Sharing It…

One of the things that we would love to see happen in the Children’s Ministry at Maranatha, is for our children to get involved in the sharing that is taking place both locally and globally.  We want our children to grow, connect and serve other children here at home and around the world.  We are so excited to report that our Elementary age children are doing it.  They are sharing it! 

For the past 6 weeks we have been teaching the children about taking the word of God to the ends of the earth.  We have been talking about the needs that people are facing in different countries and regions of the world.  We have talked about what The Bible says about meeting those needs, what God is using people to do in those areas and what we can do to help.  One thing we have decided to do in the Elementary age group is collect money for the children of Casa Shalom in Guatemala.  Our children have been bringing in money during the series that we have been collecting and will take with us when we visit Casa Shalom this week.  Sunday was the last day to give and on Monday we counted what the kids brought in to share.  All together our children gave $151.51.

We are so proud of our Elementary age children.  They gave from their hearts and they didn’t hesitate to take what God has given them, no matter how big or small, and share it with children in need around the world.

Successful Connection

We just wanted to say that the Connection Cookout on Wednesday night was great.  It was good to see a lot of children, families and Children’s Ministry Leaders come out and spend some time together.  Thanks to everyone on the team that came out and a special thanks to Chef Sambo for grilling it up and producing the best cheeseburger I’ve had in a long time!  Also thanks to Jim Sterrett for putting a team together and making it a great night for everyone.

If you missed out on the Cookout, we would encourage you to make it next time.  If you didn’t know about the cookout, you may need to pay closer attention to the announcements, emails, the blog and other forms of communication that we use regularly here at Maranatha.  We are looking forward to the next chance to Connect with you as we Grow and Serve together!

An Easy Way to Share it…

This Saturday, November 21, there will be a great chance for us to get out into our community and share the love of Jesus.  We will be volunteering in the children’s area at the 50th Anniversary of Palm Beach Gardens.  The event is from 4:oo-9:00 pm and this may be the easiest possible way, ever, for us to interact with our community.  We don’t have to set up anything, it doesn’t cost us anything, all the work is done and we just need to show up to represent God and Maranatha.

We are looking for people to help out for the entire event or for just an hour or two.  If you want to participate let us know by commenting  right here on the blog, hitting us up on facebook, email, call or text us.  We hope you can join us on Saturday!

Christmas Songs

This past Sunday we began practicing this years Christmas songs with the children.  We will be singing 2 songs in the Worship Center on Sunday, December 20th.  This gives us 4 more weeks to practice.  If you serve in Preschool, Elementary or Middle Church, on one of these weeks, you will have to adjust your preparation and teaching timeline on Sunday mornings.  Here are some details:

Practice will take place in Lee Hall for the majority of the second half of each service. 

All children and Leaders for the Preschool, Elementary and Middle Church age groups will attend the practice.  We will give you a time to meet in Lee Hall.

The time for teaching and interacting in your classroom will be much shorter than usual.

When arriving to Lee Hall please be sensitive to the service that is taking place that morning.  If you are a little early or the teaching is behind schedule you may interrupt the closing or prayer time, if you just walk right in.

On the Sunday that we sing things will be a lot different so please look for and pay attention to communication concerning those details.

The songs are great, the children are learning quickly and we are praying for a powerful time of ministry for the children when they sing for Jesus, for the whole church to hear and see!

A Great Day!

We realize that last Sunday morning seems like just a distant memory, to a lot of us, as we have been going through our week, but we wanted to take a look back at Sunday and point out a few great things.  We were encouraged and are really excited about the atmosphere we experienced and the ministry that took place just four days ago.  Here are some of the things that really stuck out to us on the 8th as very motivational and successful ministry.

Leaders came early to connect and we broke our single Sunday morning record for coffee consumed by the team… 2 full pots!

We had a new volunteer serve for the first time in the Preschool Ministry.  She came early for training, she stayed for both services, she was amazing with the children and she is a teen from our Emerge Student Ministries that is growing, connecting and now serving the little ones!

All of the Leaders that we came in contact with were energetic, excited, passionate and appeared to be making strong connections with the children, the parents and each other.  What a great atmosphere!

