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One fall, I created an intergenerational weekly program at our church taking us through the 66 books of the Bible.  Here are many of the resources I used.

Our program started with a dinner and presentation, then we split into different age-appropriate groups to go deeper.

I'm including resources I've found for both children and adults.

I hope you find it useful!

Luanne


What's in the Bible?  DVD series by Phil Vischer (creator of VeggieTales).

We used segments taken from the What's in the Bible? video series. Though designed for elementary age and younger youth, adults find them fun and informative too!

Takes your church (adults/children) on a tour through all 66 books and how they connect together into one big story: God's rescue plan!

Below is an overview of each video (each DVD contains two 25-minute episodes). We EXCERPTED certain segments from each of the following videos using Rotation.org's Detailed Outlines to all 13 videos in the series so that we knew where to start and stop. You'll need to be a Supporting Member of Rotation.org to access them. You can join here. The guides are a real time saver.


Quoted from Whatisinthebible.com

DVD 1: In the Beginning [Genesis]

Part One: "What is the Bible?" How is it put together? Kids learn alongside Buck Denver, Sunday School Lady, Brother Louie, and the crew that the Bible tells the story of God and what He's done for us.

Part Two: "Who wrote the Bible?" Next, Buck and friends learn how God inspired people to write the Bible. They also learn how the first part of Genesis sets the stage for the rest of the Bible - and all of history!

DVD 2: Let My People Go [Exodus]

Part One: "Who chose the books in the Bible?" Buck Denver and friends learn how the Old Testament and New Testament books were chosen to be in the Bible. They also dive into the second part of Genesis to learn how God used a family to launch His big rescue plan!

Part Two: "What is salvation?" Learn words like "salvation" and "redemption" as we dive into God's big rescue plan - how He saved the Israelites from Egypt and how He wants to save us from sin - a tiny word that causes huge trouble.

DVD 3: Wanderin' in the Desert [Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy]

Part One: "Don't lie, don't cheat...don't trim your beard?" The Old Testament is full of rules, and some of them are kind of, well, weird. Learn why God gave all these rules to Israel and which ones still apply to us today!

Part Two: "What is a Pentateuch?" Learn about Israel's 40-year "time-out" as we finish the first five books of the Bible! Plus, discover why we can believe what the Bible says - even though we weren't there to see it happen!

DVD 4: Battle for the Promised Land! [Joshua, Judges, Ruth]

Part One: Buck Denver and friends continue their quest to learn about the Bible in number four of the 13 What's in the Bible? DVDs. In Battle for the Promised Land, they visit Old Testament books Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Pirate Pete takes flight in a hot-air balloon to help Sunday School Lady explain the book of Joshua.

Part Two: In Part 2, The Fabulous Bentley Brothers sing about the Book of Judges and Chester Whigget tells the story of Ruth.

DVD 5: Israel Gets A King! [1 and 2 Samuel]

Part One: "The People Want a King!" Covering 1 Samuel and the life of Saul as Israel's first king.

Part Two: "Kings Make Mistakes Too!" Covers 2 Samuel and the first chapter of 1 Kings, including the reigns of King David and his son, King Solomon.

DVD 6: A Nation Divided [Kings and Chronicles]

Part One: "The Big Split" Israel is split in two, and the prophet Elijah faces off with 450 prophets of Baal to prove that Israel's God is the true God!
Part Two: "The End of Israel" A bunch of unfaithful kings lead to the end of Israel and Judah, but Isaiah has an amazing message in Israel's darkest hour.

DVD 7: Exile and Return [Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther]

Part One: "Ezra & Nehemiah" The exile is over, but the Israelites face BIG challenges back home in Judah!  The Israelites return home to Judah to rebuild God's temple - a task full of unexpected challenges.
Part Two: "Brave Queen Esther" A brave young Jewish girl risks everything to save her people from doom at the hands of the evil Haman.

