A New Easter Resource for Families: Wondering to Jerusalem

Listen and find out about the new Easter family devotional, Wondering to Jerusalem, by Vanessa Myers from Family Faith Builders. 

Learn more about Family Faith Builders at: https://www.familyfaithbuilders.org/

Order your copies of Wondering to Jerusalem at: https://amzn.to/3LTCoy0

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Kidman Huddle of Amber Pike, where children as computers get equipped, encourage, and empower to disciple with intentionality. Growing God's kingdom one child at a time.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Welcome back to the Kidmen Huddle. I am joined by the super fabulous lady I get to call friend, Miss Vanessa Myers. Welcome. Hey, Amber. Thanks for having me today. Absolutely. Okay, so you have a ministry that I recommend all the time to kidmen leaders, family faith builders. Yes. Tell us about it. What is it? What does it do? If you all haven't heard me, shame on you because I talk her up all the time. What do you do, Vanessa?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Thank you. Uh well, first of all, I'm a full-time children's pastor, anyways. Just like many of you listen to this. And when right before COVID hit, I felt God's say focused on the family. And I didn't really know what that meant. So I just started creating resources for families to do at home. Like little simple things that they could like mostly at seasonal, you know, seasonal like Christmas and Easter. But then COVID hit. And I was like, okay, God, I know why you wanted me to create these resources. And I started doing that more, and I'm realizing that, you know, we can't go to church, anything like that. So this is kind of how family faith builders birthed was out of COVID, or actually before COVID, and I'm just kind of it's evolved since then for to we create um simple Bible resources, anything from Bible reading plans to family faith kits to family events, things like that that children's ministers can use, that homeschooling parents can use, that mom any grandparents can use, anybody can use. And the tool is just to really want to help mom and dad and whoever at home to read the Bible together with their children or grandchildren.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

So I think my two favorite things about you well, we'll say three because one, you are on my short list of resources that I know is going to be biblically solid. Yes. Um, which we can't always say about everything. Like it is a very short list for me, but I know if it's coming from you, it's going to be biblically solid because you have a very high view of the Bible. You love the Bible, you yes, you just love the Bible. So that's one that I love about you. Um, two, I love that your resources, you make them for churches so they aren't like prorated. If you have five kids, it's this many. If you have a hundred kids, it's more. You're like, here is an inexpensive resource. So if you're paying out of your pocket, which a lot of small and medium churches, let's face it, we are, it is absolutely affordable. Yes, but then three, I love that you are serving in the church. So you are beta testing all of this with your kids. Yes. Get it. Um, you're a mom, you've got two girls both in college or one graduating high school? Both in college now. So yeah. So you have okay, all right. Spoiler, can we sit on our sister now? Are any of them dating? Are we getting a son-in-law soon? No, not yet. No, you're like, no, no, no. Okay, so son-in-law and grandbabies down the road. Correct. Um, but you you test these and you can tell with your product. So, kidman friends, if you're listening, um, you can tell a big difference in Vanessa's products versus other products uh because you're you're in the trenches, you're serving with the kids, you are testing these things out. So if you haven't paused this podcast, go check out Family Faith Builder, see all the super things that she is doing. Um, so many great resources. But she doesn't just have super awesome digital resources, you are also an author. How many books?

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Seven? I have them on my wall. Seven, seven, seven, yes, so yeah, seven and started back in 2018, I believe, was my first one.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

So it's been a while. Love it. Love it. And your newest one just released this month. Wandering to Jerusalem. I'm so excited. Okay, so before we talk about this one, this one is like besties with Wandering to Bethlehem, which was your Christmas one. So tell me, as you tell us a little bit about Wandering to Jerusalem, like what made you want to write this? The I'm I'm not gonna say sequel to Wandering to Bethlehem unless, like, do we say it's sequel or are they just besties? I don't know. I think it's besties because I mean a sequel would be like telling you more about the Christmas, I think.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

