This Past Week in KidQuest and FirstLook

Yesterday was a pretty neat day in KidQuest and FirstLook.

We had our normal large group teaching time and worship, but instead of doing our small group activities that reinforce the teaching time, we did something very special.

This past week, we found out that one of our kindergarten girls was diagnosed with Leukemia. So instead of doing our activities, we were able to have a special time of prayer for a girl in our church family. Not were we able to have a time of prayer, but we were able to make some cards for her and her family. Tonight when I go see her, I am going to be taking her a huge stack of cards that our KidQuest and FirstLook kids made for her.

We gave the idea to our elementary kids and they ran with it. Their cards are very heart felt and include things like "get well soon," "we love you and miss you," "can't wait to see you back at church with us," and various other notes of encouragement.

Our kids are great kids. I know some of them are out there this week thinking about ways they can help the family even more than just write them some cards.

If you are interested in their story, go to www.caringbridge.org/visit/makaylam

On another note, here are the take home materials for July 26.

FirstLook and Nursery Small Talk Cards


KidQuest GodTime Cards


KidQuest Fridge Door Card

August

KidQuest

In KidQuest during the month of August, we will be talking about forgiveness. What a great virtue for us to talk about. Forgiveness is something we all need to have in our lives because people hurt us all the time.

Forgiveness is deciding that someone who has wronged you doesn't have to pay.

We'll start off with Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18): since God forgives you, you should forgive others.

Week 2 is all about Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19) and the fact that when people are forgiven, it can change them.

In week 3 we'll be talking about getting even God's way and what Joseph did when faced with the opportunity for revenge (Genesis 45). When you want to get even, do the opposite.

And we'll end the month with "go first," what Jesus said about forgiveness in Matthew 5: don't wait to start making things right with others.

Watch this video to learn even more about the virtue of forgiveness and what it means in our life.




FirstLook

In FirstLook we will having a very fun filled month of famous Bible stories. The Bible says in Psalm 18:30: "God's way is perfect," (NIrV). Wow! It's perfect. That means God's way is the best way. What a powerful truth. What a hard thing to internalize when you are in the midst of something you don't understand. No matter how turbulent a time you are experiencing, you can always know that God has a plan for you. That is something we as adults need to remember, and we need to show our preschoolers that we can trust Him even when we don't understand His plan.

This month, preschoolers will learn that God made them the way they are and has a plan for them through the story of Esther. God made Esther and placed her where He did for a specific reason. She did not understand why she became Queen, but trusted God, and He used her for an amazing purpose.

Preschoolers will also hear the story of Jonah. Now, here is a story with which we can all resonate. God gave Jonah specific directions, but he ignored them with intense consequences. In the belly of the big fish, Jonah realized that he still could and needed to follow God's directions. By doing as God asked, Jonah saved many lives. The story of Jonah is a favorite of preschoolers and is such an amazing way to teach them that God's way is the best way.

June 28 Take Home Stuff

Here are the take home materials for KidQuest and FirstLook for June 28. You can download these things by right clicking on the picture and choosing "Save As."

KidQuest Fridge Door Cards (Parents) -- The Fridge Door Card is a summary of what we talked about in KidQuest. It shows the Bottom Line for the week, memory verse for the summer, questions for parents and kids, and the Bible reference for the story we discussed. Enjoy.

FirstLook Small Talk Cards (Parents) -- This is a tool for our FirstLook families that shows the monthly memory verse, monthly key question, weekly bottom line, Bible story reference, and some practical points for you to be able to expand the learning at home.



KidQuest God Time Cards (Kids) -- God Time cards are a tool your kids can use during the week to spend some time with God. Each week we give them 4 devotions to do at home. Each devotion includes a Bible verse or verse to read as well as a short activity to do that will enhance the verse they read. If your child brings this card back and puts it in the offering plate, they have a chance of winning a prize and getting to sit in a special section in our KidQuest room.

June 21

Here are the take home materials for June 21

KidQuest

• Fridge Door
• God Time Card

FirstLook

• Small Talk Card

This Past Week in KidQuest and FirstLook

KidQuest

When you stand for what’s right, you can know God is with you. That’s a good thing—a great thing, actually—but the truth is, we often want more. (Or “less,” in a sense.) We want ease, an instant reward for our efforts, for people to like us, or to make everyone happy. We certainly don’t want to pay dearly for our convictions—not like Stephen did. Come on; who does? We don’t, and kids don’t either.