DVD 8: Words to Make Us Wise [Psalms, Proverbs & The Writings]

Part One: "Poems in the Bible?" Learn about the Bible's poetry, the amazing story of Job, and Psalms - the Bible's song book!

Part Two: "Wisdom from Above" Solomon shares his wisdom in the book of Proverbs, then Sunday School Lady finds the meaning in Ecclesiastes and explains how the Song of Solomon - a book of love songs - ended up in the Bible!

DVD 9: God Speaks! [Isaiah, Jeremiah & the Prophets]

Part One: "Prophets, Prophets Everywhere!"  What's a prophet?  And where do these 17 books fit in the history of Israel?

Part Two: "Messages of the Prophets" Meet the prophets that wrote these books and see what they tell us about God's big rescue plan!

DVD 10: Jesus Is The Good News! [Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John]

Part One: "God's Perfect Timing" Buck Denver and crew learn about the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments and how Jesus arrives at just the perfect time.

Part Two: "The Messiah has come!" Learn about the life and ministry of Jesus - how he died for us and rose again to launch the kingdom of God in the world and in us!

DVD 11: Spreading The Good News! [Acts]

Part One: "A Helper Arrives!"  Buck Denver and friends learn about Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit.  Then Jesus' followers make a big splash in Jerusalem - with the Holy Spirit's help!

Part Two: "God Picks Paul" It will take a very special person to carry the Good News throughout the Roman world.  After an amazing encounter with Jesus, a guy named Paul gets the job!

DVD 12: Letters From Paul! [Romans - Philemon]

Part One: Buck Denver and friends take a whirlwind tour through the 13 letters the Apostle Paul wrote to churches all over the Roman World!

Part Two: Dive deeper into Paul's letters and learn what it means to live as a follower of Jesus through big ideas like sanctification, the fruit of the Spirit, and spiritual disciplines!

DVD 13 "God's Kingdom Comes!" [General Epistles - Revelation]

Part One: "More Letters!" We journey through more letters in the Bible - Hebrews, James, and the rest of the General Epistles - and what they teach us about following Jesus.

Part 2:  "The Revelation to John" We've reached the end of the Bible! Revelation paints an amazing picture of God's Kingdom coming to life! Then we wrap up the WHOLE Bible - the story of God, and what He's done for us!



Note: supporting members have access to FREE detailed outlines of each What's in the Bible? DVD. Go to our Bible Video Guides Forum. You'll need to be a Supporting Member of Rotation.org to access them. You can join here. But they are a true time-saver for busy leaders, and they include "what to miss, and what not to miss" comments" as well as some good discussion questions.

Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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What's In The Bible - Teaching Resources (Children)

  • What's in the Bible Coloring Book", Jellyfish Labs (Cook), 9780988614451.
  • Books of the Bible Bookshelf Colouring Sheets link.
  • Picture Worksheets for younger children - of many major characters / stories of the bible. http://kidsbibledebjackson.blo...worksheets-list.html
  • "Route 66 - A Trip Through The 66 Books of the Bible", by Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 9781600225222.  Includes ideas for making a Souvenir Scrapbook of their journey and reproducible activity sheets for all 66 books of the bible, plus a great road map bulletin board idea.
  • "What the Bible is All About - Bible Handbook for Kids", Revised & Updated, by Henrietta C. Mears, Gospel Light, 2011, 9780830759439.  Updated version has added a connection to Jesus for each OT book, removed the few coloured pictures at end of book, improved readability layout, otherwise text appears to be the same and still uses same cartoon pictures except for Location of Books of the Bible graphics have been updated throughout.
  • "How the Bible Came To Us - The Story of the Book That Changed The World", by Meryl Doney, David C. Cook, 2007, 9780745920986.
    About the history of the book we call the Bible:  being a world best-seller, a scribe's life, finding the dead sea scrolls, how writing began, name of the first English Bible, when the printing press was invented, how bible translators work and translator's tales, etc. (lots of pictures).
  • "My Bible Journal", by Mary J. Davis, Legacy Press, 1999, Spiral Bound, 9781885358707.
    Walks kids through each book of the bible and includes fill in the blanks, further scriptures to read, and prayer space.  Nicely done!  Age pre-teens.