I don't know, but see, that's what I was thinking too. Yeah, so yeah, it's like a it's like a good sister, somebody called it a sister version of Wandering too. Yeah, but it is the same, same kind of concept, helping kids use their wonder and imagination um to think more. After I wrote, so I wrote Wondering to Bethlehem and it came out in 23, Christmas of 23. Um, I was like, I need to do one for Easter story. So I was like, okay, in 24, the during Lent in 24, I will like write this. Well, it didn't happen, so I don't think it was the right time. And um, but last Lent, so it's 25, um, I sat down and I felt, God saved, this is the time, so I started writing it. I wrote one devotion a day. Um, and during Lent, and here it is now, it's time to come out. But I think really this is probably my favorite one, and I say that because I really love teaching the Easter story to children because in my ministry, what I do is there's so much that happens during Holy Week that you cannot teach it in one setting. Like you have to, and I want kids to really know the story. I don't want to just gloss over parts and things like that, but there's so we start during Lent and sometimes even before Lent breaking down the story for the kids. Like we start with the triumphal entry and then go, you know, to the to the temple where he flips the tables. And so we every Sunday, there were so when I started teaching that and doing that, and when we do things with those stories, I was like, I really need to sit down and write a devotion about this. And I love it too because it it focuses on uh what was going around, what was happening in the Jewish culture at that time in history. So we sometimes I feel like we Americanize the story of the Bibles and fit it to our culture, and but I really take it to I dove deeper into the word and studying the Bible um and finding things that you know why things happened or what this meant, you know. So I really explained it to children and I'm and I gave it to somebody, an adult, and he looked at it and he was like, Wow, this is like a this is like really good because it's like Bible history, and I was like, Yes, I was like, it's really helping children learn that in a fun way. So, anyways, I'm excited about it for that reason.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Um, what would be what would be something maybe interesting that you discovered or rediscovered as you were preparing for this Bible history-wise? Or a misconception that we've thought.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Well, I did learn, okay, so so I'll back that up. I mean, I've been studying through under Christy McClellan. If you've never done any of her Bible studies, she's amazing. Cool Jewish culture, wonderful. I've I've been reading the archaeological Bible, which I love my archaeological Bible. I did thanks to Rick from uh Kids Kids' Ministries on for giving me one. Like I wanted one so bad, and he just had one that he didn't use and he gave it to me. I'm like, thank you. Because it really helped me uh understand the Bible back then and that's you all the things. A cultural background's about Bible too. Stop my Bible nerd. I like to have all kinds of Bibles. Um, but really studying those and diving deeper into those. Um, but one of the things I learned um uh and we were talking about this with my friend the other day was that I'm the the 12 disciples. Okay, so the all of them except for Judas came from the region of Galilee. Iscariot is a Judean name, and so Judas Iscariot did not come from the the region that say the other 12 disciples saying they probably likely did not know each other like Peter, James, John, and Andrew, and you know, all those others probably knew each other. I was like, Well, you got me thinking more about it, you're right. Like, I wonder if he felt that way. What did what did he did? He already feel like he was an outcast, you know. So that was one thing that I thought was interesting because you don't hear about that, like um, and then too, the uh the times, you know, um uh Christy McClellan gives a clock, a Jewish clock, in there, and she talks about how Jesus fulfilled the nine o'clock and the three o'clock. That was what happened in the temple every day um that they were sacrificing a perfect lamb that the priests were, but what happened at nine o'clock on the day he was he was crucified at nine, he died at three the same time as those sacrifices. So he fulfilled that sacrifice. No longer was that sacrifice needed because Jesus fulfilled it at nine and three and he gave his life. I just like I think things like that I think are just so cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And it's those little things that you're right, if we're just doing a lesson or two or three lessons that we really don't get to cover because we're trying to big picture. Here's what, you know, big picture of what happened is often all that we have time for in limited lessons. So I love that.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

It's just little things like that throughout the book. I gave a glossary in the book because there's a lot of words in there that children may not know. And um, I do have to thank my friend Christy Slade on that one because she said when she read Bethlehem, the Bethlehem one, she's like, Ah, you really need a glossary. I'm like, okay, well, it's too late for that for this one, but I'll do it for the next one, Christy. So shout out to Christy. But um, anyways, uh, and then I'd do a temple layout in the back, so I'd really get them to picture what the temple was like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

If you guys are watching it, that way you can see. Love it. I am I'm so big about teaching kids these big words and like atone. They need to know that Jesus is our atoning sacred. Like they're gonna hear it as they grow. So let's when they're little.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

