. Being a change agent is just hard, but required. There are problem people, with destructive ideas, that resist change and even want to maintain the status quo. This is where a good program design is required. You see, I really do believe that the children’s ministry can contribute to changing the image of the church in the community, one program at a time.
Here are some design issues to rehab a closed program.
• Time With Grand Kids
Time at Knott’s with Grand Kids
I always wanted to be a Grandpa, Now that I have eight Grand Kids life has gotten sweeter for me. All my four kids married late and so all my friends were becoming grandparents before me. Just to make up for it, I would adopt other people’s kids just to fill in the gap until my kids got with the program. So in most recent years the grand kids have been coming. I am now catching up. I am adding teachable moments that create some of my own memories with them. So yesterday was one of those days when I got take two of my darlings grand kids to Knott’s Berry Farm alone, by myself. We had a wonderful time.
Of course, they are not old enough to enjoy to whole place, we mostly go to Camp Snoopy and enjoy all the kiddy rides. There is plenty to do there for two or three hours without leaving that area. Plus that amount of time is just right for our outing, which I have done more than a few times now.
Follow that up with seeing any of the Snoopy characters and going to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal and we are good. Well, yesterday being the Halloween weekend, Knott”s added these extra six stations in Camp Snoopy where the younger kids could pick up some free candy. We even found a craft station for the kids. Cool!
Also, we enjoyed the Snoopy Spooktacular Show with all the Snoopy Characters. So fun! Well, this was just too much fun for us, so I doubled my pleasure and I took both girls around to all the designated candy spots. You would think I was the best Papa in the whole world yesterday, because I took them there and we got our bags of goodies, enough to bring some home to show Mom and Dad. And the Happy Meals were a hit too, plus the play equipment at Mac’s Lounge, I did good. They are still talking about the good time. Of course, I had a two hour nap in the afternoon just to recover. Ha Ha (I think it was the busy week and not going to Knott’s that did it.)
• Kidmin Talk
Kidmin Talk
Karl Bastian, the founder and president of Kidology, Inc., has launched a new bi-monthly podcast series this fall covering Everything Kidmin (children’s ministry). This weekly, about forty-minute, show is patterned much like a Talk-Radio Show with segments and bumper music. Each installment tackles the current buzz in the “kidmin” world, looking at news, publications, resources, and topical conversation, both from Kidology, as well as around the globe. Karl leads a lively discussion prompted by those who comment on Kidmintalk.com blog page. It also features some interviews, a variety of kidmin topics, trivia of interest, featured music and home spun humor. The show also mentions source documents, a weekly contest called Name Dropping—to attract potential listeners. The person mentioned is invited to add comment to http://www.kidmintalk.com within one week, if they do, they can win a nice prize. The first twenty-six shows are designed around the letters of the alphabet—each letter representing a subject pertinent to all kidmin leaders. The audience is encouraged to guess the alphabetical word, the correct responders win a prize, if their featured word is chosen for the podcast.
This last week Karl was in Southern California and invited Todd McKeever and I, the first two coaches from the Kidology Coaching Program to be the featured guests on the show. Karl was able to interview us and record enough material to produce two shows (#006 and #007). The first one was launched this week and the latter will launch next week. If you are interested in these free MP3 podcasts you can download them for free and enjoy listening to them at your leisure. Our interviews dealt with Equipping and Encouraging for children’s ministry leaders and volunteers. I am sure that you will find them both entertaining and helpful.
Here is the link, so you can go check them out http://www.kidology.org/podcast
• Leadership: Ownership
Leadership: Ownership
How do you create ownership in programming? How do create an environment that is conducive to ownership? How do you deal with saboteurs that seek and destroy a good plan? These are significant questions when it comes to developing new programs in children’s ministry.
There seems to be three ways that churches do this.
1. Some programming can come from the top down, which feels likes the program has been legislated for the followers and they have no voice—their only option is the accept or reject, take it or leave it.
