COTN Kids

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I am so proud of the COTN Kids! December 11th was our special COTN Kids Christmas service, and it was fantastic! The Lord used the kids and so many others to minister to the congregation in such a special way. I'm so thankful for God's faithfulness.

Leading the congregation in Christmas carols.

COTN Kids dancing to "Shake Heaven" at the end of the service.

The very next week, the COTN Kids celebrated the end of the Pop-Out for Missions Challenge that we've been participating in. The kids gave up soda (or something else) for three weeks, and received pledges from parents, grandparents, teachers, etc. to give money to BGMC. On Sunday, the kids brought all the money they received or earned for the challenge, which was almost $500! Wow! The kid who raised the most got to pour soda all over Miss Kristin. 8 cans of soda to be exact. Here are pictures of the sticky-ness!

Cold and sticky... but happy!

So proud of these kids for sacrificing something all for the sake of the Gospel!

What a wonderful way to end 2011! God has done such great things in the COTN Kids Ministry! Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Update

2011-11-29T13:57:00.001-05:00

Greetings! It's been quite a while since we've posted an update here on the COTN blog, so I thought it was about time. We've been super busy getting ready for the special Christmas service presented by the COTN Kids on December 11th! We're very excited and can't wait to see how the Lord will use these kids to minister.

Also, our Pop-Out for Missions challenge is currently in progress! We've challenged the COTN Kids and families to give up soda (or something else) for 3 weeks, until December 18th! The money you would have normally spent on it will instead go to BGMC to help spread the Gospel to children across the world. We have pledge forms available as well for kids that would like to get pledges from grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, etc. Let's see how much we can give to missions by the end of the year! The kid who raises the most during our Pop-Out Challenge will also get to participate in something that's once in a lifetime - turning Miss Kristin into a root beer float! Oh my! We'll be having a special party in Kids Church on December 18th to celebrate!

We'll keep you posted on how our Pop-Out Challenge is going and will hopefully have lots of pictures from our Christmas service soon! Blessings!

50 Days of Hope continues... Home

2011-10-26T14:11:00.001-04:00

Home was the focus of our past 50 Days of Hope service for the kids. While the adults were talking about how to raise and discipline children, the COTN kids were learning how they should be treating their parents. To put it in one word - HONOR.

Ephesians 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother' - which is the first commandment with a promise - 'so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.'"

The Bible is very clear that a child's main job is to obey and honor their parents. In Kids Church, we heard the story of Ruth and Naomi. Even though Ruth wasn't Naomi's real daughter, Ruth chose to honor and obey her mother-in-law. Naomi asked her to do something very bold one day, but because Ruth chose to obey, Ruth was happily married to Boaz, and their family was taken care of. And you know what else is really neat? Because Ruth chose to obey Naomi, Jesus was eventually born out of Boaz and Ruth's family line! God truly blessed her for her obedience!

We spent some time asking God to help each one of us obey. And not only do what we're told, but obey with a right attitude. It can be hard, but as we've already learned, the Holy Spirit is there to help us!

Make sure you're here this Sunday as we'll be doing a very special activity for a Halloween outreach on Monday night! See you there!

Harmony and Grace

2011-10-18T17:47:00.001-04:00

We had a blast in Kids Church this past Sunday! Along with learning about how God wants us to treat others, we had a baby shower for Mrs. Rebecca and baby Grace. So much fun! Special thanks to all of you who blessed Mrs. Rebecca with some incredible gifts!

Here's a summary of our lesson. Look for pictures from the baby shower soon!

Since the adult topic for this week's 50 Days of Hope session was Him/Her, we figured our COTN Kids wouldn't be too interested in discussing marriage principles. So, this week we talked about HARMONY and how God wants us to treat our friends, and even our enemies.

Bottom Line - I should live in harmony with others.
Bible Verse - "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." 1 Peter 3:8
Bible Story - The Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37

Here's your challenge for this week. Re-read the story of The Good Samaritan at home, and talk about the message Jesus was trying to tell his disciples about how we should treat others, especially our enemies.

Next week we'll be talking about HOME and the most important job a kid can have. See you next week!

Hurt & Help

2011-10-11T11:38:00.002-04:00

The past two Sundays have continued 50 Days of Hope for kids! We talked about HURT two weeks ago, and HELP this past Sunday.

Our Bottom Line for HURT was: I can show God's love even when I'm hurt. We talked about how all of us have been hurt by someone else. Not just hurt physically, but hurt in our hearts. What do we do with that hurt? It's very easy to try to get back at that person. Or just decide to stay angry with them. But God wants us to do what can be sometimes difficult. He wants us to forgive. To show kindness and love in response to the hurt in our hearts. A good way to do that is to pray for that person that has hurt us.

But how do we do that? It sometimes seems too hard to do on our own. Well, we can't do it on our own, and this is where this past Sunday's lesson comes in. HELP. Our Bottom Line was: The Holy Spirit is my Helper. God helps us by be what He wants us to be by giving us help. He doesn't leave us to figure things out on our own. He has given each of His children the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us and brings back to remembrance everything He has taught us. He also teaches us new things so we can be more like Him.

Our friend Horatio learned about this too.

It's pretty amazing how the Holy Spirit helps us be more like Jesus. Next week, we'll be talking about Harmony, so make sure you're here to find out how God wants us to treat our friends and family.

See you on Sunday!

Hope

2011-09-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday began our first week on our 50 Days of Hope journey! Our focus was, of course, HOPE. We spent time talking about what hope is, and learned that the only hope that won't every disappoint us is our hope in Jesus Christ. Which brings me to our Bottom Line for this week - My hope is in God's love and forgiveness!

As we're journeying through the 50 Days of Hope together, we'll be following the adventures of our puppet friend, Horatio. Horatio will be learning right along with us about each week's topic. Here's the video for this week's "Horatio's Happenings".

After watching Horatio's confusion about being disappointed after hoping for things, we spent time talking about how Jesus will never disappoint us, which means we can have hope in His love and forgiveness, knowing that it will always be there. Our Bible story was about the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. We saw how the son put his hopes in the things of this world, and ended up losing all of his money and his happiness. However, when he decided to go back home, he began hoping that his father would accept him back. And he did! It's just like our Heavenly Father. Whenever we come back to Him, we can have hope that he will always love and forgive us.

Make sure you pick up our Hope Handout every week. On it you'll find a recap of everything we've learned about in service, including our weekly topic, Bottom Line, and Bible verse. Also, there's a special place for your kids to write some things down about what they've been learning during the 50 Days of Hope. If they bring it back the next week, we'll put it in our Hope bucket for a special drawing for a prize!

Oh, and one more thing... Horatio needs some help. He can't remember his last name and needs suggestions for a new one. So have your kids write down their suggestions on the back of their Hope Handout to turn in. We'll decide based on the suggestions we get.

Here's our theme verse to be thinking about this week! See you all on Sunday.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

50 Days of Hope - for kids!

2011-09-16T10:52:00.000-04:00

50 Days of Hope begins soon! And as you're signing up for small groups and getting excited about the upcoming 50 days, we're getting ready for 50 Days of Hope COTN Kids-style!

Your kids will be learning right along with you as we talk about hope, hurt, home, heaven, and lots of other things. Each week's topic in Kids Church will fit with the topic you will be talking about during the week at Sunday's service and your weekly small group... just a little more kid-friendly! This is a perfect opportunity to learn together as a family as we learn more about the hope that is found in Jesus Christ.

