Man – A bit late on this post to say the least! Patti and I had her parents in from New York last week, my parents arrived yesterday, I’m still looking for a job, the transmission in our van died, temp jobs, four kids, writing curriculum… ! Aaargh, how do we do it?! I guess it’s only by the grace of God, ’cause I’ve gotta tell you this is bigger than I am!
OK, enough of my whining and on to Sunday’s report!
In case you didn’t know, we do use competition as a tool to help keep order and interest during the service. Kids get individual prizes (like candy or Kid Bux) and teams get points – the winning team will get a prize at the end of the service. They are awarded prizes/points for various things, like participating enthusiastically, leading in prayer, following our W.I.N.S. Rules as well as other things.
By the way, W.I.N.S. is as follows:
Whistle means quiet
Interrupting is un-cool
No un-kind behavior
Stay in your seat
Attendance was up again! I think we may very well be dealing with a number of kids who are with Mommy this weekend and Daddy the next. That coupled with vacations… but again, did I mention attendance was up!
So was the enthusiasm! When I ask the kids if they like what is happening in KidZone, the overwhelming response is that they LOVE IT! And we love that they love it!
Our Power Point, which is the main thing we try to convey to the kids was, “I Can Serve God Now!”. They don’t have to wait until they are 21 to serve! And serving God can be done in so many ways… it can include helping your parents, helping out at school or at church! Many of our kids help each week by tearing down the classroom with us and many kids also help Saturday night, laying carpet & setting up chairs for the adult services!
Kids can also serve God with their money. We continued to build on Pastor Joe’s lesson from last week with the “M&Ms” (Money Management). Kids learn that money is an important part of life and that giving is a way that they can also serve God now! Parents, we do collect an offering during our service, as we want to get the kids used to participating in this act of worship while they are still young. Please help them to do so by giving them a chore to earn a little money to manage – or perhaps talk with them about funds they may receive as an allowance or gift money and remember, they can’t manage what they don’t have!
I was really excited to be able to share some new worship material with the kids. We just ordered and received two CD’s that Patti and I have used in the past and they are EXCELLENT! In fact, I was asked to duck out to the adult service to sing on a song with Matthew and the worship team. When I got back, I found the room rocking full tilt, with voices and motions! We taught them the song “Everyday” by Joel Houston. I’ve gotta tell ya… I think in a few weeks the kids could get up on the adult platform and lead a song during worship… That would be awesome! If only word were to get to our Worship Pastor… Hmm… I wonder if he reads this blog?
Our Scripture Memory Verse was, “You’d be a fool not to see that faith without action is useless! – James 2:20″. I actually taught this lesson and wound up scrapping what I had planned on the spot and instead talked about BIG STRONG DEAD PEOPLE! What?! You see a body that is big and strong (faith) is totally useless if that person is dead (works)! But a big strong person, full of life can be very useful and productive – even changing the world! That’s what we need to do!
By the way parents, please check this blog every week, because I will post the memory verse and power point. The kids also get them each week on a business card… although this week they were hand written since my printer died! But again, you can always come here to get it – and please do. There’s only so much teaching that can be done in an hour on a Sunday… YOU need to be involved in your child’s spiritual development. We want to partner with you and give you some tools to help, like our Scripture Memory Verse and Power Point!
As excited as I was to report last week that we had curriculum on order, as I alluded to earlier in this post, it ain’t here yet! So, I had to write another lesson for this past Sunday. And it looks like I’ll be writing tomorrow for this weekend as well (in a way, I’m glad I don’t have a job right now, ’cause this stuff would never get done otherwise!). I am looking forward to the new material arriving, because I’ve been up until about 3AM each week putting on the final touches on stories, artwork and multi-media (yeah, a youth pastor does what the entire adult staff has to do… and does it with a smile. Although it may be partly out of delirium!).
Anyway, my teenage daughter Raina again contributed artwork to our “Today’s Life Story”, which gave us a look into Kelly’s brother Albert’s life (see picture)
Albert was so impressed with his little sister aiding in two salvations the week before that felt challenged and decided to seek ways that he could serve God NOW! He helped out Mr. Gleek at school; he helped his parents at home, even though they didn’t notice, each parent assuming it was the other that had helped out around the house. And, of course, Albert helped out at church! He was always a part of the set-up team, since their church met at a school and in particular, he helped out with the audio. When the bass player fell off the stage and broke his arm, Albert, being recognized as someone who was always serving, was given an opportunity to serve by playing the bass during the adult service – quite an honor for a teen!
Hey, you know what else would be an honor? It would be an honor to have you serve with us! For anyone interested, we are looking to build a team of teachers to help out in all the children’s areas, including KidZone. If you would like to learn more, please get with me!
As for this coming week… Who knows what will happen with Kelly or Albert or maybe there is another character waiting to be revealed? Maybe even Mr. Geek… uh, I mean, Mr. Gleek will make another appearance…
You’ll just have to check back to see!
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KidZone
UpRising Youth
