Ephesians 6:2, 3: Bible Verse art

For Bible verse art like this everyday go to 

http://blog.biblia.com/

Kids in Church This Sunday (08.31)

The first through third graders will be in church this Sunday but every parent should read through this post because it will connect the sermon with an Old Testament review.

Big Idea for this Sunday:  God is unashamed to be identified with those that live by faith in His promises 

Pastor Duke will be preaching from Hebrews 11, the Faith chapter, which would be a great chapter to read through over these two weeks for family worship.  Great "review" of the Old Testament.

There will be blank sermon note sheets in the foyer this Sunday.

Here are some things to challenge your child to listen for during the sermon

• An explanation of what faith is.
• Goals in this life.
• Truths to remember from Abraham's life
• Why worrying is wrong. 
• How those who trust in Christ should live. 

Talk with them before about these things.

Here is one of the songs we will be singing.  Play it before or after the service to help them think about the words of the song.

Thriving and Not Merely Surving in this Media Saturated World

INTERNET SAFETY SEMINAR:  September 7 from 6:00 to 7:30 at Emmanuel Baptist Church:  This seminar will help you know WHY YOU NEED TO and HOW TO protect your family when using cell phones, social media and the internet.  Chris Brown, from techpartner (www.techpartner.org) will be sharing basic principles and online resources at.  

Anyone interested in helping families and individual NOT JUST SURVIVE BUT THRIVE in this technological world is welcome!

Family Worship Guide for the week of 08.31

Here is this week's family worship guide!

Our last Old Testament lesson in this 3 year cycle.

Two Years of Building.

Over the last two years we have moved into a new building.
Moving into a new building has been challenging and exciting.

We also have been working our way through the Old Testament.  On August 17th, we finished the Old Testament.  August 24th and 31st are Old Testament review weeks.
Moving through the Old Testament to see and grow in our understanding of how great God is has been even more exciting.

As I think about this, I really do believe  that.
Our new building is a resource that God has given us to use for His Glory!
God's Life Changing Word, the Bible has been given to us so that we can truly know Him and make Him Known.

This building will one day crumble.
But the Word of God is eternal.

This building will lose its newness.
But Word of God will never lose its life changing power.  

God has provided EBC with a great facility where parents who are challenged to disciple their children can entrust them to Godly men and women who will teach Christ-centered, Bible-based lessons.

Glorifying God by making disciples who serve Him, teach His word and love children and families.

It has been two years of building but it has been SO MUCH MORE than building a building.
We have been building up children and families in the truth of God's Word.

As the pastor of children and family ministry, I am very thankful to the teachers and assistants God has used in EBC's children's ministry.
As the father of three children, I am VERY THANKFUL TO THE TEACHERS AND ASSISTANTS GOD HAS USED IN MY CHILDREN'S LIVES!!
I

What did the 4th/5th graders do this Sunday?

During the 9:00 am hour the 4th/5th graders had their regular class time.  I want to encourage you to come to one of the adult 3E (Educate, Encourage, Edify) classes and bring your child to the class.

During the 10:30 am service, they began with a review of the Bible activity.
Then we talked about how to take notes in a sermon and watched the first 15 minutes or so of THIS SERMON
I paused it several times and talked about the main points in the sermon.
This sermon begins in Genesis and reminds us of our purpose.
You may want to take some time to listen to parts of sermons to help your child learn to listen.

EKIDZ take home sheet from 08.24

Some basic principles about talking to your child about sex

This Sunday's Unashamed theme is Unashamed of Biblical Sexuality.
Think about how you can talk to your child about the things you are challenged with in this sermon.
Some resources have been posted online for you to talk with your child and more will be posted over the next couple of days.
HERE is a previous post about what is going on with the 4th and 5th graders this Sunday (08.24).

I want to remind you that the EBC's children's ministry is to help parents make disciples of their children.
With that in mind, we believe those initial conversations with children about sex and sexuality should be from the parents.
Here are a couple of principles I want to encourage you to think about and apply:

1. "The Talk" should not be a one time conversation.  Godly principles like righteousness and self-control need to be discussed with your child no matter what the age.  For more about the godly character qualities, click HERE.
2. These talks need to begin BEFORE your child is a teenager.
3. Know that you child will be learning about sex and sexuality and this seems to be happening at a younger now than before.  Is it going to a Biblical view of sexuality OR is it going to be an uninformed, unbliblical view from their classmates?

