When dreams become reality…
Mark 10:45 (NLT) For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others.
So more kids than usual knew their memory verse this week, and it was a long one. We learned this week that selfish things are not the most important things we should go after. Instead, Jesus teaches we should seek to be selfless by serving other people.
Mark 10:45 (NLT) For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others.
Yesterday was a great day. It started out with a day to the doctor and good news. The cysts are shrinking. Yeah! No appointment for 2 weeks. It is such a relief.
On our way into the office,a dear friend called to tell me of the experience with her granddaughter the night before. She shared with me of the precious family time and what was expressed by this bubbly little child. My heart welled up with joy when I realized it was what she had learned in her class on Sunday morning.
When I came into the office, there was a card in my box from a family thanking me for taking leadership of the children’s ministry. I am so thankful I made the decision to accept the position.
On Sunday, I stood in the back of Faithstation and listened as Rodney asked questions of the kids about the lesson the week before. The story was about when Jesus was young and his parent couldn’t find Him and He was in the temple. The kids recall of the story was amazing. It did my heart good.
For those of you out there who have kids in Faithstation I am very close to getting the website up. Each week the memory verse will be on the website, until it is I will post it here.
I Cor. 10 :13 (NLT) The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so you can endure.
Words cannot express the emotions I have felt over the last 80 days. There have been times I have felt overwhelmed, but God has reminded me to love the kids, parents, volunteers and have fun.
Staffing looked to be a big obstacle, especially in the nursery with only 6 volunteers. I knew this is where I needed to begin by first setting teams in place that worked together on a rotation basis. Each day I would ask God to direct me who to call or ask. Now there are three teams of four with a team leader in place and curriculum.
Our two and three year old class has tripled in size requiring more staffing. The curriculum I was able to find is great and the teachers have done a great job teaching these active bundles of joy through purposeful play.
The teachers in the 4 and 5 year old class have been teaching with us the longest. They have done an amazing job expanding what they are doing and have only needed a few reinforcements and resources.
High energy activities, praise and worship, and multi media are just a few of the changes I made in our 6-9 year old class (Faithstation). I also have worked to theme every 8 weeks so we have colorful props and incentives each weeks for kids to bring their Bibles, learn their memory verse, bring visitors, participation in small groups and answering questions. I have also doubled our adult staff. I am excited about where we are headed.
Each week I say to myself, “How could we have done the details better?” ” What did we miss?”
After 80 days, I can say there are NO open positions in Kids ROCK and I have a waiting list of people waiting to work in classes.
Children are not are the future they are at the very heart of the kingdom now.
Over the past 6 weeks I have dealt with my share of Sunday morning hurdles. I usually get very focused when dealing with them. Through past experiences in life I have learned to be prepared as much as you can so that if the unexpected happens you have time to deal with it and I pray alot!
Sunday morning the projector was out in The Theater. This is a huge deal since the curriculum we use is on DVD and shown on the large screen. What do we do with 50 kids for 2 hours? I spoke with one of my team and we discussed taking the kids to the fellowship hall. We reorganized the schedule and went straight into small groups. Myself and one of our sound guys went to get the fellowship hall ready for the lesson.
Off we go with 50 kids down the hall to the fellowship hall. We had to notify the ushers in case the parents came during the lesson and put a portable sign that told our location.The kids did extremely well and so did the team. No one missed a beat. It was as if nothing had happened and we were supposed to go on a field trip. We were back in The Theater for another activity and ready for parent pick up.
I can’t imagine what I would do or where Kids ROCK would be without the amazing volunteers that serve every week.
