Good morning! I can't believe this is the last full week of summer break before the kids start back to school. Where did the summer go? Time just passes so quickly! This Wednesday night the kids are having a swim party at Wayne & Karon Fortenberry's. We will meet at church at 5:45 & walk over there. They are the home right across from the front doors of the church. Please do not wear any bathing suits that have been in the river. Remember modesty girls. One pieces and tankini's are best but if you need to wear you bikini wear a t shirt or tank top. Yes moms I know we have little kids in our group  & no they aren't teenagers but this starts preparing them for the future. Bring a towel and parents you might like to bring a lawn chair. We will be back at church by 7:15. Starting Sunday we will be back to regular children's church. Wednesday, August 6, the children will meet in the gym for a back to school kick off.  We will have a devotion pertaining to a new school year, snacks and fun. Wednesday, August 13, The kids moving up to youth will go out to eat with me and Teresa Coley will teach. I'll have more details as that date gets closer. Move up day is the first Sunday in September. I am working on a night for the Mom's in the children dept. to get together so you can meet those who teach your children and get to know each other better. I will have a date for that soon. We love your children and desire to build relationships not with just the children but with your family.  We haven't had a family movie night at church in forever so I am looking on into September for that. I know I also had a lock in on the calendar for August but I just can't do it right now. We will have one but it will probably be on into winter like we use to do. I have a few other things to mention for us to pray on and think on. We need a teacher in place for Mrs. Leslie's class, 4 yrs thru 1st grade for the first Sunday in Sept. I know God has the perfect person planned for us. I would also like to start splitting the ages up during children's church on Sundays this fall. 4 yrs thru 5th grade is a wide range to teach and I think the children would benefit from a smaller group. Vicki Redden has agreed to teach music to the 4 & 5 yrs old on some Sundays. I ask you pray about how you might can help with this group.  You might be a crafter and would love to come do a craft once a month with this age group. You night like to work on Bible verse races with the older ones and me go with the younger group. Just pray and think on your talents and then let's talk. We will not be split every Sunday just sometimes for something specific. Save the date of October 25 for trunk or treat. I'll be nailing down Disney rates at the end of August so keep that in mind. Please remember we are still collecting school supplies so as you start buying yours this week please pick up an a few items for those who will be in need. We are also still collecting food for the RMS project.  You can drop these any of these items in the red bucket in the Kidz Zone. Thank you for all that has already been donated!

I wanted to thank all of you newbies (haha) that stepped right in to VBS last week and the lunch yesterday!! Y'all were broke in good! Thank you for the hard work! I have so enjoyed getting to know each of you better and I look forward to working together more.

Tina's Patterson's mom went home to be with her Lord yesterday.  Meg Williams' grandmother also met her Lord and Saviour last night. Please continue to pray for these families. While I know the saddness I also rejoice in the happiness! Pray for our children and youth as they embark on a new school year. They need our prayers!!!! Pray for the faculty and staff  of your child's school as they enter a new school year too. I want Godly teachers and friends in my children's paths and I am certain you do too. We need to cover them in prayers! I hope you have a blessed week! See you Wednesday!

VBS Day 1

Day 1 of Willie's Redneck Rodeo VBS is in the books! The first day of VBS comes with lots of stresses and concerns. You never know how many children will show up so you never know how many to plan for. As usual, Allison & the crew adjusted and handled the children. God blessed us with a huge attendance. Now before I start sprouting off numbers let me say numbers aren't important but on the flip side they are. I know.. Confused Kristi! We want kids at VBS & if there is 10 kids, then we will love on ten kids, teach them  about Jesus the same way. The point is teaching about Jesus!! Now on the flip side of that I want to teach as many kids as possible so I want to see the room packed out! Boy did God pack the room out! So many people came for supper we didn't have room for all of them to sit & eat!! Let me give last yrs general numbers. Each night we were about 100 which was roughly 60 kids & 40 adults. So I think you can imagine that we were blown away to see 75 kids come through the doors and 65 youth and adult volunteers totaling 140 people!!!!! The kitchen crew was slinging hot dogs like it was nobodies business!!! They even had to break  down and fry some in a skillet to get them out to folks!  It was crazy goodness!!

