The Joy of the ‘Aha’ Moment- We’ve all experienced it. There is a moment when you see the lightbulb go off for someone. There is a new understanding that often shows on someone’s face as they contemplate their newfound clarity. This someone may even be yourself. It’s beautiful when the Holy Spirit lets us see these moments. When we see it in [...]

Teaching Children to Read with Discernment— When my three children rode off on their bikes for the first time on their own, I took a picture and promptly called my mom. This felt like a Big Moment. And yet, that Big Moment didn’t come out of the blue. My children had ridden in strollers, done “doughnuts” in our driveway on tricycles, gotten [...]

Potluck Provides New Friendship!— The children’s ministry leadership training retreats are not just a time to be equipped with wise teaching and connected to excellent resources. They are an opportunity for the spirit of God to work and move in profound and creative ways. My first prayer as I prepare for the retreat is “Lord, let me be open to your movement. [...]

Why And How We Teach Our Children To Pray— My 15-month-old son Ezra has recently been throwing his hands up to motion “touchdown!” Neither his father nor I sat down and taught him to do this, but it makes sense. It is fall, football season is here, and the Burton family watches a lot of football. Ezra has watched us and watched [...]

A Vision for Visiting Families— “Where are your shoes?!” “We’re going to be late—just get in the car!” “Are any of my friends going to be there?” “I don’t want to go!” “I’m hungry. Will there be food there?” These are just a sample of the “conversations” that a new family, or honestly any family, may have on the way to church. [...]

Making Sundays Welcoming— My mother has served in children’s ministry for most of her life, leading programs at three different churches in the DC area: one as the volunteer Sunday School Superintendent, and two others as the full-time director of children’s ministry. I asked her to share some thoughts on making Sundays welcoming for visitors from a wide variety of backgrounds, particularly [...]

Lots of Styles: Teaching to Engage a Variety of Learning Styles by Looking to the Master Teacher— This may be obvious, but everyone learns. And we all learn in a lot of different ways. If you studied education in the 1990s and early 2000s, you most likely learned about the three main learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Later, they added read/write [...]

Children and Worship: The Conversation of 2 Pastors— Part of our Grow Virtual Conference was a question-and-answer session between Stephen Estock and Josh Johnson. These two pastors discussed children and worship and the character of God seen in His name Yahweh. Please enjoy some of that conversation here. This is not verbatim, but represents the dialogue held that day. Stephen: I like [...]