Episode 217: Holy Week in KidMin with Christen Clark

Don't let the busy interrupt the holy! In this episode, Hannah Augustine and Christen Clark discuss the importance of preparing for Holy Week. With a little intentionality, KidMin leaders can engage families and kids alike in understanding the story of Jesus' resurrection through hands-on experiences and intentional conversations.

Connect with Christen on socials: @christenclark,  @collidekidspod , and @7minutedevotions. You can find The Collide Kids Podcast and Seven Minute Devotions for Busy Families on your favorite podcast platform! Be sure to listen to our episode with Charlie Alcock and Ryan Frank, then get your youth pastor a ticket to The KidzMatter Conference at thekidzmatterconference.com.

Transcript

Hannah Augustine (00:00)

Sometimes we are so busy doing ministry that we forget to slow down and remember the why for ministry. At Easter, the details, the egg hunts, and the service prep can cloud our view of Christ and the cross. And to be honest, the idea that Sunday is coming can seem more like a threat, when we're thinking of all the volunteer call outs, than it is a reminder of the resurrection. But I truly believe that it does not have to be that way.

I'm Hannah Augustine, and I have been there. When ministry gets busy and life feels full, it's difficult to fix our eyes on Jesus and all that he's done. But hear me, it may be difficult, but it's not impossible. Today's episode with Christen Clark is all about remembering the holy parts of Holy Week. 

Before we dive in, something new is coming to the KidzMatter Conference, and it's going to be big. If you missed our episode several weeks ago with guest Charlie Alcock, I'm going to catch you up to speed.

Starting this October at our 2026 conference, we'll be providing a youth pastor track. That's right, we're inviting your youth pastor to the party. This is more than a track with informational sessions. It's an experience and an invitation for your youth pastor to step into the community and the support that we offer here at KidzMatter. We really believe that the future of the church is going to require kids’ and youth leaders to work together, and this is a great place to start.

To learn more, you can check out that episode from March 2nd. You can get your tickets for the conference at thekidzmatterconference.com. The early bird rate is still live, and if it's your first time attending, there's a little bit of a discount for you or for your youth pastor, if it's their first time.

Now, I have Christen Clark with me today. She's passionate about helping families grow in faith together. She has 18 years of ministry experience, which really sets her up to share some incredible wisdom with us today. She does some really, really cool things with her two podcasts. After this episode, I'm going to be asking her for all the podcasting tips, because she's running two at once. 

Today we're talking about how to prepare our hearts and the hearts of the kids and families we serve for Holy Week. Christen, I would love if you would tell us a little bit about you and your two podcasts.

Christen Clark (02:26)

I would love to. My name is Christen Clark. I am a mom. I'm a wife. I live in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and the pollen is attacking us right now. So we're all experiencing that little tickle in the back of our throats, but it's good. It's good. I did full-time ministry for about 18 years, and now I have the opportunity to serve a number of different churches as a ministry coach.

I do some speaking things for different workshops and different events. And I have two podcasts; I started The Collide Kids Podcast in 2020. When the world shut down, all the creative people went, "what do we do with our hands?" I decided to start a podcast. I really felt like it was something the Lord was leading me to. I was looking for something for my kids to listen to, and I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I decided to create it, and I've been having so much fun. I haven't been able to stop. I've met some incredible people and had amazing opportunities through that show. 

Just this past fall, I started a new podcast called Seven Minute Devotions for Busy Parents, because one of my passions is equipping families, and my spiritual gift is teaching. I love being able to teach, and I was finding that I was missing that part of what I wanted to do. I decided that this would be effective and helpful for ministry leaders to pass along to families, but also to reach those people that I know in my circle that are looking for easy content, something that they can quickly listen to that equips them for their week. The seven minute devotion comes out twice a week: I'd like to get it to every day. A few people have asked, why isn't this every day? I’m still working towards that. It's only seven minutes long, so it's easy to listen to. It's a great resource for kids' ministry leaders to pass along to their families, if you're looking for resources, as well as the Collide Kids Podcast, which is a show for the whole family to listen to together.

