It's all about how you teach it!

In Clubhouse Live! (formerly elementary Kid's Church) we have had our fair share of struggles to get kids to pay attention.  It's that way everywhere, but it has been a larger than normal task for me as I have come to this church with new kids.  We're still learning about each other, and through various methods, I have been able to teach respect for God's Word, Worship, and Prayer.  Again, still getting there, but it's a marathon, not a sprint.

One way that most kids, (and especially my kids at AFA) love to hear the Bible Story told is through interactive skits.  Yesterday we used some kids as part of our story to tell about baby Moses.  The Bottom Line for the day was "Use Your Imagination to Think BIG!" The idea was that Moses' Mom, and his big sis Miriam thought BIG to come up with a solution to the problem of Pharaoh's decree that all baby boys would be killed.

Enter 5 student volunteers, and one willing Intern, and we had a great object lesson:

Somewhere under our intern, Cameron, is a laundry basket he was sitting "in."  :D  The green on his head are "reeds by the water" that our volunteer, Corbin, decided to put on Moses' head, rather than wave them by the water (whatever works!).

Last week, I taught a little differently.  I had some slides that we never used because we had technical difficulties all brought on by the fact that it was our first day in a new room with old equipment.  So what the kids ended up seeing was Pastor Aimee talking with no visuals, trying to make the Creation story sound really interesting.  What did I get?  A bunch of wiggly kids trying their best to focus, but not quite holding it together.

But yesterday, I had props, I used volunteers, and lots of humor and we ended up with an awesome story that drove home the bottom line beautifully.

It truly is a no-brainer, but a really good reminder to me that it's all about how you teach it!

Small World to The Clubhouse Remodel

Here are a few pictures of what we have done in Small World, which is now called "The Clubhouse." In addition to the pics here, we also moved our nursery into the kid's building, and painted our 4's & 5's room.  More pictures to come later, but here is a look at our Clubhouse Live! room, and our new Lobby/Check In area.

Lobby before (with the ceiling tiles already removed for painting)....

Lobby after (at our Open House)...

Meeting room, upstairs Small World, mostly used for adults (taped & ready for painting)...

At our Open House, our new Clubhouse Live! room....

It's difficult to capture the change on my phone's camera, because you can't feel the excitement, or see the looks on kids faces when they realize we have created a place just for them. Very soon in our morning services, we will show a video of the transformation from beginning to end.

The Latest

I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since I blogged.  However, I will not write a whole paragraph about what has stopped me.  I'm just going to give updates!

I would have to say that Jason and I, and our family are in the busiest season of our lives so far.  There are amazing things happening at our church, and at home 4 kids - one being an infant; well, it just keeps life interesting to say the least!

We have had lots of great things happening in our Children's Ministries at AFA.  Early in September we launched (or re-launched) Junior Bible Quiz.  I had a huge response from parents and kids that blew my socks off.  I waffled back and forth at starting it or not, knowing I did not have the time to add something.  BUT, God kept whispering to my spirit that His Word was more important than my agenda.  Last Saturday I was able to take some of those kids up to Portland to experience their first Tournament, and now they are stoked about the rest of the season!

On Sept. 25th we started Kid's Choir, and have begun practicing for our Christmas Musical in December.  I am so blessed to have leaders and an army of Choir Moms that are helping out.  It's going to be a great musical, and a fun way to teach our kids about ministry.

THE biggest change we have made in the recent days/weeks is the Grand Opening of "The Clubhouse" (formerly Small World).  The Clubhouse is our children's building where now for the first time EVER you can drop all of your kids, birth through 5th grade off on Sunday mornings in ONE place.  We have painted, re-carpeted, installed new flooring, moved counters, added counters, added decor, created new logos, put in a new security system, fired up the check in system, and a few minor things as well.  I am still recovering from the excitement of the weekend, and looking forward to settling in to our new home in the Clubhouse where Clubhouse Live!, Clubhouse Jr, and Baby Clubhouse will meet every Sunday.

I am seeing God do amazing things.  At the heart of it all, I believe God is calling all of our leadership to deepen our walk with Him, so that as we disciple our kids we do it with our lives, just not with our words.

I am looking forward to what lies ahead with great expectancy!