It took a long time to write but finally I wrote a “Books of the Bible” song, that lists all 66 books chronologically, helping kids learn them through catchy lyrics. We got different versions available as lyric videos and backing track on YouTube for easy singing and memorisation. The song’s structure covers Genesis through Revelation, breaking down the Old and New Testaments into manageable sections. 

LYRIC VIDEO VERSION

INSTRUMENTAL VERSION

The problem isn’t just life.
It’s the weight we add to it.

We cling to burdens Christ never asked us to carry.
We call things “heavy” that Jesus calls “surrender.”
We call things “impossible” that Scripture calls “answered in weakness.”

Different cultures grieve, celebrate, fear, and hope in different ways.
That alone proves it: most of our suffering comes from interpretation, not truth.

And the truth is this: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).
If life feels crushing, it’s usually not God’s burden you’re carrying.

From childhood we’re trained to perform, to please, to impress, to fit the mould.
We call it maturity. The Bible calls it the “old self” (Ephesians 4:22).

You can’t polish the old self.
You have to crucify it.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live…” (Galatians 2:20).

Most people never do this.
They cling to excuses, habits, identities, expectations.
That cocoon feels safer than freedom.

But once you stop living for approval, once you stop glancing sideways and start looking “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) life becomes radically lighter.

The storms don’t vanish, but the resistance does.
Pain stays, but it becomes clean.
Fear may whisper, but it no longer rules.

You begin to see what was true all along:
The world was never in your control, and it never needed to be.
“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

The hardest lives belong to those who pretend, pretending to be fine, pretending to be spiritual, pretending to be who others want.

Falsehood is heavy.
Christ is light.

Life was never meant to be lived alone.
It only became unbearable when you tried.

I was curious to try it out… so I gave it the prompt: “What are the 3 most important lessons to teach children about the Christian faith?”

This is what it wrote! I have heard at least one person call this the most significant event they have seen in their lifetime, and I can’t disagree. It will change so many things about our lives, and especially the lives of our children.

Here’s the article:

There are many important lessons to teach children about the Christian faith, but some of the most essential ones include:

1. The importance of loving God and others: One of the most fundamental teachings of Christianity is to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). Teaching children the importance of loving God and others will help them develop a strong foundation for their faith and guide their actions in daily life.
2. The value of forgiveness: Another important lesson to teach children about the Christian faith is the value of forgiveness. In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus teaches us to forgive others as we have been forgiven by God. Teaching children about forgiveness can help them overcome anger, resentment, and bitterness, and can help them develop healthier relationships with others.
3. The importance of prayer: Prayer is an essential part of the Christian faith, and teaching children how to pray can help them develop a personal relationship with God. Through prayer, children can express their thoughts, feelings, and needs to God, and they can learn to trust in His guidance and provision.

These are just a few of the many important lessons to teach children about the Christian faith. It is important for children to learn about the teachings of Jesus, the importance of the Bible, and the significance of the church and Christian community.

We all know ‘why’.

But I will jump in here and explain ‘what’ we did as a ministry team to react to this situation.

We decided right away to produce a live service for each of the services ‘big church’ was doing. That meant 11 unique experiences across Friday – Sunday. Is it a lot of work? to be completely honest… not so much.

Compared to the team required to make 50+ services happen in various locations around Australia. Our weekend efforts are a fraction of what we have been producing. Sure, we have a significant full time staff across the nation who are involved at some level on a weekend, but it is still a huge reduction in volunteer support compared to business as usual.

As you read this right now, there are approximately 2 million viewers watching a variety of shows mostly produced by individuals on just one streaming platform; Twitch, owned by internet giant Amazon.

By ‘positioning’ ourselves as streamers we level the playing field. We are not competing with Disney+ & Netflix, we are setting the expectation of the audience, the level of production required is attainable. Which is why I was very surprised to see many churches become in essence, deliverers of on demand content.

That’s some stiff competition.

Be EPIC
In my own leadership experience I make a point to avoid talking about what we ‘”don’t want”… “tell me what you DO want” is my catchphrase. It’s easy to tell me what you don’t want to see, what you want to avoid, what bugs you, but is also unnecessary.

