Author: Kevin Spear

I am a content creator and storyteller based in Florida, where I work for OneHope. I love digital and content marketing, writing, and the occasional doodle.

Categories
teaching

The worst advice I’ve ever heard about teaching in church

Cartoon of a boy talking to a guy dressed in a while outfit.

Over the years, I’ve searched for all kinds of advice on how to teach effectively. But the worst advice I’ve ever heard about teaching in church has actually been the most helpful for me.

Have you ever found it hard to get the attention of a room full of kids? It can be a loud place. However, if you have the class on a Sunday morning, it can also be a quiet place that would make a crypt sound like an ideal place for a party.

How do you keep the kids engaged, whether the kids are rowdy, or just waking up after a rowdy weekend night? One piece of advice I have heard over the years was actually the worst thing I could have tried. What is it?

Be formal, show little emotion and take yourself very seriously. Don’t be a clown! This is church, after all!

Did I hear those exact words? Not exactly. But it was something I believed. for some time. When I first got into children’s ministry. I tried it for a while with disastrous results!

This just doesn’t work for me. And I would dare say it won’t work for anyone who is teaching elementary-age kids.

Cartoon of a boy and a teacher. The student says, "You're goofy, Mr. Schmeltzer! I like that in a teacher."
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Categories
Parenting Cartoons

Should You Change it or Replace the Whole Thing?

Cartoon of a dad and a baby at a chancing table. The dad says, "We have a dirty diaper! Instead of changing it, should I just replace it?

My wife and I love fixer-upper shows. It’s impressive to see the transformation of a ramshackle, abandoned home into a mini palace. But sometimes I wonder if they should raze the house. Similarly, it takes discernment in many situations to ask ourselves, “Should you change it or replace the whole thing?”

Difference between Change and Replace

According to Wiki Diff, change means to make something different. While replacing means restoring to its former self, position, or condition. It means to place again, naturally.

Dirty Diapers

So the whole phrase, “change the diaper,” sounds strange to me. Should we replace a dirty diaper with a clean one? Can you change a dirty diaper into a clean one? I suppose you can if it is a cloth diaper. But today, we’re most likely to just replace the whole thing with a clean one.

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Categories
motivation

Caught in the Entitlement Trap

It’s way too easy to get caught in the entitlement trap. After all, we’ve worked throughout our lives. We deserve a raise or special recognition, right? We’ve always had that benefit or this perk. Why shouldn’t we keep receiving it?

But the challenge with that mode of thinking is believing we can rest on past accomplishments. We deceive ourselves into thinking what got us here should be what keeps us here. In short, we get a little lazy and stop striving to be better. It reminds me of this proverb:

“Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬
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Adobe Illustrator cartoon children cartoons gag cartoon single panel cartoon webcomic

Talking About Pride Cartoon

We all have it. From time to time, it comes out in ugly ways. And as parents, we see it in our kids. But if we’re honest, we know they probably learned it from us. That’s where the idea for this talking about pride cartoon came from.

Talking abut pride cartoon: A dad says, “Looks like we need to talk about pride.”

One moment, we’re doing pretty good with handling pride. The next moment, we believe we are royalty and deserve the red carpet treatment. That’s just human nature, isn’t it? We all believe we deserve to be king or queen.

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Categories
motivation

Greed and Poverty

Cartoon of a boy and a bank teller. The boy says, "How greedy do you have to be to work here?"

Greed is not exclusive to the rich or poor. Yet, I see a connection between greed and poverty. It may not have anything to do with physical wealth.

Several months back, I read an article that stated upper-middle-class and upper-class families were hoarding wealth because they feared it could disappear at any time. Burglaries and theft occur in poorer neighborhoods because someone feels they deserve more than their neighbor and feel justified in taking it from them.

At the same time, I have felt encouraged and emboldened when a story comes out about a generous person. The story may focus on a rich individual, but also may feature a middle-class or poor person that gave out of the generosity of their heart. 

Greed is less about the pursuit of having enough and more about a scarcity mindset that makes the person feel justified in taking from another.

Greedy people try to get rich quick but don’t realize they’re headed for poverty.

Proverbs 28:22 (NLT)
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