Cedar Creek Banks Mill Blog

October 30, 2011

PRESCHOOL:

Memory Verse: “I am wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14, NIV
Bible Story: Praise God • Psalm 1–2; 34:1, 110:171-175; Psalm 150
This Week God made me to praise Him.

Play Time: Praise Party Time! Clear the furniture to the sides of the room. Get the stereo ready. It’s Praise Party Time. Blast some of your preschooler’s favorite worship music while dancing and jumping for joy. Stop the music every few minutes and have everyone in the room shout thank You to God for something in their lives. Thank You for my blankie! Thank You for my family! Thank You God for making me and loving me.

ELEMENTARY:

Creativity: Using your imagination to do something unique.
Bible Story: Believers Share Life Together (Acts 2:42-47)
Bottom Line: Imagine what could happen if everyone used their gifts together.
Memory Verse: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10, NIV

MEAL TIME: Use these simple open ended discussion questions to lead your family.
Ask a Kid: Imagine what life would be like if everyone shared everything. What would be good about that?
Ask a Parent: When was a time someone shared something with you, and it made a big impact?

Stay In The Loop:

To keep up with what is going on at Kidz Creek follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/KidzCreekCCC, “Like” your Kidz Creek Campus Specific Fan Page of Facebook, and subscribe to your campus blog at www.cedarcreekchurch.net.

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  We talk a lot about grace and forgiveness in the church, but often struggle trying to live it out in our lives.  Here’s a great story of one man’s real life journey through forgiveness and a friendship forged in grace.

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We have so much to be thankful for! Kidz Creek is excited to help your family develop a heart of thankfulness – while you share what God has given you with children in crisis areas around the world through the simple gift of a shoebox. Operation Christmas Child uses a shoebox filled with small gifts to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world.

  Before packing you family’s shoebox(es) lead your family in a discussion with these age appropriate questions about having a “Thankful Heart”.

 Preschool:

• What are you thankful for?
• Do you know who gives us all those things? God! And we should thank Him.
• Lead your preschooler in saying a simple prayer like this “Thank You, God for puppy dogs!”

 Elementary:

• What does it mean to have a “thankful attitude”?
• What if everything you have (toys, TV, clothes) was gone tomorrow? Would you still have anything to be thankful for?
• On a scale of 1-10, how thankful do you think we are as a family?
• Why is it important that we’re a family that gives to others?
• How do you think that giving to other people shows God we’re thankful to Him?

How to Pack a Shoebox:

 Step 1 – Shoebox:

Use an empty shoebox (standard size, please) or a small plastic container. You can wrap the box (lid separately), but wrapping is not required. Most importantly, pray for the child who will receive your gift.

  Step 2 – Boy or Girl:

Determine whether your gift will be for a boy or a girl, and the child’s age category: 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. Go to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/pdf/PackABoxwithLabels.pdf to print out the appropriate boy/girl label. Mark the correct age category on the label, and tape the label to the top of your box.

 Step 3 – Fill with Gifts:

Fill the box with a variety of gifts that will bring delight to a child.  Visit http://www.samaritanspurse.org for a list of gift suggestions and complete directions on how to pack a shoebox.

 Step 4 – Include $7 Donation:

Please donate $7 or more for each shoebox you prepare to help cover shipping and other project costs. You can give online by using our “Follow Your Box Donation” option, or you can write a check to Samaritan’s Purse (note “OCC” on memo line) and place it in an envelope on top of the gift items inside your box. If you or your family are preparing more than one shoe box, please make one combined donation.

 Step 5 – Drop off:

Place a rubber band around each closed shoe box and drop off at your campus on November 13^th.

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October 23, 2011

PRESCHOOL:

Memory Verse: “I am wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14, NIV

Bible Story: Things I Can Do • Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10

This Week God’s plan for people is to do good things.

Cuddle Time:  Cuddle up with your child and pray with him. “Dear God, thank You for making (name of child). Thank You for making me his mommy/daddy. I love (name of child) so much. I know You love him even more! We praise You, God, for your amazing love. It is so amazing that you love everything about us. Thank You, God, for making us and loving us. Amen.”

