Stuffed Animal Theme Night tomorrow in Awana!

Remind your kids to bring the BIGGEST stuffed animal they have in their collection and maybe a couple extra to share with friends! Tomorrow night they will get extra credit points for the color team with the most GIANT stuffed animals but they are limited to ONE PER CLUBBER. So they can only get credit for one of their giant animals unless they share it with a friend on their team who maybe doesn't have a stuffed animal that large.

Pastor Kevin will be looking at how many team members are holding a stuffed toy of any size... but the bigger the animal, the more potential value it will add!

Of course, don't forget the basics that often win the contest without the bonus points anyway: ATTENDANCE, BEING ON TIME, WEARING UNIFORMS, MEMORIZING SECTIONS, BRINGING A BIBLE AND AN OFFERING ETC.

Stop the Intensity in Conflict

Sometimes a child's stubbornness or defiance is obvious. In those moments, stop dealing with the issue at hand and talk about the process of how you're relating. "I can tell you're upset and it's not good for us to continue until you settle down. You need to take a break and come back when you're ready to continue talking about this." Have the child sit in the hall or on the top step or some other boring place. After the child has settled down, then he or she needs to come back to you and talk about the problem.

If your child comes back without having a heart change, then send the child back again. One dad told the story of seven-year-old Sarah who was yelling at her brother. "I called her upstairs to talk to me about it and she began yelling at me. I told her that was inappropriate and to take a break for a bit and settle down.

About a minute later she came back but was obviously not changed. Her head was tilted down, her posture was slumping and her bottom lip was sticking out. I didn't even have to talk with her. I just told her what I saw, "Sarah, I can tell you're not ready yet. The way you're standing and the expression on your face all tell me that you still have a problem in your heart. I want you to go back until you're ready to come out with a changed heart.

"This time she stayed away for about 20 minutes and when she returned she was obviously different. In fact, I took her head in my hands and looked deep into her eyes and said, 'I can see your heart in there. It looks pretty nice right now. It looks like you're ready to talk about this.' Sarah giggled and then we continued to talk about the problem. I explained to her that she could not yell at her dad. That is disrespectful even if she is angry. We also talked about the right responses she could have if she was angry with her brother."

By enforcing a break, this dad helped Sarah change her heart. Don't allow conflict to escalate into a battle. Stop the intensity with a break. It will not only help you stay calm but it will help your children develop some maturity about dealing with conflict.

What are some ways you've seen the Break work in your family?

This tip comes from the book, Home Improvement, The Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.

BGMC SUNDAY!! $2 in your Buddy Barrel gets a prize from the Prize Box!

THIS SUNDAY IS BGMC SUNDAY! REMIND YOUR KIDS TO BRING IN THEIR BUDDY BARRELS! ANY CHILD WHO BRINGS AT LEAST $2.00 IN THEIR BARREL GETS TO GO IN PK'S PRIZE BOX!!

Also: This week the kids will learn the difference between Ritual and Ethical laws in the Old Testament Law of Moses. We will have games and activities to make it memorable along with Buck Denver and company! Join us at 10:30am, Sunday Morning!

Awana Tonight starts at 6:15pm & This Sunday is BGMC Sunday!

Another Awana club night! Don't forget we begin at 6:15pm now so try to get the kids to church just a bit earlier so they can get their full points for the evening.

ALSO: This Sunday is our first BGMC Sunday of this year and to encourage a good start on the year, we're offering every child who brings at least $2.00 in their Buddy Barrel this Sunday an opportunity to go in Pastor Kevin's prize box!

Launching Your Child's Faith: Too Hard or Too Scary?

Marilyn's parents seemed satisfied when they coached her to pray the "sinner's prayer" at age five. Her mother hugged her, calling it a "great moment" in the girl's life — and it certainly seemed like it was! She'd said the "right" words, after all.

