MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness I do not think my daughter will make it through the night, we are having our Christmas tomorrow as we will be on the road Christmas Eve and with my fam on Christmas day and my goodness she has been bouncing around here all day long with excitement! I so love that, and so am going to miss it when they hit "that age" and my babies are too old to wake up at 5am and come jump on the bed and ask if we can get up yet.........well maybe will "eventually" miss that...LOL.
I just wanted to quickly wish all of you reading a very Merry Christmas and may the JOY of this holiday and our Savior find you where you are! We have been talking alot about Joy these last few weeks with the kids and the difference between Joy and Happiness....there is a difference ya know!
Happiness-as long as conditions are right and I get what I want I will be happy.
Joy-(as we have been defining it) is a delightful contentment from knowing Christ! And that Joy can and will be with you no matter what your condition or place in life! I have experienced it myself in a fathers death followed by an overwhelming sense of Joy in knowing he opened his eyes to see the face of God! Or when the checkbook does not match up to what the family budget says it needs to be happy...Joy in knowing the one who cares for me has promised to meet ALL my needs according to His riches in glory! WHOO!
I love the Lord, love all of you and am so thankful for the awesome year we have had and even more for the one in 2011 I know we will have!
You guys be safe, have a great Christmas and I will see you in the Zone this Sunday as we finish up with one final lesson on the Joy of knowing Christ and look at another name for our Savior in our continued series on the names of Jesus!
God bless and c-ya!
Pastor Darren

Snowflakes...and a big mess!

Hey Everybody!

How are you? I hope your all enjoying the happy holiday season? We here in the children's ministry are so excited that in the last week we kicked off our winter quarter with a teaching series on the names of Jesus! And a quick "thing that makes you go hmmm" is not God the coolest in how He works out things like only He can in that we began this series the very same week the adult crowd kicked off the "a.k.a God" series with Pastor Aaron????

Hey I'm good but even I could not have foreseen this happening but thankfully God does and works out these little details that I so appreciate Him for!

We had a BLAST this last week with our first name (Messiah) and also making snowflakes to liven up the Blast kids area...man did we make a mess but had such fun!

I hope all of you are keeping Christ where He belongs and that is at the center of anything you have planned for this holiday and have just a great Christmas season! This week we will be studying the name of Jesus (Gift of God) and the JOY that comes with knowing Christ as our Savior!

Have a great week and look forward to seeing you in the ZONE!

Pastor Darren

Trunk and Treat

How fun...over 1500+ who came out and shared an evening of fun/food/treats and laughter!

We had our annual Halloween alternative event this last weekend and it was such a huge hit! Not just in the number of people who came (1500+) and consumed over 800+ hot dogs, got faces painted, photos made and heard/saw a fantastic presentation by Jesse the Juggler http://www.jessethejuggler.com/ but sharing and having fun being together! I stood back at one point watching our youth do an impromptu Christmas parade, listened to the laughs and it was just the most awesome thing. I love it when God's people get together...there is nothing like it! Now I know there are many of you who question doing anything on Halloween because "guilty by association" I guess and I get that...I really do, and those of you who choose to do nothing every October 31st you have my support. But I have to tell you this event is so one I look forward to because as I prayed when we kicked off the night "we are not here to celebrate spooks and fear, but to fellowship and share in how awesome and great you are God!" October the 31st is a "holy day" it is...God made it like He did October the 30th and November the 1st! Our purpose is not to ignore the culture but do all we can to redeem it...salt? So this event fits just fine in that school of thought and we had a blast if you did not make it out make plans to join us next Monday October the 31st 2011!

Jesse joined us in the morning in our two children's services and did an awesome job of supporting our study of the book of Genesis and all the "firsts" we learn of there. Then that night he did such a great job sharing Jesus and many, many laughs and wows with his talent!

Will post some pics of the event later but for now just a few of Jesse from the morning.

