Word of the Week: Collaborate

For the past seven weeks or so, I have been choosing one word that would best describe my week or what I most want achieved that week. I would write that word down in my journal/planner, at the bottom of my weekly calendar.

I thought this week would be a tough one since there's so much to do I couldn't really focus on one project or goal. But then, my eyes fell on the opposite page of my journal where I'd just finished jotting down the things I'm most grateful for this week. Almost every item on it are people with whom I have been working with on one project or another.

This may seem like something very common to some, but not to me. I have always been inclined towards working alone rather than with a partner or team. It's pretty tough for me to brainstorm with others without either clamming up or monopolizing ideas. I also find it hard to ask for help or share a workspace with others. 

Thankfully, God has been patiently showing me this weakness and helping me overcome it by giving me opportunities to share more with others.

This week has been filled with those. And the opportunities came in so beautiful a manner that I didn't have time to feel awkward about it. 

There are the moms who are sharing their resources/plans/ideas for future Child Education projects. There's the youth who helped me clean out the office. There are the church brethren who give gardening advice and gifts for the kids' sunflower project that I started. There are the youth leaders preparing for our major activity this weekend. There's the Publishing Team and all the production plans for the upcoming camp meeting. And I'd even count in all the Facebook conversations I had this week that included some sort of plans, sharing, and agreements.

So the word for this week is COLLABORATE. It's to realize that truly no man is an island, that there's beauty in synergy, and that God works in the hearts of His people to bring them together in His service, like stones framed together for the upbuilding of His kingdom.

Best of all, "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building." 1Corinthians 3:9

God is working with me on me, building me up to become who He wants me to be. And sometimes He uses other people as instruments for that work. 

What I Learned Most at the Recently Concluded Camp Meeting

These past two camp meetings, I have
been assigned to work with the children in a separate class. I spent the mornings and the afternoons teaching them scripture songs, memory verses, Bible stories, and the basics of our fundamental beliefs. This meant that I missed four of the five daily plenary sessions, since I am able to attend only the morning worship and the evening session each day.

But this has not hindered me from receiving some very important reminders from the Lord. One of them I learned through a mistake I made while teaching.

I was doing a lesson on the Judgment and the Book of Life, how we need to get our names written in that book so that we be judged worthy of eternal life. I was trying to make it easier for children to understand the requirements. I told them, “If you are good children, doing good things, helpful to mother and father, kind to other children, obedient to the commandments, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Right? Right?

The children all agreed. “Who wants to go to heaven?” Every hand went up. “Then be good kids, alright?”

A resounding yes!

I was happy with the attentiveness and the response, contented happy. I was doing my job as well as I could. I smiled from the inside. But then I glanced at my presentation notes, and in a split second I knew I made a grave mistake.

Of the way to be registered in the Book of Life, my notes said, “Receive Jesus into the life.”

Had I mentioned that? Had I told them that they had to have Jesus in their lives so they could be obedient, kind, good kids? Had I told them they couldn’t do it on their own? Had I told them Jesus died to make it possible? Had I told them how to receive Jesus?

Just then, one child or another began to be distracted from the class and in the next split second I was losing their attention.

So I let the thoughts slip by. I had them sing songs, memorize their verses, and color in their activity sheets. I drilled them on the sanctuary furniture, and on which things are holy and which are common. They really enjoyed that. Then we prayed and I let them go to their parents.

But today, more than a week later, it still bothers me.

So this is how it happened. This is one of the reasons why when I look around me and inside me, I see “adults” who have difficulty grasping that we are not saved by our own works, that it is the blood of the righteous Son of God alone that can cleanse us from sin, that only through Him can we have righteousness, that good works apart from an intimate, saving relationship with Him (if that is at all even possible), can avail nothing.

It is what we have been taught even as children.

God help me. God help every Sabbath School teacher all over the world. God help every parent and teacher. God help the children.

Our Leafy Kindergarten Ebenezer

So this quarter at church, I am back to teaching Kindergarten Sabbath School. To be honest, I was hesitant at first. I mean, it's been four years! But now I thank God for the privilege.

