Living Beyond Yourself--Introduction

I am excited to be starting another Beth Moore Bible study, "Living Beyond Yourself" on the fruit of the spirit.  It's a basic fundamental uplifting study that I hope to gain some insight from. 

So far after just one week, I realized that with God's Spirit in me, I can do things I never expected I would.  Two points Beth Moore made in the DVD that goes with this study are:

1)  God is still happening and 2) God wants us to be exclamation mark people, meaning we should have a full, meaningful life. 

One of the points made this week that struck me was that our life is not all about us.  Sacrifice on the part of Christians is crucial to world evangelism.  Paul was persecuted and faced many hardships, yet kept his joy.  Boy, that got me to thinking how I handle hardships or even just little problems that come up and ruin my plans!  My "joy" usually flies away and is replaced by anger.  God has shown me that this ought not to be.  As I submit to God's will and ask Him to fill me with his Holy Spirit each day, hopefully I too will be able to keep my joy regardless of my circumstances. 

I expect I'll be tested this week with the remodeling of our basement and scheduling new carpeting for our living room.  We'll see.

New Sunday School Class of Fifth Grade Boys

Well, today started my Sunday School class with a new group of 5th grade boys.  A couple of them are younger brothers of ones I've had before.  Seven came which was the number I was hoping for.  I managed to get everything in that I wanted to do and the boys seemed involved and interested.  I was happy with how things went and think we'll have a good year. 

Our lesson was on success in God's eyes and our unit is based on Proverbs 3:3-7 which is a great scripture passage that I memorized two years ago.  We repeat the same lessons every two years.  Here is the passage:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you.  Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.  Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. (NIV)

These verses are such a good reminder to pray about everything and rely on the Lord for direction.   Just yesterday when we went to the Yankee Peddler Festival, I prayed for safety and a nice day with my husband and being able to get there and back without getting lost or having any problems.  It was raining lightly on the way so I turned my headlights on, but forgot to turn them off!  I was so excited we got there in just about 50 minutes without getting lost since last year it took us two hours and we never did find it!  I'm so glad the car started anyway after we were there for four hours.  I thank God for looking out for me.

Promotion Sunday is Sad

As a Sunday School teacher, I get attached to my class and always am sad to see them go.  Yet, I know there are more boys who will be coming in that I'll get to know just as well and part of me is eager to teach a new group. 

For our last class together, I took them to McDonald's as sort of a farewell send off and reward for the scripture memory they did all year.  I had seven regulars in this class but only six were there for this outing.  My husband came along to take pictures for me.  The boys were more interested in buying the Star Wars figures than in getting anything to eat, but that's okay.  We also spent some time climbing on the "playground" stuff and I even went down the slide.  We had a very nice time! 

It was my second class of 5th grade boys that I taught at Parma Heights Baptist church.  They have a close bond with each other and get along well.  It was really a pleasure teaching them all year, but they kept me on my toes.  They were a very smart group and several already had a good basic Bible background.  I was challenged to challenge them. 

We get a week off this Sunday so I'll have some extra time to get some things ready for the new group coming in.  Time to make a new race track, new secret seat drawing cards and send out the welcome newsletter.  There are no regular attenders in the group coming in so I really have my work cut out for me to getting them to attend. 

I look forward to meeting my new class and will still have contact with my old class.  They are 6th graders this year so are still in the same department. 

Do you take your children to Sunday School?

Movie: The Dark Knight

At the beginning of my Sunday School class of 5th grade boys, I always like to have a little time of sharing about their week.  The hot topic this week was the batman movie that just came out:  The Dark Knight.  Four out of the eight of us went to see it over the weekend so it was fresh in our minds.

All the boys in my class who saw it really liked it.  Of course, they liked the Joker.  In a way that I came to realize after class was over, this movie is an illustration of how good people can sink to evil.  The White Knight (the upstanding district attorney who was trying to clean up the town of crime turned evil when pushed). 

The Joker who set up situations to bring out evil in people in the movie is similar to how Satan attacked Job in the Bible to try to get him to turn from God.  It seemed like to me, the Joker is the one with all the good lines and the most interesting character and it also seemed that he got away with his evil deeds unpunished, as did the "white knight."  That's what bothered me most about this movie and I didn't care for all the violence. (I was surprised this movie was only rated PG-13).  People kept getting shot and killed all through it without any consequences. 

Anyway, it certainly is a good illustration of the verse in I Corinthians 10:12 which says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

This is one of those movies that is hard to get out of your mind.  It does give you something to think about. 

(See my husband's and my review of it on www.zemeks.blogspot.com)

VBS Report: Awesome Week

 We had 70% attend from the community.

New Babes in Christ:  25

Average total attendance per day OVER 700!  (This is 100 more than last year and we had to order more materials and have them shipped overnight! 

God did more than what we imagined! 

Both Gerard and I were sad to see the week end.  The kids were enthusiastic, attentive and cooperative! 

Yesterday, a video was shown in church of some of the highlights at VBS which was very cute.  It was really a wonderful way to convey the electric atmosphere, the fun the children had and the happiness they experienced.

