Offerings- Bunks and Balls

The kids brought in enough money to send 16 soccer balls off to Guatemala and over $300 to camp Onomia for renovations in the Retreat Center. How cool is that? I love when they can tangibly see and touch where their money is going, but I love even more when they just give because they want to give to God!

Chadder's in the House

We are always so excited when Chadder shows up! This year, Jake Novotny surprised us by taking a vacation day from work to make sure that this year's VBS kids got to get a little chipmunk lovin'. Thanks, Jake - and Chadder for taking time to be with the kids!

Day 4 - God's Word is life changing

The lesson for this day cam from when the blind man begged for money from Peter and John and they said, we don't have any gold, but what we do have is worth much more than that! And they healed him - and then told the whole crowd that gathered around this rejoicing man,how Jesus had died to give them a whole new life. What great news? Don't we all need to hear that? We talked with the kids about how God's word can help us make a small change in our attitude or our image, and like a big, huge ship, with a tiny little rudder change, will end up in a whole different continent. God wants us to end up fully in His Kingdom!

Day 3 - God's Word is Surprising!

We learned from the story in Acts where Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake - that God's word is full of surprises! We played under the parachute, toured the ship and signed and prayed over 16 soccer balls that will be distributed to a child in Guatemala very soon by Central's mission team leaving July 30.

Day 2 - God's Word is Comforting

After hearing about how God comforted Paul during the shipwreck the kids had ham roll-ups - to help us think about rolling up in a blanket - God's word is that comforting! Then we made pillows to comfort us. We wrote or drew our troubles on a piece of paper in rec and crumpled them up and threw them at other crews. We know that in this world we will have troubles - but God is bigger than all of our troubles.

Day One - God's Word is True!

What a great start to VBS! We have set sail for a GREAT ADVENTURE THROUGH GOD"S WORD! You'll see the kids making exploding KABLOOEY. They could count on the baking soda and vinegar exploding, just like we can count on God's amazing Word to be true. In the craft room they made some very cool frames to hold a photo of their group. And in snack they ate a snack that helped them remember the story of Peter miraculously getting out of prison when the angel came. Cheerios - the handcuffs that broke, grid pretzels - the prison gate, marshmallows - the angel that came to save Peter and many colors of Skittles to remind us of all the prayers that people were sending up for Peter to be saved! Prayers are a beautiful thing!!

Jericho through God's Eyes - and an Eight-Year-Old's Eyes

This picture was created by Jesper Leggatt (8), a boy from London, who drew this fantastic picture inspired by Jago's illustration in the Jesus Story Book Bible.
I love this picture. It reminds me that God sees totally different than we do - and often times so do 8 year olds.

Think about that long line of dots outside the huge, fortified heavily guarded wall of Jericho - they are the Israelites who have just crossed over from 40 years in the dessert to claim their promised land. From the outside, each one of those Israelites had no idea how God was going to give them that city. I'm sure some were petrified. I'm sure many doubted that they would ever get to see the inside of those walls. They were marching in that line out of obedience to God and for something bigger than their own lives - their children and their children. God saw things totally different. So did Jesper when he drew this. We would be wise to enter into spaces and paths that help us to look upon life as God and eight-year-olds do!

The Path of the Divine

I am so excited about this book I'm reading called, "Spiritual Parenting" Very down to earth and helpful. Michelle Anthony has written a book that really helps put things in perspective about what my job is as a mom - to create opportunities for my children to be in the path of the divine. She then shares 10 different "environments" or opportunites we have to create that space for God to interact with our kids. Cool stuff!
We will be offering a parent class this fall based on this book and the great ideas in it and the new kids curriculum (Tru)that we will begin this fall is based on the same philosophy.

Who is My Neighbor?

God gives us the power to serve is today's theme. We are discovering who our neighbor is through the story of the good Samaritan (Luke10:25-38)
Maybe they will already have some strong prompting from the Spirit to help a neighbor when they get home - or maybe they will need us to help them pursue that. Excited to see how God is going to use the seeds He is planting here to grow His Kingdom in and through your kids!!!

The Vine

Today the kids learned that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. (John 15:1-8). They each wrote a prayer on a leaf in the morning and then at evening worship, the counselors handed out leaves, one to each camper. The camper prayed for who ever wrote the prayer request as they hung it on the vine. (Funny, it is exactly the passage that I had picked to lead my part of the worship with the staff on our staff retreat!) I love this passage because it reminds me that all the "stuff" that I try to do to earn God's favor or help Him out ( ; cause me to feel stress. All He wants us to do is abide in Him!
The Message states vs. 4 like this: "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me." There is no stress there!! Let's pray that our kids make their home in Him!

Rainy Day Fun

The rain doesn't stop us from having fun!!

New Friends/Old Friends

We're back at camp! The kids are in worship right now and will be playing a big game in the rec field soon. Photos show kids meeting their counselors, making pizza for supper and just hangin' with friends. Check back again throughout the week for more news and photos!