Archive for the ‘Children’ Category

Kidsong World 2011

14th of July, 2011, by Cadu.

Since 2009, when I’ve been taking Kidsong World seriously, God has used it to teach me amazing things. And I’m loving it! Last week was the 25th Hillsong Conference. As usual, I was serving as a kids leader in our kids conference Kidsong World.

This year was different because I was a tribal leader instead of a group leader and didn’t have a specific group of kids allocated to me, but a group of about 7 leaders who were leading a group of 100+ kids. And I had two electives to present. In addition, my friend and leader Dave had a great idea during conference and needed my help to execute it. As a result, I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted with the kids.

However, this lack of time didn’t stop God from using me to impact the lives of a few children, which made me happy. I love when God does that! I love when I see the smiles of children after conference, and how much fun they had, and how sad they are to leave (ok, this part is not fun, I also feel sad when conference ends and I have to say good bye to the kids who live far away and whom I might never see again).

After Conference, when I stopped to thank God for everything, He reminded me that even though I feel good when He uses me to change children’s lives, He is the one who makes it happen, and it is all for His glory. He also reminded me of the great honour and privilege that it is to be trusted as a leader to the little ones whom God loves. And He reminded me of the impact my life has in these kids.

While being a children’s leader with influence is amazing and is a blessing, it is also a great (and I cannot stress this enough) responsibility, because the kids watch every step I take, and my decisions can have a positive or negative impact in their lives. As it is written:

“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.” – Mark 9:42 (NLT)

Now, I definitely don’t want to be thrown into the sea, or, even worse, make the kids I lead to fall into sin, or stumble. Of course, that doesn’t mean I have to be paranoid about everything I do, but I must live a life that honours God and leads people to God. And it is not supposed to be very hard, because the Holy Spirit lives in me, and all I have to do is listen to Him and do what He tells me.

And this is one of the great things about God: when He reminds you of something, He already has all the tools you will need ready to go! What an amazing God! :)

Cadu

PS: By the way, you should watch the video Dave, FMD and I made during conference (this was Dave’s great idea):

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Posted in Bible, Children, Deep, English, Hillsong, Ministry, Truth | No Comments » --------

My Favourite Things and more!

21st of December, 2010, by Cadu.

This blog is kind of quiet lately… but I am not. I’ve been busy making some videos… Have a look at them, and if you want, follow me on Twitter to know when I upload more videos. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel or Vimeo channel or RSS feed.

My Favourite Things! from Carlos Dyonisio on Vimeo.

Trio With Myself (or A Duet For Three Myselfs) from Carlos Dyonisio on Vimeo.

Cadu

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Posted in Children, English, Funny, Music, Videos | No Comments » --------

Evaluating our Ministry

25th of October, 2010, by Cadu.

We all know that having vision is important. But not evaluating our ministry according to our vision is like not having vision at all. Some obvious questions we should be asking ourselves are “is my ministry going where I want it to go?” and “what do I think of it?”.

However, there are other important questions we should be asking ourselves, and in this post I will talk about some of them. In my case, I am in charge of one of our kid’s services, and the questions reflect that, but you can change them to whatever you want.

1. What does God think of my service?

The first thing we have to do is stop and listen to God. Often He has things to say and is just waiting for us to stop and listen to Him. After all, we are doing everything for Him, right? (If you are not, then stop!)

2. What do my leaders think of my service?

Sometimes our leaders won’t be present during our service, but we must know their vision well enough to be able to answer this question. Are we following their vision? Is anything happening that they wouldn’t like? Is anything missing? Can we do anything better? Don’t wait until they come and tell you what is wrong, fix it before that happens; and don’t bother them with trivial problems that you can fix yourself.

3. What do my kids think of my service?

What would a new kid think/feel/experience once they arrive in the room? Will they feel welcomed, or lost? Are the kids having fun? Is your team focusing on the kids? The service is for the kids, and if they are not experiencing God, having fun and enjoying the friendship of their leaders and other kids, something is wrong.