See you this week in the Zone as we kick off a month study of Noah and the events surrounding his life and our AWESOME GOD!

Darren

Toy Story

Doin a bit of catch up this afternoon!

On October 24th we (adults) to reward the kids for reaching the giving goal (see previous post) dressed up like Toy Story characters for the morning and had a great time doing it! When I am surrounded by adults who like to dress up and laugh so much I know I am in the right business and place.....these people rock!

It was a fun day....except for Tonya who dressed up like an evil clown....all clowns are evil you know, right? (Shudder, shudder) I told her this last Sunday I just cannot look at her the same ever again! Not sure where my irrational fear of all things clown came into being but baby believe me they totally creep me out man! Enough...rambling...a bloggers worst enemy, rambling...well I think "clowns" are actually ones worst enemy but I digress.

Anyway here are a few pics for you LOL(ing).

Toys Toys Toys

Hey kids/rents/grand rents and anyone else who may be looking in!
Lookie at what the kids did...and I mean that in the nicest way possible! Look at all the toys the kids collected to be included in our giving project we are doing here at the church, is this awesome or what? I have not gotten a total number count of all the books/games/puzzles and toys the kids collected but they did a great job and met their goal and won "The Toy Story Challenge"!!!
Now this week all, well most all, the adults have to dress as a favorite toy story character...do you know how hard it is to find a Buzz Lighyear in 3XL? Not easy my friend, not easy at all....and just what people do they use to measure and say this is an XL or M or whatever...they certainly are small framed people I tell ya that!
Hey just gonna post some pics and split but this week promises to be another fun one as we tackle the topic of "First Kids" and talk on corruption and what God has done for us to overcome the corruption in the world through Christ!
See ya friends, will have pic's of our embarrassment for you on Monday!
Darren

I'm baaaaack!

Hey parents/kids/whoever out there in cyber world!

I will not dwell very long on just saying how nice it is to be back at work full time and back to blogging and working and playing and feeling good! Had to take the better part (actually all) of August off and part of September for some health things/surgery/healing/going totally mind numb in a recliner! You know I always wondered about those people who complained about having to be on bed rest or not able to get up and around for a time and thought "man I would love that for once to be able to drop everything and just lay there" well ummm no, not for me man, got a bit crazy and just have much to much stuff in my head and energy to do that again! Anyway....great to be back we had a record number of kids last week and we had a great time up in the Zone learning about the first sin, as we continue on this quarter with all the firsts mentioned in the book of Genesis! This week....first punishment. I know, fun right? Hey I like a good laugh and to have fun like the next kid..err I mean adult, but lets face it, there was a first sin and there was a price to be paid! Missing in this society today is the accountability for a persons actions, we always have someone or something to blame for what we have done or what we did not do! This again comes from the book of Genesis....Adam, "it was the woman's fault", and then Eve, "it was the serpents fault". But God is the final/righteous judge and He did judge the serpent for His part and then Adam and Eve were held accountable for theirs! Sadly in the whole account is how sin played a part in even causing all of creation to be punished! Our sins, wrongdoings almost never end with us but have so much harm and hurt to those around us as well and kids need to hear that and that is just the message we will lay down this week that with our sin, because of our sin, our CHOICE to sin comes punishment!

Trust me parents if it is your first time the team and I will do everything within our power to get this message across with all the love we can....and not to brag but we do a pretty good job of it....well God does the pretty good job we just show up and let Him use us!

Hey good to be back online I will promise to do my best to begin again in updating each and every Monday as to what has happened and will go on in The Zone!

Pastor Darren

Back in Bidness!

