News

Spring Update and What’s Up Next?

Phew. It’s been awhile since I’ve done much blogging here, but it’s not because we’ve been lazy – we promise! This winter and spring has been quite a time of growth for Illustrated Ministry, and I just wanted to take a moment to catch you up on what’s going on and what’s up next for us.

Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters

I imagined that our Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters would be popular, but I don’t think I quite imagined they would take off like they did! In the end, we sold 1000 sets of our physical posters to churches, and another 418 digital files to church.

[Just an aside here – trying to figure out how to deal with 40 large boxes of coloring posters in a small one-car garage, and how to get them all shipped with labels, was an interesting time…but we did it. And now that we have a real label printer, it’s not a horribly annoying process to print labels.]

And our customers, once again, came from all over the world, so we had people in the US, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Greenland, South Africa and other places coloring our posters and reflecting on the last hours of Jesus’ life.

These 1418 communities also weren’t just churches. We had hospitals, schools, retirement communities, college campuses and others. One thing we really found inspiring was the very creative ways that people have been using our materials, and while we have tried to share that in the past, we’re going to try sharing those stories with you in a new way. Starting in June, we’ll be creating a new series on our blog called Community Spotlight. We will take time to feature individual communities, share how they used our products and hear from them what benefit it brought to their community.

Stations of the Cross Posters — A group of students from St. Gregory the Great Catholic Secondary School in Oxford, England, holding their completed Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters. St. Gregory will be our first Community Spotlight blog post next month.

We hope this new feature on our blog will continue to encourage the creative work of our community and be a source of inspiration for many.

An Illustrated Compassion: Learning to Love Like God

This spring, we also launched our second curriculum, An Illustrated Compassion: Learning to Love Like God. We thought this was an appropriate theme based on all that is going on in our world. This year, we took feedback customers gave to us after we launched An Illustrated Earth last year, and built upon the success of that curriculum. We added in some additional activities this year, as well as worked with local Chicago composer Geoff Duffy to write four original songs to go with the curriculum. You can hear some samples of the music below. I love how it turned out – very fun music for children to sing:

We are excited to know hear how people plan to use An Illustrated Compassion in their communities. If you want to learn more about it, you can find all of the information about both the curriculum and the coloring posters here.

New Projects

We will continue to be working on our Illustrated Worship Resources for the RCL year-round, and our large Advent and Lent coloring posters and family devotional materials. But we are also going to start creating more “one-off resources” (like this Pentecost coloring illustration), working on our new clip-art gallery, which will probably be coming out in volumes, and we’re going to begin considering offering additional physical products (like stickers and post cards). And for all of my Lutheran friends out there (or others who are planning some big celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation), be looking this summer for a possible giant coloring poster made just for you.

At any rate – things are going well here at Illustrated Ministry, our team is growing, and we have some fun plans in store for the future. As always, we’d love to hear from you if you have thoughts or suggestions for us. And don’t forget – you can always suggest product ideas to us here.

Help Us Support Children in Syria – We Will Match Donations

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

Below is a message from our founder, Adam Walker Cleaveland. Whether or not you can give financially to support the work of Project Amal ou Salam, we invite you to join us in prayer for all of those children in Syria who are suffering.

If you are like me, you’ve probably been hearing the news about Aleppo, seeing the images, and grieving for all those innocent men and women and children who have lost their lives amidst the escalating violence. It’s tragic to imagine the lives of the children in Aleppo, and we’ve been trying to imagine how Illustrated Ministry might be able to make a difference in the lives of these children in Syria. It’s often difficult to know where to give or who to support, but as I’ve been talking with people and learning about various ministries and organizations working with children in Syria, I keep coming back to Project Amal ou Salam, and I want to invite you to join me in supporting their mission.

Project Amal ou Salam is working to empower the future of Syria – and their work is primarily with children in Syria (Deraa and Idlib) and in refugee camps in Jarash, Jordan and in Guvecci, Turkey. This is a description of their mission from their website:

Project Amal ou Salam, meaning Project Hope and Peace, is a grassroots organization dedicated to empowering Syria’s children to rebuild their country and work for peace. This is done through day camps with Syrian children, material donations (such as coloring books, games, and sports equipment), holiday events, and monetary support of schools both inside and out of Syria.