Now ,  I didn't get to see the music, games, skits or crafts because I taught last night. I get to experience the fun tonight! I wanted briefly tell you about my lesson. I taught the parable the Sower and the seed. I feel like each year God gives me the lesson I need. Many times, I'll say," if we can just plant the seed," or if we can get them thru the doors and plant the seed, God will handle the rest." Of course, I told the kids the seed is like a pretend seed and we stick it in their brains & hearts, as they learn more about Jesus the seed grows. It is all about the seed! You can't grow a garden without planting seeds and you can't grow God's kingdom without planting seeds. At the end of the church year, a questionnaire comes to June asking church questions. It asks about attendance, numbers of those who joined the church, numbers of how many saved, VBS questions..  All kinds of "number" questions. I know the ultimate goal is to have children and adults saved but you have to start from somewhere and that is the seed. For those first timers with us at VBS, I think you'll see our VBS is a little different from many other churches. We don't push getting saved. We teach, we love, we feed, we work on building relationships, getting to know the kids & the adults who bring the kids. We plant the seed! If it leads to salvation then Hallelujah  but if it doesn't this week we know the seed was planted & God is working on that person. I hope this makes sense. 

Continue to pray for the VBS workers and Allison. Pray for the children who come thru our doors. Pray for the children's parents too. Pray the seed has been planted and now that it will grow. 

VBS workers, I know you are tired this morning & it was only day 1. I pray for a God to give you added strength this week, a little extra something in each step. I pray God gives you extra patience because we all know it gets a little hectic & frustrating sometimes. I pray God gives you extra love to lavish on the children and the words needed to strike up conversations with the parents. As we go thru this week and see amazing things God is doing at VBS  the 
devil will work extra hard to take us down. Don't let him! Stand firm against negativity, be in prayer!  It is going to be a blessed week!!! I am excited to see the week unfold and see the work God is doing! 

Good evening! I hope you are having a blessed week. I wanted to encourage you to spread the word about our upcoming VBS July 21-25, 5:30-6:00 is supper & 6:00-8:45 is VBS. It is named Willie's Redneck Rodeo & the children will learn 5 of the best known parables from the Bible plus play games, make crafts, learn songs & dances. Supper and a snack is served each night which is one of my favorite things about our VBS. I feel if children come into our church, we have no way of knowing what their home life is like, so at the very least we can show them love, care & provide them with full stomachs. Allison Williams is our VBS director & she does an amazing job getting it all together. Please keep her in your prayers. Even though VBS is soooo much fun, it is very stressful & tiring for the person putting it all together. This year we are having preregistration for children and any youth or adult volunteers. It will make it easier to plan for crafts, meals & tshirts orders so please let us know if you know of a child that is coming to VBS or if you would like to volunteer. Of course, any child that doesn't register early is welcome and encouraged to come on to VBS!!!! The early sign ups is just to help Allison & me out! I wanted to go ahead and let everyone know that on Sunday, July 27, immediately following preaching, the children's dept. will be hosting a lunch as an end to VBS week. Mark the date on your calendar & I'll have more info next week.

This Wednesday night will be Wacky Wednesday Missions and Katie Smith will be leading the children up in the Kidz Zone. The following Wednesday, July 16, the kids will be on the road spreading the word about VBS.  I know we will need parents to volunteer to drive July 16. Thank you to all the parents who braved the tye dye craziness with me last week!

Continue to pray for VBS and for the children and adults who will come thru the WBBC doors , for those we are missing at church, and for Joey as he follows God's plan for our church family. I hope you have a blessed week!

Good morning! I had a great time at The Factory last night. It is always great watching the kids have fun, seeing parents get to talk and bond & have visitors join us! I had next Wednesday night open as far as my activity & devotion so I think I have decided on tye dying t shirts. The kids did this about 2 summers ago and we had a huge time being creative. I already have several devotions in my mind that  could be used in relation to banding up shirts & changing the color. Isn't sin kind of like those rubber bands. It ties us up, binds us, holds us down and the the color is the sin just saturating us. Anyway... Lots of thoughts running thru my head for a devotion. Bleach could be used as Jesus washing us white as snow! So what I'll do is go buy packs of T-shirts & since it is the July 4th week I am thinking we could do red, white & blue tye dye & let the kids wear them to church Friday night. How about everyone who knows their child will be at church Wednesday night send me a message or text with your child's shirt size. Mom's... With so many kids I know I'll need some help & we will need to be outside due to the mess. We will also need lots of plastic bags, like Walmart bags. 

