Happy 20th Birthday Rotation.org!
Wow...20 years... it really is amazing! I first learned about this model from another children's director back in 1999. Our elementary SS was struggling -- that summer we had a couple Sundays with only one student attending. Yikes! She gave me the address of the website and I came home and spent all afternoon (the site was MUCH smaller then!) looking at everything and getting more and more excited! I took the idea to our children's council and they all were on board. We sent the staff program director to a Rotation conference in Chicago and she came back SUPER pumped. Our team decided in April to just "go for it" and on September 10, 2000, we launched our very first rotation. We're starting our 18th year and have never looked back. This year we complete our THIRD cycle of our six year scope of lessons.
As so many people have said already, my favorite thing about this model is the creativity and excitement it brings to the kids. How can we possibly bore kids with the greatest adventure book every written??? Bringing the stories to life, creating memorable ways to engage them with the stories, helping them really dig deep... it's the foundation of Rotation Model SS.
One of the BEST things about Rotation.org is that we are always striving to do better. Better platform for the site, better organization, better lessons. Supporting members make that possible through their memberships and all the people who post make it better with their input. I remember thinking as we were writing/developing our lessons those first years that I would be so relieved when we were done writing. But the lessons here just keep getting better, so we keep tweaking our old lessons with new ideas and new activities. Because of Rotation.org our lessons keep getting better and better too.
I'm grateful to have discovered this site all those years ago. I'm grateful to serve you on our board. I'm grateful to a community of people who are passionate about passing on the faith to the next generation!
Jaymie Derden
Director of Children and Family Ministries (about to retire though!)
State Street UMC, Bristol VA
Rotation.org Board secretary
