Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of a new eBook that I’ve been designing and editing in order to share for free with the world - Galatians: Selections from Martin Luther.
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Freebies
Our worship ministry staff has some incredibly gifted musicians and this year they decided to put out a Christmas EP as a gift to our congregation. Grace Has Come is a 4-track EP full of original, grace-filled, theologically rich, artistic songs for the Church.
Note: You can find the music embedded in this post or click on a link below to download the music.
One of my favorite songs, Gifts You Bring, says:
“There is joy for the broken
Peace for the ravaged
Hope for the hopeless soul
There is grace and forgiveness
Faith and compassion
In Jesus Christ Alone"
Joy, peace, hope, grace, forgiveness, faith, and compassion.
What better truth to celebrate as we prepare for Christmas than the simple truth that all these gifts come from Jesus Christ alone? The only place we can truly find joy, peace, and hope is in the person and work of Jesus. The manger is just the beginning of grace showing up on the scene and changing our world.
In further conversation with our worship team, I learned that this song was not written in isolation from the history of the Church, but it actually had roots in an traditional Christmas Eve prayer.
The prayer says the words, "O God, You make this most holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light.” Corey, Steve, and Matt wrote, “Oh my God, who has made this night, shine with brightness of your Truest Light. Break the dark that has hidden me, that has taken me from the gifts you bring.”
Let this free gift from our worship ministry bless you with the grace that comes in the birth of a baby boy. Download this EP and share it with your friends.
Everybody loves free ideas and resources. And if you are in any creative ministry position, you are probably often looking for inspiration or freebies to help you do your work. As a ministry, we are regularly producing great content for our sermon series. The creative process to developing these is one of the areas that I am most passionate. I love working with our team as we brainstorm ideas and then helping move ideas forward into a finished product.
Feel free to use these ideas to inspire your own ideas or use the supplied media and replicate the series yourself. The only thing we ask is that you don’t sell our original content as your own. Also please note, that occasionally some of our series images heavily rely on stock images; in those case you must purchase the original source image in order to have legal permission to use the image.
Truth be Told
Series Description: Everyday there are so many different messages that we’re being told. Some of the messages we like, others we don’t. But the most important ones are the ones that are true, even if they’re hard to hear. In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us a very important message. The message is hard to hear, but it’s true. It’s a message that reminds us that we need a Savior, and that’s exactly what God has given us.
Note: In order to have permission to use this graphic for your sermon series, you must download the appropriate size image from Lightstock. Get this image here. If you purchased the graphic assets and want the full size image with the text, just let me know and I’ll get it to you.
Waiting for Christmas
Series Description: It seems like every year the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier. Commercials, retailers, and radio stations try to remind us that Christmas is coming. The stress that comes with the anticipation arrives earlier too. Will we get the house cleaned? Will the shopping be done in time? Will there be family drama? As we wait for Christmas, it is easy to focus on what we wait for. . . the parties, the decorating, the bargains, and the gifts. But it’s important to remember who we are waiting for. We’re waiting for the King who came as a baby boy. And this king is no ordinary king. . . he’s a king who serves, a king who saves, and a king who loves.
We also made an awesome bumper video to go along with the series.
[tentblogger-vimeo 80396990]
If you are in ministry and you teach regularly, chances are you are also consistently looking for sermon inspiration or freebies. As a ministry, we are regularly producing great content for our sermon series. The creative process to developing these is one of the areas that I am most passionate. I love working with our team as we brainstorm ideas and then helping move ideas forward into a finished product.
Feel free to use these ideas to inspire your own ideas. The only thing we ask is that you don’t sell our original content as your own. Also please note, that occasionally some of our series images heavily rely on stock images; in those cases I will let you know since you must purchase the original source image in order to have legal permission to use the image.
First Things First
Series Description: At the beginning of the year most of us make resolutions to prioritize our life. That’s not easy to do. We try to place first things first, yet there are so many things that take up our time and energy. Everything we have is a result of God first giving it to us. Our job is to use those gifts that he has given and respond by placing first things first.