VBS will be here before we know it and this year we will be having preregistration at the 4th of July Celebration. Please go ahead & sign your child up & any others that you know will be participating this year. Our theme is Willie's Redneck Rodeo which is different than any other church in our area! There will be a meeting July 6 immediately following preaching for those interested in helping. We have always been blessed with tons of adults & youth workers so please be in prayer about how you can help! The time is normally 5:30-5:55 supper( and I mean a full meal.. Our kitchen workers seriously work & no child leaves hungry)  & then 6-8:30 is VBS. Be in prayer for Allison as she continues to prepare. 

Be in prayer for Randy & Joan, Candace Harwood as she recovers from surgery and of course VBS. We have many folks traveling this week so keep them in your prayers. I hope you have a blessed week and I look forward to seeing you and your family at WBBC Sunday!

Good morning! There have been some rumors that we had a food fight upstairs last Wednesday night. Let me clear that up. I have been known to have a food fight at church 1 time only in the parking lot and to take a pie to the face in the sanctuary and the gym but… we did not have a food fight upstairs in our new area! I did plastic the floors because we had yuck food games. There was no throwing of food except bologna! Lol I have to steal Paula Hopper’s theme for that night “Doesn’t matter how messy life gets..God is bigger than any mess we make”. We had a great time and I was excited to have some parents visit with us that normally don’t get to. I was also pleasantly surprised at the willingness of parents to eat Cheetos from dirty feet. Anyway, we had a great messy night!

Thank you to all who came out to Joey’s to fish. It was hot and I think the fish were few but we had a great time together.

Tomorrow night the children will leave the church at 5:45 to go to Moragne Park. We will be passing out popsicles to other children and letting ours play. My hope is to strike up conversations with other parents as we pass out popsicles at the park. We will arrive back at WBBC at 7:15. I plan on taking the van but I will need other parents to help transport and watch the children. Please let me know ASAP if you can drive.

Next Wednesday, June 25 will be the children’s outing to The Factory! The children and adults who plan on jumping need to bring in $7.00 in an envelope with their name on it and YOU MUST go online to www.TheFactoryGadsden.com and fill out a waiver. They will not let anyone jump without the waiver. You will receive a confirmation email back from them after you complete the process. I would like to get the money collected by this Sunday that way I have it all together when we go in plus I need to confirm the number of children and adults jumping. We will meet at The Factory at 5:45 and jump from 6-7. Due to the high number of injuries and the need of a waiver I have to ask that you be present for your child to attend this event.

The church will be celebrating July 4^th with hot dogs, ice cream & fireworks for the whole community. We had a blast (seriously) last year. I am not for sure on the time but I heard 7pm. I am sure someone will be letting us know what we need to bring. Allison and I had mentioned preregistration for VBS because it is difficult to estimate how many children we need to prepare for as far as food, t-shirts & crafts, so this year we will have a table for VBS preregistration at the July 4^th Celebration. If you are there please take a moment and sign up any children you know may be coming to VBS. VBS is July 21-25.

Please be in prayer about serving in the church nursery during Sunday school & preaching. Brandie and I wanted to do a 6-8 week rotation and we only have about 5 people signed up so far so if you feel God calling you to pray and love on the babies please let one of us know. Thank you to those who have responded!

Men’s church softball starts tonight with games at 7:15 & 8:15. I can’t even remember how many years this has been going on but I always look forward to it. Come out tonight & support the men.

I wanted to welcome Sean & Pam Stimpson to the WBBC family. They joined in membership Sunday. Please continue to remember Ryan, the Edwards grandson in your prayers and Donna Harmon and her family. Her mother in law is on the verge of passing. As our church grows it becomes increasingly harder to keep up with who is and who isn’t at church. I am going to suggest that this week we think hard about those we haven’t seen at church and reach out to them. They might just need a word of encouragement or a prayer. I am praying that you all have a wonderful week!

