Thursday, July 27, 2006

Art Auction

In the spring (yes, I'm already planning the Spring--SOMEBODY STOP ME!) we're going to have an art auction. It's something I did at Friendship UMC, but this one is going to be on a grander scale due to the fantastic facilities of this church (e.g. rooms with great stained glass windows and coffee bars).

Usually, we have the kids make art in SS and then mat it, label it, and frame it. This year, we want to make it actually look like a gallery and add soft music (we have a piano) and coffee. Then I saw this cool blog about poetry readings. Wouldn't it be nice if we added poetry to the mix?

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Whew!

Trying to gear up for fall. So much to do. We've got the Back to School Weekend coming up. Then the teacher tea. Then we have the KidsInC kickoff (preteen ministry). Plus the start of SS--I think for the first weekend, we are just going to have the kids and teachers play games and get to know each other--no official lesson. That's it for August, but it's a significant amount. I still have all the little details to work out.

Well, I think I'm heading home for the day. Can brainstorm there. It's about to pour!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Testing

Just testing to see if I can remotely publish to my blog.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Halloween Alternative

I went to Family Bookstore last night, and they had the Heroes Unlimited Sample for me to look at. It’s a great program, but it’s set up as an outreach event (lots of work), and I think with BTSW and Joy of Sharing (A big Christmas outreach), we’ll spread ourselves too thin if we try to do it. Plus, it’s pretty costly if you want to do it right. It includes giving a special Bible to every kid visitor. They’re cool Bibles, but wow.

So as I went to sleep last night, I thought of another alternative that we could sort of do from scratch. Fear Not Festival. The younger kids would have a movie, like Rack, Shack, and Benny, and little party because I think it would be fun to gear this festival toward the schoolagers just in our church.

What I’m thinking is to have the kids come in and grab a sticker or name badge that has a particular color or character on it. Break them up into groups that way. Then each group “tricks or treats” together, led by a teen or something, going to each room where they see a person dressed as a Bible Character ready to tell them a story and give them treats/prizes. The rooms would be themed from different Bible stories where a Bible character faces a scary challenge and with the Lord’s help, overcomes the fear and the situation. Examples: Daniel, Joseph in the pit., Moses and the Red Sea, Esther, etc.

I picture the kids, for instance, walking into a room which is dimly lit decorated to look like the lion’s den. Daniel is there on a stool and tells the story from a first person point of view and then passes out little tokens of remembrance (prizes/candy) like Milky Way bars with a card that says: “Remember that God is bigger than the entire Milky Way. Fear Not!” or something.

With dimmed lights, the rooms can easily be transformed with paper. Then in Celebration hall, we can have games like use a slingshot to kill Goliath or something like that.

Is this feasible?

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Preteen Fun

Decorating ideas are in progress for the new preteen room: magnetic paint so that big foam pieces with magnetic backing can be moved around; rolls of butcher block paper hanging from the walls to make instant graffiti pads; a rock climbing wall.

AWESOME!

And Super Sloppy Saturdays are now a part of the ongoing curriculum for the preteens--last Saturday of every month.

So much planning right now. I can't even keep it all straight! Must get sleep. Nite nite!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Scheduling

I hate last minute things, especially trying to find teachers at the last minute, so I've tried to plan through the beginning of October (really I'd like to plan through December) and plug in teachers. Problem is that the teachers say, "Oh, yeah, that time should work, but if something comes up, I'll just call you and cancel." So then I've got them on the schedule, and they cancel the day before.

For example, before I started, the prior director scheduled people for the summer so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. The only problem is that people are calling left and right and cancelling. Actually, no, that's not true. I am calling to remind them that they are teaching, and they cancel then.

The other weird thing is that I planned a teacher tea for August to honor them for commiting to teach, and they aren't even sure if they feel like going to that. What is with these people? REally, what is with the world. I feel like the world has no commitment to anything anymore.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Virtual Meetings

Thinking about doing a blog for virtual meetings. Created one at www.cfmteam.blogspot.com. We'll see if it works.