Pressing on,

Pastor Dave

Acts 20:24

Family Worship Guide 08.17

Here is the family worship guide for Sunday, August 17th.

An activity you can do with your family.  

1. Read Nehemiah 9:32, 33 (Be sure to understand the context surrounding these verse)
2. Then reread 9:32a  “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love" and ask "How was God mighty and faithful throughout the Old Testament?"
3. Then reread 9:32b "let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day" and ask "What kind of difficulties and challenges did the Israelites face and how did God see them through?"
4. Then reread 9:33 "Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly" and ask "How did the Israelites sin?"
5. Ask "What did the Israelites need to do because of their sin?"  We talked about repentance this Sunday.

You can then make the questions more personal...

1. How has God been mighty and faithful to our family?
2. What kind of difficulties and challenges have we as a family and how has God seen us through?
3. How have you sinned?
4. When we sin what do we need to do?

Much Needed But Also Difficult Topics like...

Internet Use and Sexuality need to be discussed in a Biblical way.  Often churches and families are reluctant to do this because they are not sure what to say.  As a church we want to help your family talk about these topics in a God-honoring way.

EBC's children's ministry wants to be a disciplemaking resource for you and your family and we do this every week in several different ways.

1. By providing family worship resources for parents and grandparents to talk with their children about the Bible lessons that show who God is and how we should live in response to who God is.  Click HERE
2. By helping you prepare your child to be an active member of the church now and in the future. For kids in church resources, click HERE.  
3. By having caring teachers and helpers who love God and His Word and love your child and your family so much that they want to see you and your child grow closer and closer to Jesus Christ.

Over the next couple of weeks we have some special times to help you help your children in these two specific areas (internet and sexuality)

1. September 7:  Internet Safety seminar from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.  Chris Brown from techpartner will be sharing about how to make your family safer in this technological world.
2. August 24:  Biblical Sexuality sermon in Pastor Duke's Unashamed series.  In our culture the issue of sexuality has become very confused recently. We want you to know and share what God's word has to say about it.  Usually 4th and 5th graders would be in the 10:30 service with their parents.  Because of the nature of this specific sermon we are going to have a special Sunday morning worship time with the 4th and 5th graders, if you would choose not to have your child with you in the service.  During this time we will be finishing up our study of the Old Testament and preparing for next quarter.   Now I do not want to discourage a parent from having your child with you in the service.  If you have talked with your child about issue of sexuality and sex, I believe it would be great for your child to have this issue addressed in church by the pastor.  That would be much better than on the playground by their misinformed friends.  But I also understand that some 4th and 5th graders are not necessarily ready for a full sermon specifically addressing this issue.

For some specific resources on having "the talk" with your child, click HERE.  More resources will be added during the next two weeks.

After the September 7th seminar we will be posting specific internet resources for families.

The Goal in Parenting is...

Family Worship Guide for August 10

Brief Nehemiah video from What's In the Bible?

Overview of the story...





Creative song about Nehemiah...

"Watching" the Service

This past Sunday the 1st - 3rd graders watched most of the sermon in the children's chapel.  We can now show the service live in the children's chapel.

This is part of our effort to help the kids learn to be part of the service with their families and the church.  They had a note sheet.

Talk to 1st, 2nd or 3rd graders about the message and how it can be lived out.

The plan is to have the children in the service with their families on August 31.

Family Worship Guide for the week of August 3rd

See previous the "Watching" post for info about what the 1st - 3rd graders did during service time.

Title:  God uses Esther to protect the Jews

Passage:  Esther

Principle:  Believers trust in God’s plan, power and protection.

Prompt:  Ask your child these questions:

· How did Esther become Ahasuerus’s queen?

· What events led to God’s protection of the Jews?

Practice: Help your child apply these truths in the following ways:

· By praising God, who controls every event.

· By being courageous in doing the right thing.

Memory verse:

2 year olds through kindergarten:   Romans 8:28a

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, 

1^st through 5^th grade:  Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Missionary: Logans

Ministry:  ECS, other schools and home school families

Activity: Check ekidzministry.blogspot.com

Wednesday Night's Prayer Walk Activity

This Wednesday night is Prayer Walk Night

You can stop by the church, pick up a prayer walk sheet 

and do the walk around the church

or 

print out the prayer walk and do the walk in your community.

Click on the picture for a pdf of the prayer walk sheet.

August 3rd teacher note