It's for kids, but parents get a lot out of it. I have a lot of parenting people, and a lot of authors and resource providers, that give lots of great things for families. It's really a show the whole family can enjoy together. And I love doing it. It's so fun.

Hannah Augustine (04:33)

I think both of those are so fantastic. I did listen to an episode of each of them, just to make sure I was up to speed on all the amazing things you're doing. And I love that you're hitting a niche that a lot of people aren't, that you're providing Christian, godly content for families to be able to consume.

How many times a week are families in the car? They need something that they can put on that everybody's going to be able to enjoy. The episode I listened to was so conversational. It was introducing families to a great new resource, a new kids' book series. Hello, if you've got readers, you're always looking for new books that are clean, godly, appropriate. 

Then, seven minutes; you can throw that on while you're prepping breakfast or brushing your teeth. That's an easy, quick listen, but it's going to give you that fuel for the day. You can even listen to it in the car with your kids. So, definitely check those out, and we'll give you those links in the show notes so you can watch those. This is something to equip your parents. We hear this in the Facebook group, we see it in KidMin Academy, where KidMin leaders are wanting to equip parents.

Sometimes we try to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to go create your own podcast. If you're called to do that, great. But it's also wonderful to share other kingdom resources. To know that Christen is out here trying to resource you and your families means you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to start your own podcast on top of all the other things you're doing. Use these incredible resources that are available.

With your gift of teaching, Christen, I think we need to pull you into KidMin Academy. I've got an idea about maybe our family ministry module in May. So I'll be sending you an email after this. 

Let's dive in to talk a little bit about Easter.

Christen Clark (05:59)

Let's do it.

Hannah Augustine (06:03)

Having been in ministry - you've experienced having been in ministry - Easter and Christmas, go so fast. It can be very, very difficult to slow down your soul long enough. If we're honest, sometimes we can even feel a little resentful of those big holidays, which we don't want by any means, but it can feel so busy. 

At the church I was at, we would have eight to 10 Easter services over the weekend. At that point, you're just thinking, “please Lord, am I going to survive? Are my feet going to make it? Is my heart going to make it?” I think it's so important to take the time to prepare our hearts, so that it's not just an event to survive, but a season to experience.

Why do you think Holy Week preparation matters spiritually for us and our families?

Christen Clark (06:46)

Think about how much effort we put into Christmas and all the different things that happen with Christmas. Christmas is great, but really, the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate what's going to happen at Easter and Holy Week. When we put all of our eggs in that basket, pun intended - when we put all of this focus on Christmas and all of our efforts to celebrate that…it is a celebration. I love Christmas events and music and all the different things. But Easter kind of gets the backseat sometimes, with preparing our hearts and getting ready for it.

Some churches are really good about preparing you, hosting different services and offering different things not just for Easter Sunday, but all throughout the week. But if you're not at a church that does that, or you can't attend all the different activities that are happening, it can be a little daunting to do that on your own.

I think it's really coming down to the heart of why we are celebrating and what the purpose is of our celebration as a family and as a ministry. How can we better keep our hearts and eyes focused on who Jesus is and what He's done for us? This is a cornerstone of the gospel, and this is the reason that we do what we do. This is the reason I'm in ministry, it's the reason you're in ministry: the resurrection.

We really have to take some time in the busyness, in the crazy season, to sit down and sit with what it is. We can’t take it for granted and let it be one of those things that we pass through, because it's something we have to do. I think it's really important that we keep our eyes focused on that cornerstone of the gospel.

Hannah Augustine (08:27)

That's a really good point. We do emphasize Christmas a great deal. Some of that's probably because culture puts so much weight on it. think as Christians, we feel not just a pressure, but a desire to take that back and remind ourselves what Christmas is really about. 

But like you said, I think Easter, especially depending on your faith tradition, can take a backseat. I know a lot of people practice Lent, but not everybody does. Many people leading into Christmas may be doing an Advent devotional or an Advent study. Why wouldn't we want to place the same emphasis on Easter, if not more?

Being intentional, even if it's just a seven day YouVersion or book that you can take a few minutes just to remind yourself the timeline of Holy Week, and all the things that Jesus did. It was one of the most action-packed weeks of his ministry. Taking that space to reflect and remind yourself to not rush forward to Sunday, not rush forward to the ending: Jesus is alive. But instead reminding ourselves, especially for those of us that maybe got saved at a very young age and have heard the story eight million times, what it’s all about.

