FM Spring Seminar Notes

Hi Family Ministries Teachers/Workers/Leaders...
I know there were quite a few of you who were unable to make our Family Ministries Seminar on Saturday, so I wanted to forward the notes to you.

I want to thank you one more time for the time and effort you have invested into Family Ministries. Our kids and students are benefiting immensely from the ministry that you bring them week in and week out. You are not taken for granted!
-Pastor Lori-

Family Ministries Seminar
Spring/Summer 2012
Saturday, April 21st, 2012

Connecting in the Classroom
Connect [kuh-nekt]
to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind: to establish communication between; put in communication: to make contact; to become connected.

How do you connect to something/someone?

Active Learning:
1. Helps evoke an emotion
2. Gives room for adventure
3. Keeps wandering minds focused

2 Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Active Learning Spiritual Insight:
Jesus was a teacher.
Jesus used active learning principles.
We are connecting them to Jesus.
With Jesus, it’s all about application.

Active Learning Practical Information:
Active Learning takes more preparation.
Mistakes don’t equal failure.
Active learning - Age Appropriate
Learn what helps and what distracts.

Listen to message’s from the MAIN online: www.thisisnewlife.com (click on “Resources” and then on “Messages”)
Check out the Kid-Nection Blog! www.thisisnewlife.com (click on “Family” and then on “Kid-Nection”)

Just a quick reminder...

Family Ministries SPRING Seminar

Saturday, April 21st
10:00am-Noon

In the Small Town Room

This Bi-Annual Seminar is for all Adults/Students involved as Teachers or Workers in any ministry of Family Ministries (Nursery, Walkers, Toddlers, Preschool/Kindergarten, Small Town and LEGACY)

Come join us as we equip ourselves to minister to the children God has entrusted us with.

Refreshments will be served.

Simple Easter Crafts...

Here are a couple of simple & cute Easter craft ideas I found online that we have done in the past...

Empty tomb...this one is fun!  On Good Friday, we talk about how Jesus died on the cross and place the stone (attached with a fastener) over the tomb.  On Easter Sunday we roll the stone away to reveal the empty tomb and celebrate!!!

He has risen!!! For this one have the kids cut out a cross from cardstock.  Place on paper and use a cottonball to paint around the cross...

There are also a lot of good ideas HERE from Focus on the Family that help to re-inforce the story of Easter with your children...

HAPPY EASTER!!!



At Home, Family Easter Ideas

Since Easter is approaching, here are some exciting activities to do with your kids at home to remember what Easter is really about....the death and resurrection of our Jesus Christ. 

DIY Resurrection Eggs

Make your own Resurrection Eggs. Number 12 plastic eggs 1-12 and place them in an empty egg container. Place little objects in each egg that represents a part of the Easter story. On Easter, hide the 12 numbered eggs. Once your child finds all 12 eggs, go through the Easter story with him/her. Here are the 12 items that will guide you in the Easter story:

1. Palm Branch/Leaf: Jesus triumphal entry (John 12:12-13)

2. Communion Cup: Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28)

3. 3 Dimes: Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15)

4. Rope/Yarn: They bound Jesus (Matthew 27:2)

5. Soap: Pilate washed his hands of the matter (Matthew 27:24)

6. Toothpick cross: Jesus had to carry his cross (John 19:17)

7. Nails: nails in His hands (John 20: 25) Jesus died on the cross (John 19: 30) (For younger children, use a picture of a nail rather than a real nail)

8.   Linen fabric: they wrapped Jesus in linen and then placed him in a tomb (John 19:40) (I cut a strip of a wet wipe and let it dry out)

9.  Rock: the stone placed in front of the tomb was rolled away  (Matthew 28:2)

10.  Empty Egg: Empty Tomb—Jesus was not there—HE’S ALIVE! (Matthew 28:5-6)

11. Cotton Ball: Jesus ascended in the clouds (Acts 1:11)

12.  World Map: Great Commission—Now, it is our turn to share this message to everyone so they can experience God’s love too! (Mark 16:15)

Lamb of God
In John 1:29, John the baptist describes Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John was rightly predicting that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of the world. How blessed are we that Jesus loves us so much that he did sacrifice his life for us on the cross for our sins. 

For a family activity at home, you could use Meaghan Mountford's little lamb cake ball recipe and as you make this adorable snack, talk with your children about how Jesus was our sacrificial lamb.

Resurrection Rolls
This is an edible Easter activity that I have been wanting to do since I first heard about it. The ingredients needed are 1 can of refrigerated crescent dough (unrolled and separated into 8 triangles), 8 large marshmallows, melted butter (1/3 stick), and mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Preheat oven to 350°F

Read with your kids John 19:30 Jesus said "It is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  This is the scripture in the Bible where Jesus dies on the cross. 
Give each child a marshmallow which represents the body of Jesus.

