The Kenyan Version of Laura Yates!

Just have to throw this out there...Laura Yates we saw this scene and thought of you!  Not just the size of class and one teacher but because she was awesome (as any student who calls you mentor can say of you as well)!
I looked at K-dog and said "Oh my goodness it's the Kenyan version of Laura Yates"!

We're heeeeeeere!

Hey kids/rents/friends and casual late night blogger reader!

We made it man!  And it was not easy...a hour flight to Chicago from Indy, then 10 hours to London then right on a plane for another 10 hours to Kenya...whew!  But we made it and let me say you never know how much you can stink or how oily your skin can get until you just do nothing but set on a plane for over 20+ hours!

We landed boarded a bus in Kenya then went straight to our home for the next week "The Grace House Resort" now I know what your thinking "RESORT"?  Well don't think Disneyland Resort when I tell you about this place, it is small/old/my shower is right next to my toilet and I have mosquito netting around my bed to keep the little pests out of my face while I sleep and keep me from getting sick from them.

But we are here and today on our first full day we got up had breakfast (now I will tell you the guys/gals who do the cooking here could blow the Disney people out of the water....gooooood food).  But we ate then.....WOW.....the church is located right next to the slum that we will be at for the majority of the week!  The worship was over the top awesomeness, they sang/clapped/danced/jumped up and down/cried and it was great!  You know what it reminded me of?  YOU!  Yeah I had the same feeling worshipping with them that I have when we are singing in the Zone.....oops!  I mean the gym now, I had someone say to me "that was something wasn't it Darren"?  I told them "reminded me of worshipping with the kids each week"!  But they did it in a way that blew me away..sometimes when I have had a bad week or am upset over something I don't want to sing, I want to sulk, I don't want to lift up my hands to praise the Lord I want to cross them and put on my grumpy face...not these people!  Not these people who have very little if anything at all...they praised God!  They worshipped, they went for it, they got it on, they get it and they....they got it, they got to be in the presence of God because they accepted Gods invite to come and worship Him!  Wow...it was great!

When we left church (2 1/2 hours later...felt like an hour at most to me) we went outside and a new friend I made while here named Steve called me over and said Darren look over this wall and see....I looked this is what I saw!

This is the slum area that thousands call home, you look to the right and left as far as you can and all you see is slum.  We just looked in, tomorrow we go in!  I will talk more later on tomorrow night...be looking for it!  So glad to hear that Pastor Tim and the crew did a fantastic job this first week in the new digs for the kids, hope it was fun, so looking forward to being back with you guys!  

Pastor Darren

Bye Bye Zone...Helllllllllo Kenya!

Hey guys this is Pastor Darren and I am so saddened that this last Sunday was our last one in The Zone!  The place we have called home for the last several years since opening up our new campus here in Z-ville!  Well on to bigger and better things and this week (reminder alert, reminder alert) this Sunday September 11th we will be moving our elementary services to the mpr!  It will be the new home for our elementary Kids Blast program as we continue to grow and expand our facility to meet the increasing need of all these great kids and adults that God keeps bringing us! 

                                                                                                                                                              I am so excited that this Friday K-dog (a.k.a. Kathy Jarrell our awesome and very pontifical 11am coordinator) and myself and a bunch of other people from TPCC are going to be off to Kenya to work in the area we as a church have adopted there and am so looking forward to seeing the school and learning how are elem kids can better serve our friends there.  Thus my next thing I want to tell you about...please check out our blog here for the next week or so and I will be filling you in on the journey into the Dark Continent and our adventures in Kenya as we look to see what God is doing there and learn more about how we can be a part!

Love you guys, thanks for a wonderful week this last week as we said goodbye to our home The Zone and look forward to the next part of our journey together and kicking off our first week in the mpr with a bang!
Thats it for now but come back beginning this Friday and lets have a great trip together!

God bless guys
Pastor Darren

Sorry guys....

Have been so wrapped up with the "bidness" of children's ministry I have neglected our poor little Blog each week! I promise to do better, wow so where should I begin? Well how about we just jump in with this week and what will be happening in the Zone for the kids? The place is gonna look like a mess for the next several weeks as our beloved Zone is going to be going through some pretty major changes! We are putting up a permanent wall in the back of the room that will be our new "kindergarten suite" as I like to call it. This is an attempt to address the overcrowding we have in our preschool area and elementary as the kids just keep comin....PTL! It is a problem, but as I have said before a good problem to be having!

We will communicate changes in rooms and places for kids to be in the coming weeks as we make our way through March!

This week we kick off our new unit of study for the spring and we are talking about being a friend of God or more specifically we will have the focus of being a BFF with Jesus! I was thinking of the best friends I have had in my life...many of which I have long lost contact with and wonder where they are and what they are up to from time to time but Jesus? He is the best friend who stays with us forever! Changing schools/moving homes/all the changes that can happen in the world of a child they need to know Jesus never changes and He will always be there to be a friend closer than a brother!

This week we will be focusing on the fact that as a friend of God I will obey His words!

Our verse for this week is Hebrews 11:6
"Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and he rewards those who seek Him."

We have some really cool things for the kids this week in the Zone a visit from "Scout" I cannot tell you who he is but he will really leave an impression on the kids in what obedience is all about and then in second hour something that will "amaze" you and leave you saying "how'd he do that?"

See you in the Zone this week!

Pastor Darren

Savior/Lamb of God!

Hey guys how is everyone doing?

What an awesome week we had last week in Kids Blast! I just loved being able to finally teach the kids in second service some new songs off of the Yancy cd "Stars Guitars and Megaphone Dreams" it so rocks dude! If you have never heard of Yancy or checked out her website, do yourself a favor and check it out now http://www.yancynotnancy.com/ She has awesome preschool worship, worship music for kids and tweens and even the adult stuff is great!

Anyway the worship rocked and we had a great time playing "Super Duper Smarty Pants" in which a student was asked questions to tough to answer but with an older friends help could of most likely answered the questions! The point being many things it helps to have assistance with but with repentance there is no help given...we must choose to repent for ourselves and nobody can do it for us!

This week we will continue with our overreaching theme of repentance as we talk about Jesus (another name we know Him by) but being the "Lamb Of God!" It should/will be great...hey do not forget about Superstart coming up in just a little under a month from now...Feb 4th and 5th.

If you have not registered your preteen do so now at our website http://www.tpcc.org/

Thanks guys and we will see you in the Zone!

Pastor Darren

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Traders Point Peeps/Kids/Mentors/Visitors/Other Worldly Alien Types/Whomever has landed here!

What a great Sunday we had last week as we talked about Jesus being our Teacher and learning about lessons from His life and words. This week we will be learning that Jesus is our Savior and we will discuss the topic of Repentance.

I am really loving this quarter and learning the various names we have for our Lord and what each of them teaches us about how great/awesome/loving He is to us.

Not sure if your a New Year resolution type or not, I gave up on all that sometime ago! Well not really, I mean it comes to my mind each year and I do find myself saying "this year I will do this or that" sometimes it sticks and then again sometimes??????????? Well I hope you make one promise this year and that is to make it out and be with us in the Zone on some Sunday if you have not, or have not been back in awhile....good lessons, good people, and a very good Lord we put at the top of ALL we do each and every week!

See you guys in the Zone this week! Start the week/year off right!

Quick reminder if you have not volunteered yet or registered your tween for it SUPERSTART is upon us...one month and counting!

Pastor Darren

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