Good News Club II

I'm back! Didn't expect me so soon did you? ;) Alright, Good News Club 2! Most of these pictures are from our last day, which was in April. Here's the basic run-down of the club.

*Disclaimer* These are not the kinds of kids who sit still. These are not the types of teachers who stand in place while teaching. Some of the pictures are going to be blurry.

As the kids came in, they would grab a snack and sit down. At four o'clock we opened with prayer, then had the Pledges to the Flag and the Bible.

Next, our theme song...."Good News, Good News, Christ died for me....that's wonderful, EXTRA Good News!"
And on the word "Extra" They would shout as loud as they could; here they are covering their ears, leaning forward while shouting.

Then our memory verse; here they are reading it from the Bible.....

After a song came the Bible lesson. That last day we studied Daniel 5, the writing on the wall "He saw.....a hand. Not an arm, not a body, just a hand."

Then we have a Missionary story and review game during which the kids can go to the back and ask Bible-related questions, although lot of times they came for counseling; oh, it made my heart ache to hear some of their stories!

We dismiss at five, but we stay there until all the kids are taken care of. We also clean up whatever mess the kids have made, and that's where our faithful helpers prove their worth! ☺ It's great to have them, knowing they are ready for whatever we need them to do.













This year in club we had four six graders, who are leaving for grade school *tear* (They are all looking down because someone dropped something. )


And (some of) the kids. We had about thirty every week! At first it was hard
learning everyone's names (Mrs. P had an edge because she had been there several years already!) but except for a few of the smaller boys, by the end of the year I could great just about everyone by name.

And I have to mention this sweet girl! She brought so much joy to us teachers. Always listened very carefully, always so quiet and kind with the other children.

Even though we had so many kids, each one was important. Each one was unique.

"There is nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child."
~Frank A. Clark (Amen to that!)




"A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to."
~Robert Brault




"When I approach a child, he inspires
in me two sentiments; tenderness for
what he is, and respect for what he may become.
~Louis Pasteur

It is a masterpiece of the devil to make us believe that children cannot understand religion. Would Christ have made a child the standard of faith if He had known that it was not capable of understanding His words?
~Dwight L. Moody

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;It will not return to Me empty,Without accomplishing what I desire,And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
~Isaiah 55:11


Until next year, little ones! I will be praying for you.

Good News Club Part I

Hello fellow bloggers!

So much for soon….it takes me long time to get these thoughts down and polish them, especially when there is so much happening at once. It’s been rather crazy these last two months. But here’s a challenge God gave me last year and that I continue to work on.

Ok! How many of you work with kids? How many of you teach Sunday School? How many of you think you could never do that?

Well, I used to be halfway in each of those categories. I enjoy working with kids; I was the "crowd control" helper in Children's Church (the background person who escorted kids to the bathroom and settled squabbles between chair mates); and I wasn't inclined to be up front a whole lot.

But my older sister taught a Good News Club as well as a Five Day Club with Child Evangelism Fellowship. (to learn more about CEF, go here and here.) And I told myself someday I would too, someday when I gathered enough nerve, and definitely not before then.

Now ,that probably wouldn't have been until the cows came home, except...... last October my mom met a lady who's been doing Good News Clubs for five years. She has two of the biggest clubs in our area (somewheres between 30-60 kids every week), but last fall, a month before club started, she didn't have any helpers, for either club.

No helpers = no club (s).

So my mom (who is never one to miss a good opportunity) promptly hired us out, knowing this was the plunge that would get us involved.

There we were, Timothy, Esther, and I. The first week we watched; we came home all excited, knowing this would stretch us. The second week, the Mrs. P asked me to teach the verse. No problem, it was only about five to eight minutes of talking.

A couple weeks went by, and then she said, "Why don't you teach the lesson?"

Hehe. I almost said no. Eeek! Me stand up in front of thirty-five + kids for at least fifteen minutes and teach? I was used to staying in the background. I'm sure Mrs. P saw the panic in my face.

But, remember, Do Hard Things! So I said yes, and taught a lesson about Elisha.