What a great first Sunday we had! New rooms/new faces/new curriculum/new smells (well not everything was great!) Anyway, what a wonderful way to kick off the end of summer/first of fall with our kids moving up and getting back into the swing of things!
I always get a kick of how young our kindergartners look on the first Sunday as compared to how big they will look this coming May....the wide eyes as alot of the kids see the Zone for the first time with the lights and music! And to see all of our old friends/and new ones joining us again as mentors for yet another spectacular year the God has in store for us!
And I love the way we are kicking it off in talking about questions kids have...this last week "Is Satan Real" and next week "Is Hell a Real Place".
Now I know, I know...."how morbid are you guys?" I wonder that myself sometimes...just kiddin...but we look for a way each year to kick off things with how we want the kids to behave/be respectful/be worshipful and on and on, and how God expects us to be. What right actions look like, but....how many times do we tell the kids from the perspective of what not to do, or "whom" does not want them acting the right way, what are the consequences of not following God's laws and commands?
I think we have hit on a nerve that will lay a great ground work as we get into September and our fall study on firsts....first man, first sins, a study of Genesis, the book of firsts!
I love all of you and want to thank each and every member of the team for a great first week! I will be out for the rest of the month but the ministry is in some very capable hands while I am away......God Bless and see ya in the Zone soon!
Pastor Darren

Summer Over?

Wha happened? I came to blog about the last few weeks and was saddened to realize I had to blog about the fall soon? How is it each summer just gets faster and faster? I hate that....did you ever see the movie Remote Control (I think that was the title)? The movie with Adam Sandler where he gets a remote control for his life and parts of his life begin to go in fast forward and many times without his doing? Before his character knows it events and years have gone by and he has been present but cannot remember them and worse...he feels the regret of not enjoying them at all...being present but not really there! Even for a clown like Adam Sandler (and there is plenty of his boyish, jock humor in there) it was a touching and thoughtful movie I thought...still, do not rent and watch with the kids...way to much for them!
But my point is, I feel like someone hits the remote each week and we go in fast forward and the next thing I know I am leaving the building and have lost out on really enjoying the day for what it was...I really am going to try and do better and enjoy each week I have with the kids more!
We have had a great July and a wonderful visit (last week) from the Champions Academy from Kokomo First Assembly, and before that The Gillam Family (an illusionist family from Missouri) and even a visit from ol' Abe Lincoln back around July the 4th to share the faith of Abe Lincoln, just awesome! And this week (August 1st) we are back in the saddle again for another great school year and fun and worshipping in the Zone! We will be back to our normal....I pause here because the word "normal" just is such a stretch for our week to week fun/mayhem/zany/wild/program we have week in and week out! But our Mentors are ready to go, our large group leaders, I know, have been chomping at the bit to get back up on stage and it is GONNA BE EPIC/AWESOME/I LOVE TO HIT THE "/" KEY!
This week we will be beginning a month long study on questions about the Bible! We will take on the questions about "Is Satan really real" "What will happen when I die" and many others that kids have..it should (will) lead to some great conversations for sure!

Hey gotta run...see you guys in the Zone!
Pastor Darren

Chalk gal

What an awesome job that Kristi (a.k.a. Chalk gal) did this last week! She is so talented and really captured the kids with the visual as well as the message!

I totally loved when we opened it up to the kids for questions on her work and art and some of the answers she gave, in particular was the one when asked about how she began! She told the kids that she just answered to an announcement in school to come and learn how to do the work she does and that was it....lessons and hard work and here she is! I love that message that we do not have to look at others who are leading, doing great things and say "well I will never be able to do this or that" NO....I wish all kids could know that interest, hard work and you can see and make things come true for yourself!

This week we go from Chalk gal to Hockey dude! Our own Paul Kobalarz (who heads up our sports ministry and is a former professional hockey player....not the Black hawks though.....but we will not hold that against him! But played for the New Jersey Devils (I know, weird right?) And he also spent quite a bit of time in Sweden working with athletes there and teaching the word of God to anyone who would listen I imagine! He will be sharing with the kids this week and it will be great!

Shoeless Sunday!