Read John 20:38- 42 With Pilate's permission, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus then took the body of Jesus, covered him with spices of myrrh and aloes and wrapped Him in linen as was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. They then placed Him tomb. 

Take the marshmallow and dip it in the melted butter. Next, roll it in cinnamon and sugar. This represents how Jesus was covered with spices of myrrh and aloes. Place marshmallow on one of the triangular doughs and wrap the marshmallow completely tight (this represents the linen they wrapped Jesus in). Make sure all seams are closed tightly or this activity will not work. 

Have kids place their crescent rolled marshmallows on slightly greased baking sheet. Place baking sheet in the oven (which represents the tomb) and close the tomb (the oven door). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Talk about how Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days.

 Remove resurrection rolls after time is completed or until rolls are golden brown. After the rolls have cooled, break open the DELICIOUS crescent rolls and you will see the marshmallow is gone.
John 20: 1-18 Christ has risen from the dead and we should celebrate!!!

Lego Night

We had another CONNECT night at our church. A family night filled with friends, fellowship, legos, building blocks, competition and tasty snacks. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..."

...and we sang for joy

We did a fun and simple experiment today to talk about the joy of the Lord.

We made Jugs of Joy

The kids got so excited when they saw the bubbles start to come from the bottom of the jug. We talked about how God wants to give us joy in every situation and all the things the Lord has done for us to give us joy.

Here was the scripture we focused on:

Psalm 126:2

We were filled with laughter,
      and we sang for joy.
   And the other nations said,
      “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.” 

Here is what you need to make your own Jugs of Joy:

Empty plastic bottle

Water

Cooking Oil

Food Coloring

Fizzy Tablet (alka-selzer/airbornes)

Fill your bottle 1/4 of the way with water. Fill the rest with oil. Let it settle. Put in 10 drops of food coloring. Drop in 1/2 tablet. Watch the bubbles form!

To watch a video of how it works, click here.

Kindness Challenge

Yesterday, Route 412 went to the Lighthouse Outreach Center and helped distribute food to the elderly who are home bound. What an amazing experience to serve those around us.

Today, in Small Town, we learned about the Good Samaritan. I thought the lesson went perfect with our experience with the outreach. We now have a better understanding of what it means to "Love your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27. This week I challenged the kids to do 10 acts of kindness to others. Here is the challenge (for adults and children).....will you take it??!


1. Give someone a hug
2. Hold the door open for someone
3. Sit by someone new at church
4. Tell someone that Jesus loves them
5. Let someone go in line in front of you
6. Pick up trash
7. Send a card to someone who is sick or lonely
8. Thank your mail carrier or trash collector (if you don't see them, leave a thank you note!)
9. Say something nice to someone
10. Do another family member's chores

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. 

Fruit: Some Yummy, Some Not...

Our church recently participated in a 21 day fast as an entire church body. If you have ever fasted before, you will know that God tends to reveal areas of your life that need some improvement. Well, He showed me that there were some character issues that were in desperate need of some serious work.

Matthew 7:18-20 were received as a challenge, a sober challenge yet exciting too. "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore they will be known by their fruit."

Yikes! That puts a new perspective on things in a blink. So if I want to be a good tree growing good fruit what does that look like? In a nut shell- Walking by the Spirit will produce...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control ( Galations 6:22-23).

I thought it might me a good time to actively and purposefully teach this to our children while I am learning too. Things are much easier to walk out when you are expecting others (ages 1 & 3) to do the same.

So a difficult process to live out has become a fun, new adventure when the kids are brought into it. Each week, we are picking one or two "fruits" to learn and work on. Wintertime puts a bit more difficulty into finding a variety of fruit but so far we are doing ok.

We began with Loving Lemon...


Kate LOVED the lemon with a face and throughout the week, if she made poor choices, we brought the conversation around to what Loving Lemon would choose to do instead. Kate totally got the concept...not that it was always the way she chose, but it certainly helped.

Loving Lemon was quickly joined by Obedient Orange (our version of self control) since Joseph was getting mighty jealous that his big sister was walking around the house with a cute piece of fruit.


They both are enjoying the fun invovled, plus they learning foundational principles that can be carried out through their lives. And it is super fun to think of all the crafts, delicious recipes, etc that can be incorporated into learning about Peaceful Pear, Kind Kiwi, Good Grape and the like!

Matthew 28:19

Our kids in Small Town, Big God (grades 1st through 5th) have learned a new song "GO" from Seeds Family Worship.  If you want to practice it at home, here is ROUTE 412 (4th and 5th grader leadership team) leading the kids in the actions. Feel free to  watch the video and join in. Come on - get up out of your seat and worship!!!!