I felt terrible. I basically repeated what the teacher's guide said and stuck the flannel figures on the board. The hardest part were the "grey boxes" which interrupted the story to emphasize one Biblical thought (i.e., Watch out for foolish pride! or Stand up for what is right) and how how it was applicable to their lives. I could teach the Bible parts from memory, but it took more effort to remember those without reading it from the book.

This was something new; I had never done it before; and it showed me my terrible inadequacy. I learned to confess my sin more often and to guard myself from sin if I wanted God to work through me. I saw that without passion, [anything] is pretty dull; I begged God to show me what was blocking my passion for Him, and He did . And, I found teaching took work! I had to continually die to my wants and wishes if I was serious about giving my very best. It was hard to make adequate time, but when I prepared well, it was actually fun to teach!

You know, doing this “hard thing” has definitely left me stronger. My spiritual life is stronger. I have gained a lot more confidence and experience working with people and practicing flexibility. I have learned humility; how I must cry to God for help and seek godly counsel; there’s no way I can do it on my own. My “kid skills” are better; the children taught me a lot about patience and love coupled with firmness and fairness.

Once again I thank God for guiding me to The Rebelution. Underneath the entire struggle was God's strength and grace propelling me through the year, but He also used The Rebelution as a way for me to understand better what He expects of me.

Part II coming up (with plenty of pictures!

Hello!

Well, fellow bloggers, I am back! I will be messing around with things, and trying out stuff (and working on posts!)....just so you know.

See you around!

Website Highlite: The Rebelution

Well, I was trying to do a website Highlite but the post is kept turning into biographical sketch on the its founders ☺

So this is a mixture.....about the website, Alex and Brett, and their vision.

Alex and Brett Harris are twins in the Harris family; some of you might know of Joshua Harris who wrote I kissed dating Goodbye (and several others); he is their big brother. Others who are older might better remember their father, Greg Harris, who has been prominent in the homeschooling movement.

One summer, Mr. Harris gave Alex and Brett an intense research/reading project, and as they plowed through it, they realized just how much expectations had fallen for today’s young people compared to even a hundred years ago. How can future leaders rise and grow if they are not stretched and challenged in their youth? What happened to the time sixteen and seventeen year olds did an adult’s work capably and handled jobs we nowadays would hardly trust a twenty-something year old with?

They decided to share these thoughts on a blog that they called The Rebelution. In the summer of 2005, when they were sixteen, they began with a series of articles called The Myth of Adolescence.

If you have read their book, Do Hard Things, you will know that they were surprised at the response they got almost immediately from other young people. (Read the book to find out more!)

Now in 2009, God has blessed them to where they have their own website, a book, and a Do Hard Things, around-the-country summer tour in 2007, with the theme of I Timothy 4:12 . They had it again in 2008 and it will happen again this year.

Alex and Brett are not pair of some self-exalted teens saying, "Hey dude, doing hard things is like, you know, super amazingly cool. You dig?" Although, I'll be honest, that's pretty much what I expected when Mom dragged me to their conference closest to us. But no! Read about it here.

Now, when I talk about Do Hard Things and mention The Rebelution, I notice sometimes people think that sounds...radical. Kinda dangerous. After all, the word "rebelution" is a combination of rebellion and revolution. Bad things you don't want a teen involved in.

But it is radical! I don't mean the the wacky, drooling kind of radical. The idea that teens don't need be treated like teens and can be, should be, expected much more of is one that takes the world's ideals and stands them on their heads, and the Lord knows we can stand a little more of that.

And it's totally Christ-centered. That's why it's so important to read the book before jumping to conclusions about The Rebelution (like I did). Do hard things doesn't mean doing any hard thing (like climbing a mountain) or doing big things; it means many times being faithful in the little things. And....well, I'd better stop and do seperate post on the idea of hard things later.

And so, ladies and Gentlemen, I present The Rebelution as defined by Alex and Brett in their 2008 promo video.



On their website, you can find their blog. A lot of times they feature other "rebelutionaries", young people doing hard things. They also have many useful links to blogs, websites, and other places you might find encouraging. They have a link to their store, where you can buy T-shirts, Do Hard Things the book, and DVDs of the conference.

To read their blog, go here.

To read more about The Rebelution, read this.

To learn more about its history, check this out.

