FAMILY PLUS Children's - July 26

Hey Everyone!

This week's family plus email is a little different. We have been working hard all week to prepare for Illuminate, and your only task is to come and participate in the event. When I say participate I mean...be ready to worship with your kids, be ready to celebrate the stories of what God is doing in New Generations, and be ready to be challenged to take your family to new heights.

Since this Sunday is a different kind of Sunday, we will have all connect groups (including children's group); however, we will not be having Kidstuf worship at 10:45. That means that your kids will be attending worship with you at 10:45.

See you Sunday!

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - July 22

Hey Everyone!

We just got back in town yesterday afternoon from the high school mission trip to New Orleans. Our high schoolers ran a KidzDays Camp in St. Bernard Parish, LA. It went great! We tripled our attendance from last year, and saw God bring 4 more children into his kingdom! I was blown away by what God did this past week in the Parish. 

Here is what they are learning today:

Scripture: Acts 10 (Peter and Cornelius)

Life Application: I can respect and value all people.

Memory Verse: Acts 22:15 “...for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.”

Prayer for the Nations: South Korea 

When it comes to respecting and valuing all people, all humans have a hard time with this. I know this because of the way we act. We make fun of people. We view ourselves more highly than others. We lack compassion for individuals in tough situations. So this brings me to the question of "How can parents make sure their children do their best to respect and value all people?" Here are a few ideas, and maybe you have some ideas about this too. I'd love to hear them. 

5 practical ways to help our kids respect and value others:

1) Expose our children to all kinds and types of people - I specifically am referring to people of different social status, race, etc. We live in a metropolitan area; therefore, this one should be easy. 

2) Eat food from different places - This sounds silly, but to experience something as basic to life as food from another place does help our kids appreciate the people who create that food. 

3) Take your kids to see other places and meet the people there - You can do this several ways. Obviously, you can go to the actual place. The easiest way to do this is via the Internet. Go to Youtube and watch videos of other places. My recommendation is you screen the videos before you show them to your child. 

4) Serve different types and kinds of people - Do something for people from other places. Again, you don't have to go somewhere to serve someone. You can do it from your home and mail it there, or just go into the metro area to find all types of people to serve.

5) Pray for different types and kinds of people - If your child can understand that God wants to help everyone no matter what they look like, smell like, act like, etc, then your child will be will on their way to respecting and valuing all people.

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - July 15

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry to be getting this to you so late. I try really hard to get these to you on time, but time has been short lately with us having KidzDays in the Glade this past week. By the way, it was a great success! Our best KidzDays to date. This has been a busy and fruitful summer!

Here is what they are learning today...

Scripture: Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-31 (Saul's Conversion)

Life Application:  I can tell people what God has done for me.

Memory Verse: Acts 22:15 “...for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.”

Prayer for the Nations: South Korea

This week for your kids all I want you to do is talk to them. Tell them a story of what God has done for you. This is so simple, but do no underrate a task this simple as this. Telling stories has profound impact!

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church

FAMILY PLUS Children's - July 6

Hey Everyone!

The other day I was watching a talk by Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT. I'm taking the liberty to sum up this fascinating talk into one sentence..."Though technology helps us connect with more people around the world, we feel more alone now than ever." Check out her talk here. 

This talk made me ask the questions, "Do the kids at The Glade feel alone?" and "If they feel alone, does that mean that we've not done a good job teaching them that in Christ they are never alone?" These thoughts have sorta haunted me. I know none of us believe that a child should ever feel that lonely, gut-wrenching feeling. This is why we are continually shifting all our weekly children's activities to be more centered around relationships.

Here is what they are learning this week...

Scripture: Acts 6:8-7:60 (Stephen Preached to the Sanhedrin)

Life Application:  I do not need to feel alone when standing up for God. 

Memory Verse: Acts 22:15 “...for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.”

Prayer for the Nations: South Korea - Allergy Alert: We will be trying a South Korean rice dish that includes eggs.

Your challenge is to think about when your kids feel alone this week, and maybe ask them a few questions about it while you're driving down the road.

^{Romans 8 -} 

^"38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Jared Norris
Children's Minister
The Glade Church