UNKNOWN 0:00

Music.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to another episode, the place where we talk about kids' ministry and take a peek behind the scenes. We try to share a little bit of what we've learned that works for us and some of our failures so you can avoid them. We release a new episode every Friday, and this is your Backstage Pass to see the magic or disaster that happens behind the scenes of our kids' ministry. I'm your host, Gabe Baker, and today I'm joined by Brother Aaron. Hey, hey. How's it going? Good. Hello

SPEAKER_00 0:29

again. Yeah, hello. What are we talking about today? So today we are going to be talking about engaging kids in worship. Engaging kids in worship.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Yes, sir. So, you know, we have a lot of fun in our Sunday school. And by we, I mean staff. Absolutely. But even with the kids, we have fully costumed characters, bigger than life sets, interactive stories where the kids get to do stuff. And then there's a whole lot of comedy and just plain silliness that goes on. And so the kids... Absolutely love it. So do the staff. I mean, what's not to love, right? But in the midst of all that comedy and drama, we have a mission. We're trying to evangelize and disciple kids. I mean, it basically boils down to those two things, evangelize and disciple kids. So we do everything we do basically to engage the kids, actually engage them in a relationship with God. This is the most important thing we do in Sunday school. A Sunday school leader just from another church recently Recently we had a conference and he was asking me about getting kids involved in prayer and in altar service. So he was telling me that they don't have a problem getting attention really, like they do some crazy stuff, but he was talking about getting them involved in prayer and altar service. So kind of on the tails of that, that's what we're going to talk about today is engaging kids in worship.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Sure. Yeah, that's kind of what it's all about, getting kids involved. Building a relationship with God and letting them experience God. and they recap the lesson but in a more church format and give like a traditional true altar call yeah and and it's just it's amazing to see because most church kids um slip right into that pretty easily for the most part

SPEAKER_01 2:49

yeah yeah they kind of it's familiar territory

SPEAKER_00 2:51

it's familiar territory most of the time you know might have a few rebels here and there but but i think too on that kids are uh tend to be more susceptible and sensitive to god they don't have Even bus kids that might have a lot of baggage in their life, they tend to slip right in.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Right. Yeah. They don't have – even the bus kids that do have baggage don't have as much baggage as some of us adults

SPEAKER_00 3:15

do. And bus kids and visitor children may not react the same way, but it's important as staff to help create that atmosphere where God moves. That's with praying out loud, praying fervently, worshiping God, showing them how How it's done. You know, they come from broken homes. I know we're going off onto bus kids here, but they're coming from broken homes. They're coming from... God knows what else, um, experiences they've had way too young and they just want to feel loved. They want to feel something real. And it's incredible

SPEAKER_01 3:49

how many, uh, kids that, you know, I almost hate the term bus kids, but I think people know what we mean. Uh, kids that come on the bus. Um, but it's incredible how much like, you know, they want hugs all the time. They just love hugs. I mean, you know, compared to our, our church kids, they're just like, eh, whatever. Yeah. You know, high five or something. Knuckles. Yeah. And so they, and you know, and like you said, we're kind of maybe getting off track a little bit, but that's okay. This is good. The other thing that I have said in talking about behavior and behavior issues is a lot of times those kids, whether they're church kids or kids that come on the bus, a lot of times those kids that are being the worst, you know, today are going through hell on earth at home.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I just I remember this has been maybe a year ago or something, but I remember these kids have been coming. This family had been coming a little bit and I got to be a little, little careful here. Exactly. Anyway, they, they had been coming and the kids were never good kids. Yeah. They were never really good kids, but this particular day they were awful. And there's like four of them, you know, and, and then somebody, you know, I hadn't gotten onto him yet, luckily, but somebody told me, Hey, this morning they had a big, huge fight and the dad was like yelling. I think it was even physical with the mom. And so it put a whole different perspective. It's like, Oh, well, no wonder they're being, you know, like they're not, I mean, you know, we, we, there's a balance. You can't let kids, you know, even if they're having a tough time, they can't disrupt the whole Sunday school. But, um, it does give it a different perspective when, you know, like, okay, this Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

room and I was just praying for things out loud. And I remember he looked at, he stopped it. He wasn't praying. He was being respectful. He had his head down and he looked up at me and he said, how did you know?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