Like you said, this is the cornerstone. This is why we do what we do. It’s important to take that time to pause and reflect on our need for a savior, our need for Jesus's death on the cross. Even remembering the Saturday, that moment to be reminded of what it was like in the middle when we didn't have the hope of the resurrection yet. Placing ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, in the shoes of the people who were there can be so intentional.

Christen Clark (09:33)

When I was in my 20s, when I first started in ministry, I was working at a church that did a big Easter production. We did the Passion of the Christ. It was the passion play, and we actually performed it in the Atlanta Civic Center. So it was a very large venue in downtown Atlanta, and it was a tradition for like 50 years. It was amazing to be a part of it. I remember really having to dive into the story because I had to portray a character.

The directors would tell us that every person in this show was significant. From the person that's standing in the back waving palm branches for when Jesus was going through Jerusalem, to the people who were serving and helping, to the disciples and the women followers. I did it for a few years and had an opportunity to play some different parts.

I really treasure those times, because I got to focus on the different people that were involved in that story. When I look back and I read the Gospels, and I read those stories, I feel this familiarity, as if I was there. I wasn't, but it feels like I was. I miss that. I wish my kids could experience that.

We've been trying to watch The Chosen, or dive into some different things that give that experience of the emotions. The emotional array of the Holy Week is incredible, because there's celebration, there's betrayal, there's all these amazing things that happened through that time. 

There were miracles that were performed. There was grieving and desperate sadness for what was happening and what was taking place. It's a wild ride if you really dive into what's happening. That's just a great way for families and for ministry leaders to think through, “what was it like? How did people experience that time? And what were they seeing?” It's such a blessing that I got to do that, got to be a part of that. 

Hannah Augustine (11:33)

That's a great perspective. Putting yourself in their shoes, very literally, in their sandals.

You mentioned The Chosen. I think that really does put you in the story and helps you think through what it might have been like. Obviously, there's some interpretation there, but imagining what it might have been like to be there in those moments. 

You might be working Good Friday or Easter Sunday, but what does it look like the week before to as a family watch something that would be appropriate for your kids to help get your hearts ready. Have some discussion. It doesn't have to be complicated; simply asking, “what did you think about what we just watched? What would you do if you had been there on Palm Sunday? How would you feel if you had seen Jesus on the cross?”

Help your kids feel that experience at whatever age they may be, learning to put themselves in the story. They've got the imagination to do that and really think through what it would have been like to be there.

Hannah Augustine (12:27)

Now, when you think about Holy Week, what do you wish more ministry leaders understood about the significance of the timeline? I think it's less common for churches to do a Good Friday or a Maundy Thursday service. That's not as common anymore. Where would you focus on the significance of that whole timeline and the lead up, the build up?

Christen Clark (12:43)

We kind of glaze over the whole week, and we get to “he rose from the dead.” But we miss out on the significance of that if we're not talking about what happened, if we're not going through that story, if we're not talking about the crucifixion and its significance. We want to talk about how much Jesus fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament, and how many followers and people were devastated and impacted from this whole week.

Giving kids an opportunity to go through that whole week really helps paint the picture of why Easter Sunday is so significant. We kind of take it for granted. I was talking to my friend Vanessa Myers, and she was saying that one of her kids said, “we did this story last year.” Like, we don't have to do this story. We already know it. And I think we all kind of feel that way: “we know this story. We know what happened.” But it's so important to the gospel.

It's good to remind kids, “you might already have heard this story, but the reason we talk about this every year is because it's so important to our faith.” Help kids to understand the significance, and the lead up, and what Jesus did for us. That's what we celebrate on Easter Sunday: the resurrection. 

It's really about helping kids to walk through that whole timeline of emotions and that timeline of the events that led up to that so they have a full understanding. I think it's really important to understand that kids do understand the gospel. They can process it, they can hear it, and they can know what you're trying to get across, more than we give them credit for. I think a lot of times we think kids don't really understand all of this. Some kids may understand more than others, but I think it's good for us to repeat and to give them that information. That's important.

