Performing Arts Director
Production Manager
Lighting Designer
Worship Pastor
Motion Graphics + Video
Producer
Children’s Ministry Director
Kids on the Move Producer
Kids on the Move Creative
Oneighty Creative Director
This spring, KOTM released our latest single Who I Wanna Be. It’s our 2012 Dry Gulch theme song and you can download the tune here, as well as the free lyrics video here.
We’ve also uploaded the instructional video with the dance moves, which you can check out below. If you’re coming to camp this summer, feel free to rock the tune at your church and bring your kids knowing the dance. Enjoy!
I wanted to do a quick blog on a game we played in Kids on the Move this weekend. It was a big hit and it’s super simple.
GAME:
Memory Verse Mania
OBJECTIVE:
Unscramble the Memory Verse
Faster time = more ping pong balls
Toss the ping pong balls into buckets to win prizes for everyone!
PROPS:
7 giant cards, each with part of the verse on it
5 buckets
10-15 ping pong balls
Prizes
The game is in two parts. For the first, pick eight kids and hand seven of them a giant card with part of the series verse on it. We used 3’ x 2’ cards and had them printed out of house. Have the seven scramble up the verse and the remaining one put it in the right order as fast as he/she can. To keep track of the time, we created a little timer that counts up. Once the scripture is unscrambled, stop the timer. The first unscrambler wins two ping pong balls. Let’s say he did it in 55 seconds. Choose a new kid and up the ante. “If you can get it in 50 seconds, you’ll get another ping pong ball and you guys will have 3!” Continue this way until you have 5 - 10 or so won.
For the second part, think Bozo’s Grand Prize Game from back in the day. Bring out the five buckets and place them in a line. Give the contestant a spot to stand, facing the buckets. For each bucket he/she tosses a ping pong ball into, prizes are won for EVERYONE! We assigned the prizes as such:
BUCKET 1: KOTM bookmarks with the verse
BUCKET 2: Poppers (link)
BUCKET 3: Kazoos (link)
BUCKET 4: KOTM wristbands (link)
BUCKET 5: A CD with our new song (Jesus Is Alive Right Now [Remix])
Obviously, any assortment of prizes will work as long as the biggest prize is saved for the end. For the contestant, the odds of winning are in their favor if they’ve won a lot of ping pong balls.
A FEW NOTES
Because everyone wins prizes, we didn’t split the room into teams. Everyone was after the same goal. We’ve also uploaded the slides, timer, bumper, and artwork for the cards and bookmark. You can download them here!
I’ve also included a couple of photos we snapped this weekend of the buckets so you can see how we built them.
Questions? Let us know in the comments below!
In preparation for our Seeds Conference last month, I did a lot of writing for one of my workshops: Puppets and Characters. When it comes to characters and story, I’m a huge Jim Henson fan. The Muppets (including Sesame Street) are in a league of their own. Probably one of the most emotionally touching scenes I’ve ever seen was Big Bird singing at Jim’s memorial (watch here).
Michael Davis talks about the purpose of Big Bird in his book Street Gang. The character’s whole objection is to respond to situations as a 6-year old would. This causes a connection between young kids and Big Bird which allows them to learn from Sesame Street. This shows me something: if our characters can connect with our kids, they can teach our kids.
Our series in KOTM have one overall theme; each week we look at that theme in a different way with The Big Answer. We support The Big Answer with an illustration, Bible story, music, and a story line. It’s in the story line, or sketch, that we use our characters to communicate The Big Answer.
A great example of this can be found in Kids on the Move Live! Our Big Answer for the service was FEAR IS NOT THE BOSS OF ME. During the service we met Majunga, who was dealing with the fear of something he saw on television. Over the course of the service he expounded on the depths of his fear, after which, we taught him The Big Answer and ultimately stood with him as he overcame the obstacle. The principle behind why Majunga works so well is the same principle behind Big Bird’s success. Majunga is our 6-year old. He deals with the same temptations that our kids deal with. Granted, his voice and mannerisms are hilarious, but our win with him is his connection with the kids.
The way we use our characters range from puppets, to host and antagonist personalities, to simply reading stories on stage. We just use the tools we have available to create the best possible characters that connect.
This is really just the tip of the iceberg. As soon as we get through Easter I’ll write a little more on how we write scripts in KOTM. We’d also love to hear about characters you are using at home. Comment below and let’s get the conversation going!
Right now we’re in big time Christmas mode, so I’m going to blog quickly about a Christmas project we just finished in KOTM. Kids on the Move revolves around series (I Love My Bible, I Belong to God, etc) - those series revolve around weekly big answers (“My eyes belong to God, Jesus Rescues Right Now) - and those big answers revolve around one central truth or verse. For the last 5 weeks we’ve been in a series leading up to Christmas called “To the Rescue.” Our mission is to teach kids that WHEN YOU NEED HELP, JESUS COMES TO THE RESCUE.
