Showing posts with label children's ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's ministry. Show all posts

Friday, March 11, 2011

Lock- In Fun!!

This year, I decided to do something crazy! My favorite thing about AWANA when I was in AWANA was our annual lock-in. We could stay up all night, and we got to say a bunch of sections. So, this year, I planned a lock-in for our AWANA kids!
We had some awesome worship services, handbook time, a mega relay, lots of snacks, game room time, manis and pedis, and a special visit from Mr. Budgy and Mrs. Judy. Their daughter and son-in-law are missionaries in Indonesia, so they presented a video to our kids about what it's like in Indonesia. They also gave each child a coin from Indonesia and a peice of durian candy. Now, i will say durian is a flavor that I feel everyone should experience at some point in their life. I've yet to sample it because I cannot get past the smell of natural gas.... I hear it tastes about the same... GROSS! Mr. Budgy even taught us a few Indonesian words!
The night was a lot of fun, but I was ready to see 8 a.m.!! I only managed to snap a few pictures of the evening, so here they are...

Our preacher's wife, Dawn, painting nails!


The boys playing a little basketball....

Mrs. Bradi painting more nails...

And now it's Mrs.Sarah's turn...

This was the only segment of the evening that I remembered to take pictures... hopefully I can gather a few more pictures of the night from some of the other adults!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

AWANA Girly Day

Once each semester we try to have a day just for the boys to hang out, and one day just for the girls to hang out. This semester, I decided to have full girly day for the girls! The girls enjoyed girly time at camp, so I thought it would go over well for AWANA too. It did! We had a super fun day, full of manicures, facials, make-up, and hair doing. It was so much fun! We ended the event by talking about the things that make you a beautiful person on the inside! If you want a play-by-play of the devotion, see Rileigh Walters. She was all ears and can tell you all about being modest!! Here are a few pictures from all of the girly fun (Thank you, Brandi for taking the pictures for me)!! 

The view from the front door.



One of the little princesses....


The girls all getting seated for devotion time...




Devotion time...



Facial time!! 




A boys only day is in the planning stage!!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Block Party

Once again, this is a little late, and my camera was MIA. *note to self- assign my camera to someone who remembers to use it on major event days*

A few summers ago, we decided to opt out of VBS. It was becoming a lot harder to recruit volunteers to make VBS work as it should, so we decided to go to other events. For a few years, we did a sports camp, and then two years ago, we went with Evangelistic Block Parties. About this time, we had a group go to New York on a mission trip. On that mission trip, the group did these types of Evangelist Block Parties in a park in Brooklyn. They worked well there, so we decided to try them out in Natchez. The idea of an Evangelistic Block Party is basically a portable one day VBS. The first year we tried this, we went to 2 different communities. Last year, we tried three. Two at two apartment complexes in our town, and one in the backyard of our church. They were all a huge success. One of the apartment complexes we went to was the same complex we went to the first year. A lot of the kids and parents we talked with were very excited to see us back and all asked if we would come back again next year (which was this year). So, we did. This year, I really wanted to focus on sharing the Gospel with the kids. So many times, it's easy to get caught up in the games, food, and crafts, and forget the real reason that we are doing the block party- to share the Gospel. For Bible Study, I looked a several different VBS themes and found GCF's The Race Is On.

I always like to do a craft that has something tangeble for the kids to bring home to remember the Bible Story. This year, one of our Sunday School teachers and WMU ladies, brought me an idea called Witnessing Dolls. Basically the dolls share the story of Salvation, using CEF's Wordless Book. For the block party, we decided there wasn't a way to have each child a doll, so I created a handout that worked as a doll on one side and had the colors of faith on the other. For the actual craft part, the kids made colors of faith bracelets using the different color beads.  You can click on witnessing dolls above for a link to witnessing dolls guide.

For recreation this year, I decided to use Centri- Kids' OMC!! It's really hard to explain. To see pictures of OMC in action, click on this OMC!!

We do these block parties on Sunday evenings. We basically move church to a different location for the evening. We had a good group show up to help. At the block party, we meet for 2 hours. In that 2 hours, the kids go to Bible Study, Crafts, Rec, and they are fed.  I try to have people to not only teach kids, but also teenagers and adults because you usually have a big number of those come, as well. For food, we usually do hot dogs, chips, lemondade, and popcorn- if I have someone to bring the popcorn popper. Even though we had a terrible rain storm come 10 minute before we were set to begin, we still had 50 kids come. It was a huge success, and we look forward to heading back there sometime soon!!

here are a few pictures I captured from my blackberry during dinner time.