He said, how did you know? And I'm not even going to repeat what I was saying. Yeah. And I just said, Hey, that's God leading us. And that let's, let's pray again. And he actually was broken and cried a little bit. And that was the first time he's ever, ever responded like that. Yes. And it just being sensitive to God. and creating that atmosphere was just vital.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, that is so good. And that reminds me, and I was pulling out my phone, being all distracting, but Brother Tyler Hodge. So Brother Tyler Hodge has a podcast, Kids Men University. So look that up. It's really good. He did one. I'm trying to find it right now. Okay, there we go. The Process of Prayer in Kids Ministry. I would encourage everybody to listen to that. It's so good. Brother Tyler Hodge is just awesome. He's incredible. But he talks about that. He talks about praying with kids. In fact, on this one, I think he talks about, you know, I'll probably get it wrong, but he talks about, you know, he prayed for Fluffy. He doesn't know who Fluffy is. Somebody's stuffed animal. Yeah, and I don't, you know, it might be the wrong name, but it was something like that, you know. But he just, and he talks about working around to the Holy Ghost. It's just, it's awesome. It's so good. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 7:41

and they always have, when it comes to prayer, they always have, pray for my dog.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

And when you actually do, I think, even though that might be silly, I think it does leave an impression on them that these people

SPEAKER_01 7:52

do care. Yeah, they care. Yeah, that's what it's about, is they care. You know, one of the things that I had written down just in kind of prep for this, for the show notes, is why bother with a theme approach? So if anybody listens to this podcast at all, they know that, you know, we mention it pretty much every time we talk about it. We talk about our themes, our stories, and all of this. And so, you know, I think maybe sometimes people that are not as familiar with Sunday school or being crazy and everything might look and say, you know, look down their nose almost and be like, well, you should be more spiritual or whatever. And so I wanted to talk about that a little bit. I remember one time we were doing a space theme, and we'd done one just a couple years ago, but this was a long time ago. We were doing a space theme and there was a brother um he he's uh he's since passed away but he and he was awesome he was he was great and he was really into kids and everything i mean he wasn't like he was a a downer but he was just he asked me like sincerely he wasn't like putting me down he asked me he's like what does space have to do with the bible and so i kind of was able to give him a little testimonial well yeah um you know we go to different planets and we have to tell the Bible stories to the people that are stuck there on the planets. You know, so he, I think he was on board and he was, he's actually was a very creative guy, but, um, so yeah. So shouldn't we be more spiritual in our Sunday school? And, and basically kind of like the, the dog thing in one way, you know, um, we're trying to entice the kids, you know, again, evangelize them and, and disciple them, but we're trying to entice the kids and engage them, uh, probably overusing that word, but we want to engage them not just in the worship, but so we can get them involved in worship.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

You know, because if they come up and I'm not down on anybody, you know, we don't have a monopoly on how to do Sunday school.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

By no means.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

But if they come up and, you know, we're like, okay, everybody, you know, sit down and be quiet and we're going to read this verse and we're going to read the Bible and we're going to teach you about Melchizedek dick and in the order of yeah so if we if we start doing that the kids are gonna glaze over yeah they're already gonna glaze over and a lot of times kids that don't come regularly they have a guard up

SPEAKER_00 10:25

oh yeah

SPEAKER_01 10:25

like what is this about you know they're gonna try to question me to do you know whatever and so when they come in and they get to do a sword fight oh man it's like whoa next level yeah and so or they get to throw the our ammunition we have which is little Nerf golf balls when they get to do a battle or something. So it engages them. They get to be a part. And then when it comes time, and one of our rules, rule number three, is get involved. So then when it comes time for that prayer and everything, it's just like kind of our approach is like, this is like everything else. You were involved when we went on a mission. You were involved when we acted out this story. And now be involved when we pray.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, there's that expectation. Yeah, that's very true. And, you know, going back to the beginning to everything's pointing to the altar call, but there's a continuity in our lessons and the format we do. But there's also continuity in our week to week plans, like our themes. Right. Yeah. So the kids slide into that in a good way. Right. They kind of know even those that aren't regular. They know, hey, last week we were on the pirate ship. Yeah. So this week we're probably going to be in the Navy ship. Like I hear them coming up the stairs.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah. They're like, which one are

SPEAKER_00 11:38

we? Yeah. And they come up and they see the American flag. or the pirate flags or whatever yeah and so there's continuity and that kind of consistency And normalcy and structure is good for a lot of kids. It's good for all kids, but especially those that come from, you know, the bad parts and the broken homes. It's a comfort to them, I think. It's the consistency. And I think, too, going back to your story of the brother that was questioning it, the Bible says whatsoever their hand finds to do, do it with might and do it best. You know, somebody's best is not going to be the same as our best or our best, not the same as theirs. But I believe Whatever we do, do it to the best of our