ELEMENTARY:

Creativity: Using your imagination to do something unique.

Bible Story: Sermon on the Mount, Salt and Light (Matthew 5:14-16)

Bottom Line: Use your imagination to do more good!

Memory Verse: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10, NIV

MEAL TIME: Use these simple open ended discussion questions to lead your family.

Ask a Kid: What creative gifts do you have? How could you use those gifts to help someone?

Ask a Parent: What people or organizations do you know of who use their creativity to help others?

STAY IN THE LOOP: To keep up with what is going on at Kidz Creek follow KidzCreekCCC on Twitter, “LIKE” your campus specific Facebook Page, and subscribe to our blog.

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October 16, 2011

 PRESCHOOL:

Memory Verse: “I am wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14, NIV

Bible Story: Things I Can Do • Psalm 47:1; 86:1; Proverbs 4:11-12, 20-22; 20:11-12; Acts 9:36; 20:35  

This Week God made me to do many things.

Bath Time: Bath time is the perfect time to teach your child about how he was made. As you bathe your child’s little arms, tell him, God made your arms. Count his 10 little toes as you soap them up and tell him, God made your toes. After you’re finished with the bath, hold him up to the mirror and tell him, God made your hair, as you make it stand straight up. That should get a smile. Oh, and that smile, God made that too! God made you and He loves everything about you.

ELEMENTARY:

 Creativity: Using your imagination to do something unique.

Bible Story: David’s Final Words (2Samuel 23:1-2)

Bottom Line: Use your imagination to make your mark.

Memory Verse: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10, NIV

MEAL TIME: Use these simple open ended discussion questions to lead your family.

Ask a Kid: What is one way you can use your creativity to make your mark?

Ask a Parent: How have you ever been able to use a tough situation in your life to generate creativity?

 PARENT TIME: To keep up with what is going on at Kidz Creek follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/KidzCreekCCC and subscribe to our blog. And to learn more about this month’s virtue, and discover helpful parenting insight, check out www.orangeparents.org.

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BE THE CHURCH:  Outreach Trip – Drill water wells in Guatemala, January 7-14, 2012.  We need two female health trainers, and several men or women to drill the water wells.  Applications are due to the Cedar Creek Banks Mill Outreach Office by Sunday, October 16.  Click here http://www.cedarcreekchurch.net/images/forms/CCCSTMapplication.pdf to get a Short Term Outreach Trip Application, or go to the  Global Outreach page of www.cedarcreekchurch.net.

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What an awesome and fun night we had at Second Sunday as we celebrated Jesus’ victory over Satan and death through our Halloween/Costume party. You gotta check out the pics of all our creative students getting all dressed up – check the link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.293363774008487&type=1. We hate we didn’t get everyone’s picture buy hey you all looked good!

Thanks again to all the awesome volunteers, parents, and others who made this great night happen!

Some of our students got to do our own version of TRICK-or-TREATing, as well as the girls totally dominating the boys in our tub of slime! Congrats to Mr. T and the Whoopie Cushion for winning the UGLIEST award, our very own Al Capone for winning the BEST OVERALL, and for the BEST FRIEND HEARTS for winning MOST CREATIVE!

During our message time, we discussed how death was a common fear of all people, and how the common assumption is that “death is the destination of us all.” BUT if you think like Jesus thought, you’ll see that statement isn’t totally true!

In John 5:24 Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” You see, if you believe in Jesus, you have crossed over from death to life! Death is no longer your destination – eternal life is!

So how did Jesus do this? Check out Hebrews 2:14-15 and Mark 3:27 – basically Jesus came to earth and kicked both Satan’s and death’s rear! He showed Satan that He was more powerful than him, and that nothing Satan could do could ever thwart God’s plans. And he showed death that death has no power over a righteous and holy person by dying on the cross and rising again three days later!