Well it was not quite as "shoeless" as one might imagine but we did get the chance to lose the shoes and jump around for a bit as we tried to imagine life w/o shoes as so many kids in the slums of Bondeni have to!

We finished our giving project yesterday and had the leader of our upcoming trip to Kenya come and share how much we had raised and just a bit more about the heart God has given him for the kids there and this plan to give each kid in the school we support a new pair of durable shoes and two pair of socks!

I was just struck looking down at my feet...the new shoes my wife got me for an anniversary gift...how blessed I am/how blessed we are, we have so much and so often take it all for granted!

Anyway...the kids did an amazing job in raising funds and yesterday was a blast hearing more about the upcoming trip and Jim did a great job in teaching how all the kids are missionaries in each of their own worlds! Worship was great, Cole and Doug did an outstanding job and we had such a blast making our "toe token" necklaces to go along with the day's theme!

Next week, Chalk Girl is in the house, I know her personally and she is an awesome individual with an awesome talent and skill for sharing the word of God...do not miss it, it will be a BLAST!

Oh in case you want to check out her work it is in the back stairwell of our children's area or you can go check her out at her website, http://www.chalkgal.com/

See you guys in the Zone!

Pastor Darren

Sorry, Mothers Day, baptisms, and He is listening!

Whew alot to talk about today, so lets get on it shall we?

1. What an awesome day yesterday in the Zone for the elem kids and mentors as we talked about sorrow, I know...just how is that awesome? Well awesome in that we get the opportunity to tell the kids what God's word says and challenge them on wrongful attitudes and tempers...now if they choose to change I leave up to parents and the Holy Spirit to do that work!


2. Great day in that it was our first day of baptisms under the new format where we are filming the services and testimonies for all to remember long after the day is over...it was so cool to hear the adults/kids/youth give voice to their experiences and faith in Christ before taking the plunge in front of the church fam!


3. Mothers Day is this week and we will be doing a short craft in the Zone before we ramp up and get things going this week, but do not rely on this craft to be Mom's surprise for the day...get her something nice (flowers, gift card, something for her) do not get caught out in the cold like those dudes you will see at 11pm on Saturday at WalMart looking blankly into the card section for something that just gets them out of trouble and not because they are truly thankful for the moms/wife's they have in their lives!


4. Finally this week we will be cracking open up the book of Nehemiah and talking about how God is listening so just ask! But we will be focusing on how it seems that old testament characters were very intentional about the respect that they showed to God before going to Him for something they wanted? I mean in the first chapter of Nehemiah read the prayer that he has there and how Nehemiah, like alot of old testament characters did, focused on God's might and holiness and our utter dependence upon him and his favor! We will encourage the kids to pray and I wonder how much of that is portrayed in the home? So how about you? You guys pray together much?

Love you guys, love the kids and all our v-teers and we will see you this week up in the Zone!

Darren

Sorry...been busy man!

Hey friends/parents/kids
Sorry I have not posted since Easter...have heard and obeyed alright? What an awesome time we had in the Zone last week...I am so thankful for the entire group of peeps/mentors/leaders/helpers/zombies and Jesus freaks I work with each week and this week was no exception! We tackled the topic of leadership in the time with the kids this week and had a chance to encourage them and for some of the older groups I know really challenge them with the fact we all are called to be leaders in our worlds for God!
It was a pleasure to be in worship with both services this last week and hear the observations that both Cole and Doug made on the subject. Doug had an interview (video) of this man who is inspiring thousands of dad's with his commitment to his son and his disabilities. Maybe you know of him? This guys has run many marathons/iron man triathlons (not sure if it is harder to say or spell that word)? Anyway with his son in tow the whole way, just awesome for sure and really inspired me to be a better leader/dad for sure!
This week the topic will be a rip roaring good time! Whoo! Sorrow is what we are going to talk about Ezra and his sorrow he had over God's people who had traded in a relationship with the one true God for a relationship of comfort and complacency with the world...I wonder how many of us really truly feel sorrow for the sin in this world...it hurts Christ for sure, it pains him terribly I believe so how is it we, as having Christ in us, do not even feel a twinge of pain at the things going on in this world? To say that "well there is just so much one could do nothing but feel sorrow and God wants us to be happy" really? I mean yes I believe all in the joy of the Lord and His presence in my life brings with it unlimited possibilities...after all "nothing impossible with God" etc. So I'm with ya there but how do we handle what 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 teaches us? Seriously read the chapter and in verses like verse 10 "For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation...." how or what do we do with sorrow or grief? Feel free to comment please I would love your thoughts!
And this week we will be taking the first 15 minutes or so to take the kids into adult worship to witness some very special baptisms from our kids and adults as well! Now that (baptism) always has a joy with it that just makes you smile!
Hey you have a life and I have alot to do for Sunday so I am out!
Love you guys
Pastor Darren