SPEAKER_01 12:19

abilities. what the lesson is, what the topic is. And then we can take, you know, you don't want to take like scripture out of context, but you can take offering out of context, for example. You do an offering and you can kind of take it out of context, so to speak, and mold it into whatever the lesson is for

SPEAKER_00 13:04

that day. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And so we try to, you know, tie that all in together. And then the other thing with that is we have a script and we follow the script and we have timers and all that. But if God moves and it's in altar, that script goes out the window. 100%. So we always have that flexibility of knowing. Or even if the script doesn't go out the window, the timer can go over. I'm kind of adamant on the timer when we're acting out a segment or something like, hey, you need to hurry up or stick to the timer. But when it comes to that, it's like, let's follow the spirit. Absolutely. Apparently.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Parents are waiting. If they want to get them, get them. But if big church, like we call it, big church is done, if God's still moving, we ain't done.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah. And I actually, I like it. I mean, you know, usually we're coming in there when they're done. But I do like it if parents come up and they're like, where's my kid? And then they come up and we're all praying. They're praying and crying. Yeah. All right. Well, so the other thing is bite size. I put that on there. I could have put fun size maybe. But remember your audience and their attention span. Oh, yeah. And so this goes for us. We have teams of people. We have teams of three often when we're doing segments. Bible Story, it's kind of like all hands on deck. We've got a group. But even if you're a single, just one teacher in a classroom, remember your audience. They're kids. And I like one thing that I think Brother Booker has mentioned this, and I think Brother, the late James Wang, I think I think he might've been the one that said this. I'm not sure, but they talk about a minute per, per year, you know, of age. So if they're six years old, six minutes, you know, for attention span. Now we, we go less than that probably. Cause you know, our average, I mean, Bible story is like 10 minutes, but we're, we're acting it out and we got actor, you know, costumes and all that stuff. But like our segments are, you know, between two and four minutes.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah. Yeah. No more than four years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

And so they're pretty quick. But so we have that bite size down and keeping it short. And it's probably shorter than it maybe needs to be. It could be a little shorter. Sure. Or I mean, it could be a little longer. But I just I'm thinking of those teachers that is one or two of them.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

You can still do things to change it up.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

You know.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah. Whether it's I remember when way back when I was actually a Sunday school teacher in the old Sunday school building. that we had. Oh, wow. I was probably 12 or 13. And I can't remember what ages I had, but I was dealing with that. I tried to do it. Young preachers are kind of a bad idea sometimes to have them be Sunday school teachers because they want to practice on them. So I was one of those guys that I could tell that they were getting glossy-eyed, right? Yeah. So I remember I had this little cheap desk and I just, out of nowhere, just jumped up on the desk and like screamed or something. And it just snapped them back to attention. Yeah. And so going back to, even if you are, you know, single teachers, it's you and a partner change, change where you're at in the building, change locations and, and learn to break these things down into those bite size, because they're going to get a lot more out of it rather than trying to ramble through at the front of the room through, you know, a 40 minute lesson, 15 different things all in one spot.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah. And that's, you know, I did, uh, I did a session at the children's conference down in Redlands and I talked about, I think one of my titles for my handout was drop grenades or throwing hand grenades or something. Yeah. And that's what it was about is like stuff like that, like jumping on the

SPEAKER_00 16:54

desk or whatever. Just the random snap them into attention. And I'm

SPEAKER_01 16:57

always watching. So this past Sunday, for example, I did a recap of Joseph and it was pretty long recap because we're far into the story. You were moderating it? Yeah. Like telling it? Yeah, I was just, I was doing a recap before the actors came out and I was catching everybody up or telling people the story. Yeah. We also, I can't remember what it was. Oh, there's the script right there. We're backstage. But we didn't have very much content. And so I remember Brother Brennan was like, this Bible story's not going to take 10 minutes, which is usually what we have. I said, well, I can, I said, I'm going to narrate in the beginning so I can make that longer. Well, I can't remember. I went way over. But the thing is, is I was watching the kids and this is kind of my determination on this is I was watching the kids the kids as I was up there speaking and I had their attention. Yeah. And normally almost, I mean, I would say 99% of the time when I'm doing that, I'm grabbing kids out of the audience and I'm having them be Joseph and having them do this.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Remember when we did this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

