A Time for Everything

I am sure this passage from Ecclesiastes 3 is familiar to us all... "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..." (3:1, NIV)

The Message Bible says it like this... "There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth..."

As I came on staff here at Albany First Assembly last year, one of my jobs was to assess all of the current programs to see how they were doing, and to see what we could do to make them as effective as possible.  We have a wonderful group of adults who give now, and have given in the past to make our Royal Rangers and Girls Club Programs successful.  More than just successful as a program, though, these folks have committed to making sure our kids here at Albany First are growing in their faith.

While these programs are still relevant and hugely effective in a lot of churches across the world, right now, for this time at AFA, through speaking with our Children's leadership, Pastoral Staff and Volunteers, we determined that Royal Rangers and Girls Club were probably not the best fit for our church during this season.  There were many factors in making this decision: everything from the volunteer need to wanting to better serve our visiting children.

God has birthed a vision in my heart, and our Children's Leadership Team has helped me champion this vision.  Next Wednesday Night, February 1st, we will debut a new program called Discovery Club. Discovery Club will give each child in Kindergarten through 5th grade the opportunity to come each week and be taught an exciting Bible lesson, grow in peer relationships, eat fun snacks, and learn one hobby or skill each month.  We will be bringing in special guests each month to teach things such as Woodworking, Cooking, Photography and First Aid.

Our lessons will tie into the virtue that we will be presenting each month in Clubhouse Live!, meaning your child will have only ONE concept, and ONE verse to learn each month.  Won't it be great for each child in our church to have firmly grasped 12 Scriptures and Virtues, rather than loosely grasped 52?

I am excited about this new program, and I think our AFA kids will be excited as well!  We will kick off Discovery Club with a month of "Mythbusters!" So parents, please remember to bring your kids to The Clubhouse, Rm 203-204 (Where Clubhouse Live! meets) next Wednesday, Feb. 1st @ 7:00 for Discovery Club!

A little Self Control

Every month in Clubhouse Live! we focus on one virtue.  The word virtue can be defined: moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.  Each month we tackle something that is important for our kids not only to know, but something that will help shape character, and draw them closer to Jesus.  

For the month of January, our virtue is Self Control.  Now as a parent, I am very excited that my two girls are learning this virtue.  I don't know about you, but the way our kids react in tough situations is a BIG deal to me.  Of course I am thinking ahead to when they are teenagers, and need to recall the things they've learned when in a tough spot....but let's simplify it a little bit.  One of my kids, who will remain unnamed, has the tendency to react in a way that is not so appropriate when he/she is faced with a less than favorable situation.  I feel such an urgency right now to teach this child of mine the value of responding appropriately.  For instance; when something is desired (such as candy, time on the Wii, a sleepover with a friend) and not given, obviously the inappropriate reaction is any of these: screaming, stomping, crying, dirty looks, etc. 

Here's the thing: as parents, Jason and I punish that kind of behavior.  But WHAT IF this certain child of ours learned the virtue of self control?  And by learn, I mean - get down deep in their heart and weave itself into the fabric of their character?  It would preempt this behavior because they would be able to control themselves.

Our bottom line yesterday was "pause before you lose your temper."  Sounds easy enough, right?  Well, for some kids, it's not.  So we spent the entire hour talking about this, and prayerfully, turning this head knowledge into heart knowledge for these kids. Thankfully, we have three more weeks on this virtue.  My prayer is that at the end of January, our AFA Kids are applying these principles to their everyday lives.  It might just make your lives as parents more peaceful!

Goals

I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago.  The reason is simply because I could never manage to follow through.  This is odd for me, because I am a fairly driven, goal oriented person.  I would make a goal to lose the last 15 lbs of baby weight, or read the Bible through this year...typical resolutions, but I couldn't for the life of me follow through.

A couple of years ago, I decided that if I could tackle a couple of manageable goals; not even really huge things, just small goals that might make a big difference in my every day life - I would feel more success than if I resolved to run a 5K or learn to play the guitar.

The year 2011 can probably best be described in one word for me: overwhelmed.  On April 1st I gave birth to my 4th child.  On April 13th my family and I moved to a new town, and Jason and I started new jobs on staff at Albany First Assembly.  On May 17th (my official first day in the office after maternity leave) I began the long process of rebuilding a Children's Ministry.  Lots of things were lost in that process...a clean house, time with my oldest three kids, the feeling of calm.

So, to make 2012 the year of Productivity, Contentment, Family Time, & Ministry Wins, I decided to choose some small measurable goals to help me stop "treading water" and rise above that feeling. Here are examples of 3 goals that I have made this year.  They are no brainers.  They are things most of you probably already do.  But for me, they are already affecting the way I feel -

1.  Make the bed every day.  Sometime (probably around kid #3) I stopped doing this.  It is amazing how fulfilling it is to walk into my room to a made up bed.

2.  Go to bed with a clean kitchen and clutter free living room.  I know, I know...you probably think my family and I have lived in filth this past 9 months.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  But I did choose sleep over cleanliness sometimes.  Already, 4 days into this, I feel a sense of calm when I wake up, not agitation.

3.  My iPhone sits on the counter after 5pm.  No checking Facebook or Twitter or the other apps that rob my family of my time.

These are just 3 small goals (among others) that I have made for myself.  After a few weeks they will turn into habits, and I will be well on my way to feeling less overwhelmed.  Make this year BETTER than the last!

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!

More of the Bible

God placed something heavy upon my heart on Sunday. It was a busier day than normal for me; I was doing an announcement in both of our morning Adult Services, had extra things to set up Sunday morning for Kid's Church, and had to do some games for the families at our afternoon church picnic. I was also going to teach Sunday School to the 5th graders too, until Jason took that off my plate. But in the midst of all that running around, God spoke something very specific to me during Worship in our 2nd service. Our kids need to be in the Word. Now, that's obvious I know, but guess what? Our kids are not reading their Bibles. They are not bringing them to church. So I quickly jotted down 5 things:

• I need to hold my Bible every time I speak to the kids in Kid's Church so they know that the Words I am saying come straight out of God's Word.
• I am going to give kids incentives for bringing their Bibles to church with them. Yes, for awhile they will bring it to get candy, but soon they will bring it because it's habit, and they want to.
• I need to get some Bibles for kids who don't have any.
• We are going to do "Sword Drills" (old school, I know) in Kid's Church to help kids learn how to find Scripture references in the Bible.
• I am going to put together a School Year Bible Reading Plan so that kids will establish a daily habit of reading. Yes, I will give prizes, but again - it will develop a good, lifelong habit.

The Word of God needs to be central in everything we do in Children's Ministry, and I'm committed to that, and encouraging kids to make it a lifelong habit - something that becomes second nature to them; something they cannot live without.