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| Saturday, June 21, 2008 |
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Children's Ministry Fair: Tool Up!
Church of God Ministries, Church of God - General
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Children’s Ministry Fair offers lots of ideas
By Kristin Bullock
 A buzz of excitement fell over the room as Tina Houser stepped up to share ideas about “Beakers, Bubbles, and Bibles” with the participants of the second annual Children’s Ministry Fair at the North American Convention. Houser was the keynote speaker for the day and is a nationally known speaker and author and children’s pastor at her church in Kokomo, Indiana. The daylong Saturday event allowed more that eighty attendees and twenty presenters and volunteers to “sharpen their skills for Children’s Ministry.”
It was the first year for participant Mary Bowen of the Klein Road Church of God in Gulfport, Mississippi. Last year she and her husband found out about the fair only after they arrived on Monday; this year they left early so she could participate in the conferences. She was the only one from her church able to attend, so she strategically divided up conferences for all ages and themes so she could carry home ideas.
Participants registered in a construction zone and received a “Tooling Up” work belt and a packet of curriculum samples from Warner Press. They also could go to a full exhibit room with materials on display for sale by F.U.N. Group, Gospel Light, Standard Publishing, and Warner Press. But after a full day of a morning plenary, a selection of two morning workshops, a workshop lunch, and two more afternoon workshops, participants walked away with much more than you can carry in a tool belt.
Roanne Gale, children’s pastor at the Hope Community Church of God in Andover, Kansas, and coordinator of the event, said that she really feels like the fair offers something important to the people who come to North American Convention. “Unlike some of the big conventions for children’s ministries that focus on a single idea or vacation Bible school, we offer lots of different ideas for ministry.” As is true of many participants, she drove in on Friday night after participating in a local youth camp in Kansas. But she said she was energized by the fair. “When I am in the thick of things here, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
A version of this article appears in the Sunday, June 22, 2008, edition of the NAC roundup/08 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (3.80 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.
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