Shredded Evidence

This weekend our lesson in 1st-4th grade was from II Peter 2-3, recognizing false teachers.  For my object lesson I had four dollar bills, one was a 1 dollar bible buck, 2 of them were color copies of a dollar and 1 was a real dollar.  I would pick a child to come up and see if they could tell me which dollar was the real one.  Amazingly, they picked a color copy every time. I would thank them for playing and give them the real dollar bill. "There are false teachers who are secretly introducing wrong teachings.  They lay their wrong teachings next to the truth so people might consider them.  Be Careful! These false teachings are not always easy to spot, for they wrap their wrong teachings in just enough truth to make it seem all right at first glance."  Peter wrote in II Peter.

 I then explained how my mom used to work at a bank and how they train bank employees to spot counterfeit (false) money.  They can spot false money not because they study the different types, but because they study and are very familiar with the real thing.  If you are acquainted with truth, you can easily spot what is false.  If you are acquainted with God by having a relationship with Him (reading the Bible, praying, etc..) then you can easily spot what is not truth in the world.  I gave the example of a field trip I went on to a cavern.  We were studying stalactites and stalagmites. You know those pointy cone shaped things that grow down from the roof of a cave or grow up from the floor of a cave.  The guy leading our tour was very knowledgeable about caves and about the stalactites and stalagmites. However, he said the formations were made over millions and billions of years.  Well, I know that is not true because I have studied the Bible and I know the earth is only a few thousand years old... not millions or billions of years old. 


After every service, I would lay my Bible on the floor of the stage with the "false" money inside it.  It stuck out the top a bit and served as a book mark.  At the 11 am service, I started my lesson and opened my Bible and to my surprise only the real dollar and the bible buck was in my Bible.  I had a quick moment of panic and asked Ms. Sandy to find me some replacements.  I had a fleeting thought of going to jail for copying a dollar. (Apparently, that is illegal.  I did not know it until Dave Spear our worship pastor told Ms. Sandy.) The children were all looking a me a bit confused as I scrambled to think of a time filler.  Then a little boy said "Ms. Melinda are you looking for this?" as he took it out of his pocket.   I asked where he found it and he said "I found it on the stage sticking out of a Bible.  I didn't think it belonged to anyone so I took it."  I replied with a very shocked face and "ooh?!?" Before I could even begin the lecture about how stealing was wrong, another little boy walked up and turned his pocket inside out and there was the second missing dollar! 

Needless to say the 11 am children also learned that stealing is wrong as well.  LOL  After the 11 am service I gave the false dollars to Ms. Sandy to shred.  I guess you could say the evidence was shredded. 

My head is spinning

I just finished sending out an email detailing the Children's Ministry events and deadlines for the next couple months.  After I typed it, I read over it and as I read my head began to spin and my heart began to pound.  Is it excitement or anxiety???  I don't know... but I do know we are in for a fun spring and summer.  Here is the link so you can check it out,  Children's Ministry News.  The bad thing is I left three things off!  Rats!  Those will just have to go into another email at a later date. There is already to much content to process. The first three people who responds and can tell me what I left off the news letter will receive a free gift.  :)))  Just for fun!  You will love it!
  

Birthday/ worship

My oldest daughter, Madeline, will turn into a teenager officially next Friday. The big 13 :). This year we gave her a budget so she decided to invite 8 friends and have the first Half of her party at church and then travel home for a slumber party. Our church was also having a "night of worship" which was mainly praise music, prayer and testimonies during the same time.
After the girls ate and played a couple rounds of Just Dance they all decided that they wanted to go into worship. I love it! I was surprised that a group of teenage girls would chose worship and prayer over chick-fil-a nuggets, cookie cake and a dance off. Thank you Lord for being #1 on my daughters list of priorities.
Afterward, I told the girls I was really impressed. One of Madeline's friends said "It was so cool. How often do you get to go to a birthday party with a worship service in the middle of the party."

