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