50 Days of Hope begins on Sunday, September 25. We HOPE to see your kids there!

Gentleness, power under perfect control

2011-09-13T13:44:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, we finished our final lesson on the fruit of the Spirit. Our focus was gentleness. Here's a quick recap:

Faith Fact - I will care for others when they mess up.
Truth Verse - "Let your gentleness be evident to all." Philippians 4:5
Bible Case File - Jesus Shows Gentleness, John 8:1-11

Our Faith Focus says, "Gentleness is an attitude. It is strength under control. It is showing kindness and love to all, including those who don't earn it." After playing a riveting couple of rounds of the "move the cotton ball using only the spoon in your mouth" game, we started talking about what it means to be gentle. The feedback I got from the kids sounded something like this: "being kind", "It's kinda like when you're holding a baby", "You have to be gentle to animals", and "being nice to others". The kids had a pretty good grasp on what it means to be gentle, however, there was one point I really wanted to make, and it's this: Being gentle doesn't mean we're weak. We talked about Jesus and how he was the most powerful human being to ever walk the planet, however, he was also the most gentle. Gentleness is power under perfect control. Choosing to have an attitude of gentleness is something only the Holy Spirit can help us with. We looked at the Bible Story of Jesus saving the woman who had been caught in sin and was about to be stoned by the Pharisees. Jesus demonstrated perfect gentleness to her and because of that, she left having committed herself and her life to following Jesus.

This week, let's focus on showing gentleness to those around us. Catch your kids doing something that displays God's gentleness and tell them how great it is that they're allowing the Holy Spirit to grow this fruit in their life.

We've had an absolute blast learning about the fruit of the Spirit with Adam Apple, the Commissioner, and each other. But just because we're finished with this series, doesn't mean learning about the fruits of the Spirit has to stop. Continue to ask the Lord to help your family grow in each of these fruits.

Also, your kids may want to watch the videos for each lesson again, so here's a list of all of the passwords to enter on the Faith Case website. Have a great time continuing to learn about the fruit of the Spirit, and as the Commissioner says, "God bless and good hunting, everyone!"

Lesson 1, How Do I Grow the Fruit of the Spirit? - 6958
Lesson 2, Patience - 7430
Lesson 3, Love - 3960
Lesson 4, Joy - 7901
Lesson 5, Self-Control - 3579
Lesson 6, Peace - 8133
Lesson 7, Faithfulness - 5902
Lesson 8, Goodness - 7639
Lesson 9, Kindness - 6826
Lesson 10, Gentleness - 8990

Kindness

2011-09-08T15:14:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday our fruit of the Spirit focus was kindness! Here's a quick peek at what we learned. To watch the Faith Case videos from our lesson on Kindness, visit www.faithcase.com and type in this code - 6826.

Faith Fact: I will be nice to everyone!
Truth Verse: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32
Bible Story: The Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37

With your kids, stress the importance of kindness being produced only by the work of the Holy Spirit. This one is easy to try on our own, but to have true and consistent kindness that is of God, we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to grow this fruit in us. It can be hard, but since He is the source of kindness, the Holy Spirit will help us as we learn how to walk in kindness every day!

Goodness

2011-09-01T15:53:00.003-04:00

This past Sunday's fruit of the Spirit was Goodness!

Faith Fact: I will do what is right.

Truth Verse: "Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." 3 John 11

Bible Case File: Zacchaeus Meets Jesus - Luke 19:11-10

Goodness is acting like Jesus. It is both refusing to do evil and choosing to do things that help others - whether or not others deserve the good things we do. True goodness comes from having Jesus in our life and choosing to live for Him.

To watch Adam Apple and the Commissioner's investigation about Goodness, just visit www.faithcase.com and type in this password - 7639.

Can't wait to see everyone on Sunday as we learn about our next fruit of the Spirit!

Grace is here!

2011-08-31T16:16:00.001-04:00

At 11:40pm on August 29th, a blessed event occurred. Our COTN Kids baby, Grace Laura Costa, has finally arrived! Mrs. Rebecca and Phillip are a happy new mom and dad! I'm sure she'll be coming for a visit to Kids Church as soon as she can!

Faithfulness

2011-08-23T11:28:00.000-04:00

It's so good to be home and back with the COTN Kids! The trip to Korea and China was great! It was long and busy, but the Lord did some really amazing things that I'm sure you have heard about or will hear about soon. I'll post a link to some pictures in a few days.

But while I've been gone, the kids have still been learning about the Fruit of the Spirit. We did some review (aka, Candy Questions) in Kids Church on Sunday, and the kids really knew the answers. I can tell you've been doing this at home with them, and that's so fantastic! While I was away, the kids learned about Joy, Self-Control, and Peace. I was asking the kids what peace meant, and here's an answer I got from one of the girls. "Peace is like if you're in a really dark room and you see a scary shadow, you know that God is with you and He'll never leave you. You have peace in your heart." Isn't that perfect? I'm so happy the kids have really been listening and letting the Lord speak to their hearts about the fruit of the Spirit.

This past Sunday we talked about Faithfulness. Our faith fact was, "I will not quit" and the verse, "A faithful man will be richly blessed." Proverbs 28:20

We talked about God's faithfulness - how He will never give up on us or break His promises to us, and how we need to live lives that are faithful before the Lord. What does that look like? Never giving up. Not giving up on worshiping and obeying our Heavenly Father, and not giving up on the things that we've been given to do. Also, when we're faithful, we know that others can count on us to keep our promises. So this week, as a family, ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow faithfulness in your life and watch to see what He does.

If you'd like to watch the videos from this week's Faith Case, the code is 5902. Enter it at www.faithcase.com.

The Investigation Begins!

2011-07-12T17:23:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday began our exciting investigation of the Fruit of the Spirit during Kids Church! Your kids will be following the Commissioner and the wacky fruit inspector, Adam Apple, as we all learn together what the fruit of the Spirit is and how it can grow in our lives.

Each week, look for the take-home page with the main points of our lessons as well as the weekly Faith Fact, the Theme Verse, the Bible story, and a special code for the Faith Case website. Visit www.faithcase.com, click on the "For Kids" tab, enter the code for the week, and your kids will be able to watch the Commissioner and Adam Apple again as they discuss the different fruits of the spirit we'll be learning about. I'll also be posting a quick review here each week, just in case you missed a Sunday, so make sure your kids are able to keep up with us as we investigate the fruit of the Spirit!

Here's a review of this week's lesson, "How do I grow the fruit of the Spirit?" -

Faith Focus - Growing the fruit of the Spirit is a partnership. The Holy Spirit helps me make the right choices to grow.

Faith Fact - The fruit of the Spirit shows Jesus in me.

Theme Verse - Galatians 5:22-23 - "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Bible Case File - The Vine and the Branches, John 15

Here's the secret password for the Faith Case website! Remember to look at it this week! - 6958

Can't wait to see you all next week!

Kids Sunday!

2011-06-13T12:21:00.009-04:00

Kids Sunday was amazing! The Holy Spirit used our COTN Kids in such an incredible way. Here's some pics! (Special thanks to Leisa Ulrich for all of these!)

Ryan, aka Spiderman, receives his Gold Medal of Achievement.
What an accomplishment! Congratulations!

Sweet Mpact Girls

The B-I-B-L-E

2011-05-17T15:42:00.000-04:00

"The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the Book for me, I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!"

Can you guess what we talked about in Kids Church on Sunday? :) (Just a side note to the lyrics above: I always pictured somebody actually standing all by themselves on a Bible as I sang this when I was little - "I stand alone" - I never could figure out why I had to be alone to stand on the Word of God. Why couldn't I do it with other people? Hmmm...)