So how can we ask these kids we teach to stand up when we know the cost can be great? The fact is, in elementary school, standing up for what is right probably looks more like telling an adult the truth when others are telling them to lie, or standing up for a friend who’s being made fun of. These early attempts at standing for what is right are important to who these kids will be in the future.

Conviction is standing for what is right even when others don’t.

God is the source of our convictions and the one who sustains us when we are striving to stand for them.

God wants us to stand for what is right because when we do, good is done (despite the bad that may happen in the interim), regardless of whether we see it.

When those around us watch us readily standing for what is right because we know God is with us, change WILL happen.

When you stand for what’s right, you can know God is with you. That’s no consolation prize; that’s hitting the jackpot!

FirstLook

Jesus told His disciple to "Go! -- Go and make disciples of men," and He wants us to do this too. There is nothing more exciting than sharign our friend Jesus. Give your preschooler some crayons and paper and have him or her draw two people they would like to tell about their friend Jesus. Or they can make a card for them to tell them about Jesus. Share these cards with friends over the coming week. It may even lead you into a coversaition that will help you tell your co-workers about Jesus.

Be sure to pray with your preschooler asking for help telling others about Jesus.

Easter Review

It has taken me 4 days to get caught up with a regular week after Easter Sunday. Finally all our left over supplies are put away, extra check-in computers are back in the closet and my body is not tired anymore.

With all of that done, I thought I would review you on how our Easter Services went across the KidQuest spectrum.

Nursery

Leading into the weekend we had some volunteer who were not going to be able to serve. That made things stressful. However our volunteers came through and filled the empty holes and were able to provide our precious little ones with an amazing time to learn about how Jesus rose from the dead.

After it was all said and done, we had extra volunteers which made things very easy on our team and our children. Thank you to all who worked in the nursery this weekend!

FirstLook (Preschool)

We have working very hard to try and get some of you parents to make the switch to the first service so we could even out our numbers a little better. I think having the 9:30 service did that perfectly this weekend. With more even numbers we were better able to help our kids learn about their loving heavenly father.

If you are a parent of a preschooler, ask your child about the three parts of the Easter story and look at the following Small Talk card for more info about the specifics to what your child learned.


KidQuest (Elementary)

Once again the 9:30 and 11:00 service times for KidQuest created an almost equal spllit in the numbers of kids we had.

Our KidQuest large group time looked a little different than normal this week. Instead of worshiping through song and then listening to the lesson, we mixed the two together. Sometimes music can tell the stroy so much better than a teacher can.

We were able to look at how devastated the followers of Jesus must have been when he died ("Even When"), how happy there day must have been when he rose from the grave ("Happy Day"), how the people must have reacted as they began to believe that Jesus was the son of God ("I Believe") and that we have a reason to celebrate because we have been given a gift that allows us to spend eternity in heaven with God ("Celebrate Medley").

Check out the Fridge Door Card for more info.



All in all it was a great weekend to share the message of Christ with over 120 kids!!!

Made My Day

This past Sunday was really crazy across the entire children's ministry. Tons of kids, too few workers and 1 baptism.

When I got to work on Monday I had an email from one of my volunteers that showed me the great things that my volunteers are doing in the life of her kids. It made my week. Check out this video to see what I am talking about.

http://nylasnest.blogspot.com/2009/03/oh-jesus-loves-me-all-time.html

Take Home Stuff from March 8

FirstLook -- Small Talk Card

KidQuest -- Fridge Door Card

KidQuest -- God Time Card

March 1 in FirstLook

What a great adventure we had yesterday in FirstLook! How great is it when you can have a Bible story that involves using spit to make mud and then using that mud to heal a blind man? Anytime yesterday when spit was mentioned you could see those eyes get bigger in anticipation as to what was going to happen next. So let me clue you in on what the little guys were so excited about.

One day, Jesus was walking along the road with his friends, they cam across a man who couldn't see.

We then closed our eyes and imagined what it must have been like for that man. It sure must have been hard to live a life when you couldn't see what was happening around you.

This is the fun part. The Bible tells us (see below for exact reference) that Jesus stopped to help when the blind man asked him to. So Jesus knelt down along the road and spit. There must have been a lot of spit there in order to make enough mud to cover the blind man's eyes. The kids thought that one was pretty gross, but the storyteller sure had their attention to see what was going to happen next.

So why don't you go ask your child what happened next in the story.

Here are a few tips as to what your child should have learned yesterday.

