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An Illustrated Advent Update: 2 Weeks!

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By now I hope you’ve heard the name of the Advent/Christmas resource that I’m launching in two weeks: An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season. I’m both nervous and excited to complete this resource and get it to you! The more time I spend with it, the more excited I am by the possibilities that it brings to churches and families. You see, there will be a Church Edition (for churches) and a Family Edition (for…yup: families!). They can both be used independently of each other, but they will also work really well together. When  you buy the church edition, you’re going to receive a promo code for 25% off the Family Edition. That is a code that you can send out in your children’s and youth ministry weekly emails, and families can purchase the family edition to use at home during Advent and Christmas.

Some people have been asking what will included in An Illustrated Advent. To be honest, that’s probably still a bit of a moving target, but here is what I am hoping to have included in two weeks:

An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season – Church Edition

  • A short introduction to Advent and ideas on how to use the enclosed materials
  • Five Illustrated Children’s Moments (based on the RCL Gospel texts for Advent, and then one for the Sunday after Christmas)
  • Five Worship Activity Sheets for Advent and the Sunday after Christmas
  • One 11×17 Advent poster that can be printed and placed in classrooms or bulletin boards (I know you all have bulletin boards you have to decorate). It can also be used digitally during worship or on your website.

An Illustrated Advent: Engaging Activities for the Season – Family Edition

  • A short introduction to Advent and ideas on how to use the enclosed materials
  • Four engaging weekly family devotions that can be done around the table or at bedtime
  • Four coloring sheets that go through the story of Jesus’ birth
  • Flat Wise Men: think Flat Stanley meets the Elf on the Shelf. Here’s a new, fun way to engage your kids during Advent. Hide the Flat Wise Men in different places around your house – slowly making your way to the Christmas tree (or wherever your presents show up on Christmas morning). A fun way for them to have to look for something around the house that is a little different than a creepy elf watching your every move, ready to report back if you’ve been good or bad. (Full Disclaimer: I own an Elf on the Shelf)
  • Advent Calendar Activity Guide: An Advent calendar that provides daily activities from December 1 – December 24 that children can do on their own, or with their families.

In addition to these two resources, I will be selling the coloring pages and posters that you’ve been seeing and hearing about. We all know the adult coloring craze is most definitely a thing right now – so this could be the perfect opportunity to get your congregation (or your family) more involved in this fun intergenerational activity that everyone can participate in.

Alright…I can already hear what you’re saying right now: “LESS talk, MORE drawing!” Alright, alright. Let me leave you with a few photos of the process involved so far in creating An Illustrated Advent.

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Advent Coloring Sheets: The First Sneak Peak

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I’m really excited to be able to share with you a brief sneak peak into the product I’ll be releasing next month, including these fun Advent coloring posters. I’ve just been calling it the Advent/Christmas Product Pack – but it will have a more catchy name by next month. In addition to a new name, I’ve also been expanding what I hope to include in the pack. I’ll share with you the full contents in a few weeks, but I think you’re really going to like it and find it very helpful and useful.

One big change is that I’ve decided to offer both a Church Leader Edition and a Family Edition. When you purchase the Church Leader Edition, you will receive a promo code that you can give out to all of the families that are in your children and youth ministries, and they will be able to download additional materials that can both complement the materials in the Church Leader Edition, or be used on their own by families.

In addition to the materials that will be coming out next month (November 16), I also spent the past four days working on some Advent Coloring Sheets. I am really pleased with how they turned out, and am excited for all of the ways you may be able to use them in your ministries. You can check out these coloring pages, as well as all of our other Advent products for families and churches here.

Advent Coloring Posters

Many Potential Uses for Advent Coloring Posters

In addition to being able to use them as individual Advent coloring sheets, another option will be to download a special file format that I will have available which you can use to print large (4′ x 3′) coloring sheets out at Staples. We did this for my wife’s Sunday School classes this past week, and the kids had a blast being able to color as a group, and have a conversation about the word in the center.

This will be an exciting addition to the offerings that will be coming out next month. And so whether you’re on staff at a church, or a parent looking for some Advent-themed activities for your kids, these coloring sheets would work wonderfully.

It’s been a lot of fun to work on these Advent coloring sheets the past few days. Especially because I know that people across the world will be using them and finding fun and creative ways to use them in their ministries and families this upcoming Advent season.

The Worst Children’s Moment Ever

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I’m guessing that many of you have experienced many a children’s moment during your time in churches. I’ve witnessed some that have gone on for 10-15 minutes and they felt like they would never end (I’ve probably given one or two of those myself). I’ve seen some object lessons just go horribly wrong. I’ve seen pastors who seem like they have no understanding, whatsoever, of how to relate to children. It’s true that I’ve seen some bad ones.

However, a few years ago while I was serving a church in Oregon, I experienced, perhaps, my worst children’s moment.

It was Sunday morning, and I was scrambling around before worship trying to think of what to do for the children’s moment. We had a small group of kids, so I ended up landing on the idea that I would ask the kids how to spell G-O-D, and then give them some sheets with letters on them. I had four sheets with the letters L, O, V and E. See, it was going to be tricky – there were four sheets of paper, but I asked them to spell the name of God, which has three letters. But they had to use all of their signs.

I explained to the kids what they had to do, and after awhile, I thought they had it figured out. I was standing behind the kids, and heard some chuckles from the congregation, and so I stepped down to the floor and turned around, and this is what I saw.

Worst Children's Moment Ever

God is spelled…E-V-O-L?

Say it out loud. EVOL.

God is evil. Awesome. That went JUST like I had envisioned it.

I’m sure you all have your own stories of children’s moments that have just bombed – or perhaps just some really bad ones you’ve seen done before. Share your favorite “worst” children’s moments in the comments section.