Should You Use Music for Preteens?

In the title I posed the question should you use music for preteens? I firmly believe the answer is YES! 

Music is such a powerful resource. It creates an engaging environment, and with Christian music, you can subtly reach preteens' ears.

Sunday mornings from 9:15am until about 9:35am we have a kind of free time in our ministry. All the preteens are still arriving, and the others are playing various games like Giant Checkers or Wii. While everyone is busy playing games and catching up with their friends, I always have music playing in the background. It really creates a fun atmosphere with messages reinforcing Biblical Scripture.

I absolutely love using Pandora, the internet radio service. It's basically a radio-based program that creates a never-ending playlist of songs based on a genre you specify! You can pick a song, artist or album and Pandora will play music similar to the original genre selected. You have the option of "liking" or "disliking" each song. If you click dislike, then that song will never be played again.

It is free, but it will pause to play ads every now and then. I decided to purchase a year long subscription for $30 and I completely believe it is worth it!

The station I use the most for our preteens is "We Shine Radio" (made from the song We Shine by StellarKart) mixed with Group 1 Crew. It only plays Christian music and it's fun, upbeat and engaging for our preteens.

Also, a friend suggested I try Spotify as well. I am still learning about this internet radio service, but so far I really like it as well. His name is Nick Bremmer, you should check out his blog about Preteen Ministry.

Click here for Nick's Blog 

If you are looking for an idea to immediately spice up your Preteen Ministry, I would highly suggest incorporating music that is not only relevant to your preteens, but is Gospel-centered.

Challenge Your Preteens

In your preteen ministry, you probably have at least one boy or girl who is just out-of-the park amazing. I'm talking about, the preteen who seems to know more scripture than you, and gets in trouble at home for staying up too late reading their Bible.

I love all my preteens and when you have this preteen in your ministry you feel supremely blessed! They can follow directions, sit quietly, and listen. 

But they are every bit as in need of your guidance and God's truth as the "troubled" preteen talking in the back of the room. 

In my experience I have seen a pattern of preteens being forgotten about. In a trend similar to a bell curve. The "trouble-makers" are neglected when leaders are short on patience, and on the opposite end the few students who excel are often neglected in an entirely different way: they are bored. 

It's time we seek ways to challenge all of our preteens! God stretches us that we may grow in His strength, and your preteens need to be stretched so they can learn to rely on God rather than their strength alone! 

In AWANA (our Wednesday night program, check out the organization's website Here) we have an amazingly dedicated preteen named Zach. He loves learning about God and learning as much scripture as possible. With a month left in the semester, Zach, has completely finished all of the scripture memorization curriculum available at the 5th grade level (He's pretty much ready for seminary now!) What this means is that on Wednesday night he no longer has any new verses to learn in the AWANA program at our church (we stop AWANA at 5th and have a separate middle school ministry).

So here is what I have decided to do...

After praying about this for awhile, I asked Zach 

if he would like the opportunity to teach the class of 15 other preteens during the "Council Time." This is usually when I teach a lesson I have prepared during the week, and I felt it would be the perfect way to challenge Zach's knowledge of scripture. It is one thing to memorize verses, and another thing entirely to apply their truth and teach others! 

He was incredibly excited at the opportunity to teach, and I have since been helping guide him toward God's will for his lesson. Zach recently chose to teach on Acts 16:29-31. I am super excited to see what God has planned for Zach's lesson, and I am so glad God led me to offer Zach this opportunity. 

I pray you seek ways to challenge your preteens and present them with more and more opportunities to serve the Lord. 

Be Blessed! 

Ever Seen More than 100 Bibles at Once?

Bible Race Part 2:
( Did you read Part 1? Bible Race Part 1 )

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about our preteen ministry feeling led to gather Bibles to donate somewhere. We called it The Bible Race! 

It was amazing to see what God had in store for us...After only three weeks of accepting donations, we broke the 100 Bibles mark! Not only did many of our preteens donate Bibles, but the word got out and parents, grandparents even our church donated many Bibles to our Bible Race.

We set a goal to cover up the stage I stand on Sunday mornings with Bibles and force me to stand on  the floor. The preteens achieved that after just the 2nd week!

Together we prayed for God to open the door for us. Praying that He knows the need and that He can direct us toward how to fulfill it.
Three days later when our Preteen/Children's Team Leader was getting her haircut she was talking about how many Bibles our preteens gathered and that we were praying about where to send them, and surprisingly, the gentleman cutting her hair looked at her in complete shock! He began to tell her how his church here in Lubbock was struggling to figure out how to supply their members with Bibles, because although many of them enjoy going to church, they cannot afford a personal Bible.

This Sunday our preteens will be delivering all 109 Bibles to a very excited gentleman named, Larry, and his beautiful church filled with people anxiously awaiting the blessings of God's Word.

And it all started with just one preteen, one question, and one Bible.

So the next time you are blessed to hear the words: "How can we use this for God?"
May the Lord God fill your heart as you challenge your preteen to seek God and watch how God paints the story of His love and generosity in your ministry, and even in your family!
God never planned for today to be an average, ordinary day so go be the miracle God wants to work in someone's life!

Be Blessed!

A Mind for Ministry

A mind for ministry begins with your heart, and sometimes your ears.