Hannah Augustine (14:25)

I think that's absolutely right. A lot of teaching is repetition.

I love that you took that time to say, “we do learn this story every year, and here's why.” When we were little, we had those resurrection eggs. My goodness, we looked forward to that every year, going through the story with our parents. If you've never used them, each of the eggs has a little symbol of Easter that walks you through the story, things like the burial cloth, the rock that represents the stone, the crown of thorns. As kids, it was a fun interactive activity, but it walked us through the significance of that time. We’d pause after every egg for our parents to tell us that little piece of the story and to connect the dots. I remember being so touched and moved: I think there was a little whip, or a crown. It helps you to experience the story. 

As you said, we have to give kids credit for what they're capable of understanding. We had Carl Laferton with The Good Book Company on the podcast a couple of months ago, and he talked about their newest Bible, which focuses on the promises of God.

It’s important to tell them that the Bible said, and the prophets said, that Jesus would walk through on a donkey. Helping kids connect those dots and not letting those be isolated stories: well, Jesus rode on a donkey, and then Jesus was anointed with oil, etc. There's a bigger picture here, and there's so much that God was doing.

What are some rhythms or practices that help you stay focused on the purpose of Easter and the joy of it?

Christen Clark (15:51)

Setting aside intentional time to read the scriptures together as a family, to make sure that we're contemplating going through what happened. We've talked about The Chosen; I'm horrible to watch The Chosen with, especially as a seminary student. We'll be going through, and I'll pause it: “Wait, OK, you need to look at this. OK, let's look it up. OK, do you know why he said that?” It's a three hour process sometimes. So the kids are don't want to watch it, because they don't want to watch it with me.

Anyway, I think it's just really important that we are being intentional about setting aside that time. Think through those practical elements of what Easter is all about, and how we can apply those things to how we're living today. Why is this significant to us today? It is about the gospel, but it’s also about the many things that Jesus was able to do; the way he interacted with his disciples when he washed their feet, the way that he laid down his own life. 

We can see all these different things that we can not just be grateful for, but that we can also use as an example in our own life. How can we sacrifice for others? How can we share the gospel with our friends? How can we put others first?

There are so many different ways that we can pull things out of that story and understand the significance of it and go through that with our family. We try to do those things that week. We also have just fun little activities that we do on Easter Sunday. On Sundays, I always make breakfast for dinner. And so on Easter Sunday, we always do like the little resurrection rolls or bunny butts, is what we call it. It's like a pancake with the two ears and then a little dollop of whipped cream: that’s a bunny butt. 

So yes, we have these little fun traditions. But we also try to talk through what has happened and why we're doing that; making that a normal part of conversation. It doesn't have to be a three hour devotion that we do every time. That's hard for us to even maneuver and get to do that for ourselves, much less trying to get our busy schedules aligned so that we can do that as a family. I think just making sure that we're having those conversations throughout that week, throughout that time, so that we can think about who he is and what he's done for us.

Hannah Augustine (18:01)

Yeah, the three hour devotional - unless it's an episode of The Chosen and then it will be a three hour session - which I love.

Christen Clark (18:04)

Right. But nobody's getting anything out of it except me. And I'm like, this is so cool because this and this.

Hannah Augustine (18:09)

I'll come watch with you;  I will get all the things. I will enjoy it.

But I love the fun too. We walk this line of wanting to honor and celebrate the scriptural tradition, but accepting that it's okay to have a little fun and to enjoy the bunny. My parents used to have Easter baskets for us.

Hannah Augustine (18:28)

That's for every parent and every family to determine what that looks like, but making room for fun as well.

I don't know if your family has ever done this; I had never done it until maybe four or five years ago. There was a member of our church who was a Messianic Jew, and he led a group of us through a Passover Seder. It was so powerful. That tie in of that Last Supper to the Passover has always been one of my favorite connections, of Jesus being the lamb and all of these different pieces.

You can get what you need for a Seder and do it at home. You don't have to wait and do it at church, and you don't have to find a church to go to. Even without the meal, just taking time to walk through, what the process would have been like and why it mattered. Maybe they remember the story of Moses, and all the plagues; help them make that connection that Jesus was a part of the story.