You see, Jesus isn’t a wimp. He’s not weak. He’s a warrior. The greatest warrior of all time – and if you believe in Christ, He is on your side! And if you surrender to him, Satan can not have victory over you and death will not be your final destination!

To see how it all ends, read Revelation 20:7-15 – the basic summary of this passage is this: God wins. Over Satan. Over Sin. Over Death. Over All!

Set List:

Thriller – Michael Jackson

Break Free – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ejB2Ivyu0A)

You Deserve – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeW1grM7EKI)

The Anthem – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkAREE-h2Dc&feature=related)

Stronger – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiicZMV98tY)

Shout Unto God – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrG9tjCHCUM&feature=related)

Happy Day – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io4PI1g_hqc)

(You Won’t Relent - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AXT_YyNJXk)

Hope to see you all this Sunday morning at Centerpoint – Banks Mill!

Join our Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/centerpointbanksmill/

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Kidz Creek Parent Connection

October 9, 2011

 PRESCHOOL:

Memory Verse: “I am wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14, NIV

Bible Story: Creation of People • Genesis 1:26-27

This Week God made my body.

Car Time: Grab a favorite preschool worship CD or try a new one. One of the things God made people to do is praise Him. We can praise God by singing songs to Him. Spend some time singing to God together as you drive from here to there. Praising God will make car time a wonderful time!

ELEMENTARY:

 Creativity: Using your imagination to do something unique.

Bible Story: Moses and Miriam (Exodus 1:22-2:10)

Bottom Line: Use your imagination to think big.

Memory Verse: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10, NIV

MEAL TIME: Use these simple open ended discussion questions to lead your family.

Ask a Kid: Are there things you might be good at if you tried?

Ask a Parent: Read Jeremiah 29:11. If God has a plan for our lives, how can we find out what that plan might involve?

 PARENT TIME: To keep up with what is going on at Kidz Creek follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/KidzCreekCCC and subscribe to our blog. And to learn more about this month’s virtue, and discover helpful parenting insight, check out www.orangeparents.org.

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SECOND SUNDAY for students is this Sunday night, October 9th, 6pm to 8pm in Building 4!

Here’s everything you need to know:

First, wear your shirts tomorrow to school!!

SUNDAY MORNING

• Students will meet in adult worship on Sunday morning.
• Students who have signed up to volunteer are asked to volunteer in their same spots as last time!
• Students who have signed up to volunteer with KIDZCREEK will have a special training session at 10:15am in the student center to prepare them for volunteering in the future on Second Sundays. Anyone who has signed up OR is interested in helping with KIDZCREEK at any time is asked to attend!

SUNDAY NIGHT

• DRESS UP! We are having a costume party, and giving our prizes for the best dressed, most creative, ugliest, and crowd favorite. Please, no gore/blood or a lot of skin showing. We will turn you away at door if your costume isn’t appropriate!
• BRING A CANNED FOOD ITEM! We are also collecting food items for local food pantries to help with the church-wide food drive that has been going on. Feel free to bring one or more food items!
• Dinner is included! We’ll have pizza starting at 6:00pm!
• BRING A FRIEND! Make sure you invite your friends to come be a part of the party!!

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Starting Point Week 4 – Brokenness

I think we can all agree that something just isn’t right with the world. It just takes one look at the news to see something has gone horribly wrong. You see, each of us has a “gap theory” – the reason we believe things are they way they are as opposed to the way things SHOULD be. What’s your gap theory? Why are things not the way they should be?

God gives us his “gap theory” (though this time it isn’t a theory!) in Genesis 3. And there we find where all of the brokenness of the world comes from.

Check out a couple of observations on Genesis 3.

3:1 – Satan is crafty. This mean he is “clever at achieving his aims by indirect or deceitful methods.” Satan has one aim – to disrupt, distort, and dishonor God’s glory. And one of the ways he does that is by deceiving the things God created to glorify Him.