But Marilyn's heart wasn't in this journey. Her interest in Christianity had begun and ended with that prayer. By the time she was a teenager, she hated her life. Today she's turned her back on the "fundamentalism" of her childhood, vowing to spend the rest of her days learning to "be herself."

As Marilyn's story demonstrates, the goal of faith-launching is to cultivate an eternal, personal relationship with God. It's not just to get our child to say words that make us relax or feel better.

That's not to say that "praying the prayer" or having a specific "launch day" isn't important. The act of believing in Jesus, wanting forgiveness for sins, and saying so is an indispensable beginning.

But ignoring the rest of the flight plan can lead to shortcuts that endanger your "astronaut." Parents who aim only to hear the "right words" from a very young child may be tempted to "get this out of the way" as if it were an awkward talk about the birds and the bees. They may fail to supply their kids with enough information as they grow up to make a real, lasting choice. To use a more biblical word picture, they may build a house on sand, not rock.

Launchpad Jitters
"Hey," you might say. "Aren't you supposed to be encouraging me? I'm already nervous about this faith-launching stuff, and you're just telling me all the things that can go wrong."

Sorry. If you're anxious about helping your child become a Christian, it's understandable. You may think it's all up to you. You may think that if you "fail," the launch window will slam shut and no one will ever be able to reach your child.

Or perhaps you're more worried about how this process might affect your relationship with your son or daughter. What if your child rejects you for acting "weird" when you try to bring up "spiritual things"? What if he or she won't "go along" when you ask for a decision about following Jesus? Will things get awkward — or worse?

Let's look at seven common faith-launching worries parents face — and why you don't have to feel overwhelmed by them.

I'm not an expert on Christianity. Good! That means you'll be able to talk with your child in plain English, not theological jargon. If you don't quite grasp concepts like the Trinity and original sin, relax. Use a resource like FaithLaunch, which describes them as simply as possible so that you can do the same for your child.

My own relationship with God isn't going too well. If you believe the basics — that we can receive forgiveness by placing our faith in Christ — you're qualified to address the subject with your child. It's important to deal with your doubts, disappointments, and temptations with the help of a pastor or other mature believer, but waiting for perfection isn't necessary. In fact, you might even find the process to be a faith-builder for you.

My kid has the attention span of a Chihuahua on caffeine. Are you afraid of boring your child? Whether the cause is ADHD or just too many video games, a short attention span doesn't have to torpedo your takeoff. FaithLaunch is one program that features a wide variety of brief activities, not a bunch of lectures. You can take things at your child's pace, and in bite-sized pieces.

I'm no teacher. Fortunately, this doesn't have to be a class. It can be a series of family times — kind of a cross between game night, a devotional, and baking cookies together. You're the leader, but there's no standing at a chalkboard and delivering a memorized lesson. It's as natural as spending time with your child to play with the cat, listen to a song on the radio, or work together on a model plane.

I have to do this alone. If you're a single parent, or if you're married but your spouse is reluctant to help, you may need to lead as a team of one. No, make that two: God knows all about your situation. In the case of FaithLaunch, family times have been prepared with you in mind; you won't be required to do anything a mom or dad can't do. If you really need flesh-and-blood support, though, you might consider inviting a friend and his or her child to join you.

My kid doesn't seem interested in God. If you haven't talked with your child much about faith before, suddenly immersing yourselves in the subject may seem jarring. You may assume your child isn't interested, yet it's likely he or she has questions but hasn't raised them. Rather than leaping in headlong, you might prepare your child for a couple of weeks beforehand by occasionally asking questions of your own ("Who do you think gave that caterpillar all those legs?") and mentioning your own faith ("I'll be sure to pray about your spelling test tomorrow").

I'm afraid I'll do it wrong and I'll never have another chance. The good news is that there are a million ways to do it right. You can blend a resource like FaithLaunch with your personality, your child's interests, your family's schedule, your home's layout, your favorite snacks. Share the truths in your own words, and let your child respond without insisting on the "right" answer.