Christen Clark (19:16)

I think it's really important to serve during this time. If you're working at the church, you are volunteering, but thinking through creating opportunities for your people to serve. That can be helping pass out bulletins, or being greeters, or helping put together gift baskets or different things for visitors, or inviting friends, giving them opportunities to invite friends. Everyone comes in for Easter. It's like Christmas, where we're consuming and we're not participating. 

Make sure that we're allowing people to participate. It doesn't all need to be on your shoulders to carry everything as the ministry leader. Yes, you are a paid service person. That's your job. But also part of that is equipping your families and your kids to have opportunities to serve others during this time. So I think that's a really important rhythm that we need to incorporate if we're not already: making sure that we're serving and not just consuming.

Hannah Augustine (20:14)

That's a great perspective. Brittany Nelson shared something similar last week, that a lot of times we do come in with a consumer mentality. We have to recognize that as believers, Easter Sunday isn't about us. It's beautiful, and it's wonderful, and we want to remember the significance, but we already know it. There are people who are coming into our churches that don't. 

I can take that time and know I've done the personal preparation, so that I don't have to receive. Hopefully I will receive, and hopefully it'll be beautiful and wonderful, but I'm walking in already full. I'm ready to share the truth of Easter and the truth of what Christ did on the cross to the people who are coming in who don't know it yet, or maybe don't know it to the extent that I do. 

We can teach our kids; helping our families and the people that are serving with us get away from the sidelines mentality. I think that can be pretty common in our churches today, this idea that “so-and-so is doing it, so they don't need me.” We can counteract that by inviting people in. "We do need you, and we do need you to be a part of this, because there are people out there who don't know Jesus, and so we need to help them find him."

Christen Clark (21:15)

Absolutely. One of my directors would always say, “don't answer for someone else.” You may think they're going to say no, but actually, they might be waiting for your invitation.

I think it's actually very wrong for you to be so worn out and burned out at the end of an event like this because you haven't delegated and you haven't opened up other opportunities for people to participate. That's part of your job too: allowing people to serve.

We can come in with a mentality that we're not just there to get it all done, but we're also here to equip others to use their spiritual gifts to participate. This is a great way to do that, especially when we know we're going to have so many visitors. We're going to have so many people coming in. It's really important for us to share that with others.

Hannah Augustine (21:55)

Absolutely. I love Ephesians 4:11-13. That our job is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, and you are meant to be calling people to come alongside you. And I think you're absolutely right. There are some of us, like me, who can talk to a wall. If I want an opportunity, I will ask for it. But a lot of people are not like that. They may not feel equipped enough, or holy enough, or insert-whatever-enough. They may not feel like they have what it takes to serve in the church. 

Helping extend that invitation removes that barrier and says, “you are enough, and you do have something to offer, and I want to invite you to be a part of it.” I've invited people to serve and they've said, “I've been praying about that.” They're just waiting for that Holy Spirit moment. You're giving them that boost to say that yes and to step into that new thing

Christen Clark (22:39)

Yeah, and when we have big events like this, it's really easy to help transition those first time volunteers into other roles. And so if we say, “hey, we need you to be a greeter.” We can follow up: “hey, if you want to do this every month or every week, we would love to have you.” And they're like, “oh, actually, I really enjoyed it. I will.” Using these big events is a great way to incorporate new volunteers who might not have been able to serve before or didn't know they could. It's a gateway to get them in.

Hannah Augustine (23:06)

I completely agree.

I don't know if you've ever encountered trying to explain the crucifixion to kids. I had a mom come up to me one time, when I was fresh into my new job. I think I was 21 when she came up to me, and her husband had died. I believe her daughter was six. The mom was trying to figure out how to explain that Jesus rose from the dead, but that would maybe not be the same for dad. She was  wrestling with how to communicate that.

 Obviously, that's a very unique circumstance, but how do we communicate and explain this to kids, especially young kids, who don’t think concretely?