To listen to the song or worship from home, click here!!

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and 

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

remembering God's love for us....

Are you looking for a fun, easy craft for Valentines Day? Right before Valentines Day last year I found a fun recipe for Homemade Gel Paints. The kids had a blast painting old cardboard with the paints, and then I cut them into hearts. I hid the hearts around the house and throughout the month of February the kids had to find them and bring them to me. I plan on doing the same thing this year, except I want to attach a scripture verse on love to each heart. When the kids bring it to me I want to read the verse to them and then display them throughout the house. Just an easy way to remind the kids of the love of God!

Scriptures on God's Love to get you started:

• {1 John 4:10}This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 
• {Romans 5:8} But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 
• {Romans 8:38-39}For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• {1 John 3:1} See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 
• {Psalm 36:5} Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.

Recipe for homemade gel paints:

Over a stovetop, heat 1/2 cup of cornstarch and 2 1/4 cups of water.
Wisk until gel forms. Once cooled slightly, pour into heat safe containers.
Mix with food coloring (about 10-12 drops) and stir.
Make sure the kids don't use them until they have cooled off enough.

 

 

Happy 2012!

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

2 Corinthians 5:17

  

HAPPY NEW YEAR NEW LIFE FAMILIES!

It may be cliche', but I LOVE being able to re-access my life at the beginning of the year and make changes for what works for our family. It's like a fresh start... and I LOVE having a fresh start. So, as I am figuring out ways to better organize my office and more efficient ways of meal-planning, I am also pondering ways to purposely focus our family's attention more on Christ in the year 2012.

One goal that I have set for our family this year is to really step up our scripture memorization. We always use our drive to school in the morning as our time to go over our scripture songs (I put all of our scriptures to cute little songs to make them more fun and easy to memorize). The kids love it and I find that it gets us all focused on the right things early in the morning. I found this really great site that gives me ideas for scriptures to memorize with my children. Check it out here at Seeds Family Worship: Verse Memorization Check-list. (If you find it hard to come up with songs yourself, or if your kids are struggling in the memorization, there are plenty of scripture memorization songs available online for you to purchase/download. Even if you have them playing each morning and say nothing, those songs/scriptures will make their way into their memory by default! Seeds Family Worship has some GREAT ones HERE)

 Another fun activity I am excited about it going through the ABC's with scripture. I did this when I was young and can still remember most of the scriptures for each letter. Here is a cute little website that will get you started (just click on each of the letters to get the scripture and some activities to go with it.) It might also work great to have the kids write out the scriptures for each letter and display them in their room or playroom to keep them reminded.

Lastly, I am starting a prayer wall for my kids. I remember Tommy and Keri having this up in their apartment when they first got married, and have wanted to do it every since. Just get some poster-board, or a large sheet of paper, and have the family keep track of prayer requests over the year on the board. (If the little ones are too young to write, have them draw pictures). It is also neat to write down when a prayer is answered and the date God made it happen! How fun to look back next New Years Day at all the things you prayed for throughout the year, and how faithful the Lord is to answer! (Here is a similar idea from "Kids Prayer" called a "Kid's Wailing Wall")

Some links for Resources for the New Year:

"One Thing" Lesson for New Year

3 Biggest Dreams Printable

3 Happiest Moments Printable

25 Day Challenge Chart Printable

50 Day Challenge Chart Printable

Progress Road-map Printable

Merry Christmas

We want to wish all the wonderful families at New Life a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy your time together.... make lots of memories... and remember God loved you enough to send His Son into the world He created. Amazing!

Here are just 2 more resources that our family LOVED this Christmas season.
{Keep your eyes peeled for after-Christmas sales!}

1.  What God Wants For Christmas. There are 7 boxes for the kids to open that tell the story of the 1st Christmas. We loved being able to read the story together and talk about what happened.
2. The First Christmas Sticker Book. This was also a very fun way to talk about the Christmas story. The kids took turns putting the stickers on the nativity scene and took turns telling the story themselves.

"In everything give thanks..."

I think it is so important, especially during this season, to always remain thankful. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I had an opportunity to talk to my kids this month about being thankful when we had a conversation about buying presents for our AngelTree family. They had so many questions about why these kids couldn't spend Christmas with their father (he is incarcerated.) I was reminded once again, that we are so blessed and our family needs to remember the blessings of the Lord during this crazy time of "give-n-GET." One thing our family has done over the years (this dates back to when my sisters and I were very young) is go around the room on Christmas and share with everyone the things that God has done over the past year. It's such a wonderful tradition because we are reminded of how many of our prayers were answered and all the ways God has had our back. Try to make time with your family this year in reflecting on the things God has blessed you with.

