Apostolic Children’s Ministry Podcasts 2.0

Podcast #13 – w/ Julian Estrada – June 2, 2021 | Connections are KEY!

Today Julian Estrada and Phillip Booker talked about the IMPORTANCE OF MAKING RELATIONSHIPS in bus ministry!This is difference between keeping and losing our kids!Let us know if you have questions or would like us to discuss specific topics. Email us at info@apostolicsundayschool.com.

Podcast – ACM w/ Delaney & Bob – May 26, 2021

Today we had a great discussion covering a lot of ground with Bro Bob Lee and Sis Delaney Reighard.
Let us know if you would like us to discuss specific topics. Send them to info@apostolicsundayschool.com.
In a hurry? Here are some transition points in the conversation.
0:00 – Starting – using kids NOW!8:52 – Bus contest – how green is dominating14:25 – God confirming our efforts22:00 – We are “signs”28:30 – SS Recap

Podcast – ACM w/ Bob Lee – May 19, 2021

Today Bro Lee and myself sat down and covered a lot of ground in Children’s starting at WHY we do what we do, to crowd control problems we experienced and how we dealt with them, fun things our bus teams are doing and of course, what we did in Sunday School last week. Join us!
Let us know if you would like us to discuss specific topics. Send them to info@apostolicsundayschool.com.
In a hurry? Here are some transition points in the conversation.
Why do we do what we do? (Starts at 3:30)Crowd control problems? US TOO! (Starts at 23:35)Fun things we are trying on our buses! (Starts at 44:45)What we did last week in Sunday School (Starts at 55:00)

Podcast – ACM w/ Thresa, Frances & Liz – May 11, 2021

Today we discussed how to have a GREAT toddlers class with 3 of the very best teachers of that age! Sis Thresa Lozano, Sis Frances Abad and Sis Liz Machuca are the 2-4 year old teachers and what a great job they do. Listen in to get all KINDS of information to help with your kids!
For pictures of the visuals referenced here see www.apostolicsundayschool.com/podcastvisuals.
Intros of Sis Frances, Sis Thresa & Sis Liz – 0:58How to have a great toddlers class – 9:15Funny interruption – 57:15Schedule / explanation of Superclass – 1:10:35
Send us feedback or requests to cover certain areas to info@apostolicsundayschool.com.

Podcast – ACM w/ Julian & Kim – May 5, 2021

This podcast was with Bro Julian and Sis. Kim Estrada and we discussed mainly bus ministry as well as highlights from the recent SCC children’s ministry conference and of course did a recap of our last Sunday.
Feel free to email us at info@apostolicsundayschool.com with ideas on how we can improve this podcast!
42:00 – SCC conference highlights
58:00 – Sunday School recap

Podcast – ACM w/ Delaney & Bob – April 28, 2021

Today we sat down with Sis. Delaney Reighard and Bro Bob Lee and did a weekly recap of our Sunday School, talked about the upcoming children’s ministry conference and even talked about how teachers can go about making themselves better at what they do.
Sunday School recap starts at 7:00Ways to be a better teacher starts at 32:30
Feel free to email us at info@apostolicsundayschool.com with ideas on how we can improve this podcast!

Podcast – ACM w/ Bob, Sunday School Recap – April 21, 2021

This is our first of hopefully many consist Podcasts where we recap the most recent Sunday and just talk about Children’s Ministry.
Today we have Bro Bob Lee, a seasoned veteran teacher of Inland Lighthouse with us. Join us as we go through last week’s schedule, how we came up with the ideas and more!

