Discipleship Campaign

A Message From Pastor Jim Stamoolis

"I Love It When A Plan Comes Together"

Discipleship Campaign 2010.

When my boys were little, one of their favorite TV shows (mine as well), was the A-Team. These four guys could get into more trouble than was imaginable each week. One of the expressions that prefigured something going wrong was “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Unlike the A-Team, our plan is coming together and it is not a sign that something is going wrong. When I review the progress that the team is making in organizing the physical changes that are needed for the contemporary service to move to the sanctuary, all I can say is that “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Sanctuary Updates

It is God’s provision that the electrician we know and trust is available. The lighting on the platform has been long overdue for an upgrade. Jim Whitmer was taking photos a couple of weeks ago and he mentioned to me how looking through his camera lens he was aware of how uneven the lightening was for the first service. Tony Payne and his worship team have been working around these problems.

The good news is that we are addressing all of the concerns so that the lighting and the projection for the first service will be corrected during this phase. The changes being made will allow better projection (brighter, clearer, more visible from all the sanctuary) for both services. Improvements in technology since we started doing projection in the sanctuary are so dramatic that the upgrades not only cost less but work better. The changes will be so seamless that those currently attending will probably quickly adjust while newcomers will marvel at the clarity of projection in both services.

ABF Leaders

One of the exciting changes starting on August 22 is our new ABF schedule. In preparation for the launch of re-vitalized ABFs, we are having a leaders meeting on July 24 at 8:00am. All leaders, including potential and new leaders need to attend. To make things easier, we are serving breakfast! If you are interested in helping out or want to start a new ABF, you are welcome to attend.

Children’s Ministries

The puzzle pieces continue to come together. This week we want to focus on our Children’s Ministries.

The goal of our ministry with kids is to partner with parents as together we guide them to know, love and follow Jesus. The operative words are "partner with parents" as we see this as a task not reserved for Sunday School but as a springboard to family interaction.

Having been involved with ministry to children in several settings and churches, I have discovered that some people erroneously have the notion that discipleship with children only occurs with the older kids. There are many studies that demonstrate that this is not true and that discipleship, using age appropriate materials, can occur at every age group.

As Linda Krier is quick to point out, discipleship begins in “Baby Church” and builds at each level:

• Nursery – introduce little ones to God’s name and demonstrate His love for them
• Preschool – share stories about our amazing God and all the wonderful things Jesus did.
• Elementary – guide kids to understand that God they’ve been hearing about, wants to be their forever friend & Savior! Through Bible discovery, they learn more about God and what it means to live a life that pleases Him.
• Edge (preteens) – Kids are becoming more independent and our goal is to help them firmly connect what they’ve learned from the Bible as they begin making daily (often difficult!) choices in life.

Linda and her team of workers carefully select curriculum to lead to increasing levels of understanding of God and His love as provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In addition to the education focus on Sunday morning, Awana reaches another group of children. About 2/3 of the 130 kids who attend Awana are kids who live in our community and do not attend FBC. Through adult mentors and Bible discovery, 15 kids came to know Christ as their Savior last year!

Linda wanted me to be sure to include that she and the Children’s Ministry team “want our congregation to know what a privilege it is to mentor kids as we help them understand and apply God’s Word to their lives.” She loves hearing stories from parents, toddlers thru Grade 6, describing the “ah,ha!” moments in their kids’ lives. If you have such a story, please share it with Linda.

We are looking for more volunteers to serve (particularly during the 8:30 & 11:00 hours) in our nursery, preschool, & elementary morning ministry as well as in our Sunday evening Awana program. Interested? Need more information? Contact Linda Krier.

Yours in His Service, Jim Stamoolis

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14