Moving Closer to God

I didn't realize until today just how long it has been since I have updated the post about our services in kids church.
Since the beginning of the year God started really stirring something inside of me - a PASSION to take the children in a deeper relationship with HIM! At first I was overwhelmed, I felt I had already been trying to do so, but wasn't getting the results I wanted. I wanted to see these kids filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesying, standing their ground when it came to their faith... And as this began to stir inside of me I began to seek God in a deeper level than I had before. As a result we started having REAL alter calls right there in our kids services, these kids would come to the alter with a hunger for God.
Before the children would be released to come down to kids church, I would be in the room praying, the Spirit of God could be felt, God showed me rain from Heaven that fell in the classroom, rain that would heal their little hearts, rain that allowed them to grow! Each week these kids would come expecting to feel God.
This led up to our kids camp, where God was already speaking to me about being the speaker. This was an exciting and scary thing for me. Who was I to speak at a camp? But God gave me idea's that brought a freshness to the services, an excitement...and at the same time allowed the Spirit of God to move.
These kids came to the alter with an even greater hunger, a desire to be in God's presence. God showed me their hearts as He was slowly turning them back to Him. He showed me His Spirit as it made it's way through this room.
God is not looking at the age of a person, but He is looking at the Heart, looking for those who are willing to speak for Him!
Many of these children went home filled with the Holy Spirit! Ready to battle anything that came their way.
And now that summer has come to an end, we, at our church, are training these children to be the little warriors that He is calling them up to be.
They have become bold enough to open their mouths and speak to their classmates, to speak in the classroom when a teacher is trying to teach them that Evolution is how we came to be! Their prayers are going straight to the throne room of Heaven and God is answering their prayers. They are even starting to see visions from God and sharing them to encourage others in their faith and their walk with God!
I am excited to see what all God has in store for these young people, and honored to be a part of this in their lives.
God, through these chilren - Bring Revival!

Fire From Heaven

The last few weeks we have been talking about being a kid that takes flight or just an average kid. A kid that takes flight is a someone who does their best to follow directions and obey, they read their Bible and pray all on their own. An average kid only reads their Bible if they feel like it, they don't always obey because again they don't feel like it and just want to be able to do what they choose to do. Elijah is a man in the Bible that took flight. He followed God's direction no matter how scary or silly it sounded. He was to camp out near a river and have raven bring him food, he stayed with a widow who had no food but when she followed the simple instructions of making a meal with the last of her flour and oil God provided for her so that it never ran out until it started to rain again when her crops could grow. When the widows son died and she blamed Elijah, Elijah didn't become angery instead he took his body upstairs and prayed for him until he was alive again. Elijah gave God all the credit.
Then one day when Elijah was challenging the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, they were to have their god send fire on the sacrifice they had prepared and Elijah would call on his God. All day these prophets shouted out to their God and danced around but nothing happened. Finally Elijah called them over, rebuilt the alter of the Lord that had been torn down and with one prayer God send down fire that consumed the whole sacrifice. Wanna learn more about the story; read 1 Kings 17 & 18. I've added a video clip of the experiment we did just this last Sunday.

During the month of December we talked about Joseph. Our similarities; how even though he lived long ago as a young man he was proud and boastful, tested and tempted. But also how Joseph made wise decisions that pleased God, and how God used Joseph for great things. God had a plan for his life, just like He has one for all of us.

One of the biggest lessons we can learn from Joseph is to forgive others, the way he forgave his brothers.

NFL Theme

During the month of October we used a NFL theme. The boys especially loved this! We talked about things such as: the football players train hard, they learn new plays, they practice many hours a day, vs. how we should learn what the Bible says, practice sharing Jesus with others, and staying strong/standing up for what you believe. Each Sunday we played a game of football, learning new plays, handling the ball, had Fun Facts to see just what all those boys knew.

Nascar Theme

During the month of September our theme was NASCAR! We talked about finishing the race, the cars power vs. the power of the Holy Spirit, how God cares for you vs. how the pit crew cares for the car, & the cars tune ups vs. our spiritual tune ups, such as reading our Bible and prayer.
We played Nascar theme games where at the end the kids where put into groups and had to come up with a crew cheif, driver and pit crew members, they had to design their own box car and race them.