 

Books of the Bible Games

  • "Abingdon's Books of Bible Games", Abingdon Press, 2005, 9780687494804.  Includes 38 games to learn the books of the bible, plus reproducibles:
    - number cube pattern to make
    - giant game board pattern
    - Books of the Bible Bookshelves Reproducible Sheets
    - Scavenger Hunt Questions
    - Books of the Bible & Category Cards to reproduce.
Last edited by Luanne Payne

What's In The Bible -  Music Resources

  • DVD - "Buck Denver and Friends Present: Sing Through the Bible!",  Jellyfish Labs (Cook), 858100003762.  
    30 songs take you from Genesis to Revelation in a musical journey featuring your favorite characters from Whats in the Bible? - The Fabulous Bentley Brothers, Clive and Ian, Sunday School Lady and more! Includes sing-along lyrics for all 30 music videos.
Last edited by Luanne Payne

What's In The Bible - Teaching Resources (Adults)

  • "Simply The Bible" by Nick Page, Lion Hudson, 2013, 9780745955230.
    For each book it covers:
    - What is it?
    - About this book: Bite-size intro.
    - Starring . . .
    - What happens?
    - Why does it matter?
    - Surprise me! (Fun fact)- In Ten (main stories-scriptures).
    I really like this book and plan to use it - it's simple and in everyday easy to understand language, with some humor! 
  • "Bible Overview - Reproducible" by Rose Publishing, 2012, 9781596365698. 
    (Bonus: Permission granted to make up to 300 copies of individual pages.  AND it's only $19.99 U.S.!)
    Covers all 66 books, you will find:
    - The purpose of each book.
    - The theme and how it fits in with the rest of the Bible.
    - Author, date, audience, and brief history of that time period.
    - Key verses.
    - Outline of each book so you can find important stories fast.
    - Maps, time lines, charts, and full-color photos.
    - Archaeological discoveries that give insight into the culture of the time.
    - How Jesus can be seen in each book.
    - Application for God's people today.
    Great handouts!
  • "Through the Bible Book by Book", by Myer Pearlman, My Healthy Church, 2012.
    - Part 1 - Old Testament - Genesis to Esther - 9781624230004
    - Part 2 - Old Testament - Job to Malachi - 9781624230011 - Part 3 - New Testament - Matthew to Acts - 9781624230028
    - Part 4 - New Testament - Romans to Revelation - 9781624230035.
    More detailed, would be too much material to cover, but teacher could draw from.
  • "What the Bible is All About - Bible Handbook", Revised & Updated, by Henrietta C. Mears, Regal, 2011, 9780830759668.  I have not seen this but I love the children's version.
Last edited by Luanne Payne

Start or End the Evening with a Fun "Quiz"

Ideas:

Use at Start of each session - review of the previous book(s).

Use at End of each session - review of that day's book.

Use at Final Session - review of all books.

Software Games:

  1. "Fall of Jericho" - break into groups and assign each group character, can have up to four teams! This program you can input your own questions and answers in the programs editor.  Project onto a large screen.
  2. New since posted: Bongo Loves the Bible (Sunday Software)
    Note: Both of the above software programs are now FREE to supporting members, Learn more here!

Quiz Books

  • "Nelson's Amazing Bible Trivia - Book One", by Brad Densmore, Nelson Publishing, 2011, 9781418547455. Update 2023: now available as an E-Book 9781418589110.
    Section on each book of the bible in order and includes:
    - multiple choice questions for each book
    - fun jokes & cartoons
    - Answer key at end of each book.
    Note:  these are not easy questions - but the fun is in the learning, when they realize all they DON'T know! Or use with an adult class.
Last edited by Luanne Payne

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