Promise Land

Hi parents, I don’t have much news for you this month except we have had a large number of kidos in Promiseland for the month of January. We are averaging 70 to 80 in the combined hours. So…. if it seems a little hectic down here, it is!!! What a good problem to have. God continues to bless us with more and more children. Our teachers and helpers are great so please pray for them. It is a huge commitment to serve month after month joyfully like they do.

Mark your calendars for February 12 at 5:15 for our Riverside Skate Night. The cost will be $2.50 for skate rental and $3.50 for pizza and a drink. RCC will cover the rink rental again. It is an evening for the whole family and friends to do something fun together.

The Christmas Holiday is over and Children’s Ministry enjoyed our third Christmas Pageant. The kids did remarkably well. They had no trouble stepping into character as they retold the story of Jesus’ birth with some entertaining humor. We were all very proud of them. Thank you, parents, for working with the kids on lines and learning songs. A special thanks to Miss Dana, our fearless director, for all of her time and talent she graciously gave us. After the pageant, a large group went caroling in the neighborhood and then came back to church for Bruno’s pizza and birthday cake for Jesus. It was a fun evening and we hope God was honored in all we did.

It is snowing, and I just love it! I am now officially in the mood for Christmas!! I must say it did catch me a little off guard as I walked out of my office and had about three inches of snow on my car and no snow scraper to scrape it off. Did you know you can use a small compact telephone directory to brush snow off your car?

This month we have a lot of activities going on in Promiseland. We will start by shopping this Sunday at the Promisemart Store. In addition to the usual items, we have added some adult items that the kids can purchase for their parents or other adult family members for Christmas. We are providing gift bags so you won’t see their purchases. If you would like to encourage your child to use some of their bible bucks to purchase gifts for others, that would be great. We try to come up with ideas to help the kids learn to share their earned bucks.

After recently attending a Children’s Ministry Conference, a suspicion of mine was confirmed, that Riverside Covenant Church is not normal, (our E-Newsletter Editor will have a heyday with this Statement) in a good way. We don’t fit into any of the percentages that all the experts talk about. We don’t have the problems smaller churches have. And lastly we have a Children’s Director that feels supported, encouraged, and appreciated by parents and church leadership alike. It was a blessing to attend a great children’s conference and come home with new ideas and affirmation about the things we are doing right. Thank you Riverside for allowing me this opportunity!

Fall is definitely here and is it ever beautiful outside! God is so good to give us beautiful turning leaves to marvel at as we go about our busy days. It won’t be long until some of you will be carving out those pumpkins with the kids. I can’t carve one anymore with out thinking of Liz Curtis Higgs' children’s book The Pumpkin Patch Parable. The story talks about scooping out all that yucky stuff in the pumpkin just like God can take all the yucky stuff out of our hearts when we give our lives to Him. He then puts His light in us to shine for others to see just like we put lights in our pumpkins to light up the nights. If you are not familiar with this book, I highly recommend it. That way, you might take this opportunity to have a conversation with your children about sin and God’s plan concerning it.

This month our 3-5 yr. olds will hear true stories of Old Testament kids: Miriam, David, the Little Girl who helped Naaman, and Josiah. During the first lesson, they will hear the basic truth that God is with us. Through the rest of the unit, they will discover that God wants us to help others and that we can obey Him.

After what seems like a much too short summer, we are stepping into our fall schedule this Sunday in Promiseland. Your children will move into their new classes, so please let us know if we have anyone in the wrong room. A reminder to all of the new 4th graders: your class only meets the first service because of small numbers.