SonForce Kids VBS

Greetings all you wonderful CWMC peeps (a little bit of "old school" for you)! Just wanted to make sure you know about our dynamite VBS Dates and Theme this year.

SonForce Kids will be starting Sunday, July 22nd @ 6:30 pm and running through Thursday the 26th. Did you notice the Countdown Clock up above? You can either register your kids or volunteer by stopping by the registration table that will be in the lobby for the next 4 Sundays.

Be sure to check it out!

Dean

Parents, go ahead and be a little sneaky...

I ran across this site and thought it was a pretty cool site for kids to check out: Agents-In-Motion. It is a great website for kids to get ideas on how to show Christ's Love to those within the 5 concentric circles: Family, Church, Friends, Community, & the World.

Here's a thought on getting your kids to check it out and making them think they found it themselves: You could bring up the link right before letting one of your children on the computer/internet. They would see it and hopefully think it is pretty cool. Before you know it, perhaps they are trying out some of the things listed?!

Coincidently, our VBS theme this year is SonForce Kids and goes great with this website. It will help them get ready for VBS starting July 22 at 6:30 PM (Notice the Countdown clock above?)

Also, the main website it can be found on is called KidMo. They are a DVD church curriculum development company, so it is safe.

End of Month Check

Teachers and Volunteers, we are nearly through one month of Summer already and time seems to be flying by. We finally got some much needed rain around here and things are on "Cruise Control" for the Summer programming on Sundays. If you currently volunteering this Summer, I want to say "Way to go!" and give you a Hi-5! So here you go:


Also, for the volunteers taking the summer off - be in prayer about returning in the Fall to continue winning kids and bringing them closer to him by being involed in CM. I will be contacting each of you soon. There are some exciting things on the horizon, and you will not want to miss it.

Also, congrats to Joann Mc. on winning the free book, Rock-Solid Kids. We will do something like that again in the future. God Bless!

Dean

6 Qualities of a Legacy Family - Commitment

Continuing our look into Pastor Phil's Legacy Series, I want to highlight the 1st Quality of a Strong or Legacy Family: Commitment!

Parents, it is ESSENTIAL that you are fully committed to your spouse and your kids! Take divorce off the table and keep it off! It should NEVER be an option. I Timothy 5:8 reads: "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

You may, however, already experienced the pain of divorce and or the separating of your family. If that is you, pay special attention: God has a special place in His Heart for you and your children!

• "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." -Deut. 10:18
• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27

Jesus loves and so do we! This is not meant to be a message of condemnation, but of love. OK, back to the issue of Commitment...

Commitment is essential for 3 things: Success, Security, & Spiritual Strength! With it, your family will inevitably fall apart. So, how can we help you achieve this? The Family Journey in Faith Team wants to see all families not only survive but thrive within the Presence of God. Let us help you be FULLY committed to your family. Feel free to contact us at dean@colonialwoodsmc.com.

'til then, Dean

Free Book

This is really just a ploy to see who is reading this blog (and I am perfectly OK with that), but I have a free book to whomever first replies from within my own church with a comment that says they want it. Sorry to those from outside, but please keep reading my blog. The book is called "Rock-Solid Kids" by Larry Fowler of AWANA Clubs International. It came out a few years back that is an excellent resource for Christian parents to learn how to instill a Legacy of Faith into their children.

There has since come out a componian called "Rock Solid Teacher" that I do not yet have a copy of. However, if you are interested, you can purchase the book online by clicking HERE!

If this does not get someone to respond, then I must be in real trouble.

God Bless, Dean

6 Qualities of a Legacy Family

If you had attended our church services this past weekend, you would have heard a great message from Pastor Phil entitled "Six Qualities of a Legacy Family" that you can check out by clicking HERE! You can also get your own notes to complete by clicking HERE! But here is a brief review.

These six qualities come from a study secular study out of University of Nebraska that you can research further by looking at this Google Search. Here they are:

1. Commitment to the Family

2. Spending Time Together

3. Good Communication

4. Problem Solving Skills in Crisis

5. Express Love and Affection to One Another

6. Religious or Spiritual Faith

Over the coming weeks, we will look at each of these qualities more in depth, but for now ponder this statement: Quality Time Happens IN THE MIDST of Quantity Time. We will come back to these in the near future.

His, Dean

Happy Father's Day!

To all of you dad and volunteers of CWMC, Happy Father's Day! Also, I am very excited as I get to go shooting this weekend. It is going to be a BLAST!