So I am going to practice what I preach and tell you what I ‘DO’ want.

I want to see EPIC ministry.

It was mid 1999 Christchurch, New Zealand and I somehow ended up at an event at my Church with the author Len Sweet. I vividly remember the feeling of sitting under a firehose of inspiration, it’s a message that in some small part set me on the path I am walking today.

In the book The Gospel According to Starbucks he introduces the reader to an acrostic, an idea I keep coming back to again and again.

When I think about creating something that will reach into the hearts and minds of children this is the question I ask: “Is it EPIC?”

E – Experiential
P – Participatory
I – Image-rich
C – Connected

A quick overview for the curious:

Experiential
This generation is experiential in nature, prone to learning through experience. The more they experience an issue the greater the absorption of the idea… so give them an environment that is interactive. Help them experience the emotion of a story.

Participatory
The social media age has pulled our children into having to make decisions too early. No child should be put in the ‘risky click’ scenario. I never had the opportunity to see pornography growing up in the 80’s with two TV channels.

Some of our children today have that opportunity daily.

The Church has the opportunity to involve them in ‘positive participation’, keeping their interest and engagement high. We want our kids to do the work of the ministry… that’s the goal of a discipling Church.

Imagery
Children are bombarded on every side with researched and well funded imagery aimed to influence their way of seeing the world, hoping them to motivate them by what they see.

So what do we in response to this?

Jesus was history’s greatest master of metaphor, as a teacher he used parables to help every listen understand. In our age we have the technology to super-charge our metaphors.

Stop saying “I’m bad at technology”, stop feeling like it’s passed you by. You’re living in the 21 Century, learn the tools at your disposal to make a connection with the children you lead. Think of our current generation like the Israelites in the desert… they’ll follow pillars of fire and clouds.

Connection
Jesus got in a lot of trouble for hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. He conversed with people, he listened to people. You experienced Jesus but just listen to him. I have encountered a couple of ‘interesting’ cultural oddities while exploring online services around the world. Ministers of children refer to themselves and Miss, Mr and Mrs. such-and-such, and they can’t wait to get back to their ‘classrooms’ after COVID-19.

“Sunday school” was relevant in post Dickensian London when children worked as chimney sweeps from the age of 12. In fact, it changed the world and we see the effect of it on society.

But it happenED, it is not happenING. Very few kids are excited about another day of school on Sunday, it’s disconnecting them. #stopthelecture should be your hashtag.

Let me preempt the resistance building in your mind, yes I know there are dangers for each of these ideas taken to the extreme. Eg. Images and idolatry, putting emotions above truth… and because of that… you are needed – point them to truth, show them the narrow path.

“Okay, settle down Dave. I came here for practical tips, not to fundamentally reinvent my calling”.

Roger that…

let’s get practical.

Taking all those philosophical points into consideration. I present to you the very subjective and extra-biblical KJV style 10 commandments of an effective online service:

1. Thou shalt create an experience in tune with your Churches vision and mission.
2. Thou shalt minister directly to kids.
3. Thou shalt build a behind the scenes team.
4. Remember you are called to be the Church with your kids.
5. Honour your audiences attention span.
6. Thou shalt be consistent
7. Thou shalt not neglect an opportunity for salvation.
8. Thou shalt write a script.
9. Thou shalt speak the truth online.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours audience.

Thou shalt create an experience in tune with your Churches vision and mission:
There is really no reason to create an online service without the support of elders/senior leadership. Obviously, in this season everybody has been thrown into a digital ministry, but for the future ongoing ministry, please seek out wisdom. My best bit of advice is perhaps set a time frame. TV shows have ’seasons’, so do a first season online and see if your attempts will be ‘renewed’ as they say in the world of broadcast Television.

Thou shalt minister directly to kids:
I know I just talked about TV seasons, but in your presentation language to children don’t call your services episodes. You are attempting in some way to be the Church with your kids, words matter. Most services we have up to four children on stream helping the preacher in object lessons, reading scripture, praying.
Celebrate birthdays, pray for their situations and circumstance, encourage them directly, make stream heroes, involve kids and communicate with parents.