Here are the lesson details -

Question - Why should I believe what the Bible says?
Bottom Line - The Bible is like no other book. It's the Word of God.
Bible Lesson - 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Memory Verse - Psalm 33:4

As I explained how awesome the Bible is to the kids on Sunday, I found myself getting really excited about it myself. I mean, it's the most amazing book every written! Here are some quick facts:

The Bible was written by over 40 people
The Bible took over 1,600 years to complete
It's made up of 42 books and 21 letters

It's a history book, romance, and adventure all in one! Plus poetry, songs, wise sayings, and some of the craziest things you've ever heard. (I mean, Jonah gets swallowed by a whale?) And all of it is 100% true! Pretty awesome. But not only that, it's inspired by the God of all creation and He even says in this amazing book, that it's "living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword". You can look at it as our instruction manual for life. Written by God directly to us, His children. Amazing.

So in light of all that, I gave the kids a challenge. And that was to read this Book every single day this week. Many of the kids took the challenge and came to the altar, where we got a chance to pray with them, that the Lord would speak to them this week as they read His Word. Join the kids and take the challenge yourself. It's amazing how difficult it can be to take the time to read the Bible every day. But it's so necessary to our lives. And oftentimes, it's the way that God wants to speak to us. I'll be praying that the Lord will encounter you and your families this week as you spend time in His Word!

Miss Kristin

Oh, and I found this fun song about the books of the Bible - your kids might enjoy it. :)

All the King's Men

2011-05-03T16:40:00.001-04:00

That phrase sounds very noble, doesn't it? All the King's Men. However, if you had to stand before the king and all of his men for the purpose of convincing them that you shouldn't stay in prison for forever, it might not sound so noble after all.

This was Paul's dilemma (after already spending 2 years in prison) in front of King Agrippa and his men. And this is what we talked about in Kids Church on Sunday. Here are the main points:

Question: How can I tell others what I believe about God?
Bottom Line: I can tell others about God by what I say and do.
Memory Verse: Psalm 33:4
Bible Story: Acts 25:23-26:32

As we've been following Paul's journey and his experiences, we've discovered that Paul is a pretty determined dude. He's not going to let much stand in his way of telling others about Jesus. We used this story this week so we could look at Paul's example of exactly HOW he told others about Jesus. For kids, talking about Jesus can be intimidating sometimes, especially if they're faced with the consequences of possibly being made fun of or being labeled as weird. Most of the time though, we think that telling others about Jesus only involves our words, and that's not necessarily true. Yes, Paul did "say" many things about Jesus, but he also lived out his Christian faith. This is the most important thing. We discussed how it's so important to not only talk about Jesus using our words, but "talk" about Him using our actions. If we go and say that we're a Christian, then let somebody cheat off of our math test or start making fun of the guy in the cafeteria that wears funny glasses (these are kid examples, of course :) ), then we're not speaking much about the love of Jesus to those people.

One of Paul's main ways of telling others about Jesus was by telling others about his own personal testimony. This is what he did in front of King Agrippa. He told them about Jesus by telling them about his own personal experiences. But he didn't just say it, in those two years of being in prison, he lived it too. He had been accused of starting riots, but he hadn't caused any problems while in prison. The example of his actions added to the words of his testimony was enough to convince King Agrippa that Paul was telling the truth, and that maybe there was something to this Jesus guy after all.

It's pretty easy to talk like a Christian. It's alot more difficult to live like one. But thankfully, this is where the amazing grace of God comes in. Talk to your kids this week about what it means to really tell others about Jesus Christ -- by what we say AND do.

He is Risen!

2011-04-26T16:40:00.000-04:00

He is risen indeed!

The wonderful thing about Easter Sunday is remembering that we live in the ever-present reality of Christ's resurrection all the time. Our time in Kids Church celebrating the reality of the resurrection was GREAT! Here's what we learned:

Question - How do I know what to believe about God?
Bottom Line - Jesus rose again so that you would know He is God.
Memory Verse - 1 Timothy 4:12
Bible Story - Acts 17:16-34

We were able to continue our journey of faith with Paul. This week we learned that Paul visited a place called Athens, Greece and found that the people that lived there worshiped all kinds of gods. There were statues and temples everywhere! There was even an altar dedicated to an unknown God. Paul was burdened by this and ended up telling the leaders of Athens about this unknown God, the one true God, JESUS! And the main evidence he gave them to prove that Jesus was God was the fact that He died and was raised from the dead!

This is the way we know that Jesus is who He says He is. If He had only died, then He would have been like any other man. But He didn't! Jesus was raised from the dead three days after His death, proving to us that He is alive, that He is God, that He conquered hell and the grave, and that all His words are true! What an awesome God we serve!

Don't let the reality of the resurrection slip by just because we celebrate Easter on one day. We live in this reality every day. We were reminded of that in Kids Church when one of our girls shared with everyone her testimony. She had just gotten saved a few weeks ago and told us that she knew that she needed Jesus in her life because she had done wrong things and knew that she had never asked for forgiveness. She said that she prayed to be saved and when I asked her how she felt after that, she said, "Excited. I felt like new." Our risen King truly does make all things new! I pray you will continue to live in this reality throughout the rest of this week.

Oh, and don't forget to bring BGMC Buddy Boxes filled with change this Sunday, May 1st!

Missions Month BGMC total!

2011-04-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

I finally have the official count of all the BGMC change given during our COTN Kids Missions Month!

But before I give the final total, here's the numbers for the final week - BOYS - $31.15 and GIRLS - $41.85. Way to go!

So now..... Drum roll please.....

The total that the boys gave in the 4 weeks of our Missions Month was - $146.95! And for the girls - $195.59! So it looks like the girls pulled it out this time! But our GRAND TOTAL all together was $342.54!!! That's a little more than $80 a week!

I am so proud of our COTN Kids! They are so willingly giving their money to help other kids throughout the world hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What an awesome example.

Don't forget... Keep collecting change to put in those Buddy Boxes! The next time your kids can bring them back to church will be Sunday, May 1st.

How Can I See God?

2011-04-14T15:55:00.000-04:00

Maybe this has been the subject of some conversation at your house this week. At least, if your kids attended Kids Church on Sunday, then I hope it has!

Here's a quick update on what we learned on Sunday -

Question - How can I see God?
Bottom Line - I can see God through the love of others.
Bible Story - Ananias and Barnabas (Acts 9:10-31)
Memory Verse - 1 Timothy 4:12

Saul saw God in his encounter on the road to Damascus, however he also saw God in many other ways as well, especially through the love of Ananias, Barnabas, and the Christians in Damascus and Jerusalem. Most of the time, God's not going to reveal Himself in a blinding light as we're driving down the road. But He does show Himself, many times through the love of other believers. Be a vessel of God's love this week, and talk to your kids about how they can do the same.

Can't wait to see you all on Sunday!

The Road to Damascus

2011-04-07T10:45:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday began our JUMP! Spring Series and it was fantastic!

Be on the look-out for an update each week right here on the blog about what we are learning, along with our weekly Question and Bottom Line. Also, we'll be sending home Parent Cue Cards for you to continue the discussion of faith at home with your kids. Here's a quick look at our lesson this past Sunday...

Question - Who is God?
Bottom Line - If you want to know who God is, find out more about Jesus.
Memory Verse - "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. Set an example for the believers in what you say and in how you live," 1 Timothy 4:12 NIrV

During our lesson, we talked about how faith is believing in something that you can't see and how it's OK to ask questions about things. A lot of people say that it's wrong to ask questions about God and that we just need to believe, and it's true that we need to believe, but it's also OK to ask questions. In fact, the more questions we have about God, the more we'll learn about Him! Each week we'll be asking a question and finding out the answer, so our question this week was "Who is God?" Now, that may seem like an easy question to answer, but the reality is that no one knows everything there is to know about God. So even if you know God right now, there are still things that you can discover about Him! We were introduced to a guy in the Bible named Saul, and Saul thought he knew everything there was to know about God and His rules, but boy, was He wrong! Saul was the typical bad guy. Wanting to kill everybody that didn't agree with his version of faith, until he had a miraculous encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. The encounter left Saul blind and wondering what was going on, but Saul was determined to find out more about this Jesus guy that showed up in a blinding light on the road. So I'm sure that if you asked Saul today who God is, he might say something like our Bottom Line, "If you want to know who God is, find out more about Jesus". That's our goal as we continue looking at this journey of faith we're all on and follow Saul's story as He finds out more about Jesus.

