Spice Rack was designed by Mark DeVries for the volunteer junior and senior high school Sunday school teachers in the youth group at First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee. Our ministry has been based on the Family-Based Youth Ministry philosophy that kids grow best toward mature Christian adulthood when they have ample opportunity to interact with mature Christian adults.
- Download 1 Free Lesson Right Now
- Free 4-week Sample of Spice Rack
- Read a Paper about Spice Rack written by Rev. Cheryl Peeples
If the young people YOU work with are like the young people WE work with then you may agree with the assumptions we’ve made in creating Spice Rack!
- Kids learn best when they are engaged.
- Lecture (unless by an extraordinary teacher) is one of the least effective ways to engage students.
- Students remember more when they participate, particularly when there is some emotion connected to what they are learning.
- Emotions bring a “stickiness factor” to learning.
- The rule of thumb of “one minute of attention span for every year of life” seems to work (12 year olds need to change activities or methods every 12 minutes).
- Some insights are only gained while laughing.
- The activity that works beautifully for one group or one teacher will fall flat with another group or another teacher.
- Teachers need to speak to a variety of different learning styles in each session.
- If students get engaged in a text, the text can do its work on the students.
- The text’s work (the lesson’s message) will be different for different students
You will quickly discover that each lesson contains very little material for lecturing, but instead provides teachers with options for creating a fast-paced, interactive, faith-sharing experience. Every lesson offers these components:
- Engaging the Brain ~ At least three options for opening the lesson
- Igniting the Heart ~ Three options for digging into the meat of the lesson
- Taking it Home ~ One or two options for closing the lesson
We have intentionally prepared these lessons to contain more than can be covered in a single hour, giving teachers the opportunity to pick and choose what will work best with their particular classes.
ORDERING INFORMATION: There are two ways to order Spice Rack.
#1 THE SPICE RACK SUBSCRIPTION Many of our churches like the Spice Rack Subscription. With the Subscription, churches receive a new lesson via email at the first of each week. The lessons are sent as MS Word attachments, fully formatted and ready to use. Subscribers may sign up to receive 3 months ($25), 6 months ($50) or 1 year’s worth of Spice Rack lessons ($75). When they sign up for a subscription, they are joining the series we are currently offering. The 2011-2012 Spice Rack series is our New Testament Series on the Book of Acts, Matthew & John.
Every first-time, year-long subscriber will receive via snail mail, a copy of Bridges: 15 Sessions to Connect Teenagers and Adults, a Family-Based Youth Ministry Curriculum written by Mark DeVries & Nan Russell.
There are two ways to sign up for the weekly subscription to Spice Rack: You can send us an email letting us know you’d like to sign up. We will follow up with a confirmation email and will email you an invoice payable by check. If you would like to pay for your subscription with a credit/debit card then you can purchase the subscription in our ONLINE STORE.
#2 THE SPICE RACK DOWNLOAD & PURCHASE Many of our churches enjoy the ability to pick and choose their curriculum “a la carte.” We have over 300 lessons available in our online store. Make sure to click “next” at the bottom of each page so you can see all the lessons we offer! When you select Spice Rack lessons in our online store, you are able to download and pay for all the lessons immediately.
If you need any help with either of these Spice Rack options, email for quick help!
SIGN ME UP! I’m ready to get Spice Rack:
- Order Online
- Order via email
- Order via Phone: 1-877-462-5718
