KidzPort January 31 – Cloudy With a Chance of Pancakes

February 1, 2010

Since the pancakes were such a big hit last week, we decided to do it again.  So while we sat around the kitchen flippin’ flapjacks, we also talked about this past Friday’s Family Movie Night.

It was the first time we’d gotten the parents and kids together for an event like that, and it was a big success.  A lot of people showed up, and they enjoyed our feature, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

So we talked about some of the characters in the movie, and what they are saying to us.  I just simply asked questions, and let the kids come up with their own observations, most of which were right on the money.   Some of the things they noticed:

Sam’s focus in the beginning of the movie was on her looks, to the point she wasn’t even able to see clearly because she didn’t want to wear her glasses.  Flint convinces here that she should just be herself, and that (to him) she is more beautiful that way.

There is a big difference between Earle the cop and Tim, Flint’s father.  Earle is constantly telling his son that he loves him, and providing all kinds of positive input.  There is no doubt in Cal’s mind that his Dad loves him.  Tim, on the other hand, has a hard time communicating with Flint.  It’s like they don’t speak the same language.  But at the end, we find out that Tim is just as proud a father as Earle is.

Manny the camera man had everyone fooled.  At first, people were willing to dismiss him as unimportant.  Turns out that Manny was more than he seemed – a doctor,  a pilot and even a comedian.

The whole thing happened because people got greedy.  They weren’t content where they were, and wanted more, to the point they were willing to sacrifice common sense.  Never a good thing.

For Parents:

• Talk to your kids about the movie. (If you haven’t seen it, maybe rent it and watch it together.) What kinds of good and bad role models are there?
• What does God tell us about being ourselves?  Does He want us to pretend to be someone else?  Can we even try to be someone else in front of God?
• Does your child identify any of the people in the movie with people in real life?  If so, talk about that (without being critical).

Kidzport January 24 – Perseverance and Pancakes

January 27, 2010

We had an interesting day this past Sunday, as we coupled our lesson with pancakes! There’s nothing better than learning scripture while downing some fresh-cooked flapjack goodness, is there?

There are many scriptures that deal with the concept of perseverance. Perseverance can be summed up in one phrase:  ”Don’t give up.”   Here are some great scriptures to read:

Psalm 27: The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 121: I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

Isaiah 40:  But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Notice a theme?  Rely on God! When our strength fails, we can “persevere” by holding onto God.

For Parents:

• Read the chapters listed above with your child, and find the specific verses.
• Talk about times when perseverance is hard.  Are there specific examples in your life you can share?
• Pray together that they will remember to turn to God when things get hard.

Schedule note: This Friday (Jan 29th) is our first Family Night!  All parents should plan on attending with their children, at 7:15 in the sanctuary.

KidzPort – January 10 – Dreams and Statues

January 18, 2010

Did you ever have a dream that woke you up, and left you wondering what it meant?  Sometimes are dreams are so real that we cannot accept that they didn’t really happen.  At other times, we dream about familiar people in unfamiliar circumstances.  Either way, dreams are an important part of our lives.

This week we looked at the story of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel found in Daniel 2.  The king had a strange dream, and he asked all his astrologers, magicians and fortune-tellers to explain it to him.  As an added challenge, he wouldn’t tell them what the dream was.  The king figured if they were for real, then they would know.

When no one could figure out the dream, Daniel was brought before the king.  Daniel told him that God was sending him a message.   He went on to explain the king’s dream.

³¹ “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. ³² This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Notice something about this “image” or statue that the king saw.  As you look from top to bottom, the materials get less valuable.  But they also get stronger.  Daniel told the king that the dream meant that there would be many kingdoms, each one less wealthy than the previous ones.  Finally (just like the legs and toes) the kingdoms would become divided.   Finally, the Kingdom of Heaven would come and destroy the earthly kingdoms, and would last forever.

We know that the great “stone” in the vision is Christ.  His kingdom will last forever.  What’s important here is understanding how God speaks to us, and how we need to be open to what He is trying to tell us.

For Parents:

• Talk to your child about dreams.  Do they ever wake up with nightmares?  A good thing to do is to pray woth your child when a nightmare comes.  This will get them in the habit of turning to God in scary situations.
• Read over the story in Daniel 2 and see if your child fully understands what is happening.  What is the most valuable part of the “image?”  Who does that represent?