We're looking forward to next week!

Oh, and stay tuned for the final BGMC update! The race between the boys and girls is neck-and-neck! We'll announce the winners this week during Kids Church.

Jumpin'! and a BGMC update

2011-03-30T09:26:00.000-04:00

This Sunday is the launch of our special Spring Series entitled "JUMP!: Putting Faith in Motion"! I'm so excited to JUMP! into the middle of Paul's journey with the kids as they discover what putting their faith in motion looks like. The next 8 weeks will be a fun and faith-packed time, so don't let your kids miss out. And tell them to invite their friends!

Also, this will be the last Sunday the kids get to bring back their Buddy Boxes for BGMC until next month, so get those filled up with change! The boys really stepped it up this week and are closing in on the girls fast! This past week the girls gave $46.84 and the boys gave $71.40, wow!

Here's the 3-week total so far -- BOYS - $115.80 and GIRLS- $153.74. That's a GRAND TOTAL of $269.54 in three weeks! That's AMAZING! I'm so proud of each one of these boys and girls!

And don't forget about the COTN Kids sleepover this weekend for all 2nd-5th graders. Cost is $5 per kid. Drop-off is 6:00pm on Friday night and pick-up is 9:00am on Saturday morning. Feel free to contact me if you need further info.

Kids Fest pictures

2011-03-25T11:23:00.002-04:00

Here are some pics from Kids Fest! Enjoy!

Friends!

Big and strong!

Even after fighting, they're still friends

Putting the memory verse in order

Of course, Mr. Kendall and Mr. Ryan had to give it a try.

Cambodia and BGMC update

2011-03-22T16:13:00.000-04:00

BGMC Update

Well, the boys and girls were in a neck and neck race this past Sunday. Literally. They both gave the exact same amount of money to BGMC - $25.05! Woohoo! The current running total is: BOYS - $44.40 and GIRLS - $106.90. The girls are still winning, but it's not too late for the boys! I love that each of these kids are giving so willingly to the Lord. This week we'll talk about how it's really all God's money anyway. He decides to give it to us, and the best thing we can do is give it back to Him. If you didn't see our first post about what BGMC is and our purpose for giving to missions, click here to read it.

Cambodia

This past Sunday, we talked about the country of Cambodia. A friend of mine, Amy Davidson, came to talk to the kids about Cambodia. She was there for two months last year and will be leaving to live there in August of this year as a missionary. She was able to share some fun and interesting facts about the country (the kids loved the stories of the rats and alligators, of course!) She also spent a little bit of time telling us what she will be doing there to help share the Gospel of Jesus. We also heard a true missions story that took place in Cambodia and how the Lord miraculously provided food for two very hungry children. We learned that God does in fact hear us when we pray, and will always take care of us! It reminded us to pray for the people of Cambodia, knowing that God hears us when we pray for them. Take some time this week as a family to pray for the people of Cambodia and the missionaries, especially Amy as she leaves this summer.

Don't forget to bring your Buddy Boxes again this week!

*All BGMC funds given this month will go to the country of Japan to help missionaries and Japanese families.

BGMC is Launched!

2011-03-15T16:07:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago, the COTN Kids officially became a part of BGMC, which stands for Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge. This is a ministry in the Assemblies of God that allows kids to give to missions and learn about God's heart for the nations of the earth. (For more info on BGMC, click here.)

For our first week of Missions Month we learned about the country of Afghanistan, learned how to speak some Farsi (the official language of Afghanistan), and gave everyone a Buddy Box with which to fill during the week with the change they are collecting for missions. Throughout the month, we're doing a boys vs. girls challenge to see who can bring the most money for BGMC. This past Sunday, the kids brought their change back in their Buddy Boxes and we learned about the country of Spain and the awesome things the Lord is doing there to bring the Spanish people to a knowledge of Christ.

During the lesson, Mr. Kendall spent the whole time counting the change in the boxes, first the boys' change, then the girls'. We wanted a total by the end of service, so we would could celebrate the hard work of the kids to give sacrificially to missions. Little did I know what the total would be. Are you ready for this?

Drum roll please.....

In just one week, the total for BGMC giving this past Sunday was..... $101.20!!! WOW! Keep in mind, these are kids. And 99% was pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters!

The official breakdown was: BOYS - $19.35; GIRLS - $81.85. So, the girls are kinda smokin' the boys right now, but the boys still have a chance!

They say that for every dollar that is given to BGMC, at least 3 people hear the message of the Gospel. So in one week, the kids have helped to reach over 300 people for Jesus Christ! I can't wait to see what the Lord will do in the coming weeks as the kids continue to give, learn about God's heart for the nations, and build a foundation for giving that will last a lifetime.

Parents, you can help us out! Any leftover change that you have, give it to your kids to put in their Buddy Boxes. There's really nothing better you can do with that change anyway! If you were like my parents, and put your change into a jar every few days, give all that change to your kids. Or let them have the coins from the change you get at a restaurant or grocery store. Let's see how much we can raise to send to missionaries across the world this month! You never know, if we reach a certain amount, something really fun might happen! But that might be a surprise :)

JUMP!

2011-03-09T16:15:00.001-05:00

Are you ready to JUMP?

JUMP! is a special spring series during Sunday morning Kids Church that will teach kids to put their faith in motion. Each week, we are going to JUMP! in the middle of Paul's journey and watch the story of his radical faith unfold!

Sounds fun, right? Well, you can be a part of this faith-building series! If you enjoy teaching, worshipping, acting, or just being with kids, then we've reserved a spot for you! Not only will you get a chance to minister to some great kids, we can guarantee that you'll be ministered to as well.

We're looking for an excited team of youth and adults that enjoy kids and are willing to step out in faith to teach kids to do the same. Here's a list of opportunities for you to get involved:

Small Group Leader - help lead a small group by teaching short lessons, playing games, developing relationships, and praying with kids
Host/Greeter - greet kids with a big smile as they come in on Sunday mornings and escort them to their small groups
Crowd Control - sit with kids during the large group session and pray with them during ministry times
Actor - be a wacky skit character each week during the large group teaching time! (requires some script memorizing)

JUMP! is an 8-week series lasting from April 3 - May 22. We'd love for you to be a part, so grab a postcard and info sheet from Guest Services, fill it out, and hand it to Miss Kristin, or feel free to contact us for further information.

Kids Fest!

2011-02-22T16:01:00.000-05:00

Kids Fest is coming up, March 11-12! This is an event your kids won't want to miss! It is a fun and spirit-filled weekend for kids or the entire family at Timberlake Retreat Center in Forsyth, GA.

Registration forms are available at Guest Services at COTN or Kids Church check-in. The deadline for turning in the registration forms is this coming Sunday, so make sure you reserve your spot! The cost is $40 per child, $20 per adult, or $120 for a Family Pack, which includes registration for everyone in your family. Even if you have 10 kids, it's still only $120 for a family to attend. :) Pretty good deal. There will be awesome services, fun games, inflatables, face painting, and snacks galore. Meals and lodging are included in the price.

The COTN group will be leaving at 5:00pm on Friday, March 11 and returning Saturday evening, March 12. Please contact Kristin Crawford at 706-353-1199.30 if you have any questions or need more information.

