Family and Friend Day 2009

We had our annual Family and Friend Day yesterday. We encourage our whole church to invite everyone to some for an awesome salvation message and stay for lunch. We had a giant cookout and feed the whole crowd. It was so exciting to see our big school bus pull into the parking lot FULL! All but three of our bus kids brought their parents!!! That was an awesome sight. We had one adult get saved and five kids in Building 2-52 get saved. Many had a special time at the altar where they received a touch from God. Several rededicated their lives. Pastor Tommy preached with special music in between his points that really relayed the Gospel and Christ's love for us.

In Building 2-52 our sermon was "Transformers" and I preached from Romans 12:2 about how we need to transform the way we think about God. Some mistakenly think that they are not good enough for God to love, some think that they can live and act whoever they want and they will still gain Heaven and some believe that there is no way God could have a plan for them. We had a great time at the altar letting Jesus speak to our hearts and making Him the Lord of our lives.

See You at the Playground

Saturday, September 26 was the annual "See You at the Playground" gathering. It is the kid's version of "See You at the Pole" for people of all faiths to gather for a short time of prayer to lift up our schools, students, teachers, administration. We also prayed for our country and government. It was a small gathering, which is a little disappointing, but we had a great time of prayer. We met Shirley and her great grandson Levi. Levi's mom had called the church earlier this week wanting more info about SYATPG and she was sending Levi with her grandmother as she would be out of town. She had called the school for info and was told they weren't organizing it but could give them the number of someone who was and that's how she found us! Cool!

How Beautiful Are the Feet

Yesterday, I preached from Romans 10. We are gearing up for our annual Family and Friend Day here at Union City First Assembly of God. This coming Sunday, September 27, we are inviting everyone we know to come to church and then stay for a free grilled hamburger lunch. The kids have the additional Greatest Grade Challenge. The grade with the most kids here gets to come back the next Saturday to a free pizza and game night. So....I preached a message about inviting our friends. We had a little fun with a mystery feet power point put together by our techie guy Brian. Then to send them on their way out the door to practice having beautiful feet, we wrote Good News on the bottoms of the feet. "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." Romans 10:15

Iowa "Dream" and a BIG Announcement

Our son Keaton just finished a HUGE undertaking. He organized and led the very first ever Kid's Convention in Iowa. "Dream" was a big success with about 350 people attending the Friday night into Saturday afternoon adventure. The pictures I've seen are amazing and I'm hoping to get to see some video soon. I'd love to see something like this happen in Tennessee! Maybe someday. I'm uber proud of my boy!

During "Dream" they made a big announcement that involves Tennessee! August 2010 Iowa will be bringing a team of 4th, 5th and 6th graders to Union City to help do some ministry events! This will be the first Iowa Ministry Network Kid's Missions trip. They will be here for one whole week. We are working on schedules, budgets, travel plans and all the details to make this a trip that will bring many other kids to Jesus and serve our community in a Kingdom building manner. Our Union City kids will get to be involved in all of the activities but more importantly be serving and using their abilities to minister also. Kids leading kids to Jesus...that is soooo cool! The leadership in place for the trip is awesome...great people who will be a blast to work with! I know God is going to do some amazing things through these kids. Keaton said you could hear the buzz throughout the room when he announced the trip. I have a feeling those 25 spots are gonna fill up fast!

CM Beyond

I love networking with other children's pastors and leaders. The scripture says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17 My good buddy Pastor Kevin Umphress started a monthly Internet conferencing for any CM peeps. Pastor Kevin is the children's pastor at Berean Assembly of God in Des Moines, IA. Generally the first Tuesday of each month at 9 PM Central, you can log on the site and join a live chat via your computer (with or without video) or call in as a conference call.

Last Tuesday, we talked about spiritual landmarks for our kids. Iowa just has their very first "Dream" Kid's Convention with about 350 people attending. Pastor Kevin led us in a discussion about using that sort of momentum in our kids' ministry to build spiritual landmarks. Not as to lift up the event itself as life changing but as what God did in our lives while we were there. It's kinda like that Kid's Camp experience....even I get wrapped up in the good time we had and not focus on what God business took place. I remember when our daughter Micaela would come home from church camp and she would tell us every funny story from five days of camp before she would finally get to what she experienced at the altar with Jesus. We need to help our kids record and celebrate the landmark such as write it in their Bibles so they can look back on it and remember what God did for them.

It was a great time of brain-storming and encouraging each other. I love that Pastor Kevin makes sure we have time at the end of our hour to take prayer needs and lift each other up to the throne. I encourage any children's leaders to join us. October and November's discussions will be led by two other children's pastors who have many successful years in ministry to help us grow. check out the web site at http://cmbeyond.blogspot.com . Leave a question or comment and I'm sure Pastor Kevin will help you out!

Boys and Girls Club

Now that school is back in full swing, I started my weekly volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club here in Union City. Every time I am there I am impressed with how they operate. I don't know exactly how many kids they have from day to day but they are everywhere! The place doesn't have much room but they do have a big gym (they are in an old school building) and several classrooms. They maintain order with firmness but affection, get homework done and tutor those who need it, have some game time, feed them a snack and have other planned activities. The staff there is amazing. I'm so thankful I can help even though it's just a couple of hours a week. Many of our bus kids go there every day from 3-6:30 so I get to have some contact with them outside of Sunday or home visits.

I will mainly be helping with homework and just hanging out and building relationships. I get tons of hugs and thank yous but I feel like I should be thanking them. They help me see their lives in the true sense and be more sensitive to their needs. I sure admire the gal who runs the club. Tracy is a single mom of three who is finishing her college degree, working full time at the club and does it all with love in her voice and a smile on her face. The kids obviously adore her.

In December, the club will get to move to a larger facility! I'm excited for them. The club is such a vital service in our community and I want them to be able to do what they do a little easier. Wish I had a boatload of money to give them! If you are looking for a way to serve community kids, see if your city has a Boys and Girls Club!

Doing Life With My Kids

Crazy game in Building 2*52

Devon's first football game!

1st grade cheerleaders...how cute is that!

Lunch with Riley

I love to be able to spend time with "my kids" outside of church. I know that the kids remember some of the sermons and lessons I teach but they ALWAYS remember someone who took time to do life with them! They are just that important...to me and to Jesus!