Articles for tag: Joni Sullivan Baker

February 17, 2011

Christian Standard

Youthful Energy Unleashed

By Joni Sullivan Baker How does the idea of “unleashing” teens and children sound to you? Scary, maybe! But to those planning two dynamic conventions this summer, it”s an apt idea. “Students want and need to be challenged, so they expect a convention that encourages them to be bold and “˜unleashed” for Christ,” said Phyllis Fox, director of church relations and Youth in Ministry (YiM) at Milligan College. YiM produces the NACC Student Convention. “Through dynamic speakers, vibrant worship, and challenging workshops, students will discover how God is calling them to reach their friends, family, and communities for Christ,” Fox

January 12, 2011

Christian Standard

Making a Difference

By Joni Sullivan Baker Christmas decorations are down, second semester is underway, and snow is on the ground. It”s January. For those involved in children”s ministry that means only one thing””it”s time to start planning Vacation Bible School. Every summer, Standard Publishing puts its brand-new, unpublished VBS curriculum to the test by asking a local church to actually try it. Christ”s Church at Mason (Ohio) tested the new VBS last June. VBS 2011 is called “Inside Out & Upside Down on Main Street: Where Jesus Makes a Difference Every Day!” The children in the field test learned about five of

June 10, 2010

Christian Standard

The Hero HeadQuarters Field Test

By Joni Sullivan Baker Workers in lime green shirts scurry by carrying chairs, lariats for name badges, handfuls of markers, and pizza boxes. There”s a hum, a vibe, voices with some energy, maybe even nervous energy, laughing and talking. Early arriving boys whiz by and chase each other in the hallways. Equally early girls cluster and clog doorways, whispering loudly. The atmosphere is one part preparing for children”s church and one part backstage tension at five minutes to curtain. And then they start arriving. Parents holding the hands of little ones with big eyes who can”t decide what to look

January 10, 2010

Christian Standard

VBS Changes Lives

By Joni Sullivan Bakerr Read about “Hero HeadQuarters,” Standard Publishing’s all-new VBS program for 2010 You”d think they”d tire of cleaning cookie crumbs and glitter from every imaginable surface of their churches. Tire of the smell of small sweaty bodies and the stickiness of spilled juice. But anytime you get a handful of VBS warriors together to talk about what they do with VBS at their church, you start hearing stories. Seems like everyone”s got at least one. After listening to them for a while, sharing tender laughter and sometimes a surreptitious tear, you realize what it is about VBS

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