Easter at MBC April 18, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 5-Holidays , comments closed
Many of you are on Spring Break this week but spiritual growth doesn’t take a break! Enjoy your chocolate bunnies and egg hunts but also talk to your kids about the true meaning of Easter - a celebration of our risen Savior! Here’s a fun family activity for teaching your kids the Easter story: mbctysons.org/eastercookies.
And if you’ll be joining us for Easter at MBC, here’s what you’ll need to know:
COMMUNION SERVICE – April 21: A special Communion Service for all MBC campuses is being be led by Tysons Campus Pastor Joe Henriques on Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 pm in the Smith Center. Kid’s Quest is providing limited childcare for newborn-Kindergarten aged children with advance reservations. Just in case you didn’t quite catch that, we’ll be providing care for up to KINDERGARTEN age (this is new for us this year) although you are welcome to bring your Kindergartener into the service, too, if you feel they are ready for the content. Register online at mbctysons.org/kqevents. Children 1st Grade & up should attend the service with their parents. For questions contact Kim Hellen at kim.hellen@mcleanbible.org or 703-770-2901. Access Ministry is also providing care on by reservation only by contacting Jackie Janssen at jacqueline.janssen@mcleanbible.org.
EASTER WEEKEND – April 23/24: Easter services are Saturday, April 23, at 6:30 pm and Sunday, April 24, at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am, and 12:30 pm. Kid’s Quest is providing normal weekend programming for newborn through 5th Grade at all these service times EXCEPT 7:30 am. There is no Kid’s Quest or Access Ministry at 7:30 am.
Kid’s Quest is also providing normal Kid’s Quest programming for newborn through pre-kindergarten at the Frontline service at 5:30 pm service. There is no Awana Club.
Easter services are being broadcast online at mbclive.org on Sunday, April 24, at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am, and 12:30 pm.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Hey, CUE Box! April 7, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 1-Hot News , comments closed
Did you catch CUE Box’s adventures in KIDstuff? If you missed it, click here to see his first adventure and come back to our YouTube channel later this month for the second.
So…what is a CUE Box?
CUE Box is a home resource that gives parents intentional “cues” to use certain times of the day they’re already spending with their kids to further their spiritual growth. We take these cues from Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Meal Time – When You Sit At Home
Eating meals together is an optimal time to have a focused discussion. It gives kids and parents time to talk about a specific truth in an interactive and relational context. CUE Box offers conversation starters and questions to get your family talking about God’s virtues and their application in your lives. Inside there’s a parent discussion guide and the box itself opens up and provides more fun discussion cues. On the studio252.tv website, you can also download discussion guides designed to look like placemats to cue even more intentional conversations.
Drive Time – When You Walk Along the Road
Traveling together is a convenient time to stimulate the kind of informal dialogue that allows kids to drive their own agenda. It actually gives parents an opportunity to build a relationship through non-threatening experiences. CUE Box provides a DVD with a sitcom sure to stimulate some interesting dialogue. Join Sydney, “Z”, Jenny, and Melbourne as they navigate the challenging work environment at Studio 252. After watching the monthly episode, families can visit the studio252.tv website for blogs and video bits from the cast.
Bed Time – When You Lie Down
Tucking children into bed can be a meaningful time for parents to have intimate conversations with their children and become the kind of counselor who listens and is sensitive to the heart of their children. CUE Box provides children their very own virtue movie poster to hang on the wall of their bedroom or put in a favorite notebook. But turn it over and you’ll discover a Bible story that parents and kids can read together and discuss at bedtime. Three more Bed Time stories are available for download on the studio252.tv website.
Morning Time – When You Get Up
Getting up in the morning provides a blank page for the family to start fresh relationally. Whether you eat breakfast together or just interact for a brief moment, morning has the potential of planting an important emotional seed in the heart of a child. Just a few encouraging words carefully spoken or written can give your children a sense of value and instill purpose. On the studio252.tv website parents can find special notes to download and print that can be used to write words of encouragement to your children every week. Parents may also find more inspiration on the site through a variety of tools including monthly vision videos that unpack how each virtue is a reflection of what God does in us to change the world around us.
CUE Box also includes:
- A surprise application tool to help parents and their children interact as they look for ways to put the virtue into action.
- 5 collectible cards with illustrations that connect to the Bible stories children are learning in Kid’s Quest. Each card also has fun facts that help bring the story to life.
- Codes found on the collectible cards give the family full access to the studio252.tv website. This is a site filled with videos, music, games and other tools that will keep the family connected to what we’re teaching in Kid’s Quest and get kids excited to keep coming back each week.
Each month a new CUE Box with a new virtue will be on sale in THE BOOKstore or at KIDstuff shows for $11.99 each. This month’s CUE Box teaches the virtue Humility: putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve. This is the same virtue we’re teaching in Kid’s Quest elementary classes this month however the CUE Box content can stand alone – making this a terrific gift to share with another family.
MORE THAN JUST THE BOX! In case you haven’t gotten the hint yet, head on over to studio252.tv for a sneak peak of all the fun stuff you get access to online with your CUE Box. If you’ve already purchased a CUE Box, use your access code (found with the collectible trading cards in the box) to open up all the additional content to enrich your family times.
