Category Archives: Blog

Two Great Clean Comedy Podcasts

We’ve all been there, in the car, driving for miles, and the kid’s music is driving you nuts. It’s time for something that’s good for the whole family. Here are a couple of clean comedy podcasts that will entertain everyone.

Red School Bus

Red School Bus is a clean comedy podcast for the whole family. Hosts James and J (a father/son duo) share real life stories from their own lives as well as those submitted by the kids who listen every week. It’s clean and safe for all ages.

You can find it in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts with more subscriptions options at http://rsbcast.com

That Story Show

That Story Show is a clean comedy podcast rated E for everyone 10 and up. Hosts James and John share hilarious stories sent in by fans of the show. That Story Show (formerly Nobody’s Listening) has been around since 2006 and has over 335 episodes. Many new listeners will just start and the beginning and listen all the way through.

You can find That Story Show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts with more subscription options at http://thatstoryshow.com

Christmas Stories for Candlelight Communion Services

I have written and illustrated three Christmas stories that are perfect for Pastors, Ministers, Teachers, or Administrators who need a multimedia Christmas story to tell for a class, service, ceremony, gathering or assembly. I wrote them for use during my church’s annual candlelight and communion service.

These stories are available for $20-25 each. You’ll receive a zip file containing a PDF of the story text, a PowerPoint presentation containing all of the illustrations, and individual jpg image files of each slide (in case you don’t do PowerPoint).

The Very Last Room

What would you do if your family had taken the very last room in Bethlehem… just before Mary & Joseph arrived? This story follows a young boy and his family on their way to Bethlehem to be taxed. They end up taking the very last room available in the city forcing Mary and Joseph to take the stable out back. You’ll love how this story comes together and the strong evangelistic message it shares. The story is fully illustrated and stylized to fit the time period, but with a modern twist.

Purchase The Very Last Room on my Etsy page.

The Birthday Story

“The Birthday Story” is the Nativity Christmas Story as told by Mary to her young son, Jesus. Based on Luke 2:19 (“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”) The story comes from the perspective of Mary recalling the events that led to her son Jesus’ birth day.

The audience thinks they’re hearing a modern day story… until various details reveal that this is a retelling of the Nativity from a different perspective. Children and adults will enjoy hearing about the trials of making a journey to Bethlehem on a donkey with a child on the way… and the hope a mother has for her son, the Messiah. Helps all ages remember that Jesus’ birth was real… and so is our reason for celebrating Jesus, not only on Christmas, but every day of the year.

Purchase The Birthday Story on my Etsy page.

 

The Christmas Repair Service

A magical Christian Christmas parable that will help children with selfishness, anger, obedience and the reason we celebrate Christ’s birth in the first place. Told with a bit of magic and a lot of fun. Every child will go away realizing that our beliefs should affect our actions… and that we need Christ to change our hearts because we can’t fix ourselves. 

Purchase The Christmas Repair Service on my Etsy page.

Considering A Sermon Podcast

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I used to be a pastor. I still am, technically… I’m just not working as a pastor right now. I was a pastor to children and though there are things about ministry I don’t miss, there is quite a bit that I do. You want a list? I’ll give you a list.

Things I miss:

  • Using all of my gifts and talents at one time for one purpose.
  • Serving God through full-time ministry.
  • Having a purpose.
  • Connecting with kids… especially the misfits and troublemakers.
  • Teaching people from the Bible.

Continue reading

I Am Anti-Spider

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I am anti-spider. Have you seen these advice animal pics where spiders are cute and kind but then people are hurting them? I believe it’s part of the pro-spider agenda. I just want to make it clear that at JamesKennison.com we are 100% anti-spider. I would go as far as to say that I believe that being a spider is WRONG! I am absolutely #AntiSpider.

I have been called me an Arachnophobe… and I’ll admit it’s partially true, but I have nothing against spiders personally, I just don’t want them around myself or my kids. The following are a series of short stories and observations that I have made over the years that I hope will educate you to the horrors of spiders. Continue reading

Children’s Ministry: A View From Outside

In April of 2013 I stepped down from my children’s pastor position due to the issues that arise when you can no longer hide your depression and anxiety disorders. It’s been just over a year since I’ve prepped a service, led a game, worked a puppet, preached an illustrated sermon or taught a memory verse. I miss the kids… but not Easter, Halloween and Kids Camp! But that’s a topic for another post.

These days I find myself on the other-side of children’s ministry. Now I take my two children, 9 and 6, to someone elses kids church. We’ve been to several in fact. The view is quite a bit different out here than it was in there and I’d like to share as much as I can remember with you. It’s a unique perspective. I’m not another quirky parent demanding fundamental changes that only benefit my particular child. I’m a 13-year children’s ministry veteran who for now is standing in your check-in line. Here are some things that I noticed that were important to me:

Continue reading

Vizify Accidently Tracked My Depression

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Vizify was a online profile service that took info from Twitter. The service is closing soon having been purchased by Yahoo and I was asked to archive my profile. I figured ‘what the heck’.

Vizify tracks what you tweet about most. My #1 keyword was KIDS but I was interested to see what other words were prominent. After clicking I saw a bit more than the topics I tweeted about. I got to see a representative timeline of my bout with depression.

The most obvious is the large gap between October 2012 and mid-May of 2013. That was the worst of it when I wasn’t even able to get out of bed. I also noticed two other little drop-outs (though they’re not as stark as the big one) between Q3 and Q4 of 2012, then a gap between Q1 and Q2 (a smaller one).

Those purple dots say a lot more than Visify intended. I’m glad to see the dots on the right side. There’s a lot more tweets about my kids and my trial run with putting out regular videos on YouTube.

Were Vizify to continue there they would be adding a few very large and dark purple dots to the PODCAST and EPISODE and SHOW lines because I’m happy to announce that Nobody’s Listening podcast is returning. You can find more about that over at podcast.nlcast.com.

Thanks for reading.

(Click to make the pic bigger)

I Need Beta Readers!

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From Wikipedia: “A Beta Reader is a non-professional reader who reads a written work, generally fiction, with the intent of looking over the material to find and improve elements before the story is released for public consumption.”

I need a few (4-7) families with a kid or kids (8-12) who would be interested in reading Bad Hero and taking notes.

Naturally parents are encouraged to read the book as well and feedback is encouraged and welcome.

The children need to be between 8 and 12 years old. They must be able to read the book without assistance, and (the most important part) take notes while reading and possibly complete a questionnaire after.

I’ll be looking for feedback on things like plot holes, problems with continuity, characterisation or believability.

Bad Hero is easier to read than Harry Potter but a little more complex than Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Email james@nlcast.com
Subject: Bad Hero Preview
Include how your family qualifies.
I will follow up with specifics once we’re ready.

I’ll post again when the slots are filled. Thanks!

**UPDATE**

The slots are filled. Thanks!

I’ve Written A Book: Bad Hero

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Hello gentle readers. I realize that I have not added anything to the site since mid February. I have been distracted by a new obsession lately. That obsession is writing. The past several months I’ve written Bible Stuff articles and let out some inner stuff about Depression and the patterns of Church Culture, but now I’m on to brighter and possibly more productive expressions.

I have written a 36,400 word novel for pre-teens (8-12, it’s called Middle Grade) called Bad HeroContinue reading