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SSTN # 68 - June 4, 2003


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:


1) Lesson from Mark 8:27-9:8 
2) Name Tag Idea
3) Armor of God songs
4) Bibles and Tapes?
5) Christian outreach

--> July 4th Activity...

6) Western / Pioneer Theme   
7) Christian soldier - Kids Krusade
8) A Wonderful Site   
9) Fruit of the Spirit crafts   

--> Sword of the Spirit - Bookmark

10) Fruit of the Spirit   
11) 1950's Theme
12) Nursery Safety?
13) Multiple ages   
14) Skits for 1950's Theme


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1) Lesson from Mark 8:27-9:8

Dee,
You could focus on the these attributes of Jesus for Mk 8:27-30
Savior-Matt 1:21, Redeemer-Col 1:13, Reconciler-2 Cor 5:18-19, Model-1 Jn
4:16, Priest-Heb 7:25.

Ask-
In what way might Moses' presence on the mountain have been significant
for Jesus? (See Ex 3:1-17; 19:1-20:20; Deut 34:1-8)
In what way might Elijah's presence have been significant?
(1 Kings 18:1-19:18; 21:1-29 and 2 Kings 2:1-12)

Blessings,
Eva


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2) Name Tag Idea

Julie--maybe you could have the kids decorate visors or cheap painter's
hats with their names on them.  Have them leave the hat at VBS until the
last day to avoid it being left at home.  (When my kids wear tags around
their necks, I can never read their names...) 

If you could get the kids to all bring a T-shirt (and have a few extras
on hand), they could make a name t-shirt instead.

Dana in Cincinnati, Ohio

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3) Armor of God songs

There is an upbeat song called "I am a Christian" by Ken Blount in my
"Kids on the Move" Curriculum from Willie George Ministries.  I can't
print it because it's copyrighted, but perhaps it's been recorded
somewhere else.  The verse covers all of the armor of God.  It seems like
I've heard it before, so chances are good it's out there. (The chorus
starts: I Am a Christian (echo), A mighty mighty Christian (echo)...) 

Also:  Promiseland Band and Friends has a whole cassette tape called
"Armor of God."  (c. 1996, Willow Creek Community Church).  It's upbeat,
has kids singing with adults on some of the songs, has an opening song
about all of the armor, and then a song about some of the individual
pieces of armor.

Dana in Cincinnati, Ohio

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4) Bibles and Tapes?

To my brothers and sisters in the ministry,

Praise God for you and your ministry!

My name is Amy Sikking, and I am a member of the Christian Walk Ministries
Church in Los Angeles, California.  I am writing to you with regards to an
upcoming event that we are having.

On June 14, 2003, Christian Walk Ministries, and 5 other churches, will be
participating in "Kalayaan 2003 (Freedom 2003)".  The theme was chosen
because it coincides with the Philippine Independence Day (June 12), and
the participating churches' members are mostly from the Philippines.  This
is a Christian gathering, worship and concert event to be held at the Los
Angeles City College.  Through this event, we are hoping to reach out to
other Filipino people who do not yet know the Lord, and to share our
Filipino culture to other people.  We are expecting about 300 people (or
even more) to attend this event.

One of the things that we are planning to do is to distribute bibles and
evangelistic tapes, especially for those who are not yet Christians.  It
would be wonderful to be able to minister to them, and at the same time,
to be able to equip them with bibles and tapes to build a better
relationship with Jesus on.

We would appreciate any help that you would be able to give, either in the
form of bibles and tapes, or by forwarding this message to those that may
be able to provide those tapes and bibles.

Let us work together to bring the people back to the Lord!  God bless!