It is to no value if your words outnumber the stars yet their light as faint as a simmering candle. We as ministers (every Christian should be in the lifestyle of ministry) should never forget that the greatest act of ministry does not so often come in the form of spoken word or prophetic thought, but rather the greatest act of ministry comes in the form of listening whole-heartedly to the words of a beloved brother or sister.

We as ministers of children, preteens and families must remember always that the words we say are just as important as the words we listen to. In fact, I would even say that the words we listen outweigh the significance of the words we say!

And trust me, I do not write these words lightly, as I am quite fond of words especially my own. It is a problem I must remind myself of and more importantly the antidote--to be slow to speak...and quick to listen. 

I pray as you read these words your heart may be spurred on toward the opportunity to listen before you speak. Or if this is a treasured discipline of yours already, may you be encouraged to know that I am in pursuit of the art of listening as well.

Giant "JENGA" Tower!

Who wouldn't want a giant version of Jenga? 


This is actually SUPER easy to make! Here's what you will need:

• Someone awesome to help you! 
• 6-10 foot 2x4's (try to get wood that is straight and not bowed or warped)
• A good saw, circular saw, miter saw, or table saw will do 
• Sand paper...lots of it! 

Alrightyy for starters, be very safe when making all your cuts, I can assure you giant Jenga will not be as awesome if you have to go to the hospital while trying to make it. 

Step 1: Take a ruler, or measuring tape and mark every 10.5 inches. 

Step 2: After making accurate measurements begin to cut each 2x4 into 10.5 inch pieces

Step 3: You will need about 54 pieces to make your tower 18 levels high (height of the original Jenga)

Step 4: Use sand paper to soften the edges that seem rough. Splinters are not fun

Step 5: Have fun! 

Because preteens are still preteens...

Make sure your preteens are mature enough to play the game appropriately. A big concern for our ministry was whether or not these blocks of wood might look more like projectiles. Fortunately this has not happened. 

Also, I personally tested the tower. And yes once it gets to be about twice as high (36 levels), the wood does hurt when it falls. I do not believe it is dangerous, but it is something that should mean there is adult supervision when people are playing with it.

"Gnoming" your Bible!

Here is one of my favorite things we have been doing in our preteen ministry: 
Steve the Gnome

It's a really simple concept actually. I bought this garden gnome at our nearby walmart for only $5. I let the preteens vote on his name (STEVE) and boom!

STEVE the Gnome is part of our weekly game, Gnoming your Bible. Each Saturday I contact one of the parents and let them know I will be coming by later that night to drop off Steve at their house, and that they must keep it secret from their son or daughter.

Then in the morning, STEVE is outside their front door with an envelope, and inside the envelope is a short Bible verse! Each Sunday morning during our large group time whoever got STEVE comes up to the front and reads the verse out loud. After they have read the verse they proceed to explain to the large group what the verse means to them!

It has been an amazing tool for ministry, allowing opportunities for the preteens to stand up in front of everyone and teach. Also, it is super funny to see how excited the preteens get about finding STEVE outside their front door on Sunday mornings!

Fun Top10 Tips!

I know I titled these the "Top 10" they are probably just the Top 10 for now. You always gotta be ready to adapt quickly...hmm...that should be on the next top 10 list I make!

10.) Incorporate some aspect of running, 

and the game is sure to be a hit

Try playing capture the flag, and divide into several teams. When one team takes your team's flag you join forces. Continue this until you have one giant team that has taken all the other team's flags! (fun to play leaders vs. preteens)

    9.) Preteens don’t just love college-aged people, they love anyone who wants to be crazy and energetic with them too

It's definitely true that preteens often look up to 18 to 24 year olds, but don't ever feel like you're too old to "run around with them kiddos".  With preteens, you're only as old as you act! 

    8.) Try to make events and games like a field trip, with something never seen or experienced before

Giant Crab Soccer with Noodle Hockey in the Background

      7.) Duct tape can entertain both preteen boys and girls for at least an hour

At Preteen Night Out designing their country's flag, with duct tape!

    6.) Funny videos are great for teaching lessons!

I love this video for talking about inviting people to church

This is a good video talking about how silly we can look trying to fit in with society

   5.) When reading long Bible passages, try to act out different parts

When I'm reading through some lengthy scripture, I like to read the verses with a little more energy than just normal reading. I try to change my voice a little bit to keep it fun and engaging while being careful not to distract from the focus of the passage. 

 4.) Try playing “Grandma’s Underpants” to fill empty time

This game can be absolutely hilarious with preteens. Everyone must sit together in a circle. Pick one person to "go" first. This person can only say "Grandma's Underpants" during the entire game. Everyone else in the circle can ask ANY question they want in order to make the person laugh. And remember, that person can ONLY respond with the words "Grandma's Underpants"

3.) Dodgeball is fun…but only for a little while

What I mean is simple. Dodgeball is usually a great game, there are so many ways to play! But after awhile, even if you are playing with balls made of foam, someone is almost certain to get hurt. This is why I say that it is fun!....but only for a little while. Be discerning about this game and you should be okay. 

2.) If it glows, it’s going to be awesome

I wrote a previous blog post all about this!

1.) The louder and crazier you can be, the better! 

Underwear relay race game!