Bro. Wayne holding a witnessing doll that his wife, Mrs. Cheryl,
 made to use as the example. 

Some of the crew gathered around the food table.

Some of the kiddos enjoying their hot dogs!

Our SUPER DUPER, WONDERFUL youth that came out to help (and volunteer to be creamed with shaving cream) with OMC!!

Some more of the kids enjoying their dinner in the bleachers. 


Natural Science Museum

Yes, I know this is a month late, but we had a lot of fun and I want to share!

In June, I took a group of 15 to the Natural Science Museum in Jackson, MS. It was so much fun!! The one thing I didn't really prepare for was the trails that you can walk behind the museum. I didn't really know they were there, so I didn't wear appropriate shoes to hike in. However, we still hiked through all of the trails, and had a great time! Hear are a few pictures from our little day trip! I took a lot more pictures, but they are on Danesha's camera because I left my camera on the van. These are not of the best quality because I took them on my blackberry.

Andrew, Gabe, and Love entertaining themselves on the van! 


My group of boys, Colby, Nak, and Love, in front of the alligators.

A group picture- not the best, but the closest we got! 

Friday, June 18, 2010

Last Pictures from Centri- Kid 2010

These are the last of the pictures I took at Centri-Kid, but first, a few words about the week.


It was a bittersweet ending! I LOVED LOVED LOVED camp! More so than I ever remembering liking camp as a youth! For me, this was the best week of camp I have ever experienced! I sure hope the kids feel the same way I do. With that said, I am tired! The kids were tired. It was time to come back to reality- and squeeze in a little sleep! I will miss camp this week, and miss the staffers that our kids really got attached to!


I thought about camp today as I drove from Clinton to Natchez to Baton Rouge to Natchez to Woodville. This camp awed me. I have been apart of Junior Camp (a camp we used to put on for our kids at Parkway, but put a pause on it a few years ago) since I was in first grade, either as a camper, a visitor, or a leader. I love junior camp. It was a sad day for me when the decision was made to put a pause on camp, but I knew it was absolutely the best decision for many reasons. I was very sceptable about going to another camp. I didn't want to send our kids to a camp where the focus was going to be on track times and recreation. I wanted our kids to go to a camp where the Gospel was the focus. Our kids went to Centri- Kid last year, but I was unable to attend,so I still did not have a good picture of Centri- Kid. I will say, after going this year, and being apart of camp, I was awed every day. The camp pastor has talents for teaching the Gospel that are unexplainable. He crunched toes, had them laughing, and had them begging for more of the word in every service. He was not afraid to approach topics with the kids that are rarely discussed with adults. He was able to take these topics, Spiritual Gifts for example, and convey them on child's level without sacrificing any depth. It was truly an awesome experience to be apart of. The worship leader's main focus was worship- not rock band like you tend to see at some camps. He took time to explain the lyrics of the songs to the kids and then explained how they related to the message. He used the worship services as a classroom to teach the campers what worship was, how to be reverant during worship, how to worship,etc. That was also an awesome experience. By the end of the day, the kids had no doubts about what the message of the day was. It was conveyed to them in everything they did - bible study, rec, track times, worship, morning meeting, and the late night party. I give props to the CK3 staff and leaders for a job well done. It was truly a life changing week for everyone in attendance.


This week also gave me a lot of ideas. I have been struggling with several things and trying to figure out how to get different ideas to work and several ideas and plans were developed this week--these things will be discussed later.


Now on to the group... We took 18 AWESOME kids to camp! They were wonderful!! I am so excited to have been able to spend a week with them! I also had 3 WONDERFULLY AMAZING adults with me! Without the three of them, we would have all been in trouble this week. They held us together and really helped out!


Now onto the pictures!!


Well after all of that, the computer will not allow me to upload the pictures today... here is a link to my facebook album that has all of the picures from camp... the news one are towards the end. Here is a group picture!!