Christen Clark (23:44)

I think kids can grasp a little bit more than we give them credit for. I also think it's naive to think that kids are not experiencing intensity in their stories, like from the things they're watching, and other things. So if they're able to watch KPop Demon Hunters, but they can't hear the story of the crucifixion, we need to look at that. We need to pay attention to that. 

I think it's really important to keep it clear. It's not really about simplifying it. It's about making it clear, and like we said, make it age appropriate. If we don't want to talk about blood, and we don't want to talk about all those things…

Hannah Augustine (24:13)

That's good.

Christen Clark (24:20)

That is hard to skip over, because it's so much of the story. I think there are ways to do it without it losing the effect and losing the weight of what Jesus did for us. We can talk about how it was very painful, and how Jesus went through a really sad moment, and he was very hurt by the things that had happened. It's okay to say those things. He shed his blood, and what that means is that they cut him, and they nailed him, and it was very painful, but he did that because he loved us. 

If we focus the gory parts on how much Jesus loved us, what he was willing to go through because he loved us, I think it would help kids to transition into thinking through what's going on. Because if they get to 12 or 13, and that's when they first understand really what Jesus did, we've missed out on a lot of giving them that foundation. And like we said, if we're helping them understand the weight of everything that he went through so that resurrection is more beautiful and more exciting, if we skip over that, it's not that significant.

We want to make sure that we are keeping it centered on the gospel, and love, and what Jesus did for us, and how our sin is the reason that he did that. He didn't just do this for nothing. He did it because he loved us so much. Our sin causes consequences, and it causes these painful things that Jesus had to go through. But he did it to have a relationship with us. Isn't that amazing? We can celebrate what Jesus did without losing the storyline and without cutting out all the parts.

I think if they're three, I don't know that I'd go into all the blood and all the things like that. I think it really is just about making sure they understand that it hurt. It was very painful, but he did it because he loves us. Then talk about who he was, that he willingly did this. That's one of the parts of the story that always gets me, whenever I hear that it wasn’t forced upon him. He willingly laid down his life for his friends. And he did that out of love and out of his purpose. That was his purpose.

Keeping it focused on that and then giving them opportunities to ask questions. You're going to have some kids that are going to ask really awkward questions. Maybe we don't answer all of the questions in the group time: "come see me later and we'll talk about that. That's a good question.” But answer their questions honestly; don't glaze over it because you're afraid. Like I said, they're seeing that level of intensity and death. They're seeing it on the other things they consume. Help them understand that. And this was a true story; this wasn't a movie. This wasn't just a video or something from YouTube. This really happened in real life. We want them to understand the simplicity of what it was and give them a clear picture of the gospel.

Hannah Augustine (27:06)

That's a great point. You're absolutely right, that they are seeing things. They're seeing things in the world, and there's no reason we can't share what's really going on and dive into the why. I think that's huge.

I've always been a big fan of context. I used to teach our salvation class, and my favorite thing was to start at the beginning with Adam and Eve. They had a relationship with God, and it was wonderful. But then they sinned, and that broke the relationship. Now, not only would their outside bodies die, but their inside self would die and be separated from him.

I think when we can go all the way back and point to that place where it broke. Even in Genesis 3.15, I love that there was this promise even then that Jesus would come. When we can help explain that and help kids grasp that, whatever the terminology is; I know we want to be careful when we use illustrations or comparisons. But being able to communicate, there was this brokenness, and sin keeps us from God.

I like to use the example of a magnet. If you put two magnet on the wrong side, they won't click, because they're repelled against each other. That's what sin was. Find some of those age appropriate things that you can tie in that are going to help them understand. 

Like you said, not simplifying it, not dumbing it down, but clarifying what it means that there was sin. This is what it means that Jesus paid the price. Another example is of someone paying your bill at the restaurant when you didn't have any money. They did what you couldn't do, and that's what Jesus did for us. Help them make those connections. 

I know every church has different demographics. You may have a lot of homeschooled kids or kids that aren't maybe exposed to as many things. If you're concerned, just share

with parents, "hey, we're going to be talking about this today. If you have any questions or any concerns, let me know. I'm happy to send you the lesson plan just so you're in the loop." 