Your sister in Christ,

Amy Sikking
President - Youth for Jesus
Christian Walk Ministries, International
4109 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029
(213) 422-8109
ey_mi@yahoo.com
eymesik@aol.com

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5) Christian outreach

Dear Ruksana,
The holy Spirit is your best director of any Christian out-reach! Rely on
Jesus to help you! He inspired "The Book"!.Scripture Union also produce
teachers' manuals and wonderful  childrens' activity books which are super
to use and very well laid out so that anyone can use the material
sucessfully.Perhaps you could obtain subsidised copies for your pupils.
Love-in-Christ, Gill New Zealand


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--> July 4th Activity...Make the USA Patriotic Catcher Toy

Kids will learn the answers to eight basic USA citizenship questions such
as, "Why did the Pilgrims come to America?"; What is the US Constitution?,
and "What does the First Amendment guarantee?". A great activity for July
4th! Kids can make it and take it home! Print out as many patterns as you
need for a onetime fee of only $3.00. Once you've purchased the pattern
and your order is processed, you'll receive instructions via email on how
to download it from the site. Available only online. No waiting for
delivery and no shipping costs!

Find the USA Patriotic Catcher at:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html#usacatcher 
(you may need to copy and paste the address to your browser)

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6) Western / Pioneer Theme   

>"Does anyone have ANY decorating ideas for a Western/Pioneer
>theme?"

I believe there are some ideas in the archives.
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html 
I remember responding to this question once before. We had a covered wagon
on the church lawn and on the last day of VBS we took pictures of the
families and children on the wagon. For the grand finale, we decorated our
Family Life Center like we
were having a bonfire (with bales of hay to sit on) and did a big lesson
from there. I think you can use electric logs for a fake fire if you want.
We also had pony rides and a hayride at some point. I read somewhere that
they had a "gun fight" instead of a "sword drill". The kids wore holsters
and had a tiny New Testament to "draw" and look up scripture. I think
that's an awesome idea! You could also have theme music playing from
Gunsmoke or something. Instead of girls vs boys for offering, etc, you
could have white vs. black (good guys vs. bad guys. We play a cute game
called Wagonwheel. The kids get in a big circle and hold hands (forming
the wheel). Then they sort of "roll" the big wheel around a room or gym.
These are just a few ideas~ hope they help!
Angie

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7) Christian soldier - Kids Krusade

Several year ago, I co-directed a VBS on the theme "Armor of God".  We
designed it around the idea of castles and medieval times.  Our set/stage
had a large castle backdrop, we had a bridge for the kids to walk over to
get into the "Kingdom of God" (where the castle was).  Our prize table was
called "Ye Ol' Tuck Shop".
We did skits involving 3 characters.  One character faced a moral dilemma
each day and another character was always convincing him to do the wrong
thing while the third character introduced him to the Armor of God that
applied to each situation.

We had name tags for each child and volunteer labelled "Sir ____" or "Lady
____".

One of our activities throughout the week was to create a "model" dressed
in the armor of God.  We traced our bodies in cardboard and cut them out,
then the kids made the armor to put on the cutouts each day.  We used
cardboard and tin foil for a lot of the pieces and a balloon and paper
mache for the helmet.

Games included archery, lance toss (with foam noodles) and a dressing
relay (used items representing the armor of God): belt, life jacket
(breatplate), sword, boots (feet of peace), shield, baseball cap (helmet
of salvation), sunglasses (protect from glare of fiery darts).  A few of
these ideas might actually already be in the archives of SSTN because I
used them a lot to get my ideas going as well:)

I'm not sure if these ideas go along with your format but I hope they at
least get the juices flowing.
- Sarah (Ottawa, Canada)

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8) A Wonderful Site   

I will be giving an intergenerational talk in June and found this site
through Yahoo. Fortunately I finally remembered that I did bookmark it, as
when I tried to find it a second time I spent hours trying to find it
again. I certainly look forward to using much of the material. In my June
talk I plan on using the story on Faith using the glass and water. I pray
it works as well as it is said to, I will be practicing before hand---but
then is the story not about "Faith."

