Bed Time Stories

Date: Thursday, 04/05/2012 Time: 7:00PM-7:30PM Send your kids to bed with a mind full of stories. Bring your preschoolers and early elementary kids out for this fun bedtime adventure. An adult must stay with kids. For more information please contact the church. 925-447-6282 / info@sunsetcc.org

Quick Tips

Connecting with kids doesn’t have to be a crazy light from the sky event. Here are 3 quick steps to make a meaningful impact in your class:

1. Come down to their level

2. Speak the truth in love

3. Have fun

The Revolving Goal

In January, the gym next door to the church becomes a hub for resolution makers. The parking lot fills to capacity as excited goal setters make this year, "the year to get healthy". Having been at this church for well over a decade, I know that by the time March hits, two thirds of the cars have disappeared. Resolutions have been abandoned as the realities of life and numerous temptations take priority.
Most of us probably know what it is like to have a goal that we fall short of achieving. Whether it was to organize the shelf, get a master's degree or quit smoking, each unattained goal comes with consequences, from disappointment to death. Unfinished or failed attempts at reaching a target can have a demoralizing effect, often leading to complacency. The it's-fine-how-it-is-attitude or procrastination sets in and can rob us of opportunity, freedom, money, health, and more. It can be difficult to get motivated or pick ourselves back up after falling, but we need to remember that setting goals is good for us. Having something to work toward is good for our minds, bodies, and spiritual growth. To be successful in our endeavours, we need to be wise in our choices and timing. Take the following into consideration when deciding your next goal:


      1. Have I brought it to God?
Have I talked to God about my desire or challenge?
Have I asked God for strength, provision, etc.?
Have I listened to what God has to say about it?
      2. Is it attainable?
Is it realistic?
Do I have the resources (time, money, etc.)?
Do I have the skill or knowledge needed?
      3. Is the timing right?
Am I having to forgo responsibilities to make this happen?
Am I sacrificing too much to make this happen right now?
Are the important people in my life in agreement and supportive?
Would I be endangering myself or others by NOT starting now?
  
Not every goal, such as organizing a shelf, has to go through this process. Unless of course, you have an out-of-control organizing addiction. Anything that is going to take time, money, support, long-term commitment, or any other significant part in your life should be well considered before beginning, so that you can give yourself your best chance to succeed.


As teachers, it is not only necessary to have personal goals for our own development, but to have goals for the classroom as well. We are in a privileged position to be able to influence and impact the lives and faith of so many. We need to challenge ourselves to take an honest assessment of what we bring to the classroom. What are we doing well? What ideas do we have for improving? What are we totally clueless about? Taking a realistic look at our strengths and weaknesses can encourage and direct us toward goals that would improve the time spent with the children.


What goals could you have for your personal life that would positively effect your teaching? What goals could you have for the classroom that would make a difference? Feel free to share your goals in the comment section and to encourage each other.

God Moments Class
Thursday Feb, 16th 2012
7:00pm
Location: Sunset Community Church
This is a class that will give parents the confidence and the keys to capture "God Moments" in their kids lives. Use everyday life to make the bible come alive at home.
This class is intended for parents and Childcare will not be provided.

Sign Up Here
http://sunsetcc.org/content.cfm?page_content=announcement_include.cfm&content_id=64

Gifts Of Service

One night at kid's church, I had the children make individual pizzas. I watched as some children worked hurriedly to pile on heaps of topping, getting as much as they could, while others carefully crafted their creations through meticulous assembly. After baking, the pizzas were returned to their makers. But before diving in, the children were told to switch pizzas with one another. You can imagine the protesting and even tears that erupted as prized pizzas were reluctantly passed around the table. Those who had grabbed feverishly and loaded their dough with toppings, were suddenly very unhappy to find a much smaller pizza sitting before them. Had I given the instruction from the beginning, I tend to think that most of the pizzas would have erred on the smaller side. 

Thinking of others doesn't come naturally to most us. How often do we want to pile our pizzas and keep them all to ourselves? We need to be taught to consider others, as well as being nurtured and guided in our faith to develop a Christ-like love for people. Serving and giving are not encouraged by our commercially driven and self focused society. Sadly, even the church as a whole, does not serve in the amount it should. We have a world full of hurting and needy people. We have an abundance of opportunity to show who Jesus is, by helping others. Showing children how to help others now will lead to compassionate and active Christian adults. 

God takes service to the needy very seriously. In fact, he tells us over and over how important it is for us to take care of others. The importance of helping people is made especially clear in the story of The Sheep and The Goats (Matthew 25:31-46). Here, God says that what we do for "the least" we do for Him. Who is "the least" and what can we do?

