Judy Kampia- Northern Region

Judy Kampia, Author of GOD'S GREAT BOOK, a Complete Collection of Bible Stories and Activities for all Ages.

 Did you ever feel like your major experiences in life led to one joyful task that, with the Spirit's help, seem to flow easily from within you?  That happened when I wrote GOD'S GREAT BOOK.

      As a young child in Colorado, I loved the Bible stories we learned in school and read at home.  At age thirteen, I found a new love teaching the stories as an aide in VBS.  In High School I decided to become a Lutheran school teacher and planned to go to Concordia, Seward, Nebraska.  But then my family moved to Maryland, and I changed those plans to Concordia, Bronxville, NY, and later graduated from Concordia, River Forest, Illinois. During these moves across the country, I found strength and comfort in favorite Bible stories that show God's help and guidance for those who trust Him.  They would continue to help me during other moves, challenges and adjustments as a Pastor's wife.

      During college in New York and Chicago, I volunteered in slums where churches opened their doors to children on the street.  We provided sports, music and crafts, and we invented our own activities to reach them with Bible stories related to their own troubled lives.  Later I taught in Christian schools in rural Illinois, inner-city Chicago, suburban St. Louis, a small town in Ohio, inner-city Pittsburgh, and an internationally populated suburb of Washington D.C.   While different, the children were so alike in their need to know Jesus.  

       In 1970 I married Rudy Kampia. Our first congregation drew young parents eager to attend an evening instruction class and a prayer group for which they needed child care.  So, while Rudy taught them, I used the kitchen of our small church for a class for children ages 3-12.  With homemade puppets, flannelgraph, costumes and odds and ends for projects, I tried to find exciting ways to reach them.  With God's help, and older children helping young ones, they enjoyed growing together spiritually.  Later, while I led a ladies Bible study, Rudy taught their children using lessons I prepared.  When our urban church had a family retreat each summer, I worked with the children, again a small group with varied ages.  I had to find exciting ways to teach ancient Bible stories to city children who would rather run. So we incorporated action and nature.

      Meanwhile I also worked on teams writing VBS materials for Augsburg/Fortress and Sunday School, Day school, and Early Childhood Materials for Concordia Publishing House. This gave me valuable training in writing for teachers as well as children.  Through these varied experiences, I saw a need for a a comprehensive children's Bible story book that could be used in different settings with varied ages and relate the lessons to the lives of contemporary children.   I ended up with 282 Bible chapters, each including a question to arouse interest, the story, questions relating it to our own lives, prayer suggestions, and several activity choices, plus a hint to teachers and parents of ways to present the story.

      God has amazed me with how GOD'S GREAT  BOOK  has been used.   I envisioned it to be adaptable for school, Sunday School, after school settings, home school, family devotions, and individual reading for children.  But when I've displayed it at conferences, it has ended up with missionaries to foreign countries, "children's church" leaders, and grandparents for their grandchildren (one of who reads it to her neighbors). It has also been used by adults unfamiliar with the Bible and even an Iranian immigrant conference hotel worker.  So, if God lays it upon your heart to take on a project that He prepared you for, you may be surprised at where He takes it!

       (GOD'S GREAT BOOK is available through Judy or at godsgreatbook.com, and is now also in e-book form.)

Judy can be reached at judykampia@gmail.com. Judy and her husband Rev. Rudolf Kampia live in Berwyn Heights, MD. Rev, Kampia is Emeritus Pastor at Redeemer, Hyattsville, MD.