3 meetings that make me laugh

Now that the weather is nice, people are getting out more and socializing.
I had the opportunity to meet several new people this week.
On Sunday,I met Mr. Ken at my friend Angie's birthday party. I found out he was one of her doctors so of course I asked if he could get me some cool x-rays for our csi Jerusalem ( Easter weekend in the children's ministry). I explained everything we were doing an how we were presenting the gospel in detail. He said he would be happy to see what he could do. I told him he should come and hang out in the children's ministry and answer questions. He could even wear his lab coat! Lol. He said he would see about that. Here's the funny part... Later that night I received a text from my friend, Angie. She wasn't sure if I knew that her doctor is an atheist. Lol! I just laid out the whole plan of salvation and invited him to work in the children's ministry at Easter! I sure hope he comes. You can pray about that, please. :))

On Tuesday, I met a sweet little lady by the name of Mary Jane. I met her on the elevator going to my doctors appointment. She needed help finding her doctors office. :) I helped her find her way smiled and then went on to my appointment. Later, I saw her and her husband in the lab. Apparently, we both needed lab work. Her husband had arrived late and did not get to hear what the doctor had said about her so we flagged a nurse and she took him back so the doctor could talk to him. After her husband had left, Mary Jane said " I like the doctor to tell him everything because he listens better than I do." she told me they had been married for over 50 years. Mary Jane went back for lab work and her sweet husband came out from his meeting with the doctor and was looking for her. I explained that she had already gone back for lab work and then he sat down beside me. He made me laugh. After he found out that I am the children's minister at celebration church, he quickly told me that he was not that "contemporary" :)). He asked If I knew his son and daughter in law. He said they come to our church with their children. I did know them an we had fun talking about his sweet grandchildren who are in children's ministry with me. I told him some of the details of the secret Easter lesson we are having at church. Mainly, I wanted him to understand I love Jesus just like he does. When his wife had finished and they began to leave, I made him promise not to "spill the beans" to his grandchildren. :))

On Friday, I met several women from a church in Banner Elk, NC. One of them was Allie, the children's minister. Allie had called me a few weeks ago to talk about children's ministry, get some new ideas and explore camp possibilities. They have a small children's ministry and wanted some ideas. They will be participating in camp with us this year. Yeah! I am so excited that camp is not only and opportunity for our children to outreach to their friends but also an opportunity to outreach to the community. I love it when churches help other churches regardless of denomination. I was honored to meet with those ladies and hear there hopes and struggles.

Llama trek success

The llama trek was a success. We hiked for over three hours and no one really complained. The 5th & 6th graders on this Fuse 56 retreat were very much amused by the llamas. None of the llamas spit on any of the children, however, two children did get showered by a llama sneeze:). The only person that was kicked by a llama was ms. Sandy, lol. Not sure why she was kicked but Brandi Wells said she was glad the llama kicked her after we had to hike up hill for so much of the trek.

After the trek, we stopped at a zoomers gas station an bought 30 slushies. That was fun! All the children went in and got slushie and then i stood at the door and counted them as they left so i could get an accurate slushie count for our purchase.
The time share salesperson out side of zoomers must have been entertained by us because as we were leaving she gave us free tickets for glow in the dark putt putt! Fun!

We returned to our cabin and somehow managed to make sure all 28 children were bathed. That was a miracle in its self (we only had two showers). Had an awesome time of worship and teaching. Joe Emmert spoke on love, love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind & strength and live your neighbor as yourself.
Then we loaded the vans to eat at buddy's BBQ. Once again we were stared at, but at least this time we were clean:). I was very proud of the children, a lady in the restaurant complimented them on their good behavior. Two thumbs up :)
Then it was off to our free glow in the dark putt putt :)After putt putt we had one last crazy game before bed. We had five teams and each team ha a ziplock bag with a frozen t-shirt inside it. The children had to warm the t-shirt and put it on a team member to win. I am happy to say Evan Sharett's group won. good times:). The children went to bed fairly easy tonight. Hmmmm... I wonder why.

Retreat fun!

We arrived safely at our cabin which was suppose to sleep 23 comfortably. Ha! Not quite. All the girls are piled up in one room. All the boys spread out in the game room. We have 28 children and 2 bathrooms. So far, very few have showered. Lol. They do have brushed teeth :) never fear we have a shower plan for tonight. Mr. B suggested that we just throw the children in the pool and let the chlorine clean them. We will not be doing that! Lol
We have searched for Llama scat (raisins buried in whipped cream). Mackenzie Emmert was the winner finding 59 raisins.

Everyone has packed a lunch and we are now on our way to hike with the llamas. The children are soooo excited!