Humility April 2, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 2-What We're Teaching , comments closed
This weekend we kick off April’s virtue that we’re teaching in Elementary classes, Humility: putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve. Below is a message from Melanie Williams, editor in chief of 252 Basics, the company that writes our curriculum, on Humility:
First Place
My husband loves basketball. He loves to play it. He gets into watching it. He appreciates its finer points: the fast pace, the energy it generates on the court and in the stands, and the fact that, no matter what size a player is, each has the opportunity to make a difference to the team.
Me, I follow basketball, but in the sense that I “trail behind” rather than “understand” it. Sure, I want my alma mater to win, but I can’t predict plays or analyze what a player should’ve done.
Then, as work on the April issue of 252 Basics (which is about humility) was wrapping up and I was pondering this article, I remembered an item in the newspaper my husband shared with me some time ago. You may want to read it for yourself. (Do a Google® search of “the no-stats all-star.”) It’s about a guy who’s the antithesis of so much in professional sports these days: an unselfish player who consistently puts the team ahead of his own interests. He will tip the ball to another player rather than go for a less certain rebound, he’ll pass up a good shot of his own if a teammate has a better one, and he’ll take a charge, knowing it’s going to hurt. His conventional stats may be unremarkable, but stuff like his plus-minus numbers (what happens to the score when a given player is on the court) are crazy. Bottom line, when he’s in the game his teammates get better and his opponents do worse. For a sport with LOTS of opportunities for ball hogs to seek their own glory, Shane Battier doesn’t. And that’s pretty impressive. Even to someone who doesn’t know that much about basketball.
Wouldn’t it be great if kids could see more superstar athletes with this attitude? Or if we, who influence kids on a daily basis, could model it? Paul gives good counsel on how to go about that: “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! … He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death” (Philippians 2:5-8, The Message). Specifically, “don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand” (Philippians 2:3-4, The Message). When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He pointed out that if He, our Teacher and Master, could put others first, then we need to do the same. And because we serve a generous God, we’ll benefit when we do. God offers us forgiveness and a listening ear, guidance, grace, and wisdom (2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 25:9; Proverbs 3:34; 11:2).
Kids need to understand what humility is (and isn’t) and why God wants them to have it. Who better to model true humility than Jesus, and what better time to talk about how Jesus put us first than at Easter? So here’s the line-up for April:
Treat others like they’re more important than you. Jesus treated His disciples like they were important to Him (Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, John 13).
To put others first, you may need to put God first. Jesus put us first by following God’s plan (Jesus’ arrest, Luke 22; John 18).
Jesus put you first when He died on the cross. (Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, Mark 14-15).
You should put others first because Jesus is ALIVE! Jesus gives us the power to put others first because of what He did for us (Jesus’ burial and resurrection, Matthew 28).
Peace to you, Melanie Williams, Editor in chief, 252 Basics, The reThink Group
By Melanie Williams. © 2011 The reThink Group * www.rethinkgroup.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Want to more? Hear Reggie Joiner speak on how Humility is a reflection of God’s character working in us to change the world around us. He then explores how the 252 Basics Bible stories will work together to unpack God’s truth in a way that makes the virtue come to life.
VIRTUE VIDEO: HUMILITY (April 2011) from Orange on Vimeo.
Easter 2011 April 1, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 4-Events, 5-Holidays, 7-Volunteer , comments closed
PALM PROCESSIONAL – April 16/17: Children in Explorers through 5th Grade, as well as Access Ministry, are participating in a Palm Processional at the beginning of each service in the main auditorium (not in Smith Center for The Edge) on Saturday, April 16, at 6:30 pm and Sunday, April 17, at 9:00 am, 10:45 am, & 12:30 pm. Sunday evening there is no Awana Club and no Palm Processional at the Frontline service. Go to mbctysons.org/kqevents for complete details including the music, lyrics, maps showing where your child will stand, and a video preview.
COMMUNION SERVICE – April 21: A special Communion Service for all MBC campuses is being be led by Tysons Campus Pastor Joe Henriques on Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 pm in the Smith Center. Kid’s Quest is providing limited childcare for newborn-Kindergarten aged children with advance reservations. Register online at mbctysons.org/kqevents.
Children 1st Grade & up should attend the service with their parents. For questions contact Kim Hellen at kim.hellen@mcleanbible.org or 703-770-2901.
Access Ministry is also providing care on by reservation only by contacting Jackie Janssen at jacqueline.janssen@mcleanbible.org.
EASTER WEEKEND – April 23/24: Easter services are Saturday, April 23, at 6:30 pm and Sunday, April 24, at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am, and 12:30 pm. Kid’s Quest is providing normal weekend programming for newborn through 5th Grade at all these service times EXCEPT 7:30 am. There is no Kid’s Quest or Access Ministry at 7:30 am.
Kid’s Quest is also providing normal Kid’s Quest programming for newborn through pre-kindergarten at the Frontline service at 5:30 pm service. There is no Awana Club.
Easter services are being broadcast online at mbclive.org on Sunday, April 24, at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:45 am, and 12:30 pm with a re-broadcasts on Wednesday, April 27, at 2:00 and 7:30 pm.
FAMILY ACTIVITY: Teach your kids the Easter story and bake a fun treat at the same time! Go to mbctysons.org/eastercookies to learn the recipe for Resurrection Cookies.
SAVE YOUR SERVICE FOR EASTER: We still need helpers to support all these Easter activities. Our greatest needs are Saturday, April 23, at 6:30 pm and Sunday, April 24, at 12:30 pm. Contact alessandra.prosper@mcleanbible.org or 703-770-2902 to sign up to serve.