Count on the all-powerful God to use your less-than-perfect efforts — in His own time. When it comes to launch windows, He's able to open a lot more than doors.

Adapted from FaithLaunch: A Simple Plan to Ignite Your Child's Love for Jesus by John Trent, Ph.D., and Jane Vogel (Focus on the Family/Tyndale, 2008)

Kids Enjoy Special Tabernacle Walk-thru During Kids Church!

This last Sunday, we took the kids on a tour of the Wilderness Tabernacle turning the C.W. Playhouse into the Tabernacle & courtyard.

Below on the right was our mock Altar of sacrifice and on the left our Laver of cleansing.

The Tabernacle is made of puppet staging, but we tried to give the idea of the 4 layers used to cover the tabernacle here on the front.

Inside, we showed the table of show bread, the altar of incense and the golden lamp stand.

And of course, our Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies on the other side of the Temple Veil (The only thing we had in the right colors was a Tremper blanket. Thank goodness we're under the new covenant.)

Launching Your Child's Faith: What's the Rush?

Now is the time for you to realize the incredible impact you can have on your child, helping him or her come to Christ and grow in that relationship.

You've never been so nervous in your life.

The relentless Florida sun glints off the crystal of your wristwatch as you glance at it for the thousandth time. Didn't you see these numbers, 11:04 a.m., half an hour ago? History is crawling forward. Half of you wants it to speed up, but the other half wants the clock to stop entirely.

Your stomach grips again as you squint into the distance. For nearly four hours your son has been perched on top of the otherworldly object that towers like a white-and-rust castle against the sapphire sky.

You swallow, and wait. And wait.

Finally a voice comes from the PA system. "T minus 30," it says. And eventually, "T minus 15 . . . 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . ."

You can't remember your own name now. Your mind is too full of your son's face, the one in his third-grade school picture with the half-combed hair.

"We're ready for main engine start!" says the voice from Mission Control.

At this point there should be a roar, then a rush of flame.

But instead there's . . . silence.

No liftoff. No reaching for the stars.

The astronauts have been dressed for the part. The space shuttle and booster rockets look great on the outside.

But no one loaded any fuel into the tanks, or linked the computers, or actually made any preparations to send your son into space.

Everyone had great intentions.

But it's a failure to launch.

* * *

Unfortunately, in too many homes of parents who know and love Jesus, that picture closely resembles what happens when kids grow up and are ready to "launch out" on their own.

Depending on which study you want to quote, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of children from evangelical Christian families won't embrace the faith as their own when they leave for college. That's tragic. When it comes to faith transference, we're losing the next generation.

Let me shoot straight: It's not the churches' fault. I think the level of ministry excellence in churches today—for the two hours or so that a family is in the building — has never been higher! The music and PowerPoint presentations and kids' and youth programs are light years ahead of where they've been in the past. Yet more and more young people are never getting off the launch pad when it comes to personally accepting Christ and growing in their faith.

Here's one reason why.

Recently I asked several hundred parents of younger children at a large church three questions.

"Do you think it's important to pass down your faith to your children?" As you might expect, more then 90 percent said, "Yes! It's very important!"
"Do you think your child will have a strong faith when he or she gets out of college?" Again, 90 percent of those responding said, "You bet!"
"Outside of going to church, what are you doing intentionally to introduce and build a growing faith in your child?" Fewer than 30 percent were doing anything purposefully to meet that goal during the 166 hours a week their children were at home.
Think about that. These wonderful, godly, well-intentioned parents strongly believed they should be involved in their children's faith development. They also were highly confident that their children would embrace the faith by the time they were on their own. But when it came to actually preparing their kids, they were just dressing them up and dropping them off at church — and setting themselves up for a failure to launch.

But that doesn't have to be true in your home.

Now is the time for you to realize the incredible impact you can have on your child, helping him or her come to Christ and grow in that relationship. You can do it!