Junior Bible Quiz

2011-02-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

February 5th was the final regular Junior Bible Quiz meet of the inaugural season here at Church of the Nations. Our teams did really well this meet with four of our members placing in the top ten quizzers. Way to go team! We started studying back in August and had meets in September, October, January and February. Our league consists of 16 teams from north Georgia. We divide into two divisions of eight teams and compete in seven rounds per meet. Our kids have been meeting almost every Sunday morning from 8:45-9:45 to study and practice. This doesn't count the multiple hours of practice at home. JBQ is for kids in 1st through 6th grades that desire to learn more about God's Word. It teaches them fundamental Biblical knowledge and truths, learning to hide God's Word in their hearts.The meets are simply practical ways to have friendly competition against other churches and teams. Although the regular season is complete, we still have a team going to district finals in March, so keep us in your prayers. Our next season will start in late summer and we will advertise it in the bulletin. So consider giving JBQ a try if you are up for the challenge of learning more about God's word.

Pictures coming soon!

-- Yancey Shuman, JBQ Coordinator

Pictures!

2011-02-15T11:58:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from Kids Church! Enjoy!

Playing a game from "Minute To Win It"!

Special Valentine's Day game! Using chopsticks to move conversation hearts from one bowl to another.

Putting the words to the memory verse in order

Now the experts play! They were fast!

Acting out the story of the prodigal son

L-O-V-E

2011-02-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is coming up soon! Some kids love it, some kids don't... I admit, I've always been a sucker for Valentine's Day. Mostly because of the little conversation hearts. They're my favorite :)

The great thing about this holiday is its devotion to the celebration of love, and as Christians, we have a never-ending reason to celebrate love. But not just any love as defined by the world. The Love we celebrate is too big for us to even comprehend. So make sure your kids join us in Kids Church this Sunday as we continue with the "My Heart's a Bucket" series and focus on God's amazing love for us!

Oh, and remind your kids to bring back their take-home papers for our Love Bucket drawing this week!

Little Teachers

2011-01-25T15:39:00.002-05:00

"Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?"
"Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?"
"Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?"
"Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?"
"Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?"

Allow me to interject some personal thoughts here. Normally, my posts have everything to do with what the kids are learning and nothing to do with what I'm learning. So here you go. This was my lesson on Sunday during Kids Church. 'My lesson' as in not what I taught, but rather what I learned.

The previous 5 questions actually happened about 8 times in 15 minutes. I counted. And it was the same question. 8 times. In 15 minutes. That's the same question every 1.875 minutes. If you're a mom, you're probably thinking, "Kristin, you have no idea." And you're right. I don't. So here I was, in the middle of singing and worshiping with the kids, being asked the same question over and over again by two children. "Miss Kristin, can I get a drink of water?" We have a little rule, that once we've started worship, all requests to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water are on hold until worship is over. Yet here I was, being asked for the 8th time. Even after I had said (7 times), "Not right now. We need to wait until worship is over. Then you can get some water." I was getting frustrated that I was being pulled out of being able to worship with the kids. Oh, how I longed to help the kids understand what worship really is. These are all thoughts that were running through my head.

Little did I know what was in store for me.

You know, I was actually pretty proud of myself though. It was one of those days where I felt more patient than usual. I was only slightly irritated. But I was still able to attempt a smile, get down on their level, and prepare to say in a patient tone what I had already said 7 times. I was getting pretty good at this patience thing actually. As I began with the few sentences that were getting rather old, "Not right now. We need to wai......."

......a thought hit me. I knew it was the Lord.

It went something like, "Kristin, you do this to Me all the time. Yet, I never am impatient with you."

Ouch.

OUCH.

I looked down at the little girl and another thought hit me. Yet again from the Lord. "Present your body as a living sacrifice. This is your spiritual act of worship."

Worship. Oh geez.

Maybe I was the one that needed some teaching on what true worship really is. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of the infinite patience of God. All of God's attributes are infinite. All of them. Infinite. Without end. Meaning, He NEVER gets impatient with me. The term 'long-suffering' is actually not that accurate. It makes it sound like God 'suffers' long with us. But He doesn't 'suffer' at all. It's nothing for Him to say things over and over and over and over again. Or listen to us over and over and over and over again. Or offer His love, only to be rejected, over and over and over and over again. He's infinitely patient. And He asks me to be like Him. Especially to these kids.

In that moment, I realized how much I have still to learn. About patience. Worship. Humility. I'm so thankful for "little teachers". They help me remember that God loves me even in my weakness. He's not put off by it, but rather, He pours His strength into my weakness so that He alone receives all of the glory.

"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..." Galatians 2:20

Perfect Peace

2011-01-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

As I was thinking about this past Sunday's Kids Church lesson, I was reminded of this verse...

"You will keep Him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You" - Isaiah 26:3

The reason it was brought back to memory was because of our last 15 minutes of Kids Church. We had spent the morning talking about soaking in God's presence. How it's important to spend time just focusing on the Lord. So that's what we did for about 5-10 minutes before we closed out our service. All the kids found a spot in the room where they wouldn't be distracted by their friends or other things, we turned on some soft worship music, closed our eyes, and focused on the Lord. Even though it was only a few minutes, the atmosphere of the room had changed. After I closed us out in prayer, all the kids were reluctant to move from their spots. Some of them kept their eyes closed. It was so peaceful. Hence, the verse from Isaiah. I asked the kids if they felt better after spending just a few minutes in the presence of God, and they all nodded a 'yes', some with big, bright eyes. :) It was a sweet time.

The At-Home Challenge for this week is to do just what we did in Kids Church. Spend about 5-10 minutes just focusing on the Lord. I encouraged the kids to listen to God. He loves to talk to us, but most of the time He speaks in a whisper.

Oh, and don't forget to bring back the take-home paper so we can put it in the Love Bucket for our drawing!

Ready for the.... SNOW?

2011-01-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Oddly enough, the title for our Kids Church lesson on Sunday was "Ready for the Rain?" ....maybe I should have changed it to SNOW.

If you didn't get to look at the take-home paper your kids brought home for the week, I'll give you a mini-lesson here, then I'll post something fun my family and I did yesterday while playing in the snow. Your kids might enjoy seeing Miss Kristin get wet.

As you know, our title was "Ready for the Rain?" Our big idea was "Positioning my heart is key to receiving." Our verse - "I will pour out My Spirit on all people" Acts 2:17. We learned that God wants to pour out all sorts of good things into our lives and hearts, but our hearts need to have the right 'heart attitude' in order to receive it. The kids brainstormed some of the good things that God has for us (love, joy, peace, forgiveness, etc.), then we talked about how to position our hearts so we can receive. It's kind of like a bucket. If it starts to rain and the bucket is turned upside down, it can't hold the rain. But if it's turned right-side up, it can hold all of it. Each kid spent some time in prayer asking the Lord to help them have a heart that is turned 'right-side up' and a heart that wants more of Him so we can have all the good things the Lord wants to pour out on us.

Here's the important part: THE AT-HOME CHALLENGE!!!

Here it is - Every day this week, pray and ask the Lord to pour out His love into Your heart. There are many things the Lord wants to give us, but this week, we're going to focus on love. Don't forget to fill out the bottom of your take-home page, write a prayer request on the back, and bring it back to church on Sunday to put in our Love Bucket.

Awesome. OK, here's the video of the Crawford's snow fun. Enjoy!

Oh, and by the way, that was a cookie sheet we were using. :)

Happy 2011! and a look back at 2010...

2011-01-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Happy 2011!

I do realize that we're already a week into the new year, but since this is the first COTN Kids blog posting of the year, there's at least some cause to celebrate. I thought I'd ring in the new year on the blog with a quick look back at 2010. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

Mr. Josh gets pied!