We started a little late this quarter, but we're definitely making up for it through our study of the Beatitudes. This particular subject is perfect since the adults are also studying EGW's Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

So what we're doing is going through the Beatitudes one by one, focusing on "Be-Attitudes" as opposed to "Me-Attitudes". Our learning device is a beehive with bees labeled according to the beatitudes. I am going to share the materials that we use for class on this blog in future posts. For now, allow me to share with you what really made me happy today.

The bigger girls (who had already moved on to a different class) excitedly met up with me after lunch to help decorate the tree branch from which our beehive hung.

We cut leaves from japanese tissue paper to stick on the branch made from felt paper. These are not ordinary leaves, mind you. On each leaf, the kids wrote or drew the things they were thankful for, like family, food, rain, sunshine, and the privilege of prayer. Even the smaller kids pitched in. While we worked, we talked about our blessings and how the trees around us should always remind us of our faithful Provider and Friend. As many leaves there are on trees are the blessings we receive from God, probably even more! We must remember to develop an attitude of gratitude.

I was truly touched when one of the students drew a girl and wrote "Thank you for our teacher who teaches us about Jesus."

That prompted another leaf from me.

This tree will be our ebenezer for the quarter. Needless to say, I had a happy Sabbath. =)

January 28, 2017

Lovely as a Tree: Adventist Youth Program Idea #6

The AY leaders at our church designed our AY programs for this entire year to be spread across five major themes:
1. Nature Study (obejct lessons, etc)
2. Health (Health Principles, Anatomy, Natural Healing, etc)
3. History of Redemption (Bible stories/characters, Adventist History, etc)
4. Christian Home (Love, Courtship, Marriage, Family Life, Christian Association, et)
5. Christian Living (Dress, Recreation, Music, Values, Christian Lifestyle, etc)

This allows us to more easily narrow down brainstorming ideas for a particular Sabbath while better ensuring that no important topics are left out. Leaders then have the privilege of coming up with specific programs and content to go with the theme. I, for one, have a tendency to have small group discussions and activities.

The Sabbath before last, we did "Lovely as a Tree," a nature study on- tada!- trees. I'm sharing here how we did it, along with some content, in the hope that it would be of help to you and your church.

PROGRAM IDEA: LOVELY AS A TREE

OBJECTIVE: To encourage the youth to study more closely the objects in nature and its revelations of God's character and will.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Discussion questions written or printed on sheets of paper

OUR VERSION OF THE PROGRAM (You can always vary this according to your needs and preferences)

First, there was the usual opening ceremony. We sang songs, and offered prayer. It would be very nice to sing songs that are related to trees or that mention trees in the lyrics. One song I would recommend is the scripture song from Psalm 1:1-3 (I think I have an mp3 of this somewhere. message me!).

Then we had one of our young girls read a poem, Trees! by Stephen Henry Thayer, on the lessons we can learn from trees. I found this in a booklet included in the SonLight Education Ministry curriculum.

Our young people then stood up to offer a song about the God of creation and nature, then proceeded to one by one give object lessons we can learn from trees.

Examples:
1. Trees receive "waste matter" (like decaying leaves, etc) and still give back good things (like fruits and oxygen, etc)
2. Trees planted too close together become stunted or barren. Our associations with other people require "proper distance" and sometimes even separations for us to be fruitful.
3. People throw stones at fruitful trees. If you do well, expect criticism.
4. It's hard to bend a grown tree. But trees that are bent when young remain bent for the rest of its life. Curb bad habits early. Also, educate children toward good while they are still young.
5. A tree's sweetest fruits are those that receive the most sun. When we constantly have the light of Jesus shining on us, we develop sweet characters.
(This list can go on and on)

Small Group Discussion: Trees in the Bible

Divide the congregation into four (or as many as you see fit). Each group receives a card or sheet of paper on which is written a specific tree mentioned in the Bible and a set of questions pertaining to that tree that they have to discuss among themselves. We usually have four or five groups. This time, we had four.

1. Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - Genesis 2:8-17, Genesis 3:1-7
    a. Where is this tree located?
    b. Describe this tree and its fruit.
    c. What was God's instruction regarding this tree? How did Adam and Eve come to partake of its fruit? What was the result?
    d. How does worldly knowledge/education lead us away from obeying God?
    e. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

2. Nebuchadnezzar's Tree - Daniel 4:10-33
    a. Describe the tree that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.
    b. What happened to the tree?
    c. What did the dream of the tree mean?
    d. What did Nebuchadnezzar do that triggered the fulfillment of the dream?
    e. What lesson can we lessons can we learn from this tree?
 
3. The Barren Fig Tree - Luke 13:6-9
    a. Describe the fig tree told in this parable.
    b. What two things can possibly happen to this fig tree?
    c. As the dresser of the vineyards of our souls, what has Jesus done for us that we may bear fruit?
    d. What fruits are we as Christians expected to bear?
    e. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

4. Tree of Life - Genesis 2:9, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 22:2, 14
    a. Where is  this tree located?
    b. Describe its physical attributes.
    c. What makes this tree special?
    d. Who alone will have right to partake of this tree?
    3. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

Allow 10-15 minutes of discussion, then ask the group to choose a representative to share their discussion with the rest of the congregation. Set a specific and reasonable time limit for this.

Another variation to this group discussion is to set up "trees" in different areas of the hall. Label them according to the Biblical trees you will discuss, and have one teammate stationed at each one. Divide the congregation into as many groups as there are "trees." Each group will have ten (or so) minutes at each tree to discuss the questions, with your teammate as moderator. At the end, all the groups will have gone to all the trees and there would be no need to "report" the group discussions to the larger congregation. You may also decorate the trees accordingly in advance.

Close with a short message about how we can be lovely like trees based on Psalm 1 or some other related message as you see fit.

Check out our other AY Program ideas here, and feel free to share your AY Program experiences or your own program ideas in the comments below.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of some of our young people rendering a song during an AY Program.

Have a blessed AY Program!

My Choice Today

Today I refuse to be stressed about that which is beyond my choice or control.

Much of the past days/weeks were spent researching, writing, editing, printing, and binding the maiden issue of the foundation and school's newsletter, Arise! 

The first 100 copies of the maiden issue of Arise!

I've been sleeping over at the office with teammates so we could spend longer hours working, not only on the newsletter but on other office details as well. We came to a point when we had to drive the for-home-use printer to work 24/7, and six of us arranged our schedules so there's always someone printing at two-hour shifts twice each day. We began to sleep later and later, and wake up earlier and earlier until the final layout was ready for even more printing.

Then everyone else had to be busy with something else, or away, and I was left to print, sort, bind, and worry when the printer refuses to cooperate as deadlines approached without slowing. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), all other work was put on hold - encoding, printing, preparation for the next school term, even laundry, among others. Just thinking about the work (and dirty laundry) piling up sent my brain ticking.

Yesterday, we lost the electricity before I could reach the 200 mark. Early last night, the printer stopped printing the black parts. I worried and fretted and fussed and stressed.

But not today. Today the printer stopped working entirely, calling for a reset and manufacturer service. But I am not at all stressed, not a bit. This is God's work and the uncooperative printer is His problem. He has given us grace enough to meet the most urgent of needs - 300 copies of the newsletter have been sent to the Philippine Youth for Christ congress. I was hoping to send 200 more. But that is enough for now. 

One cannot cram everything into one day. Even God chose to take six days to make this world beautiful. 

"Creation did not crash when God rested; it won't crash when you do."

Our basic printer churning out the cover page of the newsletter.
Even this office setup is relatively tidy.Now imagine the floor
with two mattresses and pages upon pages covering every
square foot.

"One day at a time, sweet Jesus. That's all I'm asking from You. Just give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do. Yesterday's gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine. So help me today; show me the way one day at a time."

So today I choose to smile and be happy, to do the work that lies nearest at hand, to "do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men," and to leave tomorrow's worries where they belong - to tomorrow.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34 

Today I'm refusing to be stressed by anything. Printer stopped working? Good. I'll have time to wash the dishes, tidy up this office a little, encode a few documents, organize some files, finally call the technician (for the other abused copier), do some meditative reading (because it's easy to get caught up in the work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work), say hello to workmates who are suddenly no longer just motion blurs, drool over high-end, high-volume printers on the internet, and maybe even do a little laundry. 

