Worship 411

Today I received our new curriculum for Worship 411. It looks really good, very well done. It comes with: a countdown and Power Point Game, songs, pre-made slides for the lesson presentation, and a short video. I think it will be "easy" to lead a quality, elementary children's worship in our short 30 minute time span with these materials.

I'm excited about our first study topic, "Fear". It seems that our kids are growing up in a world where fear can really grab hold. Children deal with bully's, conflict, parent's travels, a harsh political environment, school shootings, a desire for real connection. It would be easy for a child to internalize these events that they cannot control, and, experience many negative emotions.

During Worship 411, we are going to "Deal With It!", the Biblical way, and learn about some of the negative feelings and actions that weigh heavily on our children and explore what the Bible has to say.

I anticipate our start day for Worship 411 to be February 6th, if not a week or so sooner.

Here are some things you will need to know:
1) Worship 411 will target Kindergarten - 3rd grade children. 4th/5th are welcome to come and will likely be used in leadership roles.
2) Any KWCOC member that chooses to use Worship 411 for their children will NEED to sign up to help on a rotating basis.
3) We NEED a few more team leaders that can commit to teaching once a month. As I mentioned, everything is scripted, prepared, and all you need to do is familiarize yourself with the material and present it on your assigned Sunday.

Contact me if you'd like more information!

Worship 411 Update

Many of you have asked when we will begin Worship 411 again. Worship 411, for our elementary children, was halted at the end of last school year as Chuck DeBenon and Carri Tacker stepped aside for a much needed break.

We are still open to restarting Worship 411 when we have at least 4 teams of two adults to lead the elementary children's worship. I think it will be important to have the team approach so that our volunteers do not feel over-committed.

At the same time, we still need additional consistent volunteers in some of Sunday morning Bible classes, so, we must be careful to not draw volunteers already teaching away from their current responsibilities or overwhelm them with too many classes. I have a couple of volunteers that are teaching 3 times a week right now!

If you feel that an elementary children's worship is important to your family and to visitors that we may be reaching out to in our community, I encourage you to step up and let me know that you'd like to lead in this ministry.

Important Information Regarding Worship 411

Carri Tacker and Chuck Debenon have lead Worship 411, the elementary children's worship, since the beginning of 2009. These two leaders have invested a considerable amount of time and energy in teaching the elementary children at KWCOC during the sermon. The children have enjoyed Worship 411 and it has provided an age appropriate opportunity for the children during a time in the regular service that some children find it difficult to sit still and pay attention.

Carri and Chuck have decided to take a much needed break. As we continue to evaluate the future of Worship 411, we have decided to take a break for the summer quarter (months of June, July, and August). During this time, we will determine the future of Worship 411. In order for Worship 411 to continue in the fall, it will be very important for a leadership team of dedicated volunteers to be established and to share the responsibility for teaching in this ministry. If this is an interest and passion for you, please let me know as soon as possible. Planning for the fall should begin not later than August 1st.

I understand that our parents have many different opinions regarding an elementary children's worship service. If you would like to discuss these with me, please call or email anytime. I will be meeting with the elders and deacons that serve in the Children and Family Ministry over the summer to discuss our next steps and would like to share the parent responses with them at that time.

Worship 411 - Feb. 28th

What a great time we had learning about the ONE TRUE GOD today in Worship 411!

There has been a lot of excitement surrounding the book and recently released movie, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, so we as leaders, thought it would be good to use this as part of our curriculum.

We began by discussing who the Greeks were and why they felt the need to make up stories about the gods. We then watched a trailer for the Percy Jackson movie and discussed some of the characters. We considered why it was silly for people to worship many gods who were mean, spiteful, jealous, and vengeful. We talked about how scared the Greeks must have been that they were offering up sacrifices to the wrong god. Then we considered these questions:

Does our God have any flaws?

Does our God get so angry at us that He would hurt us just to make Himself feel better?

Does our God send bad things (war/natural disaster) to happen to us?

Does our God ask for human sacrifice?

The kids were amazing.... they picked up the Abraham story pretty quickly, about the human sacrifice Abraham didn't have to make.

Then we switched gears into Romans and talked about being a living sacrifice for our God.

It was pretty impressive the way they stepped right up and took the lead in suggesting ways to be a living sacrifice!

Next week we will look at the quest Percy Jackson went on in the fictional account of the gods. In the meantime, we challenged everyone to start their own quest to be a living sacrifice this week in new and creative ways!

Until next time, talk to your kids: be quick to listen, and remember- they are NOT the future church, they are the church.

Carri and Chuck, 411

Worship 411 - Feb. 14th, 2010

Today in Worship 411 we continued our series on worship. We reviewed prayer and the different things we can pray about. One of our students really brought it all home by leading us in a prayer that was clearly from the heart!
We talked about Valentine's Day and Carri shared the valentines she had gotten from God. Her family, church, pets, home and such, and how everyday she could see them and be thankful for how much they meant! The biggest valentine was Jesus, we talked about where I could put this heart shaped reminder... Then Chuck read to us about the Lord's Supper, about the first one, and the communion that we take every week as a reminder. Our own special valentine! We passed out the communion packs and talked about what it meant. Then we wrapped it all up with discussing how one of their friends was being baptized, his promise to remember the gift of Jesus, and we went down to celebrate with Jake as he took on Christ. What a perfect way to witness God's love!!!
Until next time, talk to your kids, be quick to listen, and remember- they are NOT the future church, they are the church.
Looking forward,
Carri & Chuck, 411


In case I haven't mentioned it, Carri Tacker and Chuck Debenon are doing an awesome job with 411 each week. They are committed, excited, energetic and creative in their approach to teaching the children. Not only that, they are a team ... with no relief. If you'd like to get involved in 411, and, be available to give them an occasional break, let any of us.

The 411 Theater Opens

Today, we held our Open House. After Open House, we held our first class in the worship 411 room. I overheard one child say, "I want to live here in the worship 411 room forever"! Journey Land begins next week.


-- On the go from my iPhone.