Easter

Fall Kids Festival

Kids Fest

playing Minute-to-Win-It at a COTN Kids sleepover

dress-up night at Kids Camp

Aren't we a good-lookin' group of Camp Champs? :)

Miss Kristin and TJ the Tiger at Project Go

having fun in the cafeteria at Kids Camp

Will Blackmon plays Santa Claus :)

It's been a good year. I'm so thankful for this past year and I'm looking forward to what 2011 holds for us! My brain's been swirling with ideas, so buckle your seat-belts!

Oh, and if you're a pre-planner (which I am trying to learn to be), check out the COTN Kids calender. You can find it under the 'What's Happening' link on the right. I've got most of our yearly events already posted - Kids Camp, Project Go, Royal Ranger and Mpact events, etc. Check on it periodically for updated info and dates.

Ciao!

Thank You

2010-11-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

It's Thanksgiving (well, almost). I love this time of year. Well, of course, the days off, food, family, and fun are part of that. But, frankly, I'm terrible about remembering to be thankful for things and for me, this time of year is a good reminder, as cheesy as that may sound. I sit here thinking about those things that I truly am thankful for and I find myself wishing I was better at doing this more often...

Why do I forget how much Jesus gave for me? When I remember to be thankful for how Jesus has saved me, I grieve over the fact that I take it for granted WAY too much. Jesus' love is amazing. And to it, I owe everything.

And to all the parents and volunteers involved in COTN Kids, thank you. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for volunteering your time when you felt like you really had no time left to give. Thank you for the smiles, hugs, and encouraging words that you probably didn't know kept me going when I felt like giving up. Thank you for showing up week in and week out, whether you were teaching or just bringing your kids. I am so appreciative and thankful for each one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good." Psalm 107:1

40 Days of Love Testimonies

2010-11-17T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some awesome testimonies from the kids about how they incorporated what we've been learning about love at home! Every week, each kid got a take-home paper with a recap of what we learned that Sunday and an opportunity to let us know how they've been practicing that particular lesson throughout the week. These stories are great! And so encouraging! I hope you enjoy :)

Answers when asked how they showed love by putting others first - "I helped my sister find her shoes.", "There was a taco left and I really wanted it but I gave it away to my friend. It felt good."

Answers to the question, "What is the difficult part about being unselfish?" - "Sharing things you don't want to.", "Cause sometimes it involves stuff we don't want it to involve.", "Letting someone go first."

Ways that they decided to be unselfish, even though it was hard - "I let my brother go first on the swing.", "I shared my toys.", "I let my brother and sister go into my room", "I let my friends use things of mine even when I didn't want them to."

Here's another testimony that was written out by a 2nd-grader - "I helped my sister clean her room. It felt good. He gave me the strength to do it."

Amen! Even though these things seem so small to us as adults, these decisions can be HUGE for kids, yet they still decided to show love even when it was hard. And they recognize that it's God that's giving them the strength to do it :)

The Best Of...

2010-11-14T18:02:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! We've really enjoyed our 40 Days of Love journey with the kids! Thought I would share a fun video I put together with some of the clips from the videos we've shown each Sunday during the past 6 weeks. Will share some testimonies soon. Enjoy!

Festival Pictures

2010-11-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from the Fall Kids Festival. Thanks to Jennifer Benson for taking all of these! Enjoy!

Love Forgives

2010-10-29T16:07:00.000-04:00

Here's our video from last Sunday's lesson - Love Forgives. Enjoy!

Fall Kids Festival

2010-10-26T16:23:00.000-04:00

Join us for Fall fun and games this Saturday, October 30th! The festival will be held in the lower parking lot at COTN from 3-5pm. Kids are welcome to wear church-appropriate costumes. There will be games, snacks, fellowship, and lots of candy!

Please bring a bag of candy to share. Also, we are collecting items for the Nicaragua health kits. Please bring an item to donate if you are able. Items include toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, washcloth, soap, band-aids, deodorant, etc.

See you there!

Love is....

2010-10-22T17:00:00.000-04:00

...patient, kind.... not easily angered... always trusts and always hopes... truthful, rejoicing in the truth... Love matters most.

I've really enjoyed the first 3 weeks of our 40 Days of Love journey with the kids. We've had fun and learned alot about what it means to love God and others. Keep an eye out for those take-home pages every Sunday. I'm hoping it gives you a chance to discuss what we've been learning with your kids at home. I've been excited to see them come back with take-home pages filled out, ready to be put in our "LOVE Bucket"! :)

I wanted to share our video from last week with you about "Love Speaks the Truth". We've been having a blast filming these for the kids and I think the kids have enjoyed them too. So here you go!

A Sundae Sunday!

2010-09-23T13:30:00.001-04:00

Here are a few fun pictures from Kids Church last Sunday. We had a blast turning Mr. Josh into an ice cream sundae!

Many of the kids have been bringing their Bibles faithfully for months. We were just waiting for 20 Bibles to show up on any given Sunday. The incentive? - Turning Mr. Josh into an ice cream sundae. But wait.... What if they brought more than 20 Bibles? Oh, then we get to eat ice cream sundaes too. Sounds fun, right? It was!

Mr. Josh, you're not nervous are you?

Oh dear... I think he'll be blowing chocolate out of his nose for weeks.

Poor Mr. Josh...

Silly picture!

Video is coming soon! Click here if you'd like to see more pictures! - Facebook photo album

Christmas?

2010-08-24T11:03:00.000-04:00

Yep!

It's time for Christmas play try-outs! This year we are combining the adult and kids Christmas plays into ONE! There are acting and singing opportunities available for all ages, so come try out this Sunday, August 29th.

Contact Pastor Ian or myself (Kristin :) ) to set up a time. We'll be available all afternoon!

An update :)

2010-08-18T15:20:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Please pardon my progress... I'm very gradually removing myself from the grips of jet lag after coming back from South Korea. But I'm very happy to be getting back into the swing of things here at COTN.

Here's a quick update - Last Sunday we talked about Water Baptism and Communion in Kids Church. Two very special ordinances given to us by God and demonstrated by Jesus.

Faith Fact #6 - I obey and remember Jesus when I take Communion and am baptized in water.
Truth Verse - "If you love me, you will obey what I command." John 14:15
Faith Case Password - 0950

Remember, you can go to the Faith Case website and type in the Faith Case Password to watch the video clips of what we learned during our lesson. Here are some good scriptures to be reading for the rest of this week with your family - Mark 1:1-11 (Jesus' baptism), Matthew 26:26-29 (the first Communion), and 1 Corinthians 11:27-32.

:)

Kids Camp Highlights

2010-07-23T22:05:00.000-04:00

Enjoy!

Long time no blog...

2010-07-21T16:46:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in the blogging sphere. The past couple of weeks have been super busy... Kids Camp, vacation, and lots of other little things. Will be leaving on Monday morning for a mission trip to South Korea. So excited! Please keep the team in your prayers. We so need them.

Here's a quick update on the Kids Church end of things. We finished up a series on devotion to the church a few weeks ago. Last week had us starting something new. We'll be investigating the central truths of our Christian faith, the Bible, salvation, healing, end times, etc. through a series called Faith Case. It's a detective/sleuthing type series where we'll discover along with some crazy characters what it really means to be a Christian, what kind of values we have as a follower of Christ, and why those values are important. Last week, Mr. Gary Lewis taught on the Bible. Couple of things you'll need to know with this new curriculum are the Faith Facts, our weekly Bible Verse, and the password so your kids can watch some of the teachings again online. Each of these will be different each week. We'll be working with the kids to have the Faith Facts and the verses memorized so be working with your kids at home. :)

The Faith Fact for this week is - "The Bible is God's Word and His plan for me."