I love it, I love it. Right. So it just really and it gives them at the very end, you know, I talk about the greatest decision they're ever gonna ever make in their whole life is the decision to follow Jesus and what that looks like and how to do that. And I give them a place to also write it down. Like I, when I was a child, um, I wrote down the day I was saved, it's in my Bible for that my children's Bible. So I teach my I taught my children to do that. I taught my kids at church to do that, and so the day that they're saved, the day that they're baptized. So I you know, as I gave a place in the in the book for them to do that as well, um, to remember, and then if they've already been maybe they're baptized as a baby, I don't know, but they can write it down, and um all that to say is I want them to remember that day because that's of an important day. Um you need to remember that day.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

So yeah. So both Wandering to Bethlehem and Wandering to Jerusalem is focusing on this wondering, like let's go in, let's think it. So in this one, we've got the wandering journal, we've got wondering snapshot. You're kind of giving them a question. Why is this whole think about it mentality important?

SPEAKER_02 10:03

I I just think it makes helps the story to stick and come alive for the children and they'll remember it. But when they can be immersed inside of it, that's why when I teach it, I want them to, I want to set the scene, I want them to feel like they're part of it. And so then I ask them questions, okay. Like just for example, this past Sunday, we were teaching about the parable of the unforgiving servant. And I said, Why do you think he owed all that 10, you know, 10, whatever, how many talents of gold he owed he uh he um owed? And it's just they were just like, Well, because he was the servant. I mean, and I'm just getting them to wonder about like what do you think this? Okay, why do you think that, you know, why did the G why did the back then, why was it common for people to recline at the table? Do we recline at the table today? What's that like? You know, little things like that. So really it helps them to think about it and they'll remember it more, I believe. Um, when they can wonder about it and they can imagine what it was might have been like to be in that part of the history at that time. Um, and I think that I think this helps it stick better.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

So and then, you know, cognitively, the older kids they're entering into that logic, that application stage for so for those older kids, it's helping them think through and apply it and all that. Yeah, it just makes it fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

It does and makes it fun. So I think it I want it to stick. I wanted them to learn to, I want them to love reading their Bible. I w and and the curiosity of that time, I mean, would make them want to dive into it more and I believe read it more. What's going on, you know? So I want them to be Bible nerds.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Right, that's our goal. Raise up a generation of Bible nerds.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Just to wonder and love and love Jesus from reading his word. So love it.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

I'm just saying, you know, your next t-shirt idea. Bible nerds is a pretty good t-shirt idea.

unknown 11:42

I like it.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

So this one, like your other one, also has a super fun like sticker component. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So in the introduction, they can download a QR code which takes them to there's seven stickers in this one. I did last time, I did one for every day. This one I'm only doing as a the collect them, so there's only seven throughout the book. And so it's basically just marking their journey. It's like, you know, you would have a suitcase and you or whatever, put it on their so they can take that, it's and it's really you see this for this one, it's uh they're all square shaped, and you can print them on print like full page printer. Um, you don't have to have special labels like I did in the last one. Just print it on full page sticker label paper, cut it out, and stick it on there. Um, and then on the adjacent pages, a scriptural mile marker, so it's basically a part of scripture that they can write out, and it's like a little sign, you know, they would write out on for their journey.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

So I love it. I love it. So designed for moms and dads, grandmas or grandpas to be discipling their kids at home. Now, hopefully, for anyone who's listened to this podcast, you're you've already understood that why. But I want to hear from you, Vanessa. I mean, you've you're doing it in the church, so it's that other part of discipleship. You're the at church portion, but the the other part of your ministry, the Family Faith Builders, has been dedicated to equipping mom and dad, grandma and grandpa to disciple like the Bible commands. So, why is that so important? What should parents be doing, not just at Lent, but all the time?