God Bless, Dean

Happy F__________'s Day!

I wrote the title like that on purpose to remind you, myself and others that some no longer (or never did) have fathers. My dad went to be with the Lord in August of 2002 after a battle with Lukemia. Never take your dads or your own children for granted. Truely: "You don't what you got 'til it's gone."

I Love you Dad and miss you very much.

See you at the Pearly Gates.

Your Son & Family

What if They Knew?

Do you know the kids in your CM classroom? I mean really know them? The church is NOT immune to hurting families and children. Now more than ever our families are being attacked by Satan and Sin. Children are abused nearly every minute in our country. Divorces are taking place that are ripping children from their parents. You may be surprised to find out just what goes on in the lives of the children of CWMC.

On June 24th, you are going to get a chance to find out from one family what their life has been like over the past 2 months. That is the evening of our next Equip Meeting. It will be held at 6:00 pm in the Firside Room. We will also get a chance to discuss some ideas of how to care for hurting children and families within your classroom. You will NOT want to miss this one.

Dean

Fathers...Where are you?

We are a country of deadbeat dads! I strongly believe the number 1 place our families are falling apart is because of fathers who do not take up their proper calling to be loving fathers and dads (those two words mean entirely different things).

This article from the National Center for Fathering shows some of the statistics of absent fathers. (Also, The Belmont Foundation is a great resource to tap into.) Why is this the case? Why do fathers have such an impact on their children? Because God designed it to be that way. He chose to set up the family system of a man and a woman from the very beginning (Genesis 2 & 3). It works best that way!

However, this is reality! And more and more of our church's families are not fitting the norm. Some of you reading this blog may be in that boat. Good news! God has a special place in his heart and family for you and your children. There are tons of passages in scripture that clue us into that.

Moreover, there is a place for you here at CW! Divorce Care 4 Kids will be starting up this fall under the direction of Val Ball. If you have kids, and are divorced, then your kids will benefit greatly from it. You can contact Val at val@colonialwoodsmc.com.

Lastly, fathers, use this as a reminder to stay connected to your kids. Do whatever it takes to know what is happening in their lives. Think of how far your Heavenly Father goes to get your attention, you owe it to your own children to do the same.

Dean

This is the Truth

I ran across this video through another blog and thought I would share it with you. Watch it before reading the rest of this post.

What would happen if we turned the so-called truth upside down? At times as a CM volunteer, you may be saying to yourself "I can't do this....I don't need anyone's help...These kids are driving me nuts....What are these parents thinking." Jesus turned the truth upside down when he was cruicified on the cross when everyone expected him to rise up and become king.

Things often happen unlike we expect them and we miss the blessing in them. God has special things in store for your family, your ministry and our church. Continue to be on the lookout for where God may be turning things upside down in your life.

Dean

Noah Has Retruned!

There is a movie coming out this Summer called EvanAlmighty that I have blogged about at the Anchor CM site. Here is the link to that post:

http://anchorchildrensministry.blogspot.com/2007/06/potential-ministry-movie.html

~Note~
This is not necessarily advocating the movie itself, but simply trying to keep you aware of what is happening in the world that could potentially impact your families.

Dean

Potential Ministry Movie

Perhaps you have seen the preview for the new movie "EvanAlmighty." If not, it is a movie coming out June 22nd from the creators of BruceAlmighty (staring Jim Carry) that tells the story of a modern-day Noah and his Ark. Now, I have not been able to do much research on it, so use caution if you choose to see it or take your families to it. In fact, the main actor in the movie has been linked to other not-so-family-friendly movies in the past (40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman, etc.) However Pat Robertson's CBN site has a whole page dedicated to it.

Now, you may be asking "Why is Dean posting about this?" Well, this movie has also sparked a needs-based program called ArkAlmighty trying to link up people in local congregations who have needs to those who have skills within those areas. There is even a way to plant virtual & real trees for a small donation at a site called "Almighty Forest."

Also, the kids we have in our CM program are more visual/auditory than ever, and movies are a potentially a powerful tool to reach and teach these kids. It also helps to know what is happening "in the real world" beyond the walls of CW.

Plus, this is a great picture of what the ark would have looked like.

Dean

PS - In case you were not aware, CW is now completly wireless. So the internet can be accessed virtually anywhere in the church. Feel free to use it in your classrooms. But also use discernment as well.