And so this time I didn't on purpose because I, it was kind of an experiment, but I was kind of acting it out myself, you know, I'm just up there and I'm telling the story and I'm acting it out. I had, now I was, I could, I felt like I was Mm-hmm. the story yeah there's no reason that they're gonna jump on board when you go to ultra call no no so that's that's why you know kind of going back to our previous thing that's why we do these themes and

SPEAKER_00 18:59

right

SPEAKER_01 18:59

and everything

SPEAKER_00 19:00

yeah and you can always tell when that glaze whether or not you're doing recap or whatever it might be when they start glazing over you try to wrap it up and jump and switch gears yeah grab that attention again because you don't want them

SPEAKER_01 19:16

don't want lose them. Yeah. Cause then, then you lose them. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

It's hard to get them back. You have to bring out the clowns or something at

SPEAKER_01 19:24

that point. Yeah. Well, and then the other thing is the way, one of the ways that they can glaze over, cause I've seen it where we have like, you know, four actors on stage doing stuff and there's like a kid in the back, not even paying attention, laying down on the bench. I'm like, Hey, what, you know, don't you want to see what's going on? They're just not into it. And I think most of the time I've mentioned this before, but I think most of the time when that happens, it's because they don't understand. Sure. They don't get it, and so they're just like, eh, I don't care what's happening. Now, obviously, the more crazy the costume is or the louder or the, you know, different, you know, the rollercoaster of what's happening up front, that helps. And that's what kind of it's all about with the hand grenade

SPEAKER_00 20:07

example. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Well, it rolls right into this other note is keep it targeted and focused. Don't try to teach every everything you know this sunday don't try to teach like we're going to teach about death burial and resurrection yeah death burial resurrection and your sleeve length and how you need to be an example at school and obey your parents and you know all good stuff but if you if you spread it out like i want the kids to leave and i want them to know like what was sunday school about today

SPEAKER_00 20:37

and be able to explain it

SPEAKER_01 20:38

yeah

SPEAKER_00 20:39

it's just in two sentences yeah just be able to

SPEAKER_01 20:41

you know no i don't think we get it every time i mean we're probably hitting 50 percent i I don't know. But we do a review, and what we review when we review is we review the Bible story, the lesson, and the memory verse. And so those are the three points that we review. If we can keep that targeted, and like I love Brother Booker, they do this awesome. I haven't actually been to their Sunday school, but I know kind of how they do it. They do object lessons a lot, but they'll have their Bible story. Their object lesson, their song even, and everything is all like what we're talking about pointing in that one direction, but it's all like has to do with whatever that topic is for today. Yes. And they do a really good job at that. And we try to do that too. And the more you target it like that, the kids, they're getting

SPEAKER_00 21:38

it. Yes. It's going to become repetitive, not in a negative way. It's just going to become, it's just kind of like by osmosis almost just. Yeah. Soak into their spirit.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah. Because when you spread it out too much, it just, it kind of gets lost in the clutter. It does. Yeah. So, so the other thing you kind of alluded to it earlier about, you know, that they, there's consistency and they know when they come, you know, there's, there's like, we do try to change up the order of how we do things just so it's not so predictable that it gets boring. Yeah. Yeah. But there is the consistency. And with that is culture. Like, You know, we're supposed to be involved when we do this and we're supposed to be involved when we do that. Right. Then like around here, we have a hundred percent participation when it comes to altar call.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

So nobody gets to sit back on

SPEAKER_00 22:29

the bench. Nobody gets to go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Yeah. And so everybody has to come up front and they might not pray, but they all have to come up front. Yes. And so when the culture is strong enough where our church kids know that and the kids that come, you know, semi-regular on the bus. know that then the new kids they just it's like oh well this is what we do it's they slip right in yeah yeah and i and so i think culture culture is important very very

SPEAKER_00 22:56

important we need to do one on culture

SPEAKER_01 22:58

yeah

SPEAKER_00 22:59

it's gonna tie it all in yeah it's true you know and and on our next little point here is creating a culture of strong altar service um that that starts from the head down top down um with our staff you know you rotate different ones of us to to do like our mini altar call. Yeah. But that's, at that point, that's all hands on deck. You know, we're not in here hanging out eating the snacks while the staff, while three of the staff are out praying.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

Yeah, and I'll often, you know, step back and be like, hey, we're, altar call's coming up, you know, because I usually, often, it's not always this way, but often I'm doing the lesson and I turn it over to somebody to do the altar call. And so, when I turn it over, I often, I'll step back just to kind of remind them, you know, Like, hey, it's altar service. It's time to filter out and