2. Another alternative is to develop programs from the bottom up. This is a grassroots idea that there is agreement on among the rank and file, but the leaders have to be persuaded to come on board.
3. There is another possibility where the administration and the representative leaders come together from the middle and hammer out a plan. This is more of a process of give and take. It usually takes longer to come to conclusions. But the process is participatory and there is more discussion on the pros and cons.
The goal is agreement—a group consensus, if you please, where the group is united on the outcome, and every dissenting voice is heard and considered.
It is unanimous and the group speaks with one voice and the same voice is heard from all who agree, with little or no other story, but the conclusion.
We are in this together!
Here are My Eight Tips for helping CM leaders process for ownership:
• What Stepping UP Means
What Stepping Up Means!
Stepping UP is the concept in leadership that involves moving forward, but exerting more than normal walking energy to lift that other foot higher. It involves taking that extra effort to raise your game to another level. This can occur when people enhance the productivity of their existing activities and assets through investments in new assets. It might go beyond your comfort zone, initially, but once you have taken that new step up, you can get used to being on another level. Then the new challenge will be—how to take another step up.
So in Children’s Ministry just how does this work? What are some of the indicators that one is taking the ministry to another level by stepping up? Well, here are my sixteen thoughts that unpack what Stepping Up Might Mean For You.
• Optical Illusions in CM?
This is one of my favorite optical illusions. There are two ladies here, one young and one old. Can you see them?
An optical illusion is defined as something that appears one way when you look at it, but to another it appears different when they look at it —two different views of the same thing. To see the illusion you have to see both views, not just one. Some do not have eyes to see it. But to the trained eye, the hidden is quite obvious. I think these Optical Illusions can happen in our Children’s Ministries. Some do not observe correctly what we are doing, but some really have clear vision and get it. They see it!
So here are five areas where apparent optical illusions might seem to be at work. That might give you pause or cause others to double take.
• Truth Alive Magazine
For over a year now, I have been quietly submitting monthly articles for the magazine called Truth Alive published in India. Truth Alive is an English Christian family magazine produced in India. Written by prominent Christian writers from across the world, this 26-paged magazine is designed to develop and strengthen the Christian faith in English, equip individuals to transform their communities and empower readers to lead a life for Christ. So I guess this makes me an international writer?
• Top Hundred Kidmin Blogs
I Made the Top Hundred Kidmin Websites
For the second year in a row I secured a spot on the top 100 Kidmin websites. That’s pretty cool. Tony Kummer has figured out a system for qualifying some really good Kidmin sites. Notice where Kidology ranks, and our Scripture Lady too. Whoa! You might want to look into some of these other great contributors who share their thoughts and insights about children’s ministry. I am grateful to be among those who are making a contribution to the CM leaders. Check out the great list. http://ministry-to-children.com/top-blogs
• How to Approach A Horse
How to Approach A Horse
We took 50 kids to a Horse Ranch for a weekend camping experience. The attraction and novelty was the horses, but there were many other farm animals there. Each kid had an animal to care for, for the entire week.
Of course, these city kids, who would hardly lift a finger to do chores at home, fell right in-line with enthusiasm and excitement about caring for animals, but especially the horses.
These were the teachable moments, for sure. So the Camp Wrangler went to great pains to demonstrate some of the proper technique, including how feed, groom, bridle and even how to “muck” the stalls, which they loved!
However, one especially insightful teaching included how to approach a horse. You stand a good safe distance away, with a carrot in your hand. Put the carrot in your outstretched hand, and wait. Notice that the horse will look at the carrot, then look at you and then back to the carrot. Then you can take one-step towards the horse without moving your outstretched hand. Watch the horses eyes, who will repeat looking at the carrot, then you, then back to the carrot. Take another step. You continue this advancement, until you are standing next to the horse. Offer the carrot, which he will eat out of your hand.
You have successfully approached the horse. However, with this lesson I have applied it approaching young kids.