Note: In order to have permission to use this graphic for your sermon series, you must download the appropriate vector images from a variety of stock imagery websites.
Click Here
Note: This “click here” imagery was the inspiration of one of our Pastors, Paul Arndt.
Series Description: After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). They didn’t recognize him nor did they understand the purpose of his ministry. As Jesus walked with them, he opened up the Old Testament and began to link all of the Scriptures to himself.
If Jesus were to have the same conversation in our digital age, it might look like a hyperlink or one of those notations on the web page that says, “click here”. He would hover over a portion of the Scripture and link it to his person and work, his death and his resurrection, the message of the forgiveness of sins.
Download full size title image.
Download background slide image.
Pray Like Jesus
Series Description: Throughout the Gospels we can read about Jesus' prayers. There are specific prayers that He taught His followers to pray and there are others that He prayed on our behalf. What can we learn from Jesus' prayer life, and His teachings, that we can apply to our prayer life? How does Jesus respond when confronted with temptation or trial? Can His response be our response?
Note: In order to have permission to use this graphic for your sermon series, you must download the appropriate size image from Lightstock. Get this image here. If you purchased the graphic assets and want the full size image with the text, just let me know and I’ll get it to you.
Credit: Our designers who do all this amazing work are Mari, Sheila, and Corey.
Have you ever wondered what causes a dog to return to its own vomit? It’s quite disturbing. What in the world would make any creature return to the very thing that moments early made them sick to their stomach. In Proverbs 26:11 it says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.”
As humans, we often act just like the dogs, returning to the very things that make us sick. And this isn’t just reserved for a few of us who deal with addiction. We all deal with addiction. If we are honest, we will all find sins that we habitually return to that over time seem to own us.
Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of a new eBook. I’ve spent the past couple months editing, designing, and putting together: Addiction: Leave Your Vomit Behind so I could give it away on the blog for free. This is the second eBook I’ve made, the first one has nearly hit the 1,000 download mark!
Update: This eBook is no longer available for free but can be found on Amazon for the low price of $2.99.
Here’s what some readers have been saying about the book so far:
"Love this book on a topic that we don't know enough about in the Church today. The subject matter connects through Scripture and effectiveness. This would be a great help to any ministry."-Paul Spurlin, AdventuresInMinistry.com
"This concise, powerful book pounds home the fact that addicts of all kinds are imprisoned as slaves with our only hope being a Divine Rescuer. An incredible, practical treatise on how true freedom can be found!" - Nobel Macaden
"This book is a powerful example for the follower of Christ, that addiction does not have the last word. There is freedom and hope to be had at the foot of the Cross. Where there was addiction, guilt, and shame, there is now worship of God, love, and forgiveness. This is a must-read for every single follower of Christ." - Ben Marshall, Director of Youth and College at Calvary Baptist Church, Holland, MI
How to get your copy
Addiction: Leave Your Vomit Behind is available on Kindle version of the book available if you prefer that format for only $2.99.
I’m excited to announce the launch of my new eBook. I’ve spent some time editing, designing, and putting together: Little Church: Discipling Your Family Based on Deuteronomy 6 so I could give it away for FREE!
Update: This book is no longer available for free, but you can find it for on Amazon for only $2.99.
This eBook began as a sermon that I preached at Faith Lutheran Church in June 2013. It has since morphed into some blog posts and now into an eBook. The theologian Jonathan Edwards once said, “Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church.” This begs the question, “How is your little church?" What are you doing to pastor your family?
About Little Church.
I intentionally made the book short and sweet so you could read it all in one sitting. It’s also meant to be highly practical. I want you to be able to read the things talked about and have some practical ways you can start implementing it in your home. Years ago, I read the book Think Orange by Reggie Joiner and his description of Deuteronomy 6 has been influential ever since.
