Thank you Kid's Club leaders!

If anyone needs to hear "Thank you" it is the Wednesday night Kid's Club leader in your church. Many hours are spent preparing, planning, preparing, and planning some more. And when the big moment arrives when the children begin piling off the bus and roaring down the hallway into an overcrowded classroom, all the preparing and planning in the world does not always make you feel as if you prepared and planned. Coordinating stories, songs, goodies, prizes, treats for the "quiet" kids, games, object lessons, puppet skits, and some sort of system for keeping the volume at an acceptable decibel requires skill, diligence, and dedication. And PATIENCE! God bless those of you who have decided to give of your time and talents to further the Kingdom on a Wednesday night. We all know you have 131 other things you could have been doing all day besides preparing for this evening. God sees and keeps record even when the rest of us forget to say "Thanks." So to all Kid's Club leaders out there, "Thank you!"

Thought for the day

Mt 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.


Thank you Jesus, for giving Your life as a ransom for me!

Fall Harvest Party

Our Annual Fall Party/Halloween Alternative

Gourds for the children to paint.

Satisfy the sweet tooth!

Our Children's Ministry Leader, who planned and pulled everything together for the event.  Great job!

Lots of helpers!

A much deserved coffee break.

Registration personnel tearing their hair out.....WHO invited all these kids????

Unending energy.

 

This pumpkin's got a story to tell!

Angie, the Children's Ministry Leader, told how we are like pumpkins.  God puts a light in our hearts.  When you put the eye, nose, and mouth pieces back into the pumpkin, you cannot see the light inside.  When we have too much junk in the way, others cannot see the light of Christ in our lives. 

Bales of straw make a great obstacle course!

Hurray for hay rides!  It took 3 trips to give everyone a ride.

 

I found this li'l "jewel" waiting for a hay ride.

Face painting was a big hit!  Even the grown up kids enjoyed turning their epidermis into an easel.

Some of the big kids couldn't decide what the artists should paint on their faces.....BIG decision!!!

Looks like they got it figured out!

Two nearly inseparable l'il ladies showing off their decorated faces.

 Cute cat!

 

Cute bat!

One of  the artists wised up and looked up design ideas on his phone.

Yum!

Bird seed relay.

This was supposed to be a pumpkin ROLLING contest, not a pumpkin SITTING contest.

Ummmmm...........I think the sugar is getting to their brains......

OR it could be the face paint!....Did anyone check the label for side effects????

One bad chip defiles the bag!

For the story this morning, I took in a Ziploc bag of potato chips.  I asked for volunteers.  Three brave young souls were called up to the front of the class.  I gave each of them a couple of chips.  The rest of the class looked on quite jealously, so we decided to share them with the rest of the class.  Then I took one chip out of the bag, chewed it up, and spit it back into the bag with the rest of the chips.  I then offered more chips from the bag to my volunteers.  Amazingly, no one was hungry for chips any more!  I asked them why not?  "They have saliva on them!" and "Gross!" "Eww!" or "You chewed one up and spit it back in there!" were the typical answers.  Then I went on to explain that I only chewed up one chip.  The rest hadn't been in my mouth.  They still refused to eat them!  The lesson I was able to teach them is that just as one bad chip ruined the whole bag, just one sin ruins our hearts and makes them dirty.  One little lie, or disobeying a parent, or taking something that is not theirs, will ruin their hearts.  But Jesus will forgive them if they ask Him, and come into their hearts and make them clean inside.

We always try to incorporate the message of salvation into our lesson every week...you never know which child you may never see again.  They move away, or lose interest, or perhaps die before they get another chance to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Almost every Sunday, we lead the entire class through the sinner's prayer for the benefit of the new child or the one who has never made the decision to follow Christ.  Make it easy for each child to find Christ whenever they are around you!

It's Sunday!

Time has slipped away as I have been designing this blog this evening.  The clock has struck midnight and I am quickly turning into a pumpkin.  Soon it will be time to get up, throw a bowl of cereal at the family, wash their faces, dress them in their finest, and march them out the front door in an orderly manner to make the ten minute drive to the Lord's house.  There we find other early morning risers who are also very serious about this whole evangelism thing, and exchange bleary-eyed good mornings.  The next few minutes will be spent doing final preparations before the busses roll in loaded with hyper kids gobbling down the last of their cookies.  The children will walk into the classroom, sit in a chair ever-so-not-quietly, and cast curious glances at the teachers, as if trying to decide what's in store this morning.  Some will rush in with a hug for teacher, others too little for our class will be lugged in by an older sibling who insists that their little brother or sister will NOT go to their own class. Upon which the wise teacher will say to the little sibling, "Let me show you something fun!  Would you like to come with me? I will show you where all the other 3 year olds are!" And the little sibling will cautiously allow the teacher to lead them gently to the class where the 3 year olds may do their own 3 year old thing without disrupting the bigger kids who need to focus on the lesson intended for them. And so will begin another Sunday.  Now it is time for this wise teacher to say good night, or her early morning bleary eyes will be even blearier.  God bless you all this Sunday as you carry on your work for Him!