We had the most children we have had in the Elementary age group in 21 weeks.  There were 22 BOYS in the 10:45 service.  This will always cause energy and excitement… or something like that!

We had guests in 3 of our 5 age groups!

The Leadership team consisted of leaders who are currently in elementary school, middle school, high school, their 20’s, 30’s 40’s and beyond!

All of these things, combined with what God did in the hearts and lives of children and Leaders, are truly amazing.  We don’t know if you saw it or felt it but this past Sunday was a great day to be a part of what God is doing at Maranatha!

Leading the way…

Hopefully you have figured out by now that we are very proud of the team and we believe that our Leaders are a group of people that can lead the way at Maranatha.  We want the team to be a group of people that are passionate about the children’s ministry, the church as a whole and what God is doing at Maranatha.  We want to be in the forefront of the growing, connecting and the serving that is taking place.

We hope that you are able to get involved in some of the growth opportunities that are offered here on campus.  We know that you are serving (and doing a great job).  We also want to make sure that you are connecting with each other and with other leaders and families in the church and the community.  Well, on Wednesday, November 18th at 6:00 pm there will be a Connect Cookout, right here on campus, where you can do just that.  http://maranathachurch.org/

We would love to see our team take part in this fun time and continue to lead the way with our participation in what God is doing at Maranatha!

New Shirts!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our new shirts!  These black polo shirts have our Maranatha Children’s Ministry Logo screen printed in blue on the front.  They need to be worn every time you serve on a Sunday and can be worn with nice jeans, black pants or khakis. 

You can pick one up this weekend in Lee Hall.  Than and I will begin wearing our shirts this weekend, you can wear yours the next time you serve. 

We are so proud of our team and can’t wait to see everyone around in the new polos!

Beep, Beep…

We are really excited about all the traffic that we have been getting on the blog lately.  If you have ever clicked on the “About” at the top of the screen, then you know that we want to use this blog as a tool to help us all grow together and be better at what God has called us to do.  With this in mind, it is very encouraging to us that last month was the 2nd busiest month, the blog has seen, in terms of people checking out what we are posting.

We hope that when you hit the blog you take the time to read what is going on and then apply the discipline to put these things into practice.  We want to grow, we want to lead you more effectively and we want you to be the best you can be, as you serve God by serving the children and families at Maranatha.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Another Great Idea…

We had a great group of Leaders stop by Lee Hall for some coffee, before they served, on Sunday.  We had a few new creamer flavors and the coffee lifted everyone’s energy level, on a busy weekend for a lot of us. 

One of our Care Leaders had the great idea of inviting other leaders to stop by and meet with her for coffee any Sunday morning.  What an easy way to stay connected.  If you would like to take advantage of this time to get together with your Care Leader and enjoy some really good coffee (we don’t mean to brag) than I suggest shooting them an email, during the week and setting up a Sunday to do so.  You won’t regret it.

A little further down the page is a blog listing who your Care Leader is, if you are unsure.

Let’s continue to Grow, Connect and Serve with one another!

A Couple Fun Events

There are 3 events in the next 5 days that we think will be a lot of fun.  We hope you are able to participate in as many of these as you can.  Here are the events.  They are all great ways  to Grow_Connect_Serve:

Tonight (Wednesday October 28th) Children’s Fall Festival.  This will be a great time for the kids.  We will have a bounce house, game stations, face painting, cold water and candy on the way out the door.  If you have a child; bring them.  If you don’t have a child; come help the children have a blast. 

Saturday (October 31st).  Middle School Nerd Party.  This will be a fun party for Middle Schoolers.  We are encouraging them to come dressed as their best nerd.  For some of them, this won’t be that hard.  If you have a Middle Schooler; bring them.  If you don’t; come have a blast with us, ya nerd.

Sunday (November 1st).  Family Picnic.  This is going to be a great time to hang out and connect with other families from Maranatha.  The picnic is at Jupiter Beach Park Pavillion and it is right after the 10:45 service.  So come to church in the morning and then let’s hang out at the park.  We challenge you to a game of Corn Toss.

We hope you have a chance to make it to at least one of these great events.  Let’s continue to Grow_Connect_Serve with one another.  We love you guys!

Also, don’t forget about the time change.  Set your clocks back 1 hour on Saturday Night (October 31st).