FAMILY PLUS Children's - March 31

Hey Everyone!

We are coming up on some very exciting times in the Children's Ministry. First and foremost is Easter! I can't wait for Easter. With Easter comes an Egg Hunt, but for your 2nd-5th graders it's not your traditional Egg Hunt. It is a giant game where they do activities to collect eggs and the team with the most eggs at the end wins. All your 1st graders will be participating in a traditional egg hunt. Second is all the changes happening on the children's hallway. If you haven't seen the progress, make sure you check it out this Sunday. Last night all our 4th-5th grade boys ripped all the carpet out in no time. It was pretty incredible to see!

Here are the details for this week:

Scripture: Matthew 21:1-17 (The Triumphal Entry)

Life Application: I can know Jesus is worthy of my praise.

Memory Verse: “He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying” Matthew 28:6

Prayer for the Nations: Saudi Arabia

As I reflect on Christ's actions this month, it is obvious His actions were both intentional and sacrificial. We celebrate both of those aspects during Easter. Let me encourage you to be both intentional and sacrificial with your actions concerning your kids this month. As parents we sacrifice for our kids all the time. We make specific decisions concerning their future, which prohibits us from getting what we want for ourselves right now. When you think about your children's future, what do you think about? Insurance, paying for college, etc? Do you think about what your relationship with them will look like 10 years from now? This month be intentional and sacrificial concerning your relationship with each of your children. Jesus was intentional and sacrificial concerning our relationship with Him. Let us follow his example!

Upcoming Events:

Egg Hunt - April 7, 10am, Here at church.

Kid's Night Out - April 27, 6pm-10pm

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - March 22

OK! I know I've got to make up for missing last weeks email. I apologize! I'm going to give you 2 emails in one. Have some fun with my mistake and quiz your kids to see how much they remember from last Sunday.

Sunday, March 18 details:

Scripture: Daniel 1-2; 5-6 (The story of Daniel)

Life Application: I can know God loves me in all circumstances.

Memory Verse: “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.” Psalm 52:8

Prayer for the Nation: Rwanda

This coming Sunday's details:

Scripture: Jonah (The story of Jonah)

Life Application: I can live out my obedience to God.

Memory Verse: “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.” Psalm 52:8

Prayer for the Nation: Rwanda

How have you been doing on your challenge this month? Have you been asking questions? Maybe you're traveling back from Spring Break vacation? That is a great time to ask questions...make a game out of it!

That is exactly what we do at our KidzDays Camps, we make a game out of it. We just finished a KidzDays in Hawkins Co, TN! Our middle schoolers did a fantastic job. I have tons of stories about the kids we ministered to, but if you had to ask me to tell you one story about our kids it would involve them asking questions. Every day about twice a day we got into small groups of about 6-8 kids to a couple leaders. During that time I would take the microphone and give the small groups leaders questions to ask their kids. I would ask silly questions first. (i.e. What is your favorite food? What super power do you wish you had?) This would loosen the kids up, and not make it so awkward. Then I would ask a serious question or two. (i.e. What is your family like? What is your favorite thing to do with your dad?) I knew these questions could and would have gut wrenching answers. Each day our middle schoolers shared those gut wrenching answers during our daily debriefing on the way back to the church we were staying at. There is a science to asking questions. But in reality, I'm not after the questions. I'm after the answers because the answers tell us about who that person is, and how we can minister to them.

Thank you guys for letting me serve your family! We have great things on the horizon!

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - March 10

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I'm getting this out to you later than usual. I will say it is for a good reason. My time was spent alongside your children on the trip with John Mackay to hunt down some fossils. By the way, that was a great trip! I hope your 4th-5th graders came back telling fun stories of discovery.

Here are the details for the week:

Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1-5:19

Life Application: I can recognize God working in people's lives.

Memory Verse: “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.” Psalm 52:8

Prayer for the Nations: Rwanda (This week your children will be learning some language from Rwanda)

Have you been asking your children questions this past week? I can assure you that they asked a lot of questions to John MacKay as they were trying to get answers about what happened in the past on the earth. If you haven't, don't fret because I have an idea that might help you learn more about your children.

Idea: You can make a question jar. Simply put, this is a jar full of random questions that you can use to get everyone talking. You pull out a question from the jar and everyone answers a question. You can do this once a week, everyday, every now and then, at dinner, on the road, at the ballgame, before bed, while watching tv, etc. Honestly, it doesn't matter. hint: I found a giant list of questions already made that only needed to be printed and cut apart. I simply searched for "question jar" on the internet and up popped a pre-made list of questions.

Time is fleeting. Seize it by making memories, even small ones like this. Be a proactive parent!

Don't forget to set your clocks forward tonight for Daylight Savings Time!

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - March 2

Hey everyone!

I have a question for you. Did your child ever look at you after every statement you said and ask the question, "Why?" My nephews and niece have done this. Now that has rubbed off on my son, Carter. In fact, I don't even think at 20 months old he knows what the word "why" means. I bet he asks the question "why?" a hundred times a day. I was thinking about that the other day and then I was thinking about my dad. My dad was an educator for 35-40 years. He has served his community in many different capacities. He is a great leader! In 2 weeks the Middle Schoolers from our church are going to do a camp in my hometown. When this idea first arose amongst our staff I immediately called my dad to gain his insight on our initial plan. I thought, "he knows that area better than anybody." For 30 minutes he asked me questions. Some I could answer, some I couldn't. When I got off the phone, I was struck by his leadership. He asked really good questions, and he learned a lot about the situation. In fact, he helped me learn a lot about the situation.

This is your challenge this month: Ask your kids a ton of questions and listen to their answers. Ask them goofy questions. Ask them funny questions. Ask them questions in the car. Ask them serious questions. Ask them their opinion. Ask them to explain something. Ask them for the simple reason that you want to know more about how God made them. This exercise can be a ton of fun! Also, you'll learn so much about them.

Here are the details for this Sunday:

Scripture: 1 Kings 18 (Elijah)

Life Application: I can worship the one true God.
Memory Verse: “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.” Psalm 52:8

Prayer for the Nations: Rwanda

Can't wait for Sunday, and to hear what questions you've been asking your kids!

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church