Jesus Disciples

Summer is here and our lives are full of excitement and fun, but all of this keeps us so busy. Over the last couple months I have spent 2 weeks in Romania, doing a kids camp for the children there who otherwise would have never had an opportunity to attend camp. If you would like to find out more about my trip to Romania check out my family blog,

http://www.the-reighard-7.blogspot.com/. I will have that info up within the next couple of days.

We have had our VBS here at the church with many children coming through the door and filling the places with laughter and smiles. And now we prepare for the upcoming camps for our children and teens.

In children's ministry we have been talking about being Jesus Disciples the last couple of weeks. We have learned that the word discipline means more than getting a swat on the behind and being grounded. It means, 'Training to do what is right even when you don't feel like it.'

The kids have met Joe, a man who has good intentions but has a big talk, he is always trying to do something big, but he lacks the discipline to follow through with his grand ideas. He has tried to run in a marathon but did not train or discipline himself for the event. He came back unable to finish the race and obviously very out of shape. But we too need to have this discipline in our lives, to run the race of life. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 talks about running this race in such a way to win the prize, a prize that will last forever. It's talking about training hard, it takes work and discipline. We must be disciplined to become who God wants us to be.

We've talked about the Bible and how it is a very important book that tells us about who God is and how He wants us to live. Psalms 119:11 'I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.'

Also how we need not only read the Bible but meditate on it. Again we had Joe visit the classroom, he had heard about meditating on God's Word and he really wanted to make God happy so he went out and bought an expensive head wrap and mat to use while meditating. He misunderstood the verse and found out that he wasted a lot of money. Joshua 1:8 'Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.' This verse is telling us to fill our minds with God's Word, think about it always, trying to understand it. The kids were encouraged to meditate on God's Word this week. Asking themselves these questions: What is this about? What does this mean? and How can I apply this to my life?

Mother's Day

To start today I had the kids fill out questionairs about their mom's, let me share some of their answers with you:

Why did God make mothes?

-so we can have people to clean the house

-so we can have Mother's Day

-so I would have someone to love me

How did God make mothers?

-he just puff and there they are

What ingredients are mothers made of?

-love, kisses, hugs,

-skin, blood

-love and perfectness, P.S. i think dirt

Why did God give you your mom and not some other mom?

-my mom is nice

-because my mom is perfect

-God knew she liked me lots more than other moms

What kind of little girl was your mom?

-sneeky

-mean

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

-is he good

-will he give her money

Why did your mom marry your dad?

-he is cute

-to have babies

-he is a good man

What's the difference between mom's and dad's?

-mom cleans the house

-dad's are more awsome

-there are different letters

What does you mom do in her spare time?

-read the Bible

-shop

-sleep

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

-she is already perfect

-if she got a motorcycle

If you could change one thing about your mom what would it be?

-her hair, i'd want it longer

-nothing

-I'd have her get me more toys

One child answered, 'I don't know, but Jesus does' for every one of his questions. : )

Kids sure are fun to have around. Thank you to all you mom's who share your kids with me for a few hours each week!

We then did an object lesson with rice crispies. We compaired ourselves to this crispy little cereal. It is easily spilled, dry and hard. Just as we are easily spilled or knocked down by messing up, our spirit may become dry by not staying in God's word, our heart can even become hard, or hateful or mean. The marshmellow is white, pure, and oh so sweet, just like Jesus and his love for us. Jesus does so much for us and he loves us so much, he sacrificed his life for our sins. However, together these two things make something wonderful, delicious rice krispy treats! Jesus does not want us to stand alone or be dried, hard or easily spilled. He wants us to accept his love in our lives and bond to him, just like the cereal bonds with the marshmellows.

We compared ways that our mothers are like Jesus in how they love us no matter what, they sacrifice things for us to have what we might need or want, and they do so much for us.

We played a little trick on the kids today, where we had one child come forward and answer some very easy questions, name an animal, pick a color, choose a kind of pop...they jotted their answers down on seperate pieces of paper. And then it happened...Amber read his mind. Telling him what his answers were. Hum, don't our mom's often do this too, already know the answer to the questions they may ask us, or know what we have done without having to tell them?