Thou shalt build a behind the scenes team:
The team putting this together will be a very different team to what you are used to, with different skills needed… make a list of roles required and pray them in.

Remember you are called to be the Church with your kids..
Tuck this thought in the back of your mind, the goal is being the Church with your kids. Choose segments and content that aligns with that goal. “Bells and whistles lead to purpose dismissal.”

Honour your audiences attention span.
One of our Church editors produces a one and half minute #churchinaction segment for our adult services highlighting Hillsong Kids. It took days of work and 6 versions. Think bite-sized segments, our kids news is under 1:30, Say it clearly and say it quickly — but say it again and again in different ways.

Thou shalt be consistent.
Growing up, Saturday morning television was a show called ‘What Now’. I mailed them one picture over the years watching them. (Sidenote: I missed them showing it on TV because I was grounded… it still hurts a little). We get kids to send in pictures and artwork each week… it took weeks of consistently talking about it and rewarding it to get a level of submissions that wasn’t embarrassing.

Thou shalt not neglect an opportunity for salvation.
It became apparent when creating our services we needed a way to give an opportunity for kids to receive salvation and a pathway for them to start that journey of faith. So working with the amazing team at Youversion we released our ‘Discovery’ new Christian content for free on the app as a devotional series.
Although we have our own in-house Hillsong Kids app, sometimes working with a greater platform is not only more effective but also easier… this was the case here.

Thou shalt write a script.
As an intro to our Big Message video I wrote this line, “Let’s find out what the crew at big HQ are up to…” It’s not Shakespeare, but its a simple line that will help me as a host, segue into a video without the audience having to endure my waffle and confusion.
You don’t need a word for word treatise, at the least write down your catch phrases and transition lines, as demonstrated by our resident comedian and host Funny Man Dan he opens our Sunday Night services with: “Welcome to Sunday Night Games, the place where the points are live, the challenges are epic and we try to answer the question… who is the greatest tribe?”

Thou shalt speak the truth online.
“It’s great to see you all today”
“Let me hear you, everyone yell Hallelujah!”
These are are all great live and in person, but unnecessary online. Frame new language for your service.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours audience.
What’s a win for you? What’s a win for your Church? Clarify it. Articulate it and go for it — and when you hit it tell your story.
Nobody’s else’s success or failure should impact what you are called to do.

I leave you with what perhaps you were expecting from this article, a list of equipment needed to produce online content.

• Computer – even though I am a Mac guy, a powerful PC wins from having more software options available.
• OBS – Streaming software (free)
• Camera – Canon Vixia HF R800 ($219.00) or Canon VIXIA HF G21 ($799.00) if in doubt what’s is important check for a clean HDMI feed.
• Video Switcher – Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini ($295)
• Microphone – Rode VideoMic NTG ($249)
• Tripod – as cheap or expensive as you like

It could be CCM, or Worship or Classical or Rock or Funk or anything I want to highlight the best of it and bring it to people who may miss the best of it!

It’s on a new YouTube Channel called Resonant Witness… if you like music you might like my recommendations!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAKMCvdHOcs2vJeT_QMiDJw

I have had the same job now for 19 years: outworking the vision and mission of our church by working with our amazing kids and families. Which has lead to the amazing privilege of writing this book to (hopefully) inspire others to do the same.

I wanted a book to give a person in your church who perhaps has the gifts and abilities to lead children, but may not even know the opportunity exists (I know I didn’t before going to bible college). A read-in-one-sitting kind of book that gives them the vision to get involved with the biggest harvest field in the Church today.

Children.

If you find yourself needing to grow a team, or inspire others about children, I encourage you to buy this in bulk and invest it liberally into the lives of others!

Excerpt

(From Chapter 4 “Are You Winning”)

I grew up in a small town with about 600 people – we had 150 kids in our school. The church my family was a part of was huge, or so I thought, but looking back it may have been significantly smaller than I remember. The church’s kids ministry was upstairs. Along with bright red carpet, it had a TV, a VCR, and smaller rooms for each age group. The place was full of amazing people who loved God.

Because of them, I have fond memories of my time there.

