Keep Jesus in Your Summer Plans

Summer is personally my favorite time of year, not because of the heat, but because my children are home with me. On the other hand, as a children’s minister or director, (Jami & I laugh at minister because it just seems kind of stuffy for me and I don’t know that I minister, I just love on the children), it is the hardest time of the year. Attendance is sporadic. There is so many summer activities going on and vacations. This is not be trying to be preachy because I get the vacations, we all need some down time, and the most wonderful memories can be made on vacation.  I understand the summer activities too. I just want you to know that you are missed when you are not at WBBC. I look through my group of kids and wonder where each child is , or if I know they are gone somewhere I wonder if they are having a good time, if they are winning the game, getting to spend quality time w/ the parents, riding exciting rides or enjoying that special time w/ out of town relatives.  I also know that while you are out of church doing those things God can be right there with you. So I encourage you parents while you are vacationing to keep God as the center of your family trip. Pray together when you go out to eat that special meal or have your own devotion on Sunday morning, visit a church where you are vacationing, encourage the kids playing ball to have a Christian attitude towards the other team, pray for your travel safety and have the children hear that pray or while you are sitting on the beach talk about how God made such a beautiful place for us to enjoy. It doesn’t take much to include God and he is the reason we are blessed with these awesome vacations & activities anyway! So know that you are missed, have a great vacation and I’ll be waiting for you when you get back!!!

The children were going to perform a song this Sunday but we are going to be missing a lot of kids Sunday, so I have decided to hold it out a few wks. This Wed. night we will still practice some music because we are going to the assisted living home in Southside on July 10 and we will have devotion. Next Wed. night July 3^rd, is the retry for our park trip.  July is packed with activities at WBBC.  Sunday July 14, the youth will host a lunch fundraiser for the mission trip. They are having BQ sandwiches, chips & drinks for donations. I am sure Arlo can use some volunteers for this. The Monday, July 15, starts a week full of excitement…….VBS. Our theme this year is Savannah Safari. Allison held a meeting yesterday for those who want to help. She had a great turn out but if you would like to help, let her know. There is always something to be done at VBS. There is nothing like a child asking God into their heart, seeing the emotion & excitement in their faces and at VBS you know God is working. Don’t miss out! Get involved! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!  And let me also say, this is not some old hum drum VBS. Allison has repeatedly picked out of the box themes that other churches are not doing. She picks exciting, shake your booty music not only do the kids love but the adults love it too. VBS at WBBC rocks!!!! So July 15-19, make no other plans. Supper, yes I said supper will be served from 5:30 – 6:00. So you get 5 evenings of no cooking for your kids (unless you are a kitchen helper lol). 6:00-8:30 is VBS. Then on Sunday July 21, we will have a Free Church wide lunch right after church to end an awesome VBS week.  We will be preordering VBS t-shirts so make sure you get your child’s size to Allison & if you are a youth or adult worker she needs your size too. Whew... I think that is it. Keep Randy, Kendra & Brenda Jones in your prayers. Have a great week and remember to keep Jesus in your summer plans!

Don't Be Like Milli Vanilli

I am sitting at my computer desk & I glanced at all these old CD’s from years past. I notice Milli Vanilli which gets me to thinking. Milli Vanilli was a pop duo from the 80’s who had a very popular song called ‘Girl You Know It’s True”. They were very popular & became famous. The problem was everyone thought they were these great singers but the truth was that they were lip singing. The looked like they were real singers but they used someone else’s voice & danced around moving their mouths. They were so good at the deception. If you watched MTV, and let me tell you this girl watched hours of MTV, you would never know they weren’t the singers. They were fakes, frauds, not what they seemed to be. So this morning I saw a post from Joyce Meyer. Funny how God shows you the same theme to get your mind to rolling, anyway the post from Joyce Meyer was wherever you go, make a decision to represent God. Are you like Milli Vanilli? Do you act different at church than you do at home? Do you say one thing at church but do another when you are at work. What about when you hang out with friends? Are you doing things you would never want your church family to see? Are you representing God in everything you do, every place you go? If you only play church then I think it is a heart thing. The heart is not right with God. If your heart is right with God you will strive to do what is right. You will strive to do God’s will.  You will strive to be more Christ like in every situation, every place you go and every person you are around. That gets me to the men at church. I understand there was no preaching yesterday, just open heart talking. We have some great men at WBBC, great women too. Life experiences that have brought some to their knees, tested people and they have overcome, survived with God’s help. I say that because if there is something you are going thru more than likely there is someone in our church who has gone thru it. As a Christian church family we can turn to each other for help. Don’t sit back and think you are the only person experiencing whatever it is; don’t act like all is ok, when it isn’t. Go to Joey, go to your Sunday school teacher, go to a church elder. I am willing to bet any of those people will be glad to listen, to pray for you and if they haven’t dealt with your situation before I am pretty sure they will know someone in our church who has. Lots of life experience at WBBC….take advantage of it! Not be like Milli Vanilli, singing & dancing around like all is ok, when it isn’t. Sorry yall, I know I ramble and I can’t get my point across well but I hope yall understood what I was getting at. Now to the kid stuff!

