Rick Nier...Woo!

At our church we have a preschool. As one of the pastors, I go in about twice a month and lead a chapel time, where I share a teaching with them. In the past few years, I have found a list of verses to bring a focus for the entire year. For example, I've done the Fruit of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13, and one year I told them many stories of Jesus interacting with people. Each year, we work on memorizing several verses along the way. And even though these kids are all age 2 through age 5, they can do a great job. This year, I've decided to go through the Armor of God with them, found in Ephesians 6:10-18. I'll post them here, or at least some printable version of what I say here. Be strong in the Lord.   That's where we started. I came in, complete with sweatbands around my head and wrists, and told the kids I was getting swole for Jesus, because the Bible said to be strong in the Lord. As the silliness subsided, I talked to them about depending on God for th...

About once a month I go into our preschool and teach a lesson to a group of 2-5 year olds. There are about 60 of them, so question and answer time can be pretty fun. This year I am taking them through 1 Corinthians 13 and we're learning about love. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not brag or boast.                          ~1 Corinthians 13 The next part of the verse we’re learning is ‘love is not rude.’ I asked them what it meant to be rude. One kid said when you blow someone up with a tank. Yes, I suppose that would qualify as rude.  Another way to say it would be that love does not dishonor. This means that we should treat people with respect and show them, by what we say and do, that we value them. I asked a volunteer to squeeze a tube of toothpaste for me until the tube was empty. I picked a sweet young girl, who squeezed until the tube was empty. Then I said, "Now I need you to put all...

Among the silly and insignificant things I post here, I also share the chapel moments I have with a room full of preschoolers. I'm honestly not sure why I go in with a plan, since I never know what's going to happen once I open my mouth. Herding cats might be more predictable.  I'm taking them through 1 Corinthians 13 this school year. Here was the latest... “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy.” I've always marveled at the transition between being thankful for everything we have on Thanksgiving Day, to shopping for all the new stuff we want to be thankful for on Black Friday. So I asked the children the following questions. How many of you have made a Christmas list for your mom and dad? How many of you are looking forward to seeing Santa? What if you don’t get everything on your list? Will you be mad at Santa? Or will you be thankful for what you do get? There is something that often happens around Christmas that is a problem for everyone; bo...

This year I am helping preschoolers memorize some verses in the Bible that talk about love. They are found in 1 Corinthians 13. It had been a month since the previous chapel time I led, so I wasn't expecting much when I asked them if they recalled what we talked about before. But one kid quickly called out, 'Love is patient.' I told that young boy he won the day. Then I told them I was going to talk about the next aspect of love, kindness, by telling them a story. Once there were these 5 guys that were friends. But one of those friends was paralyzed. Do you know what that means? It means he couldn’t move his arms or legs. Let’s pretend we can’t move our arms and legs. Just as an aside, I'm going to figure out how I can include this story in every chapel. Those kids all sat frozen while I told the story.  One day those friends heard that Jesus was in town. So the four friends that could move decided to pick up their friend, carry him on his bed all the way to Jes...

From time to time I will be posting a short teaching moment I had with the young children who attend our church preschool. This one involved a purposely mistaken drawing of my home. I say purpose;ly mistaken so you don't think I live in some weird world. So, I started coloring again. I was going to wait to show anyone, but I just couldn’t wait. I’m going to show you a picture of me at my house on a sunny day. Doesn’t this look good? What do you think? Am I a natural artist? These kids, who I've noticed struggle with staying in the lines, were quick to notice my mistakes. Of course, that was the point. It looks like I got a lot of things mixed up in my drawing. Sometimes we get things all mixed up in life. Do you ever fight with your brother or sister? Have you ever told your mom or dad no? Have you ever refused to share? Ever been grumpy? Did you know that sometimes even moms and dads get things mixed up? Even adults get angry, sometimes we fight and say things we should ...

I told you I would be sharing how my preschool chapel times go throughout the year. I'm attempting to teach God's love, which is actually a bigger topic than we ever give it credit for. Here was my introduction to the topic. I like to play games that involve a ball. One of the reasons is because balls do not have an end. See this ruler? It has a beginning and an end. A ball does not have an end. It just keeps going and going. That’s like God’s love for us. God’s love has no end. He has loved us ever since He made us. He will always love us, no matter what. There is a second reason I like this ball. You can share it. A ball is more fun when you play games with it with other people. With a ball, you don’t keep it to yourself. You share it with others. God’s love is the same way. It’s better when we share it. We’re going to try an experiment. I want to toss this ball around. If we want to show love, we will toss it to someone else. But in order to show love, we will toss...

Every year I share in the chapel duties for our Church preschool. Being a type-A, I like to plan it out for the entire year. I will be given 12 opportunities (give or take) to grab and keep the attention of 60 preschoolers. Yes, I am willing to be crazy and loud and funny in order to accomplish this. Sometimes it works. Other times my wife, who is the preschool director, just gives me the nod as my signal to pray and close and hope for better the next time. After all, sometimes leading a mini-Bible study with little ones is like herding cats, although I've never actually tried this. To give you an idea, I have tried many extreme object lessons; juggling, dancing, playing guitar, telling silly stories, etc. Mid-stream I will have one of these young kids raise their hands. I mistakenly assume they are about to ask some good theological question based on my amazing teaching. More often I hear their new dog's name or some silly comment about bodily functions. Sigh. The chal...