Eggxplosion!

So who seriously knew an egg could explode like that? Anyway, so Easter yesterday, wonderful, great, awesome...love our kids, love our mentors and extra help was so great and helpful yesterday! Pastor Aaron did such a great job with the message and choir great..just a wonderful Easter, so the "egg"plosion...I am teaching second hour to large group and wanted some way to illustrate what a "mess" they made of Christ when the crucified him and also how when He rose He came back healthy, whole, still had his scars but was risen and not a "mess" at all! So to do this I was going to crush a few eggs in my hand into a bowl and make a real mess, and to do this right I needed to slightly crack the eggs so they crushed all nice and neat in my hand. Well I make my first point and then go to crush this egg and realize in my head "oh man I forgot to crack the egg...oh well I am a strong guy I will just squeeze and it will........BOOM!" Egg went everywhere...it blew up like a hand grenade man! I had yolk everywhere, all over the first few rows of kids and egg shrapnel flying as far back as the back of the room, one kid even yelled out "ow..I'm hit!" Now don't worry he was alright, just a bit shocked, as I and every other adult/kid in the room was! It was all good, we all had a good laugh and boy when I pulled out another egg they really perked up and paid attention! And to make the point about our Savior I emptied out a few eggs and when I crushed them...no mess...no yolk cause...nobody in the grave, He was not there and was not a mess any longer! It was alot of fun, I love the "energy" and "excitement" on Easter all the visitors and just the celebration of the day....it was good!

But looking forward to getting back to things this next week as we continue to dive into the person of Ezra and God's Wall of Protection for us all! Thanks to those who lent a hand yesterday to make things so fun and I hope we all keep in our hearts and minds all year long the message of Easter and how free we are because of what Jesus did for us! See ya friends and careful with those morning eggs...they can go off in your hand and make quite a mess!

Darren

Easter is a comin!

How exciting, how awesome, I cannot wait for this weekend and Easter! I mean seriously is there any better day for a Christian than Easter? It seems to me it should be the biggest day on our calendars (yes bigger than the big C) the day we celebrate our Savior and His resurrection!
I love all the kids, all the x-tra people whom have given of their time to come and hang with the kids, it is going to be great! I will blog next week about how awesome it was but first want to thank all my peeps for this last week and stepping up to fill in and make sure things ran smooth up in the Zone! Ya see I was out last week...sick, maybe a hangover from Superstart two weeks ago? Not sure, but I was so out and I just love our people who work week in and week out so selflessly up with the elem kids they are great! I was so pleased to hear how people stepped up with ideas and helped out my man Doug with leading both services and our wonderful K-dog for taking care of so much behind the scenes. And someone please tell me you got a pic of Dean Bennett doing his best "Ezra" impersonation....that I have to see! Parents your kids are in the best of care with the people in the Zone, they so love your kids, you and most of all God...and it shows, each and EVERY week their love and devotion shows! Got lots to do so will get back to it, see you on Easter!

A Super Superstart!