SPEAKER_00 23:49

get ready to pray. It's time to lift your voice. It's time to pray loud like you know how. And then that trickles down that engages the kids that are church-going kids and they know how to pray. And then the bus kids, like you said, it's just kind of expected. They just, I mean, we've had bus kids that are praying almost as loud as, again, that term is terrible, but visiting kids that come every Sunday are praying almost as loud as our church. They might not be saying the right It might be repetitive, but they're doing what they're hearing. It goes

SPEAKER_01 24:19

back to the culture. It's huge. They're following that. Yeah, so a while back, not too long ago, a few weeks ago, you did altar service. And one of the things I liked what you did, I mean, we've done this before, but I just, I really liked it, is you had them come up and you talked to them about, you said, I don't want you to kneel down. I want you to stand up. Yeah. And so it was just kind of, it was different and it fit with what we were doing. Mm-hmm. And you had them stand up and raise their

SPEAKER_00 24:47

hand. Yeah. And that openness, I think I talked about openness is just being open to God and just, you know, it's great. There's nothing wrong with kneeling. Obviously there's nothing wrong with, with even someone will just sprawl out on the floor and you know, that's all great, but it's felt right in that moment to have them just stand and lift their hands and just kind of be in that mode of worship. Yeah. And I felt like it was right for the time and it just, it just created a different atmosphere. You know, it shook things up a little bit. But it, it, just created that openness you know I think even that same that same Sunday I mentioned I've noticed I had noticed that a lot of our young people and that was trickling down into like some of the girls were doing this silly thing of when they'd laugh or when they'd pray they'd cover their mouth you know they might be praying with one hand but they would cover you know put their hand over their mouth and they're crying because they did the too afraid to ugly cry you know so they got through that in there too and it's just that spirit of openness um Well, I think

SPEAKER_01 25:47

one of the things you just said is key also is it was right for the moment. And so we as staff have to be sensitive to that. Right. And we have to be, here's that word again, we have to be engaged.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Because I'll admit it. We talk about in the opening, I say the magic or the disaster. I've been the disaster before. I've been the one that is up there and I'm tired. Nobody's listening. Yeah, I'm just, I'm not invested and I tank it. I tank the altar call. It happens. And so, and that's, you know, we've talked about, I think Brother Arter and I talked about being consistent and I'm guilty. You know, I haven't always been that consistent. Yeah. But that's our responsibility as staff. We have to be sensitive and especially, I mean, we should be engaged every Sunday to, you know, the whole segment, you know, even when we're doing the funny stuff because it's just going to be a better or we're going to provide a better product. But when it comes to the life-saving part, which is altar service, we've got to be engaged. We can't be humdrum or whatever. So like what you did, you felt that in the moment. I mean, as far as I know, you didn't have that planned. And so it was just like this feels like the right thing to do. And it's because you were engaged. You were sensitive to the Holy Ghost. And so that's key. And Brother Arter does altar call a lot. Yes. Oh, he was doing an object lesson, and then in the script we were supposed to go to something, a song or clowns or the next segment, whatever. Well, he was... up there and he started talking he started talking about his mom and about with about with cancer that she had and it was it was emotional it was even emotional for him

SPEAKER_00 28:09

yeah

SPEAKER_01 28:09

but he had the kids attention

SPEAKER_00 28:11

just had and it was just

SPEAKER_01 28:12

you know and so I he didn't see it at first I had to point it out but I put a message on the screen on the stage screen as I go to altar now just go to altar right now and he did and he's good you know so he knew to just roll with it and we rolled into altar and it was Powerful. Yes. Powerful service. Yes. In fact, I think that was when a girl got the Holy Ghost. I think it was that night. Yes. It might have been the next. I can't remember. But, yeah. So, yeah, it's key to, for us, you know, this was supposed to be about getting kids engaged. But it really is key for the staff. Yeah. You know, to be engaged and fully into it. You know, because if we're not out in the world, can we? They definitely won't. And kids can sense, like, you know, I've heard it said before. with Sunday school like kids they sense when you're not prepared

SPEAKER_00 29:00

oh man and they do

SPEAKER_01 29:03

yeah

SPEAKER_00 29:03

they know and that's when they want to act out and go crazy yeah they're

SPEAKER_01 29:06

ready

SPEAKER_00 29:06

yeah exactly never fails never fails

SPEAKER_01 29:10

but I think that that applies also when they know when we're not prepared but they know when we're not engaged