KidzPort January 10 – A New Year

January 11, 2010

In our first KidzPort session of the new year we talked about – the new year!  (Stunning, I know.)

New Year’s are a traditional time for beginning.  Marking from one year to another is a convenient way to evaluate our lives and choices.  So it is natural that we look at the past year with (constructive) criticism and look to the new one with hope and determination.

People make resolutions on New Years.  That means that they resolve to change something in their lives.  It’s not always that what they are doing is bad – it usually means that they can simply do better.

One thing we resolved to do better is to promote respect:

• Respect for God
• Respect for one’s self
• Respect for those in authority
• Respect for others

For Parents:

• Talk to your child about the promise of the new year – what areas can they do better in?  Remember to be honest about what areas you can do better in.
• Pray with you child about this time of change, and that you will make the most out of what God has planned for you in 2010.

KidzPort Vision 2010

January 5, 2010

As part of our New Year’s Weekend celebration at Gospel Light, each of the network pastors and leaders were asked to share their vision for 2010.

Some of the things we hope to accomplish in 2010:

 

·      More Family Involvement: The primary vision for 2010 is to have more parent and family involvement in the Children’s Network.  While parents have been supportive, this is not the same as being involved. We believe that Kidzport should be partners in the spiritual growth of our children.  To that end, we hope to create more of an environment for parents to get involved. We will do this several ways:

 

o      Encouraging parents to participate in Friday night cell groups and Sunday morning children’s ministry.

o      By planning more “family” events.

o      By improving communication with parents throughout the year.

 

·      More Activities: We are hoping to have more activities outside of the Friday/Sunday ministries.  This includes fun events like trips to amusement parks, movie nights, picnics.   These activities not only provide fun experiences for the children, but are good outreach opportunities.

 

·      Better Curriculum for Friday night Cell groups.  While the Sunday KidzPort ministry is going well, it has been a challenge to develop good curricula for the cell groups at the same time.  We hope to use outside resources to provide sound, professionally-developed children’s curriculum.

 

·      More Outreaches: We hope to better develop a plan for outreaches and kid-friendly evangelism.

 

·      Expand existing activities: Our goal is to make our existing activities (specifically the revival, Hallelujah Night and the Cantata) bigger, with more of an eye for outreach

We hope that you continue to partner with us as we enter this new year!

KidzPort December 27 – FUN!

December 29, 2009

During the inter-holiday week we found some time to just kick back and enjoy one another’s company.   Christmas is about family, and so we celebrated our extended church family with some games and good times.   We’ll probably do the same next week, before getting back into the regular swing of things.

In the meantime, here’s a little fun for you from the Christmas Cantata:

Reminder: The kids will be singing two songs at the New Year’s Even celebration.  Hope to see you there!

Kidzport December 13 – Getting Ready

December 14, 2009

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

…and that means busy times around KidzPort, as we get ready for our annual Christmas Cantata.  The show will be Saturday, December 19th.  Doors open at 6pm, and we plan to kick off at 6:30.  You want to come early to get a good seat.

We spent the last couple of Sundays getting ready, which generally means rehearsing songs.  The kids are doing a great job this year, and we look forward to seeing them do their stuff on Saturday.  (We also had time for some arts and crafts as well! )

The schedule for the Cantata looks like this:

3:30pm  – participating children should be at the church for a last dress rehearsal and run-through.  They should bring, or be wearing, pajamas.  (Please, no nightgowns unless there are pajama pants underneath!)   We will provide dinner for the kids. 

6:00pm – Doors open

6:30pm – Scheduled start.

Participating this year will be the Send Judah First gospel choir, Gospel Light Worship, and the GLCC Dance Team.  Be sure to come and invite!! Refreshments will be provided.

KidzPort November 29 – Advent

November 30, 2009

This week was Advent Sunday.  While we don’t make a big deal about Advent at Gospel Light, it is a time to begin getting into the “Christmas Attitude.”   For is in the kids ministry, that means getting ready for the Christmas Cantata.

We spent Sunday’s time getting warmed up on some songs from last year’s show, and talking about Advent and getting ready for Christmas.   We talked a little about what people do differently during the Christmas season than they do at other times.  One thing, of course, is Christmas decorations.  People light up their houses and businesses, and towns decorate for the season.  Sometimes they may make it seem like a generic “Happy Holidays” kind of thing, but it is usually unmistakably Christmas.