Church curriculum for children

I love the only 144 sales. They have teamed up with some great people to bring churches a great deal. If you are looking for fresh ideas, new music or curriculum this is a great way to get lots of it at a super discounted price.
Check it out! Next sale is tomorrow:)

10 minutes of madness

We had an outreach at an Elementary school today and oh my! It was madness.  We were working away in our office and looked up to see that the time was 12:30 and our outreach started at 1pm.  So, we quickly loaded all the sound equipment & signs and headed to the school.  When we arrived, we realized that we did not have the projector.  We had all rode to the school together in my van so I gave Sandy the keys to my van to run back to school and get the projector.  After she left, I realized that we also did not have a sound cord attachment that we needed to make our sound play from the computer to the sound system.  I did not have my phone because I left it at church on my desk.  My oldest daughter, Madeline, did not have her phone because she had left it in the van.  I went to the school office and tried to call Sandy.  No answer.  I tried calling the church office.  No answer.  I went back into the gym where we were doing our outreach assembly and my youngest daughter, Macey, said "Hey mom you can use my ipod to call.  I have a new calling app."  I called Brandi Wells, who works part time with us in the Children's Ministry, I asked her to call Alan, her husband, and find out where the cord was and then call Sandy and tell her where to find it. Brandi said she would call but could not look for it because she had ran to to dollar store.  I called the church office again and this time Muriel, the church secretary, answered the phone.  I told her my dilemma in a panic.  Muriel then went running through the church to find Sandy.  Sandy was running in opposite directions trying to find the projector. Mr. Tim, who is over the facility, helped Sandy find a projector.   Sandy then found my phone on my desk and used it to call Alan Wells, who knew where the cord was.  Alan had already talked to his son Zach.  Zach had fetched the cord for us. 

In the end, Sandy came barreling into the school with the projector.  I asked if she got my message about the cord and she said yes but that her phone had been at the school in her laptop bag the entire time I was trying to reach her.  Children were pouring into the gym for the assembly when Zach came running in with the sound cord.  I asked Sandy "Where did he come from??  How did he get here??"  I knew his mother was at the dollar store and Zach has his learners permit to drive but what car did he drive?  Did he run from church to the school?  We got everything set up and the my daughter, Madeline came in and said that Mr. Tim had driven Zach to the school with the sound cord.  LOL
It has been madness!  The funnest thing is... after we had finished the assembly the principal asked if we were going to be able to come back every month next year to do assemblies. :)

Testimony of a Ashton

I am excited to share that 2 weeks ago Ashton Brown asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior.  He could not wait to tell me.  I was really proud of him last Wednesday, he was in the foyer of church with a group of children around him explaining the entire process.  So, I asked if I could video his testimony to share on my blog. My daughters were so excited that they did the video before I even made it to the room.  Check it out:)

I FINALLY beat the brick!

I have to admit I was a bit worried when I first started tonight because my husband decided to go with me and watch me swim.  LOL, no pressure :)  He laughed when I walked in and the children were waving at me. 

I turned out to be a good practice.  I did the 300 meters and then I actually made it 2 laps the the 10 lb. brick without drowning myself!!!  Yeah!  Then, I worked for 30 minutes with the swim coach practicing retrieving the brick from the bottom of the pool.  I retrieved it in 9 ft and in 12 ft :)  I also swam across the 9 ft two or three times with the brick.  I just might pass the lifeguard test after all.  I was pretty proud of myself so when the swim coach asked if I was ready to try swimming back across the pool after retrieving the brick,  I told him I was going to go ahead and stop while I was ahead.  I will save that for another day. 

If beating the brick wasn't good enough to made this a great day, I also had the privilege of doing another school assembly at Central Heights Elementary today.  Kumba, my monkey friend helped me.  I just love that sweet monkey!  AND... we were asked to go to another new school for an assembly :))
Good Times :)

Volunteer to pray

On two different occasions this week I have been in a room full of Christians and it has been asked of the group for someone to volunteer to pray.  On both occasions no one volunteered immediately and it left a time of awkward silence.  Why is it that as Christians we do not jump at the chance to pray? We should be the first to volunteer to pray with our Lord, praise Him for his abundant blessings and seek His guidance for our lives. Then I wondered, what if there was a non-believer in the room?  What would they think? Knowing that they are in a room full of Christians and no one quickly volunteered to pray.  So I urge you, the next time you are in a crowd of people and they ask for someone to pray.  Joyfully volunteer to Pray!

Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141: 2

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and listen to the cry of my supplications. Psalm 86: 6

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. Philippians 4: 6

Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving. Colossians 4: 2

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. Psalm 4: 1

The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord receives my prayer. Psalm 6: 9

Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55: 6