Dear Parents of Pre-K – 4th graders,                                                                         March 16, 2013

I would like to update you on a few things happening in the next few weeks in the Kids Zone at EBC.  Our church mission states, Honoring God and Loving People and even in the Children’s Department we desire to do this.  We are intentional about the curriculum we use, the events that we hold and even the opportunities that we give children in which to participate. 

Sunday, March 31st the children in Pre-kindergarten through 4th grade will be singing for our Easter service!   We have already been working on this song for a month so you may be hearing bits and pieces of the song at home.  Please plan now to be at church on Easter Sunday by 9:45 am.  It usually is a busy morning at home with picture taking and Easter baskets, so mark your calendar or set an alarm to get the family up and moving a little earlier that day. 

*If you will be out of town that day, we will miss you!  It is understandable that some of you already have plans to travel.  Please send me your regrets so I can plan accordingly. 

A week before Easter, March 24th, we are happy to have Scott Bruns, Executive Director from Scioto Hills, here for a visit.  He will be promoting the camp and talking to the children.  If you have any questions about camp, please take a minute to visit him and to see the information he has.  There still is the opportunity for your children to attend camp.  The price increases again after March 31st, so if you are dragging your feet, you may want to try and decide by then.   We are attending camp June 17-22.

You’ve all heard about the Kilometers 4 Kamp 5k by now!  We hope your family will join the fun on April 20th.  All age groups are welcome and you can register online or by registration form.  Groups of 10 or more get a discount so please spread the word! 

If you have any questions about any of the above events, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  It is a privilege to serve you and your children at EBC!

Sincerely,

 Stephanie Lane,
Children’s Ministries Director

Dear Parents of 2nd – 4th graders,                                                                                               

Next Sunday, we will be starting the Armor of God series in the 2nd, 3rd & 4th grade Sunday School classes. 

Ephesians 6:11-12 states “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  

We will start out the series with learning why we need the Armor of God and that we need complete protection, not just one or two of the areas.  Consider when you prepare your family for a full day at the beach.  You make sure you have complete protection from the sun.  You pack sunscreen, a swim shirt, a beach hat, beach umbrella, lip balm & flip flops for the hot sand.  It’s great that you have packed it and you look prepared.  But if you never use these items, you will still get burned!  This is what we will be teaching your child.  We will be explaining the different armors to put on and then how to use it.  We will be teaching that Satan is real and that his schemes are crafty and tricky.  We need to be armed!

Please consider reading through the Armor of God passage with your child before next Sunday.  The passage is Ephesians 6:10-19.  Enjoy this time with your son or daughter!  Below are the lessons in the order that they will be taught.  Be in prayer for our Sunday School teachers and they prepare each week to teach your child.  They need protection!

Lesson 1 You’ve Got To Be Putting Me On Protecting against your enemy

Lesson 2 Let’s “Loin” About Truth Wrapping ourselves in truth

Lesson 3 First Things First Protecting your heart

Lesson 4 I Was Born (again!) Staying focused on the Gospel

Lesson 5 The “Moist” Faith You’ve (not) Seen Faith applied daily

Lesson 6 Heads Up! Protecting your mind

Lesson 7 A Cut Above The Rest The power of the Word

Lesson 8 I’ve Got Your Back

Finally, just a quick note about the pornography seminar upcoming this Saturday, February 16th.  I would like to encourage you to seriously consider attending.  The average age of exposure to internet pornography is age 11 and the 12-17 year-old age group is the largest consumer of internet pornography.  This is alarming and sad! We need to not ignore the fact that our children are near that age group or in that age group right now.  Arming ourselves with information can help all of us live in this world where “Porn is the Norm”.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Lane,

Children’s Ministries Director

Dear Parents,

Exciting things are happening in the Kids Zone at EBC!  Crista and I have been working hard to get 2013 started off with as few bumps as possible coming off of Christmas break.  With little time in the office, it can be tricky to make sure schedules are updated and teachers are informed as to the direction we are heading.  We want our parents to be informed as well.  So, I would like to update you on a few things that likely involve you or your child.

Stewardship Series:  The 2nd - 4th grade classes & Route 56 have been studying the same stewardship series that Pastor David & Pastor Greg have been preaching on in the main service.  We feel this topic is important for families to be discussing together and hope this is a springboard for opportunities to talk about being good stewards.  Recently each child received 3 envelopes to help them learn to tithe a portion of their money, save a portion of their money & spend a portion of their money.  It was discussed that the Bible says that “a tenth” of our money is a good place to start with tithing, but the Bible doesn’t say how much to save or spend. We have encouraged the kids to talk with you, as this is a family decision.  If your child doesn’t earn money through the week, now would be a great opportunity for them to start doing jobs to earn money and to be able to divide that money between their envelopes.  In the upcoming weeks, we will be discussing debt, giving generously & how hard work pleases God. 

Summer Camp Meeting:  If your child is interested in going to summer camp at Scioto Hills, we have chosen the week of June 17-22 to be EBC’s camp week.  Children must be a minimum age of 8 years old to attend the full week of camp. Mini-camp is June 24-26 and is open for 7 -12 year olds.  This is a good option for a child (or parent) who isn’t interested in being separated from home for a whole week!  Registering for camp by the end of January will get you the best rate which requires a $100 registration fee to hold your child’s spot.    EBC will once again be assisting all campers with the registration fee by paying half.  Feel free to visit Scioto Hills’ website, www.sciotohills.com for more information and to register online.  Please let me know you have registered!  We will be fundraising by hosting the Kilometers 4 Kamp 5k in April.  If you have a child going to camp, I will contact you personally about information regarding fundraising.

Children’s Pastor’s Conference:  Crista and I recently traveled to Orlando, Florida for the International Network of Children’s Ministries Conference.  We both have attended this conference before and were excited to return! We enjoyed hearing from many different key note speakers who reaffirmed our calling as children’s ministers.  We attended breakout sessions on ministering to pre-teens, communicating with families, dealing with death & tragedy, special needs & discipleship (to name a few).    We were able to get new ideas and insight to help make our children’s programming more effective and God-honoring.  As your leaders we desire to make sure we are teaching your children core truths from the Bible and that we are leading in a direction where God wants us to be headed.  Thank you for praying for us as we traveled!  We humbly ask for continued prayer as we serve at EBC.

If you have any questions regarding any of this information please email me at slane@ebcxenia.org.  I will be happy to reply in a timely manner.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Lane