God is merciful in that He sees the needs I could not see (or have been neglecting), and makes a way to meet them. 'Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing." {DA 330}. And a blackout and an uncooperative printer are just two of them.

The Arise! Editorial staff in uniform shirts and eyebags from
the late nights/very early mornings. Praise God that there's
always joy in His service.

The Happiest Place

If someone told me two years ago that I would be leaving my home and my church in Davao City to serve the Lord some place else, I would have laughed. I was practically rooted in that place, and was prepared to spend my lifetime helping the church there as I always have.

But here I am now, up in the mountains somewhere in Ilocos Norte, virtually at the other end of the Philippine archipelago, still happily serving my Lord and excitedly asking where He would take me next, and when.

January this year, I took the six-month Health Evangelism course with a one-month Public Evangelism exposure here at LIGHT Philippines. Little did I then know that I would come back after one month, fully convinced that it is the Lord's will for me and my ministry.

So I've been here as a volunteer for a little over a month, and that period seems to have gone by in a blur. With preparations underway for the school's first Grand Alumni Homecoming (happening now) and 5th Annual Camp Meeting (happening tomorrow), I practically hit the ground running.

Much of the past month was spent going to and from the office/bakery, which is about a kilometer and half from the school, and sleeping over to prepare for the homecoming and camp meeting. Many late nights later, I find myself looking back to home and asking why God has brought me here.

And the answer continues to be an adventure unraveling.

I've met many people, made new friends, learned that God's family is BIG. I've taught my first class, and inevitably have had my first teacher heartbreak. I've been through my first volunteer struggles. I've also quite gracefully survived my first storm - Typhoon Mario - which slammed through our huts, uprooted our trees, and destroyed much of our farm. 

Walking from point to point inside of this campus, I often find myself looking down at my feet and wondering why they are walking this part of the earth.

And the answer comes to me in remembering the life of Abraham:

It was no light test that was thus brought upon Abraham, no small sacrifice that was required of him. There were strong ties to bind him to his country, his kindred, and his home. But he did not hesitate to obey the call. He had no question to ask concerning the land of promise--whether the soil was fertile and the climate healthful; whether the country afforded agreeable surroundings and would afford opportunities for amassing wealth. God has spoken, and His servant must obey; the happiest place on earth for him was the place where God would have him to be.  

{PP 126.3}  

We bloom best where God plants us.

So I take my place among the many who are here, both searching and settled at the same time. I endeavor to work with them, pray with them, learn with them, and serve with them. For as long as God wills that I remain here, I will. And when this new family sing Steve Green's "I Will Go," I know and understand in my heart exactly what they feel and mean:

I will go where there are no easy roads,

leave the comforts that I know.

I will go and let this journey be my home,

I will go, I will go.

And I will go, Lord, where Your glory is unknown;

I will live for You alone.

I will go because my life is not my own.

I will go, I will go.

Kindergarten: Talking Donkeys

The kids totally enjoyed making their donkey puppets. The craft went well with our lesson on Balaam and the Donkey that Talked

Posted via Blogaway

Adventist Youth Program Idea #5

Personal testimonies should have a special place in the Sabbath program. Each Sabbath, the congregation should be encouraged and educated in a way that throughout the coming week they will be able to live and create fresh experiences that will strengthen their personal bond with Christ. These experiences, when shared with the church in the Sabbaths to follow, will in turn inspire and encourage others in their daily walk with the Saviour.

More often than not, though, the program leader will have a problem finding someone from the congregation to share an inspiring experience with the church. There are two possible reasons that could account for this.
First, the members do not have such experiences. Second, they are too shy to come up front and share the experiences they do have.

One way to deal with both problems is through this simple activity.

PROGRAM IDEA: Group Testimonies

Objective: To encourage the congregation to share their personal experiences as a Christian.