Good morning! I hope you all are enjoying summer. I am refreshed from our vacation and I am looking forward to an exciting summer at WBBC. I wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to the moms who served on Wednesday’s & Sunday while I was on vacation. It is a blessing to know that these women are faithful, dedicated and follow thru when they agree to do something!

I also wanted to thank Brandie Johnson for working so hard making the nursery & toddler rooms so beautiful. They are so clean and inviting! We are in need of servants who would be willing to go on a 6-8 week rotation to volunteer most weeks for the baby room. Some weeks we might need a volunteer for the toddler room. This would be during Sunday school and preaching. Pray on this and if you feel lead to serve please let me or Brandie know.

The children’s/toddler’s dept. is planning to fish and cook out at Joey’s Saturday from 4pm - dark. I am going to ask that you text me(256-393-1063) by Thursday night to let me know if your family plans on attending so I’ll know how much food to prepare. The forecast is showing rain for Saturday so I’ll decide Friday morning on if we need to reschedule. I don’t want to buy food and then have to freeze it or store all the stuff. If we do get to fish you need to bring your own fishing poles, bait, chairs, bug repellant & enough drinks for your family. We will supply the hot dogs, hamburgers & chips. I want to stress this is a super deep pond. It was cut to go straight down so there is very little shore. I stay nervous with Jack around it since he cannot swim so that night he will be reluctantly wearing a life jacket. *****PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO YOUR CHILDREN FISHING***** feel free to bring your bikes & any outdoor games your family likes to play. This is going to be a laid back, fun evening. Just a time to hang out & get to know each other better. This would be a great event to invite another family too.

Now let’s get to tomorrow night! Tomorrow night is “Yuck Night” in the Kidz Zone from 6-7. We will have devotion and then play some yuck, gross games. **have your child wear old clothes, they might get a little stained** & bring a towel lol. Next Wednesday night is “Mission Wednesday” and again depending on the weather, I plan on the kids going to Moragne Park and passing out popsicles to other children. If you can, please donate a box of pops by Sunday. Just the kind you freeze that is in the plastic sleeves that have to be cut open. Also, remember we are still collecting food for the RMS Mission project so anytime you are able pick up an item and drop it off in the red bucket in the Kidz Zone. This will continue to be an ongoing project for us!

Please remember Dick & Charlene Edwards grandson Ryan in your prayers. He is still having some health issues. Pray for VBS. Allison is trying to decide on a theme & I know whatever she chooses will be God directed & perfect for our church. Let’s began to pray for the children who will come thru the church doors, some the 1^st time thru any church doors, that the seed gets planted and that they leave our church with memories of love, kindness, generosity, full bellies, fun activities, friendships and most importantly, knowing about Jesus and that He loves them. I hope you have a blessed week and I hope to see your child tomorrow night!

Good morning! Today is the last Monday of the school year! That is so exciting to me! Thank you to Ashley Fortenberry & Chris & Katie Smith for leading the children yesterday. This will be very brief with a few reminders. 

The children will meet Wednesday night for our last "Big City Studio" session. This will also be the last night to bring in donations for the RMS food project. Make sure you pick up a copy of our summer schedule or you can look at the last blog post. The children's dept & their families will be fishing at Joey's Saturday, June 14 so save the 
date!!We will start at 4 and go until dark. Please 

bring chairs, your own bait and drinks. We'll provide hot dogs, hamburgers & chips. Oh, you should probably bring bug spray too!

Reminder that another $100 Disney deposit will be due in July.  Reservations  will be made in 

August. 

Be in prayer today for Hunter & Heather as they go to court with their foster children. Continue to pray for Tina Patterson's mom & Tina herself. Thank you for the prayers for Jami & Arlo yesterday. They did great & the whole band,"In Like Ben", is playing another youth rally this Wednesday night. They"ll be at Mercy Hill. Continue to pray for them as they follow God 's call. Pray for the youth, Jamey & the other chaperones as they are preparing for youth camp. I look forward to seeing all my kids Wednesday night!! I hope you have a week full of blessings and moments where you really feel God leading your life!