Margaret

--from SSTN: thank you, Margaret. I'm glad you found the site again too!
Let us know how your talk goes! ysic, sarah keith <><

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9) Fruit of the Spirit crafts   

You might still have time to see if you can find (try interlibrary loan
at your local library) copies of the Fruit of the spirit series by
Carole MacKenthum, published by Shining Star Publications. There's a
whole book (48 p.) for each fruit, with reproducible pages and all kinds
of activities, songs, etc.
The books say "ages 7-12", but some activities might be adaptable to
include the younger children.


Linda Divan
Senior Cataloger
Centennial Library
Cedarville University
251 N. Main St.
Cedarville, OH  45314

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Sword of the Spirit - Bookmark


The Old and New Testament books are listed on either side of the sword's
blade. A great Scripture memory tool from ChristianCrafters.Com.

Children can make it and take it home. Print out as many patterns as you
need for a one time fee of only $3.00. To see a picture and to learn more,
go to the following webpage:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html 
(you may need to copy and paste the address to your browser)


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10) Fruit of the Spirit   

<< We have come up w/some really
good ideas for object talks, snacks, games, and activities but are
struggling when it comes to crafts.  >>

Good morning.  We are doing this topic this coming week.  One of the
things
we are doing is making necklaces with beads of different colors (each
color representing a fruit). I went to Walmart last night and found some
Christian symbol beads so will give the children a couple of those to put
on their necklaces too.  I did see on the web where kids made necklaces or
bracelets out of fruitloops.  They could eat the fruitloops if they
memorized the verse of the day.  Our other craft is something I bought on
e-bay.  It is a put together craft with a foam tree (green), a trunk (dark
brown) the branches (light brown) and the fruit (colorful small pictures
off the internet) glues onto the tree.  All the parts of the tree are
precut.
Hope this helps.
God bless,
Joni


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11) 1950's Theme

Petra recorded a song out called "Friends" that has a real 50's sound to
it.  It's on the album Petra Praise, c. 1989.  The song is about Christian
friends--"Friends..love one another.....all in the family of God..."

A couple of years ago, I took girls from my church to a '50's themed
retreat.  Not sure if you can use this, but here are the words to the
cheer I wrote for them (with their help...) in case you can.  "House of
Praise" was supposed to come from HOP (i.e. At the hop..):

Nineteen-fifties:
we had hand jive; sock hop, poodle skirts, hair in bee hives
Join us at the House of Praise;
The word of the Lord is still the same!

New Millenium:
Now there’s cell phones, Napster, dot-com, DVDs in homes.
Join us at the House of Praise;
The word of the Lord is still the same!

Elvis or Brittany Spears, Rollerskates or blades,
Record or compact disc: stuff from this world fades.
Join us at the House of Praise;
The word of the Lord is still the same!

Dana in Cincinnati, Ohio

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12) Nursery Safety?

Our Sunday School Superintendent is concerned with the growing concern of
abuse within churches, as brought out recently by the media.  He has
proposed a "no diaper changing" policy in our nursery to avoid liability
and accusals of sexual abuse.  He has agreed to let me research this and
find out what other churches do for safety and security within nurseries.
We already strongly adhear to a "Two Workers at all Times" policy.  I
think this is enough and that if a parent is going to accuse us of abuse
then they will accuse us whether we change diapers or not.  We have not
had an issue with this in the past and I feel that he is going a bit too
far with this whole issue.  Any advice, tips, examples, etc. would be
greatly appreciated!!!

Joyfully Serving,
Jenni M., Children's Director

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13) Multiple ages   

Sounds a little like my sunday school class! We have normal attendees
ranging from 5-13, but have had children as young as 3. I would strongly
recommend children's church. We use Kids POWer Hour, and have two groups
of three teachers which rotate at the end of each book. It works great.
They have activities that enable all ages to participate, and our kids all
have a great time.Kari
1st UPC


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14) Skits for 1950's Theme

There is a Kids POWer Hour book called "KIds R Kool." It is set in a 50's
soda shoppe and has lots of skits. 
Teresa

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