“Children learn best through routine, and when families create the right rhythm it helps to accentuate learning and development. Although every family should look for the patterns that work best for them in light of their schedules, four specific times are listed in this passage that any family can leverage to build the faith of their children.” - Reggie Joiner in Think Orange
This framework based on Deuteronomy 6 - teacher, friend, counselor, coach - is what we will explore in this eBook.
How to get a copy
Little Church is available on Amazon for only $2.99.
This is the video we used for our Easter Opener. We put the video together with the hopes of showing several token sins being brought to the grave as they have died with Christ. Feel free to download this video and use it in your own ministry.
This past Sunday we started a brand new series for our Middle School students entitled "All Access." For 3 weeks, we will be discussing prayer. Because of the death and ressurection of Jesus we have complete access to God. Because we have complete access to him, it is important that we use that access we have and continually be praying. Throughout the series, I will be sharing some of my notes from the lessons (except for the first lesson, which I did not give). If you're looking for a series on prayer and want to steal any of these ideas or graphics, feel free.
Week 1: Why Pray?
Week 2: What is Prayer?
Week 3: How to Pray?
For a copy of our additional background slide: download it here.
My brother, Corey Grunewald, recently put together a Christmas EP project. If you're looking for some new folksy, indie arrangements of some classic Christmas songs, you should definitely give these a listen to.
If you are in youth ministry, you are probably always looking for new powerpoint games to use. Recently, I had this idea to create a powerpoint game for our high school ministry that would poke fun at the hipster movement by highlighting how much their appearance resembles the homeless.
I have just recently started using the website Youth Leader Stash. If you are looking for a place with tons of games to use in your youth ministry, this blog, which was created by Chad and Cat Swanzy, is a great resource. This morning in our youth group, we just utilized the game called Ninja Feet.
One of the most confusing theological discussions is often centered around the topics of pre-destination and free will. In order to help me better understand the complexities of something important throughout the Bible, I designed an infographic to help better explain what the Lutheran church teaches about this topic.
*Click image to downlaod full size infographic.
This past winter we did our winter retreat at Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark. We built the retreat all around a simple theme that we were able to drive into the minds of our students really well. Our theme for the weekend was 3D. Because the theme was such a succcess, I wanted to share the big ideas behind the theme and let you know that we used to pull off the theme so that you can take the idea and make it work in your context.
What is a 3D Life?
A 3D life is the best possible life. In John 10:10 Jesus says, "I have come to give them life and life to the full." This is what we referred to as a 3D life. Since 3D makes everything better, the fullest possible life is a 3D one, which is found in relationship Jesus. A 3D life is devoted to Jesus, dares to be different, and dreams to change the world.
How We Made the Theme Stick
Pre-retreat teaser.
Before we left for the retreat, we began teasing the theme of the retreat. We didn't explain what it meant, just let the kids know that our winter retreat was going to be in 3D this year. My brother and I also put together a video to tease the idea.
3D Glasses
Once I knew what our theme was going to be, I decided that I wanted to find some videos to use and actually make the 3D concept have some fun elements to go along with our teaching points. I ordered 150 red and cyan glasses and we had them sitting out on seats for the students when the arrived to our first session.
3D Videos
If you do some searching, you can find some great 3D videos online. I found a handful of videos to use as creative elements during our sessions. When our countdown hit zero, the lights dimmed, and the students were asked to put on their 3D glasses. For each session, we had 1 or 2 videos as creative entertainment pieces. The video below is one we produced; to have some fun with 3D we chose a student to sit front and center and judge the quality of the 3D. When it came to the point of the pie being thrown at the screen, we snuck up behind the student and pied him in the face. If you're looking to make your own 3D video, I put together a tutorial that might be helpful.
3D Graphics
We also made some graphics to use for our message backgrounds and books. Feel free to take and use any of these elements and ideas for use in your own ministry.
Photo Credit (3D Glasses thumbnail): Matt Neale