Materials Needed: None

Mechanics:
Divide the congregation into as many small groups as reasonable. Ours did well with four. Instruct each group to gather experiences from the members for each of the following categories:
1. Answered Prayer
2. Helping Others
3. Witnessing to Others
4. Conversion
5. Overcoming Temptation

You could also add other categories or come up with an entirely different set of categories. Give the group about ten minutes to gather these experiences. Time pressure is sometimes necessary to motivate the members to volunteer their experiences. Also, dividing them into smaller groups will encourage them to contribute. Plus, there’s the assurance that he/she won’t be the only one to do it.

At the end of the allotted time, have the group representatives come up to share their experiences with the bigger congregation. It’s also advisable to set a time limit for each group to present. The adult males at our church had more than five representatives, and we only then discovered that the “quiet” ones have a lot happening in their lives that are worth hearing!

At the end of the afternoon, we heard at least 20 different experiences from our members, most of them sharing for the first time.

Optional: Have the entire group come up front at the beginning of their turn to sing a hymn, serving as intermissions between the mini-speeches. We did this at our church so the non-representatives could still take part in the larger program.

I hope this helps your AY Program plan for this coming Sabbath. If you do use this program idea, do share how it goes. I would very much love to hear from you.

God bless!

Check out other AY program ideas in this blog by clicking here.

Kindergarten: The Ten Plagues of Egypt

I know I promised a post on Baby Moses and I'm getting around to doing just that. In the meantime, I just have to share this puzzle activity on the Ten Plagues of Egypt because I put a lot of work into making it. haha


After making each individual piece fit, editing each piece, cutting up into 12 different files, fitting them up together to see if they'd fit back, and finally laying out for printing, I now think I deserve applause. and I still have to cut them up using real scissors and sort the pieces (120 pieces, to be exact) into envelopes. remind me why on earth I thought of this activity. I'm definitely saving this and using this again and again just to make the effort worth it.

The idea is to hand out the puzzle pieces to the kids and have them glue the pieces back together on a prepared sheet. I do hope they enjoy doing this.

Anyway, none of the clipart used is mine so I'm paying forward by sharing the puzzle here.



If you do use this for your class, do tell me how it goes.

God bless!

Kindergarten: Greedy Gehazi

I’ve been teaching the Kindergarten class at my church for a year now, and I’m only beginning to know the ropes of teaching little kids. During that year, I had 19 students in all, with about 12 present each Sabbath. The eldest was seven years old and the youngest was barely one. We had to put them together in the same class because we didn’t have teachers. This quarter, however, a sister volunteered to teach the older kids, leaving me with 13 children.

Each Sabbath, for about forty-five minutes, we sings songs, learn a Bible story, learn a new memory verse, and make a craft.

The other Sabbath, the story was about Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, who got greedy and decided to lie his way into getting garments and gold from Captain Naaman.

Every week, I give them a sticker with our new memory verse so they could review it at home. The following Sabbath, those who can recite the verse from memory get a butterfly sticker to stick on their paper gardens.
Our memory verse last week was from 1 Timothy 6:6, which I think was perfect for the story.



For our craft activity, I had the kids make a wall décor based on their memory verse. I got this idea from Hands On Bible Teacher, which I think is a marvelous blog about a marvelous Children’s ministry by a very dedicated teacher.

The kids enjoy being in class, and I’ve grown to really love making learning about Jesus fun for the little members of God’s family.

		Contentment Wall Decor VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m still looking for ways to improve my teaching and programming. Learning about other teachers who share my love for ministering to children inspire me to work harder and pray more for this branch of the ministry.

In my next Kindergarten post, I’ll be sharing how our Baby Moses class well. see you.

Kindergarten: Monggo Project

Last Sabbath, I had the kids start on a project and object lesson rolled into one: planting mung beans.

They were absolutely excited about it and couldn't help but jump and run around with their plastic cups.

First, I made holes in used plastic cups, and had them fill it with soil that I readied in advance. They were then given five mung beans each to plant in their cups. I also made them water the beans. They wrote their names in the cups and we set them aside.

They were so excited about the beans that they were really hesitant to just leave them there. As we carried on with the class, one of the kids interrupted me and exclaimed, "Teacher! The beans are about to grow, I can feel it!"