There are particular groups of people whom the Bible stresses we should help. Orphans, widows, and the poor come up multiple times. The common thread between the three groups is vulnerability; people without family to care, an inability to provide for basic needs, no resources, defenseless against the dangers of abuse, neglect, and sickness. Today, all around the world there are people who are orphaned or abandoned, elderly, mentally disabled, enslaved, homeless, sick, or starving  and in need of help and love. We have the ability to teach children more about God and grow their compassion by creating opportunities for giving and serving. 

What are you passionate about? Has God given you a heart for a particular group in need? If not, begin to pray for God to open your heart and show you where you can help. When you are excited, the children you get involved, will get excited too. Once you have a focus, find ways of allowing the children to actively participate. For example, you could:

• Have children make cards and bring them to elderly patients
• Ask children to bring in items to send to missionaries or orphanages 
• Pick an item from the World Vision catalog to purchase as a group
• Raise money with a bake or garage sale to donate to an organization

*Before implementing any plan, please get approval from Pastor Chris first.

If you need help with putting your plan into action, don't hesitate to ask.

For inspiration, look here:

World Vision Gift Catalog

http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?go=gift&&section=10389

Respire Haiti

http://respirehaiti.org/

Nothing But Nets (provides mosquito nets)

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

Christian Appalachian Project

http://www.christianapp.org/

Open Doors (serving persecuted Christians)

http://www.opendoorsusa.org/

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Even though the Sunday January 1^st is in reality just the next day after Saturday it feels like a fresh new start.  Make sure that you map out your goals for this next year.  After you have you goals, write them down and post them somewhere you will see them and remember them. Tell someone else your goals and ask them to check back to see how you are doing. Let’s make 2012 a year of completions.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I want to take a moment to brag on a two teachers. I am so proud to be serving alongside Minerva and Veronica. Both of these teachers are so willing to help. There are few Sundays that go by when at least one of these two are not asking if all of the shifts are covered. Minerva and Veronica are two people that see the value in service and not only serve, but do it with joy. I know that they walk out of shifts encouraged, as well as, having encouraged the people around them. I want to encourage all staff to be service minded; joyfully serving others and in the process growing and developing your Christ-like heart. I appreciate all the staff that work so hard to make eight:sixteen kids a success. Thank You!

Got Gas?

I hate to drive with my gas light on. Not that anyone enjoys it, but I have been with people who calmly disregard the glaring signal of impending doom. To say it stresses me out is an understatement. Images of of lonely highways, 20-car-pileups, and the look on my wife's face when I call for a ride, begin to haunt my thoughts. For me, when the light comes on, I know I have already gone too far without refueling. If I run out of gas, at least, I have inconvenienced myself or someone else. At most, I have put myself and possibly others in danger. Could you imagine if there were no gas light or fuel gauge at all in your car? How would you know when you needed to refuel? You would probably make a habit of regularly filling up so that you wouldn't risk the possibility of reaching empty. It makes sense. 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a warning light that came on to let you know you were running on spiritual fumes? Something that said, "Hey! You need some quality time with God before you run out of fuel and have a pileup!". Although we don't have a light that comes on, we do have signs that warn us. Have you been quick to get upset? Have your thoughts wandered to a bad place? Have you felt discouraged? Have you compromised your values a little? Is your passion or creativity dwindling? Is your faith waning? All of these are examples of times when we need to fill up with the word of God and recharge with prayer and worship. If we don't make a habit of regularly refueling, chances are these warnings will pop up again and again. The danger in allowing ourselves to get too close to empty is, that we don't know what we are about to face and if the fuel we have will get us through undamaged.

My wife lived in Northridge, California in 1994. That may not mean anything to you. For those in Northridge and the surrounding area, there was an unforgettable event. There was a strong earthquake that caused many people to be without power, gas or water for over a week or longer. All of the stores that were open for business, were immediately cleared out of useful stock, especially water. The county began giving away jugs of water that would be distributed at various pickup locations. You would have to listen to the radio to find out where the water would be, then try to get there before it was gone. To do this, you needed a car because the locations were far and water is heavy. But, your car was no good if you didn't have gasoline. Unfortunately, most gas stations were not operating. You had to rely on the fuel that was in your car prior to the earthquake. For this reason, my wife usually does not allow her fuel gauge to dip below one fourth of a tank. She never knows when there will be an earthquake.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. We never know when the unexpected will strike. When it happens, will we be filled enough with the things of God to help us come through without damage? Maybe the unexpected is that a child disobeys or makes a huge mess? Or maybe the unexpected is that you lose your job or you find out that someone who is not your spouse, thinks you are the greatest thing that ever happened? How we handle these situations will depend greatly on whether or not we filled ourselves with the love and truth of God. 

As teachers and leaders, we are often giving out to others. And, we have people who are looking to us and up to us. For these reasons, as well as the well being of ourselves and our families, it is so important for us to stay filled with God's word and love. You want to make sure that what you are giving out is good and you don't want to find yourself in a situation where you are on empty and disaster strikes. 