Also, some of the staff were interviewed as well.  I enjoyed hearing how these volunteers liked working in VBS and how they felt this ministry was a very effective means of reaching kids with the gospel of Jesus Christ outside of our church.

Our ABF (adult Bible Fellowship) leader shared with us that one of his employees is Catholic with five children and her church charged $50 per child to attend their Bible School.  Her church refused to give her a multi-child discount so he told her about our VBS.  She brought all five of her children and they absolutely loved it--without having to pay one cent to come! 

Bobby, a 5th grade boy who was visiting with David from our church, came with him the first day and afterwards said this was the best VBS he ever went to.  He attends another church and was only able to come one day because he was leaving for a missions trip with a group from his church.

Laurie, one of the leaders in the 4th-6th grade group enjoyed her small group so much, that she has invited them and their families to dinner at her home.  (She has a big house and yard and it could be as many as 70 people if they'd all come.)  She shared that one little girl in her group finally "got it" that she needs Jesus to forgive her because she can't be good enough to get to heaven on her own. 

I was so glad to be able to help in VBS again this year.  I really missed it last year because I used my vacation time to take care of clearing out my dad's house after he died last year and didn't have enough days to do VBS.  It was good to be back!

Dollar Car Wash With a Twist

Many youth groups do car washes to raise money, but our youth group at Parma Heights Baptist Church used the car wash idea to actually help people.

After washing the cars, they GAVE them a $1 with a card saying "This is just a simple way of saying to you...JESUS LOVES YOU.  ALWAYS HAS, ALWAYS WILL." 

I thought that was a really neat idea.   

This week some of them are in Mexico City on a 12-day mission trip.  Three different teams of youth and adults went to run a Vacation Bible School in English, one in Spanish and to paint at a retreat center.     

DARE TO BE A DANIEL

This is a new curriculum we are using for the summer at PHBC with the kids finishing 5th grade in June.  It is all about being a witness to your friends and is packed with cool videos, great testmonies, music, a field guide aka training manual.  I wish we had this kind of material when I was a kid because I had a burden for my lost friends but not a clue as to how to tell them about Jesus.  I am really looking forward to teaching this summer now. 

The material we were using was just fluff stuff pretty much.  The last month was extremely poor--one lesson after another on healing with the application being compassion and help others.  I was tired of it so I'm sure the boys were too. 

What I especially liked about this new material is the application "missions" to do outside of class and the online "daniellogs" which are very interesting and fun to do.  Check out this website to see just what I'm talking about:

www.daretobeadaniel.com  (I'll even share the password for the first daniellog with you:  it's PURPOSE1.)  I plan to contact my boys to remind them this week.

YOUTH MINISTRY

Grades 7-12:

Wednesdays in the Youth Center:  7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Join us 6-7 p.m. for open gym and game room time.

SUNDAY:  Sr. High 9:30 a.m.   

Teaching Ideas

I love teaching the 5th grade boys class at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and I get charged up when my ideas work out well.  I'd like to hear what other teachers are doing as well to keep the interest of their students and make the lessons meaningful, special, fun or memorable.  Following are some things I found that work well in my classes that may work for you too.

• One thing I usually try to save some time to do at the end of the class is a little game review on the lesson.  We use a nerf ball (or similar small ball) and waste basket for basketball, use a table for the football fied and use a paper football, for baseball designate bases around the room, use a small ball and the table for a soccer field, or use tic-tac-toe, putt-putt tick-tac-toe or some other active game.  The boys really like this.  For more details on exactly how we play and the rules, email me at myfunnydadharry@sbcglobal.net.
• To help with class management, I have a secret seat winner each week who gets a treat (choose candy from a bag or if they all like the same kind, just give the same kind each week).  If they are there with their Bible and do not disrupt, their name gets entered into the drawing except same person can't win 2 weeks in a row.  Then I draw a name or have the winner from the previous week draw the name.
• I have a "Scripture Challenge" race to encourage scripture memory.  I believe very strongly that memorizing scripture is important and by having this, I participate right along with them which motivates me to keep on memorizing scripture as well.  I made a simple track with lanes for each student and let the choose a little car when they say their first passage.  They get to move their cars along as they quote the passages (we have a passage each month, but they can learn them anytime).  At the end of the year, we have a outing to McDonald's and I give them up to $4 depending how far along they got in the race. 
• To communicate with the parents of those in my class as well as the students about what we are learning, upcoming events, and just sharing things of interest I mail a class newsletter which I include a couple digital pictures in of the boys. 

Parma Hts. Baptist Church

Our Mission:  To help people find and follow Jesus Christ.

8971 West Ridgewood Drive

Parma Heights, OH  44130

phone:  440-886-6100

www.phbaptist.org and

www.come.to/phby

Sunday Services:

8:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m.

Adult Bible Fellowship small groups:  9:30 a.m./11:00 a.m.

Sunday School, 9:30 a.m. (all ages):

Including special needs children's "Treasure Cove"

Wednesday Family Night

(7:00 pm-8:30 pm):

• Pioneer Girls
• Boys Brigade
• Youth Group
• Adult Bible Studies
• Choir Practice