It's not rocket science to help your child reach God's best for his or her life. It's small things, even fun things. They'll go a long way toward filling up those boosters that lift your son or daughter into a lifelong faith.

The Launch Window Is Now
Maybe you've heard the statistics. Researchers agree that most people who receive Christ as Savior do so when they're children.

The message to parents has seemed clear enough: Now's the time for you to invest in your child coming to faith. And the best place for that to happen is right in your home. One survey found that half of those who received Christ by age 12 did so at the prompting of their parents, with an added 20 percent following the lead of another relative or friend.

No matter how wonderful your church may be, most successful launches happen at or near home. That doesn't have to scare you, even if you're a first-generation Christian like me. I didn't grow up in a Christian home, so I never saw anyone model faith transference. My wife, Cindy, didn't see an active, growing faith displayed in her home, either.

Yet both our children know and love the Lord today, as one finishes graduate school and the other gets ready for college. We truly believe it's because we did — without knowing how or why — many of the things you'll find in the FaithLaunch program.

Cindy and I didn't "launch" our relationship with Christ when we were children. Our own stories prove that children can accept the Lord when they're at voting age or older. So if your older child doesn't respond to God's invitation before adulthood, the story may be far from over.

Still, the benefits of following Jesus begin in this life. Since you want the best for your child, you want him or her to start receiving those benefits as soon as possible. Children face more challenges today then ever, and at a younger age; introducing them to Christ now, while they're young, is the most important gift you can give them.

It will be an incredible blessing to you as well. The aging apostle John said this about his spiritual children: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 John 4). That's true for any parent of older or grown children who sees them making good decisions and living a life of faith and love for Christ.

Adapted from FaithLaunch: A Simple Plan to Ignite Your Child's Love for Jesus by John Trent, Ph.D., and Jane Vogel (Focus on the Family/Tyndale, 2008)

The Tabernacle: Symbol of Jesus!

This Sunday in the Playhouse, we'll be exploring the Wilderness Tabernacle through a multi-media presentation mixed with a hands-on representation of the Tabernacle of the Israelites during the time of Moses. Kids will help us build a very rough replica of the tabernacle and all of its articles and then learn how each of those items of worship pointed ahead to Jesus as the Messiah. It's actually a fascinating study and kinda deep stuff, but we're going to break it down so even a Kindergartener will understand it. So make sure you ask your kids what they learned this week in kids church. Who knows, you may even learn a thing or two yourself. :D

Faith Launch: Ignite Your Child's Love for Jesus!

You're about to discover a fun, easy way to do one of the most important things in the world. It's FaithLaunch: A Simple Plan to Ignite Your Child's Love for Jesus by John Trent and Jane Vogel.

FaithLaunch isn't the only method for introducing your child to Jesus, of course. But it's a good way to do it without pressuring your child, exhausting yourself, or upending your family's schedule. Each of the 13 "Family Times" takes about 30 to 45 minutes; that's 30 to 45 minutes of togetherness, not tedium. You might use one Family Time each week for 90 days — or bits and pieces over a longer period. You get to decide, because FaithLaunch is flexible.

The goal is to prepare your child to begin a relationship with God. Since so many children receive Christ as Savior when they're 4 to 7 years old, each Family Time is written with that age group in mind. But shifting gears for kids ages 8 to 12 is easy; just use the optional activities.

FaithLaunch gives you plenty of fun ways to learn, including three Adventures in Odyssey episodes to listen to. You'll sculpt with clay, stage a treasure hunt, even tell a story with the help of your child's action figures or dolls. If you need an excuse to play with your child, here it is! And if you need permission to talk about what's important, that's here, too.

The plan for each Family Time is easy to follow. Your goal is clear, and the items you'll need are listed — right down to snacks you might enjoy. To boost your confidence, things you might say are spelled out in bold type — with answers to questions in parentheses. And you're always free to adapt the plan to fit you and your child.