Bible Verse - "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

The fun thing is the fact that your kids can watch the teachings again online during the week to help them remember some of what we've been learning. Just go to www.faithcase.com and enter a password. You'll find the place to enter the code on the right-hand side of the screen. Just click the arrows to go to the desired number, then press the red LAUNCH button at the top. This week the password is - 1456. Also, watch for the take-home pages we send home every week. It'll be a good resource for reviewing and even devotions.

I'll be posting some updates from Kids Camp and a slideshow soon, so keep an eye out for them!

I 'Heart' My Church!

2010-06-30T16:11:00.000-04:00

Our phrase for the week - "I love my church as Jesus does!"

How does Jesus love the church? Here's the answer... "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" - Ephesians 5:22

As the church, we are the Bride of Christ, making ourselves ready for the day of His long-awaited return. We are also to love and build up the church in preparation for His return. I've heard it called the John the Baptist calling. Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus' first coming, so we are to take up that calling as the Body of Christ and prepare the way for Jesus' second coming. I know these concepts are a little too much for children to take in and understand, but these are things I've been meditating on as I've been teaching the kids about the body of Christ.

I was a little afraid at first to tell the kids that we are considered to be the Bride of Christ. I didn't know how that would go over, especially with the boys! I still don't know what they thought of the concept, because we didn't have alot of time for feedback, but I think it's an important thing for them to grasp. And as they grow up with this understanding and knowledge, it won't be such a foreign concept when they learn it as teens or adults.

Maybe you can get some feedback from your kids on this in the next few weeks. Ask them what they think of us being called the Bride of Christ. I'd love to hear some stories!

We Are Family!

2010-06-24T14:28:00.001-04:00

Everybody knows that song, right?

"We are family, I got all my sisters with me, We are family, Get up ev'rybody and sing!"

Apparently the kids know it too, because we started a chorus up in Kids Church when the kids heard the topic for the week was "We Are Family". :) The family we're talking about this week though is God's family. We're all brothers and sisters in Christ and adopted children of the Most High. How privileged are we? It makes me think of the verse in Ephesians, "In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will." I love that verse, because it says that it gives God pleasure for us to be His children.

For the next 4 weeks we'll be talking about being a part of God's family here on this earth, which is the Church. Sunday we talked about how the Church is not a building or any other place we meet, but God's people. Wherever we go, we are the Church representing Christ. His Bride making herself ready for the day her Bridegroom returns!

Our phrase for the week is - "The church is all about God and people."
Our memory verse for the next 4 weeks is - "Consequently, we are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief Cornerstone." Ephesians 2:19-20

Take some time to chat with your kids during the rest of this week about the importance of being a part of God's family, the Church.

pics and an update

2010-06-09T19:49:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone! Thought I'd share some pictures from our sleepover last weekend and Kids Church this past Sunday. Enjoy!

Their task was to eat the candy sitting on top of the pencils. The only way they could move it to their mouths was by pulling on the yarn wrapped around their ears.

First one to wrap themselves with the entire roll of TP without breaking it wins!

Trying to make an apple tower with all 5 apples without it falling over.

The winning cocoon. I think that's Will Blackmon inside. :)

Click here if you'd like to see the rest of the pictures! We had such a good time Friday night during the sleepover and Sunday morning!

Sunday we talked about how the Holy Spirit gives us new birth. When we ask Him to come into our lives and change us, he really does change us. It's like a caterpillar that makes a cocoon and then turns into a butterfly. Everything about us is changed when we ask Jesus to be our Savior and He turns us into a beautiful creation! We talked about the story of Nicodemus and how Jesus told him that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Nicodemus had to be 'born again'. What a strange concept! But it means that our spirits must be reborn, and that's a work done only by the Holy Spirit. What a privilege to be given a second chance by such an amazing Savior God!

HS Discovery

2010-06-02T17:05:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry that this post is so long overdue... Summer is such a busy time, as I'm sure you know! I have time enough to write a quick update on what we've been learning in Kids Church the past few weeks. We'll be spending some time talking about the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. So far, we've talked about who He is and what He does.

Who He Is - He is the Third Person of the God-Head... He is the same God that we worship, just a different aspect of His being and personality... He lives inside of His people (Christians)...

What He Does - He is our Helper... He is our Counselor... He is our Teacher... He is our Friend....

Our memory verse while we are learning about the Holy Spirit is Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

John 14-16 is a great place to really spend some time in. It's Jesus' own words to His disciples about the Holy Spirit and our relationship to the three Persons of the Trinity.

See you all soon!

Power Packed

2010-05-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

Greetings!

I apologize for the delayed post this week. All I have for an excuse is that my brain has been running at about 90mph and I haven't really been able to catch up with it.

Last week in Kids Church was fantastic. Again. Let me take a minute to explain how far I and my leaders have come in reference to this word fantastic. Fantastic used to look like lots of kids, a few guests, no technical difficulties, very few checks on Mr. Check List, and kids that were calm, cool, and collected... meaning you could tell that somehow they all had a good night's sleep and didn't have sprinkled, chocolate donuts for breakfast. We've come a LONG way since then. Now, fantastic can look like just the opposite of those things (which can sound like a pretty draining morning), but with the addition of one major thing.... the presence of the Lord shows up. Yep, this past Sunday was kinda crazy, I admit. We had technical difficulties... We had behavior problems... We had to come up with activities in a split-second because our original plan wasn't exactly working... but ya know what? It was still a fantastic morning because the presence of the Lord was so evident. He's such a good Father!

Last Sunday was our last week on the subject of prayer. But we'll still be incorporating elements of what we've been learning as we continue into another theme. We discussed how our prayers "pack a punch". :) James 5:16 says, "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." Therefore, our Big Point for the day was "My prayers are powerful and effective!" Powerful meaning 'big stuff'. Effective meaning 'something happens'. So basically when we pray, big stuff happens. I kinda like that. :) Here's the catch... Big stuff happens ONLY when we pray in accordance with the will of God. We discussed the awesome story of Joshua's prayer for the sun to stand still. It happened. Why? Because it was the will of God. It's so important to know the will of God and then pray in agreement with that. Well, we then have to pose this question... How do we know what the will of God is? Two ways - 1. the Word of God 2. we ask and then listen to God. The Lord will tell us what His will is. It's not something He's trying to hide from us. But sometimes I think He wants us to simply ask. It develops our trust relationship with Him. So that's what we did at the end of our service on Sunday morning. We spent some time listening to the Lord, asking Him what His will was for each of us that morning. We ended up praying for healing over some kids and their families. Then we gave the Lord thanks.

I dream big. And I believe that these kids have the potential to do amazing things for the glory of God. Not later, when they become teenagers and adults. But now. While they're still kids and haven't lost that child-like faith. I see a generation of kids rising up in their schools, neighborhoods, sports clubs, etc. and not being afraid of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This big, powerful, amazing God lives IN us. HE LIVES IN US! And if we take the time to seek Him and His will, who knows what kind of amazing things will happen? I see people getting healed, delivered, and set free all because of the simple faith of a group of kids. I'm ready to see this happen and I hope you're with me. Our next theme will be on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This has been a long time coming and it's about time I started teaching on this very real Helper that was sent to us when Jesus went to be with His Father in Heaven. I'm excited to see what the Holy Spirit will do as we spend time seeking Him!

We like hand-me-downs!

2010-05-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

Here are 2 ways you can help us out...

1. I'd like to make a "Cozy Corner" for the kids that we'll use during our Sunday School hour. So I'm in need of large pillows, bean bags, or anything else that's big, comfy, and easily movable. If you have anything you'd like to donate to this idea or know of where I might could get some for cheap (free would be even better), it would be greatly appreciated!

2. We're always in need of items for our Bonus Buck store, so for you adults that order Kids Meals at fast-food restaurants, send those toys my way! :)

testing... check, check... are you listening?

2010-05-10T10:22:00.000-04:00

All I can say about yesterday's service with the kids is... WOW!