If you all have any questions about the book or anything, just drop a line, and I'll be happy to answer them!

Blessings,

Ericka

This year.....

Hello y'all!

Snow, SNOW, Snow!!!! At last, a decent amount of snow! (And a fairly decent amount of ice to boot.) Soaked gloves, snowy boots, rosy cheeks, hot chocolate….

The snow was also very useful because I couldn't go anywhere, so I worked on this post. ☺ Rather overdue, I know, but I usually blog when I get up early, and.....I haven't been do so during the past week *sorry!*

So anyway, I promised to tell you more about the year's goal. Well, actually, I have three:

1. Do Hard Things.
2. Get my act together.
3. Use the situations around me to prepare myself for life.
   

That does sound a little non-specific, doesn’t it? They’re actually more like guidelines than specific goals. I

1. Do Hard Things. I am in college (doing CollegePlus!), and between school, church, and family it seemed I had no time for anything else But God showed me I was really just lazy, not wanting put the effort into making things happen. So now I have to roll up my sleeves and make my schedule accomodate those hard things H wants me to do (you'll hear about them as they come!).
   
2. Get my act together. Really, it means to go through my life like a person combing hair for lice, looking for those things that are hindrances/stumbling blocks (Heb. 12:1, Eph. 4:22) and replacing them with something better. I can't really do this very well by myself since I tend to think I'm a pretty good person ;) So this one kinda depends on the next:
3. Use the situations around me to prepare myself for life. I know God has plans for me (Jer. 29:11) -ones I'm very excited about!- from the desires and gifts He has given me. And I have tried to go ahead and get started on them, but each time He has closed the door firmly but lovingly, and made it quite clear that I am not ready. It took me while to accept that fact. But He has made me content with where I am (Psalm 37:3), and in the many situations I face, I see His hand of preparation (having a large family: flexibility and leadership. Having students: patience and responsibility. Honoring parents when I think differently: obedience, humility, and appealing respectfully) Plus, He reveals to me what I need to change/learn by the way I react to various circumstances. It's not very pretty sometimes....but I'm thankful for Him caring enough about me to do so (Psalm 119:75, Heb. 12:10).
   

So. What are some things God has given you? Maybe it’s an attitude: you don’t know what He has planned for you. Maybe it’s something big. Or small. Maybe it looks scary. Maybe you aren’t sure what on earth He was thinking. Whatever it is, remember; He gave it to you because He loves you and it’s His perfect will for you! He will not leave you to face it alone.

Blessings,

Ericka

First post of 2009!!

Hello y'all!!

It's the new year! In fact, it's way past New Year's Day (in case you hadn't noticed).

I'll be honest, for the past month, I have been struggling with several issues and not dealing with them well at all. Ergo, I did not want to say "Here's how God is helping me Do Hard Things" when really, I wasn't allowing myself to use His strength.

But by God's grace, He has allowed me to come out on top of my feelings and all that.

He has broken and humbled me as He showed me the many things that needed to change, big time, in my life.

He has given me a new longing to spend time with Him and to memorize Scripture; He has answered my prayers by giving me an intense longing to "know Him [meaning Christ] and the power of His resurrection" and that I "may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but of that which is through faith in Christ..."(Philippians 3, verses 10 and 9 respectively)

He has given me several verses from Psalm 37: (3-5) Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord trust also in Him and He will do it....(7) "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in His way because of the man who carries out wicked schemes."

God has been so good to me even though I often turned away from Him, and I praise Him for His mercy and lovingkindness!! I am excited about the vision He has given me for this year, and I look forward to sharing about it in the next couple posts!

Blessings,

Ericka

Hehe, I forgot to changed the post date...it is now officially posted in January.

See You in a Month!

Hello all!

It has been a while. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (mine was very good; absolutely scrumptious).

I have to tell you all....I need to take a hiatus until next year because of school/family/holiday plans....but I will be back.

I'm not giving up on blogging. I just need to devote more time to the above mentioned categories.

Even though I feel bad doing this, it's for the best, really. There are a whole string of ideas and posts floating around in my mind, so during December I'll be working on pinning them down and polishing them for 2009.

So until then! Take care, and have a very merry Christmas!

~Ericka