Tag Archives: Bible Bucks

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Why kids church needs rewards.

There are no shortage of haters out there when it comes to reward systems and rewards models for kids churches. But for the past 7 years we have used a rewards system at our church called BibleBucks 2.0. It has been an amazing tool for us.

When do reward systems go bad?

  1. When they become the goal of what you do rather than a part of what you do.
  2. When we reward the wrong things.
  3. When we use rewards to supplement our lack of preparation.
  4. When we allow the teachers in the rooms to change what we reward weekly.
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Please visit my great sponsors.

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I appreciate everyone who stops by my site and adds to the conversation. I want to take a few minutes to encourage you to check out some of the things the people who sponsor this site have to offer.

Let The Children Come – Are one of my site sponsors. They offer lots of different child evangelism tools. Love the idea they have for wordless book idea for preteens girls click on there banner to the right to find out more.

Jonathan Martin Creative – They are an unbelievably talented company our church will literally never look the same because of them. Every week when kids come to Uptown and their breath is taken away. I am so grateful to JMC for the time and energy they put into making our space amazing.

KidzBlitz Curriculum – Is produce by Roger Fields a children’s ministry veteran with a huge passion for ministry and helping kids pastors. His stuff is excellent for large group environments. If you do large group in kids ministry or are just looking to change things up, head over to KidzBlitz and see what they have to offer.

Bible Bucks 2.0 – Winner of the 2010 Children’s ministry expo’s Jawdrop innovation award. Bible Bucks 2.0 is a new way to do rewards at your kids church. It’s a web based reward system that will leave your kids talking.

R04r.com – An innovative iPhone app company that was started by a good friend of mine – The user interface is drop dead simple. If you are looking for a iPhone app or android app contact Matt at R04R tell him Sam sent ya!

LifeWay Kids – The people at LifeWay kids are great. I have had the opportunity to talk to them several times over the past few years. Love their spirits and passion for kids ministry currently they are advertising their VBS stuff on my blog. You definitely need to check out the stuff they are coming out with.

Discipleland – Discipleand produces all varieties of kids ministry curriculum. They even have some lessons for nursery aged kids, and a section to download free resources. Check them out by clicking the banner to the right.

Worlds of Wow – Is a one stop shop to custom theme your church or business. Regan heads the company up and is a stand up guy. They put in our indoor playground in our church and 5 years later the kids love it like the first time they played in it.

God’s Kids Worship – Bob and his team do an amazing job of producing modern worship for kids. If you are looking for christmas songs for you kids or worship songs they have you covered. You’ll be glad you did.

Children Desiring God Conference. – This is one conference I have not been to but would love to go to. I have listened to countless sermons by John Piper and have read many of his books. His life message, challenges me every day “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

The Orange Conference – Love the heart and message of Orange. So appreciate Reggie and his team. If you have never been to the Orange conference put it on list of conferences that you need to attend.  For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

Children’s Pastor’s Conference – Went to CPC for the first time last year was really blown away by the quality of conference Michael Chanley and his team put on. Lots of practical how twos as well as inspirational general sessions. If you haven’t been to CPC in a few years you need to come see what all the changes are about. For more information on this conference click on the banner to the right.

Children’s Ministry Magazine – Chris Yount Jones and the folks at group have made such an impact in many aspects of Children’s ministry. From VBS, their Magazine, books and resources to help Children’s ministres be more effective. Group really is passionate about helping ministry leaders connect and grow. For more information click on the Children’s Ministry Magazine link and their Faithweaver link on the right.

 

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TakeTen: Rewards in Kids Ministry with Christiaan VandenHeuvel

SamLuce.com Podocast: Questions Leaders Ask
TakeTen: Rewards in Kids Ministry with Christiaan VandenHeuvel
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To reward or not to reward. It’s the age old question in children’s ministry. I am one of those people who can see value in both but if you force me to take a side I will usually side with rewards because I know when used properly they work.

At Redeemer we use an online Bible Bucks reward system, and another kids pastor I recently met uses the same system. Christiaan VandenHeuvel is a Children’s pastor at Cornerstone Fellowship. He has served there since 2001 and has been in kids ministry for the past two decades. Christiaan was recently named by Children’s Ministry Magazine as one of the 20 to watch for the next 20 years. Christiaan and I were at a Kid’s pastor get together a few months back and I was impressed by his passion for Christ and desire to see kids come to Christ. Also he has an amazing sense of humor he would do just fine in New York.

If you want to find out more about Christiaan Check him out.

Blog: http://christiaanity.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/christiaanv
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/christiaanv

You can find out more about the online Bible Bucks site I run and we both use at Mybiblebucks.com

Now go make yourself a hot beverage of your choice and nestle in as Christiaan and I discuss Rewards for Ten Minutes. (The media player can be found below my related links)

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A word from my great sponsors.

I appreciate everyone who stops by my site and adds to the conversation. I want to take a few minutes to encourage you to check out some of the things the people who sponsor this site have to offer.

Integrity Music – Carlos Whittaker – Integrity music has been around forever and after all these years they are still producing cutting edge worship. I still remember my dad getting music in the mail from integrity we would pop in the tape and sing at the top of our lungs.

Jonathan Martin Creative – They are an unbelievably talented company our church will literally never look the same because of them. Every week when kids come to Uptown and their breath is taken away. I am so grateful to JMC for the time and energy they put into making our space amazing.

Shout Praises Kids – Great worship series for kids from Integrity. They do an amazing job of translating worship that is sung by adults into meaningful relevant songs for kids.

Bible Bucks 2.0 – Winner of the Children’s ministry expo’s Jawdrop innovation award. Bible Bucks 2.0 is a new way to do rewards at your kids church. It’s a web based reward system that will leave your kids talking.

R04r.com – An innovative iPhone app company that was started by a good friend of mine – The user interface is drop dead simple. If you are looking for a iPhone app or android app contact Matt at R04R tell him Sam sent ya!

Worlds of Wow – Is a one stop shop to custom theme your church or business. Regan heads the company up and is a stand up guy. They put in our indoor playground in our church and 2 years later the kids love it like the first time they played in it.

God’s Kids Worship – Bob and his team do an amazing job of producing modern worship for kids. If you are looking for christmas songs for you kids or worship songs they have you covered. You’ll be glad you did.

Discipleland – Discipleland offers a full line of kids curriculum from Sunday school to kids church models. Their curriculum is adaptable and compatible for small to large churches. If you are in the market for new curriculum make sure you check out what they have.

Worshiphouse media – Four Corners interactive game – Looking for the perfect game, kid-mixer, worship warm-up, countdown, energy booster for your children’s worship service? This is it! In this game, a question is asked and then kids quickly move to the corner that matches the color of their answer…it’s a blast!

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CardStar: Self checkin with your smart phone.

A friend of mine told me about this iPhone app that every kids church that has self check-in or uses Bible Bucks 2.0 needs to know about.

What is CardStar?

CardStar eliminates wallet overload by consolidating your membership and rewards cards on your smartphone —  letting you access scannable cards, deals and retailer information within a single app.

Shop smart with CardStar — storing all of your rewards cards in a single app so you’ll never forget them again, and getting real-time access to coupons, deals and exclusive offers from your favorite retailers. Just enter your membership number and CardStar creates a digital card for you, with the highest rate of scanning success. CardStar saves you the time and trouble of scouring your wallet to find a single card among many — by consolidating all of your cards in CardStar’s mobile app, they’re never more than a tap of the finger away.

Cardstar is available on iPhone, Android and Blackberry.