Here are some suggestions if you find yourself running low on spiritual fuel:

Push through and pray

     If disconnecting from God is the problem then the first change needs to be a reconnect. The reality is that we walked away from time with God not the other way around. We need to come back to the relationship and the best way is to start talking again. God is always available to talk. Spend “real talk” times with God. David’s language in his prayers and songs to God show his intimate relationship with God. Even if it feels like an awakard reaquantiance at first, push through and pray. Make quiet time for listening as well.
Set up reading goals
     Be realistic in your goals. Deciding to go from no reading to 5 chapters a night seems great, but when you start getting behind it can become a hurdle that keeps you from reading at all. Choose a modest start and as you develop a habit and a passion for the word, naturally you will increase the amount you read and the frequency.

Connect with other believers and talk about God

     Spending time with other believers and talking about God not only can help encourage you, it can also help keep you accountable. The same theory applies for good habits rubbing off as it does for bad habits. When the people you are around love God and whole heartedly serve and worship Him, it will be easier for the good habits to rub off. One of the best ways to connect with other believers is at church. Attending services, bible studies, and events can help keep  you grounded and connected with others.

Bring God into your living room

     Your home is your primary mission field. Make sure that you keep the health and spirituality of your home a high priority.  Bring home the lessons and ideas and apply them to your family, your workplace, or your school. Take the time to live like a Christ Follower everywhere and model it to everyone.

 “Taste and see that the LORD is good” Psalm 34:8

     When you begin to develop a hunger for God you will know when you are dry. The more time you taste what a real relationship and life with God is, the more you will want it and the more you will know when you don’t have it. The best way to develop a better “gas light” is to keep developing your relationship with God.

The Name Game

Have you ever felt nameless? It's the feeling you get when you think no one at a given place and time cares about you or even knows who you are. It can often happen in large group settings such as classrooms, churches, DMV's, airports, and the like. Sometimes anonymity can work to your advantage. It can help you to not get called on to conjugate verbs in Spanish class or to easily slip out of a Weight Watchers meeting because you know you haven't been counting your points. Often times, being just one of the many anonymous bodies can be the ultimate source of frustration. Imagine your last trip to the DMV. How amazing would it be if you walked in and you were greeted by name instead of becoming J35? If the bouncer (I don't know what they are really called) who hands out the numbers said,

"Good morning Mrs. Smith. I'm so glad to see you today. I have everything ready because you had an appointment and I knew you were coming. How is your son's arm? I heard he broke it and couldn't play for the season. I really hope you are enjoying your new car. This license plate you came up with is so clever!"

Later you told your friend that you went to the DMV today and she said, 

"They are so nice there. I haven't been in months; maybe I'll stop by to say hi. I can’t wait to take my new driver’s license photo. They always make me look so good!" 

In this alternate universe where people want to go to the DMV, only one thing has changed. It’s the same paperwork, the same boring subject matter, the same fees, but a different feeling. At this DMV you feel like a person of value and not just a number. They know who you are and they care about your life.

Now, I’m not saying that going to kids church is like going to the DMV. I hope kids church is more fun than filling out form SR 19C, but the part about feeling like a valued person still applies. Children want to be known, especially by people who are older then them. Think about a time when someone you looked up to knew your name when you didn’t expect it? Or, remember the devastation you felt when someone didn’t know who you were? One time a child came into class and asked me, “Do you know my name?” It was the fourth time the child had attended, so I told him of course I knew it (I really did). He smiled with surprise. The simple fact of remembering his name helped him to connect to me and connect to the class and want to continue coming back. When someone knows your name you can be remembered and missed, praised and encouraged, as well as held accountable. Remembering a child’s name not only helps them to feel loved and like they belong, it also helps the teacher. Calling children by name cuts down on the chaos of shouting “hey you” and makes for a smoother class time.

For those of us without the strongest memories, here are 3 tips for remembering names:

1.    Repeat: When a child tells you his or her name, repeat it as many times as you can without seeming crazy.

Example: What’s your name? Did you say your name is James? Hi, James. I’m glad you came this morning. Hey everyone, this is James. Introduce yourselves to James and tell him how to play the game too.

2.    Associate: Try to find something you already know that you can associate with the name.

Example: Your name is James? My Grandpa’s name is James. Your name is Summer? Summer is my favorite season.

3.    Ask: Don’t be afraid to ask a child to repeat his or her name. Even if it has been four weeks and is now a little awkward. Start by saying something nice and then asking for a reminder. Then try tips 1 and 2 so you can remember.

Example: I’m so happy to see you again. You did such a great job with the Bible verse today. Will you remind me again of what your name is, I want to make sure I remember?

Have you had a good or bad experience with remembering a name or being remembered yourself? What do you do to remember names?

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