It's amazing how dependent we have become on our mobile devices. A study (Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers) found the average user checks their phone close to 150 times per day. During peak times, this equates to about once every 6 or 7 seconds. Incredible!

Until recently, I haven't been too concerned about the image always on my iPhone screen. Sure, it's quite appealing but I really didn't think about it. But I happened to notice my daughter's mobile and the regularly updated designs appearing on her screens.. most often with a inspiring quote or a Scripture verse.

What images do you use on your mobile?

When I read the above statistics regarding the number of times we're all looking at our smartphones, I decided I'd better spend a bit of time uploading an inspirational image and changing it regularly.


After all, if I'm checking my phone often, I could be memorizing a Bible verse as I do so.

 No only that, but you may find that others will notice the design on your device screen and you can share your Bible verse with others.
 I've had a bit of a look for wonderful designs to add to your phone or tablet and have come up with these. You can find them below with a download link. (Clicking on the image will also provide you with this link.)

This first one, a clean, crisp design, comes from Ashlee Proffitt and her beautiful design site. She makes the note with these wallpapers:

 'I pray these wallpapers brighten your November days and spur your heart towards gratitude.'

You'll find designs for both iPhone and iPad wallpapers ready to download and install. I must admit, I have them on my devices now and have received a number of positive comments regarding them.

The second design I've included is not strictly a holiday design, but during this often stressful season filled with activities, events, special programs and important dates to remember, its encouraging verse should help you maintain the right attitude and focus.

You'll find it with Stacie Means from LifeWayhere...

There is an iPhone wallpaper plus an image for your Facebook page. 

Finally, I've tried to create an iPad/iPhone wallpaper, myself, for the upcoming festive season. 

 It's probably a bit too busy but then, so it this time of year. And I really love the image. And I wanted to have more of a family focus with my design.

Hopefully, my designs will improve but I'd like to create a new one every month, so look out for the new one at the beginning of each month.

You can download both the iPad version (see left) or the iPhone version. You'll find both files below.

You may also be interested in these...

Every year, Christmas seems to start a little earlier. Decorations suddenly appear, big and bold, in the shopping centres and piped Christmas music wafts out of each store.

Supermarket catalogues are filled with Christmas gift suggestions and toy sales and kids begin clamouring for the newest and greatest toy attraction.

And every year, our goal as children's ministry leaders of making Christmas 'real' to kids, seems to get just a bit harder.

How can you help kids find Jesus, this Christmas?

Yes... we do have a wonderful and meaningful Christmas program that we've prepared to present to the kids. And our church calendar will be filled with family Christmas events and presentations.

But sometimes the message of Christmas gets lost amongst all the activity... and I was looking for a simple, effective way of emphasizing the importance of Jesus, this Christmas.

And  then, I watched one of the Skit Guys clips. You've probably seen it but I've included it below anyway. Eddie  tells of setting out the nativity scene... but hiding Jesus. Naturally, the kids are very concerned to find Him.

It's a great clip and would be good to show to families.And then I thought... yes, this simple activity would be really effective. Of course, it would be great for families to do at home- but it could be something you could include in your Sunday program in the weeks leading up to Christmas. You could give the kids the clue for the week.. and afterwards, read the Christmas story from a picture storybook or a chapter from a longer book. (There are recognised benefits of reading to kids but many families are too busy to find time to include this activity.)

Check out the list of Christmas story books listed below that could be used after the 'Search for Baby Jesus' treasure hunt activity.

If you can't see the media clip, click here to view ....

Suggestions for reading to the children...
*If you're missing Baby Jesus: a true story that embraces the spirit of Christmas.
* Jed and Roy McCoy, A Christmas Story. You can buy this story as a powerpoint presentation or over-sized book, too.
* Keeping Holiday., a charming, insightful way to help children grasp the meaning of Christmas
* He's here.. from the Jesus Storybook Bible

So, whether you present this clip and the idea to your church families or include it in your Christmas program to highlight the real message of the season, I hope these resources and ideas will be of assistance, this Christmas.

If you're anything like me, you've downloaded the free file of Unfrozen- Do you want to meet a Saviour Christmas program (If you haven't checked it out yet,you canfind it here.) 

You love the program
You've read it through. You love the script. You know that the kids and the families will relate to the .presentation. You've even worked out who best will fit the parts needed for the presentation. You're bursting with excitement and enthusiasm because this is a Christmas program idea that looks great, won't take too many hours to practise and requires a small level of involvement from kids and volunteers.

You present the idea to others
You've spoken with your church leadership and decided whether it's better to present the whole presentation in its entirety or if it's better to present one scene each week leading up to Christmas. You've spoken with your volunteers and your team.

Everyone's getting excited!

Now, you need to start planning and promoting the program.
You check the calendar and realise that you need to print copies of the program for those involved in the presentation.  You need to start the program presentation prep and rehearsals, but more than that, you also need to begin promoting this special event to your church family and the wider community. 

Don't panic! You can do it in 5 easy steps
1. Create an Unfrozen image to use in your promotional materials. 
You'll need one that looks pretty similar to the Frozen movie but of course you can't use any of Disney's Frozen graphics. That's ok... I've created one for you already. You'll find it below.

One graphic.. tick that one off your list.

2. Create an online Unfrozen promotion.
This is really helpful to provide more information, and even a registration facility, for your church family, but also for the community. Once you've set this up, you can add the link to your flyers, your website, your bulletin, your kidmin or church social media and any community promotion of the event.

You could just create it on your website but it can be done quickly and easily with SplashThat. It will probably take under an hour to set it all up. And yes, it's free. You can check out the one I created for our own Unfrozen event here.

3. Create an Unfrozen announcement slide.
You'll also want your church family to know about this special  event and add it to their family calendars. This time of year is filled with end-of-year events for school, community, work, and family so provide everyone with plenty of opportunity to note the date, remember it and share the information with others.

So.. I've created a simple slide that you can edit and use. You could also save it as an image and use as your flyer. Print 2 or 4 to a page and add extra information on the reverse.

You'll find the powerpoint slide below.

4. Create Unfrozen tickets.
Instead of, or perhaps as well as, flyers to promote your Unfrozen event, you might like to consider printing program tickets. 
Jenn Rook has created these wonderful Frozen tickets for a kid's party, (see below) so I adapted and changed them a little for our needs.

If you'd like some yourself, it's easy to do. Download the powerpoint slide below labelled 'Unfrozen tickets'. Alter the wording on the tickets. Choose 'select all' and then save as an image. Open a page in Word or Publisher and insert the image twice so that you have 4 tickets per page. Print on light weight card and cut to size.

P.S. If you haven't subscribed to my regular newsletter to receive updates in your inbox, you can do it here.