Mekai Bailey, a busy 7-year-old, listens to Kids Corner every night to calm himself down at the end of the day.
Mekai plays hockey and basketball, takes drum and guitar lessons, and participates in “Joy Jam” every Sunday morning at Jubilee Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in St. Catharines, Ont., where he also attends Calvinist Cadets, a program for boys.
“Kids Corner helps me in my faith because it inspires me to do good things and brave things to help people who might not be Christians,” said Mekai. “I always learn about God from the episodes, and it teaches me about following in his footsteps.”
Mekai’s mother, Anna Lensink Bailey, family and youth coordinator at Jubilee Fellowship, agrees. “I love that he can turn his attention to a beautiful, fun story that has a biblical theme or message. I often hear him quietly singing the songs from Kids Corner along with the episode that’s playing, and I love that it’s the soundtrack of his dreams.”
Mekai describes himself as “a fun, active, adventurous guy.” That’s why he likes Liz, Kids Corner’s main character in the stories. “He’s kinda like me,” said Mekai. “He gets himself into trouble, but he finds a way to get out of it, and he’s adventurous.”
He added, “I like that Kids Corner uses stories about lizards to sound like a Bible story or lesson from the Bible.”
“That’s our goal,” said Ron VandenBurg, Kids Corner producer for ReFrame Media, the English-language outreach of Back to God Ministries International. “We want kids to identify with the characters and learn to be lifelong followers of Jesus.”
Mekai said, “I can help people know about God just like Liz and Grandpa Anole do on the episodes.”
The Baileys have been listening to Kids Corner since Mekai was 3 years old. “At first we just listened to [the CDs] when we went on trips in the car,” he said. “Now I listen to it all the time on the app.”
“I can say that Kids Corner has definitely contributed to Mekai's faith formation,” said Anna. “We talk about the stories and I often hear him singing along to the songs from his bed.”
You can find this faith formation material at KidsCorner.net.
About the Author
Nancy Vander Meer is a staff writer with Back to God Ministries International in Grand Rapids, Mich.
