Store Night!

Tomorrow is the first day of October!! We may still be in hot and humid Central Texas but it's still starting to feel like Fall!!!

Speaking of October, for our amazing volunteers from the Temple Campus, please check out the schedule for October. It has been updated with a few minor changes. If there are any scheduling conflicts, let us know ASAP.

It's "store night" at Superkids Club! The anticipation is high - after weeks of saving their hard earned Superbucks, tonight, your kids can cash them in for fun toys and prizes. You definitely do not want to miss this! Superkids Ministries meets at the Temple campus Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Even if your kids have never attended before, don't be afraid to make this your first week - they get a Superbuck just for showing up (and another if they bring their Bible).

Just to keep you all updated in what we are learning, last week was an exciting lesson on "patience" from our friend Abraham. (Yep, patience is another Fruit of the Spirit) Our lesson came from Genesis 12:1-6 & Genesis 21:1-7 and we all decided that Abraham and his wife, who had to wait until they were 101 years old for God to give them the baby He had promised, are more patient than we will ever be!

MEMORY VERSE FOR THE WEEK:

"Be patient with everyone." - 1 Thessalonians 5:14

(ask your kids what this week's verse is... I bet they remember this one)

Next week's lesson is on kindness. It comes from Ruth 2 and it is the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz and the kindness that Boaz showed to them when they were poor and needed food.

Questions for your kids to think about:

1. How do you feel when someone shows you kindness?

2. Even though you are "just kids" and don't have a lot of money or material goods to give away, do you still think that you can show kindness?

3. In what ways?

Never let your kids think that they can't change the world simply because of their age: Mary was only a teenager when she gave birth to Jesus and David was even younger when he fought Goliath. God can use anyone!

My favorite "theologian" (not sure she would have called herself that though), Mother Teresa once said "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." I love this quote because sometimes we lose sight of what's right in front of us because we are so busy looking at the big picture and all of the lives we can't reach because we don't have the money or we are too busy to take on a huge missions project. It's so easy to forget that God isn't always looking for us to take on the world, but sometimes to simply love and show kindness to those right in front of us (including that irritating neighbor whose dog barks at all hours of the night or the guy who cuts us off in traffic).

- Brooke

Peace and Patience and Other Exciting Info

Happy rainy Wednesday from Central TX!

Thank you to the Killeen volunteers and parents for a wonderful barbecue on Sunday afternoon. If you weren't able to make it, you missed a fun afternoon of football, good food, and great fellowship. I (Brooke) am so excited about the months ahead and all of the opportunities that we have to grow as a children's ministry community.

First up - fun news! Dates have been set for the 2009 Fall Harvest Festivals!

Temple Campus - Oct 31

Killeen Campus - Nov 1

More information is coming soon but make sure you keep your calendars open! Also, for anyone who is looking to volunteer, get in touch with Pam (prstone60@yahoo.com) or Ricky (rickyartus@hotmail.com) or I (dunbars2008@gmail.com) ASAP before all of the good booths are taken!

2nd piece of news - Killeen crew, we are back at the Civic Center again on Sunday. Thank you to Pam and the children's department in Temple for letting us invade your space for 2 weeks! The October schedule for Killeen is posted on the calendar. If you see any scheduling issues, please let us know now, rather than later, so that we can switch things around. Also, would like to ask that the Killeen volunteers for this Sunday please be at the Civic Center BY 8:30 AM. Grab a cup of coffee and a donut and head back to the Superkids room for a quick volunteer meeting/prayer/devotional to get us recharged before the kids start pouring in. (There MIGHT be some yummy treats involved)

And finally, just to catch everyone up on what the kids are up to this week - yep, you guessed it, Fruits of the Spirit. On Sunday we talked about peace with the story of Noah and the Ark from Genesis 7:1-24. If I was building an ark and everyone I knew was laughing at me, I can promise you that there isn't any place I could find peace other than by looking to the Lord!

