Exciting News!!!

 

Hi FAITHFUL friends!

*I want to share the GREAT news with you all that Dan Krause is our new Children’s Pastor! Thank you, Lord! Dan and his family will be moving up here from Michigan the first part of November. We are hoping to have a dessert social after a Saturday night service in November to welcome their family and hear from Dan about his journey to Faith Christian Community. I’ll definitely keep you posted on that.

*Thank you to all of you that were able to attend the Children’s Ministry lunch and training. It is always great to fellowship with you in a relaxed setting. And your participation and input is so valuable! For those that weren’t able to attend, you were missed much!

*Happy Birthday to all our October volunteers celebrating their special day this month! Check out the blog post below for special birthday recognition. :) And please let me know if you were inadvertently missed.

That’s all for now folks! Have a wonderful week and thank you so much for playing a vital role in children’s ministry here at Faith!

Love with joy,

Jackie Evans

News You Can Use

Hi Dear Friends,

I hope you are having a blessed week!

Here is some news you can use around the preschool as we start the new ministry year:

*We are having a ministry wide lunch and training on Sunday, September 27th, from 12:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. We are encouraging everyone to attend. It will be a great time to connect and network with other volunteers and share ministry ideas, receive some pertinent training, be inspired by our vision, and anything else God wants to show us. It is great to be a self-sufficient volunteer, but I think it is also very valuable to meet together once or twice a year to encourage and learn from each other. Please let me know if you plan to attend so we can order enough lunch and training materials for everyone.

*Please pray for our elders as they interview a potential candidate for the children’s pastor position. His name is Dan Krause and he will be visiting our church from Michigan this coming weekend. Very exciting!

*Reminders: Please check-in early at the children’s counter to receive your volunteer nametag. Also, please grab your lanyard behind the hospitality room door (on the nursery hall side) and wear it during class. These are used for safety measures as well as name visibility for the parents (which help in making much needed connections between the parents and you, our volunteers.) Also, remember to be in your classrooms by 15 minutes prior to service time. If this has been a problem for you, please consider making a recommitment to do all you can to ensure that you are there at that time. It really is a blessing to the parents, children, staff and you, the volunteer, to be in the classroom early and ready to go. Thanks so much friends!

*I will also be posting notes and great training pages here on the blog every week, so please check in often. There is also monthly birthday recognition on the blog. If you notice that your name is missing, please let me know so we can celebrate you too!

*As a side note: If anyone has Tuesday mornings available and you would like to love on some little ones and earn a little extra money, Susan Marthaller is looking to hire another children’s classroom volunteer for the Moms & More study at church. If you are interested, let me know and I will put you in touch with Susan.

THANK YOU for all you do to shine Jesus into our dark world. His love is the only thing that saves and you are His messengers. What an amazing privilege and awesome calling we have!

Much love with joy,

Jackie

To Our Easter Volunteers...

 

A great big THANK YOU! Because of you we were able to serve 160 children in the preschool department. Each one received the love of Jesus through your act of service. You are my heroes and it is a privilege to minister along side you.

Much love,

Jackie for The Team

Easter Here We Come!

Hi Fantastic Friends,

I am so excited to minister with you this weekend at our Easter Services!! What an amazing opportunity we have to love and lead our little ones to Jesus and tell them anew of all He has done for us. And what an amazing ministry this is:

Some of us will give a welcoming smile and a kind word to children and families as they check-in, pointing them right to the Savior that loves and welcomes all.

Some will lead children in worshiping the one true King who is worthy of all our praise.

Some will sing over the smallest of our children while rocking them with arms of love that point to the Jesus that loves them personally and wants them to feel safe and secure in His house.

Some will tickle and giggle and sing and play with the toddlers that need to know they can have fun and be accepted for who they are in Jesus’ house.

Some will tell stories, play games, make crafts and serve snacks in such a way that children will be drawn to the love of Jesus that they see in their “teacher’s” lives.

You all are accomplishing major kingdom work as you minister to the hearts of these children. You are nurturing, loving and leading these children from the beginning stages of their lives, setting a foundation of trust and love for God, our Redeemer and our Peace.

My challenge for you this weekend (and always) is to do what is in your power to make this a special time for the children. Have everything prepared (please don’t try to wing it), be on time, be prepared to welcome children 15 minutes prior to service, use children’s names as much as possible while wearing a great big smile, and know that you are loved! {{HUG}}

Classroom volunteers – remember we are using the regular curriculum. Do what you want to make it special, including snack. 15 minutes of worship time in Big Group will be included unless there are too many to have together. (A good problem to have!) Plus we will have the “resurrection eggs” with the explanation sheet that you can do with the kids. Also, we will have a gift bag for each child.