Basic Truth -- Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Key Question -- Who will help you?
Bottom Line -- Jesus will help me.
Memory Verse -- 1 Peter 5:7 -- He cares for you.
Bible Story Focus -- We Need Jesus to Help Us! -- Jesus Heals the Blind Man -- John 9:1-7

Take Home Resources for March 1

Here are the take home resources for March 1.

KidQuest GodTime Card

KidQuest Fridge Door Card

FirstLook and Nursery Small Talk Card

Yesterday in FirstLook

This week we again talked about how much God loves us and how he used stories such as the parable of the Prodigal Son to show us this love.

Bible Story Focus -- Jesus wants me to know that God is a loving Father. The Prodigal Son. Luke 15:19-24
Key Question -- Why did Jesus tell these stories?
Bottom Line -- Jesus wants me to know what God is like.
Memory Verse -- "The Son wants to tell others about the Father." Luke 10:22, CEV

This Week's Take Home Stuff

Here are the take home materials for February Week 3 (Feb. 15) Download by using the right-click button and Save As.

GodTime Card (KidQuest)
Fridge Door Card (KidQuest)
Small Talk Card (FirstLook)

What a Weekend

I am so excited about some of the things that happened yesterday in the children's ministry.

We were able to share the salvation message with over 50 elementary students.

The preschoolers learned the first half of the story of the prodigal son and will continue next week when they learn that the Father is really God and he wants to welcome everyone to his house, Heaven.

The first edition of the KidQuest Space Report was circulated. If you didn't receive one, make sure you pick up a copy next time you are at the church.

SmallTalk Card

This is an image of what we call the SmallTalk card. This is a card that is for you the FirstLook parent. As you can see it shows the key question, bottom line, what every kids needs to know, Bible story reference and teachable moments. Teachable moments is a section to help you talk about the Bible story at home with your preschooler.

You can pick up these cards as you exit the FirstLook room. You can also download it by right clicking on the image, choosing Save As and then saving it on your computer.

Past Week in FirstLook

Everyone loses things from time to time. Jesus told a story about a shepherd who lost a sheep. The shepherd loved that sheep so much that he went to find it right away. Remind your preschooler about a time that he or she lost a favorite toy. Talk about how he or she felt when she realized the toy was gone. Then, ask him or her how he or she she felt when he or she found the toy. Remind him or her that God loves him or her even more than he or she loves that toy. He loves him or her even more that Mommy and Daddy.

Isn't God's love amazing?

Basic Truth -- Jesus wants to be my friend forever.
Key Question -- Why did Jesus tell these stories?
Bottom Line -- Jesus wants me to know what God is like.
Memory Verse -- "The Son wants to tell others about the Father"
Luke 10:22 (CEV)
Bible Story Focus -- Jesus wants me to know how much God cares about me. We told the story of the Lost Sheep-- Luke 15:3-7

Feb. 1 in FirstLook

This past week in FirstLook (our preschool room)...

Our Bible story came from Luke 2 when Jesus was "lost" in Jerusalem. In reality Jesus was teaching at the temple and his parents did not know so they left him as they began to return home. We learned that even we we are lost or something is going wrong we can trust that Jesus knows what he is doing just like he did when he was at the temple teaching.

Our Bottom Line was "Jesus wants me to know what God is like." That is what he was teaching about at the temple when he was 12 years old. We can learn a lot from the life of Jesus, we get to see that God knows exactly what he is doing even when other people do not.

This story helps us to remember that "Jesus wants to be my friend forever." So this month, remember to talk with your preschooler about how Jesus wants to be their friend and will watch out for them even when things seem to be bad.

Jesus wants everyone to know about God. When Jesus was only 12 years old, He went to the temple to teach the Bible teachers about God. Ask your preschooler to tell you the story of Jesus in the temple. If they can't remember it, get out a Bible and help them remember it. Jesus helped others learn about God's love by telling stories. You can find stories that Jesus told in the Bible. Take time to read several of Jesus' stories this week with your preschooler and encourage him to share these stories with his family and friends.

FirstLook -- February

A warm fire and a good book are treasures this time of year. As the temperatures drop, we want to snuggle in close with those we love and who love us. What better stories to share with them than those found in the Bible?

In February, the First Look curriculum is teaching stories that Jesus told in order for us to know how much God loves us.

The Bible says in Luke 10:22: "The Son wants to tell others about the Father" (CEV), and He tells such amazing stories to let us know we are special. From the lost sheep to the prodigal son, Jesus lets us know how important we are to the Father.