Merry Christmas

We pray you have a very Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

The Christmas Angel

I've talked to a couple of people who have been looking for something new this Christmas season to help remind their kids of the true meaning of Christmas.... something fun and exciting. There are a lot of ideas out there for fun Advent Calendars, but I found something a little different that I think could be a lot of fun. The Christmas Angel. It's sort-of the "Elf On A Shelf" idea, but the Christmas Angel is found everyday with messages about the true meaning of Christmas. It might be too late to do it this year, but I am going to order one for next year! You could even make or buy something and do it yourself.  Enjoy your Christmas season and remember to teach your kids why we celebrate!

Excerpt from their website:

"What an amazing opportunity we have as parents to instill values and principles into our children. The Christmas season is about a precious story to celebrate a gift that none of us deserve, but have an opportunity to receive. The birth of Jesus is the greatest example of love. So how can we show the same love to others? Simply by putting others before ourselves. We should help our children focus on giving rather than receiving, for that is the true spirit of Christmas."

Last year my kids did The Christmas Story Advent Coloring Pages. It was a wonderful and easy way to share the Christmas story with them at their age. Plus, they loved looking through the book again this year and remembering all the things we learned.

You can find the Coloring Pages HERE.

December CONNECT

Last night, we had an amazing turn out for our Family Ministries December CONNECT. We partnered with Angel Tree to help connect parents in prison with their children through the delivery of Christmas gifts. At our event, families received the name of the children they will be outreaching to. What an opportunity to show these kids that their incarcerated parent is thinking about them this Christmas, but most importantly that God has not forgotten them and cares deeply for them!!

We had many volunteers to help decorate our angel tree Christmas Tree to make it perfect for the night.

Enjoying our snack station:

After families received the names of the children they would be reaching out to this Christmas, they headed to our Christmas card section where kids could make Christmas cards for prisoners and encourage them this Christmas also. 

After a fun-filled night, we then got cozy with friends to watch our premier movie VeggieTales "The Little Drummer Boy" on our projected big screen.

Our youth found a room to have an intense game of spoons and other fun games.

Thank you Bob the Tomato for passing out fun games and stickers to our guest as they left!

We had a wonderful time being with our church family. Thank you to all who came out!!

Family Worship

I just received an email from Pastor Mike with a link to the Radical Experiment Website talking about the importance of Family Worship. First of all, if you haven't read the book RADICAL by David Platt, please get a copy and do so as soon as possible. This book has changed the way our family makes decisions and the way we see God's purpose in our lives.

On their website, they have a couple resources for Family Worship and all of them are very good. Please check them out!

Family Worship Guides

Simple Guide to Family Worship

Family Worship Song Archive 

The Call: Detroit

Well, it's 11.11.11 and THE CALL: Detroit is here! I am so excited that our church has partnered with The Call and many of our families are heading down to Ford Field today to pray for our city. Here are a couple of resources to use with your kids to follow up on the topic of prayer. (Just a reminder: We have "kid prayer" teachings every Friday night in the gym during our church prayer meetings for the kids at New Life)

If you are unable to get your family downtown tonight or tomorrow, THE CALL: Detroit is being broadcast LIVE on GodTV. Check it out HERE.

THE LOOP P.R.A.Y. Videos by Life Church

Kids Holiday Card Prayer Journal by Under the Sycamore

Vintage Book Prayer Journal Project by Impress Your Kids

"What Happens When I Talk To God?" book by Stormie Omartian

"Lord, Teach Me To Pray" book by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt

IDOP

 Sunday, November 13th is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Here are some resources for you and your children to bring up conversations
about The Persecuted Church around the world.

Kids of Courage Downloads (Activities, Newsletters, Lesson Plans)

Kids of Courage Videos

Restricted Nations Interactive Map

Duct Tape Wristband Activity

5 Ways to help the Persecuted Church in 5 minutes

Colombian Parachute Ideas

Praise the Lord Around the World Activity

Fall Frenzy 2011

We had our Fall Connect Event yesterday. What an amazing, exciting time we had!!!! 

Set up!

Photo Booth and Check In

Candy!!!

Costumes :)

Pastor Lori x3

More Costumes!

  

Pumpkin Painting

Yummy Food!

Route 412 Greeters for Fall Frenzy!

Fall Coloring Sheets!

Hay Ride!

Inflatables!!

Getting ready to put some pies in the faces of 4 brave, crazy guys!

Pied!

Relay Races!

Thank you so much for our Connect Activities Director Nina Bunk and all the volunteers and staff for pulling off an amazing Fall Frenzy event!!! We had a great turn out and fun was had by all!!