Summer Update

Wow, I can't believe it's already the second week of July!  As always, here in the world of Children's Ministry at AFA we are staying super busy.

Above you see a picture of me right after the girls made me into a Human Ice Cream Sundae following an intense offering contest during Mega Sports and Ministry Camp.  I am so proud of our kids - they gave a total of $823 to Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge during that week.  Way to go girls eking out a win over the boys!

In addition to our offering contest, tons of amazing ministry happened during the week.  Over 60 volunteers united to bring high quality sports and ministry instruction to our community.  At our camp we offered basketball, soccer, volleyball, football, cheerleading and ministry.

The most important part of the week was the spiritual growth!  Over 50 kids made the decision to trust Jesus with their whole hearts!  All of the kids walked away with the tools to go "Beyond the Gold" in sports and in life, and many learned a HUGE scripture that will stick with them for years to come.

In addition to Mega Sports Camp, we have already had a great time in Discovery Club building derby cars and rockets.  We all gathered on June 24th at our First Annual Family Grand Prix.  In a couple of weeks we'll send our rockets soaring! I've also been busy celebrating our 5th graders, then a few days ago, we several vans full of kids to the Oregon Zoo.  It's been a wild ride!

One thing I don't want anyone to miss out on is our Kid's Camp that is coming up August 1-4.  I don't want anyone to miss out because of funds, so please email, call or Facebook me if that is holding you back.  It's going to be an awesome week that your kiddo will not want to miss!

That about sums up our summer so far - I am so excited about what God is doing, and even more excited to experience the rest of the summer with your kids!

Meals for Missions

We have set a HUMONGOUS goal for our kids this year to meet for BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge).  One of the ways that we have broken it down into bite sized pieces for them is to simply say: 1 Quarter = 1 Meal.  You see, we are partnering with Convoy of Hope to feed hungry kids all over the world, and in several different countries, a child can eat a nutritious meal for just .25.  Chances are, if you run into a child that attends Albany First and comes to Clubhouse Live! or Discovery Club, and you were to start this sentence: One quarter equals.... They would respond enthusiastically with: ONE MEAL!

Our latest challenge for our kids is to purchase 5,000 meals by our last night of Mega Sports Camp on June 29th.  (5,000 meals is equal to $1,250).   By putting it in "meal" terms rather than dollar amounts, it makes it more manageable and the kids have grasped the impact that they are making all over the world.

We have given them all sorts of ideas including asking for extra chores at home, cleaning out their room and having a yard sale, a soda can drive & lemonade stand.  The idea is for them to come up with a creative way to make the money and then give it away!

Here's part of their motivation: although I am very certain that purchasing meals for hungry kids is motivation enough :), IF our kids purchase those 5,000 meals, either the girls or boys (depending on who gives the most) will have the opportunity to make ME into a human ice cream Sunday as we wrap up Mega Sports Camp on the 29th.

If you feel compelled to give and help out our Albany First Kids, let me know!

Family Grand Prix

As a Children's Pastor and Mom of four awesome kids, family is a HUGE priority to me.  Not just mine, but yours too!  As we look at all of the things we do at Albany First, one of my main concerns is that we allow adequate opportunity for you and your family to spend time TOGETHER at various events here.

One of those events is coming up very soon:  our First Annual Family Grand Prix!  Last night we started building cars in Discovery Club.  It was so much fun.  I saw everything from a good 'ole fashioned sports car, a Hummer, a pencil, and even a Tootsie Roll.  I can't wait to see the finished products on June 24th.

There are several ways you and your kids can get involved.

• Your kids can enter in the "individual" category
• Your family can enter a car in the "family" category
• Your small group can enter a "small group" car
• Your ministry leader can enter in the "ministry/pastors" category and you can help them!
• You can enter your awesome looking car in the "best in show" category

Don't have kids?  That's okay!  You can still enter a car in one of the above categories, or you can just come out to cheer everyone on, and connect with others.

Our awesome Youth Fine Arts Team will be selling concessions to help raise money for their upcoming trip to Nationals in August.

So...don't miss our First Annual Family Grand Prix on Sunday, June 24th at 5:00pm in the Family Center!

Dealing With Bad Habits

Our kids are getting older, and we have come to the point where we see some bad habits emerging.  About two years ago when my oldest two girls were seven and eight,  I started to realize that I still did a lot for them that other kids were doing for themselves.  Just daily things that they were more than capable of doing for themselves.

Just a few months ago, I noticed a pattern though.  One of them was constantly coming down dressed for school in wrinkled clothes.  After some investigating, I realized that when I gave over the job to them of folding and putting away their laundry, over time they had gotten less and less careful and had begun shoving armfuls of clothes, unfolded into their drawers.  Hence the wrinkles.  I had to go back, reteach them how to put away clothes, helping them to break a bad habit.

One of my kids has been struggling with the habit of nail biting.  She's been doing it for a long time, and the extent of our intervention to this point is, "Hey, ________, stop biting your nails!"  She smiles, nods her head as if to say "got it, Mom" and stops for a few minutes.  We realized though, that her nails were painfully short, and the habit was pretty out of hand.

My awesome sister-in-law who is living with us for a time came up with a solution.  We talked about the yucky stuff you paint on your nails or other methods I have heard about.  In the end though, we knew that this particular kiddo would not respond well to that method.  So, Candice took another angle.  (It helped that the solution did not come from Mom or Dad).  Candice told her that if she grew her nails to her finger tips, she would take her for a girls day and get manicures.  Seriously, that's all it took.  That was about 8 or 9 days ago, and every day our daughter shows us noticeable growth, and it so impressed that Mom was right, and her nails actually have grown quickly.