At some point, before or after your service time, please come to the hospitality room for a special snack of Great Harvest cinnamon chip bread for the volunteers (plus fruit).

If you have any questions, please be sure to let me know.

Thank you so much for being Jesus’ hands and heart to this special generation.

Joyfully serving Jesus with you,

Jackie for the team

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY VISION: Working together with parents, we seek to lead children to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Volunteer Note This Week...

Hi Faithful Friends,

I hope you are having a blessed week so far! And what an interesting one at that with Mt. Redoubt and all.

Here is the low down this week in the Preschool department at Faith:

Easter is almost here. Yay! What a wonderful opportunity to share the best story ever told to even more children than usual. You may have heard by now that we are going to have 4 services again this year with the addition of a 1:00 p.m. service. I am asking that you please consider the following options to help us properly staff each classroom:

*Volunteering to serve at a service if you are normally off this weekend (let me know which one works best for you)
*Volunteering to serve a second service-if you normally serve at one (let me know your service time choice)
*Asking a family member to help in the class you are serving in (I will need their name and their DOB-if applicable)

Please let me know which option is doable for you. And thank you so much for considering this.

FYI for the classroom teachers, we will follow the normal class schedule. If you need me to purchase special treats or craft supplies for your class, please let me know at least 1 week prior. This will be a fun time to do some really special stuff with the kids so be planning now.

Linda S. and I will be gone this coming weekend. We are going to the Northwest Ministry Conference (from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday) in Redmond, WA. I am looking forward to all the great workshops and the new or renewed knowledge I will bring back to our department! Armin P. will be the director on duty for all 3 services and Rosalee O. will be our guest director for the nursery at 11AM. Please arrive on time to make sure that all classrooms are covered and everything runs smoothly. I so appreciate you doing that! And I will miss you! (Please pray that Mt. Redoubt behaves so we can go. Thanks!)

The Volunteer Appreciation Dinner date has changed to Thursday, May 14th. Please be sure and SAVE THE new DATE. We are planning some great fun and fabulous food!

Blog stuff:
*I will now be putting our Dream Team schedules on the sidebar of the blog for easy access. (I will also keep sending email reminders.)
*Don’t forget to send me your prayer requests if you want others to pray.
*There’s a great Tutti Frutti Playdough recipe on the sidebar now.
*And if you have any ideas for the blog, please let me know.

Reminders & Thanks:
*If you haven’t yet completed the new application or watched the child abuse awareness video (instructions found on the sidebar of this blog), please be sure and finish that soon.
*Also, please pick up your copy of the volunteer handbook in the hospitality room and read through it, if you haven’t yet.
*And a huge THANK YOU for doing this and for all those that have completed the above items!

God bless you all for your loving service and for your perseverance! You are my heroes!!

Joyfully,

Jackie

A Few Items of Importance

Hi Faithful Friends,

I hope you are all having a blessed day! I just wanted to check in with you on a couple of items of importance. (Note: Some items won’t apply to everyone.)

1. Just a reminder that it is extremely important to be in your classroom at least 15 minutes prior to class time. This helps so much with families who need to drop off more than one child and get to their class or the service on time.

2. Some of you may have received an email about the Spring curriculum. Just to clarify, the new curriculum starts next Sunday, March 8th. The new books will be in your rooms tomorrow. Thanks for your patience while I sorted that out!

3. I have a running list of who has turned in their updated volunteer applications. If you’re still needing to turn yours in, please do this right away. If you need another one, I can email it to you. And if you have any questions, please let me know. UPDATE – we don’t need your ADL# or SS#. Thanks so much!

4. We haven’t started the in-class security review because I decided to wait until Barb K. is back. This gives us more coverage in case someone needs a director’s help elsewhere so the director doing the review doesn’t get called away. FYI - The review is simply a short time spent in the classroom between a director and classroom volunteers reviewing our safety procedures.

5. The volunteer lanyards are getting done and should be issued soon. Yay! If you have not had your picture taken by Armin, please let me know.

6. Please continue to check in and get your computer name tag. The computer reports are kept and used to make sure that we have acceptable adult to child ratios.

7. I want to let you know that I would love to pray for any need you want to share, whether for you or someone you love! Please email me (or call) and I will pray! Also, if you would like, I can put your prayer request on the blog so whoever can, will pray with us. You can let me know if you do or don’t want it on the blog and if so, if you want it to be anonymous or have your name attached.

Well, I think this is enough for now!

Dear ones, I want you to know that I so appreciate each one of you! And I want to thank you for your outstanding service in the preschool department here at Faith. Each of you is SO important whether you are here every week or on a rotating schedule. I absolutely love serving Jesus with you!!

Joyfully,

Jackie

P.S. If you haven't received an updated Volunteer Handbook, please let me know.