First of all, I'd like to brag on Mrs. Rebecca a little bit, who is just downright awesome! :) I'm so thankful for her energy, her laughter, and her heart for the kids. She's the perfect worship leader for kids' ministry and I honestly don't know how I got along without her before. It's so awesome to be a part of such a neat team of leaders who really do love your kids and want the Lord's best for each one of them. The worship time during Kids Church was great yesterday and the kids really responded to the presence of the Lord. Usually, we do a couple of fast songs to get the kids jumping around and excited, then slow it down at the end with a song where we can focus on the Lord. Sometimes the kids aren't too excited about the slower songs, which is understandable, so when Mrs. Rebecca said we were gonna do THREE slower worship songs yesterday morning, I thought, "This is going to be interesting." We all got in a circle in the front of the room and started singing "All I Want" by Planetshakers (check it out, it's a fantastic song). We moved into "Mighty to Save" and I began to see some of the kids lift their hands, kneel, or just sing out with their eyes closed. How that blesses me! Kids' worshiping is the purest form of worship I have ever seen. One of the kids told us after the song that he could feel the presence of the Lord every time he lifted his hands to worship. For the last one we sang our favorite, "The Same Power". We all got into groups of three or four and spent time praying over each other. The kids really responded to this and I saw boys and girls laying hands on one another asking the Lord for peace, healing, help, and encouragement. What an amazing time of worship we had! I so want the kids to have an encounter with the Lord and His goodness every time they spend time in His presence and the Lord was so good to do just that yesterday morning!

The focus of yesterday's lesson was "Prayer is talking and listening to God", with the emphasis on 'listening'. Preparing for this lesson has really challenged me this past week. How much time do I spend listening to the Lord? Can I recognize the Lord's voice when He speaks? These are questions I asked the kids, but while asking them, I was asking myself the same questions. So many times when I pray, I do all the talking, but what would happen if I started listening as much as I talked? Or if I spent more time listening than I do talking? Our story was about Samuel and Eli in 1 Samuel 3 and we talked about the many ways that the Lord speaks to each of us - His still small voice, thoughts, other people, pictures, nature, etc. We ended the lesson with a short 'exercise'. In order to recognize the Lord when He speaks, you have to know what He 'sounds' like... How do you know what he 'sounds' like? You have to listen to Him. And the more you listen, the more you'll recognize Him when He speaks. So we ended the lesson by asking the Lord to speak to each one of us, just like Samuel did when he heard the Lord's audible voice, and we spent about a minute in silence, just listening... I didn't ask the kids if the Lord said anything to them, but I believe that the Lord spoke in that minute to many of them.

So this week, encourage your kids to spend time listening to the Lord. And I'm encouraging you to spend time listening to the Lord, because I'm going to take time to listen to Him more this week too. I'm excited about what the Lord is going to say to us!

Jump Up and Down!

2010-05-06T15:53:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun worship song I found for kids. We LOVE Hillsong Kids music in Kids Church! If you're looking for some fun worship songs for your kids that are catchy and super cool, check out Hillsong Kids stuff. It's awesome! And, OK, adults like it too, because... well... I admit it. I have a Kids Worship playlist on my iPod... and I listen to it all the time. :) Enjoy! ...and do some jumping up and down!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz9WBGJQ5Ks

(Sorry I can't embed the video. It's been disabled on youtube. But just click the link and it'll take you right to it!)

Copycat

2010-05-04T09:37:00.001-04:00

You know that game that kids play where one copies exactly what the other person says and does until it starts to drive that person crazy? Maybe you played that when you were little. I know I did. It usually ends with, "Stop copying me!", "Stop copying me!", then "I'm gonna tell mom!", (Silence). Well, that's how it ended in our family at least!

Since we've been talking about prayer in Kids Church, this past Sunday's lesson was entitled "Copycat". Because, (get this) Jesus LIKES it when we copy him! He never gets annoyed or frustrated with us. In fact, He wants us to be like Him. He even gave us an example prayer to follow, commonly known as "The Lord's Prayer".

In Matthew 6, Jesus instructs the people and his disciples on how to pray. The kids learned on Sunday that Jesus gave two "don't's" and two "do's". Here's what Jesus said, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"

We talked about the "don't's" and "do's", then talked about how we can use The Lord's Prayer as our own guide when we pray. Basically, there are four steps: praise, petition, repentance, and reliance. First, we praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He has done. Second, we ask Him for things. (The awesome thing is, Jesus listens and likes it when we ask Him for things!) Third, we ask forgiveness. Fourth, we realize that we can't do anything on our own and tell the Lord that we will rely on Him for everything that we need. Sounds easy, right? It is!

So this week, use The Lord's Prayer as the guide for your family when you pray. There are cards at church that I've printed out that you are welcome to grab. It has The Lord's Prayer on it, with notes on the four steps.

Hope you all have an awesome and blessed week!

The Greatest Conversation

2010-04-26T09:22:00.000-04:00

"What kinds of things do you talk about with your friends?", I asked. Some answers I received were, "Video games", "Clothes", "Anything that we have in common", "The mall", and "Deadly objects". That last one made me laugh! And I think you can probably guess if a boy or girl gave that particular answer. :) There were more answers of course, but my point was that we can talk to God about these things too. He's not just concerned with the big and seemingly more important things that happen in life; He also cares about the little stuff too.

Yesterday started our first of four lessons on prayer. Our Big Point for the lesson was, "I can talk to Jesus as my friend." How awesome is that?! He listens to us and cares about what we say. Our verse is found in 1 John 5:14-15, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we will have what we asked of Him." What an amazing promise!

Here's a look at our Bible story as well. It's one of my favorites. :)

I can't even begin to explain how important prayer is to the kids, but I'm praying that these next few lessons will really plant a seed in the heart of each child that comes, that our prayers are the greatest conversations we will ever have.

food for thought

2010-04-20T10:13:00.000-04:00

Here's a description of Jesus from one of our COTN Kids - "He can do anything. He has all the power."

I think I'll leave it at that...

The Guide

2010-04-19T10:50:00.002-04:00

"God's Word gives me an example to follow" - This is the phrase the kids shouted every time they saw the orange ball hurtling towards the Kids Church stage. And can I just say, Mr. Dave and Mr. Josh are great at throwing that orange ball at the most inopportune times. For me, anyway. I'll be right in the middle of my really great point (at least, I think it's a really great point) and here comes that orange ball. Needless to say, the kids love it.

We've been discovering how important the Word of God is over the past 5 weeks. Some of the phrases we've been yelling when we see that orange ball are, "Followers of Jesus read the Bible", "God speaks to me through His Word", "I know my Bible and how to use it", and "The Word of God is like my very own power tool".

Like I mentioned before, this past Sunday we talked about how God's Word is our guide. We used the story of the wise builder and the foolish builder who both built houses, but their foundations were very different. Of course, we did the story kid style, so here's a peek...

I'm happy to say the kids applauded after this video, thanks to the impressive acting skills of my awesome brother and Mr. Dave :) But anyway, this is just an encouragement to get in the Word this week as a family. It's the most awesome book ever! Comment and let me know what your family does to read the Word together.

Testing 1... 2... 3...

2010-04-13T16:25:00.001-04:00

So here we go... Let's try out something new, shall we? :)

Welcome to the new COTN Kids blog! This will be a place for parents (and kids) to come and check out the latest goings-on in the Kids Ministry at Church of the Nations. I like to keep everyone in the loop as much as possible, so I thought this might be a good place. The COTN website has all the basics, but if you want to get down to specifics, you've come to the right place.

Bear with me as I get this thing up and running, but we'll have it up to speed in no time. Oh, and comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

Will be posting updates soon.... Cheers!

Miss Kristin