Operation Kindness June 13, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 3-Missions Projects , comments closed 
Our June – 4th of July mission project supports Operation Kindness, an MBC Ministry that provides God’s Word as well as physical comfort items to soliders deployed overseas via care packages. OKM also provides support to wounded-in-action soldiers who pass through the area military hospitals. There are 4 ways your family can be involved:
1. Pray: click here to learn more about Operation Kindness and specific needs.
2. Pick Up A Flag: at Smith Center (1st floor) or Cafe (2nd floor) check-in stations while supplies last to donate a specific item indicated on the flag’s sticker. Each flag has a sticker on it with a requested donation item to make care packagaes for soldiers. Take your kids shopping with you to purchase the item indicated and have them drop it off at the same check-in stations by July 4. If you don’t pick up a flag, you can just pick up one of these suggested items:
- AA batteries
- Beef jerky
- Bible
- Tolietries (toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, shampoo)
- Christian literature
- Football, Soccer ball, Frisbee
- DVD’s
- Snacks, gum, candy
- Boxed baby wipes
- Suncreen, Lip balm, repellant
- White socks (6-pair packs)
- Cards, Games, Crosswords
- Powdered Gatorade
3. Pack Boxes: assemble care packages for soldiers on Tuesdays, June 14 or July 12 at 7:00 pm in The Rock Arcade (inside the gym). This is a great family service activity!
4. Write A Letter To A Soldier: click here to download and print one. Return completed cards to check-in stations.
Gotta Have Faith June 10, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 2-What We're Teaching , comments closed
This month we’re teaching Elementary classes aout the virtue of Faith: Trusting in what we can’t see because of what we can see. Below is a message from Melanie Williams, editor in chief of 252 Basics, the company that writes our curriculum, on the themes we’ll be teaching about Faith.
Imagine the Impossible, Part 1
My mother’s mother was born in 1914. The fifth of eight kids, she grew up on rented farmland 50 miles from Nashville, Tennessee. She learned to cook on a wood stove, used an outhouse, and ate what the family grew on the farm. “We never knew we were poor,” she said. “We always had plenty to eat, clothes to wear, and we made our own fun.” Her parents were an unlikely pair: my great-grandmother was from a respectable, well-to-do family; my great-grandfather’s family were bootleggers. (Imagine family get-togethers during Prohibition days.) Being a railroad man, my great-grandfather was away from home as often as not, leaving my great-grandmother to run the farm, raise the kids, and protect the property as needed. (She would step outside in the dark to shoo away varmints, of both the four-legged and two-legged variety, with her trusty double barrel 12-gauge shotgun.)
When my great-grandma got sick, the family left the farm and moved to the big bad city. It seemed like a foreign country. My grandmother and her siblings dressed funny, talked funny, and were behind in school. They just wanted to go home! But that was not to be. As her older sisters struck out on their own, my grandmother finished high school and stayed behind to care for her dying mother. Long story short, she met my grandfather, got married, and had a couple of children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She “set up housekeeping” during the Great Depression, sent her husband off to build planes in California during WWII, lived through four major wars, and buried most of her siblings, a son-in-law, a son, and her husband of 50-odd years. She always regretted not getting a college degree, but she was a born teacher, helping to pioneer the Head Start program in Nashville and teaching four-year-old Sunday school for 40 years. She told the best stories, got in trouble (even as an adult) for giggling at inappropriate times, and we loved going to her house. A positive thinker and a faithful woman, she was never down for long, no matter what was going on.
She knew what each of us has to discover for ourselves: faith isn’t based on circumstances. It’s based on who God is and what He does. Just because you believe in and trust God doesn’t mean life will always be easy. In fact, living the life of a believer often takes guts and doggedness. So in June and [when we return to 252 Basics in September] we’re going to be focusing on faith (part 1) and perseverance (part 2): how God uses our faith to strengthen our perseverance and perseverance to deepen our faith. All the Bible stories and lessons will come from the book of Hebrews, written to one of the very first churches. Bad stuff was happening to Christians at this time: their property was confiscated, they were publicly insulted and persecuted, some were imprisoned, others were killed because of their faith. In short, it was scary to be a Christian and understandably some believers were afraid. They even thought about giving up their faith in Jesus. So the writer of Hebrews set about to encourage these followers, reminding them of all the faith stories from their past, folks who had come before them, like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, who believed in God and kept on trusting Him even when times were tough. As a result, they often got to witness some remarkable things God did, things that were basically impossible.
Here’s the lineup for June:
By faith we understand God commanded the universe into existence. All of creation reveals who God is and what He does. Imagine God making everything from nothing. (Week 1, God made everything: You can trust in a God you can’t see because you can see what He’s created.)
By faith Abraham willingly gave up the known for the unknown, all because God told him to. He believed God would make good on His promises. Imagine God creating a whole nation from just one man. (Week 2, God’s promise to Abraham: You can trust that God will keep His promises because you can see the promises He’s kept.)
By faith Joseph believed God was with him, even in the pit, even as a slave in Potiphar’s house, even in prison. Imagine a slave becoming a ruler in Egypt. (Week 3, Joseph remained faithful: You can trust God to be with you in bad times because you’ve seen how faithful He’s been.)
By faith Moses and the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, trusting that God would save them. Imagine one man rescuing a nation. (Week 4, crossing the Red Sea: You can trust that God can do the impossible because He’s God.)
What impossible things have YOU seen God do? Whose faith stories bolster your confidence in Him? Not all faith stories are big flashy Damascus Road-style experiences. They’re everyday life experiences, too, just like your grandmother’s. But they all strengthen our faith in Him when they’re shared. We’d love to hear your faith story: maybe one of the kids or families in your church stepped out on faith and God showed up in a big way, bigger than what anybody’d imagined. If you’ve got a faith story to share, send to romney.short@mcleanbible.org.
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 more? Hear Reggie Joiner speak on how Faith 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: FAITH (June 2011) from Orange on Vimeo.
Season Finale of KIDstuff June 2, 2011
Posted by rshort in : 4-Events , comments closed
Let’s pack the house for season finale of KIDstuff on Sunday, June 5, at 12:30 pm in the Smith Center! Invite friends, neighbors, and schoolmates for rockin’ worship, live theater, and a whole lot of fun surprises as we learn about Faith: trusting in what you can’t see because of what you can see. This is the last performance of the school year so don’t miss out!
Rising Kindergartners Invited!
Got a child going into Kindergarten next school year? Come to KIDstuff on June 5 for a sneak peek at the exciting elementary program your child is entering when he or she promotes up in July!
And stop by the Kid’s Quest store in the Smith Center lobby before or after the show to stock up on home resources to get you through the summer! We’ll have the last CUE Box of the season plus a few of the previous month’s boxes in case you missed one. And we still have a few kid’s worship CD”s left to tide you over till KIDstuff returns in the fall and we can worship God all together once again.