Podcast #7 - Early Prep = Exceptional Results

the worn-out and tired expression, “don’t wait until the last minute to prepare” or, to put it a bit more familiar phraseology, “don’t wait to start your lesson until Saturday night!”
These are indeed phrases that have become almost too familiar to us and so passe that it can be easy to ignore them or at least to let them settle somewhere to the back of our minds until it is too late and early preparation can only only an aspiration for the NEXT week.  These maxims are oft repeated because they ARE SO TRUE and vital to success in the classroom.
I was inspired to write this article because I found a statistic on the www.apostolicsundayschool.com website that is either new or was so buried in other stats that I hadn’t noticed it before.  It is a statistic on when the website has the most traffic or what is the most popular day and time for its visitors (quick reminder here… this is a SUNDAY School website).  The most popular day and time of the Apostolic Sunday School website is.... drum-roll please!
SATURDAY AT 8:00 PM… really.  I promise.
Now it doesn’t tell me WHO is on the website at that time :-) so you are safe should you be browsing at that time but hopefully that is the exception NOT the norm.
Life is crazy and I completely understand that some weeks are better than others.  We have all experienced those weeks that no matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to allocate the time to get ready for Sunday.  Trust me… we have all been there.  But to some people, this isn’t a crazy week… this is just a way of life.  and THAT isn’t good… at all.
Solid preparation ALWAYS leads to better classroom experiences.  Solid preparation results in fewer discipline problems because kids that are interested do not typically act up nearly as much as those in a poorly organized classroom.  I believe also, and I could be wrong, that solid preparation also receives a blessing from God even if the presentation of the lesson itself may not be the best. Let me give an example.
I have been in a rush and due to the lateness of the hour, instead of coming up with something new I have repeated a lesson that I had done before, relying entirely on the fact that I already had the materials and/or the lesson on hand.  Preparing not a wit, I blithely walked into class knowing that this particular group of kids had never seen or heard the lesson before and expecting to wow them but instead was taken aback by nearly everything going wrong!  Nothing went right… kids weren’t paying attention, I stumbled and stuttered, messed up on the lesson and otherwise made a hash of things. Otherwise, I have spent a long time preparing for a lesson and though I didn’t really do a good job in the actual teaching portion and may have made mistakes with the visual, the kids didn’t seem to care, paid strict attention and the class went great!  I believe this to be the blessing of God on my taking the time to prepare for my class.
So when should you begin preparing for your upcoming lesson?  My answer is Sunday afternoon! Right after you taught your LAST lesson.
No doubt you are thinking me excessive… but hear me out.  There is perhaps some minor method buried in this madness.  I am not necessarily suggesting that you go home Sunday afternoon and begin a grueling study session for the upcoming week, however there ARE at least two things you need to do as soon as your can following your most recent lesson.
#1 - Every Sunday afternoon you should take the time to evaluate your most recent performance.
What did I do well today?  Give yourself kudos where kudos are due.  If some part of the day or lesson went especially well, give yourself a pat on the back and make a note to continue improving in this area.  Perhaps you did an especially good job on your object lesson.  You had found a great visual, had ordered what you needed, had practiced at home and everything went off without a hitch.  Good job!
What can I improve on next week?  Take the same deep introspective look at your performance and see if there was anything that you could have done better.  Don’t beat yourself up but do be honest.  Perhaps you were really nervous in your delivery and could have done with a few more rehearsals at home prior to the live performance or maybe you didn’t show up early enough to have everything setup JUST the way it needed to be before the kids got there.
What should I START doing?  Is there anything that you didn’t do that you know you probably should have done this week?  Perhaps have a time to get serious and allow the kids to pray somewhere in the lesson?
What should I STOP doing? Hmmm… What did I do that I shouldn’t have?  Did I get frustrated and snap at a child?  Did I ramble on without visuals for 15 minutes straight on the book of Revelations while the kids zoned out and started throwing cookies?
#2 - You should find out what the topic is for the next week and do a quick read through of the curriculum should it be available.  If not, at least sit and think for a moment about the topic or theme for the upcoming class… let’s say it is “honesty”.  This will begin to open up your mind to possible ways to teach that topic and EVERYTHING that happens to or around you for the next week will make you think, “HEY! That’s a GREAT way to teach about honesty!”
I heard Bro. James Wang from NextLevelKidMin.com (great website… check it out) give a great illustration on early preparation.  He likened it to the “red car” effect.  When you are looking at buying a red car or have just bought a red car, they are EVERYWHERE!  In fact, suddenly your city has become infested with red cars!  Where did they all come from and where were they just last week?
This is VERY similar to being familiar with your lesson early in the week.  Now that you know the topic is on honesty, you will see ways to teach honesty EVERYWHERE you go! Every bible verse you read will suddenly seem to lend itself to honesty, every conversation you have will teach you something about it and by the end of the week you will have more to teach than you can possibly fit into the time allocated.  It’s incredible!
Prior prep will ALSO help you with the “wow factor”.  The “wow factor” comes into play on those rare Sundays that you absolutely knock the socks off of every kids in the room with the INCREDIBLE object lesson you came up with that so perfectly fit the topic.  You KILLED it!  Walk-off homerun! Out of the park! But… these don’t happen by accident.  These come by preparing well ahead of time.
Many times a “wow Sunday” requires even more prep than a single week can afford.  This illustrates how good it can be to look further ahead than only a week but to even be aware of the next month or two of lesson topics.  Perhaps you are going over science experiment websites or maybe even a fun Sunday School site (like… I don’t know… apostolicsundayschool.com?) and you see a lesson that you just HAVE to do.  You give yourself plenty of time to ORDER the materials needed, plenty of time to build that crazy device, plenty of time to test it out and plenty of time to make sure you have your entire routine DOWN!  This can’t happen if you prepare Saturday night.  This takes discipline, responsibility and a passion to be the best you can be.
One thing I haven’t hit on yet is spiritual preparation.  This cannot be overemphasized.  A great class happens when both spiritual and the physical preparation meet.  Prayer for the lesson, for each regular attendee and for visitors in the classroom is essential.  It makes a huge difference turning an “entertaining” Sunday morning to an “impacting” one.
The greatest teachers are not necessarily only the best speakers, clowns, scientists or magicians but are also those who care the most and show their care through prayer and love toward the children.  An entire article can and likely will be written on this topic alone.
To recap this now lengthy article I can but say that greatness in children’s ministry is not achieved during class time but rather in the hours of preparations each week.
Now let’s go do something awesome for God!

