He shared three things we should appreciate in people. Let me share them with you:

1) Appreciate people’s loyalty (Phil. 1:1-3). How many people have stuck with you through the thick and the thin? When’s the last time you told them that they were loved and appreciated?

2) Appreciate people’s differences (Col. 3:10-15). It’s easy to be critical of people who don’t do things the way you do, who don’t think the way you think, and who rub you the wrong way. Differences are beautiful. Stop and think what the world would be like if everyone was just like you. Why not appreciate those who are different than you?

3) Appreciate people’s efforts (1 Thes. 1:2-3). Here’s the important thing to remember: appreciate the efforts regardless of the results.

Everyone wants to be appreciated. Dale Carnegie said, “You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.”

As I shared some hope and promises from the Bible, I was reminded about how much God loves kids. God would not have to take babies immediately to heaven when they die. After all, they are the seed of the fallen race - humanity. But praise God, He loves kids so much that if they die before reaching that “age of accountability” He takes them right to heaven. (If you’d like a copy of my notes for your future file, click here).

Isn’t it great to know that every weekend we minister to a group of people that God holds in such high regard? God loves kids. What you do is the most important work in the world. Never forget it.

Pickles, Pickles Everywhere! In a recent issue of K! Magazine Keith Coast dared us to have a Pickle Day. Well, I can never take a dare lying down so the next week our church ordered three 5 gallon buckets of pickles. As soon as they entered the building the whole staff could not get their minds off of Pickles. To promote Pickle Day we made small post cards that had been sitting in an old pickle jar so that when the kids received them they actually smelled like pickles. The post card simply had the date of Pickle Day and explained that every kid who came that day would get a pickle and if they brought friends they would receive an extra pickle for every friend they brought. It also exclaimed, “Why a pickle, Come and find out!” We used the pickle to tell the plan of salvation. Here is what that looked like:

“Does anyone know what this is? (Hold up cucumber) That is right, it is a cucumber. Tell me what you know about a cucumber. (Kids might respond with: they are a vegetable, they are in salads, and they are green.) That’s right. Raise your hand if you have ever eaten a cucumber. (You will have a bowl with 5 cucumber slices in it) Would you like to try a cucumber? How do they taste? They don’t really have much of a taste do they? This is what our lives are like with out Jesus. Jesus came and died on the cross to take the punishment for all the bad things we do. Can you tell me some examples of some bad things that people might do? Wow, those were some great examples. Did you know that Jesus died and rose from the grave because he wants us to live in heaven with Him when we die? All we have to do is ask Jesus to forgive us for those bad things we have done and ask Him to come into our lives and help us to live better. When we do that we become like this pickle. Jesus comes into our lives and makes us change all over. Now that same cucumber has taste. Now the cucumber smells like a pickle. When we have Jesus living inside our heart, people can really tell a difference just like we can tell a difference between this cucumber and this pickle. I would like to give anyone here who has never asked Jesus to come and live inside their heart a chance to do that now.

Believe it or not, we had 35 kids accept Jesus as their Savior on Pickle Day! So, was Pickle Day a success? Yes it was; and we did finally get the Pickle aroma out of the building.

I grinned ear to ear when I read his email. I also found a tear forming in my eye. Never forget the difference you are making as you teach kids every Sunday. Only in eternity will you know the difference you have made.

“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Hebrews 6:10

P.S.  This pairs quite nicely with the KidzMatter iPhone wallpaper.  You can find that here.

 Why don’t we try the same thing in our children’s ministries?  Why don’t we reward the  kids who are our most faithful?  Why don’t we have a “gold” program?  Now, obviously,  we can’t give our kids a 10% discount on coffee makers, but you could tell your kids  that if they come every weekend they’ll save $50 off their camp registration.  You could  meet them at school for lunch.  

Kids today want to feel special.  They want to feel loved.  We have to give them a reason to keep coming back, especially kids who come without their parents.  Balance is important here too.  Don’t play favorites, but make sure that you acknowledge those kids that are always faithful, and really want to be there.

So how do you make the kids in your ministry feel special?  How do you let them know you appreciate their faithfulness?  How do you balance this without playing favorites?  Let us know in the comments.

Here’s a description of the workshop: The difference between “leadership that lasts” and just “leadership” is the difference between a long-term band and a one-hit wonder. A one-hit wonder is a band that only made one big hit. The success was never repeated and today people wonder, “Where did they go?” In this power-packed seminar, learn how to bag one-hit wonder leadership and develop leadership that lasts for the long haul.

Learn more and get signed up at www.incm.org. We hope to see you there.

Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales) and the crew at Jellyfish Labs have created JellyTelly - a cool new place for kids to go and watch fun, clean, Christian videos and play cool games. Be sure to watch the video from Phil so you can learn exactly what JellyTelly is all about for yourself. This has potential of being a great tool for parents and those in children’s ministry.

I like that - a dream team. What’s your dream? Who are you sharing it with?