One of the greatest ways we can help kids remember these themes is through our songs. Earlier this year we decided to do our best to write and record a song for each series we teach. If you haven’t heard any of these songs yet, you can check out I Love My Bible, Jesus Is Alive Right Now, or By Faith. Our series ”To the Rescue” is no different. For this we challenged ourselves to write a killer worship song - that song is You Are My Rescue and you can download it here on Seeds. We’ve been working pretty hard to refine our songwriting process and I get asked about it a lot, so here is that process in a nutshell.
STEP 1 - GET THE WORD OUT
COTM is blessed to have several musicians and singers (staff members and volunteers) who love songwriting. Once our theme was nailed down, I sent an email to this list of people, sort of an open call for demos. I included the series info, what sort of feel we were looking for, and the demo deadline. Demos submitted could be super polished or as raw as iPhone recordings.
STEP 2 - LISTEN AND GET OPINIONS
Stephen Posey, Andrew Dale and I listened to the demos. For this project, three were submitted. Honestly, we could have recorded any one of them and had a solid song, but we’re not in this just for fun. We want to get it right. We listened to each tune many times. We got opinions from other folks around. We asked questions of each song like: “Is it catchy? “Is it enjoyable to listen to? Does it communicate the theme? Is it the right song for the series?” After much deliberation, we chose to take the best of two songs and mesh them together.
STEP 3 - LAY OUT THE MAP
This is something we learned early on: DON’T WASTE THE CHURCH’S MONEY. God blesses our diligence to protect the tithe. As much as we can, we go in the recording studio with not only a game plan, but even a demo of our own. Andrew Dale will often record our final version in Logic before we step into the studio. Sometimes we’ll even use guitar, drum, or keyboard tracks that he’s recorded on his laptop. This saves us TONS of time! (Check out I Love My Bible and listen to the drums. They’re straight from Andrew’s laptop.)
STEP 4 - APPOINT A PRODUCER
For us, songwriting is a group effort. We want the opinions, but in the studio, you need someone to make the final call. The producer needs to be someone who specifically knows the heart of the series, after all why are we recording the song? Often in the studio it will be myself, Andrew Dale, Kenneth Weston and our audio engineer. Andrew’s working on instrumentation and Kenneth’s chiming in on vocal parts. 9 times out of 10 everyone will be on the same page with where the song should go. For that rare 1 out of 10 times, the producer can step in, listen to the opinions, and make the call. Assign a producer at the beginning.
Let’s keep in mind, this four step process is not the Bible. You might hate working like this, but it worked for us on our last project. I’d love to hear about our songs being used in your kidmin services. If you’re using them, drop me a line on Twitter, by emailing me or just comment below.
I hope this helps.
Kids on the Move loves puppets. How could we not, when we have an amazing puppeteer like my good friend, Mr. Tim Cox?! (pictured below)
If you haven’t seen his work, check out a sample from our Celebrate with Family service below. Deputy Dugan has a great little duet with one Mr. Andy Chrisman (not pictured below) starting at 24:10.
As we continued to develop our puppet sketches for Kids on the Move, we began to run into the same problem: location of the puppet stage. Because the KOTM auditorium is a multi-purpose room, every stage set we design must be able to be hidden behind the closed curtain. Our stage is pretty deep. Any puppet stage we built into the set was up to 75 feet away from a student, depending on where they were sitting. What was our solution? Make it mobile! For us, building a mobile puppet stage met so many of our needs. We could obviously place the stage anywhere we wanted and moving it on and off during segment bumpers was a huge help. The great thing about this was we didn’t need any sort of specialized fabricator to make this. We just needed a regular carpenter. Here are a few things we did to insure this worked for us:
1) We made it sturdy.
This is not a few pieces of plywood slapped together. We’re talking an extremely strong wooden box as its interior.
2) We made it fit the décor of our room.
Many of our puppets are animals. Why shouldn’t they be shipped to us in a crate? The idea could be pulled off easily by tearing apart a few pallets.
3) We built it specific to our needs.
It’s just big enough for two puppeteers. We designed it so that the puppets would be at eye level with the host, who is usually me (I stand at an enormous 5’ 5” height). We attached a few inexpensive lights inside so our puppeteers can easily see, no matter what the stage lighting is.
4) We built it as small as possible.
Granted, a 5’ tall x 6’ wide x 3.5’ deep box isn’t the smallest item to store, but as far as puppet stages go, it’s not too bad.
This has served us well. If you build one, I’d love to hear about it. What’d you do differently? Shoot me a comment!
Our KOTM services are very production heavy. The elementary creative team spends hours throughout the week creating services that are extremely intentional with their message while still being exciting. When a kid walks out of service, we want to know that they know the Big Answer to the Big Question (What did you learn at church today?) While there are many people involved in every service, there are only a handful of them who attend the creative meetings. That’s where I come in. My job is to take what our creative team dreams up and communicate the needs to everyone involved. Questions must be answered like:
So how do we make the jigsaw pieces fall into place? Sitting down with our production guys is really just the beginning. There are singers, dancers, speakers, CG operators, lighting guys, musicians, puppeteers, the list goes on. So, what’s the key? Andrew Stone once told me, “If you have a mistake happen in your service, it’s not because of what’s happening right then, it’s because of the lack of preparation leading up to that point.” It’s very true. So, how do we make sure we’re ready? It’s in one word: REHEARSAL.