3:2-5 – Satan’s method is to make us dissatisfied with God. He basically says to Eve, “You need more. You need to be like God yourself. You need to be your own god.” He makes Eve think God is withholding something good from her, and that one thing is what Eve needs to be satisfied. And Satan is good at making things seem very appealing.

3:6a – Our first step into brokenness comes from dissatisfaction. Sin begins when we say, “Jesus, you are not enough for me. I need more.” This is seen in our relationships with a boy or girl, our desire for the next high or buzz, our striving for praise or popularity, or whatever it is we strive for that isn’t honoring to Jesus!

3:6b Dissatisfaction leads to rebellion - Our sinful actions always come from a longing and dissatisfied heart (see James 1:14) and in order to crucify sin in our life we HAVE to start with our hearts, and let our hearts be satisfied in Jesus alone.

3:7-21 – Rebellion leads to brokeness - just look at these verses! I see shame, guilt, pain, hurt, fear, feelings of worthlessness, blame, tension in relationship, and the list can go on and on – all stemming from Satan convincing us that we need more to be satisfied!

The question: Are you broken in any way? If so, it probably can ultimately be traced back in some way to being unsatisfied with who God is, who He has made you to be, and what He has planned for you. Or if you’ve been hurt by someone else, they probably hurt you because of this same reason, not because of anything you have done. But in all cases, Jesus promises healing and can repair you when you find your satisfaction in Christ!

John Piper put it this way, “God is MOST GLORIFIED in us when we are MOST SATISFIED in Him.” Sin says, “Jesus, you don’t satisfy me.” But when we are fully satisfied in Jesus Christ, we are glorifying Him constantly in our lives.

Take a moment to pray for the areas in your life that are screaming out, “Jesus, you are not enough!” and ask God to fix those areas, and to change your heart so that Jesus will satisfy you!

And the good news is that IN our brokenness and rebellion, God makes some AWESOME promises to us… but that’s next week =)!!

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 Can you believe we are almost halfway through our ten week church-wide journey called Starting Point?  I hope you are enjoying this series and small group study as much as I am.  I love hearing the stories about how God is using Starting Point in our Home Groups to spur on conversations about the Bible and to develop a greater desire to understand it.  Maybe we should have called this series “what I didn’t know that I didn’t know about the Bible.”  The most amazing thing for me is to see how the Gospel message is found throughout the Bible.  Jesus is not just a plan B New Testament solution to the Old Testament problem of sin; He is the heart of God’s redemptive story.  It was so cool this week to see Jesus in the story of Adam and Eve and to see God’s grace already in action.  I can hardly wait to see Him in the rest of the story!

Looking forward to taking the rest of this journey with you!

 God Bless,

 Phillip

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Kidz Creek Parent Connection

October 2, 2011

PRESCHOOL:

Memory Verse: “I am wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14, NIV

Story: Wonderfully Made • Psalm 139:13-15a; Jeremiah 1:5

This Week God made people and that makes us special.

Play Time: This is a great time of the year to go outside and take a good long look at all that God has made. Look at the different colors of leaves. Search for the perfect pumpkin or fill a basket with lots of yummy apples. Crunch some sticks and leaves with your feet. Make a pile of leaves with your hands. Encourage your little one to LOOK with the EYES God made for him, SMELL with his NOSE and TOUCH with his HANDS. Remind your child as you explore, that out of everything God made, He loves people the most!

ELEMENTARY:

Creativity: Using your imagination to do something unique.

Bible Story: Creation Story (Genesis 1:1-2:1)

Bottom Line: You were created, so you can be creative.

Memory Verse: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10, NIV

MEAL TIME: Use these simple open ended discussion questions to lead your family.

Ask a Kid: What is one example of a time you saw somebody showing his or her creativity?

Ask a Parent: If God created the world, and He made people in His image, then what does that say about our ability to be creative?

PARENT TIME: To keep up with what is going on at Kidz Creek follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/KidzCreekCCC and subscribe to our blog. And to learn more about this month’s virtue, and discover helpful parenting insight, check out www.orangeparents.org.

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