I dare say that the kids you lead today may have a similar experience (likely without a VCR). They will hopefully remember some big events or important moments but, don’t expect them to recall your preaching points from March 7, 2011.

The leader that consistently sows into the lives of others has a place in the hearts and minds of those they serve. Look out for milestones and growth, no matter how small in the people around you.

Here are some things I really want to accomplish during a weekend:

Take a deep dive into ‘Kid Culture’ – Showing kids you care is easy. Over the years, I have had many conversations about things I knew nothing about: the complete history of Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Minecraft and sporting teams… be interested not just interesting.

Have a spiritual conversation – It’s simply bringing God into the middle of a problem. Prayer is often the last resort rather than the first option, so my mission during a weekend is to engage with kids, pinpoint their needs and invite Jesus into the situation.

Speak a word of encouragement to a child – Seize the moment and in front of all the kids or during small group time, take the time to remind a child that God knows them by name.

Make kids laugh – It’s important we make church a place that is enjoyed, not just endured. The simple fact is if kids are having fun, they are learning. Defences are down and worries are forgotten. This is not optional. It’s part of the reason why our curriculum videos contain so much comedy.

Give away the ministry – Can I give an opportunity for someone else to take the lead? Can I empower someone else to try something they have never done before? If I notice someone is gifted in an area, I want to do everything in my power to develop that gift.

But at the end of the day, it’s important to note that I don’t just do what I think is important.

As a vital part of your church team, you don’t function as an island. In a healthy team, people are connected and support each other. Doing only what you think is important is a surefire way to frustration.

I want to fulfil the mission statement of our church, not build a separate ministry.

What do your pastor and leadership team value? What would they consider a win? Ask them the question – you might be surprised by the answer. It may just redirect your efforts to something greater than you could have imagined.

BUY THE BOOK

About the book:

Build lives, discover purpose and thrive as you serve the kids of your church

You are a missionary into the world of children. You’re stepping into an unknown culture with its own language and customs to bring the eternal message of Jesus. If Jesus admonished the disciples when they kept the children from Him, how He must love those who bring the little ones to Him. This book is written as a reminder to those who have served children for a while, to take a step back and ‘don’t forget why you are called to this’. It’s also for those about to step into the unknown, this is a ministry too vital to be ignored with an influence that is eternal.

In conjunction with Hillsong Kids it’s a collection of 20 (!) songs we have written… outside the usual praise and worship genre so to speak. These are songs meant to teach a point, raise a question and in every case bring a smile.

It’s been at least 10 years since we wrote the first songs from this collection, but each have been lovingly restored to former glory… well actually re-recorded with new vocals, because let’s be honest our singing has only improved… which is still not saying much

It’s a whole new world for us releasing an album like this, so check it out and if you have any questions about it’s creation or the reason it exists let me know in the comments!

Link to listen:
https://smarturl.it/songsofsomesilliness

This year we launched one of our biggest attempts yet to help our families build great faith habits into their lives. It’s going great with hundreds of these incredible journals making their way into houses all over Australia!

Below is a short video from me helping parents get the most out of this resource! If you have any questions about how we put this together, comment below!

Here’s the page we put up online for our families…

Blessings upon thee.

Check out this YouTube playlist to see music video, lyrics videos, behind the scenes… so much to love.

We also went into the studio to film some of the songs like with crew from @hillsongworship team and that’s what we are posting for the next few weeks!

X… xylophone, xenophobia, xerography…

X is for Xenagogue – From Greek, to lead, leading; bring, take; plus a “guest” or stranger. A reference to someone who conducts strangers or foreigners; a tour guide.

The tour guide is a brilliant description of your mission as a minister to children. Your job is to give them a tour of the Kingdom of God, show them the sights, the sounds and the places that make up this diverse and mysterious universe. A world that is often opposite to what we know. Where up is down, the first are last, and when you give you receive.

But unlike the all knowing New York local on the top of a red double decker bus, you are here to learn as well. In fact, sometimes will be operating as a reverse tour guide, learning more than teaching and experiencing more than describing, because if we are not like little children we cannot inherit the very thing we are showing.

So go forth you Xenagogue and I will see you later, the tour will stop for a manna lunch in the wilderness.