We also tend to sing a lot of songs around Christmastime, a lot more than the rest of the year.  No one sings patriotic songs for a month before the Fourth of July.  But there are plenty of radio stations that play nothing but Christmas music during Advent.  We don’t go singing songs on people’s front lawns during Easter, but we do it now.  Why?  Because this is different .  Christmas is all about joy and hope.  And people like those things.

So as we get ready for the Cantata, keep seeking out joy and hope.

KidzPort November 22 – Writing on the Wall

November 23, 2009

The tale of Belshazzar, Price of Babylon hold a lot of information and some

great lessons for us.  Belshazzar’s story is told to us mainly in Daniel 5, although historical documents also prove his existence.

Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and the son of Nabonius, King of Babylon.  He was charged by his father with the protection of the city, while Nobonius took his army to meet the Persians in battle.  Instead of doing his job, Belshazzar had a great party, using gold and silver items stolen from the Temple of God in Jerusalem.  While he and his guests partied, a strange hand appeared in mid air, and began writing on the wall of the palace.

Belshazzar was scared and confused – the words made no sense.  He called his wisest men and fortune tellers, but they couldn’t explain either.  Finally, Daniel was called, and Belshazzar promised him much wealth and power if he could interpret the message. Daniel said he didn’t want money, but would do it any way.  He said the message was three Aramaic words: mene mene, tekel, u-pharsin. Taken together, these words mean “counted, weighed, divided.”

Daniel told the prince that God was telling him that his days had come to an end, that he had been judged and found wanting, and that his kingdom would be divided.  Belshazzar lives up to his promise and gives Daniel much wealth, but that very night Belshazzar is killed when Darius the Mede captures the city and becomes king.

So what lessons can we learn?  It’s basically three-fold.  First, we have to know when God is speaking to us. Secondly, we have to understand what He is saying. Finally, we must be obedient to what He says.

Knowing, understanding and obeying.  These the steps to understanding what God says to us, and getting the most from it.

For Parents:

• Read Daniel 5 with your child.  Make sure they understand what happened in the story.
• Why didn’t Belshazzar understand the writing.  What did Daniel have that he didn’t?  (A relationship with God)
• Talk to your child about a time when they think God spoke to them. Did they understand it?  Did they listen and obey?

KidzPort November 8th – Songs and Coats

November 9, 2009

We did a two-parter this Sunday in KidzPort.  First off, we “reviewed” some of the songs we’ve done over the past year with the kids.  I was very impressed how many of these songs they remembered:

• The Unicorn Song - The Irish Rovers
• There is No One Like You - David Crowder* Band
• Superhero - Hillsong Kids
• How He Loves - John Mark McMillan
• One Way - Hillsong United

There’s nothing quite as much fun as a bunch of kids, an acoustic guitar, and some great worship songs.   Check out some of the songs above, because your kids love ‘em!

 

Second, we talked a bit about the Biblical Joseph.  Not Joseph, the husband of Mary, either.  We’re talking Old Testament Joseph, the son of Jacob.  Joseph was the youngest of twelve brothers, and the favorite of his father.   He was also a bit of a troublemaker.  We know from his story in Genesis that he was a tattletale.  We also know that he rubbed his father’s love for him in his brothers’ faces, and that he had no problems telling them about the dreams he had – dreams where he was master over all of them!

Of course, the brothers didn’t like this very much, and niether did they like Joseph.  In fact, they sold him into slavery in Egypt!   But Joseph had a God-given talent for interpreting dreams, and when the Egyptian king had a puzzling one, he called on Joseph.  Joseph interpreted the king’s dream to mean that there would be a famine in all the land after seven years of prosperity.  He also warned the king to start storing up food during those seven years.  The king was so impressed, he made Joseph the ruler over all the Egyptians’ food. 

When the famine came, Joseph’s brothers came begging for food.  They didn’t recognize Joseph, but he recognized them?  How do you think he reacted?

For Parents:

• Read the story of Joseph in Genesis.  (Paying attention to Chapter 37 and 42-45.) 
• Answer the question above:  How did Joseph react to his brothers asking for food?
• Talk with your child about their relationship with their siblings, if they have any. 

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