About the McPhersons
 We are Chris and Kristin McPherson, and we've been in the kids' ministry since we were kids ourselves! We accepted Christ as Savior at ages 5 and 8, respectively; and our burden is to reach the children of America with the gospel and disciple them in Christian growth. We met at
S.M.I.T.E.
(Summer Missionary Institute of Training and Evangelism), where we were being trained by Child Evangelism Fellowship Missionaries Jerry and Vicki Purtell. We then got to know one another during our Bible college years in Liberty, Missouri; and when Kristin moved to where her family had relocated in Georgia... Chris arrived a few months later with a ring and a proposal!  Chris was born and raised in Missouri -- from Springfield to St. Louis to Kennett to Kansas City to West Plains, where we now reside. He was reared in an Independent Baptist home and has never known any differently. His childhood Pastor was Bro. Wayne Barkett, who continues to be a godly mentor and counselor to this day. Chris surrendered to preach as a teenager under the ministry of Pastor Frank Mulford. He really cut his teeth in the ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri under Pastor James Brady while attending Bible College. It was there that he served as a bus captain, Sunday School teacher, and children's church worker. Once married, Chris was put on staff at
Grace Independent Baptist Church
in Moultrie, Georgia under Pastor Ken Weaver. He served there as Sunday School Superintendent, drove a church bus, and did a host of other duties as needed from 2000 to 2005. Kristin lived in Winnfield, Louisiana until she graduated high school and headed north for Bible college. Prior to that, however, her family joined Berean Baptist Church when she was 13, and she surrendered her life to the Lord's will and work. She began immediately serving as pianist, bus worker, and Sunday School teacher under the pastorate of Ken Weaver (who was later her pastor in Georgia) and his godly wife Lisa. The Pastor's daughter April embraced Kristin as a godly friend and had an eternal impact as a peer with a desire to serve the Lord. She was influenced as well by her Youth Pastor and wife Kirt and Elizabeth Ricks. Kristin was also blessed during her teen years to have the opportunity to attend S.M.I.T.E. and begin working for CEF evangelist "Uncle Jerry" and his wife "Aunt Vicki" Purtell. During these years she traveled, conducted Vacation Bible Schools and Five Day Clubs, and fueled a zeal and commitment to the Lord. While attending college, we became friends and found a common desire to dedicate our lives to Christian service. We never began a "dating relationship." However, we each sought the Lord's will diligently and sweetly became man and wife in 2000! We served in Moultrie, Georgia under Kristin's previous Pastor for the first five years and three babies of marriage. It was there that we learned much about the ministry and formed many sweet life-long friendships that have helped us in the Lord. In fall of 2005 we relocated to Chris's home town of West Plains, Missouri, where we currently serve as Children's Church Directors at
Central Calvary Baptist Church
under Pastor Frank Mulford. We are awaiting the Lord's direction into full-time Christian service. We are the proud parents of Karissa Kaye (born and died June 2001), Christopher "Michael" Jr. (August 2002), Ronald "Ronnie" Wayne (June 2004), Josiah Luke (July 2006), and Abigail Joy (December 2007), as well as two other babies who are awaiting us in Glory.
And What on Earth Made Us Decide To Build a Web Site?!
I regularly make use of the internet to research the experience of others and brainstorm ideas for our children's church ministry. However, I am dismayed at the lack of good quality *free* material out there. I mean, come on -- there are over 56 million sites on the web; can't there be at least a dozen good ones for us children's church workers?!For quite some time I have wanted to embrace the challenge of building a website for children's ministry workers, but honestly... I didn't think it would happen any time before my kids graduated college! However, one day I stumbled across a free e-book for Work at Home Moms:

I got really excited because it sounded like something I really could do, even at this point in my life (come to find out -- I was right!). I made a pros & cons type of list and really prayed about the prospect of building our own ministry website. I typed out a list of reasons that I would like to do so, and I shared it with Chris. He became convinced as well and gave me the go-ahead. I never dreamed that it would even be as easy as it has been. Now, I don't mean to mislead anyone with the word "easy." It has been WORK and hours of labor -- literally! But it's happening! You see here for yourself: I am building a successful website! In just four months I have about 40 pages of quality, free content; and I am being a blessing to children's church ministries all over the world every day! Here are some stats about this website after just four months on the web (as of Feb 2007):
This site sees about 200 visitors daily, and that number is steadily growing.
We are in the top 4% of the 56,000,000+ sites on the World Wide Web (in other words, we get more traffic than 54+ million other sites).
We have received encouraging e-mails and phone calls galore thanking us for our ministry and the help that it has been to others.
We rank high in the search engines for many words on our site (try Googling "behavior award games" or "main teaching" or some other concept on our site), and until November I had never even heard the term "Search Engine Optimization."
We believe that it was God's will and leading at this time in our life to begin this ministry, and our prayer is that it will grow and result in many souls someday in Heaven and growth for Christians world-wide.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
We would love to hear from you!
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