February 9, 2010
As Valentines Day approaches we thought it would be a great time to say “We Love You.” We truly do. We love all the wonderful leaders that God has brought to the Children’s Ministry over the last couple of years. We appreciate your hard work and sacrifice. It is a humbling experience to serve you as you serve the children.
In a small attempt to show our love we have a special treat for everyone. Some of you may have picked up your treat last Sunday in Lee Hall. If so, we hope that you enjoyed it. If you have not picked up your treat, you can do so on Wednesday night or this Sunday morning. Just stop by Lee Hall before or after each service and pick it up. Also, don’t forget that there is coffee every Sunday and we would love to have you stop by and enjoy a cup with us.
We love you all. Happy Valentines Day!!!
February 4, 2010
In the past two years we have had 300 children register as visitors in the Children’s Ministry here at Maranatha. Most people would prefer the term guest and not visitor when it comes to attending a church for the first time. We chose to use the word visitor in this blog because it seems as though that is exactly what they were. They came, visited and left. This number is a little disturbing to us because it seems as though if 300 new children attended a service in the past two years we would have a larger group of children attending each week than we do now. We need to find more ways to make our visitors feel like guest and encourage them to stay and become family.
One new thing we are doing to welcome our guests is a reception for them following our morning services. These guest receptions take place on the first and third Sundays of each month. They are held in the new welcome center in Building A, Room 106. We want to make sure that every visitor that attends Maranatha is well aware of these receptions and feels welcome to attend. The Children’s Ministry is going to help with that.
Located in each Children’s Minsitry classroom is stack of business card size invitations to the reception. If you are serving on the 1st or 3rd Sunday of the month you must be prepared to hand one to a guest and tell them that they are welcome to attend. If a child is not on our check in sheet, they are a guest. Please greet the parent, have them fill out a guest registration form, hand them the business card invitation and let them know that they are more than welcome to attend the guest reception after service.
We want to do whatever we can to make every guest at Maranatha receive a warm welcome. Let’s do our part to see our guests become family.
February 2, 2010
If you were able to keep current with the blog during the end of last year and the beginning of 2010, then you know that we were very excited. We really felt that the team was moving forward and that the ministry was getting stronger along the way. Our capacity was growing and our ability to serve was increasing. After a great meeting with our care leaders last night, this excitement is still going and growing.
One of the most exciting things we are experiencing now is an increase in new leaders. In January we had 5 new volunteers added to the team and we plan on adding 2 more this week. We also had a great leader, that had to step away for a moment, return to service and have another one on the way.
It is exciting to see the team grow and strengthen. We honestly believe that God will only bring as many children and families to Maranatha as our team can affectively minister to. We believe that there is a strong correlation between the number of trained, skilled and passionate leaders we have and the number of children we can serve. Let’s continue to grow, connect and serve together as a team and be grateful that the ministry is still going and growing!
February 1, 2010
We just wanted to let you know that the sock drive is complete. On Sunday, we spoke with one of the leaders in the children’s ministry that was heading up the drive and she informed us that she has reached her goal of 150 pairs of socks. Other items that she collected included sleeping bags, blankets and warm clothing.
We want to thank everyone that participated in this drive and give a special thanks to Jeanie Sanders for launching the project and once again being an example to the children of what it means to live for Jesus!
January 26, 2010
Our efforts to send emergency aid to the people of Haiti are winding down and we are making great progress in filling the shipping container with lots of good food and relief supplies. Tomorrow (that’s Wednesday) we will be assembling another 250 boxes that will be distributed to individual families in Haiti. If you’d like to volunteer to assist, we will begin around 1:00 PM and work until
the boxes are packed and loaded onto the truck.
One thing we are short of for the boxes is CANNED FOOD items. Do you have some on your shelf or time to pick some up from the store? We need them at Maranatha on Wednesday (in the afternoon). Canned meats, pastas, soups and more. Pop top cans are best. No time to pick some up? Maybe you’d like to make a donation and we’ll shop for you. You can go to wecanshareit.org to make a secure on-line donation.
January 21, 2010
We are still collecting relief supplies to send survival kits to Haiti. We need FOOD donations. $50.00 will buy 50 lbs of rice AND beans! It’s easy and you can KNOW that your donations are going 100% to help the desperate people of Haiti. Go to http://www.wecanshareit….org/outreach/ to make a SECURE donation and we’ll do the shopping for you.
Maranatha Church is partnering with World Harvest Mission (an orphanage built by some people from Maranatha Church many years ago). This ministry is very close to the Port-au-Prince Airport and will be distributing the items we are collecting. Please share this with your friends.
Thank you again, for all the generous donations! We will never truly know the impact that this will have on the people who receive the relief.
January 18, 2010
Thank you to everyone that has brought in supplies for Haiti Relief. There are a lot of great things coming in.
At this time we are still collecting donations. The biggest need we still have is for food and medical supplies to come in. If you haven’t donated yet or believe that God is asking you to continue your generosity please bring these much need items: Rice, beans, water, cooking oil, bandages, hygiene products and other food or medical supplies.
Thank you. Keep up the great work.
January 13, 2010
In cooperation with World Harvest Mission, Maranatha Church is serving as a collection site for relief supplies for the victims of the earthquake.
Suggested donations include: tarps, ropes, working generators, gas cans, cooking pots, utensils, towels, blankets, bottled water (12/24 per case), cleaning products, new clothing, new shoes, canned food (flip open tops), canned pasta meals, trash can liners, shovels, buckets, rice (10-20 lb. bags), beans (10-20 lb. bags), cooking oil, peanut butter, batteries, flashlights, matches, gauze, Neosporin, gauze bandages, feminine hygiene products (Kotex, etc.). Also needed are 1 gallon zip-lock bags of Personal Hygiene Kits (fill with: bar soap, tooth brush, tooth paste, washcloth, Neosporin and Band-Aids.) As soon as the supplies are collected, we will send them to the people of Haiti! Items can be dropped off at Maranatha Church between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday – Friday, and 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon on Sunday.
Maranatha Church is located at 2575 Lone Pine Road (1 mile N of PGA Blvd on Prosperity Farms Rd.). For a map and directions visit www.maranathachurch.org/directions.htm.
January 12, 2010
As you hopefully know by now, we are collecting socks for the homeless. Our Elementary and Middle School age groups will be bringing the socks in, on Sundays, through January 31st. We are putting our focus on collecting new, adult size socks. The word is officially out and we hope to share our socks off!
We are excited about the number of socks that came in on Sunday. We actually didn’t announce the Drive to the children and families until Sunday. We blogged about it, sent a message to some parents and we were posted on http://www.comfortsocksonline.org/ in the “Heartfelt Comments” section. Even though the word was barely out we actually collected 49 pairs of socks on Sunday. This is great and leads us to believe that we will have no problem reaching our goal of at least 250 pairs. Now that the word is out, let’s bring the socks in and send them back out.
January 11, 2010
We are excited to be starting up our Midweek classes again here at Maranatha. We took a few weeks off through December and in to January and we are ready to go again.
SuperClub begins this Wednesday (January 13th) for children ages 4 years through 4th grade. Also, Midpoint starts up for 5th, 6th and 7th graders. We are excited to start teaching the word again and giving these children more chances to connect with one another and with God. We hope you are able to help out as a part of the team and we hope to see your children in their class.
Dates, times and locations for Middle School Small Groups are coming soon!
