Elizabeth Elam studied Child Evangelism under Jeanette McKee at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. Her husband, Mark, is a CFNI graduate. After graduation, Elizabeth was attending a large metropolitan church which was growing quickly and having multiple services. The need for suitable early childhood curriculum was not being satisfactorily met.
In response to this need, Elizabeth began to develop and produce a curriculum for weekly use in the 2 to 6 year-old classes. With services often running overtime, flexibility and options were necessities. New children each week meant that the lessons had to be especially engaging. There were many volunteers, often new to the job, so ease of use was very important.
So, she began producing the weekly lessons complete with comprehensive, easy-to- follow instructions for the teachers. Success was immediate! The visual materials held the children’s attention, the lessons were easy to use, the lesson theme was repeated in various forms to accommodate multiple learning styles and options for extended time were always provided. Children and teachers loved it!
The curriculum was continually refined and improved over the years, being fully tested in live church settings. When one local church chose the Crystal River Early Bible Curriculum for their children, it came out on top of their intensive review of several ‘brand name’ curriculums. Now, at last, we are very pleased to make it available to you!
Some of the Bible picture cards have been translated into Spanish and used for children’s ministry in Mexico on short-term mission trips. Crystal River Publishing has also provided curriculum to missionaries in Kenya, East Africa, where the lessons have been distributed to churches there and children’s workers instructed in its use.
And that is a big part of the dream… missions! We have personally seen that in the mission field, even adults are drawn to the picture cards as the Bible stories are told. In Mexico, a deaf man was brought to repentance and salvation as a result of understanding the Gospel as it was presented using the picture cards! The pictures spoke to his heart!
They will speak to your children, too!