Nearly every time we’ve had a mess up on stage, it was because someone didn’t know the information they needed, information that would have been covered in rehearsal.
After we create the concept, here is our plan of communication and rehearsal:
After our Saturday service, we’ll meet. If we need to, we’ll make tweaks or cut parts of the service. Our goal is to produce a fluid service that communicates a story and the truth of God’s Word. There’s not too much we consider sacred. If a segment doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. We return on Sunday for another full run-through, with any changes.
I’m convinced that you can’t over communicate service details to the team. You can’t assume that everyone will know what’s happening, even if you planned a similar service to last week’s. Send emails as ideas are being conceived. Shoot a text after a meeting. Communication is a must! That’ll keep the jigsaw falling into place.
So there you have it. I’d love to hear any feedback!
Do you wish you could have an awesome, live band in your children’s ministry?
You totally can.
Every week in Kids on the Move we are very intentional about making our praise and worship BIG…like, concert big. If you haven’t seen our services before, check out this recap…
It might seem like we spend countless hours finding the right musicians and rehearsing. We really don’t. Before I get into talking about how we make it happen, let me say we do perform some songs with a live band, but it’s not the norm.
We use tracks. They’re tried and true. They sound great. They make rehearsal a snap and are virtually plug and play. We just add our own twist. Check out the photo below.
This was taken during one of our weekend services. The band is performing Tell the World by Hillsong Kids, which you can get on DVD. There’s one lead singer, two guitar players, and six dancers. Our two guitar players are not plugged in. They’re just rockin’ out. They do know what parts to play, so they don’t totally give the gig away, but our main objective with them is energy. Then comes the dancers, my favorite part. They bring enormous amounts of energy to the stage. Our dance team is comprised of aspiring singers, musicians, and young people who love to serve. Every song we do has moves that are easy to follow, and we teach the dance team these moves every Thursday evening.
The key is energy. Do everything you can to put bodies on the stage. Don’t have a great singer to lead? Just let them sing along to a track that has lead vocals on it. Don’t have great musicians? Invite younger players who want experience on the stage to play fake guitar and jump around. Make them watch their favorite bands and mimic them.
Start by downloading I Love My Bible, then run to your local Christian Bookstore and get all the Hillsong Kids DVDs. Pick the songs you want to do for this weekend and teach the moves to the dancers on your team. Tell them to wear brightly colored shirts, bandanas around their heads, and bring their guitars. You’re on your way!
Questions? Comments? Let’s talk about how you’re making it work at your church! You can leave a comment below.
Over time, one of the most common questions asked of us has been, “What music do you use in your services?” From our services in Kids on the Move to camp at Dry Gulch USA, we’re very intentional about what music plays before, during, and after service. Our goal is to create an exciting atmosphere before and after service, teach our kids to praise God during the service, and prepare their hearts with worship just before the message.
In regards to our Dry Gulch chapels, here’s a run down of all our house music, service music, praise and worship sets and where you can locate it all, if it’s available for purchase.
House Music (all available on iTunes)
Boomin’ - Toby Mac
Bounce - Manafest
Forever - Edison Glass
Superstar - Stephanie Smith
All Day - Hillsong United
Outrage - Capital Lights
Spotlight - Mutemath
A Thousand Winters Melting - The Myriad
One World - Toby Mac
Nothing Left to Lose - Mat Kearney
One Way - Hillsong United
Leave You Now - House of Heroes
Church Music - David Crowder Band
Hey - Leeland
Lone Ranger - Nate Sallie
He Did That - KJ52
Innocent - Stellar Kart
Feelin’ So Fly - Toby Mac
Closer to Love - Mat Kearney
Tightly Wound - MXPX
Night 1 (Praise & Worship Set)
Jesus Is Alive Right Now - Kids on the Move Band (coming soon on Seeds)
Night 2 (Praise & Worship Set)
Bounce - Manafest (we recorded our own instrumental track)
Tell the World - Hillsong Kids / Tell the World album (available on iTunes)
I’m So Glad - Hillsong Kids (available on iTunes)
Hallelujah - Hillsong United / The Stand (we recorded our own track)
Jesus Is Alive Right Now - KidsontheMove
Night 3 (Praise & Worship Set)
Jesus, What A Friend - Kids on the Move
Take It All - Hillsong United (iTunes)
I Will Exalt You - Hillsong (we recorded our own version)
Jesus Is Alive Right Now - KidsontheMove
Night 4 (Praise & Worship Set)
Tell the World - Hillsong Kids / Tell the World album (available on iTunes)
How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin (we recorded our own track)
Hallelujah - Hillsong United / The Stand (we recorded our own track)
Jesus Is Alive Right Now - Kids on the Move
Segment Music
We subscribe to an online music library called APM. Producers of television shows, commercials, movies, and video games use this site for royalty free music. Of course, there are fees associated with subscribing to this site. The majority of these tracks are instrumental and include all genres.
As Seeds continues to grow, Kids on the Move will be uploading more and more music that we create. If you have any more questions regarding this, feel free to email me at adam@kidsonthemove.com.
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