Podcast #6 - Fill Me Up So You Can Pour Me Out

Have you ever felt tired? I mean really tired? Where you just don't want to do anything anymore? Burnt out? Exhausted? Have you ever felt like the last thing you wanted to do was prepare for your Sunday school lesson, get up early for outreach on Saturday or set up your classroom on early Sunday morning or late Saturday night?
Have you ever felt like you just couldn't do it anymore? Like there is no one else in the whole world that even cares except you? And, if no one else cares, why should you?
Have you ever asked yourself if anyone would even notice if you didn't try as hard as you usually do? Who would know or care if you didn't really prepare for your lesson and just used again an old "go to" lesson you had laying around? Who would really know or care if you only went on outreach for 15 minutes and went home?
Have you ever going to bed late on a Saturday night and wondered if you would even have the energy to be able to get up in the morning and face that rowdy group of kids? Would you really be able to teach them and somehow maintain a tenuous grip on your sanity?
While somehow, the next day, you ARE able to pull yourself out of bed, at the back your head you're thinking, “There's no way I can keep on doing this.”
If you have felt any of these emotions then let me be the first to tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! It is called being human and something we all have or soon will experience if you have dedicated a portion of your life to the work of God.
My brother who is now the pastor of our church once told me a story that I go to quite often whenever I start to feel myself slide into negative mindsets. He told me about a conference he was at one time when the power of God fell strongly and the altar call became one of those long lingering moves of God that you just never want to end. He had crawled under the platform and simply soaked in the presence of God until he was completely and utterly saturated.
Eventually, he came out and was sitting limply on a chair when an older preacher came up to him, put his arm around him and begin to impart wisdom. He called him by name and said, “Do you know why God fills us up the way he did for you tonight?” Not really knowing how to respond, my brother remained quiet.
The man of God continued, “He doesn't do it just so we can feel good or even solely for the purpose of our merely making it to Heaven. He fills us up for the purpose of being able to pour us back out upon others. That's the plan of God, He fills us up so He can pour us out again.”
Since I've heard and understood what that elder meant by those words, I have come to recognize those dry moments for exactly what they are… it is in those moments that I’m empty… I’m poured out. When I feel burnt out and utterly spent I now know that it is because I need to be filled up again. I need a power-packed Holy Ghost service, a long lingering prayer meeting or maybe a conference of my peers where I can be re-inspired. I need a renewing so I can be poured out again to the kids of my church and my community. After all, how can you pour anything out of an empty vessel?
Sunday mornings for a thriving evangelical church is one of the most exciting but also one of the most energy draining days of our week. From waking up early, to setting up classrooms, rolling out the red carpet for our bus kids, putting up the banner, getting out and setting up the bounce houses, making sure the breakfast teams are ready, laying out the the chairs, preparing the lessons, riding the bus, teaching, singing, dropping the kids off, collecting attendance, entering attendance and on and on and on... by Sunday afternoon it doesn’t feel like I have much of anything left. And that's why I need to spend as much time as I can the rest of the week getting filled up all over again.
I believe as much as anyone in the necessity and power of children’s ministry but despite my passion and belief, I find myself on occasion doing what I do out of rote. Thankfully, God renews and on one such recent occasion, my wife and I went to the Commit Conference in Baton Rouge. There, listening to the likes of Bro. Cornwell who spoke so earnestly about their fleet of 27 buses and the thousands of bible studies he has taught over the years and to Bro. Tony Spell who spoke about the 20,000 bus riders they picked up last year and many others on a variety of topics, reignited the spark!
I went believing in children’s ministry but left even more convinced… I went inspired and left even more so… I was FILLED UP TO OVERFLOWING!
To sum this article up in a single line, if you feel empty or burnt out, there is a simple answer... find a place with God and get filled up all over again!

Podcast #5 – Rev. Dwayne Uzzle – Bus Ministry

http://www.apostolicsundayschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Podcast-2018-04-03-Dwayne-Uzzle-Final-112k.mp3
Bro. Dwayne Uzzle is a man that wears many hats at the great church in Union City, TN, and is a man with a strong burden for bus ministry. Listen to him tell the story of how God prompted him to start a bus ministry and how it has changed the dynamics of their church.
If you have any interest in starting a bus ministry or improving what you have, this is the interview for you!
www.apostolicsundayschool.com