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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.

Thanks Everyone!

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Aside from starting to do web design back in 2006 with Cleave Design…this is the first time I’ve launched a business and it’s actually been a lot of fun! A little overwhelming – but fun – to see the start of Illustrated Ministry. I finally got smart and turned off the notifications from Mailchimp and my website – because I was getting one or two notifications each time someone signed up for the newsletter – and there are now over 345 signups. Less notifications is sometimes a good thing.

But it’s been an exciting opportunity to share with all of you this week the beginning of Illustrated Ministry.

Rock-RememberWhen I sat down and quickly drew a sketch of a rock and the word remember last fall, I couldn’t have known where this was going to go. But that’s how these things begin sometimes, right?

There is still a lot to do with this new venture of Illustrated Ministry – legal and business things to think about. To figure out exactly what drawings I’ll be doing this year, what I want to include in the Advent/Christmas and Lent/Holy Week packages, and more.

But I’m so grateful that all of you are on this journey with me, and I hope you will enjoy the content that is shared here on the blog, through the newsletter, and of course, through the illustrations that are available.

If you enjoy these illustrations and find it to be a useful resource – please share this website with friends and colleagues, or share on Facebook and Twitter.

And finally – I know that when I was planning children’s sermons, it was often after I’d finished my sermon – and I often finished my sermons on Saturday. So it’s not too late to get our illustrations for tomorrow’s scripture passages. Just go to our store page and purchase them there. Thanks!