***facebook isn't cooperating either- here is the video i made that contains all of the pictures from camp. the songs are songs we sang at camp!!

Please click on the link below and it will take you to the video!

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=b2bef99d5f45a195967767&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url






We have signed up for Centri- Kid 2011!!! It will be July 18-22 at Milsaps College in Jackson, MS!! We are very excited about this!! We have be having informational meeting in August to sign- up and get deposits! You will not want to miss Centri- Kid 2011! The theme will be God Provides! We will be doing fundraisers again, so be on the look out for information for Centri- Kid 2011

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

OMC!!!!!!!!

Today was OMC!! It is extremely complicated to explain, so I am not going to try to put it into words. Here are a few pictures I was able to capture!

The calm before the storm!!! - with yellow in the back!
Green Team!
Red Team!! 
Blue Team!!

Natalie and Allyson completing a task!! 
Dillon and Daniel completing a task!
Mrs. Danielle helping Hannah and Erin complete a task!
Corryn and her yellow leader!
Allyson getting help on a task! 

Mrs. Danielle trading shoes with Allison for a task! 

Mattie Paige pausing for a picture!

Andrew Cole darting across the field trying to beat the clock!
Sammy reading her next task! 
Owen and Daniel working together on a task!
Anna getting her next task! 
ORGANIZED MASS CHAOS
The "No Fly Zone"
Allison and Erin working together!
Natalie completing a task for Mrs. Danielle!
Allyson and Natalie trading shoes for their last task!!


This was my first OMC, and it was soooooo much fun!! We bought the game, so we will be figuring out how to use it soon!!! 

Centri- Kid Day 3

Tuesday was all about the girls, so if you're a mother of a boy- sorry. All I have is girly pictures today!!

Some of the girls gave their babies back today- they decided mothering was NOT for them. Others are still sticking it out. Some, like Allyson Cole, decided she didn't like her baby, so she got a new one : ) These babies have been a trip!!

Here are a few pictures from our free time. We went to girly time, where they braid hair, paint faces, and paint nails. The girls really like this! Then we went to the coffee shop and played a few lawn games!!

Natalie getting a web put into her hair!!



Some of the Parkway girls at girly time. 
Erin getting her nails painted!
Natalie getting her face painted! 
Playing the karate chop game in front of Jazzmine's.
Hanging out during "hang time."
Erin enjoying a smoothie! 

I am going to post a separate blog for OMC in a little while! 

Bon Appetit! 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Centri- Kid Day 2

We have had a day of funnies!!! 

For starters, we have 3 Allison's (spelled in different ways) and 1 Allye. Things can get a little confusing fast!!

Allison Hendry is my cousin and she has 2 older sisters. Her oldest is at Governor's School in Columbus for the month, and the middle sister is at Centri- fuge in North Carolina this week. So, I asked her today what does she think her mother is doing without her, Jess and Sarah, and she replied, "I don't know, but I am having fun. She has Ace (their 1 yr. old dog) and she likes him more than us, so she is fine." You can tell she isn't getting homesick!!!

Some of the funnies will be explained in some of our pictures!!

Morning Celebration!! 
You can barely tell they only had 2 hours of sleep last night...
The Party day 2- Anna and Natalie! 
The boys having a blast! 

New best friends- Allison H and Hannah!!! 
Dillon and Daniel or Deodorant and Donut 
Andrew Cole being "gangster" as he says. 
Corryn and Allyson Cole at the Party
Tonight Owen was picked to play a game on stage!
and so did Erin!! 
They had to compete against each other- I think the girls won!!
Congrats moms- you are now grandmothers!!! 
All of the girls that chose babysitting 101 has a babydoll they get to carry around all week and take care of. These two will be reported to child abuse before then, though! Caylee decided she was going to teach her child to walk today--- by dragging him on the ground. Allye misplaced her child, then found him when she sat on him. Poor kids. I have heard them all say that being a mother was HARD work- and these babies do not even use the bathroom and cry! 
Corryn also has a baby, but she takes better care of hers- 
well at least what i have witnessed.
Allyson and Allye after tonight's events
Corryn and Sami after worship this evening.

We have another BUSY day tomorrow. I will try to post more pictures then, but I have a major assignment due every night this week starting tomorrow, so I will have to wait until after I submit my homework!! 

Enjoy!