SPEAKER_00 29:17

yes

SPEAKER_01 29:17

and we're just going through the motions they're just going to go through the motions

SPEAKER_00 29:20

absolutely

SPEAKER_01 29:21

and so but if we're up there and you know we you know I'm not saying you have to bawl and cry or anything but if you if you Like if you did have genuine tears. Sure. That captures their attention. It really does. Oh, wait, you know, and that just the sincerity, you know, being engaged and sincere.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Well, we're coming up against the clock here. And let's just let's do a quick recap.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

So I just I just kind of have three notes there. But you using themes and stories. That's like we're big on that. We like to do themes and and stories. And. And I put a note that it, quote, softens the defenses.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

So when we do themes and stories, it's really, it's all about getting to that altar call.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

You know, and I tell the kids, hey, this is the most important part of Sunday school. And I don't, you know, they don't think they always believe me. Yeah. Sometimes they're like, no, it's not a snack. We just got to get through altar service so we can get to snack. Yes. But we have to remember that as staff, too. You know, this is the most important part. So everything is pointing to that. and that's where we're headed.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

It's funny you said that because I literally just wrote that down on my notes. The most important, that kind of has been counter-cultural in the past, but it really is. That's the most important part.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

And then keeping it small and bite-sized and focused. Keeping their attention. Keeping their attention and keep it targeted. Now we do Plenty of Salvation every single week, so it's one of our segments. And sometimes that is the lesson too. Sure. But the plan salvation is just a segment. So we are, we are hitting that every single week. Right. But if our topic is on, you know, I don't know, being a good friend, you know, and we're doing the good Samaritan or something, then everything, you know, we do offering and we do some kind of getting money for this. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We got to get money to help this person because we're being a good neighbor. Yeah. So we, we try to tie it all in. So everything is, is pointing. You can't, be too abstract either.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

No.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Because kids don't get that. They don't get it. You've got to be a little more literal. And then have a strong focus for today's entire script. And so I guess that's kind of one and the same that we just talked about. Having that focus, like again, today, this is what we're talking about today, so make everything apply to that.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Right. There's a gentleman that is in our church and has been for a while, and when he was younger, was from a different country, and we was just in a bad situation, went through foster care, went through the system, and started coming as what we would call a bus kid. I don't think we had a bus route at that time, but was coming every Sunday with the family in the church. And when he got old, I think he might even had the Holy Ghost and been baptized, but he backslid at some point as a young teenager and was out for a long time. And I remember speaking with him many times about this, and he said, even though we didn't have Sunday's like we have it now has probably felt Jesus back then felt bored and I mean who knows individual classes and what not but he says vividly he remembers the services he remembers the Sunday school he remembers things that he was taught like it stuck it stayed with him so I just want to say that to encourage somebody that feels like what you're doing doesn't matter and these kids are just kids and they're running around causing trouble but when you're teaching this like you said every Sunday we're hitting the plan of salvation every Sunday we're praying, every Sunday we're talking about the things of God, it really does find a place in their heart. It really does. It will never leave.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Right. And we don't, yeah, we don't always know the impact we're having. And we just have to remember that, that we're not doing it for the accolades. Absolutely. We're not doing it for necessarily for today's altar call. I mean, we do, we want a good altar call today. Right. But we're doing it because this is, this is what we do. Yeah. And we do it all the time. and over and over again. And it does pay off. And sometimes it's not quantifiable. You can't point at anything, but we just know that this is what we do. All right. Well, so before we go, I've been meaning to do this. And I, man, I don't know if I have this, but if you go to apostolicsundayschool.com, which is Brother Booker runs that website, it might be slash APN. I'm not sure, but somewhere on there. And I'll find this before next podcast. APN is Apostolic Podcast Network. So he's been trying to compile a list of apostolic podcasts. And so I've been meaning to mention it, but there's some really good ones out there. So I mentioned Tyler Hodge earlier. His is Kidsmen University. Check that out. It's awesome. And Brother Tyler Hodge is awesome. And then Brother Jason Ashley. And oh man, now I can't remember the state he's from, but he's down south. But he has growing up with papaw or something. It's spelled weird because it's how his kids say it. Papaw or something. His great kids say it, yeah. Papaw or something like that. So I'll do better on this the next time, but I just wanted to mention it. Here, if you have any questions for us or something you'd like us to talk about, you can email us at info at kidmenbackstage.com. All right, well, I think that's about it. I think that's

SPEAKER_00 34:56

about it. You like the one?