And teacher couldn't help but laugh and get excited with them.

This post will be updated on a regular basis, probably daily, with pictures of the growing mung beans.

DAY 1 (Planting Day)

Karl Nathan Gogo

Sheim Aidrion

Ashley Mhae

Ayn Angela

Harlie

Precious Joy

Shane Matthew

And we have a special guest participant: Ryna, from the Juniors Class.

I forgot to take pictures for Day 2. *face meets palm*

DAY 3

Ashley Mhae

Ayn Angela

Harlie

Karl Nathan

Precious Joy

Ser Ryna

Sheim Aidrion

Shane Matthew

I can't wait for Sabbath, when the kids get to see their mung beans again. Check back tomorrow for updates! :)

Free SDA Hymnal App for Android

Finally, an SDA Hymnal app for Android that's free, available for offline use, and comes with MIDI files for some songs.

The app is available for download at the PlayStore.

Smiles for every Seventh-day Adventist who's been waiting for this. Thank you, developer! :)

Visiting Mountain Heights Missionary Training School in Valencia

I rarely get the chance to travel. Most of my experience as a missionary consisted of typing away at a laptop computer a few steps away from bed.

So when I got invited to see the Mountain Heights Missionary Training School in Tongantongan, Valencia, Bukidnon, I was more than eager to go.

My friend, Brother Bruce, is one of the supporters of the school while another friend that I met through him, Sister Juliet, was volunteering as a teacher.

The three of us left Davao by bus around three o'clock in the morning and arrived in Valencia five hours later. From there, we took a tricycle (locally called a rela) to the home of Bro. Bruce's uncle where we will be staying for the night.

Bro. Bruce and the motorcycle we borrowed.

In the afternoon, we hopped onto a motorcycle and drove to the foot of the hill where the school is located. The uphill hike took a very exhausting (or was it only me?) fifteen minutes. I thought my heart was going to burst in my ears. haha.

Near the top was the school, itself a simple building which housed fourteen eager and aspiring Bible students.

The school was established a couple of years ago and has grown as far as getting their own electricity, improving the curriculum, establishing farms/gardens, and gaining volunteer teachers.

Sis. Juliet and the school that will be her home for the next four months.

The other side of the school and a view of the vegetable gardens.

Sis. Juliet currently teaches the students Health and English.The students also have classes on the Bible and trade skills like baking and agriculture.

Even without the support of parents and relatives, the students here are determined to continue with their education. Currently, they make bread that they sell to the neighboring village below. The school is also surrounded by vegetable gardens cared for by the students as a source of food and possible income.

Since the arrival of Sis. Juliet, work on installing a better kitchen has been started, an enclosed bath area put up, and students' work schedules implemented. Specific dates have also been set apart for student recreation and for visiting nearby churches on Sabbaths.

Other projects the staff and students will be undertaking include a kiln for better and easier baking, a separate staff house, kitchen sinks and cupboards, writing desks, and improved dormitories. There is also a need for learning materials (textbooks, workbooks, visual aides, etc.) and school supplies. The students do need all the help they can get.

Away from the hustle of the city and immersed in the scenes of nature and in the responsibilities that accompany self-support, the students have come to learn and understand that they need just this experience in order to be drawn closer to God and to be prepared for the ministry that is to be their life-work.

As it began to get dark, we decided to head back down, but took a few moments to marvel at the wonderful extra gift that graces the school at the end of each day - an awe-inspiring sunset.

Leaving Sis. Juliet behind, Bro. Bruce and I traveled back to Davao at two in the morning the following day. It was a physically exhausting trip, but on the inside I felt all light and happy.

Thoughts of eager Bible students and devoted Bible workers all over the world never fail to inspire me to constantly look to God to make me a more efficient worker for Him.

Who knows, He just might ask me to volunteer at Mountain Heights Missionary Training School someday. Just in case, I already got an answer ready. ;-)

Bro. Bruce, myself, and Sis. Juliet

Coming up soon on this blog: my recent trip to a hilltop church in Davao del Sur and our Fourth Anniversary of ministry at the Davao City Jail.

