VBS...Day 5 and Closing Program

VBS Day 5 Opening

Closing Program


Children singing Praises to God

Everyone was having a good time

Yes, it was HOT!!!

Aren't they sweet?

Next Group Preparing to sing:

The closing program was great, just like the rest of this VBS Program. If you would like to see more pictures from the week, just contact me at prariden@cfellowshipc.org and ask for a DVD. :)

VBS in action

VBS Day 2 Opening

Everyone is having so much FUN!

Day 3 (also known as Green Day :)

That is my good friend Michelle...

how did she manage to get up to the stage?

They are so excited to get to games!

GREAT CRAFTS!!!!!

Fun times in Music!!

SNACK TIME!!

VBS Prep

Like Crafts? How would you like to prepare crafts for 650 kids x 5 days!!!!!

Preparing for 650 children to attend VBS takes many hours of Prep work. Here you can see some of the teens lending a hand!


Making Decorations :)

This is the "craft supply room" everything is in it's place and is counted, ready to go.

more craft supplies

Everything is counted out for each day. Makes craft time during VBS run smoothly.

Ok, now we are ready to begin.................

I have included a few pictures of the preparations taking place.

Passing the Baton

We just finished a unit on Wednesday nights for the kids called "Torchlighters", and it has been about Heroes of the faith. These were such amazing stories and lessons for the kids to learn about. Last night we finished up the lesson about Eric Liddell. Do you know who he was? Well, he was an Olympic runner in 1924. The thing that really set him apart however, was that he had a very strong faith in God, so strong in fact, that when one of the Olympic races that he was to be in was scheduled to be on a Sunday, he refused to compete in it. Sunday was the Lord's Day, and Eric worshipped God on that day, and did not let other activities interfere with that. He was eventually able to compete in other races on other days, and he won both races!

The thing about Eric Liddell that makes his life stand out is his committment to God. After the Olympics, he went on to be a missionary in China. He had been raised in China, by his missionary parents, and he always knew that he would return there one day. He suffered many hardships during his time there, but God used him in many people's lives.

One thing that really caught my attention was that Eric's parents instilled a committment to God in him from a young age. He had many other committments in life, such as sports, but, his committment to God came first.

I think this is a great example to us as parents. I would think that even though you want your child to excel in many things, such as academics, sports, and social graces, that you would most of all want your child to excel in their love for God. So, how do we accomplish that? How do we pass on your faith to your children?

God obviously has to do the work in their lives and their hearts, but what we can do is to provide an atmosphere where it is easy for a child to develop their relationship and love for
God. We want to make little disciples :). I recently came across the following acrostic that easily defines this for us. It is just little reminders of things we can do to encourage our children to become disciples of God.

Develop loving obedience ( Matt 28:19-20)
Invite other believers into friendships ( Heb 10:24,24)
Study the Bible ( 2Tim 3:16,17)
Consistently make good choices (Esh 4:1)
Impact others with my faith story (Colossians 4:5,6)
Pray regularly-and specifically (Matt 7:7)
Learn to stay strong (Ephesians 6:10)
Experience the adventure of following Jesus-forever! ( Gal 5:25)

I would also add, that as parents, we need to pray consistently for our children, and also, remember that they "catch" alot by watching us. What do your actions say about your love and devotion to God?

If this all seems too hard to apply, then just start with one item on the list, and add another as you feel you can. Parents have a great impact on the spiritual development of their child, and you, just as Eric Liddell's parents, can pass your baton of faith on to your child.

Changing Seasons

The third chapter of Ecclesiastes has really been running though my mind this week. Part of the chapter reads as follows:

"To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain; and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence; and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate, A time of war, and a time of peace."

I like it because it describes life so accurately, and it is how life is right now...the season's are changing. We are changing from a very white wonderful Winter, to Spring....OH YES!!! Glorious Spring!!!

Can you feel it? I can...Spring is in the air!!!! (well, almost)...it's working on it, and I am certainly cheering it on! I LOVE Spring, I LOVE the warmer weather, and I LOVE the new life that starts popping up all around, I love being able to take walks out side, and just smell the fresh air!! I am always amazed at the beauty of God's creation.



This Spring, will include for me a season of visiting family. I am looking forward to a visit from my younger brother that lives in Washington State, visiting my younger sister, who lives in Houston, visiting Joel's family, that live in Ga, and hopefully a visit from my parents who live in Alaska.