Wow what a weekend! My ears are still ringing, still tired, and still hearing "My Best Friend is the Creator of the Universe" I will still be humming tunes from The Lads for about the next month for sure! We had an event called Superstart here at the church this last weekend (over 1300 preteens in attendance and www.ciy.com/superstart if you want to check it out for yourself) and man what a time we had! The fun/food/music/program, it was just such a blast! Those guys from down under ( not Midnight Oil or AC/DC or even Men At Work and especially not Wolfmother......but The Lads! http://www.theladsband.com/ ) They were awesome, not only in the music but in the message they gave to the preteens to be all that God has called them to uniquely be! Yancy was fantastic (as usual) and the whole team from Superstart was just a joy to be around and work with!

We had the Lads hang out and minister to both of our morning services yesterday and they did such a great job in working with a younger group of kids than they typically would work with! It was a great week and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us this week as we get back to some sense of what we normally do in the Zone! We will be talking about this week/or continuing to talk about I should say...God's Wall of Protection and we will be looking yet again at another person from the Bible in whom God's Wall of Protection saved!

The Wall!

This last week was a good on in the Zone as we kicked off a new quarter study on "God's Wall of Protection"! In Bible times a wall was so important to the safety and security of the people, while they may have ventured outside the walls to do business or farm or even live when times of trouble came everyone headed inside the walls!

We all have them don't we? Walls I mean? Things that we go to, hide behind and look to for comfort and security? God wanted His protection to be His peoples first option and not the walls made of stone and brick to be their savior. And how funny it is when we do see, as in the case of Jericho, a people secure in their walls "they" built and trusted in how mighty our God is to bring them down...and with only a trumpet blast and shouts!

We can build a wall of protection in God and we are going to take about 13 weeks to talk about that and we kicked it off by talking about the first stone in our wall of protection we have in the Lord this last week...the stone of God's sovereignty! We talked about how God is in charge and what a comfort that is, should be, to all of us! This week we will be in our large group a bit longer than normal as I have a meeting scheduled with our mentors to talk about how we can better serve the kids God is continuing to bless us with! While we meet the kids will be lead from the front in large group and sing and praise our great God and talk about the subject of faith! We need to recognize our God is in control then next be willing to trust in that and know that "in all things, God works for the good to those who love Him." It will be an awesome week, we will (of course) have a blast and I look forward to seeing you all there!

Happy New Year!

I admit, I am not a "New Year Nut" by any means! I mean if you are one of these guys who likes to go all out and celebrate till the cows come home...go for it! Me, I like the kids and wife asleep and me watching the ball drop then over to see what nutty Red Bull stunt they will do on ESPN and then off to bed! I like to be somewhat not a zombi on the first day of the year and enjoy the day in stead of the night before...just me! But not this year as my kids are getting older and want to "experience" a new year coming in and have lock ins and partys of their own now....my time is over and I will now assume that role of caring daddy waiting for his little ones to make it home safe, or having to go get them at one in the morning like this last one! Sigh....they grow up so fast!

But...a new year does give us a clean slate to work from and and new promises from our Father for great and mighty things! I cannot wait to see how He moves in the Zone this year with the kids and mentors we have in place...I get the feeling it is gonna be a special year for us in the elem kids area!

We had a great time this last week in dealing with the "touchy" subject of submission, looking at how even Jesus submitted His will for that of his Fathers! We had a few key people still gone on holiday but anticipate a full staff this next week as we will study and learn about the diety of Christ!

How Jesus being fully God humbled Himself to the Father and became obedient unto death! (Philippians 2:8)

How awesome is God, how great to know we serve the one who is ALWAYS in control! When we do not understand our circumstance or sitch...He does and is just saying "just follow my Spirits lead and you'll be cool" may not be the path we would choose...then it almost never is! We had a great Sunday yesterday and I cannot wait to see how God is gonna show up this week and this year in the Zone!

Later dudes

Pastor Darren