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I encourage moms and dads to simple things from reading a Bible verse a day or a Bible story a day to praying with your children every day. I always pray with my children uh in the car ride on the way to school. That's that was the time. That was when we did our devotion time, which was my oldest would read a devotion. We would pray together and before they got out of the car, you know, or there's at bedtime you can pray together too, but just the different times. Even something simple. I mean, even when you're brushing your teeth, you know, you can sing a play some praise music, you know, discipline doesn't have to be something like you have to sit down at the table and open your Bible and you know, um do a deep dive. You know, it can be those simple moments of you know, listening to the music that you play in your car to, you know, just what you watch on TV to um things, just things like that, um, that are simple and easy for them to do. So when I create resources, I know that parents don't have all the time to do that. So I make sure that they're simple enough to easy to use where it doesn't take up a whole lot of time. They're either reading a Bible story a day or a Bible verse a day and um discussing it with their children. So again, and you don't have to be a Bible nerd to read the Bible with your kids.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So this is spoken like a true mom whose kids did sports because both your girls did soccer, right? They they did, yeah. And so you, you know, you had nothing to do. You never had to transport kids to sports. You just had hours and hours at home every evening. So you all had a minimum of an hour and a half deep dive Bible study time. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Nope, didn't have that. So you gotta go, you gotta deal with with the time you got, you know. And so that's what I tell parents too. But use the time that you have with your children. Where where's your focused at? Are they are they gonna be more focused in the car? Uh you turn the radio off, take their head, you know, headphones away from them, their eye, their tablets, whatever you got, and just talk. Read the Bible. I mean, Bible apps are great too, you know. So Bible on, I mean, whatever, just podcast, anything like that to read the word together.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

So yeah, you just have to make make the commitment and and do it. You do. So and this is a super fun. I know I I went through with my kids, I guess last Christmas, not not this, not 25 Christmas, but it would have been 24 Christmas. We did Wandering to Bethlehem. Okay. Um, and my oldest, he's 14 now, he's like a giant because he's taller than me, um, small child. So he still has to have the turn, like putting the stickers on. We had a flap book this year for for Christmas, and he had to have his turn, like turning the flap. Yes, even the big kids want once the thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

They do, they do. I even had parents like um adults in our church that have read the book and they picked that that don't have kids in the program. They said, um, this is this I enjoy this. This is not just for children. And I'm like, I know it's not. You're learning something, and I'm hoping that the adults are learning just as much as the children are um from this. Um, so love it.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

I love it. Okay, so let's talk to the kidman leader. Lent starts. I should have Googled this before. When does Lent start this year? I assume you know you just made an Easter book.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Well, Ash Wednesday, so February, I think 17th or something like that. No, 18th, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Okay, so we're getting we're getting close because Easter feels early this year. It's like April 5th. It does, yes. So it is time to get those orders in. We can get it on Amazon. Yep. With that, Vanessa Myers, Family Faith Builder. Um, is it I I'm sure there's a link at Family Faith Builders too.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

There is, yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

So we're ordering through Amazon.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

So talk to the kidmen leader who has a budget and they're like, yes, this is so fun. It's gonna get families into the word. But as I'm sure you have encountered, sometimes we can have all the best things and it just doesn't make it out of the church, into the hands. What could some kidmen leaders do to really like build this up, get families excited about it to where they're taking it home and they're actually gonna use it instead of just it look really pretty on a resource shelf?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Oh well, well, yeah, that would be great. Um, I mean, even I mean, if for some reason, if if kidmen leaders cannot provide that, you know, we want to I want to provide things for my families too, but um getting them into the word, getting them uh taking that the Bible reading plan. There's like you they can they can go through that uh easily together with um their children on Sunday mornings when they're if they want to use it as a teaching for themselves, if they don't have that way to equip. If they want to send it home to mom and dad, I mean just get them excited about it. I mean I'm having I'm having a family event for mine, so um, we're doing that um on February 8th, so a little bit before Lent. But that having an event for it, uh, get some into it. Um even if you do it like on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, and just doing a minimal thing, I'd have that um family event on my website. But uh there's little stations where they take and do things and take things home as well. Um, and checking in with your parents, you know, as you as you give them a resource, okay, check back in. Hey, you know, what's going on? Let's let's talk about this week we read this in um in the book, you know, we wanted to Jerusalem. Um what did you think? I mean, whether that be on your Facebook page or your, you know, whatever, or you send out a text to, you know, you know, just a reminder, you can also give little goodies and prizes for you know for finishing that.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

I mean, there's just a lot of there is no shame in offering a prize for them to load at home. None at all.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

I am I'm all for that. Some people are not, but I'm like, okay, let's give them a prize, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, because the goal, we want them to start that habit. And so if like a five-dollar prize, or I've I've had it a dollar splat ball, you would be surprised what like a poop-shaped slat splat ball will will do for children. If that gets their family reading the Bible for 30 days, that is a great start to a habit. Give them the prize.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