Cadu

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Posted in Children, English, Ministry, Truth | 1 Comment » --------

I’m bored!

20th of July, 2010, by Cadu.

I happen to talk regularly to a few preteens during the week, and one thing that I hear a lot from them is that they are bored. Every time I hear then complaining about it I feel sad and think “But how? How can you be bored??”. I don’t think I ever felt like that when I was a kid or a preteen. Seriously, this often bugs me so much that I try to remember how I felt when I was bored, and I am never able to remember a time when I felt like that…

bored... by RedHand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/redhand/2870546896/)

Even though I have a sister, I used to spend a lot of time on my own, and when I was not playing with her I always had something to do. And when I didn’t have something to do, I invented something. I never had a video game (until two years ago when I bought a Nintendo DS)… but I had a chemistry set; I liked to do experiments with plants and insects; I took an electronics course by mail; I played with matches and fire; I looked at my own sperm in the microscope (too much information perhaps, but still interesting); I learned BASIC; I tried to make a rocket (that turned out to be more like a fragmentation grenade that thankfully didn’t explode) and tried to make trinitroglycerine with a friend as crazy as me (which also didn’t explode, very sad…); I learned sewing, counted cross-stitching and knitting; I opened (and never closed) electronics and toys (and sometimes made something new from their spare parts); I recorded funny things on tape; I made some short films (and I didn’t have YouTube to publish them); and when I ran out of things to do, I found new ones…

Sometimes I try to compare their times with my times, and it looks to me that they have more alternatives to “waste” their spare time than I did years ago. They can do everything I could do, plus all the games and entertainment that is available today. They can even learn Python instead of BASIC! And yet, they are bored…

While I have some theories to explain why this is happening, I don’t have a concise explanation. Sometimes I think that all the technology and entertainment options available today is the reason why they get bored so easily, but I might be wrong. And that is where you come in to the discussion! If you have any ideas, any theories that could explain it, please say so in the comments… or if you read any recent research paper on this topic, please let everyone know about it! Also, if you have a solution for it, I will be very happy to know it!

I will probably write another post on this topic in the future, hopefully with more answers than questions.

Cadu

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Posted in Children, Psychology | 1 Comment » --------

Review 2nd: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2nd of April, 2010, by Cadu.

Today I am reviewing the series called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” written by Jeff Kinney. So far it consists of 4 books, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid“, “Diary of Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules“, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days“. Apparently there will be only five books, with the last one coming out this year.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

The books all look like a child’s diary, and have drawings and hand written stories relating the things that happen in the life of Greg Heffley, a kid that has just started Middle School (Junior High School). Although he is a fictional character, I think his stories reflect how many kids of his age see the world around them.

Greg lives with his two brothers, one older and one younger, and his mum and dad. His parents apparently don’t really understand him and don’t know how to show love to him, and he strives to be popular and look cool. In fact, according to him, nobody really understands him, and most of the time he is the best person he knows. Except for when things don’t work as he expected, and that happens very often.

Despite the lack of accurate dates in the stories (he only writes the day of the week, ie. Monday), I really love the way the stories are written. Some stories are incredibly funny, and all the books are interesting and can entertain me for hours. While it is written for kids, many adults will love them (specially the ones who work with kids…).

Bringing the books to reality, there are many kids like Greg, who don’t get real assurance from their families and strive to be popular and maintain a status of cool. While reading the book sometimes I feel sad for Greg, even though he doesn’t exist. As Children’s ministers we should be looking for these kids in our Church services and making sure we do everything in our reach to impact their lives. We can be the ones who will make these kids write a possible “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A God Encounter” book to complete the series… ;)

I really think you should read all the books! They are awesome!! :) The first three books are based on an online journal that you can find at Fun Brain. You can also buy the books from Amazon or your favourite book shop.

There is also a movie already available in some countries (including the USA) based on the first book of the series. I haven’t watched it yet, but if it is like the book, it is probably awesome!

See you again tomorrow, the 3rd!
Cadu

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Posted in Books, Children, English, Funny, Reviews | 1 Comment » --------

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