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December 2004 Table of Contents
Petite Praisers
Make Choir Fun for Kids!
By Pam Andrews
 Hi! This is Pam Andrews coming to you again via this wonderful magazine, The Communicator. What a blessed vehicle to help bring encouragement, ideas, and support to all of us out there in the music world. Praise God for this awesome opportunity.
I am known across the country as a person who likes to have fun with children. I have been known to run, jump, march around the room, shake shakers, wave streamers, and/or play trash can drums with my children's choirs. I like to think that we as children's choir workers are attempting to make our kids think choir is the most fun they have all week.
What can we, as workers, do to make choir more fun for our kids?
1. Move!
Make sure you are moving with your children. It is fine to have moments in your choir that you work in a subdued way with your children. Just make sure you don't spend every moment in stillness with your children. Children sit still all day in school. They do not need to sit still in choir. Get them up! Get them moving! You will see smiles appear on their faces and greater attendance. You will see your children love choir!
2. Use props to enhance worship!
Make worship tools with your children. Within the resource notebook and on the video of every Lillenas musical, you will find wonderful prop ideas to create with your children. Make maracas out of water bottles. Make streamers out of ribbon. Put bright colored gloves on your kids. Don't spend lots of money! Recycle your trash to create praise and worship tools for the Lord.
3. Sing groovy songs!
I know that we as directors have our favorite styles of music. Sometimes the newer beats or rhythms might seem a little foreign to us. Give a rockin’ beat a try! What a joy it is to see your kids singing the songs outside the choir room as they walk down the hall. Please the Lord! Please the kids! Then, please yourself!
4. Use technology!
My, this sounds a little scary to me. I am not a computer wiz, but in my new musical, J-Force to the Rescue, I had the opportunity to use power point with the presentation. It was marvelous!!! Lillenas provides the power point slides on their website to make things easier. Go for it! You will love it!
5. Keep Jesus the center of your effort!
Jesus is the reason for all we do in children’s choir. We want our children to realize that Jesus is fun. Jesus is the best friend they will ever have. Jesus is a Forever Friend! Let’s make sure we show our children the true Jesus spirit…a spirit of joy and love which they can experience in the midst of any situation.
Working with Lillenas allows me to raise the bar of worship for your children. They are happy to hear the funky songs the Lord gives me and delight in every wild prop I create and find joy in the fact that the Lord gives me interesting and exciting characters which might be a little different to adults, but are completely kid-friendly.
I am so honored that the Lord gave me J-Force to the Rescue, a musical about how wonderful it is to meet the J-Force, or the Jesus Force, and invite Him to live in your heart and life. It is filled with all the components for fun like great movement ideas, groovy songs, techno ideas, and creative props and worship tools you can make with your children. Finally, and most importantly, you will teach your children about the love of Jesus.
Here is a quick synopsis of J-Force to the Rescue. Michael Lamb is a boy who has just moved into town and is feeling lost and alone. He meets Blaze, a local kid, who invites him to the J-Force meeting at his church. Michael ultimately goes to the meeting where he shares his heart with the other children about his troubled life. His family has had to move from city to city leaving him no forever friends. The J-Force kids realize that God has sent them a mission…to introduce Michael to a Forever Friend…Jesus Christ. Michael begins receiving messages via the internet, telling him that Jesus wants Michael to know him, that Jesus is the Way, and that Jesus wants us to forgive and forget. He also learns that Jesus loves him and that to know Jesus, all he must do is to believe. The musical provides a simple, childlike version of the plan of salvation to help introduce Michael to Jesus where he learns that he is never alone now that he knows Jesus. What a great friend we have in Jesus! We can face anything because of Him!
Have fun with your children! Have fun with J-Force to the Rescue. Let your children experience the Jesus Force every week! They will be changed forever!
Living for Jesus!
Pam Andrews
pamandrewsmusic@comcast.net
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