It won't be long before she's kicked this habit and will proudly show off her new, manicured nails.  All it took was:

1) Recognizing the bad habit
2) Coming up with a solution to breaking the habit that was unique to her personality
3) Providing incentive to break the habit

It's not rocket science, but if we as parents deal with the small, seemingly "harmless" habits now, they won't struggle with them later as adults.  Do you have a good method of dealing with your kids habits?  Leave me a comment and let others learn from you as well!

Obedience

This month in Clubhouse Live! (our weekend service for elementary schoolers) we have been talking about Obedience.  In fact, our Main Points a couple of weeks ago were simply "I Obey God Because I Trust Him," and "I Obey God Because I Love Him."  We made these concepts really easy for your kids to grasp.  There are times when I think it is conveyed to kids unintentionally that "We Obey God Because He is God."  True, maybe?  And while this is probably true to some degree, sometimes we have to break it down a little for our kids.

For instance, on Mother's Day, "I Obey God Because I Trust Him," was our main point.  We talked about how we obey our Mother's because we love them, so why should it be any different with God?  I am hoping that our AFA kids are growing from these teachings, but I always aim to grow myself as I teach kids.

Two weeks ago we attended our annual Network Summit in Salem.  I was really looking forward to the lineup of speakers, and I learned a lot.  While it's easy to just take notes like crazy and have almost none of it sink in, there were a few nuggets that I gleaned from a couple of sessions.  One had to do with obedience.

One of the speakers was Larry Osborne, Pastor of North Coast Church.  He taught a session on discipleship, and I can honestly say, it was nothing like I thought it would be.  Here is his first point:

"Never forget that the ultimate mark of a disciple is  obedience to what we know."

 He said also that "obedience is simple" and that we need to "keep walking the path in front of you doing what you know (is right)."  As I thought through these statements, I realized how simplistic they are, but how sometimes I over complicate things and end result: I fail at the obedience thing.

Think about it:  each day I wake up and ask God before my feet hit the floor, "God, help me to walk the path in front of me and do what I know is right."  I have been living this out the last couple of weeks to the best of my ability.  It has enabled me to obey in some small ways that I really hadn't viewed as disobedience until I really looked that them in their right context.

God has a way every once in awhile of paralleling my Sunday Kids' teachings with what he is teaching me personally.  It's allowed me to walk a biblical path with my kids, knowing that on two very different levels, God is teaching us the same things.

10 Reasons Why Your Kids Need to Come to Discovery Club

Hey AFA parents.  I have noticed a trend at our Wednesday night program, Discovery Club.  Last night, about 1/2 of all the kids were kids who do not attend our Sunday services.  While I looked around and thought it was pretty awesome that several of those kids are unchurched friends of our AFA kids, I realized that there is a trend that works both ways...we have lots of kids that attend Sunday that don't attend Wednesday and vice versa.

Discovery Club is a program that is designed to reinforce the Biblical truths we teach on Sundays, while taking time to teach the kids on hobby or skill a month.  There is ample time each night for relationship building, snacks and just plain fun.

Today I thought I would give those of you whose kids come Sundays but don't come on Wednesdays, 10 Reasons Why Your Kids Need to Come to Discovery Club.  Here they are in no particular order.

1) It will free you up to attend one of several classes offered to help you grow in your relationship with Christ.

2) Your kids will make tons of new relationships with other kids.

3) Your kids will connect with other adults who are genuinely invested in your child's spiritual development.

4) Your kids will learn new hobbies and skills each month that they may not otherwise be exposed to.

5)  Wednesday nights build a bridge between Sunday and Sunday.  We review key verses & main points, and retell the Bible stories in new, creative ways.

6) We emphasize FUN.  The games are crazier, the music is louder & the atmosphere more relaxed than Sunday.  This makes Wednesdays super appealing to bring friends to.

7) We keep track of things like wearing their DC shirt, bringing offering & friends, and even if they bring their Bible.  This helps them earn points they can spend each month on fun prizes.

8) Discovery Club is way more fun & meaningful to your child's development than sports are (Ouch.  Did I step on your toes?  No offense intended, I promise).

9) Your child will grow spiritually.

10) Discovery Club serves as a program that branches into other events, like our upcoming Family Grand Prix (more info soon) and our annual Camp In & Sleepover.

So what do you think? If you don't already attend regularly, please consider doing so.  I would love to see your kids each Wednesday at Discovery Club!

5 Months In

We are all five months in to a new year.  About this time, I start to feel like "new" is not really an adjective that I can associate with a year...after all, it's almost half over, right?

I took a quick look this week at how I am doing with my personal goals for the year.  I purposely only set two big goals - the others where small, but very measurable.  I am doing well with those.

My big goals though...well, I classify them as big because while they are measurable, they are harder for me to accomplish.  Here they are:

1.  Run a 5K this year.
Now, when I say run a 5K, I don't mean choose a race to enter, run it, and sit back with satisfaction at what I have accomplished.  My goal here was physical fitness, and to consistently run over 3 miles 2-3 times a week.  I won't rule out actually entering and running a race, but I want this to be more than just an end goal.  Make sense?  So how am I doing?  I would give myself a 3 on a scale of 1-5.  I run, on average 3 times a week.  I haven't made it up to my distance goal yet, but running is much easier than it was 3 months ago.

2.  Re-vamp my blog and post 2-3 posts a week.
Obviously this is just now happening.  The 2-3 times a week thing is still something I have to work towards, but I have spent time this week re-doing the look of everything, adding some info, giving direction and purpose to my blog. I hope you'll come back often to see what's up around here.

So how are you doing with the goals you set for yourself in 2012?