Parents, if you're listening, this is an opportunity for you. You know your kids best. As KidMin Leaders, we may have 10, 20, 30, 40+ kids in the room. We don't know every child individually as well as you do. 

KidMin Leaders, resource your parents with some questions to ask, or a podcast to listen to, or some devotionals, or a book that's going to put that opportunity in the hands of the parent. Simplify it so that even parents who may not feel equipped to have those conversations can do so. Give them several questions or a little video that they can walk through. Get a win in their hands so they can have those conversations with their kids.

Christen Clark (29:29)

Absolutely.

Hannah Augustine (29:30)

If a children's pastor only had time to add one meaningful Holy Week element to their ministry for their kids, what would you suggest? What would be maybe an addition they could add this year?

Christen Clark (29:41)

It's so easy to skim through the story and then dive into the egg hunt or do all the fun things you have prepared for that week. But what if we gave them opportunities to really have hands-on experiences for what the story was talking about? Maybe we give them palm branches on Palm Sunday. And then the next week we talk about the Last Supper, and we have juice and we

have bread. We talk about the different things that Jesus did, and we talk about the cross and the empty tomb. But we give them a way to walk through it. Maybe you set up little stations in your room and go through those aspects of the story. Allowing kids to experience what had happened, I think, makes the story come alive. That would be what I would suggest: really making sure that as we're going through this story that we tell every year, that we give some kind of fresh, hands-on experience for kids to really go through it. Give them an opportunity to worship and see what it was that God did for them, more than just telling them.

It’s so much more effective to give them a way to put their hands on it, to hear it and to see it. Offering all these different ways would be really effective and help the kids hang on to it.

Make sure that you're letting your families know what you're talking about. Give them a copy of the lesson plan or tell them, "we're talking about this story today. Here are two or three questions that you can ask at home." A lot of the curriculum that you use offers these family discussion questions or, content like that. You could put it on your social media, on your website, or in a newsletter.

Give the families an opportunity to really go through and keep the conversation going so they can experience that at home. I think having that hands-on experience at church would be really effective. Then, they're able to talk about it and process it throughout the week with their parents.

Hannah Augustine (31:29)

That's awesome. As we're sharing this episode, it's March 30th. It is Holy Week. We are officially here. If you're listening and you're thinking, "I don't feel like I've spent as much time in personal preparation as I would like to,” it's not too late. You don't have to do a 40 day devotional to prepare your heart. Those are great, and maybe you plan for that next year, but for now, go on YouVersion. Find a three to seven day plan. It's not too late to dive into that. I love walking through the four Gospels at Christmas or Easter, reading the different accounts by the different authors.

Prepare your heart to remind yourself of the story. It's not a three hour devotional every morning, but just a quick moment to set your heart and make it ready so that you're ready to serve out of the overflow.

If you've been doing this for 18 years, take yourself back to when you started. Remind yourself of why you do it and of what God's going to do. Build that expectancy. Whether that's a song on the drive in or a short devotional, build in that space so that not only you experience it, but the people you come in contact with can see the joy of Easter and the significance of what God has done through you.

Christen Clark (32:36)

Absolutely.

Hannah Augustine (32:37)

And Christen, thank you not just for this episode, but for your heart for kids and families, for 18 years of investment. And now serving and continuing to invest, just in a new way; a different season. If you'd like to connect with Christen, you can check out those podcasts we mentioned. It's the Seven Minute Devotions for Busy Parents and The Collide Kids podcast; those are available wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also find her on socials @ChristenClark. All this will be in the show notes: @CollideKidsPod and @7MinuteDevotions. We'll share those so you can check those out.

Don't forget, like I mentioned, to watch our episode from March 2nd to learn more about the Youth Pastor track at The KidzMatter Conference. Share that episode with your youth pastor, and then get your tickets at thekidzmatterconference.com. 

Christen, I would love if you would close us in a short prayer.

Christen Clark (33:20)

I would love to. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you so much for what you have done for us. Thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your Son to die on the cross for us. And I thank you that we have this amazing privilege to share this with families and with children.

We love you, and we thank you for the resurrection, and we thank you for what it means. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Hannah Augustine (33:41)

Amen. Thank you, Christen. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you on our next episode. Happy Holy Week.