There's a bonus, too — another confidence booster. In Part III of the book you'll find answers to questions your child might ask about God, the Bible, Jesus, joining God's family, and more. So there's no need to panic if your child wants to know something that isn't on the tip of your tongue!

Adapted from FaithLaunch: A Simple Plan to Ignite Your Child's Love for Jesus by John Trent, Ph.D., and Jane Vogel (Focus on the Family/Tyndale, 2008)

NEW TIMES FOR AWANA CLUBS!!

Remember that starting tonight, Awana begins at 6:15pm and ends at 8:15pm!

So do your best to get your kids to church a bit early tonight. Remember, your kids get extra points for being on time every week and the whole point for doing this is to allow our teachers the extra time to cover every clubber's advancement efforts. More time can only improve our clubbers experience on club nights and we're excited to be able to do that! See you (earlier) tonight!

Sleepover Safety: What Every Parent Should Ask Ahead of Time

"I’m embarrassed to ask this…what will they think of me?"

This is what many parents told us when we talked about the importance of asking “safety questions” of another parent or friend before sending kids off to a play date, sleep over or sports practice.

With all of the stories in the media about “trusted adults” in childrens' lives who have broken that trust by abusing them, it's important to ask yourself whether your discomfort with asking safety questions are more important than your child's safety. Is the chance of offending someone worth the risk?

Perhaps a year ago you might not have even thought to ask, but with recent news events, you probably have heard that 90% of the time a child is harmed - it's by someone they know. As a result, it's nearly impossible to bury your head in the sand and say "that would never happen to my child"…because it can and it does.

We want parents to feel that they have done all in their power to keep their children safe. So here are some questions that are important to ask the people you entrust with your child:

Before a play date or sleep-over

Who will be watching the children?
Do you have older children and will they or their friends be present?
Do you have a gun in your house?
What safety rules do you have in your house?
Will you be staying at your house the entire time?
Is the TV and Internet use monitored?
What are the sleeping arrangements?
Asking these questions will not entirely ensure that your child will be safe, but how the adult answers the questions is very important. Are they offended? Do they tell you that you are too over-protective? Are they giving you the answers that make you feel that your child will be in a safe environment? Is your gut telling you that it's not a safe environment for your child?

Here are some conversations to have with your child:

Your body is special and belongs to you.
You are in charge of your body and nobody should touch you in any way that makes you feel confused, weird, uncomfortable or on your private parts.
You should not touch or look at anyone’s privates.
When over a friend’s house clothes must always stay on.
No one should take pictures of your privates or show you pictures of naked people.
No playing in the master bedroom.
No one should ever ask you to keep a secret from us - or keep a secret that you are NEVER allowed to tell.
It's important to let your child know that you will always believe them and praise them when they report unsafe situations to you. You can give them a few strategies (as well as model and role play situations) so your child will know what to do and how to respond if they feel uncomfortable.

Make sure you discuss your safety rules and the fact that they should be followed when you are at another’s house. Finally, consider having a code word your child can say to you over the phone so if your child wants to leave they don’t have to be embarrassed.

By tackling these issues, you open the door to conversations that should be had on a regular basis as a natural part of your parenting. If all parents start speaking the same language of safety and are willing to openly discuss these questions, children everywhere will be safer. So are you still embarrassed to ask these questions? If you answered yes…get over it or keep them home! Nothing is more important than your child’s safety!

For more information visit our website www.kidsafefoundation.org

First the Holidays... Now Family Week... Then...The Promised Land!

There are just a few more days of quiet following the holidays before the 2012 storm hits! No I'm not talking about the political storm of an election year, though this year may prove rather chaotic on that front. No, I'm talking about the 2012 SPIRITUAL REVIVAL that we're smelling in the air as we transition from one year into the next and look forward to all that God is doing in our midst. Are you ready to conquer the Promised Land with us? The kids will be learning about Spiritual Warfare as we move from Moses to Joshua this year in the C.W. Playhouse. Let’s show them how we follow our Lord to victory even today!