- Enables organizers to envision and implement a VBS program customized for the local church - Practical, comprehensive, from-the-ground-up approach to VBS Designing a Vacation Bible School program, as opposed to choosing one of the many off-the-shelf packages, is a labor of love. It considers the unique perspective of children and invests accordingly. It's a home-cooked meal compared to fast food. It sends a message to parents that a church values children enough to identify and meet their specific needs in their community at a particular moment in time. Well-designed VBS programs speak to children with respect, love, and patience, offering opportunity for authentic spiritual growth, not to mention an intentional theology that is reflective of the church. Finally, custom-designed VBS programs are a way to fully include children in the mission and ministry of the church rather than confine their unique gifts. This book provides Christian educators with the tools they need to assess the needs and resources in their congregation, and to craft a creative program in response to that assessment. The Best VBS Workbook Ever offers direction and suggestions on theme, structure, logistics, program, activities, staffing and promotion. Audience: Episcopal and other mainline churches looking for something more original and thoughtful than typical pre-packaged VBS programs, Directors of Christian Education, Directors of Children's Ministry, Camps and Retreat Centers, FORMA, Kanuga Christian Education conference, eFormation network

Whimsical, simple illustrations and prayers drawn from Episcopal prayer resources. Common Prayer for Children and Families is a collection of prayers and liturgies written for kids and the adults or communities who pray with them. Whimsically illustrated with pen and ink, this book contains prayers for morning, midday, and evening; prayers throughout the Church year; and prayers for all sorts of occasions. At the heart of this book is the belief that prayer shapes our lives and should be accessible and meaningful for children. The prayers in this book are called “common” for a variety of reasons; like the Book of Common Prayer, it seeks to provide a language, form, and theology that binds Episcopalians in shared prayer. In addition, prayers reflect themes with which children are commonly familiar, like home, school, and camps. Most of all, these prayers are held in common—always done within God’s holy community that includes family and friends, the living and the dead, saints and sinners, angels, archangels, and the company of heaven. Also available in Spanish. Reading age: 8 - 12 years, Interest range: 3 - 12 years

What do you get when you take two moms who love children's ministries and ask them to plan the Vacation Bible School program at their church? If you asked Gennifer Anderson and Sonja Toews that question, their answer would be--this book! With more than twenty years of combined experience coordinating the VBS program for their church each summer, these two moms decided to write their own VBS programs to meet the needs of their church and offer a different program to their community other than the mainstream VBS programs that every other church in their town was offering. The result of their efforts is Small Town VBS. This book offers you three programs for less than the price of one manual for most other programs! Buy one book and be set for three years! Each program contains detailed information about the opening program, crafts, games, food, and skit scripts, which provide humor and laughter for the closing program while tying the whole theme for the day together. The result of their efforts is Small Town VBS. This book offers you three programs for less than the price of one manual for most other programs! Buy one book and be set for three years! Each program contains detailed information about the opening program, crafts, games, food, and skit scripts, which provide humor and laughter for the closing program while tying the whole theme for the day together. The three programs focus on the following themes: Celebrations - Explores the ceremonies the Israelites celebrated and how each celebration pointed to the future and Christ's mission on earth. Short Stories - Looks at five of Jesus' parables and what those stories mean to us. God's Most Wanted - Studies the life of David and how God used him as a shepherd boy and king to do great things. Share God's love with the children in your church and community by putting together an unforgettable VBS program with the help of two experienced program directors who God has called to teach children about Jesus!

An illustrated activity book for 8-11 year olds. Water connects all physical and spiritual life. Besides being essential for life, water is the visible sign of Baptism, which calls us to serve others in the world. Having clean water for all God’s children is an act of justice, love, respect and a core value of what it means to be a Christian. This illustrated workbook taps into multiple learning levels and offers a variety of ways for children to interact with this core value of our faith, making a direct connection for young people between their faith and daily life. It can be used in an educational or devotional setting at home, church, or school. Activities also connect clean water and the Millennium Development Goals.

A bishop comes to visit a congregation for many reasons—a parish celebration, baptism, confirmation, or a pastoral visit. With black and white illustrations, this interactive book for children and families describes the ministry of a bishop, including symbols and apparel, in preparation for the visit and worship. Confirmands will find this book particularly helpful as it walks them through the liturgy of Confirmation. During the actual Confirmation rite, children will have a guide to follow along during the service, making this book serve multiple purposes for young and old alike.

This timely book helps educators unleash the interactive potential of PowerPoint to build their own multimedia material that perfectly matches the needs of their students. While PowerPoint affords powerful capabilities for creating dynamic classroom lessons and enriching curriculum, few educators understand how to take advantage of these built-in features. The second edition of this practical guide helps educators produce creative multimedia material for their students, regardless of their level of programming proficiency. Powerful PowerPoint for Educators: Using Visual Basic for Applications to Make PowerPoint Interactive, Second Edition discusses the educational benefits of multimedia instruction and provides a review of intermediate PowerPoint skills. Author David Marcovitz explains the concept of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripting and provides progressively advanced skills and practice examples. While other books that describe VBA are written in a highly technical manner, this book is geared toward educators with little or no programming background and includes tips for modifying the practice examples for their own interactive multimedia projects.