It is. And I a long time back ago when I felt like I was starting to write all these books, and I just felt the Lord say, the children will lead this, the children are leading us, and they're gonna be the ones taking these home, like mom and dad, I want to read this today. And even though mom and dad might be tired or whatever, let's read this together, you know. And I'm hoping that the parents will see it and they'll love it too. And but the children, I believe, are uh play a big role in wanting to do that. So um I agree. And these are short devotions where you know that you're gonna read your scripture and you're also gonna read a devotion, and they can take the time to write down their wondering thoughts and drawpick things, but I mean it's really doesn't take a whole lot of time to do that. So my thing is with parents, make it the same time of day. I mean, that's a very consistent time of the day, uh, because that's gonna help you as a as a mom or dad to really um remember to do it. Because let's be honest, you know, if you get home from work, you're really tired, and I get it. Sometimes you can make that time of the night cross up on the couch watching whatever show you're gonna watch, you know. But if you're taking taking your kids into bed, you know, make I mean it's it's just a great time to sit down and read it and think more, and then they can fall asleep and um but just make it whatever time they works best.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Well, that's right, and they can dream about it, you know. So I love it. Yes, I love this is that that five, that ten minutes in God's word, talking, praying. Um it's deep, it's meaty, it's not this fluffy. You, I'm sure, have looked through a lot of the same things that I have, and that has the like the scripture has no point to the story because it's the author's thing. And I'm like, well, this is not that. So I highly, highly recommend if you are looking for an Easter resource to equip families with, this should be your thing. It's fun. You can go the step further and go ahead and print out those sticker sheets for them. I mean, my kids are all about stickers. Um, and that's my like, I'm a little bit of a lazy mom. So would I really go and like buy the stickers if I don't? I have the stickers because I'm I work with children. But most your parents don't, are they gonna buy the stickers and print the stick? No, they're not go ahead and do it for them.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Yeah, have it. That's what I'm doing. I should say, I bought my sticker paper. We're like going, get it on Amazon's really inexpensive. So just print the it's one sheet, it's got seven stickers on it.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

It's really not that and and honestly, the stickers are there's they're big for kids, kids and stickers, grown-ups and stickers. Sometimes I have a sticker collection, right? So go grab this for your families. Um, you will love it. It makes a wonderful thing on your resource shelf. But we're gonna give away a copy because you are that fabulous. So you all need to go to my social media, go follow Amber Pike Intentional Kidman on social media, and I'm gonna tell you how you can win your very own copy of Wandering to Jerusalem. Um, make sure you are checking out Vanessa's website, familyfaithbuilders.com orgy. Um, trust me, this is one of my go-to resources. I think my favorite one is your Holy Week stones. So not this year, because you already have your Easter thing, but next year, 2027, um, Holy Week stone should be your thing. I made it a whole event. It was so much fun. I've done like the scripture scoops. I still remember my kids and I did that. We have a glass door in our kitchen where eventually a deck will go if we ever get money. Um, and that was our ice cream scoops when like all the way to the way up there. So many wonderful, wonderful resources. She's got a Christmas devotion, she's got a fun, like breakfast themed one. Um have to do with food, apparently. Apparently, this one somebody told me that Vanessa, you do lots of things with food.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

And I'm like, I know, I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Food is important. As someone who also has a food-themed one, food is important. Um, Jesus talked a lot about food too. He ate a lot. There was there was meals. It's food's important.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

It is important.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

So, Vanessa, thank you for coming on here for sharing about wandering to Jerusalem. It is such a fun devotion. I haven't made my order yet because I was in Florida, the same place you were. And then it's the you get back from a conference and it's crazy. But this is what my family's are gonna be getting for Easter. I'm super duper duper excited for it. And I know you guys are gonna love it too. Go follow Vanessa online.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

And I will say, since you talked about ordering copies for your church, I do have bulk order available. So if you want to order 25 or more, I give you a little bit of a discount that Amazon can. So perfect. So they would go to your website for that. There is on my website um at just under familyfaithbuilders.org. Go to the books page, and in the books page you'll see it says bulk ordering available for one into Jerusalem. And click on that. It's like a Google form. You would fill out, then I would send you an invoice, and you would then I would order your books.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Perfect. Love it, love it, love it. Okay. Um friends. I I can't repeat this enough. Go follow Vanessa, she's amazing, her stuff is awesome, her resources are great, and she's just her love for the Bible is so fun and it shines through all of her stuff. So thank you for what you're doing, Vanessa. And go follow along to see how you guys can win your own copy. Thank you. All right, kidmen leaders. Remember what you do matters.