MEMORY VERSE FOR THE WEEK:
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." - Colossians 3:15

This Sunday we learn about patience with a story about Abraham and his wife Sarai who wanted nothing more than a baby. Our story will come from Genesis 12:1-6 & Genesis 21:1-7. This is a lesson that a lot of us need to learn - most definitely myself included!

Don't forget, Superkids Club meets tonight at the Temple Campus at 6:30 pm. And next Wednesday, the "store" is open where your kids can cash in their Superbucks that they have earned over the past few weeks by remembering their Bibles, folders, memory verses, bringing a friend, and by correctly answering questions. There will be some great prizes at the store so don't miss it! Look forward to seeing you there!

Coming up: Peace

This Sunday, in our Kids Life Ministries we will once again be worshiping together at the Temple Campus and this week's Fruit of the Spirit will be peace.

We are given a great example of how God gave one man peace in one of the earliest stories in the Bible and a familiar face: Noah. Our story comes from Genesis 7:1-24 and the story of the flood and the peace that God gave Noah despite a raging storm.

Questions for your Kids to Think About:
1. What do you think of when you think of peace?
2. Where do you go when you want peace?
3. Is there a difference between the peace that comes from God and peace that we find on our own?

Joy!!!

Today, the Temple and Killeen church families joined together for services, meeting at the Temple campus. But don't worry - we didn't take a break from the Fruits of the Spirit!

Today's fruit of the spirit = joy.

We learned another lesson from our friend David, with a story taken from 2 Samuel 6:12-22 where David dances for joy when he learned that a special box containing the Ten Commandments would be passing through Jerusalem. Even though some looked at him like he was crazy, David was so full of joy that he couldn't help but dance! Sometimes, God just blesses us in such a way that we can't help but let it out!

MEMORY VERSE FOR THE WEEK:
"The joy of the Lord is your strength." - Nehemiah 8:11

Expressing Joy

If you remember two Sundays ago, we talked about the difference between being "happy" and having "joy." The difference is that REAL joy comes from the Lord.

So how do you express joy? Do you jump up and down? Do you sing? Do you dance?

On Sunday we are going to talk about how David expressed his joy. Our lesson is going to come from 2 Samuel 6:12-22.

Questions for your kids to think about:
1. What gifts has God given us that we can be thankful for that bring us joy?
2. How do you share your joy in the Lord with others?
3. Do you think others will always understand our joy?

Fruits of the Spirit - Week 1: Love

For the next nine weeks, your children are going to be learning the fruits of the spirit. Today we learned about love!

We talked about some of the ways that we show love.

Our story today was about a very specific show of love from one friend to another. David and Jonathan are a wonderful example of friends who love one another. From 1 Samuel 20:1-42, we learned about how Jonathan saved David's life after his father, King Saul, discovered that David was going to be the one to take over as King someday. King Saul wanted to kill David! But instead of letting his father hurt his friend who he loved, Jonathan slipped away and warned David that he needed to run away. What a selfless thing to do!

Our goal for this week is to show our friends love just like Jonathan did: to be selfless and giving, and to always pray for them.

MEMORY VERSE FOR THE WEEK:
"Love one another." - John 13:34

Next week's fruit of the spirit: joy.

(Parents, don't forget, our theme verse for learning about the fruits of the spirit is Galatians 5:22-23 - see the entry from August 30. We hope everyone can learn this verse in the next 9 weeks!)

September Schedule

Parents and volunteers, please take a moment to check out the updated schedule for September 2009.

Please check back often for updates on upcoming events!

Attention Killeen campus: Don't forget, Sunday September 13 and Sunday September 20, we will be joining the Temple Campus for services at their building at 10:45 AM. Due to the extra children that we will be adding to their children's department on those Sundays, some of you will still be needed to volunteer on those Sundays. Make sure you double check the schedule to see if you are listed.

As always, we are so grateful for all of the amazing volunteers that God has blessed us with. We can't begin to thank you enough for your continued dedication, enthusiasm, and gift of your time! We are so blessed to have all of you!

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
- Mother Teresa