They have a passion for working with children in Syria, and as a business and ministry that focuses on children’s ministry and families, their mission is one that we’d like to support. This is another quote from their website:

Children are the future of Syria. They are the sole hope of reviving the country, and we believe it is important to empower them. It is important to inspire hope, to put smiles on their faces, and to remind them of what Syria once was and what it has the potential of becoming again. We want to give them the chance to be kids and not victims – to be more than “the lost generation.”

Watch this short video for an example of the type of work they are doing:

They are currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo here. Their goal is $20,000, and we’d love it if the Illustrated Ministry community could help them toward that goal. So, here’s what we’d like you to do.

Take a look at their fundraising campaign page on Indiegogo and decide what you can give.
When you donate to their Indiegogo campaign, be sure to email us at illustratedcm@gmail.com and let us know how much you donated. Or you could choose OTHER under Contribution Appearance and type your first and last name, followed by (ICM). That would help Project Amal ou Salam track gifts from the ICM community. For example, you could type in the OTHER box, Adam Walker Cleaveland (ICM).
Be sure to share on Facebook and other social media sites about Project Amal ou Salam.

We are asking you to let us know how much you’ve all donated, because Illustrated Ministry is prepared to offer matching gifts, up to $2,500, to support the work of Project Amal ou Salam. We will contact Project Amal ou Salam on December 31, and see how many donations have come from the Illustrated Ministry community, and then we will write a matching check, up to $2,500, to support them for 2017.

If you want to learn more about Project Amal ou Salam, you can check out their website here or Like them on Facebook here.

Let’s see what this Illustrated Ministry community can do to help support the creative spirits and dreams of children in Syria.

children-in-syria

Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts When Your Church is a PokeStop

Adam Walker Cleaveland 10 Comments

“Our church is a PokeStop? What?!”

Church is a PokeStop Pokemon GO

Before we go any further, let me be upfront and tell you that I know next to nothing about Pokémon. I never traded Pokémon cards, played the game or watched the show…nothing. Until now.

So as I’ve been running around town the past couple days, throwing Poké Balls at Pokémon and trying to CATCH THEM ALL, walking to PokeStops and losing badly at Gyms…I’ve had no idea what I was doing.

If you haven’t heard of Pokémon GO, I’m honestly not sure what to say to you. Perhaps you’ve been off the grid for the past week or two, but things have gotten a little crazy. Pokémon GO is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game; you play on your iPhone or Android mobile phone. While you’re running around town (because you gotta catch ’em all – seriously, watch that video), you may run into others playing the game, stop at Pokéstops and Gyms (to train and engage in battles) and otherwise look somewhat ridiculous.

Case in point: I stopped in front of the Winnetka Congregational Church (which is a Gym in the Pokémon GO world) and realized that I had no idea how to fight in the battles. And yet, there I was – standing on the front steps of the church building, phone pointed up in the air, voraciously swiping at invisible (to others) Pokémon, when one of the custodians came out of the building. I can only imagine what he thought I was doing.

If you want to read up a bit more on Pokémon GO and what to do if your church is a PokeStop, check out these helpful posts:

Regardless of whether you think Pokémon GO is a ridiculous trend or a silly game or the greatest thing since cat videos on YouTube, churches need to be paying attention. As I’ve been playing the past couple days, literally every church I’ve walked or driven past is a PokeStop, and many of them are gyms. And what that means, is that you’re going to have lots of random people stopping by your church to collect Poké Balls, catch Pokémon and hang out.

Our Church is a PokeStop. Now what?

Now that you know at least a little more about Pokémon GO than you did a few minutes ago, here is a list of the top 10 do’s and don’ts when you realize your church is a PokeStop in Pokémon GO.

Church is a PokeStop Pokemon GO — The First Presbyterian Church of Waukesha is welcoming all Pokémon Trainers to their congregation (or at least their church grounds)!

1. Make sure everyone on your church staff knows about Pokémon GO, knows that your church is a PokeStop and knows what to expect.

Now that Pokémon GO is a nationwide phenomenon, people are most likely going to be walking around your church grounds more than normal. I’ve been to a few churches that are PokeStop and Gyms, and I’ve found myself walking up to the steps and around the back of one church building because the location was a bit off for the PokeStop. I don’t know those churches or the pastors, and yet…I really wanted those Poké Balls.