I want to thank Mrs. Leslie. She teaches SS for children 4 yrs. old-1^st grade. She had the best cards made for Father’s Day yesterday. She is always prepared for her class and shows such patience with the little ones. I am so excited Jack will be 4 in July & he will get to move up to her class in Sept. She might not be looking forward to that, hehe, but I am!! I also wanted to thank Rebecca Ayres. She did a great job presenting a slide show on the orphans in China. She has a big heart for those children and I think it is wonderful she is willing to work hard and show others about them. She will be collecting money to take to the orphanage when she goes in August, to help towards anything those children need. If you wish to donate please let Rebecca know. I have encouraged the kids to bring extra change they have and we have a jar to place it in. Be in prayer for the Ayres as they travel back to China this time to provide care and relief.  VBS will be here before we know it, so be in prayer about how you can help. Allison will meet with us this Sunday after church, so be ready to step up & say, “I’ll do that!!” This Wed. night the kids will leave the church at 6 pm to go right down the street to Jason & Ashley Fortenberry’s for the swim party. They need to bring a towel, inflatables but no flippers and if a girl wears a 2 piece bathing suit they need to wear a t-shirt over it.  If you have a very young child you need to accompany them to the swim party. I know I’ll need a few moms to go. If it rains, we will stay at church & practice our song we are performing June 30.  I hope I didn’t leave anything out.  Invite someone to church & have a blessed week!!

June 16

I wanted to encourage the parents with children in Leslie's & my Sunday school classes to bring your kids to class this Sunday. Rebecca Ayres is planning on showing the children a slide show, in my room, on Chinese babies. She will be explaining how the Hill family cares for them and how her family is going back to China in August to help.  God has blessed Rebecca with a heart full of compassion for these babies so I know this video will be informative and hopefully eye opening to all who see it. Sunday is also Father's Day and the children will be making cards & getting their treats ready for Dad. So please be on time, 9:45, because we will have a lot to do! Be in prayer for Rebecca & of course, our Father's and the Father's of our children. The devil looks for ways to bring these men down. As wife's & mothers we need to pray for these men daily, lift them up & be their encourager's. If your Father or husband is not in church, this is an awesome day to invite him. Lure him in with a gift because I know June will have a Father's Day present for all the Father's in the church. Once he is in church & hears the word of God, feels His spirit moving.....God will handle the rest! I hope you all have a fabulous Friday & Saturday and I see you at church on Sunday!

Summertime Got Me

Sorry I am running late with the blog post. Summertime got me. I have been enjoying some time w/ just the twins at the pool. It is amazing how quickly kids grow up. I wanted to thank all of our adults who helped with the dinner and animal show last Sat. night. The youth really stepped up and helped too. Some of you didn’t see the earlier work they were doing, but I had guys moving chairs & girls blowing up balloons. I tell my boys when we are working like we were that day, those times aren’t about what anyone else is doing. It is all about individually serving God. I just hope they grow up wanting to serve and it not feel like a chore or requirement to them.

Jaime, whose name also happens to be Jamie Christopher, from 6^th day creatures, was great with the kids. I thought about his “performance” and he reaffirmed my view that we don’t have to shove God down the kid’s throats. He had fun with the kids and definitely spoke of God and how he created everything, but it wasn’t an hour long sermon on creation. He got his point across with humor and excitement for God’s creatures.  I had such a good time watching the kids laugh and I think some of the youth & adults enjoyed the show just as much, if not more than some of the kids. We had visitors in God’s house and that was AWESOME!!!!

This Wed. night Katie Smith will be teaching missions and I’ll be with the 5^th grade girls at Sonic. We are winding down to their last few months in the children’s dept.  Next Wed. night will be the swimming party at Jason & Ashley Fortenberry’s. This Sunday is Father’s Day. Instead of breakfast, like we did with the Moms, the kids will have a special treat for Dad. So make sure they come to Sunday school so we can work on that treat. I am thankful for our Father’s! So thankful for my heavenly Father! I hope you all have a great week and really focus on God!!

This Week

Going to make this a quick one today.  Remember that Saturday night, June 8, is the hot dog supper and live animal show.  The supper will start at 5:00 with the show beginning at 6:00. This is a great opportunity to invite a family to church. I encourage you to step out and do that.  If you are shy or just not comfortable asking someone to church, an event is the easiest way to introduce someone to God.  Trust me on this one, when I wasn’t bold enough or was too shy it was hard for me to cold turkey walk up to someone & invite them to church but it was so much easier to say we have this going on at church & I bet your kids would love it. You should bring them.  If you are on Facebook please post the info. We want to get as many new faces into the church as possible and this is a great chance to focus on young families.  We know that young families are under attack by the devil.  Please join with me by trying to invite as many people as you know. I need a close count in by Thursday so I know how much food to prepare. Arlo has volunteered to be the “Grill Master”. I have also had a few newbies volunteer to help which is very exciting to me!!!  I still need more volunteers. So if you can help serve, sign folks in, clean up the kitchen, blow up balloons & just walk around and welcome visitors let me know.  I would love some youth to volunteer. If you can’t physically volunteer, please pray for the helpers, the event & the visitors.  

This Wed. night the children will go to the RBC Park. We will load up at 5:45 and be back at church by 7:30.  The van only holds 15 passengers, so I will need some parents to volunteer to chauffeur children to the park. Let me know if you can help.  Big thank you to those who volunteer in all aspects of the churches’ work. Without volunteers where would we be?  I hope you have a great week!!!