At church, we are heading into one of our busiest seasons. We juggle alot of balls in the spring! There are Easter lessons to prepare. a new Wed night TU program, preparing our new Adventure Zone unit, "How to Sail the C's " as well as our upcoming summer lessons for children's church. Then there's " Running the Amazing Race", our Choir Spring musical, and planning our trip to the "Rainforest" duing Vacation Bible School. We love to plan great lessons with fun ideas for the kids. We get our jollies out of being creative in teaching the Word of God to the children. It is so rewarding when we see that they understand, and we see them growing in their knowledge of the Lord.

In my personal life, for the spring season, my goal is to get and keep balance in my life. So far, it is looking like a real challenge, but, maybe if I keep trying, one of these days, I will actually succeed!

I love that God's word acknowledges life as it is, full of seasons of change for all of us. Let us therefore embrace and enjoy the change around us!!!

Happy (?) New Year

Well, that is what everyone always wishes you right...Happy New Year!!! Well, what about when it isn't so happy. I am an optimist, and I like to always think everything will be fine and work out, and be good, but, sometimes it just isn't is it.

The first week of the new year a friend of mine died. I was getting phone calls on her progress, she had been in ICU, and I couldn't get in to see her before I left for conference, and when they finally let people in to see her, I was out of town, so I couldn't go, and I so wanted to. She went to be with Jesus the next day. It is great for her to be with the Lord, but I am sad, as I will miss her, and my heart goes out to her 15 year old daughter, and her husband who are left behind. Some things in life are hard to adjust to. I am sure this family doesn't feel like it is a "Happy" New Year.

The next day, after my friend died, my sister-in-law had major surgery for Ovarian Cancer. We found out that she had stage III-C, which is not a great thing. It all happened so suddenly, one hardly has time to adjust to the diagnosis before your whole life has been changed. She is still recouperating from surgery, and started on chemo this week. I feel so bad for her and for my brother. This certainly is not a "Happy" New Year for them.

Then, due to financial constraints, we had a lay off some people at the church, including 2 in my department. I love my people, I think I have a great team, and I think I needed every person that I had...but, things are not always our choice. It was painful. During that same week I got sick, and then I got up that Sat morning and threw my back out. At that point I just felt like "Just shoot me and get it over with!!!!"

These times are when it is so good to have God's word hidden in your heart. God kept bringing Psalm 23 to my mind. I totally know and understand that my life was nothing like what David was going through when he wrote the Psalm, I get that, but it also provides comfort to me when life around me isn't so grand! I love the HE gives me rest (even when I don't want it, when you are sick, and then can't get around b/c of your back, guess what, YOU GET TO REST...no option)...I love the HE restores my soul......I can see him working through all of the above circumstances, even if I would not have chosen those things for myself or my loved ones....I see that He is with me all of the time, even in the hard times, and I LOVE THAT...and I love that in the end, I will DWELL in the house of the Lord Forever....now how GREAT is that!!!!

In the end, I am still an optimist, I am glad that January is over, and am hoping that the rest of this "NEW" year will be much better!!!!

CPC (Children's Pastor's Conference)

Last week I attended CPC with a couple others from my team. It is a very good conference to attend because it is nice to be around 2,000 other people that work in the same field that you do, and that understand the challenges and blessings of doing what we do. I especially love the time of worship during the General Session time. It is a great thing to be in a room with 2,000 people all worshipping God at the same time. It is a special treat for those of us who work with children every Sunday, because our worship time is done with the children each and every week. Worship time with children consists of singing and doing the motions, while walking around and in between the children encouraging their participation, and or helping others to get settled into the room. So, it is a real treat for us to be able to focus on God without distraction.

General Session:

Conference also offers alot of workshops you can attend to help you improve in an area of ministry, or just to get new ideas. I found several of the workshops very encouraging as they were sharing with us things that we are doing right in the church, or I got confirmation from other workshops that we are on the right track. YEAH!!

One more thing you will find at conference is the Resource Room. (Trust me, this is Kim Hayes' FAVORITE place to be. She loves to be there when the doors open and she likes to be the last one out.) Anyway, the Resource Room does have ALOT of interesting things in there. All of the publishers have booths there, and demonstrations, and free give aways!! We like to talk to them to get more ideas, and we also give them suggestions on what we would like to see as improvements in their products. It is a very noisy, high energy room!!!!

Resource Room:

We are glad to be back at home, now if we could only find time to unpack our bags so we can start using our new resources!!! :)