Talk to your administrators, custodians and staff – they need to know why there may suddenly be random people showing up on the church grounds. And please make sure your youth pastors and children’s ministry pastors know about Pokémon GO. It’s part of their job to be culturally literate, and this is definitely part of the children, youth (and adult) culture right now.

2. Please don’t kick people off your church grounds.

Please figure out how you’re going to engage these people and make a plan.

Please do not tell them to get lost, or ask them to leave, or call the police or chase them away.

I’m just guessing, but I bet that’s not the image you want people to have of your church. Do you claim to be a welcoming church? Well – this would be a good time to test that out.

3. Offer a way for those playing to charge their cell phones AND/OR get water & Snacks.

I’ve only played Pokémon GO for a few days, but one thing I know is that it really drains your phone’s battery (even with their battery saving feature). Having a few power cords plugged in and ready for your Pokémon adventurers would be awesome (and easy).

A few nights ago, I took our dog Sadie for a walk and thought I’d only be gone about 15-20 minutes. An hour later, I got home. I just wanted to keep exploring and finally get up to Level 5 so I could start going to Gyms. Luckily, it was in the evening – but imagine a bunch of kids out in the middle of the heat, I can imagine they’d love a bottle of water and some snacks.

4. Please don’t use a “bait and switch” tactic and require Pokémon gamers to say a prayer or join a Bible study first.

Please, for the love of all things holy, do not make them do something to get their phones charged or get a drink or snack. I know, I know. YOU wouldn’t do this, but I know plenty of ministries that make homeless folk sit through a Bible study before they will give them a hot meal or let them get toiletries or clothes.

This is not the time for coercing people into doing something.

Be generous.

Give them a power cable and a cold one (a cold water bottle, that is).

5. Have someone be around during the day to greet people and be a welcoming presence.

Have a youth pastor or a youth intern who just spends all day in the office on Facebook? I’m just kidding (I used to be a youth pastor – and actually, I did spend most of my day on Facebook).

But seriously – get some of your youth or adult volunteers to sign up for times to be greeters for those who come to your PokeStop.

Why not? Show the players a friendly face and let them know that your church is in on the fun.

Have your pastors have “office hours” somewhere close to the PokeStop so they can see when people come by.

6. Please don’t hand out tracts (or other religious materials). Please. Seriously. Don’t.

See #4 above.

Just don’t.

Seriously.

Really.

Don’t.

7. Encourage people in your congregation to play Pokémon GO and join in on the fun.

If your church is a Gym, there will be a Gym Leader, and that person may frequent your church (grounds/parking lot) more often than others.

Encourage people in your church to join in on the fun. Offer incentives for becoming the Gym Leader – your youth will love it.

Maybe even place a lure and advertise a time when people can come and try to catch all the Pokémon.

8. Please don’t try to convince people that games like Pokémon GO will turn their children into devil-worshipers.

Ugh.

This shouldn’t even need to be included in this list, but I’ve already seen a few posts on the interwebs and on social media where people are decrying the evils of Pokémon and the game.

C’mon people.

We have much more important things to be spending our time thinking about and debating. Pokémon GO is NOT one of those things.

And I say this as someone who used to think that reading Harry Potter books was something that Christians just should not do or they had some issues (what was I thinking?).

9. Have fun with it! Because you gotta catch ’em all!

Have fun with this! Decorate your churches. Don’t take yourselves too seriously. Have a family Pokémon night at your church, place a lure and go wild! Have your youth group get together and do some Pokémon-related activities & games. Yes, this is all the rage right now, and it will probably pass sometime in the near future (or not), but why not get in on the fun for now?

10. Finally, please, PLEASE don’t think this is going to increase your church attendance. If you’re thinking that – you’re missing the point.

Are you excited about Pokémon GO? Awesome.

Can’t wait to find ways for your church to engage the broader Pokémon GO community? Even better.

Do you think this is going to save your church or increase your church’s weekly attendance? Okay – sorry. You’re missing the point.

You’re not engaging with Pokémon GO players because you hope to snag them into your church’s community and add some new “giving units” to your membership rolls. You’re not engaging with them because you hope you’ll be able to save some of them. Hopefully, you’re doing so because it’s something fun and your church is aware of the world and the culture that it finds itself in.

What has your church done to get ready for all of the Pokémon GO players stopping by?

And now…may the force be with you! (or whatever the corresponding saying might be in the world of Pokémon). Go catch ’em all!