Raise the Standard High

People running to and fro

Not really knowing where to go

Just living from day to day

With no guide to lead the way

  

To  the left or to the right

People strive for earthly heights

Blind to the end this world will meet

Or to heaven - the promise sweet

Pain and pleasure this world will lend

No, Do not bow, Do not blend

Lift high Christ who died

Live up to His standards high

Tell the world, let them know

Christ in you, to them show

By your words, by your deeds

Plant the truth as precious seeds

Dare to share, be not shy

Raise the standard high

Raise your voice in loud a cry

Raise God's standards high

10.27.2012

Adventist Youth Program Ideas

Idea # 4: A Church Ministry for You

Objective: To find a place for every church member in the work of God. This is also useful for Ministry Heads to identify possible recruits for ministry projects.

Materials Needed: A list of all the ministries in your church (Prison Ministry, Radio Ministry, Publishing Ministry, Welfare Ministry, etc.), active and otherwise. Names of the ministries written in individual signboards. You can also have the option to make a list of the activities, projects, and plans of that ministry to go along with the signboard.

Mechanics:  Before the start of the activity, group seats according to the number of ministries in your church and place a signboard at each seat group. Have assistants stationed at each location. It might even be better if you can ask the Ministry Heads to act as your assistants for this activity. Begin by saying that the Church is organized for missionary purposes and that every member is called upon to be a missionary. Briefly introduce the ministries you have at your church. Instruct the congregation to take a tour of the different stations and find the ministry they feel they are best suited for. They are then to stay at that station with the others who chose the same ministry. When everyone is already seated, the assistants/Ministry Heads will begin to ask each person at his station to say why he/she chose that ministry and what he/she thinks he/she could do to contribute to that ministry. Ideas for new projects may also be gathered. Allow about 20-40 minutes for the discussions, depending on the size of the groups. If you have small congregation (like we do at my church), you can skip the regrouping and just ask the members to come up to the microphone one by one. When everyone has had the chance to share, end by saying that there is a place in the church's work for everyone and that God would be very happy if all would enlist and share in the burdens and joys of the church.

And that's it. Everyone participated, everyone found out what they can do for the church, and the ministries found a fresh batch of possible recruits. Make sure to do a follow up with the Ministry Heads regarding projects and activities.

If you try this at your church, I'll be glad to know how it goes.

Enjoy your AY Program!

my newest challenge

this quarter, i was given a new challenge at church: teaching sabbath school for kids ages four to six. i did teach Vacation Bible School Kindergarten for two consecutive years, but this new teaching stint is different because of at least three things:

(a) all the kids have prior sabbath school kindergarten experience; i don't.
(b) they have preference for the routine and songs from their previous teacher (which they've had from the day we put up sabbath school kindergarten); and
(c) 90% of the kids will have their parents in the classroom with them

these past two weeks, i spent a substantial amount of time just preparing lesson plans, learning songs, printing and cutting out materials, organizing visual aides, purchasing supplies, and basically just being nervous.

i'm not sure how many quarters i'll be teaching this class. this sabbath will be my third out of the 13 sabbaths in a quarter. so far, i have been able to keep the kids satisfied, but not ooh-ahhh-clap excited. the parents have been helpful, too - singing along when teacher doesn't know the song the kids want to sing and etc.

i have also managed to forget and completely skip major parts of the routine. boo!

so this week, i'm doing more prep work: researching on teaching strategies, organizing my materials better, and studying the lesson harder. i'm also going over their songs and fingerplays and thinking up ways to make our classroom more interesting for them.

my students, designing clothes (like Hannah for Samuel) in our makeshift classroom

in doing all this, i find many helpful places in the internet, such as

http://www.gracelink.net/article/3/kindergarten for lesson helps
http://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/kindergarten-teaching.html and http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/Play/Ktodayplay.pdf for teaching strategies
http://www.youtube.com/user/maranathakids/videos for children's music
http://www.mrprintables.com/ and http://www.activityvillage.co.uk for free printables

but my greatest help, as always, comes from the greatest Teacher. 

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  James 1:5

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:12 (NKJV)

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:58

so bring it on!